aircannonsinc Chapter 307 Time is a flowing river
Chapter 307 Time is a flowing river
Chapter 307 Time is a flowing river
That happened decades ago, during Loila's last spring at home before she went to school.
Time is like flowing water, and people are sometimes like stones in that water.
This is most evident in Philip Hamilton.
In just a few months, he has become completely different from the spirited man he was last year.
His once jet-black hair had turned gray, his once sharp eyes now seemed unusually cloudy, and his wrinkled face was filled with exhaustion, as if a gust of wind could knock him down.
Even so, he still possessed a certain obsession, a morbid, blind obsession.
"If—if it can succeed here—" The words were almost squeezed out from between his teeth, sounding completely unlike what a man in his thirties should make.
His room was covered with a jumble of parchment, filled with words that were incomprehensible to most people.
"No, no—" He seemed to have found something on the paper, muttering to himself in frustration—no—
"This won't do—"
"What went wrong?"
"No, that won't do—"
"No way!" He slammed his fist on the table, then stood up like a madman and punched the wall, the loud noise causing the door to be slowly pushed open.
A timid, worried figure peeked out.
"Dad—Dad—"
"No...Noren?" Upon seeing that figure, Philip seemed to be hallucinating and calmed down. He widened his eyes slightly as he looked at the person who looked so much like the woman in his memory, but after a moment, he gave a wry smile.
"It's not her—of course you're not her—" he murmured, slumped down, and fell silent, staring at the various documents on the table.
"Dad—" The girl mustered her courage and walked in, then reached out and took Philip's hand. "Are you—are you alright?"
"I'm fine—of course I'm fine—" Philip said, suddenly becoming agitated, "How could I be fine!"
"Bang!"
"what!"
Amid the girl's screams, he slammed his fist on the table, then gasped for breath.
The girl shrank back in fear, her body trembling slightly as she looked at the man in front of her.
"No—don't do this—"
'
'
"I'm sorry—" Philip looked at the girl's tears, and the anger in his eyes vanished instantly, leaving only regret—and deep apology.
"I'm sorry—Loila—" he said, bending down to hug the girl, "If only I had—if only I had realized what was happening back then—"
"If I had understood back then—I could have saved my mother—instead—instead—" He always thought he had run out of tears, but his tear ducts always surprised him.
"Mom—" Hearing his words, the girl also started to cry, but her cries were softer and more timid than Philip's.
"Don't be afraid—don't be afraid, Loila—" Philip comforted the girl while also comforting himself, "Daddy will succeed—"
"Dad can feel it—it's so close to success—"
"It was really just a tiny bit short—"
"Um!
""
"Yes—Daddy will succeed—" The girl wiped away her tears and helped Philip wipe away his tears as well: "Loira—"
—Loila believes in you.
If I had been able to stop my father back then—maybe everything would have been different?
Maybe I won't be all alone like this?
Maybe----
"That should solve the problem—absolutely—absolutely—I'm a genius in magic arrays—"
"That's right—yes—that's exactly it—"
As spring ended and summer quietly arrived, a disheveled Philip stood on the grass outside the cabin and smiled, looking at the thick parchment in his hands, which trembled uncontrollably.
"That's it!" he shouted excitedly, raising the object in his hand like a child. "It worked!"
"No problem at all!"
"Dad—Dad?"
Upon seeing his daughter, Philip rushed over and scooped her up in his arms: "It's going to work, Loila—Daddy's going to work!"
"As long as we carve them down—we've succeeded."
"We can go back to the past — we can change — we can change time."
Change the time.
It wasn't until then that Loila realized what her father had been doing all along: he wanted to change time, not like a time converter that changes what happened in the past twenty-four hours—but like time travel, to change what happened in the past year.
He wants to go back in time to save his mother—to salvage his family that has fallen apart.
"Dad is a genius, then and now"—that's what Loila thinks. He can find the slightest error in the most complex magic array, and he can engrave countless inscriptions on something the size of a palm.
But—but if I could say it, if I could point out that the magic circle had a mistake—if I could do that—wouldn't Dad succeed?
But—but she didn't—Loila just watched, immersed in joy, her dejected father disappeared, the father who locked himself in his room for days and nights disappeared.
Her father was back—and he was about to bring her mother back too.
As for mistakes? I'm just a child—my father is a genius, a genius far surpassing me, isn't he?
How could he possibly make a mistake?
The magic circle that could reverse time succeeded, succeeding, or rather, was succeeded by, the girl's timidity and Philip's complacency.
Next came the engraving of the magic circle—the complexity of the time magic circle far exceeded any magic circle Roy had ever seen, and the engraving work lasted for a week.
Philip was engraving almost day and night, using his wand day and night, until the core burned out and the wand broke.
But in the end, he still managed to finish it.
Standing in the center of that silver magic circle, his face radiated confidence.
He washed away the dust, fatigue, and madness of the past few months, and stood quietly in the center of the magic circle, holding a bunch of blue flowers in his hand.
That's a cornflower, one of Mom's favorite flowers.
"Loira, Daddy's about to succeed," Philip said slowly. "The moment the magic circle is activated, everything will change."
"Everything will change—" he said again, "Even though you may not remember anything, Dad will remember—Dad will tell you when the time comes—"
"Dad will tell you—"
Whether from excitement or something else, Philip spoke incoherently.
"Dad—" Looking at his appearance, unease once again enveloped the girl's heart. She pursed her lips and watched her father raise his magic wand.
A silver magic circle appeared as the wand lit up.
What a beautiful magic circle! Like a clock, it moves and constantly changes time.
This was the most beautiful magic circle Royla had ever seen in her life; the silver patterns were as beautiful as her mother's hair.
"Noren—I've come to find you—" Philip murmured, then smiled.
A flash of silver light.
everything is over.
Philip, Dad, Father, disappeared into the magic circle.
Then nothing happened.
The naive girl thought it would take a while—but—that "while" took an unimaginably long time, until the end of summer, until Professor Durmstrang arrived—
Time is like a flowing river, and people are just stones in the water. But how can a stone go upstream?
O