【生肉搬运】鸟雀passerine 第一章(20)

Techno didn’t know what he was meant to feel. He didn’t know what he was meant to say. For years, he’d put Philza out of his mind, determined to forget that interlude of peace. He’d let the memories fester like untreated wounds, and now he thought he’d rather die of the infection than acknowledge out loud that it was real, that the pain was there at all.
“I didn’t mean to drop by,” Techno said eventually. “I didn’t know this place was yours. I can leave, if you—”

“No.” Philza shook his head. “Don’t leave. Truth be told, this reunion was inevitable. Or, I hoped it was.”
“How long have you been here?”
Philza considered. “How long has this kingdom been standing?”
“Phil, that’s—”
“I know. People like us aren’t meant to stay in one place for too long.” Philza sighed and turned back towards the horizon. He leaned his arms against the wrought-iron railings and looked out at the land beyond—the slope of the distant mountains, the kingdom that stretched on and on, unaware that their immortal king was all that stood between them and destruction. “I found a small town while I was traveling, made it something more. I told myself I would leave after a year, and then it became two years, three years, a decade. I did leave eventually, before they figured out why their town mayor never aged. But then I found out, the moment I left…