A silver whirlwind surged, and the surrounding scenery shifted and flowed, with countless colorful blocks finally settling into a clear scene.
Aurora focused her eyes and found that she and her teacher were in a small town she didn't recognize.
From the appearance of the buildings, it should also be one of the countries on the Western Continent.
Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, and the ground was covered with a thick layer of snow, with trees on both sides of the street draped in silver.
The cold wind brushed against the girl's face.
Occasionally, a few bundled-up pedestrians hurried past.
Aurora exhaled, a puff of white mist escaping her lips.
"Now, try to gather a wish power in this town," Rhine said, flipping his hand to reveal the Godly Lamp he had previously obtained from the treasury.
He handed the Godly Lamp to Aurora.
"I no longer have a use for this Godly Lamp, Aurora; you can take it and use it from now on."
Aurora nodded.
She knew that for a long time, her magic would not be strong enough, and she would have to rely on the Godly Lamp's magic.
She walked onto the street, closed her eyes, and tried to sense the so-called wish power.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, she felt a faint, scorching energy approaching in the cold winter day.
"It's... in this direction!"
Aurora opened her eyes and felt that the scorching wish power was coming from two luxurious villas ahead.
She hurried over.
Only when she got closer did Aurora realize that the source of the wish power was not inside the two luxurious villas, but in the crevice between them, where a shivering girl was huddled.
It was a Little Match Girl in ragged clothes, barefoot and frozen purple in the bitter cold of winter.
She hid in this corner, seemingly to escape the biting, knife-like cold wind.
She hugged her frostbitten feet, squatting down and tucking them under her tattered clothes, like a wounded little hedgehog.
However, no matter how the girl tried to hide her small body, it was useless; it was too cold here, and everywhere was equally cold.
The fluttering goose-feather snow fell ceaselessly, pressing down on the girl's beautiful hair, making her appear even more delicate and pitiful.
The moment she saw Aurora approaching from around the corner, the girl looked up, her eyes shining.
"Sister, would you like a box of matches?"
The girl extended her trembling hand and pulled out a thick wad of paper from her ragged pocket, unwrapped it, took out one of the matchboxes, and offered it.
"Uh, I don't need..." Aurora's words instinctively came out before she regretted them.
She indeed didn't need a box of matches, but she could have used this opportunity to help the Little Match Girl.
The Little Match Girl lowered her head in disappointment, not pestering Aurora.
"Why are you here? Do you have a home?" Aurora, not forgetting her task, asked with concern.
The Little Match Girl answered tremblingly:
"I, I have a home."
"But, I, I don't dare to go home.
I haven't sold a single box of matches all day, and Father will definitely beat me when he finds out!"
Aurora immediately felt pity for the girl.
She tried to inquire about the girl's family:
"But it's snowing heavily today, there are hardly any people on the street, and no customers at all.
If you explain this to your father, will he listen?"
The girl trembled and shook her head, her purple-frozen face showing terror.
"No... no, Father definitely won't listen to me, to my explanation.
Before I left, he... he said he was waiting for money to drink.
If he, if he knows I haven't, haven't earned any money, he'll definitely, definitely beat me to death!"
The girl stammered out a string of words.
It seemed the girl's father was a cruel drunkard, Aurora thought.
A clear bird call rang out in the sky, a snow-white bird circling overhead.
Rhine had transformed into a bird, wanting to see what Aurora would do.
The most direct method would be to give the girl money.
Of course, whether that money would end up in her drunkard father's hands was another matter.
"Sell me a box of matches," Aurora said.
She had originally planned to buy all the matches and give her some money, but then she thought of a better idea.
"Thank you... thank you, Sister."
The Little Match Girl knew that the other person didn't need matches at all, but was only buying them out of pity for her.
She carefully selected the best-preserved and most beautiful box from the thick paper-wrapped matchboxes, gently wiped off the dust from the matchbox, handed it to Aurora, and then took the money from Aurora, repeatedly expressing her gratitude.
Aurora took the box of matches, turned, and left, disappearing around the corner.
"I sold one box of matches, but I still can't go home," the Little Match Girl thought, shivering again.
She craned her neck, watching the occasional people on the street, wondering when someone would pass by and buy another box of matches.
Aurora walked into a small alley and gently rubbed the Godly Lamp.
Puffs of clouds surged from the Godly Lamp's mouth, forming a giant genie.
The genie's lower body was a torrent of cloudy mist, while its upper body was draped in white cloth.
"My master, do you have any commands?"
Aurora took out that box of matches.
"I want to imbue these matches with magic..."
The Little Match Girl felt she couldn't keep squatting there to shelter from the wind; the snow was falling heavier, and it would only get colder.
She should go further down the road to see if there were any customers, so she could sell all her matches and go home earlier.
The girl stepped out of the crevice between the two luxurious villas, and a biting cold wind immediately swept over her, cutting into her bones like a knife, making her shiver and tremble with cold.
As she endured the cold and was about to continue walking, she suddenly noticed a box of matches abandoned on the deserted street.
The matchbox had come apart, and all the matches inside were scattered on the ground.
The Little Match Girl recognized the matchbox at a glance; it was the very one she had sold to that kind and beautiful sister earlier.
She had personally wiped the dust and snow off it.
"Did that sister drop the matchbox? Uh, she didn't need this box of matches anyway..."
The Little Match Girl picked up the matchbox with a pang of sorrow, then picked up each match, stuffing them all back into the matchbox.
Selling this box of matches could still earn some money, or at the very least, she could use them to warm herself.
She couldn't waste them!
The girl vaguely felt that these matches were somehow different from before; a beautiful light faintly shimmered on them, like twinkling little stars in the sky.
"Did the stars fall from the sky?" This thought flashed through the girl's mind but was immediately dismissed.
The girl remembered her grandmother telling her that when a star fell, a life would end.
The girl thus carried the matches and walked through street after street.
However, the goose-feather snow was too heavy, and there were hardly any people on the street; the occasional passersby didn't need a box of matches either.
The girl could only retreat into the space between the two luxurious villas; it was still terribly cold, but compared to other places, it did block some of the cold wind.
The scent of roast duck wafted from the nearby villa.
She also heard the joyous sounds of people inside the house, knowing they must be enjoying a pleasant and lavish dinner.
At this moment, the girl's entire body was almost numb with cold in the relentless heavy snow.
Her frozen hands fumbled for the matches in her ragged pocket; the matches, like her, were ice-cold.
"So cold.
A little flame to warm my hands," the girl thought, and after much hesitation, she finally took out a precious match from the box.
That match shimmered with specks of starlight—it was one of the matches Aurora had "lost" earlier.
The girl pressed the match against the wall and gently struck it; the match immediately ignited.
She inhaled the scent of roast duck in the air, watched the flickering flame of the match, and couldn't help but think:
"There must be a warm fireplace in that villa.
How wonderful it would be if I also had a warm fireplace here, with a blazing fire!
It would definitely be warmer than this match's flame."
Just then, the girl suddenly saw a warm fireplace reflected in the flickering match flame.
The fire in the fireplace blazed, dispelling the chill around it.
She lunged forward, extending her stiff, frozen hands, wanting to grasp the flame.
She vaguely knew it was her hallucination, but she was too cold to care anymore.
It wasn't until the heat of the flame made the girl withdraw her hand that she was surprised to see a real fireplace appear before her.
By then, the match in her hand had gone out, and the twinkling starlight on it had vanished.
But the fireplace in front of her remained, emitting waves of warmth and dispelling the cold.
The girl rubbed her eyes, looked closely for a long time, and felt the long-lost warmth before finally confirming—a fireplace had truly appeared here!
"Where did this fireplace come from?"
"I just wished for a warm fireplace, and it really appeared?"
The girl was both surprised and amazed, huddling by the fireplace to warm herself.
The fireplace's flame seemed to burn endlessly, continuously emitting a warm and gentle light, warming the girl's entire body, which had been almost numb with cold.
She felt incredibly fortunate to have such a warm fireplace on such a cold winter day!
"But where exactly did this fireplace come from?" the girl wondered.
In the sky, Aurora and Rhine, both transformed into birds, observed the scene.
"The girl should soon discover that each of these matches has magical power, capable of fulfilling small, one-time wishes and conjuring desired objects," the bird Aurora said.
"Only she can use the magic of these matches."
"So, you want to see how she will use this supernatural power? How she will actively make wishes, rather than passively accepting your gifts?" Rhine asked.
"Uh, something like that," Aurora said.
"I always feel that if I personally intervened and bestowed pity from a high position, it would feel strange.
I want to see what wishes she will make, how she will solve her own predicament, and whether she will do evil."
The bird Aurora suddenly laughed and turned to Rhine:
"Just like back then, didn't you also give me a chance to solve my own problems, Teacher?"
Aurora waited patiently for the girl to strike and light the second match, truly discovering the effect of these magical matches.
Just then, a swallow flew past the two birds.
The swallow held a beautiful sapphire in its beak, flew to the girl's side, and gently placed the sapphire in her hand.
The Little Match Girl took the sapphire, stunned.
"So many magical things have happened today—first a warm fireplace to dispel the cold, and now a bird has given me a beautiful gem!"
Because of the new miracle, the Little Match Girl did not connect the sudden appearance of the fireplace with the lighting of the match.
"Grandma said that such a beautiful gem must be very valuable, probably worth more than the money we'd get from selling several boxes of matches!" the Little Match Girl thought excitedly.
"If I take this sapphire to Father, he definitely won't hit me."
In reality, what the girl didn't know was that the value of this sapphire couldn't be matched even if she sold matches her entire life!
The girl happily carried the sapphire home.
Aurora watched the girl, holding the sapphire, gradually disappear down the street, stunned.
"Teacher, did you direct the bird to do that?" she turned and asked.
"No," Rhine answered calmly.
"Then why did a swallow suddenly fly over and give her a gem?" Aurora was very surprised.
"You can try to explore it yourself," Rhine replied.
He hadn't used divination magic to find the reason, but he vaguely guessed the truth.
"With this sapphire, the girl won't need to wish upon the matches for now.
But it doesn't matter; at least she can finally go home."
Aurora, transformed into a bird, flapped her wings, landed back on the ground, transformed back into human form, and then took out a sand table for a simple divination, learning the location of the girl's home.
Aurora then walked towards the girl's house.
Just as she reached the door, Aurora heard intense sounds coming from inside.
"You little brat, tell me, where did this gem come from!
How do you have such an expensive gem?"
It was a very fierce man's voice, presumably the Little Match Girl's father.
His voice immediately suggested a bad temper.
"A swallow flew and gave it to me," the Little Match Girl's voice came out, trembling, clearly very afraid of her father.
"A swallow gave it to you, what story are you making up!
Did you steal it from somewhere?
No one's going to come knocking, are they?"
This was followed by the father's severe scolding, and then the violent crashing of furniture.
Just as Aurora was about to force her way in, she heard the girl crying and explaining to her father that the beautiful sapphire was truly given to her by a swallow.
"Father, everything I said is true, how could I lie to you!"
The girl's intermittent sobs could be heard.
"Alright, let's just assume what you're saying is true, you probably found it somewhere."
The father believed the gem wouldn't bring trouble to their family and reluctantly accepted the girl's explanation.
"This thing, it's just like the sapphire in the eye of that statue in the town center; if it's real, it could probably fetch a lot of money!"
The father happily accepted the gem, believing this treasure would allow him to buy several more bottles of good wine, or exchange it for chips at the gambling table.
"The Little Match Girl still hasn't discovered the magic of the matches," Aurora thought.
"However, that gem looks quite valuable; could it change their family's life from now on?"
Late that night, the Little Match Girl's father went out into the wind and snow, pawned the gem at a pawn shop, and exchanged it for drinking money and gambling funds.
The greedy merchant who received the gem, taking advantage of the man's lack of education, deliberately undervalued the gem, describing it as a finely crafted fake, and only gave him a very small amount of money.
The next day, the small amount of money obtained from the sapphire was lost entirely by the girl's father at the gambling table.
The remaining small change was also exchanged for a bottle of fine wine, used to soothe the father's disappointment over his bad luck today.
By evening, the father again drove the girl out of the house, ordering her not to return until she had sold all the matches on her.
The Little Match Girl cried, describing the cold outside, begging her father to let her stay home that night.
But she was met only by the clang of the broken wooden door closing and a colder, more biting wind than last night.
In the distance, Aurora stood quietly on a rooftop, witnessing it all.
"What a pity; that sapphire brought no change to her fate whatsoever."
Aurora felt a touch of sadness.
She was also somewhat relieved that she hadn't chosen to simply give the girl money at first—otherwise, that money would have only turned into empty wine bottles and gambling chips.
The girl shiveringly walked onto the street until the sun had completely set and the blood-red afterglow disappeared below the horizon, yet she hadn't sold a single match.
Whoosh.
The cold north wind swept in, like bone-chilling ice blades.
To escape the cold wind, the Little Match Girl once again came to the secluded corner between the two luxurious houses, squatted down, and smelled the scent of roast duck in the cold wind.
She was hungry, cold, and tired, and her trembling hand pulled out a match from her ragged clothes.
The match shimmered with specks of starlight.