Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1235: Chapter 1234: Shadow Sand Dust

The few gray-white grains of sand were the ”samples” that Maji brought back from afar in Talronde, a mysterious substance Modir Vealt retrieved from the ”other side” while pursued by ancient divine power. They quietly lay against the black velvet background, like faint stars embedded in the night sky. Around them, a very subtle gray-white tint extended onto the velvet, resembling a diffused halo. This tint was so indistinct that even Gawain almost failed to notice it if he hadn’t observed closely.

”...Is this it?” Gawain looked with some surprise at the sand grains in the box, speaking subconsciously, ”They look quite inconspicuous...”

”Yes, inconspicuous, but definitely not something that belongs to the material world,” Maji said seriously. ”Before I arrived, Victoria and Heragor had already conducted some examinations on these grains. They found the sand interacts with no magical power, won’t be stained by any color, and when illuminated by colored light, they remain constant gray-white as if their substance still resides in an independent space unaffected by the real world. What we see is merely their projection in reality—but their existence is undeniably real.”

Gawain hummed in acknowledgment, pondering for a moment before suddenly asking, ”What’s Victoria doing over there?”

”She’s staying with Mr. Modir—without revealing her identity,” Maji nodded. ”Mr. Modir’s condition is very unstable; he seems to be constantly pulled into the ’other side’ by the dreamscape, and the bloodline connection between him and Victoria appears to temporarily interfere with this ’pull,’ allowing her to wake him from the dream just in time...”

”I heard Modir’s abnormal condition started emerging after he approached Talronde,” Gawain continued, ”Have you considered temporarily moving him away from that place?”

”Before departing, we discussed this with Heragor, but he advised us against acting rashly,” Maji shook her head. ”Divine power is an extremely bizarre and troublesome ’thing.’ Once entangled with it, simply pulling away on a physical level is useless because the connection has already been established. The divine power can transcend the barrier of time and space—even in worse cases, a hasty retreat might lead to more severe ’backlash’...”

”I understand...” Gawain nodded gently. ”It’s like the beliefs among the gods; if you don’t believe, you’re fine, but once you do, a shackle forms, and breaking free becomes difficult—even the gods can’t control it.”

He couldn’t help but sigh at this thought, then glanced at Amber. To his surprise, the half-elf had been staring at the sand grains in the box in silence, a rare state for her, as she’d usually make a fuss over any new things. Her amber eyes were filled with a complex expression of bewilderment, curiosity, and contemplation.

He then connected this to Amber’s ”origin” and her intricate ties with the shadow realm, and spoke with some concern in his voice: ”Why? Do these things make you feel uncomfortable?”

”No... not really,” Amber finally snapped out of her thoughts, hurriedly shaking her head after hearing Gawain, ”I just feel... inexplicably familiar and warm, as if I’ve been in contact with these things for a very long time ago...”

”Then your feeling is probably correct,” Gawain nodded gently. ”These things are highly likely from the shadow realm, and the shadow realm... is where you truly originated. Perhaps you still have some residual memories in your subconscious from those times.”

Amber nonchalantly acknowledged with an ”oh,” scratching her head without speaking further—Artificial Human No. 36, this is the true origin hidden under her seemingly half-elf exterior. As the pinnacle achievement of the ancient Gondor Empire’s bioengineering, a shadow inhabitant’s soul was inserted into her body. Despite not remembering her past experiences as a shadow inhabitant, it now seems... those lost memories still left indelible traces in her heart.

Maji was left baffled by Gawain and Amber’s conversation, clearly unaware of the Imperial Minister of Intelligence’s ”hidden origin,” and couldn’t help but ask, ”What are you talking about?”

”Nothing, just some old stories,” Gawain waved his hand casually, standing up from behind his desk and picking up the intricate metal box, ”I’ve seen the samples. As ’laymen,’ we probably can’t analyze much; we should ask the real expert... what’s Lady Enya doing at the moment?”

Amber replied casually, ”Who knows? Either reading the newspaper or drinking tea, or playing cards online—either way, living a life of leisure that makes me envious to death...”

Gawain couldn’t help but sigh, murmuring as he headed towards the door, ”...You’re not the only one; even I feel envious listening to this.”

Passing through the long corridor from the study to the hatching room, Gawain and the group soon arrived at Lady Enya’s door. They found the door to the hatching room slightly ajar, with faint sounds coming from inside—Gawain was initially curious about who might be visiting this retired deity, but soon heard a ”ga-oh” sound from inside the hatching room.

He and Amber immediately exchanged a knowing smile—”Retired parent taking care of the kids.jpg.”

Gawain stepped forward to push open the door to the hatching room, and on first glance, he saw the young dragon pretending to occupy a mountain peak while sitting on Lady Enya’s eggshell, stretching its neck and uttering random ”ga-oh” sounds in all directions. The golden eggshell with the young dragon perched on it stood firmly in the recesses of the floor’s base, its surface inscribed with light golden magic symbols, exuding a lazy and satisfied air—Gawain’s eyes roamed the room’s interior before noticing another young dragon.

The little one was squatting seriously in a corner, with an iron bucket perched atop its head. On the floor in front was an iron rack with a row of half-cooked grilled meat. Maidservant supervisor Betty was squatting beside the rack, seriously instructing the young dragon on how to correctly use spices and how to properly cook meat—it’s uncertain how effective this education would be.

Gawain just took in the scene, involuntarily displaying a helpless expression; how should he describe it? These folks surely live quite a rich daily life...

”Ah, my friend, good day,” Lady Enya had already noticed Gawain and the group at the door, greeting with a warm and cheerful tone while having the young dragon atop her eggshell, ”You seem to have brought some guests... does it look like you’ve encountered trouble again?”

”Yeah, I’m basically here to ruin your leisurely life,” Gawain replied with a bit of self-deprecation, ”This time I’ve brought new information from Talronde.”

As he spoke, the two young dragons also noticed Gawain and Amber’s arrival. They immediately stopped playing, flitting their wings and running to the door, first raising their wings and lowering their heads to ”ga-oh” twice at Gawain and Amber, then noticing Maji standing quietly nearby.

Their faces instantly showed human-like curiosity, tilting their heads to observe the ”Dragonborn” before them, seemingly recognizing a similar aura though slightly different in the ”Dragonborn.” Not yet understanding the ancient history of the Dragonkin, the young dragons became tense, slightly withdrawing their wings in caution.

This scene momentarily stiffened Maji, who was initially preparing to smile and greet them. Awkwardly standing at the door, her arm raised slightly but unsure where to place it, Gawain quickly noticed this and intended to break the somewhat awkward atmosphere. Yet before he could speak, both young dragons suddenly reacted, letting out joyful ”ga-oh” sounds.

They started bouncing on the floor, flapping their wings to come next to Maji, stretching their long necks to try and nuzzle her hand. Maji, taken by surprise, didn’t react at first. When she finally did, she found herself entangled by the two little creatures, showing an expression of helplessness, yet she was a bit puzzled as she glanced at the ’former divine being’ emitting a faint golden glow in the center of the room.

”Relax a bit, they just find you a bit unfamiliar,” Enya lightly chuckled, her tone gentle and soft, ”Dragons never mistake their own kind.”

”Have the two little ones not been named yet?” Gawain briefly glanced at the young dragons already frolicking around Maji, and asked a bit curiously.

”Not yet, Melita and Nuoletta think they can wait until the two little ones are a bit older to give them a formal name,” Enya said with a smile, ”But now they’ve already got their nicknames, which Melita gave them just yesterday...”

”Nicknames?” Gawain was momentarily taken aback, and he couldn’t help but curl his lips upwards, ”I wasn’t aware of this—what names did Melita give them?”

Enya’s tone seemed a bit helpless: ”Meli and Nole...”

Gawain: ”...Could they be any more casual!!”

”I also think it’s rather casual, but the two little ones seem to like it quite a lot,” Enya casually remarked, ”Let’s not talk about these things anymore, you have business with me today, right?”

Upon mentioning business, Gawain’s expression turned slightly serious. He first glanced at Betty who was standing by, ready for instructions, then waved to the maidservant supervisor: ”Take the two little ones out to play for a while.”

”Yes, Your Majesty.” Betty nodded immediately, quickly walked over, pressed the heads of the two young dragons, and with just a casual command, the two actual dragons obediently followed her, leaving the Hatching Room like two dogs being led home by their owner.

Once Betty and the young dragons had left, Gawain stepped up to Enya and opened the metal box he had been holding: ”Take a look at this.”

As the grey-white sand within the metal box was revealed, the faint golden magic symbols wandering on the surface of Enya’s eggshell paused for a moment; her tone immediately shifted from slightly lazy to extremely serious: ”Where did you get this from?”

Seeing Enya’s reaction, Gawain knew he had come to the right place.

”This might come from a lost kingdom of gods, brought to the real world by a mortal pursued by the power of the gods from their dreams,” Maji quickly explained on the side, ”It seems you know its origin?”

”...This is Shadow Sand Dust, from Lady Night’s blessed land, and since the Voyager left this world, and the whereabouts of Lady Night’s true form became unknown, neither in the real world nor in the shadow realm can such pure sand be found,” a solemn, low voice echoed from the golden giant egg, mingled with memories and emotions, ”These sands exist at the instant light and shadow intersect, the sacred ’eternal product,’ which no color or brightness can change in the eyes of mortals. Wherever they touch is where Lady Night’s kingdom reaches... Indeed, this comes from a lost kingdom of gods; it is Lady Night’s kingdom itself.”

Listening to Enya’s explanation, Maji’s expression suddenly changed, her eyes widened: ”Wait, this sand is Lady Night’s kingdom itself?! Then isn’t taking it out...”

”Child, discussing toxicity without considering volume isn’t wise. Did you notice the grey-white hue extending around those sands? Just with these sands already disconnected from the shadow’s origin, the ’kingdom’ they spread is but a tiny bit.”

”Uh...” Maji’s face momentarily showed embarrassment, ”I got overly nervous just now.”

”Understandable, after all, it’s related to divine power, and it’s connected to an ancient deity who escaped Pursuers during the Voyager epoch and whose whereabouts remain unknown...” Enya leisurely said, ”Even I was startled when I saw these.”

”I recall you mentioning the missing Lady Night,” Gawain suddenly inserted a comment, ”You said she’s possibly in some bizarre state of ’concealment,’ and you can ’sense’ she’s alive...”

”But that was the ’me’ of before,” Enya said faintly, ”I’ve now lost the ability to perceive another god, and what remains is the experience and knowledge to help you identify such ’relics’. Moreover, even the former me... couldn’t help you find the whereabouts of Lady Night, as she hides very deeply.”

”...Is there any feasible idea?” Maji hadn’t given up and continued asking from the side, ”Is there any way we can find clues about the lost kingdom...”

”I have no method, the ’mortal pursued by divine power’ mentioned earlier might be the only clue,” Enya replied immediately, ”Considering your current attitude... that mortal must be quite special?”

”...That’s precisely the other matter we need to tell you,” Gawain said with a soft sigh, ”That mortal should be known to you—his name is Modir Vealt, a human adventurer who was active six hundred years ago. You’ve seen him at the Tower of the Inversion Tide.”

In an instant, the Hatching Room fell silent. The surface of Enya’s eggshell showed no sign of expression, but Gawain could almost feel the substantial solemn aura emanating from it. This silence lasted several seconds before the voice of the former Dragon God came from the golden giant egg: ”Seems I made a major lapse back then... What happened at the Tower of the Inversion Tide?”

Just as Gawain expected, upon hearing Modir Vealt’s name, Enya was immediately connected to the tower left behind by the Voyagers—that was the central hub linking Modir with Talronde, and bridging the era of six hundred years ago with the current era; it was also the key factor most likely to lead matters toward the ’divine domain.’

”Nothing’s happened yet,” Gawain sighed lightly, ”But Heragor is deeply worried.”