Chapter 1238: A Word of Warning

It was a thick, heavy tome bound in jet-black leather, crafted from some unknown material so smooth it gleamed like a mirror. From within its pages, tiny pinpricks of light flickered and danced, like stars twinkling in the night sky. Watching the shifting patterns of those lights, Amber couldn’t help but imagine the bustling crowds of the imperial capital’s streets, teeming with life. Yet, aside from this mesmerizing glow, the book’s cover bore no title, no author’s name—nothing at all.

The book lay quietly atop a stone pillar, its starry cover seeming to guard the secrets within. The pillar itself evoked the image of a lectern in a cathedral or a grand library… perhaps that was its true purpose?

Amber glanced back at the massive throne nearby. Compared to that mountainous seat, the small stone pillar and the black leather book perched upon it seemed as insignificant as a grain of sand. If this was truly the Lady of Night’s reading stand, then she must find it terribly uncomfortable to use.

Her mind wandered to such absurd thoughts, but she quickly refocused on the book. From within its pages, the same old, gentle voice spoke again, tinged with amusement: “Yes, I suppose I really am a book. Though I feel like I used to be a person… a human. Strange, isn’t it?”

“Have you always been like this?” Amber asked cautiously. Though she had a rough idea of what this strange place and the peculiar ‘book’ were, she knew better than to speak carelessly. Every word had to be measured. “How long have you been here?”

“Forever… that’s an interesting question, because I don’t even know why I became like this, or when I arrived,” the voice chuckled softly. “I’ve been here a very long time, but time flows strangely here. I can’t say how long I’ve been stuck… How I became a book? I have no memory of that at all.”

There was a pause, then a hint of curiosity crept into the voice. “But you, young lady—how did you come here? You don’t seem frightened or confused, not like someone who’s stumbled into an unknown realm by accident.”

“I… my situation is a bit special,” Amber replied carefully, “I come from the Shadow Realm, so I know a little about this place.”

“Oh… the Shadow Realm…” The voice seemed momentarily distant, as if the adventurer’s thoughts were clouded by hazy memories. “I know strange things happen there… but honestly, I never imagined the Shadow Realm would harbor beings who look so human—or perhaps… half-elven?”

The conversation could have gone on forever, but Amber seized the moment when the voice paused to steer the topic back to herself. “Sir, do you know where this place is?”

“This? Oh, this is the Divine Realm of the Lady of Night,” the voice answered plainly, catching Amber off guard with its bluntness. “At least, it used to be.”

Amber’s eyes widened slightly. Though she had suspected from earlier information that this endless gray-white desert might be the Lady’s divine domain, hearing it confirmed aloud was a different kind of shock. Then she caught the other word the voice used—“used to be”—and couldn’t help but repeat it. “Used to be? What do you mean?”

“The Lady of Night has long since abandoned her throne… many years ago. The Divine Realm is no longer a divine realm,” the voice said slowly, tinged with a wistful tone. “She calls this place a world out of sync, forgotten by all. I don’t fully understand her perspective, but that description fits—though it sounds a bit mystical.”

“Where is the Lady of Night now?” Amber asked immediately, glancing back at the towering throne, still empty. The ruler of this realm showed no sign of presence. “Is she usually not here?”

“Oh, she’s not here now,” the voice replied, a trace of confusion in it. “But most of the time, she sits on that throne… I don’t know where she’s gone. I’m just a temporary guest here, no right to know the mistress’s whereabouts. But I suspect she’s off dealing with trouble at the ‘border’… some unwelcome visitor keeps causing chaos there, and handling that is why she occasionally leaves the throne.”

“Border? Trouble?” Amber was puzzled and about to ask more when a sudden chill swept through her body, a deep, soul-stirring dread that forced her to swallow her words. She felt uneasy and confused, unsure where the feeling came from—but then she realized it was a warning from deep within her soul, a power granted by her status as the Night’s Chosen, urging her to avoid a deadly danger.

In her decades of life, such warnings had been rare but unfailingly accurate. This was her little secret, one of the reasons she believed so firmly in her divine selection. The last time this warning had saved her was just before the Aberrant army attacked Old Cecil’s territory.

That time, the inner alarm had driven her blindly into the ancestral tomb of the Cecil family, saving her life and allowing her to witness the greatest miracle in the world. Now, it stopped her from asking about the border and the trouble—she was drenched in cold sweat.

Whatever that “border” and “trouble” were, she must never ask. Never listen. It was surely a fatal contamination to even know about it.

“Little girl? What are you thinking about?” The voice from the book pulled Amber back from her reverie. The adventurer Wilde’s tone was tinged with concern. “Are you worried you’re trapped here and can’t leave? Maybe I can help… Though I can’t leave myself, it’s relatively easy for visitors like you who accidentally come here to get out.”

“Oh, I was just distracted,” Amber quickly recovered, then looked at the black leather book in surprise. “Wait… have others accidentally come here before me?”

“Yes, but all before I arrived. The Lady of Night says I haven’t been here long, and visitors accidentally entering this place are so rare they might only happen once or twice in thousands of years. So I haven’t met any yet,” Wilde said slowly. “But the Lady also told me how to send those visitors away, just in case…”

“How exactly?” Amber asked, curious.

“See that leaning pillar next to the throne? It’s the nearest boundary beacon. Climb to the top and jump down.”

Amber’s eyes went wide. Looking at the book, her expression screamed, I have no quarrel with you, sir, why do you treat me like a fool? The book seemed to sense it, and the old man’s voice sighed in resignation. “I knew you’d react like that… Visitors who accidentally come here always do. But it really is the only way to leave this space, at least as far as I know…”

Amber thought to herself, That’s not the only way. She knew of the great adventurer Modir, personally guarded by Duchess Victoria, who had entered this world three times and returned safely each time. And she herself could leave through shadow-walking, no need to climb any “boundary beacon.”

Still, she reasoned that their cases might be exceptions. Perhaps ordinary people trapped in this “displaced divine realm” truly could only escape by climbing the pillar and jumping.

Frowning, she looked seriously at the black leather book. “Is it really necessary to climb that pillar and jump to leave? Why?”

“I don’t know the exact reason. The Lady of Night only told me one thing,” Wilde recalled. “She said: ‘Falling is the shortcut to waking from a dream.’”

“Falling is the shortcut to waking from a dream… a dream…” Amber’s pointed ears twitched, and a thoughtful expression crossed her face. “What does that mean? Is this place actually just a dream?”

“I don’t know what she meant exactly, but this is definitely not a dream. Physical forces work here—she said so herself. Ah… maybe she mentioned ‘dream’ because she often dreams herself?”

“The Lady of Night often dreams?” Amber frowned. “What does that mean? Why does she keep dreaming?”

“Hahaha, how should I know?” The old man’s hearty laughter echoed from the book. “She just does—sometimes awake, sometimes asleep. Most of the time, she’s dreaming. And I’m just a guest here; how could I ask the mistress why she dreams?”

“Well… that makes sense,” Amber scratched her head, jotting down the information carefully while pondering what else to ask. Then her gaze fell on the black leather cover again. Curious about this self-proclaimed “Great Adventurer Wilde” (or perhaps Wilde himself?), she hesitated a moment before asking, “Um… can I open you and take a look?”

The voice sounded puzzled. “Open me?”

“Yes. You see, you’re a book now, right? I was just thinking…” Even Amber’s tough nerves found the idea strange. She gestured awkwardly, her confidence fading. “I just wanted to flip through… Of course, if you don’t want me to, that’s fine. I can apologize if it offends you…”

“Oh no, of course not. There’s nothing offensive about that. I do seem to be a book now, and books can be opened,” Wilde’s voice sounded odd, as if he was realizing this for the first time. “How interesting—I never thought about that before…”

“Has the Lady of Night ever opened you?” Amber asked curiously.

“Of course not. She’s… quite large, probably not used to reading such a small book. Besides, she’s said she doesn’t much like reading,” Wilde said casually, then his tone brightened. “Little girl, if you want to open me, go ahead. I’ve been lying here for many, many years, never opened by anyone. Now I’m suddenly curious… what’s written inside this ‘book’ of mine.”

Amber immediately broke into a smile. As she walked toward the stone pillar, she rubbed her hands together eagerly, muttering to herself, “So… am I really done for now?”

Her hand landed on the cover of the large black leather-bound book. Instead of the expected texture of paper or leather, a strange sensation—like touching jade—spread through her fingertips. The first thing she noticed was a chill, cold and lifeless like stone. Then, cautiously, she flipped open the pitch-black cover that shimmered faintly with starlight. The nameless tome, calling itself The Great Adventurer Wilde, finally revealed its first page to her eyes.

But instead of dense text or mysterious, eerie illustrations, the faintly glowing white page held only a few large, striking words:

Beware the Sentinels!!

The moment Amber read those words, her heart skipped a beat. It felt as if behind those simple letters lay a vast, hidden message trying to seep into her mind—only to vanish the instant she became aware of it, like fragments of a broken puzzle slipping away.

She stared at the words in stunned silence for several seconds before instinctively flipping to the next page. There, the same phrase appeared again:

Beware the Sentinels!!

Suddenly, realization dawned on her. She flipped rapidly through more pages, and on every single one, the warning repeated without end: Beware the Sentinels, beware the Sentinels! Beware the Sentinels!!

“Little one,” a voice suddenly echoed from the book, pulling Amber out of her anxious daze. The old man’s voice was warm and curious. “Do you see what’s written ‘on me’? Is it my life story? Or some important adventure notes?”

“Beware the Sentinels.”

“Beware the Sentinels? What does that mean?”

“There’s nothing else,” Amber said quickly, snapping the book shut as if it had burned her. “Sir, don’t you know what it means? Your pages are filled with nothing but this phrase, over and over. It sounds like a warning… Beware the Sentinels!”

“I… I don’t remember,” Wilde said, sounding a bit lost. “Beware the Sentinels? I have no idea what you mean by ‘Sentinels’…”

Amber opened her mouth to respond, but she had no idea how to explain any of this to the book—or the man before her. Just then, a sudden wave of weightlessness and dizziness swept over her, shattering all her thoughts.

The next moment, she felt herself falling backward, crashing hard onto the cold, unforgiving floor…

(End of chapter)