Chapter 1287: The Long Letter

Amber poked her head out from behind Gawain’s arm, blinking as she took in the scene inside the small wooden cabin. Her gaze eventually settled on the central pillar, where two unremarkable pale pink flowers bloomed.

“…Is this really where Filna and Relna lived? I mean, the real elven twins?” She turned to Gawain, uncertainty coloring her voice.

“The clues point to that,” Gawain replied quietly, stepping inside the cabin. The low, cramped space felt tight against his broad frame, but even here, he could sense the warmth that once filled this home—whether in the carefully crafted household items or the withered bouquet of blackened flowers resting on the corner table. It was easy to imagine someone having lived here long ago.

Amber followed him in, trailed by Kamail, Melita, and the master-apprentice pair, Daniel and Mary. The already small cabin suddenly felt crowded. The newcomers’ eyes widened with curiosity as they took in the surroundings, but only Kamail truly understood the story of the elven twins from a thousand years past. The former rebel’s gaze fixed on the vines creeping along the walls, and after a long pause, he murmured, “So you’ve been here all along…”

“Looks like there’s a long story behind this,” Melita said softly. Then, glancing at the cramped cabin, she added, “This fragile structure probably isn’t suited for so many people searching inside. I’ll step outside to check the area—before the ship docked, I thought I saw something interesting in the distance.”

“Let’s go too,” Daniel said in a low voice. “I’ll take Mary to search around for any other valuable clues. Mary, snap out of it—let’s move.”

With Melita, Daniel, and Mary gone, the cabin suddenly felt much more spacious. Gawain nodded to Kamail and Amber, who remained behind. “Split up and search. If they lived here for centuries, there has to be some trace left behind.”

“I think I’ve already found some ‘trace,’” Amber said, pointing to a nearby wall. Gawain followed her gesture and finally noticed faint carvings etched into the wood. “There seem to be words—covering the whole wall.”

Before Gawain could respond, Kamail drifted over to the wall. The ancient rebel raised his hand, and a bright white orb of light materialized in the air, instantly dispelling the cabin’s gloom. The faint carvings on the wall sharpened into clear, legible script—an entire wall covered in writing. It looked as if it had been etched long ago. The passage of time hadn’t completely worn away the inscriptions, and the dust coating the “divine wood” walls hadn’t obscured them entirely.

Gawain’s eyes widened as he found the beginning of the text. The letter, written in Elvish, was finally revealed to its first reader:

“To those who come after us—though we are uncertain if anyone will truly arrive here, or if the next visitor will recognize these words or understand our story, we hold onto hope. We hope you are the ones we have been waiting for, and that it is not too late.

“Our names are Filna Whitefrost and Relna Whitefrost, from the Silver Empire. As consulting scholars for the Gondor Empire’s ‘Rebellion Project,’ our duty was to unravel the mysteries behind the existence of gods, to uncover the inner workings of their madness as civilizations evolved, and to seek ways for mortals to resist both natural and divine catastrophes…

“Due to a grave experimental accident, we have been trapped here for centuries. During this time, all communication with the outside world has ceased, and we have been trapped in a deadly environment. Yet, by some stroke of fortune, we found a safe haven in this dreadful place—whether we like it or not, this refuge standing in the darkness seems to be the very force we sought to oppose. This massive divine tree’s remains appear to be the ‘Cycle Great Tree’ of the elven faith—the godly realm of Amon, the nature deity…

“Surrounding this withered and mysteriously dead divine tree is an ancient ruin beyond mortal comprehension. Despite all our knowledge and wisdom, we cannot fathom who built this astonishing marvel, when, or how it floats among the many divine realms, even serving as the graveyard of the Cycle Great Tree.

“During our captivity, we spent many years exploring this place—the Cycle Great Tree and the steel world beyond it. We found no way home, nor the cause of the tree’s death and stranding. But we were not without gain. In the steel world, over centuries, we discovered writings, images, symbols, and some… terminals capable of displaying information.

“Through a long and arduous process, we gradually pieced together the meaning behind these scattered clues. It took a long time, but we finally extracted some useful information from the dispersed texts and symbols:

“‘Sentinel’—this is the name of the steel world. And the creator of all this was an ancient and highly advanced civilization known as the ‘Voyagers.’”

Gawain’s eyes sharpened instantly, locking onto the carvings on the wall. The aura he unconsciously radiated startled Amber beside him, but he quickly regained his usual calm.

This place was Sentinel. The colossal structure, almost like a worldly kingdom’s ‘mother port,’ was Sentinel itself—not a weapon or a mighty ancient warrior, but a massive construct rivaling the heavens in scale.

Though astonishing, this revelation didn’t completely shatter Gawain’s expectations. When he first saw this giant floating in the dark chaos, he had already suspected as much. Now, that suspicion was confirmed, stirring a deep shock within him—but not despair.

“Keep reading,” he said softly, rousing Amber and Kamail from their stunned silence. “They haven’t yet explained why we must ‘beware the Sentinel.’”

Kamail and Amber nodded, their eyes fixed on the Elvish script covering the wooden wall as the long letter continued to unfold the ancient tale—

“…After our initial discoveries, our exploration of the steel world became much more efficient. We began to uncover some… truths. And these truths mark the beginning of all the horrors, the very reason we must leave this warning. If the outside world has not yet fallen into its worst fate, then please, remember this above all else: beware the Sentinel! It has been corrupted. It has broken free from its duties and logic. It may seek to end all life on this planet!

“Now that we have issued this warning, we will share the specific ‘truths’ we uncovered.

“The ‘Voyagers,’ the advanced civilization that created Sentinel, visited our world long ago. From the fragments we found, this powerful race defeated the ‘gods’ of this planet and took most of the intelligent beings away. We do not know their purpose, but one thing is certain: they left many things behind, and this colossal entity called ‘Sentinel’ is one of them.

“Sentinel’s original mission was to perform surveillance and wait. It could monitor the operations of many divine realms, recording millions of years of history. It possessed an ancient, tireless mind to fulfill this near-eternal task, endlessly waiting until a final ‘goal’ was achieved… But centuries ago, before we arrived, this plan was already broken!

“Something terrible corrupted this ancient and powerful legacy. We do not know what force could so easily breach—or bypass—the extremely advanced defenses here, nor the source or nature of this corruption. At first, we only found traces of pollution: malfunctioning ancient terminals and chambers destroyed by unknown forces. We thought the biggest problem was system failure—until we discovered a hidden chamber containing a copied, abandoned version of ourselves, where we recovered memories that had been erased!

“When we fell here, we had been ‘captured.’ For some frenzied reason, Sentinel collected our physical data and quickly created a copy of one of us. We don’t know how it accomplished this so fast, but this was clearly part of its plan to ‘leave’ this place…

“Yes, leave. This ancient, powerful mind—supposedly tireless and eternally loyal to its mission—has gone mad. The corruption we found seems to have slowly poisoned Sentinel over the long years, granting it a ‘humanity’—but a fragile, volatile, and maddened humanity. In the recovered memories, we still feel the oppressive, twisted aura Sentinel emitted while creating our copy and transferring its mind into that mortal body—a chilling ecstasy.

“The most terrifying part is that all this happened long ago, before we fell into this dark chaos. Sentinel’s corruption and loss of control occurred even earlier! It’s been too late for too many years. Even when we realized we had been tools for Sentinel’s escape, centuries had already passed!

“We don’t know why we survived. After capturing and copying us, we should have lost value to it. Instead, our memories were erased, and we were discarded among the ruins of the Cycle Great Tree… But this mystery matters little compared to the madness of Sentinel.

“To this day, we do not know what the escaped Sentinel intends, nor what fate awaits the outside world. But one thing is certain: the world faces great danger from Sentinel’s escape—danger that may surpass the magical tides and divine calamities…

“After realizing the horror of what had happened, we have pondered how to warn the outside world—though we know this warning may already be too late. We have been trapped here for centuries, meaning Sentinel’s use of our copy as a stepping stone to escape happened long ago. The outside world may already be gone. Even if the warning reaches out, it may only find ruins. Yet we have never given up hope, and… we have glimpsed a faint hope.

“About four hundred years after we were trapped, this space was visited by a strange… traveler.”

“We don’t know how he came to this place—he himself doesn’t even remember. He called himself Modir Wilde, a wandering adventurer. Somewhere along his journey, a stretch of his memory was lost. When he awoke, he was already here, in this strange space. The only thing he recalled was a towering goddess, as massive as a mountain, holding a black-and-white scepter, who offered him guidance and aid… We have no idea who this ‘goddess’ was. It sounds like the ramblings of a hallucination. But regardless, a visitor did enter this realm, which means our warning might have a chance to reach beyond these walls. We told this great adventurer about the Sentinels’ threat, and shortly after, he vanished before our eyes as if into thin air…

“We don’t know if he returned to the real world, or if he succeeded in delivering the warning. All we can do is hope that he carried the message of the Sentinels to the outside world. Through him, we learned of the great explosion in Gondor, the onslaught of the magical storms, the upheaval that turned the world upside down, and the severing of ancient legacies. We don’t know if all this is connected to the Sentinel who escaped captivity, but at least the world outside hasn’t been utterly destroyed. At least the orphans of Gondor have begun to rebuild their kingdom… The state of the world is far better than our darkest fears. That alone is enough to rekindle our hope, and to keep us waiting in hope.

“But sadly, we cannot wait forever… We are only mortals, mortals with slightly longer lifespans.

“Now, centuries have passed since that strange adventurer left this place. We can feel the life within us fading… Even under the protection of the Great Tree of Rebirth, our lives here are drawing to an end. Perhaps it was the toll of being captured by the Sentinels that shortened our years, or maybe this peculiar environment hastens our aging. Whatever the cause… as elves, we are growing old before our time.

“We can no longer wait for rescue, nor for news from the outside. We still don’t know if the world was saved by our warning, or if it has helplessly marched toward its doom… To those who come after us, if you truly exist—sorry that you must hear our fractured, scattered tale in this way.

“If the world outside is still safe, if there is still time…

“Beware the Sentinels.”

(End of chapter)