Chapter 1404: The Visit
The dark clouds had finally dispersed. After seven centuries, normal sunlight once again bathed the land that had once been home to an ancient and mighty civilization. Under the fading light of dusk, the Tarash Plain fell silent, its earlier chaos giving way to an almost surreal calm.
But this calm was only on the surface. The strange phenomena that had appeared earlier had unsettled countless hearts. As the clouds parted, fragments burning through the atmosphere rained down like a spectacular fiery shower across the wasteland. Everyone on the battlefield witnessed this breathtaking sight. Coupled with the massive, mysterious spaceship that had descended onto the field, wild speculations ran rampant. Ordinary soldiers had no idea what was happening beyond the battlefield, but one thing was clear to all: these fiery fragments were far from ordinary meteors. They had the three great empires on edge.
Across every front line, the aerial forces of the three empires were in hot pursuit, chasing the falling “meteors.”
The Dawn of the Mortal World had returned to its assigned front. This colossal, battle-scarred aerial behemoth now hovered silently above the allied Ogure tribes. The scars of war had stripped away its former gleam, but in the sunset’s glow, it radiated a profound, rugged majesty.
Jina Prince stepped onto the deck. Bathed in the sunset, she gazed toward the sky not far away.
The peak of the meteor shower had passed. Now, only a few faint sparks occasionally streaked across the heavens. A thin, clean layer of clouds drifted beneath the setting sun, faintly tracing the paths scorched by the fiery rain. High-altitude reconnaissance teams—both from the Dawn of the Mortal World and the Dragonborn scouts—had taken off minutes ago, heading west to track the fall sites of these “heavenly objects.” Meanwhile, specialized units and commanders had taken over the battlefield’s cleanup. For a brief moment, Jina found herself with a rare chance to catch her breath.
She touched her forehead. The wound from when she had slammed into the command chair was already staunched and partially healed thanks to alchemical potions, though a dull ache lingered. For a transcendent like her, such a minor injury was nothing. In fact, feeling that sting amid the settling dust felt almost… comforting.
That sharp, tangible pain reminded her she was still alive. It confirmed the reality of their victory—and the survival of this world.
Just then, her magical comm device buzzed with a special tone—the highest-level communication alert. Jina quickly composed herself and activated the audio channel. The voice of Gawain Cecil came through: “How are things on your end?”
Jina reported immediately: “Your Majesty, the Dawn of the Mortal World has returned to its standby position. The battle group is generally in good shape, though the ship itself has sustained structural damage in several areas. The main neural system is impaired, and there have been some casualties. A full repair and personnel replenishment will be necessary. We’ve just made contact with ground forces. The Ogure tribal alliance and the western corps led by Duke Bertram have suffered heavy losses. A medical ship has already landed to provide aid.”
“Well done,” Gawain’s voice seemed to relax. Then he asked, “Is Princess Rebecca alright?”
“She’s resting. She fought bravely and fearlessly during the battle. After the accelerator array commanders were all lost, she took control and delivered the decisive strike against the creeping plague. She’s earned everyone’s respect.”
“Good,” Gawain’s voice softened with a hint of a smile. “Have the teams tracking the space debris departed?”
“Eight minutes ago,” Jina replied meticulously. “The Dawn of the Mortal World’s tracking system has identified several large fragments heading toward the vast wilderness between the Ogure Mountains and the Gondor Wasteland. Given their size and descent speed, the impact sites should be obvious. It’s still unclear if any fragments are headed toward inhabited areas.”
“Focus on tracking those that fall in the wasteland. Don’t rush to recover them—mark and monitor the sites, and await further orders.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
There was a brief silence on the other end before Gawain’s voice returned, low and steady: “Thank you for your hard work.”
Jina paused, then straightened up sharply, her voice ringing out louder than she expected: “It’s my duty!”
…
At the northern command post on the Tarash Plain, Gawain ended the communication with the Dawn of the Mortal World and absentmindedly scratched his ear. Amber, standing beside him, mimicked the gesture, then reported with a serious expression: “The warnings about the ‘space debris’ have been sent to all nations. Observatories, air defense stations, and mage towers around the wasteland are monitoring the skies. Emergency evacuation orders have been issued for high-risk areas. There shouldn’t be any major problems.”
“Most of the large debris is falling into uninhabited zones of the wasteland. Smaller fragments won’t cause much damage. It’s a small mercy,” Gawain exhaled softly, his expression oddly conflicted. “Good thing the Sentinel was thoroughly dismantled, and that it entered the atmosphere at a ‘favorable’ angle. Otherwise, if a giant ship like that had crashed down, this mortal civilization might not survive the season—or at least suffer devastating losses…”
“Exactly. Winning the war only to be crushed by the enemy’s corpse—that would be a bitter irony,” Amber muttered, waving her hand. “It’d be like digging up a grave successfully, only to get beaten up by the grave itself…”
The Shadow Assault Goose was at it again with her usual cheekiness. But this time, Gawain didn’t banter back. Instead, he stared at her intently, as if trying to detect the slightest hint of something unusual. Amber shivered under his gaze and crossed her arms defensively. “W-what’s with the stare? You’re scaring me. Might as well just hit me already…”
“…Nothing. Just looking,” Gawain said, exhaling and waving it off.
He still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with Amber earlier. Several attempts to question her had yielded no answers. Now, focusing on it seemed overly paranoid, so he set the doubt aside and returned his attention to the matter at hand.
“It’s clear that the debris from the Sentinel’s destruction will stir up quite a commotion within the Alliance,” he said casually. “Though the Inverse Tide corrupted nearly all its core systems, and the battle tore its main structure apart, even the remaining fragments are a huge treasure for the Alliance today…”
“Not just the Sentinel’s debris,” Amber added, shaking her head. “There’s also that ‘rotten flesh’ lying northeast of the Deep Blue Well. A remnant of an ancient god—imagine how much useful stuff we can extract from it. The fragments left after the War God’s fall still haven’t been fully studied.”
“The Divine Authority Council will handle the Inverse Tide’s remnants. Our senior advisors know how to deal with such dangerous containment objects. As for the Sentinel’s debris… it’ll probably require a dedicated multinational agency. Something that no single nation can control.”
Amber frowned, clearly worried. “Even so, won’t researching this stuff risk repeating what happened with the Inverse Tide Empire in ancient times? Between the Legacy of the Starfarers and the Inverse Tide’s wreckage, it feels like a ticking time bomb…”
“That’s exactly why we must pursue this research openly, on a large scale, involving all Alliance nations,” Gawain said gravely. “It wasn’t contact with the Starfarers’ legacy that caused the ‘Inverse Tide’—it was ignorance and blind worship of that legacy. Advanced knowledge isn’t scary; what’s dangerous is treating that knowledge like a god.”
He paused, then continued slowly: “‘Ignorance’ is the catalyst for mental shackles. When things like the Starfarers and the Inverse Tide are exposed to the world, the more we hide from them, the more mysterious—and even divine—they become. Many fall into this trap, even the Dragonborn once did. But in truth, rational exploration and the pursuit of knowledge are the best defenses against the birth of divinity. Sealing off ‘forbidden things’ only breeds more unspeakable monsters over time.”
Amber listened thoughtfully. “So divine contamination is worse the less educated you are…”
Gawain nodded. “Without math and science, life is full of myths.”
“So what’s our next move?” Amber pondered. “Should we contact Typhon and Silver now, get them ready to set up a ‘Sentinel Research Institute’ within the Alliance? Or talk to those senior advisors and have them draft a containment and research plan for the Inverse Tide debris?”
“Neither,” Gawain shook his head, looking out the window toward a distant point on the plain. “Right now, the most urgent thing… is to visit a friend—someone both familiar and strange.”
“Familiar and strange…” Amber’s brow furrowed in confusion. Then, following Gawain’s gaze, she saw the scene on the distant plain. Amid rising smoke, the majestic shield of the Deep Blue Well quietly covered the center of the battlefield. As the focal point of the entire battle, that barrier had stood firm until the very end.
During the fight, the Well’s remaining defenses had drawn and held back nearly a third of the wasteland legions on the Tarash Plain, allowing the various forces guarding the “End Tower” to complete their near-impossible defense. After the battle, the area around the Deep Blue Well had fallen into silence.
It was so quiet now that Amber almost forgot this “allied force” even existed.
“…Why haven’t we heard anything from Veronica’s side?” Amber’s expression tightened as she recalled that no communication had come from the Deep Blue Well since the latter half of the battle. “Could something have gone wrong?”
No sooner had she spoken than the magical comm device on the nearby table buzzed to life. Veronica’s expressionless face appeared on the screen: “Nothing’s wrong.”
“You scared me!” Amber jumped, glaring at the hologram. “Why didn’t you say anything? The battle’s over—at least come out and report you’re safe…”
Veronica remained impassive and brief: “Resting.”
Amber’s lips twitched slightly as she looked at Veronica with a hint of suspicion. “…Why do I get the feeling you’ve got some kind of issue with me?”
This time, Veronica didn’t respond to Amber at all. Instead, she turned her gaze toward Gawain. In the holographic projection, she gave a slight bow, her voice as calm and gentle as ever. “I am currently lifting the lockdowns on the underground bunker’s various levels and opening a passage from the surface down to the deeper layers. I will send you the coordinates for the entrance shortly. You may enter the Deep Blue Well at any time. I will be waiting for you in the fortress’s deepest chamber.”
Gawain nodded but then looked a bit curious. “You can’t come out? It’s safe outside now…”
Veronica lowered her head slightly. “…I’m sorry, but I cannot leave the control center.”
“Alright, I understand,” Gawain said without pressing further. “I’ll head over now—this time, we can finally talk face to face.”
The communication ended, and the hologram above the arcane network terminal faded into thin air. Gawain glanced at Amber. “Get ready. You’re coming with me to that ancient fortress. Let’s see what remnants of the Gondor Empire’s glory still remain.”
Without hesitation, Amber shook her head. “I’m not going. I think Veronica has it out for me…”
Before she could say more, Gawain casually scooped her up.
Moments later, a Dragonrider fighter jet took off from the northern command post, escorted by several other aircraft and two Dragonborn warriors, heading toward the Deep Blue Well.
From the sky, Gawain and Amber finally got a direct view of the spectacular ruins left behind by the Deep Blue Well’s massive explosion.
An entire city had been reduced to a molten crater. All the once-glorious buildings and cultural landmarks had fused with the rocky pit floor, becoming an inseparable, desolate wasteland. The remnants of the Wasteland Legion that had attacked the Deep Blue Well had long since been scattered by the force fields of the barrier walls, but fragments of their wreckage still littered the scorched earth, a grim reminder of the devastation.
At the very heart of this ancient Gondor kingdom, there was no trace left of “Númenor” — except at the bottom of the crater, where a crystal spire shimmered brilliantly beneath a luminous energy veil.
This was the core, the essence, the primal structure of the Deep Blue Well: a naturally formed magical energy source. The ancient Númenóreans had built numerous extraction stations, load towers, and fusion towers around this source to draw its power with maximum efficiency. Yet even the mightiest human empire was but a fleeting shadow before the planet’s own energy. Now, the ancient kingdom was no more, and only this rift in the ley lines, existing since the planet’s birth, continued to pour forth its endless power.
The Dragonrider began to descend slowly.
Above the Deep Blue Well, the magnificent energy veil flickered briefly before opening a passage wide enough for an adult dragon to pass through unhindered.
(I wrote a short story for the 99 Charity Project’s “Stories for Children.” If anyone’s interested, you can find it on QQ Reading. Having school kids read a story I wrote myself—this was one of my childhood dreams, and now it’s come true…)
(End of chapter)