Chapter 1490: Back to Reality

In the vast, endless gray-white desert, atop the towering Shadow Throne, the Lady of Night quietly gazed down upon this realm—one ruled and shaped by Her, yet also a prison of sorts. Her amber eyes held a faint, knowing smile as they lowered to the ancient travelogue resting before the throne, its black cover infused with a mortal soul.

“Ah, my lady, you’ve returned,” Wilde greeted the “Mistress.” “That visitor you cared so much about just left.”

“I know,” the Lady of Night replied calmly. “She now knows what she needed to know. The rest… will be left to fate.”

A brief silence fell before Wilde spoke again, hesitantly, “May I ask, Lady, who exactly is that visitor named ‘Amber’? Why do you suddenly care so much about a lost mortal who wandered here? And why did you give me so many instructions to relay to her when she came before the throne… Did you know she would come today?”

“I didn’t know when she would arrive, only that she would,” the Lady of Night said, her mood unusually light. “As for her identity… it’s not yet time to reveal too much. One day, great adventurer, you will understand.”

“…Alright, you always have a mountain of secrets. I’m used to it by now,” Wilde muttered, then casually asked, “What about those visitors you sent to the border city? What’s so special about them? You went to great lengths to save them and arranged for them to live out their days there. I’m really curious—what’s the purpose behind all this?”

Questioning an ancient god might seem bold or even rude, but Wilde had lingered in this shadowy divine realm for centuries, living alongside the Lady of Night. He had come to understand Her temperament. Despite Her immense power and divine status, She was actually quite gentle and never minded such conversations. In fact, with so few to talk to here, She was always patient with his questions.

Now, the Lady of Night showed no displeasure at Wilde’s barrage of inquiries. She merely looked down at the adventurer before Her throne—the book—and smiled faintly, “You really want to know?”

Wilde sighed, “…If you’re willing to answer even a little, that would be great.”

“First, those people… they needed help, and I was able to provide it, so I did,” the Lady of Night said with a slow, gentle smile. “Second, she needed an ‘anchor.’”

“An anchor?” Wilde blinked, clearly confused. “What do you mean? By ‘she,’ do you mean the visitor who just left? And what exactly is an anchor?”

The Lady of Night thought for a moment, then waved a hand dismissively, “Not telling you.”

Wilde groaned, “You can’t do that! That’s worse than not answering at all!”

“Of course I can. It’s more fun this way,” the Lady of Night’s smile deepened. Before Wilde could protest further, She changed the subject. “Enough questions from you. Now it’s your turn, great adventurer. As usual, tell me a story. Or make one up on the spot—I don’t mind.”

Wilde hesitated, “…I don’t have any left. Even if you ask me to make one up, I can’t. If you really want something to pass the time, why not open me up and take a look?”

The Lady of Night’s tone lifted slightly, “Open you?”

“I’m not sure, but something inside me seems to have changed. According to ‘Amber,’ a book from the real world projected itself onto my pages,” Wilde explained, his form trembling slightly. The heavy black cover seemed to stir on its own, faint white light flickering between the pages. “Judging by her reaction, the content must be quite interesting—too bad I can’t see it myself.”

The Lady of Night considered this, then extended a finger and tapped the air. Instantly, Wilde floated up from the stone pillar, his pages turning silently in midair. In the next moment, his form—tiny compared to the Lady of Night—was enveloped in shimmering illusions, transforming into a massive tome that She could hold in Her hands. Her gaze was drawn to the mortal script displayed on the pages…

Amber opened her eyes to sunlight streaming through the window near noon, filling the room with a warm glow. She lay in bed, still groggy, caught between the lingering haze of a long sleep and the fading depths of a dream. For a moment, she struggled to place herself—was she still dreaming, or back in reality?

After two or three minutes of this foggy confusion, her senses slowly recalibrated like a machine lacking lubrication. Her vision cleared, and memories of last night’s “dream” flooded back—the climb to the Shadow Throne, the drastically changed Silhouette City, her conversation with Wilde, and the shocking revelations he had shared.

Suddenly, she took a deep breath and practically sprang from the bed, landing on the floor. Only then did she notice the time outside and gasped, “What the—It’s already noon? How long have I been asleep?!”

Without wasting a second, the shadow commando swiftly changed clothes, hastily washed up as if preparing for battle, and rushed to the door—only to smack her head hard against a broad chest standing right there.

“Ow…” Amber cried out, stumbling backward, but before she hit the floor, Gawain caught her arm. She heard his resigned voice, “What are you doing? You’re moving like you’ve got shadow steps or something.”

“Why are you here? And why are you just standing silently outside my door?” Amber squirmed in his grip, glaring up at him. “You scared me! Even if you wanted to attack me, couldn’t you at least wait until nightfall?”

“I knocked fifteen minutes ago,” Gawain said flatly, watching the shadow commando wriggle in midair. “I heard steady snoring, so I decided to wait outside. You missed the morning council meeting at the administration office, then skipped the intelligence bureau’s briefing. That’s not like you. What’s going on?”

Amber rubbed her wrist, stunned by his words. Then she slapped her forehead, “Crap… I missed everything… Wait, can I take that as you caring about me?”

Before Gawain could answer, she waved a hand, “Never mind, no suspense—I did have a bit of a situation. I got ‘pulled into’ the Shadow Divine Realm again, met the Lady of Night’s throne, met Wilde, and learned some shocking information… Where do you want to start? You should come in and sit down. I need to sort this out slowly… You look kind of weird.”

Perhaps the lingering effects of that long dream still hadn’t fully faded. Amber rubbed her forehead as she spoke, then suddenly noticed Gawain’s expression—more than just serious, it was thoughtful, almost as if a realization had dawned. She immediately guessed that he must have received some intelligence of his own, likely confirming parts of her nocturnal adventure.

Gawain didn’t hesitate. Accepting Amber’s invitation, he stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He moved toward a chair by the window and casually said, “The Morning Star just sent word this morning. Modir says he met ‘Wilde’ and, during their conversation, learned astonishing truths about the Violet Kingdom and the Lady of Night. Judging by the timing… it was around the same time you ‘entered the dream.’”

Amber’s eyes widened in surprise as she followed Gawain’s movements. Then she quickly pulled a chair from the dressing table and sat opposite him, speaking rapidly, “He really met ‘Wilde’? So it’s true—Wilde’s ‘acquaintance’ is exactly who I thought… What did they talk about? What did he say to himself?”

“That’s for later,” Gawain waved a hand. He fixed Amber with a steady gaze. “You said ‘exactly’—so you know quite a bit yourself. Tell me what you learned. What did you see in the ‘dream’?”

“Alright, I’ll start with my side,” Amber said, pushing down her curiosity. She had already organized her thoughts during those few minutes and now recounted everything she had seen and learned without holding back. “First, I still didn’t see the Lady of Night herself. Then Wilde—he wasn’t at the throne at first. Judging by the timing, I suspect he hurried back after meeting Modir. Then there’s the change in the Shadow Divine Realm…”

Gawain listened intently, not missing a word. Amber’s revelations caused his expression to shift several times, but he restrained himself from interrupting. Instead, he cross-referenced her information with what he had just learned, mentally piecing together and refining his theories.

When Amber finished, Gawain exhaled deeply, his mind gradually settling from its rapid calculations. “…Everything matches up. Modir’s conversation with Wilde and your encounter with Wilde happened in sequence…”

“Now it’s your turn,” Amber leaned forward eagerly. “What did Modir report? Did Wilde leave anything out?”

Gawain met her eyes, then after a few seconds, spoke with grave seriousness, “The Violet Kingdom—the entire Violet Kingdom—is a dream of the Lady of Night.”

Amber: “…”

“This aligns pretty well with the intelligence you’ve gathered,” Gawain said, ignoring the brief flicker of excitement that crossed Amber’s face. He pressed on, “According to Modir’s report, the emergence of the Violet Kingdom can be traced back to the early stages of the Lady of Night falling into some kind of abnormal state. I’m guessing this happened hundreds of thousands of years ago—the moment when the forces of the Tides of Reversal first tried to corrupt the Firmament and were stopped by the Lady of Night herself. In that confrontation, the Tides were pushed back, the Lady preserved the Firmament, but the ‘Anchor Generator’ at the Firmament Station was sealed off by thorns due to contamination. It seems like a kind of ‘safety mode.’ The result was clear: the Lady of Night fell into a deep slumber, her power leaked out, and in the real world, a vast illusion called the Violet Kingdom was born…

“Secondly, although the Violet Kingdom is an illusion, it was born within the dream of a deity. In a sense, it has crossed the boundary between reality and unreality. So, within certain limits and rules, the Violet Kingdom is real. The people who come out of it and the knowledge they spread are real too. Conversely, if outsiders enter the Violet Kingdom, they cross that boundary in reverse and become part of the illusion.

“Until the end of this ‘divine dream’ that is the Violet Kingdom, this crossing back and forth should be reversible. But once the dream ends, that boundary disappears.

“The Lady of Night is now gradually awakening from her long sleep, possibly linked to what Nicholas and the others have been doing at the Firmament Station. As she wakes, the lost Shadow Divine Realm might slowly return to this world. The illusory Violet Kingdom will vanish, replaced by the Lady’s possible reappearance. We don’t yet know if this is good or bad, but it seems we can’t stop it…

“Currently, Violet Island has become a deserted land. The fading of the Violet Dream has restored the island to its ‘true wild state,’ though it’s possible some mutated zones remain deep within. After all, this is a land that’s been eroded by a divine dream for hundreds of thousands of years. Even with the dream’s end, some changes may be permanent… From the attitude revealed in the exchanges between Wilde and Modir, it seems there’s still something at the island’s center. Victoria’s side is preparing plans for further exploration of Violet Island, but no new intel has come through yet.”

Gawain laid out Modir’s report and his own deductions clearly.

Then he shook his head with a sigh. “Honestly, I thought there was nothing left in this world that could surprise me to this degree. But it turns out I underestimated just how much ‘gods’ can stir things up. The entire Violet Kingdom being nothing but a dream from start to finish—that caught all of us completely off guard.”

Amber remained silent, lost in thought. After a long pause, she finally spoke softly, “So, if the Lady of Night entered this protective mode because of the Tides’ corruption, and the dream spiraled out of control in that state, could the Violet Kingdom’s ‘existence’ be influenced by both factors at once? According to Wilde, the Violet people—though dream-born—have their own emotions and free will, but they still have a point of origin…”

Gawain furrowed his brow slightly. “What are you getting at?”

“I mean, could the various ‘actions’ of the Violet Kingdom over the centuries actually reflect the ongoing struggle between the Lady of Night and the Tides of Reversal? Maybe even embody the ‘wills’ of these two ancient gods?” Amber looked up, her expression suddenly strange. “Do you remember how the Violet Kingdom has always done something that seems odd to outsiders? It’s been spreading magical knowledge that’s kept under strict secrecy…”

(End of chapter)