Chapter 1044 - Three Worlds, Nine Skies: the Land of Ashes (1/2)
[My mentor, the respected baroness Karlis, is a famous astrologer, astronomer, and Professor of alchemical engineering. She was the winner of the fifty-second installment of the moving city competition held once every hundred years, which was in turn the greatest accomplishment of the Three Worlds, Nine Skies super construction engineering. In return, the Heavenly Sword Empress of the Radiant Domain had bestowed upon her the title of baroness, even naming an entire mobile realm after her.
Apart from that, she is a legend, a great continental adventurer whose fame extends over three worlds. Over the endlessly vast continent of Steel, she has discovered eight stable stellar realms and determined the patterns of those stellar cycles—now, these eight stable stellar realms have become new borders of the Radiant Domain Alliance, with millions of immigrants driving new moving cities in pursuit of the sunlight over there.
It is all thanks to my mentor.]
[As a student to Professor Karlis, I feel both honor and humility, for I could live my whole life and yet remain unable to surpass her in any aspect, even if by just a little.
However, it was at this time that Professor Karlis's close friend, Lady Mycroft, grand scholar and my superior, would console me by saying, 'there is always someone who has to act as a foil in a group. Why couldn't it be you? It is your duty.'
To tell the truth, I am not quite sure what Lady Mycroft had meant. However, her tone was really sincere, so I shall consider it as encouragement from a superior.]
[Professor Karlis has a lot of apprentices, most of whom are studying mobile world designing under her tutelage. After all, the more that technology develops, the faster the worlds can move, allowing each of them to assimilate into the Steel Continent of a star in a certain sector before moving on to the next stable stellar sector in the shortest time possible. Naturally, it would be also easier to repel the ambushes by the Chaos aberrations roaming the dark zones between the many stellar regions, and being one of the most important academic subjects of the Radiant Domain, it is a symbol of civilizations' future.
That being said, I had not actually been a student of my mentor in that subject, but merely an assistant hired by her on a temporary basis while she surveyed a Steel Continent. She was willing to take me in a student and instruct me in regards to explorations, which was my good fortune—I had benefited plenty from that, and while neither here nor there, I am still a well-known scholar in astrology and exploration, building a family of my own inside the Radiant Domain.]
[However, my mentor has recently run into some trouble.
Lady Mycroft Zeluya, her close friend and my superior, had mysteriously disappeared in the middle of an expedition into the Nightfall Zone. Before she had gone missing, Lady Mycroft had transmitted a map charted from her journey and a diary through a secret psionic communications channel to my elegant, wise, and morally sensible mentor. Since then, my mentor had always appeared anxious, even occasionally clasping her head and muttering to herself.
'Is that so? To think that had actually happened…time flies, and it has been so long…'
That was what I heard in one of her mutterings when I brought her a coffee with twice the usual amount of sugar. Was she talking about the time she shared with Lady Mycroft? It appears that Lady Mycroft's disappearance has been huge blow to her.]
[Be that as it may, I had never imagined that my mentor, with all her accomplishments and fame, would actually return to a life of adventuring—after she had straightened her affairs and properties in the Radiant Domain, the famous scholar purchased an Ark-class continental exploration vessel, throwing away every gem ornament and enchanting formal clothes she had been wearing for a worn tank top and long pants, and tied her hair into a ponytail. Soon, hundreds of professional explorers who, attracted by her fame, joined her party, hence launching the second expedition into the Nightfall Zone under the leadership of the legendary explorer!]
The hand of a middle-aged man reached out, stroking the text written in an old diary under a light.
The man's soft sigh could be heard as he stared at the words itself while falling into a moment of recollection.
”Mentor…” he whispered, and smiled bitterly.
***
Three Worlds, Nine Skies was the name of the world—as the name itself suggested, it was three different realms in which all life inhabited: The Steel Continent, which was the central realm, along with the Sky Blade Realm, and the Earthen Axe Realm, which intersected the central realm. In turn, the Nine Skies were nine massive floating supercontinents located above the Steel Continent that blocked out the sun. Regrettably, the exceedingly terrific gravity which the Steel Continent exuded meant none had ever climbed atop the Nine Skies, and even the gods could only gaze upon them from afar and sigh.
Countless suns hovered over the endlessly wide continent, permeating the nine layers of skies and ground, the dazzling sunlight blessing lifeforce upon the endless ecosystems in the continent.
The Steel Continent was vast and endless. Whether it had been during the Age of Gods a hundred thousand years ago or the Age of Chaos fifty thousand years ago, no explorer could ever reach its horizon. On the other hand, its center was a bright 'ring' shrouded beneath massive cl.u.s.ters of stars, and was known as the Radiant Domain.
The Radiant Domain was also the center of all nations and races. In the Steel Continent, one did not have to worry about stars colliding—after they had shattered, diminished, and left the world in darkness, perpetuating a cycle in which each star took turns to die and be reborn, fall, and rise, every civilization in the ring would still bask in eternal radiance thanks to the many suns. Likewise, they did not have to worry about being attacked by the Chaos aberrations living in the darkness.
On the other hand, the Nightfall Zone referred to areas beyond the Radiant Domain where the stars were scattered without the assurance of each place being illuminated at all times. The Steel Continent's own tremendous gravitational force would also pull the rare few stars down to the ground where they would dissolve into gases. Although the Steel Continent itself would always reassemble the gases to create a new star, it would take hundreds or thousands of years. Unlike the Radiant Domain, the Nightfall Zone did not have over hundreds of stars that would keep shining upon its lands after one falls to the ground.
That had been why the colonies that the various nations were establishing there came in the form of massive moving worlds, each of which had to be able to carry billions of citizens and streak over the various continents. They had to escape the destruction of the falling stars while eternally pursuing the other hovering stars to capture their light.
That had also been the precise reason why all life living on the Steel Continent came to be known as Lightchasers, regardless of the uniqueness of their appearances.
Moreover, even after coming fully prepared, there would different circ.u.mstances that prevented moving worlds from reaching other areas with sun before their energy reserves were exhausted, leaving every lifeform in the world to die in the frost or be consumed by the Chaos of the darkness—in the end, any stable stellar realm proved to be extremely rare and extremely precious, because each meant a living environment similar to the Radiant Domain, allowing the survival of billions and a dozen moving worlds.
That was also why the Nightfall Zone was extremely dangerous, and the reason why explorers would often run into fallen worlds from millennia past in their journeys. Moreover, the Chaos aberrations of the Lightless Zone beyond the Nightfall Zone would occasionally lurk within Nightfall Zone itself—as the sun set and its light diminished, they would attack the mobile cities even as they tried to move away.
It was said that the divine beings of the Age of Gods a hundred thousand years ago could create stars in the Nightfall Zone, before constructing large cl.u.s.ters of floating cities around them, or even colossal energy arrays that covered an entire star—in turn establishing stable sectors of light and civilizations of glory. However, all the gods mysteriously lost all divine power fifty thousand years ago, with the endless floating cities hence crashing down. Even the cages of energy that kept stars bounded were unable to withstand the exceeding gravity from the Steel Continent after losing the divine power that kept them together, falling and crumbling alongside stellar bodies, meeting their end on the continent.
It had been age of darkness that lasted over twenty thousand years—endless beings perished and countless civilizations fell. As the endless radiance diminished, the infinite aberrations of Chaos lurking in the Lightless Zone swarmed out. They were the greatest natural enemies of living beings and civilizations, and without the light inhibiting them, they consumed everything within reach without restraint. Moreover, having lost the protection of the gods, every being was simply unable to withstand the devastation which had came so abruptly, and could only keep retreating back into Radiant Domain from the Nightfall Zone.
Even now, the horrific remains that lingered on after that war could still be encountered in remote corners of the Nightfall Zone, where the shrill winds still appeared to be howling.
However, it was in that moment of despair that endless radiance had come, bestowed from the realms of Sky Blade and Earthen Axe.
They were a sacred blade and a divine axe, along with millions of other 'weapons' of different make. The worlds, which had been motionless since ancient times and intersecting with the Steel Continent, then suddenly descended, slaying the boundless Chaos. Unable to fight the Chaos then, the Lightchasers hence picked up the 'divine tools' which were descending from the world itself—the heroic sacrifices of countless heroes hence ended the Age of Chaos, banishing every Chaos aberration back to the Lightless Zone.
The Lighchasers were hence convinced that the divine tools were forged from the remains of the gods, while any being who had any sort of control over the Heaven Splitting Blade and the Demon Cleaving Axe would become the highest leader of the Radiant Domain Alliance, the Heavenly Sword Empress and the Demon Cleaving Ruler. Regardless of who they were—criminal, exiles, anyone who could control those divine tools would be automatically exonerated from any transgressions and promoted as a noble amongst the Alliance, hence entrusted with the duty of border guard.
***
[The Heavenly Sword Empress had personally come to bid farewell to my mentor, even giving her blessing for a safe voyage and return, as well as the mentor's ship, the Rekindling. For my own part, I had been unable to follow my mentor on her journey as it was when my eldest daughter was born, and it must be said that it was a great regret. Even so, the magnanimous Professor Karlis did not accuse an assistant such as myself of dereliction of duty, instead giving her blessings for my daughter and also gladly giving her a name—it was an honor to myself and my daughter, and a fortune for that daughter of mine.]
[”Name her Simboa. That is the name I remember and that she should have… I must say it is quite nostalgic too. As for you, you certainly have quite the intertwining fates.”]
[Although my mentor's words had been bizarre, her sincerity and earnest blessing had not been fake. Still, that was how my eldest daughter, Simboa Falster, got her name—her smile as she chewed on her fingers is my life's greatest happiness.]
[A dozen years had passed. Professor Karlis's exploits were fruitful, having discovered several ruins of floating cities dating back to the Age of Chaos and whole new stable stellar realms as she roamed the world. She appeared to be especially gifted in that respect, possessing a unique smell that could detect the scents of places hospitable for living beings. While it would sound disrespectful, I always believed that it had nothing to do with my mentor's academic qualifications, but had instead everything to do with a heaven-given talent!
In that period, my second child was about to be born. It was a boy, but just when I was thinking about what to name him, the grievous news reached me.]
[It had been a gloomy afternoon. The artificial skies of Academy City were slowly closing and absorbing sunlight at full capacity, whereas the many scholars living there got off work and returned home to rest. I happened to be reading through the theses of several students when I unexpectedly received communications from another fellow pupil of the mentor—that was when I learned in shock that my mentor, who had been always overflowing with a spirit of adventure, had returned to the embrace of Light in the distant depths of the Nightfall Zone: a falling star had suddenly crashed down upon the Steel Continent, the resulting inferno consuming everything within three light-months. My mentor, hundreds of professional explorers, and twenty-five hundred crewmembers had thus melted into the overly dazzling light.]
[My mentor had died in an honorable journey, a tragic news that spread throughout the Radiant Domain. Both the Heavenly Sword Empress and the Demon Cleaver Ruler indicated that the passing of Baroness Karlis was a great loss for all Lightchasers, and decreed a three minute silent mourn amongst all citizens living in colonies within stable stellar realms which she had discovered. It was the greatest honor as a scholar, although I still could not believe that the elegant and wise scholar and the most famous watcher of the stars would actually perish in such a simple astronomical phenomenon. Even so, reality was reality—she was not coming back, and in my grieving insanity, I actually regretted not dying with her in that profound expedition.
Soon, however, there was more shocking discoveries. Half a year after my mentor had passed away and all the shockwaves had subsided, I abruptly received an extremely encrypted psionic communication. What it turned out to be was a secret will my mentor had left for me!
It includes a small but advanced exploration vessel, substantial reaches, data crystals that were almost used up in capacity, and most importantly, the star maps of every region my mentor had explored! What was more, there were also several points in those maps that were labeled with special symbols, and incidentally, the region of one of those symbols was also the precise location of where she had 'died'! In addition, there were also several markers and trails going beyond the present Nightfall Zone, reaching the depths of the Lightless Zone!
And Professor Karlis had given all of those things to me without asking for anything in return, even leaving a 'prophecy' that appeared to have profound meaning.]