Chapter 505

Chapter 505: Doomsday Echo.

Lightwind Harbor was one of the city-states closest to the edge of civilization. From the day it was built, it had always been one of the most important bases of the Truth Academy and the Explorer Association.

A thousand years ago, an expedition fleet led by an elven scholar lost its way in a storm near the border. While searching for a route, they discovered this large island that did not appear in any record.

According to the accounts, the fleet had been chased by the storm for a full seven days. On the morning of the eighth day, when everyone was exhausted, land suddenly appeared in the sunlight shining through a gap in the storm. The explorers were overjoyed. They used the last of their strength to steer their ships toward the shore.

Just as they neared this unknown island, the storm’s power suddenly weakened. By the time the crew could clearly see the lush vegetation on the island, the storm had completely vanished. Only a light breeze remained over the nearby sea.

So the explorers named the island “Lightwind”. Later, they turned that into the name of their new colony.

Many city-states were discovered when explorers wandered the seas. Their discoveries always came with some amount of dangers or legends. The stories were full of truth and lies, hard to tell apart. But the discovery and building of Lightwind Harbor had always been seen as “detailed and reliable”.

The reason was simple: it was a city-state founded by elves.

The explorer captain who first found this island was still the governor of the city-state today. At the same time, he also served as the guildmaster of the Explorer Association.

Sara Mell stood on the balcony of the governor’s residence and looked at the streets below, which were bathed in “sunlight”. He looked at the city-state that he and his companions had built up bit by bit and watched it grow prosperous.

Patrolling Steam Walkers marched in neat lines down the streets. Bicycle bells rang with a clear sound. citizens were getting ready to start their workday.

On the “tower” not far away, the round dome in elven style slowly opened under the push of machinery. A heavy filter lens array rose from the top of the tower and slowly adjusted its angle as it tracked the Sun climbing into the sky.

The elven governor narrowed his eyes a little. Wrinkles gathered at the corners of his eyes.

Even for the long-lived elves, Sara Mell was no longer young. Wrinkles had started creeping across his forehead three hundred years ago. The golden hair that elves were known for was now frosted with white. He had gone from a lively, energetic captain to a calm but frail old man.

But one thing had never changed—he was still full of curiosity about the world.

“Your Father was already a respectable explorer back in his day. Even by the strict standards of the elves, he could be called ‘extraordinary’. A warning from such an explorer to the civilized world is worth taking seriously. But I hope you understand—our doubts are also quite normal.”

Sara Mell turned and spoke to the black-haired lady sitting properly at the tea table on the balcony.

“I do understand. But my job is only to pass on the message. What you do with it is your business,” Lucretia said calmly. “Father also expected your reaction. His stance is the same—issue the warning, and leave the rest alone.”

“As for the Explorer Association, I will handle it,” Governor Sara said after a short pause. “In any case, the news from Captain Duncan is information that must be taken seriously. We should have the captains on the route raise their guard.”

Then he frowned. “But I am truly curious… Can you really dive into the Deep Sea with a spherical submersible and see the ‘original blueprint’ of our world?”

“The risk is very high, but people in Frostholm did succeed,” Lucretia nodded. “Of course, the pioneers half a century ago paid a heavy price for it. Mortal minds are too fragile in the end. They cannot fully avoid the influence of those ‘truths’ in the Deep Sea.

“My Father is… more or less special. I do not suggest you try to copy him.”

“If I were seven or eight hundred years younger, I would probably be planning my own dive right now,” Sara said after a few seconds of silence, shaking his head with some regret. “If I could witness those sights with my own eyes, I would have much more confidence when I tried to convince others in the Association.”

Lucretia smiled: “It does not matter. Very soon, more people will receive the warning. Father has already arranged to send alerts to the Churches of the Four Gods and to the various city-states. That should be enough to show how serious this is.”

Sara Mell nodded. Then he hesitated for a moment but could not stop himself from asking: “I am still very curious… Lady Lucretia, has your Father really recovered his humanity completely? I have lived for more than two thousand years, and I have never heard of anyone returning from Subspace. I have never heard of anyone who could even restore their humanity after coming back. How did he do it?”

“Who knows?” Lucretia shook her head. “If you are truly that curious, you can ask him yourself when the time comes—he is coming in person very soon, after all.”

Sara Mell’s calm face twitched in a way that could be seen with the naked eye.

“Lady, there is no need to stress that point again…” The elven governor spoke in a strange tone. “It is not good for the heart. Please be kind to old people.”

Lucretia laughed, clearly quite amused. She felt she had tasted the same pleasure Tyrian often enjoyed, and she rose from her chair, satisfied, and waved to the governor.

In the next second, the “Sea Witch” turned into a flurry of colorful paper slips. They spun in the air, caught by a gust of wind, and were swept away into the sky, vanishing from the balcony.

“This ‘witch’ truly comes and goes as she pleases…” Sara Mell could not help grumbling under his breath. He turned to go back inside. Next, he had to think about how to contact the Explorer Associations of other city-states and how to pass on that dreadful “warning”.

But just as he turned around, the governor’s movements suddenly stopped.

It was as if a wind full of terror had swept across the edge of his mind. A feeling of indescribable horror and despair surged up in his heart. Sara Mell felt that this “emotion” had been poured directly into his head. In an instant, it seized his thoughts, turned his blood to ice, and made every muscle tense.

He struggled to lift his head and looked in a direction that felt carved deep into his mind, a direction that pulled at him with a powerful force. He looked toward the center of the city-state, toward those tall buildings—

Yet he did not see the city he knew, nor any other familiar scene.

He saw only a blinding sea of fire, and a single giant tree.

The tree was so huge that words could not describe it. He could no longer see its borders. It stood like a mountain range made of wood, burning fiercely at the edge of his vision.

The giant tree looked like the World Tree “Atlantis” spoken of in ancient elven legends, yet it was far more grand and awe-inspiring than anything poets or scholars had ever imagined. It seemed to cover whole mountains and plains and to shelter an entire kingdom under its shade.

It was bigger than any city-state or island Sara Mell had ever seen. The land under the tree was wider than anything he could picture—

And all of it was wrapped in Doomsday-like flames.

Red fire devoured everything, burning the huge tree and the forests around it to ash. From the edges of the fire, immense flashes of light burst forth over and over, like the release of horrible energy. They lit the air and tore open the sky.

Following those strange, immense flashes, Sara Mell slowly raised his gaze.

He finally found the source of the flames that were consuming all things.

It was the sky. The whole sky glowed with a terrifying, blistering light, like the swollen core of a steam reactor boiler about to enter a runaway state and melt through its shell. In the center of that swelling glow, a dark red, ominous color began to seep out bit by bit.

Then the dark red color spread quickly, swallowing the bright light of the sky until nothing was left. The entire world fell into a dreadful, dark red dusk. The heat in the sky faded away, but everything on the ground had already burned to nothing.

The forest had become charred earth. The miracle-like giant tree collapsed in the embers, crashing down with a roar like heaven and earth breaking apart.

The dark-red sky grew darker and began to fill, little by little, with black streaks. Time seemed to pass for a very long while, or maybe only for a moment. Sara Mell saw the veil of night descend.

The strange night sky, black mixed with dark red, covered the world that had become a burned wasteland. In that extremely short “calm”, he seemed to hear people speaking right by his ear.

They were several unfamiliar voices—

“…I still remember them, remember what they looked like…”

“Memory can still be useful… We have a plan…”

“A Sanctuary World, or a prison where life can only struggle on—there is little hope for the future.”

“But at least there is still a future…”

Sara Mell looked around in fright, trying to find the source of the voices, but he saw only a world burned away and all things destroyed. Then the dark red sky of ill omen began to crack apart.

Chaotic bands of light poured in through the rifts in the sky. The ashes and ruins on the ground were absorbed and broken down by those lights in an instant. All things were disappearing at great speed.

A powerful thought with no clear source roared in his head, like the voices of tens of millions of minds speaking together in harmony:

A torn Doomsday.

Sara Mell’s body swayed.

Something retreated like the tide. The fierce emotions and frightening images left in his mind melted away like snow under sunlight. One second ago, he had felt that he had seen something, and he had even remembered it strongly. The next second, he felt he had only been staring off into space for a moment.

Those things were gone, like dreams fading in the morning.

Sara Mell stood there and frowned without thinking. He glanced back in the direction where the “Sea Witch” had disappeared just now.

“This ‘witch’ truly comes and goes as she pleases…”

Sara Mell could not help grumbling once more, and then he turned and went back into the room.