Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1252: Chapter 1251: Speculations About the Twins

The flow of the dust halted.

Under Amber’s control, the floating shadow sand dust formed a motionless stage in mid-air. Those towering pillars, blurry distant views, and the three figures in the center of the stage were frozen before Gawain. Gawain leaned forward, focusing his gaze on the two figures standing in front of Modir at the heart of the "stage." Amid the somewhat unclear sand illusion, he could vaguely make out that they were two women, and they faintly possessed elf characteristics.

More details were clearly impossible to discern—in such a confined space of illusion, the images formed by the flowing sand dust could not be very clear, especially since these images were extracted by Amber from the deepest memories long worn away by time, and whose origins remained unknown. The ability to present such a complete scene was already a miracle in itself.

"This is the scene I extracted from the deepest ’records’ in the shadow sand dust..." Amber’s voice came from the side, with a tone of contemplation, "These dust particles have replaced half of Modir’s body, and their records likely intermingle with Modir’s missing memories. Evidently, this scene is the most profound episode among all the memories... two women, and elves no less. Do you think of anything?"

Gawain did not immediately respond to Amber’s question; he continued to carefully observe those obscure faces, and after a long time, he spoke with a nearly certain tone: "It’s the Elven Twins—Fyrna and Lelena Sisters."

Amber was somewhat surprised: "That certain?"

"That’s the only thing I can think of, and I’ve seen the data about the Elven Twins from Veronica and Beltira, and can vaguely judge the resemblance portrayed by these sand illusions," Gawain nodded lightly, "unless you can think of another possibility."

"...then I trust your judgment," Amber nodded without much hesitation, then furrowed her brow slightly, "so the last people Modir Vealt saw back then were this Elven Twins—after which he underwent a ’transformation,’ possibly being split into two entities, with one part falling into the Kingdom of Shadows, becoming a book named ’Vealt,’ and the other part remaining in the real world, though replaced by shadow sand dust for half of the body, and his memory torn, forgetting this event..."

"You now retrieved this sealed memory from the dust on his body," Gawain said in a deep voice, "and now we finally have some clues."

"Totally unexpected clue, I’m telling you—Philem couldn’t fabricate this story," Amber said, eyes wide, "I could never have foreseen it would implicate those three elf sisters! How did Modir Vealt manage to connect with them back then? According to our known timeline, the Elven Twins were already the Archbishops of Oblivion Association by that time, right..."

"Not only were they archbishops of the Oblivion Association, but they had also visited the Divine Kingdom’s Border and most likely been replaced by some sort of ’non-human entity’ upon return... I couldn’t find words to describe them," Gawain said in a deep voice, as various clues began surfacing and connecting in his mind, "Oblivion had already deviated from its path since its very inception, but they fell without hesitation into one of the Three Great Dark Sects, the most damaging and extreme group. I believe these ’divine realm moles’ blending in with mortals played a huge role."

He paused for a moment, his gaze returning to the still sand "stage," his tone filled with confusion: "...But as you said, how did the Great Adventurer Modir Vealt meet with them back then? Before his disappearance, he was active in the Northern Wasteland area, while according to the data we have now, the Elven Twins should have been secretly developing the dark church in the southern parts of Anzu or near Typhon’s southeastern border back then—Beltira remembers this period very clearly."

"Moreover, the meeting place is equally curious," Amber pointed at the sand and said, "Look at these pillar-like things, and the connecting beams and dome-like structures between the pillars—I may not be an expert in architecture, but I am certain this is not any Northern region’s architectural style. It somewhat resembles the Silver Empire’s design, but their domes use another connection method..."

Gawain remained silent, only seriously examining those "buildings" outlined by the sand dust for a long time before thoughtfully breaking the silence: "Have you considered another possibility... regarding the Elven Twins meeting Modir here?"

"Another possibility?" Amber didn’t immediately grasp the concept, "What are you referring to?"

"Various clues suggest that during the Gondor Era, the sisters Lelenna who returned from the Divine Kingdom’s Border might have been replaced by an indescribable force, and the true Elven Twins may be forever trapped in the Divine Kingdom, an area humans cannot reach. So..." Gawain slowly spoke in contemplation, his tone serious, his fingers pointing at the two figures standing before Modir in the sand illusion, "these two elves standing here... might not be those ’freaks’ among the Oblivion Association."

Amber’s eyes gradually widened as she understood Gawain’s line of thinking but fell into overwhelmed shock: "You’re suggesting that the ’authentic’ Lelenna sisters were the ones met by Modir Vealt back then? The ones lost at the Divine Kingdom’s Border?! And what this presents here..."

"It’s merely a hypothesis," Gawain interrupted Amber’s extended thought process, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the tea table in front of him, "The clues are scattered and intertwined yet difficult to form into a complete picture, but upon deeper thought, there’s no lack of clues—Modir has split into two parts, with one part in the Kingdom of Shadows and another part replaced by shadow sand dust for half of his body. Such a shift could not occur in the real world; on the other hand, the ’Elven Twins’ we know are lurking evil cult followers of the Oblivion Association. Six centuries ago, they followed fallen Druids in southern Anzu, making it virtually impossible for them to meet with Modir, who had then gone north; finally..."

He paused, looking up into Amber’s eyes, his tone low: "You just mentioned that these pillars and domes don’t resemble any continental architectural style, so what if this place is a ’Divine Kingdom’s Border’?"

Amber blinked, listening in disbelief, and only after Gawain finished did she gradually react, casting a nearly horrified glance at the scene outlined by the sand dust, whispering: "Divine Kingdom’s Border... Can a mortal return alive? Not every Divine Kingdom is as ’harmless’ as the War God’s... Besides, how did Modir get there?"

"He is the Great Adventurer Modir—capable of transforming himself into a ’manufactured shadow inhabitant,’ venturing back and forth into the shadow realm seven times over and surviving, it’s no surprise he might have mistakenly stumbled upon some Divine Kingdom’s Border," Gawain said with a bizarre expression, "Regarding returning alive... look at Modir’s current state, can you really say he ’returned alive’? Perhaps his strange state is one of the prices for glimpsing into the Divine Kingdom..."

Amber nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly struck the table as though she had a revelation: "Ah! Wait! If your hypothesis stands, Modir saw Elenna’s sisters at the Divine Kingdom’s Border nearly six centuries ago... Those sisters vanished during the Meteoric Era of the Gondor Empire!! Wouldn’t that mean they have survived at the Divine Kingdom’s Border for four centuries?"

"At least four centuries," Gawain said solemnly, pointing at the illusion in the sand, "this shows their condition is still good, and with the lifespan of elves, if they have survived there for four centuries, they can continue to live many more years, maybe even..."

"Maybe even still alive now!!" Amber suddenly stood up from the table and then frowned incredulously and murmured, "My goodness... Is it possible... Lost a thousand years ago at the border of the kingdom, the elven twins, and now you say they might still be alive? This..."

"We’ve already speculated too far," Gawain had to speak to calm Amber down as he watched her excited demeanor, "All our hypotheses so far are based on limited indirect clues and assumptions, and I don’t think the elven twins are really still alive —this is not just about whether a miracle has occurred. Right now, instead of continuing to discuss which direction these speculations can extend, we should focus on a real issue, like... the problem with Modir."

Amber finally cooled down from her excitement, she frowned and carefully observed the shadow sand dust floating on the table, then snapped her fingers lightly, and the sand instantly disappeared in the air, she turned her head to look at Gawain, speaking seriously, "At this stage, I can interfere with the shadow sand dust on Modir to ’stabilize’ him. I’ve roughly figured out that the resonance between the sand dust and Lady Night’s Divine Kingdom is causing Modir to gradually connect with ’over there’ in his dreams, though I don’t know what mechanism is behind this resonance, temporarily suppressing it is not difficult.

"Of course, this is only a stopgap measure, I can temporarily keep Modir on ’this side’, but as long as his split state continues, there’s no way to solve the issues with his memory, soul, body, and that ’book.’ I have no clue about this yet—the easiest thing to think of is to find a way to contact Lady Night, but so far, whether it’s Modir or myself, visiting Lady Night’s Divine Kingdom is a random event, and we won’t be able to grasp the rules of it anytime soon...

"I also have another idea, which is to find a way to ’summon’ something in the real world, forcibly bring that ’book’ named Wilder from ’over there’ to our side, and then see if it can be merged with Modir..."

Gawain couldn’t help but glance at her, "Your idea is even less reliable than the first one; if we could pull ’Wilder’ from ’over there,’ we’d surely be able to establish contact with Lady Night. Moreover, even if you could really pull that book named Wilder to ’this side,’ how are you planning to merge it with Modir? Put them in a big vat and stir hard?"

"So this matter can only be temporarily set aside," Amber shrugged with an "it’s not my problem" look, "What I can do now is to temporarily stabilize that great adventurer’s condition, at least ensure he won’t be drawn to ’over there,’ the follow-up solutions... should be considered by smart people like you and Victoria. Plus, we still need to figure out what to do with that ’tower’ near the Western Coast, so solving Modir’s problem will have to be postponed."

Gawain had to admit that Amber’s words this time were indeed very practical, and frankly speaking, the information they extracted from the sand dust had already exceeded expectations, and until more clues surface, he really should focus his attention on another major issue.

"You’re right, we also need to reserve enough energy to deal with that ’tower’," Gawain sighed lightly, uncharacteristically affirming Amber’s words, "At least now Modir’s situation can be temporarily stabilized, and Victoria over there will definitely thank you..."

"Doesn’t matter whether she’s thankful or not, just imagining that ice block saying thank you makes me feel cold all over—instead, if she were willing to bring out a few bottles of Golden Leaf Wine and Frost Herb Winter Dew Wine from the Bitter Winter Castle’s cellar, that would be great, I’ve been craving those treasures for a long time..."

Gawain suddenly got a bit curious listening to that, "Wait, have you been to Bitter Winter Castle? How do you know what’s in Victoria’s wine cellar? She doesn’t seem like someone who’d discuss such topics with you..."

"She wouldn’t, her nephew would!" Amber instantly became smug, "I got the info from Fendil, he said his aunt’s wine cellar is full of good stuff, some to be drunk with a seven-day beating, some with a half-a-month beating, and some that get thrown directly off the castle terrace after drinking, I don’t have high demands, I just want half a truck of the grade for half a month’s beating..."

Gawain: "....?"

.....

Meanwhile, deep within the Gondor wasteland shrouded by filthy clouds.

On the desolate plains stand jagged remnants of ruins, the once splendid and advanced city hundreds of years ago has now turned into scattered rubble, with skeletal frames of buildings becoming ghastly under corrosion from toxic dust, twisted steel and concrete pointing skyward like claws, and around the city ruins, the earth is scattered with some consolidated fragments that used to be public transport roads connecting the cities, which now almost have merged with the earth, buried by sand and soil in the winds.

However, in such bleak and lifeless city ruins, a patch of "vibrant" "vegetation" now sprouts from the decayed ground, covering a small area in the city center.

Dark green vines entwine the collapsed buildings, unknown shrubs grow out from rusted and dilapidated steel, twisted Treants sway their withered and ugly crowns, bustling back and forth within the "activity area" created by those vines and shrubs, at the heart of their activity, dozens of large aberrations with bone spikes and faces like melting scarlet sludge are working hard under the command of some Treants, excavating the ruins of a large building.

Near the excavation area, atop a weathered platform protruding from the ground, two figures overlook the bustling "construction site" not far away.

Elven twins, Lelena and Fyrna Sisters.