Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 171: Legend of the Sea of Eternal Darkness

He’d mentioned to Heidi and Pittman that the Eternal Sleepers had left behind a heretic item in the Kant castle, but he did not explain what it was. Yet in reality, he had already seen that item and identified it.

That item was located before the magnificent stone coffin in the center of the underground hall. It was placed on a small altar like a ‘sacred object’ being worshiped. It was an exquisite magic lantern, and more than 700 years ago, Gawain Cecil had given it as a gift to Selena Gerfen, who served as the accompanying Cleric in the pioneering team back then.

That was once a gentle and quiet lady: a priestess of the God of Dreams deeply trusted by the pioneers and who’d used dreams to heal the traumas of countless soldiers in an era of darkness and fear. Her devout belief and outstanding contributions made her the Dream Bishop of the northern pioneers before she was thirty years old. If fate hadn’t played that terrible joke, she could’ve even been one of the candidates for Pope of the Church of Dreams and could’ve become a famed pioneer hero like Gawain Cecil.

However, for that mysterious ritual which was an attempt to communicate with the gods, she headed to the Ancestral Peak with the Pope of the Church of Dreams then. No one knew what exactly happened at the ritual or the meeting held after it. Gawain only knew that after that fateful day, several sects including some Druid sects, the Church of Dreams, and the Church of God of Storms became the enemies of human society.

With no publicly announced break, no debates about religion and the royal court, the few sects rushed out of the Ancestral Peak’s conference hall like they’d gone mad at the same time. Following that, their believers scattered everywhere on the continent and also simultaneously left their respective churches and meeting places as if they’d received some order to do so. A certain huge spiritual net seemed to envelop the members of every dark sect from that day onwards. In a mere few days, the big sects degenerated successively and completely disappeared from the eyes of the world.

As the entire Ancestral Peak had then been sealed by the armed priests of the Church of Holy Light and the Sect of the God of War, no one knew the actual events of that day. The spokespeople of the major gods’ subsequent explanation was that ‘a few of the extreme churches were unable to accept the conditions of peaceful coexistence with other beliefs and, as such, chose to go rogue’. However, in the hearts of Gawain Cecil and the future Gawain, he was always doubtful of this explanation.

As for Selena Gerfen, she too never appeared again after that day. The gentle priestess who used dreams to soothe the pain of soldiers and was trusted by them had vanished. She could have rushed into the Gondor Wasteland like a small group of the fallen Druids did or possibly become some existence that was even darker and more twisted. Gawain was unaware of the ultimate outcome of that old friend. He only knew that today, 700 years later, one of Selena Gerfen’s belongings appeared here, placed in the old castle of the Kant Clan as the core of a certain heretic sacrificial ceremony.

He believed it was necessary for him to retrieve that item. It could perhaps aid him in figuring out what exactly happened at the Ancestral Peak 700 years ago or, at the least, understand what changes happened when that batch of priests degenerated into heretic cult believers.

The evil force that was growing and transforming in the Kant Clan’s old castle had yet to enter a flourishing stare. According to the progress he had sensed in the dream realm, Gawain could prepare slowly and arrange an opportunity for himself where he could enter that castle, yet it would not have Viscount Victor Kant on his guard and be suspicious of him. ——He did not plan on charging in, armed to the teeth, but to find a chance to stop it before the matter blew up.

A Duke paying a visit to a Viscount was very troublesome and conspicuous, but it wouldn’t be that complicated if it was a Duke who only had a title and was essentially only a feudal lord going to visit his ‘neighbor’. Gawain knew that a big portion of grains and herbs from the Kant territory would be transported to Tanzan Town and then purchased by the Cecil territory. Moreover, the Cecil territory had also bought a batch of slaves recently (they were normal slaves sold by slave traders). This meant that the two territories actually had considerable trade flow between them. This was a reason to pay a visit.

He prepared a narrative and told Heidi to handle it. “Send a messenger over. Just say that I’d be visiting to discuss the issue of purchasing rations and herbs next year. —— The Cecil territory will purchase supplies in bulk, and it is a great waste of time, on top of higher prices, when these things switch hands at Tanzan Town. We can build a new trade route between the Cecil territory and Kant territory since we’re preparing to open up the northern bank of the White River anyway. This issue is deserving of me going to talk to him.

Heidi nodded. “I understand.”

After he’d settled this matter, Gawain rubbed the space between his brows and set his attention on another matter.

“Have the two of you heard of the ‘Sea of Eternal Darkness’ before?”

Heidi and Pittman instantly faltered and looked at each other.

And when Gawain saw their expressions, his heart immediately sank. It seemed like the prospects were low.

Heidi was a Mage who’d gone through legitimate aristocrat education and who even had considerable knowledge of mysteries; she should be considered an expert in orthodox history and natural science. On the other hand, Pittman was a funny man who’d received the education of society and learned quite a lot about swindling and bluffing. He was also considered an expert in unofficial history, anecdotes, and spinning weird tales. The knowledge of these two people were complementary. When put together, they could almost be the otherworldly version of Zhihu[1]. ——If even these two hadn’t heard of the ‘Sea of Eternal Darkness’ before, then he probably wouldn’t get anything about this from the knowledge domain of normal people.

“This sounds like a term that superstitious seamen would make up,” Heidi guessed with a frown. “The ocean is shrouded in vortexes and storms of magical power throughout the year. There is almost no boat that dares to challenge the deep sea. Few people come back alive when the occasionally bold adventurers go to sea, attempting to look for a new route. With the lapse of time, seamen made up all sorts of superstitious stories related to the ocean and even gave all sorts of names to the various strange sea areas that those mad returning adventurers repeatedly spoke of… Ancestor, where did you hear this name from?”

“Also from the memories of the heretic of the Eternal Sleepers.” Gawain did not conceal anything in this aspect and then looked towards Pittman. “You look like you have something to say?”

Although the old Druid also had a blank look when he’d heard the few words ‘Sea of Eternal Darkness’ at the start, he had gradually revealed a thoughtful expression when Heidi was recounting the superstitious stories of those seamen. Thus, Gawain asked him out of curiosity.

“Yes, Lord. If you are interested in some unofficial history and weird tales, I can tell you about those unpresentable stories that circulate among the people.” Pittman nodded. “I’ve indeed heard of the ‘Sea of Eternal Darkness’ before, but it isn’t a term created by humankind. In fact, it originated from the silver elves. — It is a story circulating mostly among the elves, so I didn’t recall it all at once earlier.”

“Unofficial history and weird tales of the silver elves?” Gawain was instantly immensely surprised. He’d never thought that the ‘Sea of Eternal Darkness’ mentioned by a heretic of the Eternal Sleepers would actually be a term that originated from the silver elves. “That bunch of long ears with tenacious lives would circulate such things?”

“The silver elves living in the south of the continent built the oldest civilized society of this land, close to tens of thousands of years earlier than humankind’s rise on the continent. At present, although the earliest Elven Empire has already been lost in history, the new Silver Empire inherited many historical documents of the ancient Elven Empire. However, as the era was too ancient, all kinds of elemental creatures and beasts active during the ancient times could be easily confused with myths and legends, so there are also a great deal of errors and omissions in those historical documents. It’s very normal that they evolve into weird tales. After all, the elves are merely an ordinary species.” Pittman chuckled. “And the one regarding the Sea of Eternal Darkness is the most bizarre one amongst the various elven legends.”

Following that, he cleared his throat and went on, “Cough, cough. In the legend about the Sea of Eternal Darkness, the elves speak of the beginning of their species. ——It was said that there were initially no silver elves in the world from the start. Neither were there gray elves, dark elves, and all the other kinds of elven subspecies. There were only immortal ‘primordial elves’ born with formidable powers living on another continent far away.”

“One day in the ancient times, a disaster occurred on that continent; thus, that group of primordial elves escaped their ancestral land on an ‘ark’ that could speed away as it floated above the sea surface. Those elves got lost in the Endless Sea that was shrouded by dense fog and whirlpools of magical power and suddenly broke into a sea area that was forever in the night, forever enveloped by starlight, half a month after getting lost. And in the middle of that sea area stood an extremely grand and tall tower. That huge tower was shaped like a mountain, and it’s peak pushed right into the starry sky.

“The lost primordial elves were moved by the huge tower and starry sky. Thus, they prayed sincerely under the starlight, hoping to find a new habitat, and their prayers were actually conveyed to the ears of the gods in the stars through the huge tower. Then, the starlight bestowed blessings, and the huge tower opened its doors, allowing the primordial elves to step through.

“All of the primordial elves entered the tower. They saw infinite intriguing things in the tower — there were projections of the universe and starry skies, and evolution of every kind of animal, mineral, and plant in the world. They realized that this tower contained unimaginable knowledge. Thus, some covetous thoughts emerged. ——They were no longer satisfied with temporarily taking shelter from the stormy waves at the outer layer of the tower and attempted to enter the inner and higher layers of the tower to touch that knowledge.

“Thus, the huge tower gave its punishment. A brilliance filled the entire tower. Those primordial elves who attempted in vain to steal the knowledge were wrapped in the light. According to the differences in the extent of their intrusion, their race was transformed in the light, turning them into dark elves that feared sunlight, short gray elves, sea elves who couldn’t be out of water for a long time, and silver elves with the least flaws. ——This was because the silver elf population were those who were in awe of the power of the tower and did not step too far into the forbidden area, so the punishment they received was the smallest.

“Just like that, the immortal and powerful primordial elves became subspecies elves with all kinds of defects. These subspecies escaped the huge tower in terror and returned to their ark. They left the mysterious area — forever shrouded by the night and starry sky, with a looming huge tower — that they called the ‘Sea of Eternal Darkness’. And them drifting to the current Loren Continent was a later happening.”

Pittman caught his breath and stroked his beard. “Lord, this is the legend regarding the Sea of Eternal Darkness.”

[1] Zhihu – a Chinese question-and-answer website