Hearing Pitman's words, Amber subconsciously glanced at Gwen. The latter took the initiative to say, "I can leave — if you don't want others to hear."
"No, I don't care." Amber shook her head. "You're smart, and you always have unexpected ideas. I want you to be there, and this notebook … you can take a look at it."
Gwen silently looked at Amber. He did not refuse and just nodded slightly.
The fountain was not a suitable place to dig up these hidden memories. The three left the overly lively courtyard. In a lounge on the first floor of the Silver Fortress, Amber solemnly put the notebook on the table. In front of Gwen and Pitman, she carefully opened the old and fragile cover.
There was no pattern or coat of arms on the inside page. There were none of the patterns commonly seen in most of the handwritten books of the nobles of this era. There was only a simple sentence on the yellowed paper:
"To my daughter. I hope that when you see it, you will have grown up happily and safely."
"You're still full of nonsense …" Amber pursed her lips, but her movements were more careful than before. She slowly turned to the first page.
It was a diary, a diary written under special circumstances:
"… The third day in the Shadow Fortress.
"As a Shadow Guard of the Royal Family, I should not leave any written information in the process of carrying out a confidential mission. This is a violation of the confidentiality rules. But the current situation is special. I may not be able to safely leave here. In order to leave a warning and experience for future generations, I have decided to record part of my trip.
"My name is Surrey Randolph. Randolph, a Shadow Guard of the Royal Family. I was ordered to come to the Dark Mountain Range in the south to look for ancient heritage in this abandoned land.
"Unfortunately, I am trapped in this place called 'Shadow Fortress'. I believe that this is the place where the ancient heritage is buried …
"… According to the information obtained in advance, the Shadowy Fortress is not located in the real world that we are familiar with. It is a territory that the ancient Gondor Empire opened up in the Shadowy Realm through superb lost technology. It floats outside the real world, but it has not established a stable connection with the Shadowy Realm. It is a free space that can only be entered through a specific door and ritual …
"Part of my information is correct. There is indeed a space node that leads to the Shadow Fortress in the Gloom Mountain Range. I activated the ritual at this node and successfully entered this place. However, the wrong part of the information is that the 'Shadow Seal Ring' used to open the gate is a one-time use item. In other words, I can't find a way to recharge it.
"His Majesty gave one of the two rings in his hand to me. Obviously, he did not expect that this ring could only be used once to open the Shadow Fortress."
After reading a few paragraphs, Amber could not help but look up and look at Gwen who was also looking up.
"Shadow Seal Ring …" Amber subconsciously grasped the thin necklace hanging around her neck. There were two quaint rings hanging on the necklace. One of them was still shining with magic, the other was dim.
The ring with magic was obtained from Francis II, and the dim ring was carried by Amber since she was a child. Now, the origin of these two rings finally had an explanation.
She lowered her head and continued to read the rest of the diary:
"… Although trapped, I have to admire the superb technology of the ancient Kingdom of Gondor. The Shadow Fortress was an unimaginable place — even the process of entering the fortress was inconceivable. I was standing at the correct intersection of magic in the Gloom Mountain Range. All I needed to do was to inject magic into the ring, and I would be able to open a portal to the Shadow Realm. I suspected that the ring was only sending out a signal, and the real process of opening the portal was done by some facility in the Shadow Fortress. However, I had yet to find any clues …
"… This magnificent building is made of some kind of man-made material, which is stronger than rock. It floats in the void, and there is no land around it. There are no luminous celestial bodies in the sky, which is consistent with the scene described in the monograph of the Shadow Realm …
"I should be in the front yard of this ancient facility. I can see a door, but outside the door is pure darkness, which makes people wonder the meaning of the door. But I found some strange pillars on the limited platform in front of the door. I suspect that they were used to fix some kind of transportation, or to fix some kind of mount that could travel in the Shadow Realm. The ancient Gondor people may have the ability to explore the darkness of the void. After all, they were omnipotent Gondor people …
"At the other end of the courtyard is the main body of the building, a huge palace or fortress. I've already explored a small part of its entrance, and I'm shocked by its scale. There are countless corridors and rooms inside, as well as empty halls and warehouses … I can't imagine how many people worked and lived in this facility located in another dimension … It's so big that I suspect many people could live here for a lifetime. If a newborn is born here, as long as no one instills the correct knowledge into him, he might not even know about the existence of the outside world …
"Ah, my rich imagination can only be used to relieve boredom, but it can't get me out of this damn place."
Amber turned the pages. For a while, the quiet lounge was filled with the sound of flipping papers and the steady breathing of the three people.
"… The fourth day of being trapped.
"In the past three days, I have been thinking about whether to explore deeper into the fortress, which may mean additional risks: the defense mechanism in the ancient facility may still be active, and there is a possibility that the sleeping guards of the ruins may be awakened by me.
"It is said that the golem guards of the Violet Kingdom can continue to function for six hundred years after the death of their master. The legendary Gondor Ironmen may be able to function for even longer …
"But perhaps I should take some risks. I have been searching the courtyard and the outer corridor for three days. There is no device that can open the dimensional door, and my food and water are in a very dangerous situation. Between dying of thirst, starvation, or being beheaded by the ancient guards, the latter may be more merciful.
"I am going to enter the inner corridor.
"… The sixth day, still trapped.
"This damn fortress, why is it so big?! How many corridors, rooms, and halls does it have?! Did the Gondor people throw a city of people into the Umbra Realm?
"The Kingdom of Gondor's technology is so advanced that they can build such a fortress in the Umbra Realm. They can let thousands of people live in this dimension for a long time. And I, a royal shadow guard from thousands of years in the future, can only explore this ancient facility without any clues. It is really ironic.
"By the way, I've run out of water and food.
"On the seventh day, I found an empty room. It might have been some kind of research facility in the past. I saw some platforms with runes on them and pipes and containers that I couldn't tell what they were for. Unfortunately, there was no water in any of the pipes and containers.
"I have to start thinking about my future.
"The eighth day, the key word today is moss.
"Yes, moss! There is moss in this fortress that has been isolated from the world for thousands of years! There is moss in a place like the Umbra Realm!
"They grew in a room that looked like a laboratory. There were many large tubular containers that were fixed to the ground. The containers were all empty, but the outer wall of one of the containers, as well as the surrounding walls and ground, were filled with these cute little plants. Like other things in the Umbra Realm, the moss is grayish-black, and I almost confused it with ordinary stains at first. Thank goodness, I stayed in this room for a little longer …
"The appearance of the moss means dampness, and dampness means water.
"The taste of the moss is a little bitter, and there's a strange, gelatinous texture to it. It may not be good for my health, but I can't care so much. Without this moss, I'm afraid I won't have to worry about my health for the next few days."
"The moss helped me recover some of my strength, and the water it contains is enough to boost my spirit, but this amount of water is obviously not enough to sustain me for a long time. I collected all the moss on a nearby pipe and squeezed out the juice and put it into a water bottle. With this small supply, I started to explore the surrounding rooms with this room as the center.
"On the ninth day, I didn't find any water, but I … saw a figure!
"I can't use words to record my shock. I saw a figure, but the figure flashed past the corner of the room … I can't be sure if it is real.
"Does the moss contain hallucinogenic ingredients? But I have to rely on it to survive …
"On the tenth day, I found water! In a place where many people eat, one of the pipes has water flowing out! And it is water! I think I can survive here for a long time! "
"Does the appearance of the water mean that some kind of purification device is still running? Are there more devices in operation? "
Hu Po seriously looked at every line of text and unconsciously bit his lip. It was as if he was watching his foster father explore and survive in an ancient fortress that was cut off from the rest of the world with his own eyes, and when he saw Surry?? After Randolph found the water, she couldn't help but sigh softly, "He may have found a canteen that is still working …"
Gwen nodded slightly and whispered, "I'm more curious about the figure he saw."
"He mentioned here —" Amber turned a page, glanced at it, and pointed at the content.
"… I saw more than one figure again. This time, I can be sure that it is not an illusion. But what happened next made me even more shocked and confused.
"Those figures were the 'Shadow Natives'.
"They are just as described in the monograph. They are as formless as ghosts. They are wrapped in some kind of ragged 'shroud' and take the shape of a human. They can travel freely in the World of Shadows and have obviously noticed me, an uninvited guest.
"I was ready for battle, but the battle did not happen. All the academic records said that the Shadowborn would attack all physical creatures that entered the Shadowborn Realm, but those Shadowborn just stared at me coldly. I was sure that they were staring, although there was only empty darkness in the 'shroud' …" "But
"After the unbearable confrontation, the Shadow Natives all left. We didn't communicate with each other.
"I don't know what happened at all."
Amber frowned. She also felt that the Shadow Natives her foster father encountered were a little strange, but she couldn't explain it. She could only suppress these doubts in her heart and continue reading —
On the new page, Randolph Randolph Randolph's text continued to record his experience in the Shadow Fortress:
"… On the fourteenth day, I found a room. Some of the devices in the room … were still running.
"It's hard for me to describe what I saw. Those things are beyond my knowledge. Around a huge pillar, I saw a large number of pale yellow translucent egg-shaped containers fixed on brackets. Those egg-shaped containers are about the size of an adult cow …" "Oh, it's really hard for me to describe it.
"Many pipes extended from the large pillar and connected to the surrounding egg-shaped containers.
"Almost all of the containers are broken. They are broken, slanted, and have fallen to the ground. The contents have all dried up. Inside the broken containers, I saw many small skeletons.
"This made me shudder. As a Shadow Guard of the Royal Family, I've seen many tragic scenes and death scenes, but the small skeletons in those containers are even more terrifying than those scenes I've seen. I can't help but wonder what the people of Gondor were doing here.
"I was shocked and nervous when I checked the room. Then I found her.
"The only complete container, the only living individual.
"She was curled up in some kind of liquid, floating in a translucent crystal container. Everything looked like an Amber.
"I can't describe my feelings at this moment. What made me more confused was that these crystal containers were exactly the same as the target item described in the mission. This meant that … the 'thing' in the container was the 'ancient relic' I had to bring back.
"My mission was completed, but I had to find a way to get out. And I had to bring this container out. If I opened it rashly, would the little girl inside die? This was a very tricky thing. "
Amber's eyes were fixed on the page in front of her. Even though she had finished reading the contents of this page, she did not turn to the next page. It was not until a minute later that Gwen patted her on the shoulder.
Amber woke up with a start. She took a deep breath and turned the page.
"… On the fifteenth day, I still haven't figured out what to do. But I suddenly realized that there was no use thinking about it. I was still trapped here.
"A person who can't even get out of here alive wants to complete the mission? That's just wishful thinking.
"I put aside the unsolvable problem for the time being and focused on finding a way out.
"Considering that I'm afraid that for a long time to come, the only one who can accompany me is this little girl in Amber. I gave her a name, Amber.
"But I guess she should have another name. There is a row of letters engraved on the base of each of the oval-shaped containers. The letters of each container are slightly different. They may be the real name (although I also doubt that the Gondor scholars who worked here would really name a batch of experimental subjects). But that is the ancient Gondor language from a thousand years ago. It is very different from the current common alphabet. And my knowledge of ancient characters is just my weakness.
"I can only copy down these letters. If one day I can really make it out alive, perhaps the scholars in the Royal Capital will be able to answer my questions and help me figure out the real name of this little girl. At the very least, I will be able to figure out how the people of Gondor called her."
At the end of the page, Surry Randall left a large blank space. Randolph left a large blank space. On the blank space, he drew a line of letters which few people could understand in this age.
Amber stared at the line of letters. After a while, she looked up and looked into Gwen's eyes. "These letters … What do they mean? What was my original name? "
Gwen looked away from the letters. He silently looked at Amber for four or five seconds. Finally, he sighed softly and slowly opened his mouth.
"Cyborg No. 36."
(Double Duration +. +) Please!!!)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
