Omen

A few hundred meters from where everyone was ambushed, Gawain found the small wooden house that had already turned into ruins.

It lay amidst the trees. Judging by the scorched marks, a fire that had raged from within had destroyed it. However, the flames hadn't spread any further – perhaps a timely rain had saved the mountain forest. Knight Byron examined the remaining traces around the house and determined that the fire had occurred over half a month ago.

Heti detected very faint magical power reactions at the scene.

"What we saw in the Shadow Realm was likely a reflection," Gawain said, looking at the ruined wooden house in the clearing, stating his deduction. "This wild mage lived in seclusion in this place for many years. It's located outside the territory, and even hunters don't come here, so no one knew an hermit lived here."

"The question is... how did the accident happen?" Heti frowned. "There's only a weak magic focus here, and the wild mage who lived here had very low strength. Even if one of his magic experiments went out of control and burned down this house, it wouldn't have created a long-lasting projection in the Shadow Realm, let alone generated such powerful Vengeful Spirit Mist... The magic power required for all this couldn't have been provided by a mere wild mage."

"Perhaps this notebook can answer your doubts," Gawain said, handing a worn notebook to Heti.

This was the notebook they had obtained from Betty in the Shadow Realm. It was both the diary of the nameless wild mage and his research notes.

Following Gawain's instructions, Heti opened the latter half of the notebook and read it carefully.

"...Ansu 729, Fire Moon, XXth day. It's been half a year since I moved to this place. I found a magic focus on the edge of the Cecil Family's territory. Although its strength can't compare to the public magic focus in the City of a Thousand Towers, it's enough to support my laboratory. The Elemental Power here is singular and stable, and Annie's condition should improve.

"Ansu 729, Harvest Moon, XXth day. Annie's condition seems to have improved. She hasn't had an episode for a long time – but I don't know if it's the environment here that's working, or if my rituals and potions are truly effective. The magic focus here is too weak. Even with the amplification array, the effect of my rituals is greatly diminished. Perhaps I should reconsider the formulas I've previously derived... Although those people in the Arcane Society always mocked my calculations, I've left the Arcane Society anyway, so they can't control me here...

"Ansu 730, Mist Moon, XXth day. Those formulas and derivations have completely met expectations! No, the development of events is exactly as I calculated – with the new amplification method, the power of the magic focus has been greatly enhanced! With the help of additional magic power, I can finally proceed with Annie's next stage of treatment. Although she has hardly had any episodes in the past few months, the treatment must continue, as she cannot withstand any more hardship...

"Ansu 731, Frost Moon, XXth day. After the treatment, Annie was able to get out of bed and even made a meal! There was fried sausage and vegetable soup. I feel like I haven't eaten anything so delicious in a hundred years – even though the sausage was burnt and I forgot to put salt in the vegetable soup... It turns out my treatment plan is effective, and as long as this magic focus here can continue to supply magic power stably, Annie's recovery will be just around the corner..."

After this, the diary's content was mostly about the writer's daily life with his daughter. Heti quickly skimmed through this part until the last few pages, which contained scribbled and messy records:

"Ansu 734, Frost Moon, XXth day. Annie had an episode. Damn it!!

"I don't know what went wrong. All treatments were proceeding as planned, every step of the ritual was flawless, and the potions too – I've used them for years without any problems! But Annie still had an episode, and it was severe... more severe than any previous time. I must find the cause as soon as possible. I need to record all the details, everything... I must find the cause. Annie will be fine...

"Ansu 734, Frost Moon, XXth day. Annie has not improved. The new potions have no effect, and she continues to weaken. Moreover... she is gradually drifting away from this world. This morning, I saw her hands become transparent like mist, and many blisters appeared on her face. This world is rejecting her, pushing her into the Shadow Realm. What should I do...

"Ansu 734, Mist Moon, XXth day. That damned sun, its dark red patterns seem to mock my weakness! I've finally discovered the problem, but I'm powerless to solve it... The elements are accumulating, abnormally accumulating. Magic power is surging, and this weak magic focus cannot contain the excess magic, even if I remove the amplification arrays, it's useless. At this point, it would be wise to keep Annie away from areas of elemental concentration, but she has stayed in this place for too long. Her body resonates with the elemental environment here, and this resonance has sustained her life... but it will also take her life!

"Ansu 734, Mist Moon, XXth day. The magic power in the entire region is wrong, churning violently. The border of Cecil Territory is like falling into the legendary Sea of Magic. I can no longer reverse the changes in Annie. Half of her body has already left the material world. This morning, she even said she saw the entire house turn black and white. Perhaps... I can only find another way...

"Ansu 735, Fire Moon. The long preparation is finally over, and Annie's weakness has reached its limit.

"This is my only chance, there is no other option.

"Since I cannot keep Annie alive in the material world, I might as well choose another path.

"The ritual for Shadow Transformation is recorded in books, but it requires an unimaginable amount of magic power. However, for me, it might not be impossible. I used new amplification formulas and array drawing methods, and I will leverage the power of the surging magic. The magic power in this region is abnormally active. The energy accumulated in the magic focus has been suppressed by me for months, and today it is barely enough. Next, I just need to wait until the sun reaches its zenith, when magic power is at its strongest, and I can begin the transformation.

"Annie, hold on. Dad will save you, and Dad will go with you to the Shadow Realm. We will live there for a long time, and you will never hurt again."

The diary ended here.

As Heti was about to close the notebook, Gawain suddenly pointed to the corner of the last page: "There are actually a few more words here."

Heti quickly focused her gaze – in the corner was a dark ink stain. She had initially thought it was dirt from an overturned ink bottle, but upon closer inspection, she realized they were actually scribbled characters written with an ink-stained finger:

"Magic power out of control... The sun is red..."

Heti repeated the words, confused: "The sun is red... How can the sun be red?"

"Could it be during the last sunspot outbreak?" Rebecca suddenly recalled, "That was about half a month ago. There were many more sunspots on the sun's surface than usual. If this wild mage wasn't in his right mind, he might have thought the sun was red..."

Heti blinked, seemingly accepting Rebecca's explanation, and then she shook the notebook in her hand: "With this notebook, many things can be explained. It seems this nameless mage, in order to treat his daughter, set up a rather large magic array here. Later, he even came up with the crazy idea of transforming himself and his daughter into shadow forms to prolong their lives. But his transformation ritual went out of control due to the surging magic, which led to the fire half a month ago, the formation of the Vengeful Spirit Mist, and what our ancestor saw in the Shadow Realm..."

"These are not the main points," Gawain suddenly interrupted Heti. "Whether it's the Vengeful Spirit Mist or the wooden house in the Shadow Realm, these can all be directly explained in the notebook. What I want you to look at are the two details mentioned in the notebook – one about the dark red patterns on the sun's surface, and the other about the large-scale sunspot outbreak on the sun's surface."

Noticing the serious expression on Gawain's face, Heti became a little nervous. "Ancestor, these two matters..."

Gawain waved his hand. "Also, regarding the surging magic power mentioned by this wild mage in his diary, you two, as mages, should have sensed it, right?"

Heti and Rebecca exchanged glances and nodded simultaneously. "Recently, there have been a few instances of magic power surges in Cecil Territory. But magic power surges are quite normal – all magic power in the world originates from the sun, and the sun is constantly changing. The magic power on the ground naturally fluctuates. Although the magic surges within the territory have been frequent recently, they haven't reached a level that warrants concern."

Gawain looked at them and said slowly, "In the Gondorian Calendar year 1736, the empire reported observations of large dark red patterns appearing on the sun's surface. In 1738, the largest sunspot outbreak in history was observed, with nearly half of the sun's surface covered by red patches. In the same year, twenty-six provinces within the empire reported widespread magic surges – the surges were not large in scale, but they covered nearly two-thirds of the country. In 1739, a blood-red sun hung in the sky, shrouding the entire nation in a dark red sky curtain. However, no disasters occurred at that time. Instead, a large number of infants with exceptional magical talent were born. According to records, nearly one-third of the newborns born that day possessed innate elemental affinity. The newborn testing agencies in various places even experienced a shortage of resonance stones, so the court scholars announced that the day would be called the 'Dawn of Magic'. But also in the same year, the largest magic power supply facility near the Gondorian imperial capital, the 'Azure Well', experienced a massive explosion. The cause of the explosion was that the magic focus where the Azure Well was located was suddenly filled with chaotic and powerful magic power. The extraction array could not handle this chaotic energy, ultimately leading to the core meltdown..."

Gawain paused, but Heti, her face somewhat pale, continued, "...In Gondorian year 1740, the Magic Tide erupted, and the most powerful human empire in history was annihilated within months..."