Uninvited Guest on the Ship

The long twilight had ended, and night had fallen.

Electric lights came on, driving the darkness from the room. Taran El stood by the window, frowning as he gazed out at the streets below—gas lamps lit the roadways, and the Knowledge Guardians on night patrol could occasionally be seen near intersections with their guard dogs. Other than that, the entire city seemed dead beneath the night, empty and silent.

After an unknown length of time, he finally withdrew his gaze from the window and looked at the stacks of sorted documents and books on his desk, letting out an almost imperceptible sigh.

He had organized these things before sunset. Next, they needed to be packed up and sent to the Grand Library of the academy—there was a new office there, blessed by the God of Wisdom and protected by many sacred wards, where he could safely conduct research and read.

Yet only a select few scholars were qualified to receive a "safe room" in the academy's Grand Library. For the vast majority, once the sun set, "reading" became taboo. For safety's sake, all books had to be sealed away for the duration of this nightfall, until the next sunrise—this was also part of the Nightfall Ban that City Hall had just announced.

At the same time, classes in schools everywhere had to cease as well—the young students did not yet possess the strength or experience to deal with the monsters that had pursued them from the Spirit World and the Abyssal Deep Sea. It was simply too dangerous.

Of course, some believed that Lightwind Harbor's situation was not so dire, because the glowing geometric object beside the city-state possessed power similar to that of the sun. Within the range of its "sunlight," people might still be able to live and