The twelve Sages, led by Norton, silently flew down to the edge of the platform.
They watched as the gray erosion marks remaining on their plain robes gradually faded in the light, eventually turning into low-profile silver embroidery at the corners of their robes.
Norton took a deep breath, as if truly breathing the air of freedom for the first ti.
He looked at Bai Cheng and slowly bowed: "We were once lost in the cage of rationality... Now, please allow us, as readers, to follow the new chapter you are writing."
Everything—all wills, all lights, all stories—finally converged upon Bai Cheng alone.
She looked up at the geotric figure, which was now almost completely enveloped by the undefined light, its form becoming as unrecognizable as an abstract art painting.
The light in her palm reached its peak.
“Did you hear that?” Bai Cheng’s voice wasn't loud, yet it seed to reach the depths of everyone’s heart. “This is our answer.”
“Experint No. ST-774321, terminated now.”
“Sky Island Epic: The True Chapter—”
She held her radiant right hand high, like a proclamation, like a creation.
“From here, written by our own hands, begin!”
As her voice fell.
The light completely swallowed the geotric figure.
There was no loud bang of destruction, only a soft sound like the closing of a thick ancient book—clack.
The gray areas in the sky disappeared.
The colorless geotric figure also disappeared.
In its place was a clear, real night sky dotted with stars.
And in the center of that night sky, above the top of the Golden Bell Tower, a phantom of an imnsely huge book with a simple yet gorgeous cover but no words slowly erged.
The book flipped open automatically.
On the blank title page, ink began to flow on its own, writing the first line of words:
【End of Volu One · The Curtain Falls ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) on the Experint】
【Start of Volu Two · The Stars of the Story Light Up】
【Author: Children of Sky Island】
Imdiately after, the second page flipped open, and new star chart coordinates full of infinite possibilities began to erge.
The star chart no longer had only three options; instead, it spread out into countless branches like a spider web, each branch pointing toward an unknown and promising future.
Shandora's bell rang for the last ti, long and full of hope.
The rainbow didn't completely disappear; instead, it turned into soft bands of light, connecting to the coordinates that had just erged in the star chart.
Bai Cheng lowered her hand, and the light in her palm gradually receded, rging into her body.
The scar mark on her brow and the earring that had re-solidified by her ear reflected each other. She turned her head and looked at her companions beside her.
Fatigue was etched on everyone's faces, but a new fire burned in their eyes.
It was a fire that, after learning the truth of the world, hadn't been crushed but instead beca more determined to create their own story.
“It seems,” a subtle yet incredibly real curve hooked at the corner of Bai Cheng’s mouth, “our journey is still far from being finished.”
Zi Yuan shouldered her long blade and looked at the Wordless Heavenly Book and the countless new coordinates deep in the starry sky: “Then let's keep going. This ti, we'll decide for ourselves where we want to go.”
Qingniao flexed her wrists: “Repair the ship first! That collision just now definitely gave the dawn new injuries.”
Leng Ningxue had already begun calculating maintenance plans and exploration priorities.
Lu Duo and Yu Nian shared a smile and began using the power of life and a pure heart to comfort the startled residents of Shandora.
Garel walked toward Norton and the other Sages, beginning to discuss how to handle the aftermath and integrate the existing forces of Sky Island.
Aurora, holding a new sunstone, walked toward the depths of the bell tower, preparing to re-establish the connection with the sun core.
Elune looked toward the other end of the starry sky, her light wings trembling slightly as if sensing sothing.
Abraham sat in his wheelchair, watching all of this. The shrill sound of the chip inside his skull had stopped at so point.
He raised his hand and looked at the back of his withered hand; there might have been a serial number there once, but there was nothing now.
Only the wrinkles left by ti and a bit of the residual warmth from the undefined light he had just touched.
He pushed his wheelchair and slowly ca before Bai Cheng.
“You... you all...” he began, his voice still aged, but lacking that coldness of having seen through everything and instead gaining a complex, almost sentintal emotion.
“...really chose the most difficult path.
Not becoming a successful experintal sample, nor being purged as a failure, and certainly not begging for a restart... instead, you forcibly turned the experint report into a draft for an epic.”
Bai Cheng looked at him: “This path has always existed; you just didn't list it as an option.”
Abraham was silent for a long ti, and finally, he gave an extrely slight nod.
He looked up at the Wordless Heavenly Book and the vast new star chart; deep within his gray eyes, there seed to be an extrely faint spark, like embers reigniting, flickering.
“Then... does this new book need a... recorder? An old recorder who has made mistakes and was once lost?”
In his voice, there was a trace of almost imperceptible pleading and deep exhaustion.
Bai Cheng exchanged a look with Zi Yuan and the others.
“There can be many recorders,” Bai Cheng said. “But the authors can only be ourselves. However...”
She paused.
“A proofreader who understands the loopholes in the old script might help the new story avoid so detours.”
Abraham's shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly.
He lowered his head and looked at his knees for a long ti before letting out an extrely soft "Mhm," which sounded like both a sigh and a release.
The starry sky was vast, and the new volu had begun.
The lights of Shandora lit up one by one in the night, warm and steady.
The epic of Sky Island broke free from its preset orbit and, carrying all its scars, glory, questions, and courage, sailed toward the unknown chapter of the sea of stars that truly belonged to it.
And on the blank page in the deepest part of that Wordless Heavenly Book, a small line of handwriting, like a casual footnote, quietly erged:
【Note: All great stories begin with a seemingly impossible fourth option.】
【——Recorder · Abraham (Acting)】
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