Teacher by day, Farmer by passion

The ocean was as beautiful as it had ever been.

A girl stood atop the mountain, gazing down at the river winding below, its surface catching the moonlight like strands of silver thread.

She never understood why people called it the Dark Valley River.

Night after night, despite her mother's warnings, she would sneak out and dive into its cool embrace. It was her secret, her sanctuary.

But one night, the storm came.

The currents pulled her under, relentless, violent and when she surfaced again, she was no longer in the land she knew.

It was quiet.

It felt wrong.

For the first time in her life, she felt what hunger meant.

For the first time, she felt what true fear of being alone was.

The river from this side flowed red.

She was just a little girl—dripping, barefoot, and cold. Her teeth chattered, but she didn't cry.

Not because she was brave, but because she didn't understand how. Where were the trees? Where was Mama? Why was everything so… wrong?

The sky was gray.

Ash drifted down like snowflakes, clinging to her wet skin as she stepped forward, barefoot, silent, trembling.

Around her, the world was death.

Bodies littered the earth.

Five different flags rose from the carnage, each one bearing strange symbols, torn and burned but still proud in the wind.

Red. Gold. Azure. White. Black.

A battlefield… long after the war had ended.

The little girl didn't understand what it meant. Only that her breath felt too loud. That if she made a sound, the dead might wake.

So she walked carefully. Slowly. As if even the dirt beneath her feet might scream.

Then—

"Young miss…"

A voice.

She froze.

It was quiet, kind, and impossibly close.

"What are you doing here?"

She turned.

A knight stood behind her.

Or what remained of one.

His armor was rusted and cracked.

Only his left hand remained while the other side of his body was a ruin of blood and scorched steel.

Yet his face, though hollowed by time and pain, still held a tired, polite smile.

"You shouldn't be here, little girl," he murmured, kneeling slowly, as if even that simple act pulled centuries from his bones.

The child blinked up at him, unable to speak at first. Her throat was tight. Her knees shook.

Finally, in a whisper too small for the wind, she asked:

"Wh…where should I go?"

Her eyes welled with tears.

The knight's expression softened, but there was sorrow in his gaze.

"As far from here as you can. As far as your legs take you."

He knelt beside her, placing his lone hand gently on her shoulder.

"But if you can't run…"

His smile didn't fade, but something darker moved behind his words.

"…Then you will have to survive."

The knight looked down at her.

"Do you know where you're supposed to go?"

She shook her head.

He smiled gently. "Then I'll protect you for now."

His voice was warm despite the brokenness in his body. "I'll be your knight in shining armor."

She blinked. "What… does that mean?"

The knight chuckled. "You won't get it. But where I come from, it's a very noble title to bear."

She smiled for the first time since waking on this side of the river. "What's your name, Mr. Knight?"

He straightened slightly, pride flickering in his eyes.

"I'm... I'm the Shining Knight."

Then he turned, grabbing a battered shield from one of the fallen.

"Come," he said. "Stay close."

"Aren't you going to take a sword?"

The knight paused, then glanced back at her with a wistful grin.

"I've grown dull," he said. "And I can't protect you if my only arm holds a sword instead of a shield."

"…Thank you, Mr. Knight," she said softly.

The two of them walked through the ruin-strewn field, one limping and weathered, the other tiny and trembling.

But fate had not finished with them.

Dark figures emerged in the distance, warriors in golden armor, their banners etched with the character for Lin.

The soldiers were chatting and cheering with each other. The path out was through there, they had blocked it and if the two wanted to escape.

They had no choice but to face them.

The knight stopped cold.

He knelt beside her once more, urgency tightening his face.

"Little girl," he whispered, "those are Wood Clan warriors. Lin family."

She looked up, eyes wide with fear.

"If you survive this… if you make it out…" His voice broke slightly, but he kept going. "Find the Hua family. Tell them… the coward of the Hua family died fighting."

He reached into a pouch tied to his belt and pulled out a tattered talisman, a formation etched with ancient runes, faintly glowing with soul light.

He placed it in her hands.

"Tell me your name, little one."

"…I—I'm Sarah."

"Then Sarah… take this. It's a one-time-use formation. It'll send you a thousand kilometers away."

His gaze met hers, fierce and final. "I'm sending you to heaven or hell, depends on your luck, really. I don't know which."

He grinned, wide and wild and brave.

"But I pray you live on."

Before she could protest, before she could even cry, the knight leaned forward and bit the seal—activating it with the last of his spirit energy.

Light surged.

As the runes bloomed across her body, Sarah's mouth opened to scream—

But he was already on his feet, turning from her with his shield raised high.

He ran toward the approaching warriors who had seen the light, bellowing like thunder:

"WOOD FAMILY FIENDS!! COME AT ME!! I'M STILL STANDING ALIVE!!"

Then the world tore open.

And Sarah was gone.

When Sarah opened her eyes, the silence was deafening. No screams. No swords.

Just… pages rustling like wind through trees.

She blinked. Once. Twice.

The knight was gone.

"Mr. Knight…?" she whispered.

But only the books answered.

The place was not just any libraryz this place floated beyond time.

Shelves twisted through the air like vines, and books drifted gently as if carried by invisible currents.

The space glowed with quiet magic.

She floated, weightless, limbs adrift, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

Then instinctively, she reached out and grabbed a book.

She opened it.

She read.

When she finished, she opened another.

And another.

She didn't sleep. She didn't eat. She didn't stop.

Days passed. Weeks followed and maybe even years....

Or maybe it had only been a day.

Time meant nothing here.

Despite the endless walls of knowledge, Sarah closed a book one day and muttered to herself:

"This place severely lacks books."

The air shifted.

The spirits, silent watchers of the library, turned toward her, their forms like shimmering silhouettes woven from parchment and ink.

"She bears no reverence," one whispered, their voice a rustling page.

"She dares to hunger beyond the scroll," murmured another.

"Unfit," they said together, voices folding over one another like closing covers.

And so, they banished her.

She was cast out from the eternal library.

And yet, when they banished her from a place even gods would commit crimes to enter…

And she smiled not because she'd won, but because she'd survived.

A crooked, weary smile lit her face like dawn through fog.

"Freedom," she whispered, as if daring the world to take it from her again.