The Night-Breaking Journey

In the dawn of the Fifth Epoch, the Dayless Catastrophe descended. The Silver Sanctum collapsed into a pale silhouette, time ground empires to dust, and the Origin-Sea still rages—its boiling tides gnawing day and night at the borders of reality, scouring the remnants of civilization into jagged despair. Millennium after dark millennium passed, until the banners of the Three Sages finally shattered on the Twelfth Expedition. The Iron Father's forge lay cold as a tomb, blood-tears dripped from the Philosopher's boughs, and the Pioneer's torch hissed into embers beneath the downpour. From that point, the world fractured completely—city-states turned inward, isolated, and unity became a forgotten memory. Yet amid the ruins, a vow is spoken: "We shall set out from this place, follow the Dawn Corridor, pass through the Triple Rings, unite every city-state once more, and launch a new expedition into the dark world. — We swear to end the long night."