Deep Sea Embers

After listening to Vanna's story, Tirian fell into a short silence.

Without seeing it with his own eyes, he still can't analyze from these few words what kind of plan the ghost who returned from the subspace has at this moment, and how he has undergone these changes, but one thing is certain—— what Vanna described That "Captain Duncan" is definitely not the frenzied monster that the Sea Mist encountered on the cold sea half a century ago.

But it was not quite like the great explorer father he remembered from a century ago.

"Captain Tirian," after a long silence in the living room, Fanna's voice suddenly sounded, interrupting Tirian's thinking, "What do you think?"

"I... can't believe this will really happen, but since it has already happened, we can only admit the fact for now," Tirian frowned slowly, and said while thinking, "From your description, He does seem to be in a state of clear thinking, sanity and humanity, but his power... that cursed flame, is correspondingly stronger."

Fan Na nodded: "I don't know if that green flame is a curse, but that thing is indeed very powerful."

"That flame has something to do with the warp," said Tirian. "He gained this strange power after falling into the warp, so there is no problem calling it a curse."

"...So, the flame is stronger than what you have seen half a century ago, which means that Captain Duncan's connection with the subspace is deeper than before," the old bishop Valentine thought, "Therefore He didn't break free from the influence of the warp, but sank deeper—but correspondingly, he recovered in the process?"

"...that doesn't fit our understanding of the Warp." Tirian shook his head.

"There is a saying among the followers of Rahelm," said Valentine, "that the only thing we know about the Warp is that we can never know enough of it—for thousands of years, there has been nothing from People or things in the real dimension can return to this world after entering the subspace, and apart from some indirect observation records and a few words written by mad scholars in the Kingdom of Ancient Crete in their madness, no one knows what happened in the subspace. What exactly is there... Our 'law summary' of that place is actually meaningless in itself."

Speaking of this, the knowledgeable old man paused for a moment, and sighed leisurely: "Even, we are not sure whether the subspace is a 'place' or not—

"One thousand and six hundred years ago, the madman Baiermin was swallowed by invisible things in full view because he was reading an ancient scroll. Before he disappeared, he shouted 'the warp is the shadow behind the world', when he This sentence made one hundred and forty-two eyewitnesses crazy, but with the madness of those one hundred and forty-two eyewitnesses as a 'sacrifice', this piece of information has also become a step in our understanding of the subspace for thousands of years. Biggest step out.

"Until now, scholars are still trying to construct a theoretical model of the subspace based on Bayermin's dying cry... and your father, not only did he really go into that place, he even returned to our world consciously."

"Yeah, research every year, people die every year, and those who die are quickly replenished, and continue to study... So I really admire those desperate scholars in the Academy of Truth, in a pure sense of respect," Tirian said. He sighed and shook his head, then his voice was slightly lowered, "So, may my 'father' have become a precious sample now? A sample that has really been to the subspace, and is sane and communicable?"

"This is just wishful thinking," Valentine spread his hands, "We can't rely on 'Captain Duncan' to cooperate with mortal research, not to mention, although he is rational now, we cannot rashly assume that he is rational It's on the human side—if he's a sane warp invader, he'll be far more terrifying than those unthinking projections of chaos."

Tirian didn't speak for a while, as if he was in deep memory and thinking. After some time, he suddenly said: "Before the last expedition, he was anxious for a while... No, strictly speaking , since he doesn’t know when, he seems to have been anxious about something, and has made many… chilling preparations for it.”

Valentine and Fanna immediately exchanged glances, and their expressions became serious at the same time.

This may be the first time in a century that someone has heard these vital secrets from the descendants of Captain Duncan!

Fan Na couldn't help asking: "What is he anxious about? What is he preparing for?"

"The end of the world." Tirian raised his head and said calmly.

Valentine frowned slightly: "Doomsday?"

"I know it sounds a bit cheesy, like the doomsday lunatics that pop up every year, but it's what the world's greatest explorer, sleepless nights, was thinking a hundred years ago. one thing."

Tirian sighed softly, and continued.

"He's been bringing it up occasionally since the day Lucrezia and I took command of Seamist and Bright Star.

"He seems to think that there is something like a countdown in our world, or some kind of time limit. Although the world seems to be stable and peaceful on the surface, this countdown is actually coming to an end, and as soon as the time comes, it will quickly Into the collapse, the end, no one can reverse or stop this process, and he believes that ... our era is the last bar of the countdown."

Valentine frowned: "Frankly speaking, I don't think our world can be regarded as 'stable'..."

"But in my father's mouth, he called the present world 'the last pastoral age'."

Fan Na thought for a while and asked, "So, in order to find a way to stop this 'countdown', he fell into the subspace?"

"No, he wanted to find the anomaly 000—he thought that the anomaly 000 could end the distortion of the world and stop the countdown. For this reason, he passed through the 'curtain of eternity' at the end of the world."

Valentine was taken aback: "He passed through the eternal curtain?!"

"Yes...but I can only confirm that he did enter the fog, and I don't know if he really 'penetrated' it," Tirian said, "He refused all frigates to follow, I can tell you What is certain is that he did make it back alive—in a state of insanity. As for falling into the Warp...that was after that.”

Valentine and Fanna fell silent at the same time, and after a while, Fanna took the initiative to break the silence: "Did he find the so-called anomaly 000? You know, theoretically..."

"In theory, there is no anomaly or anomaly numbered zero, I know, and he did return without success," Tirian said calmly, "so I always thought that he might have already It's not normal anymore."

Fan Na thought for a while, then asked: "Then do you know the reason why your father thought there was a 'countdown' in the world at first? When did he have this cognition? Was he exposed to some inducement, or...discovered what?"

Tirian thought about it seriously for a moment, and said a little uncertainly: "I...not sure, it's been too long, but I vaguely remember that he once received a few people on the Lost Country, and talked to them all night— —The first time he brought up the question of the end of the world with us was after that day.”

"How many people have you received?" Valentine immediately became serious, "What kind of person? What was the situation at the time?"

"They are all wearing gray and white coarse cloth robes and bare feet. In my impression...they are very thin, as if they have undergone penance, as if they have experienced a rather long journey. They suddenly appeared during the voyage of the Lost Country Those who were on the ship boarded the ship as if they had already made an appointment with their father," Tirian said slowly, "and after a long talk all night, my father said that the guests had left, but I didn't see them leave the ship. People seem to disappear out of thin air."

Valentine's expression was a bit strange: "The last missionary? This sounds a lot like..."

"Your Excellency, do you think that if I have lived for a hundred years, I will not know the preacher of the end?" Tirian shook his head lightly, "I doubted that too, but those people are definitely not the end of the people you and I are familiar with. Preachers—they're sane and friendly, and there's nothing crazy about them."

"Sensible and friendly?" Valentine blinked, and said thoughtfully, "It's true that I haven't heard of a rational final missionary... Do those people have any characteristics?"

This time Tirian recalled it for a longer time, and after a few minutes, he suddenly raised his head: "At that time, one of them said a few words to me, but I can't remember the specific content, it was just an ordinary greeting, but I remember them calling themselves 'humble seekers,' and..."

Tirian paused and looked around: "Do you have a pen?"

"Yes," Fan Na immediately took the pen and paper from the side, "Here you are."

Tirian took the pen and paper and lowered his head to draw a pattern on the coffee table. Valentine and Fanna moved over curiously.

They saw a hexagonal emblem, and in the center of the emblem was a broken pattern that looked like a cross. Tirian obviously hesitated when drawing the cross, as if his memory had been blurred.

"It's roughly like this pattern - one of the people is wearing such a talisman. The talisman seems to be very important. He doesn't allow me to touch it. He only says that it is their guidance and protection on the road."

Fan Na frowned and looked at the pattern for a long time, then turned her head to look at Valentine: "You have more knowledge, do you know this thing?"

"...I've never seen it before," Valentine looked carefully for a long time, then shook his head hesitantly, "it doesn't look like any known religious symbol, nor does it look like something used by classical city-states."

"Is that so..."

Fan Na muttered softly, her eyes still fixed on the piece of paper.

The strange patterns on the paper were reflected in her eyes.

Reflected in her eyes at the same time, there is also a cluster of faint green sparks that are almost undetectable to the naked eye.