Deep Sea Embers

How did that key get into the hands of the first consul?

This is the question that Agatha is most concerned about at the moment-because no matter in which historical record, whether it is from the perspective of the queen's supporters or the current city-state authorities, the "uprising" or "rebellion" half a century ago "The descriptions are consistent on one point, that is, there is an irreconcilable conflict between the Frost Queen and the rebel army.

The two sides are enemies, and there is no possibility of any understanding or cooperation, let alone any "inheritance" relationship-then why did Queen Lei Nora's key go to the city-state consul? And Winston also called it a "curse" and a "gift"?

Thinking quickly, Agatha lowered her head and looked into Winston's eyes: "There is another truth about the uprising back then—could there be an agreement between the Frost Queen and the rebel army..."

"It's not such a dramatic turn, Ms. Gatekeeper, although it does sound like a good story - the mad city-state ruler and the leader of the rebel army cherish each other, and use a big uprising that can end the chaos of the previous dynasty to fulfill their powers and responsibilities Screenwriters and novelists will love this theme, but unfortunately, there is no such warmth in real history.

"The great uprising is inevitable. The rift between the Mad Queen and the Frost subjects is irreparable. She was once great, but her failure in the Abyss Plan has pushed the city-state to the brink of collapse. The first consul revolted against the Queen. It is for the survival of more people, and there has been no room for peaceful dialogue between them from the very beginning.

"But you are right about one thing. There is indeed a kind of 'tacit understanding' between the queen and the rebel army—the queen knows that her overthrow is inevitable, and the rebel army also knows that the queen's crazy behavior is not just 'Insane' is so simple, she must have a lot of secrets.

"So, the night before the execution, the leader of the rebel army, that is, the first consul, found the imprisoned queen, and he wanted to find out what the queen was hiding.

"So, the queen gave him the key and told him that as long as the execution is over and her life is over, the person holding the key will naturally know everything."

Winston stopped, with a mocking and helpless expression on his face. He lowered his head and stared at the brass key in his hand. After a long time, he smiled wryly and said, "You know the last words she said to the leader of the rebel army were What? The history books of later generations have never described this, and only the consuls of successive dynasties knew this sentence.

"'I tried my best, if you think you can do it, that's okay, now it's your turn'—that's what she said after the first consul took over the key."

"...All choices have a price." Agatha sighed softly after hearing this unknown history.

"Ms. Gatekeeper," Winston suddenly raised his head, holding up the brass key with a strange smile, "Would you like to try it? Take the key and take a look at the key that Le Nora once saw scenery?"

Agatha suddenly hesitated. She stared fixedly at the key Winston handed over, and felt her already sluggish heart beating again. A low-pitched pressure spread from the key. A century of darkness and malice—however, after a few seconds of silence and hesitation, she took a soft breath and reached out to the key.

A slightly cold touch came from the fingertips.

In the next second, countless phantoms suddenly emerged from the boundless darkness, and chaotic fragments of light and shadow swept in like a storm, filling Agatha's reason. Scenes of phantoms began to flash in my mind——

In the endless dark deep sea, some kind of huge and terrifying dark limbs are slowly growing and growing;

The ancient and chilling gaze looks at the city-state from the deep sea, scanning all living beings indifferently like an indescribable ancient god;

The dark and frightening matter overflows and rises from the deep sea, turning into a replica of the real world. In the transformation of virtual and real, those matter sometimes turn into shadows, sometimes into entities, and the boundless deep sea is densely packed with chaotic and dirty figures. , looking up at the city-state with empty eyes;

And in the farther place, the darker and deeper seabed, the whole world, the whole boundless sea, under hundreds of city-states, are all shadows, as if the old world sank in the boundless darkness, and the abominations emerged from the ancient corpses. Breeding in, constantly rising, constantly rising...

And in the depths of these countless scenes of phantoms, Agatha can always feel a certain kind of "watching"-it is not a gaze, not any kind of will with a clear source, she feels as if she is being captured by the years themselves. Staring at him, something older than history, bigger than city-states, even seems to come from the deepest part of the world... is watching him.

There was no emotion in that "watching", neither malice nor kindness, He just watched, like a soulless shell watching an uninvited guest who ignorantly broke into the truth, and said indifferently——

"Oh, here you are."

"boom!"

Agatha felt the explosion in the depths of her consciousness, and the only remaining reason made her desperately float up in the countless layered illusions, and in the process, her perception and thinking were suppressed to the limit——she could feel , there is still more information, more thought fragments surrounding itself, which may even contain the will or words left by Queen Le Nora, but she can neither see nor understand.

When she regained the initiative of this body again, all the illusions were over. She opened her eyes in the darkness and chaos, and saw that Winston Consul was still in front of her eyes, and even kept handing herself the brass The last gesture of the key—only a second seemed to pass.

I returned to this weird creeping dark space again... Wait, no, something changed!

Agatha suddenly noticed the strange change in her vision, raised her head in horror, and looked around her.

The darkness in all directions seems to have receded a lot compared to the beginning, and those black invisible objects slowly wriggling and deforming in the darkness seemed to be gradually condensing and turning into entities. Between the constantly creeping virtual reality, she saw even more Many things that spread and grow out of the surrounding space - they look like dry tree branches, but their scale densely fills the entire space, the black "tree branches" bridge and gather with each other in nothingness, faint flashes and walk between them, like...

Express capsules being transported rapidly in steam pipelines.

And in the depths of this complicated network of "branches" like thorn bushes, through the layers of phantoms, Agatha saw a huge... limb.

It was a sturdy limb like a tentacle arm. Its huge scale was like a giant pillar supporting the heaven and earth, and the surface of the giant pillar was covered with dark blue lines. The patterns formed by those lines... looked like countless pairs of eyes.

Mental pollution? phantom? Crazy borderline?

Countless thoughts flashed through Agatha's mind. She closed her eyes immediately, only to find that the "giant pillar" supporting the heaven and earth was still in her field of vision. She tried to pray to the God of Death and use magic to stabilize her body. Will, but found that his sanity was clear, and there was no sign of erosion at all.

After several quick emergency response failed, she realized one thing——

I am not crazy, but in a clear and rational situation, I saw a "scenery" that I don't know where it is located and whether it is real or not.

She stood in this magnificent and terrifying "landscape", as if she lost her mind, until the voice of the consul Winston pulled her back: "Oh, it looks like you saw it."

The middle-aged consul spoke, slowly raised his head, and sighed softly: "It's spectacular, isn't it?"

Agatha hesitated and lowered her head, only then did she notice that what Winston was "relying on" was not a tree stump at all - it was actually part of the surrounding huge "tree branch" structure, an end extending from the tree branch, And there is a faint black structure on its upper part, spreading all the way to the deepest part of this weird space.

"This... these branches..."

"This is the thinking of the ancient gods, and this is what it looks like when it is realized in the vision of us mortals," Winston said lightly, "You are only touching the key for the first time, and there are very few things you can see. , but I have been with this key day and night for more than ten years... what it tells me is far beyond your imagination."

As if falling into a dream, Agatha slowly understood Winston's words, and subconsciously repeated: "The ancient god... thinking?"

"Isn't it incredible? These tree branch-like things don't really exist. What you see is probably just a thought flashed by the gods at a certain moment, and this thought is strongly imprinted here, turning into The vast structure that you see—oh, don't try to decipher something from it, don't try to understand the laws of how those flashes pass, you'll go mad."

Agatha turned her head suddenly: "Someone went crazy because of this?"

"Yes," laughed Winston. "Have you forgotten? Her name is Leigh Nora..."

Agatha was speechless for a while, and after a few seconds, she spoke softly: "Then... what is that thing outside the 'thornbush'?"

"It's the Holy Lord of the Deep," Winston said lightly, "it's a small part of Him, the part that penetrates the city-state."