Deep Sea Embers

The Frost Queen was silent for more than ten seconds. She couldn't see her mood at the moment in those purple eyes that were as clear and quiet as gemstones. She nodded slightly until the silence was almost frozen into suffocation: "oh."

Then she thought about it again, and asked, "How is the current situation of Frost?"

Duncan looked into her eyes and said in a calm tone: "...Tirion is the new consul, the Sea Mist Fleet is taking over the city-state, and the remaining Frost Navy will be reorganized."

A smile appeared on Lei Nora's face: "Ah, Tirian, one of the possibilities... Destiny is really an unclear thing. This result is not bad, what do you think?"

Duncan didn't respond, but continued to say calmly: "There is another thing, the current ruler of the city-state church obeys my orders."

Lei Nora finally showed a slightly surprised expression. She tilted her head slightly: "Huh? It sounds like...you are the actual controller of Frost now?"

"I'm not interested in running a city-state—but you can think of it that way."

"Now I'm more and more curious about what happened to make Frost's situation like this," Lei Nora's expression became serious, "I have arranged many things, but your appearance is beyond all plans, you A disaster was mentioned, but in my prediction, even if he loses control to a certain extent, the situation will not deteriorate to the extent you said..."

"The army of replicas in the deep sea has invaded Frost, and a mirrored city-state is about to float up to the real world," Duncan said in a deep voice, "When you tried to appease the tentacles in the deep sea, a group of cultists noticed The power he radiated—and Frost City-state's continuous mining of the boiling gold mine 'helped' those heretics to a certain extent."

Next, Duncan didn't hide anything. He told the former Queen about the factors that happened in Frost, including the changes caused by his intervention.

Lei Nora did not interrupt from the beginning to the end, she listened quietly, until Duncan finished speaking, she let out a long sigh of relief, with a complicated smile on her face: "Compared to the ancient gods in the deep sea , it’s true that crazy humans are a little more terrifying.”

Then she paused and sighed in relief: "Fortunately, in the worst direction, there is a not too bad ending - most people survive."

"Even if the city-state eventually becomes the property of my 'subspace shadow'?" Duncan asked intentionally.

Lei Nora just smiled, and then looked into Duncan's eyes seriously: "Then you must become the most powerful guardian in the history of Frost."

"Your attitude towards me is different from others," Duncan said with some emotion, "Since I regained my humanity, I have come into contact with many people, most of them seem surprised, and few people can meet me for the first time. Just keep calm, not to mention such an optimistic attitude like you."

Lei Nora shook her head: "This is not optimism, it's a fact. If you have regained your humanity and helped Frost, then you will naturally be the most powerful guardian of this city-state. I know that most people are There will be instinctive fear, but I have embraced fear for too long, and I am used to seeing things as they really are through fear."

"...Now it's my turn to ask questions." Hearing what the Frost Queen said, Duncan was only silent for two or three seconds, then organized his words and said, "When did the copy of the Lord Youshen invade... Real world? Will similar 'incursions' happen again?"

"Sorry, I can't give a very clear answer to the first question," Lei Nora showed a trace of apology on her face, "When I noticed His existence, He had already appeared in the deep sea, and at the beginning In the few contacts I've had, I've only heard one voice...he says he's a false clone, he says he needs to stop functioning."

"Contact?" Duncan noticed the word in an instant. "How did you 'contact' him in the first place? And listen to what you mean... This clone took the initiative to tell you the situation, and even asked you for help?"

Lei Nora nodded lightly: "I don't know if you have heard that I am a natural psychic user?"

"...I have indeed heard rumors in this regard. They say that you can even know everything from ancient to modern."

"The rumors are exaggerated. I can neither predict the future nor see everything, but at least one thing is true. A natural psychic...can really 'listen' to 'voices' that ordinary people cannot touch," Lei said. Nora seemed to be lost in memory, and slowly said while thinking, "When I was very young, I often heard whispers from unknown sources, or saw weird and bizarre scenes in my sleep, just like most innate Like my psykers, these terrible "diseases" are very dangerous, and even threatened the caregivers around me on several occasions——

"Can you imagine? You're taking care of a two- or three-year-old child, and then the child is just dreaming in a deep sleep, and suddenly there will be deadly screams and shrinking and wriggling shadows in the room... Before realizing The frequent horrific anomalies in the family started after being the youngest child, my parents had to send me to church, like other natural psykers, I was handed over to... 'professionals' care.

"I grew up to twelve years old in the deepest cellar of the cathedral, armed silent monks and ascetics as my nurses, specially made shackles and collars as my toys, and a blessed iron cage as my In my bed, the gatekeeper came to check three times a week to make sure that my mind was still on the human side-until my twelfth birthday, my spirit and will tended to grow, and my cognition became clear. The Archbishop thought that I I have been stabilized on the side of 'human beings' before I was blessed and baptized, and announced that I am a human being.

"After that, I underwent rigorous training to adapt and master my gifts while learning to live with my 'nightmare'. Over the course of four years, I gradually learned that my 'dream' was essentially a The resonance between the world and the world, while the murmurs and light and shadows in the dream come from those existences who are wandering outside the border of reality and trying to establish a connection with the real world. After confirming that my mind can bear it, the instructors taught me to use Special ways to listen to those voices and be yourself in the process...

"And it was during this process that my 'perception' began to be frequently led to the deep sea, and I began to perceive... His existence.

"Or, He began to notice my existence.

"Every natural psyker will have his own tendency to resonate, some tend to hear the voices in history, most of them will become outstanding archaeologists and occult scholars, and some tend to hear the voices of the four gods, As long as they can live to adulthood, they are almost destined to be 'saints', and the more unfortunate ones, they will resonate with the subspace-ninety-nine percent of these people will not be able to leave the church cellar alive, and the few who survive will become extremely Rare 'Keeper of Secrets' or 'Hidden Saints' are retained by the Church.

"And I resonated with an awakened ancient god in the deep sea."

Lei Nora stopped, and her eyes looked towards the end of the room, looking at the dark and chaotic fragmented land, so the darkness surged under her gaze, and the chaotic light and shadow representing the subspace faded away. , the floating island in the endless deep sea and the silent "pillar" appeared in the dark depths.

That was her resonance, her nightmares, her fears and responsibilities, the beginning and the end.

"Actually, most of the time, I couldn't hear what 'He' was saying at all—at first, I thought it was because of my lack of strength and lack of control over the spiritual resonance, but as time went by, I found that the reason actually lies in this 'ancient god'.

"He is incomplete. He is just a 'fake' copied from a larger individual. He woke up in this dark sea without knowing anything. His chaotic and broken thinking was filled with only one thought--error , terminate immediately.

"He repeated this thought in my mind thousands, tens of thousands of times."

Duncan finally spoke softly: "So, you started the Abyss Project?"

"No, I became the Frost Queen first," Lei Nora said lightly, "It took a little effort, but only by controlling the entire city-state can I have more ways to investigate and confirm what I've heard" content, and in the process, I discovered the anomaly in the depths of the Boiling Gold Mine, and the connection between all of this and the 'deep sea'-the Abyss Project is the final result, and for this final result, I have done a lot Less preparation."

Duncan didn't speak for a while, but slowly got up from the chair, came to the end of the room, and looked thoughtfully at the "scenery" of the deep sea emerging from the darkness, and the frost piercing through the sky like a giant pillar. The tentacles of the "blueprint".

After a long time, he turned his head slightly: "So he didn't have any malicious intentions?"

"No malice, no kindness," said Leigh Nora, "in fact, He doesn't even have what could be called 'wisdom'—just a fragment of broken thought, repeating simple judgments, that He can't even comprehend." One's own existence, of course, can't talk about the 'attitude' towards those small and fragile creatures on the sea...

"He just exists, exists in pain and confusion, in this cold darkness, but such a simple 'existence' is enough to subvert our delicate and fragile so-called 'civilized world'."

Duncan muttered softly: "Existence itself is a threat..."

Ray Nora's voice came from behind him a moment later: "Now I can answer your second question.

"Whether a similar 'invasion' will happen again - I think ... it is possible, even certain."

Duncan turned his head in an instant: "Why?"

"Because this is not an 'invasion', the Holy Lord Youshen did not 'enter' our real world from his domain - He does not need to do so.

"His 'ingredients' naturally exist in the real world, in every deep sea, every city-state, and even every human body. What happened in the frosty deep sea was not an 'invasion', but a...'awakening '."

Leigh Nora slowly opened her hands, but with a strangely calm expression on her face, she looked into Duncan's eyes, and said the biggest thing she had learned in half a century of sleeping in nightmares. the truth of—

"Captain Duncan, in a sense, all of us, even the city-states under our feet, are the heirs of the ancient gods."