Deep Sea Embers

When Duncan opened the door to the captain's cabin, the "goat head" placed on the edge of the navigation table reacted immediately - it seemed to raise its head while half asleep, slowly turned to the door, and then recognized the figure that appeared at the door. .

"Ah, we meet again," the dark wooden sculpture said, with a strange sense of slowness in his words. It was completely different from the goat head that usually chattered quickly and non-stop when it was noisy. "The one you left before Very rushed..."

"Do you remember me?" Duncan said, closing the door of the captain's cabin and walking towards the navigation table.

He passed in front of the simple oval mirror near the door, and hazy light and shadow floated in the mirror, and Agatha's illusive and transparent figure flashed through the mirror.

The goat head on the table didn't seem to notice Agatha's presence. Its eyes still stayed on Duncan. It slowly turned its head following Duncan's footsteps and said slowly: "I still remember you, ah, This is indeed a bit incredible, after all, there are many things that I can’t remember clearly. This feeling of being able to remember someone clearly... is really amazing."

Duncan came to the navigation table and looked down at the "nautical chart" on the table.

What is still shown on the chart is the projection of the lush forest. The illusory silhouette representing the Lost Home is floating above the forest, slowly traveling between the clouds, as if patrolling the entire forest.

Duncan quickly compared it with the scene in his memory and confirmed that this "forest sea" had not changed much from the last time. Only the position of the "Homeless Ship" had indeed moved a lot.

"I left in a hurry last time," Duncan nodded and said casually as he sat down at the navigation table. His eyes glanced at the oval mirror not far away, and then naturally fell on the goat head. "How's Selendis doing?"

"She is sleeping peacefully now," Goat Head said slowly. "Last time...she was just startled. I hope it didn't have any impact on you."

"It doesn't matter, I don't care." Duncan said, putting his hand on the table again, quietly and carefully mobilizing the power of the flame.

At the edge of his vision, wisps of green fire appeared in the captain's cabin.

Duncan quickly controlled the spread of those flames and suppressed them in their current state to prevent them from irritating the "Silantis" in the goat head's mouth again. At the same time, he finally confirmed one thing in his heart.

Those flames were not the ones he summoned just now, but the "fire" he deliberately left on the Homeless Ship in the real world during the day.

The situation is as he expected - the fire left on the Lost Home in the real world can "burn through" the border between dreams and reality, and appear simultaneously on the Lost Home with a strange atmosphere. Using this The flames "sent" here in this way are equivalent to "smuggling" at the dream level. As long as their spread is controlled, they will not cause too strong stimulation to Silantis.

In a sense, these projected flames are equivalent to the "inherent structure" of this strange atmosphere on the Lost Home, unlike the flames he summoned here last time, which were regarded as "foreign objects that disturbed the dream." ".

Duncan exhaled softly and gave orders to the flames, causing them to subside, dormant, and retreat again into the gaps between the deck, walls, and roof.

He found a way to safely send the flames here. If he repeats this once or twice, he might be able to use the "smuggled" flames to burn all over this strange lost ship, thus completely controlling the lost ship. A ship transformed from the shadow of the village number.

The goat head had no reaction to Duncan's actions - the flames that quietly emerged in the room were as if they didn't exist. It just stayed quietly, as if as long as Duncan didn't talk to it, it was a real building. Wood carving.

"Has Selantis been dreaming?" Duncan felt the slow movement of the fires on the ship, and began to communicate with the goat head on the table as if they were gossiping. "The entire forest outside is... Sirantes’ dream?”

"Outside?" Goathead shook his head slowly, "I don't know what 'outside' you are talking about, but Selantis has indeed been dreaming. She...has been dreaming for a long, long time. In that dream There are indeed lush forests, and...them.”

Duncan's heart immediately moved: "Who are they?"

The goat head lowered its head slightly, as if it was about to fall into a half-dream state again, but after a moment, it still responded: "They are... creatures born in the forest. A long time ago, they gave their race a name. , called an elf..."

Duncan's eyes froze for a moment——

The answer itself did not surprise him, but at this moment, what he was thinking of was the words the other party said when talking to the Goat Head on the Lost Home in the real world - "Remember them"!

The "they" mentioned by the two goat heads should have the same meaning!

Remember them... Why should we emphasize "remember" in particular? And the goat head finally forgot "them"... What was the reason for this "forgetting"?

Duncan's eyes changed several times in an instant, and in the rapid connection of clues, he felt that he could almost confirm the bold guess about the true identity of the goat head - so his expression became serious, and with an extra solemn attitude, he stared Goat head eyes.

"What's your name?" he asked.

The goat head didn't answer, it just made a series of vague grunts, like talking in sleep.

"Are you Saslokar?" Duncan didn't care, but continued to ask. Unknowingly, his body had leaned forward slightly, "The legendary creator of elves, the creator of the original dream, Silan Is your name, the creator and patron saint of Tis, Saslokar?”

The goat-head's inarticulate grunting suddenly stopped.

Its head shook from side to side, as if it was reacting to the name Duncan mentioned. After a few seconds of hesitation and thinking, it finally slowly raised its head——

"Saslokar is dead. He died a long, long time ago."

…

"They died a long, long time ago. When the world died, no living thing could survive that day."

The never-ending wind and sand rolled through the entire sea of ​​sand again and again, like the reincarnation of fate. The giant in tattered robes sat down cross-legged among a pile of ferocious and twisted rocks. His huge body seemed to shock the sand and dust, making the The disorderly wind stopped a few meters away from the pile of rocks, preventing the dust from falling on the "traveler".

He is still talking about those past events.

Vanna sat opposite the giant, taking a short rest as a good listener.

The continuous "shadow" that looked like the ruins of a city was now near them, and they could see it as long as they raised their heads.

The journey was cut short - Vanna could clearly feel it.

At normal walking speed, it was impossible for her and the giant to reach the ruins in such a short time.

This incredible phenomenon is obviously related to the giant traveling together - it seems that as long as you travel with this giant, the "distance" during the journey will be shortened.

After thinking of this, Fanna did not hide her guess and directly expressed her guess.

The giant answered calmly: "I can reach any corner of the 'world' in one day. This is my ability, because only in this way can I observe and record all the changes that occur in the world at any time - observe and record ,it is my responsibility."

Having said this, he shook his head again and sighed: "It's just... there is nothing to observe and record in this world now."

Vanna raised her head and looked at the ruins not far away with some trance.

Those were indeed the ruins of the city, as she had guessed at the beginning - but when she first saw those things, she could hardly connect the ruins with the "city".

It was a continuous pile of gray-black boulders. The jagged and weird stones spread like a jungle on the land covered with yellow sand. They could no longer see the outlines of the buildings they once belonged to, and it was almost impossible to tell that they had been carved by civilization. Mark of.

Vanna simply could not imagine what kind of disaster could turn a majestic city into this state - it was as if the entire city melted in an instant, and more than half of the matter in the city turned into gaseous state in the blink of an eye, leaving the rest The underlying structure melted and flowed rapidly, and then solidified in the intense cooling that followed, before turning into these jagged rocks.

But if it is really a sudden high temperature...why does the vast land outside the city appear as a sea of ​​sand?

Such high temperatures will melt the sand and turn it into a glass-like substance. There won't be any desert around the city, but it should become a whole piece of sintered obsidian ground.

Fanna's grades in cultural classes were not very good, but she still had this basic knowledge.

"What happened to make the city look like this?" She couldn't help but ask the giant, "You just mentioned that the world is dead... What killed the world?"

The giant lowered his head, his ravaged face was like a stone carving, and his eyes that seemed to be burning with turbid flames stared into Vanna's eyes.

"Don't try to understand that end, which is beyond the human mind, even beyond the wisdom of the gods - when it comes, those who worship me have asked me for help, I looked at the end, and it burned through Lost my sanity and soul, Traveler...that is not something that can be described in words."

The giant said, slowly raising his hand and pointing to the bloody crack in the sky.

"The only thing I can tell you is that when the end comes, the 'corrosion' that does not belong to this world swarms out of the cracks. They shatter the earth under our feet in an instant and make it reorganize in pain. All our glory has been reduced to dust by erosion.”