Deep Sea Embers

In the waters near Qingfeng Port, on a sea far away from the main shipping routes and covered in mist, the huge and majestic silhouette of the Lost Home was slowly patrolling in the fog.

Then, a layer of real and illusory ripples suddenly appeared on the sea surface. The reflection of the ghost ship undulated with the waves in the ripples. For a very brief moment, the reflection seemed to be condensed from the sea surface, but the next moment, Everything is back to normal again.

In the captain's cabin, the carved wooden goat head on the edge of the navigation table suddenly turned its head in confusion. Accompanied by a slight creaking sound from the base, it raised its head and looked around. After a long time, it murmured in confusion: "Why did it feel weird just now?" of……"

On the wall in the corner of the room, layers of black mist floated in the ancient oval mirror. Agatha's figure stood in the mirror, quietly looking at the goat's head on the table.

The goat head finally noticed the sight coming from the side. It immediately turned its head away. When it saw Agatha, it exclaimed: "Hey... you scared me! Why are you looking at me so early in the morning?"

As it spoke, it shook its head again, as if it suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Ms. Agatha, where did you go last night? Why do I feel that your breath is not on the ship... Don't you look in the mirror at night?" Are you running around patrolling?"

Agatha did not immediately answer the goat-headed question, but continued to quietly observe every move of the "first mate". After a long time, she broke the silence: "Did you feel nothing last night? I left. Didn't you notice anything unusual when it happened?"

"No," the goat head was stunned for a moment, then vaguely responded, "Wait, what do you mean by this...Did something happen again last night?"

"Well, the captain should come to you soon," Agatha frowned and nodded, then asked, "You said you felt weird just now? What's going on?"

The goat head reacted for a moment before realizing that the other person was talking about the muttering he had just said to himself. Although he didn't know why the "former gatekeeper" who always gave people a calm and peaceful feeling had such a strange attitude this morning, it Still replied: "I don't know how to describe it, it's just...excited? It seemed like I was walking and someone suddenly tapped me on the shoulder..."

Agatha looked at the goat's head doubtfully: "...you have shoulders?"

"That's just a pat on the head - a metaphor, you know the metaphor," the goat head shook his head, "I may have been a little distracted when I was steering the helm. There was some wind and waves on the sea just now, which woke me up..."

"There were no waves on the sea, it was always calm - only the dream world had ripples," Agatha shook her head, "You were dreaming just now."

The goat head was stunned for a few seconds before uttering: "...Huh?"

…

Looking at the city streets that had completely returned to normal in the morning light, Duncan frowned slightly, with a thoughtful expression on his face.

The two dolls stood quietly behind him.

After thinking like this for an unknown amount of time, Duncan suddenly whispered: "It seems that no matter how long you stay 'over there', no matter how the dream of the Nameless Man ends, the time in the real world after 'waking up' will always be early morning..." …”

Alice turned to look at Luni, then looked back at the captain, scratching her hair in confusion: "Ah... have you stayed 'over there' for a long time this time?"

"It feels like I stayed in that dark and foggy space this time for almost twice as long as last time - until I woke up from the dream again," Duncan nodded slowly, "and it seems that the time point in the real world is still the same. Just like before, it is still early in the morning when the sun has just risen, which is... somewhat consistent with the rules of dreaming."

He paused after speaking, and while organizing the vocabulary, he explained to Alice: "The passage of time felt in dreams is chaotic. The physical time of one second and a thousand years is probably only a moment in reality. , and will be calibrated the moment it wakes up.”

Alice thought for a while and shook her head in confusion: "I don't understand..."

"It's okay, it's not important." Duncan laughed, put away the messy thoughts in his mind for the time being, and stepped forward to rub Alice's hair, "Let's go back first. This exploration... has yielded a lot."

Taking the two dolls with him, Duncan quickly returned to the "Witch Mansion" at 99 Crown Street, where his crew had returned from the dream world and had regrouped in the living room.

When Duncan walked into the living room, Vanna, Morris and others had already begun to discuss their respective experiences in the Dream of the Nameless One.

Unlike the last time when everyone fell into a dream without warning, this time the "dream" was carried out with preparation. Duncan used the "temporary mark" left by the flame on everyone to ensure that the crew remained safe among the unknown ones. Basic information exchange can be carried out in dreams, so after waking up from the dream, everyone does not have to spend extra time explaining what they have experienced, but can focus on exploring various clues.

Duncan's arrival interrupted the communication among the crew. Morris and others stood up and paid tribute to the captain - Nina quickly rushed up, looking particularly happy: "Uncle Duncan!"

Duncan hugged Nina gently, and then glanced at the figures in the living room. He saw Lucretia sitting on the sofa opposite the coffee table with a strange expression. He smiled and spread his hands: "I want it too. hug?"

"Sea Witch" thought for a moment and shook her head: "No."

Duncan smiled, came to his seat and sat down, his expression quickly returned to seriousness: "Okay, let's get down to business - let's skip the basic information exchange. The main thing to discuss now is the two new the situation arises.

"First, it was 'Shireen' who appeared in front of Shirley, Maurice and Nina.

"The second is the 'giant' who Vanna met who claimed to be a god."

He raised his head and his eyes fell on Morris.

"I want to hear your opinion first, Maurice."

"The plural 'Shireen' appears in the dream, which means that our previous judgment of 'Shireen' needs to be adjusted," Morris said, taking off his monocle and wiping it. , 'Shireen' is just a mental entity that appears in the dream of the Nameless One, equivalent to an 'indigenous resident'. Her actions are not closely related to the operation of the dream, but it seems that this is not the case now...

"When the scope and time of our activities in the dream exceed a certain level, a 'Shireen' will appear around us and try to guide us to the place called the 'Wall of Silence'. This kind of 'guidance', Perhaps it is a mechanism of the Dream of the Nameless One itself.

"In other words, the elf named 'Shireen' may be the 'incarnation' of a certain pattern in the Dream of the Nameless One - she is not a mental entity, but a mechanism. When the conditions are right, she will will be triggered, and when conditions change, she may disappear.”

Morris said, his eyes falling on Shirley beside him.

The "disappearance" mentioned by the old scholar obviously refers to the "Shireen" who was with Shirley before - that "Shireen" finally turned into a tree.

"As for the specific rules of 'triggering' and 'disappearing', it may take several tests to summarize, and it may never be concluded," Morris put on his monocle and continued, "But there is one thing It can be determined that the appearance of 'Shireen' is kind to us 'visitors', but malicious to the cultists who invade the dream. She calls the intruders 'dirty', which should mean that the nameless The 'judgment' or 'position' of one's dream. This is good news for us. "

Duncan nodded silently after listening to the old gentleman's analysis, and then his eyes fell on Vanna.

"So Vanna, what do you think about that 'giant'?"

"I have no clue," Fanna thought for a moment and shook her head frankly, "I recalled all the things that 'giant' told me, but I couldn't find any similarity between them and the myths, legends and historical records in the real world. In the corresponding part, even in the elf culture with a relatively complete historical inheritance, there is no record of the giant and the 'city of hills and plains' described by the giant..."

"Even the 'heritage' of the elves is only relatively complete. If the giant came from the era before the Great Annihilation, then it is normal that we cannot find corresponding clues in modern records," Lucretius Ya shook her head, "The key to the question is, what is the relationship between the giant, the desert under his feet, and the 'elves'?"

The "witch" raised her head and looked into Vanna's eyes.

"Miss Vanna, you didn't see the shadow of the forest at all in the desert, and you didn't hear any information about the elves from the giant, right?"

"Yes, not at all." Fanna replied firmly.

"The elf named 'Shireen' has no idea what the desert is, and the only thing that can be related to the 'giant' is the description of the creator Sasloka - she said Sasloka is a Gods without fixed images can transform into deer, goats and giants, but this connection seems too far-fetched to me," Lucretia said while thinking, "So the current situation is that Vanna and one of us Others seem to be divided into two 'times and spaces', and the environments they face, the people they meet, and the information they hear are completely different, but these two 'times and spaces' are definitely connected..."

"Yes, at least these two 'times and spaces' must be part of the unknown man's dream." Morris nodded immediately. The old scholar had a thoughtful look on his face. After thinking for a moment, he slowly He said, "Then we have to figure something out: Is it the discontinuity in space or the discontinuity in time that causes the huge differences between the two time-spaces?"