Deep Sea Embers

Shirley felt like she was sinking in darkness for a long time - sinking all the time, as if the whole world suddenly turned into nothingness, and she would sleep forever in this sinking.

Until a huge force suddenly came from her arm, Agou's voice sounded directly in her mind: "Shirley! Wake up! Wake up! Stop sleeping!!"

Shirley finally woke up from the sinking dream, and then almost jumped up on the spot: "Agou! Fire! The city is on fire again!"

The terrifying scene of flames spreading in the sky still seemed to be burning in her remaining memory. The terrifying pressure caused by the entire city being devoured by flames made her heart pound. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she had done this. Such a nightmare that when she woke up, she was not sure whether she had woken up or whether she had fallen into the next nightmare that was about to burn.

But Agou's voice brought her back from her panic: "Shirley, there is no fire. It was just a dream. There is no big fire here now..."

Shirley finally woke up completely. She shook her head. The scene in front of her was still a little blurry, but she could see the lush green in her field of vision, heard the sound of water flowing in her ears, and she also saw the Ah next to her. Dog - this finally made her feel relieved. She leaned on A Gou subconsciously and took a few breaths: "It really frightened me to death... So what happened before... How come everything is suddenly happening in the city? Is it popular? Now let’s..."

"We are in the dream of the Nameless One." Lucretia's voice suddenly came from the side, causing Shirley who was mumbling to stop instantly.

Shirley looked up in the direction of the sound. The weird blur in her vision finally faded away. She saw the "witch" lady standing on a tree stump not far away, and she also saw clearly her surroundings. Lush forest, and a stream flowing through the glade not far away.

After being stunned for two or three seconds, Shirley finally figured out what the situation was. She stood up hesitantly, and while observing the surrounding forest scene, she whispered: "Are we back to this forest again?"

Then, she suddenly thought of something, and her face suddenly panicked: "Wait, what about the real world?! We are in a dream again, is the city 'outside' still on fire..."

"There is no real world anymore, Shirley. At least for Qingfeng Port at this moment, reality has been swallowed up by the power of Selendis," Lucretia calmly looked at the girl who was panicking again, and very quickly Patiently explained, "Do you remember? When my father contacted us before, he told us that the Breeze Harbor in the real world has disappeared - since then, we have fallen into Silantis along with the entire city. In the dream, the forests that invaded the city-states, and the city-states invaded by the forests, are all part of the dream."

There was confusion on Shirley's face, as if she had not calmed down the situation in front of her for a while. Lucretia just shook her head slightly when she saw this: "Just like before, the elves in the city-state would disappear after nightfall - they were Those swallowed by Silendis' dreams will disappear into the real world, but we always thought that only elves could 'disappear' in this form. Now it seems... even the city-state itself can 'enter dreams' under the influence of the ancient gods. .”

Shirley finally slowly opened her eyes. The fact that the entire city-state had been swallowed by dreams made her even more horrified. After a long time, she said with a confused look on her face: "Then... what is the situation now? How should we do it?" Back to this place again…”

"This is another layer of dreamland - Shirley, look up, this is no longer the 'forest' we are familiar with."

Listening to the words of Miss Witch, Shirley finally noticed something strange about the scene in the forest, and noticed...the strange "sky" revealed from the treetops.

She raised her head hesitantly, and she saw an endless and amazing structure supported by huge branches like mountains in the sky.

It was like another forest hanging upside down in the sky. The astonishing tree crown structure intertwined into another piece of land above the plains and mountains. There were also glowing vines and light spore clusters hanging from the treetops, dots of glow. Every corner under the canopy is illuminated. The branches whose diameters and lengths cannot be determined visually cross the field of view and meet at the far end to form a "trunk" like a giant peak. On the spreading path of the branches , and countless "twigs" hang down, all the way to the ground.

Where those "twigs" hang down, they are covered with dense plants, forming a forest under the canopy of the sky.

"This... this thing..." Shirley opened her mouth and stuttered several times before she finally managed to form words, "Silantis!!"

"Yes, Silendis, we finally saw her," Lucretia raised her head and stared quietly at the "canopy" that almost completely covered the sky, as well as the vaguely visible man-made structures between the canopies. The structure of a building or settlement, "This is the World Tree sleeping deep in the memory of the elven race... It is more spectacular than I imagined."

"Wait a minute, I'm a little messed up, I have to get it straight..." Shirley said quickly, while involuntarily raising her head and looking at the amazing giant tree that seemed to cover the entire world, "We are now at the Nameless One On a deeper level of the dream, the real Silendis sleeps here, then what? Let’s discuss it with this tree? See if she can continue to sleep? "

Lucretia did not respond, but looked serious and calmed down.

"Rabbi."

The rabbit's voice immediately responded in her heart: "Rabbi is listening~"

"What's going on on that ship now? What are those cultists doing?"

"The rabbi was just about to report to you. The situation here seems a bit strange..." The rabbit's voice sounded very low, as if he was responding carefully while hiding from someone's sight, "Those cultists suddenly They all hid in the room, and the rabbi heard what they were saying... The saint sensed the bad omen in his fate, and all actions temporarily stopped. He also said that the preacher of the end sent a warning that a new big hole was about to appear. Stay away as soon as possible..."

"Bad omen? Stay away from the big hole?" Lucretia's eyes suddenly changed slightly, "You mean, those cultists have sensed some kind of danger and are running away?"

"It seems so. This ship is running at full speed in a certain direction. Before, it was just drifting slowly," Rabbi said cautiously, "Mistress, Rabbi suddenly became a little panicked. Rabbi can't be Was it exposed? Could it be that the cultists noticed the rabbi’s presence and were scared away..."

"No, you are not worthy yet," Lucretia said without hesitation, "You are not the opponent of that 'Saint' - that 'Saint' may have obtained some other information..."

"Then... what should Rabbi do now?" Rabbit's voice sounded really panicked. This evil spirit that is good at operating in nightmares seems to be greatly affected in the real world. "These cultists don't seem to want to If you enter the dream of the Nameless One again, Rabbi will not be able to return to you through the dream..."

"Hide well and I will pick you up later," Lucretia said quickly, "Don't worry, I will appear in front of you - and if I can't find you, my father will appear in front of you. In front of you, don’t forget that you have seen him before. Do you understand what I mean?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the nightmare rabbit let out an almost broken scream: "Rabbi understands!!!"

Lucretia ended the communication with an expressionless expression.

Shirley was still standing nervously next to her, as if waiting for Miss Witch's response.

"Those Annihilation cultists seem to have noticed something, and they have suspended their actions," Lucretia breathed out softly and said to Shirley, "We don't know yet what changes have occurred in the actions of the other group of followers of the sun."

After hearing this, Shirley reacted and said uncertainly: "That means we don't have to worry about encountering those Annihilation Cultists here?"

Lucretia just looked at her calmly and spoke after two seconds: "No, this means that the changes in this dream have gone beyond the plans of the cultists - they have once again made things worse for themselves. It’s a big basket that can’t be cleaned up, and we…are in this big basket now.”

Shirley was frightened by the sudden gloomy tone of the "Sea Witch". She froze, and at this moment, a slight rushing sound suddenly caught her attention.

The sound came from the direction of the stream, and at first it sounded like just a normal sound of water.

But soon, a strange noise appeared in the sound of water, and the noise spread to the surroundings, seeming to begin to affect the soil, stones, and shrubs around the stream...

Shirley saw tentacles made of flesh and blood rising from the stream.

The soil began to squirm like the skin of a mollusk.

Sharp teeth chewed something in the shadows of the bushes.

And on the tree nearest to her, the green branches and leaves slowly opened their eyes.

Shirley took a slow breath.

The whole forest seems to have begun to squirm.

She finally let out a powerful scream: "I know why those cultists didn't come - run away!!"

…

Vanna opened her eyes in the wind and sand.

The image of a sudden fire in the city still seemed to linger in her mind, and the noise and explosions from the streets seemed to echo in her ears, but after a long period of darkness and falling feeling, she realized that she was back again That familiar place.

"Traveller, we meet again."

A familiar voice came to her ears, and the wind and sand gradually died down along with this voice. Vanna raised her head and once again saw the old giant wearing a tattered cloth robe.

In the first moment, Fanna understood the current situation.

She fell from the dreaming city to a deeper level of this dream.

"This is the last time we meet, traveler," the giant said again.