Deep Sea Embers

All things have returned to silence, the whistling and roaring when the two worlds collided have disappeared, the colors and sunshine of the world have also melted into the final great annihilation, and in the chaotic darkness after the death of all things, the dead World Tree still remains Growing quietly.

New corpses grow from corpses, and new ruins breed from ruins.

She has forgotten the elves, herself, and the beginning and end of everything - breeding, spreading, and continuing to grow. These have become Selendis' only obsession after the end.

But the Homeless Ship arrived in front of the growing corpse, and the green fire spreading in the darkness became a barrier that blocked Silantis from continuing to expand.

The dead World Tree finally responded.

Duncan saw an unusual light and shadow suddenly floating in her wreckage - it was a hazy mist. The gray-white mist seemed to hide amorphous limbs and shapes, and the edges of the mist continued to spread out from the canopy, like It touches the wrist and looks like a crooked root.

He thought of the hazy mist floating over the pilgrim ark of the Four Gods Church.

But before he could think about it further, an even bigger change happened - the "river" composed of countless tiny points of light orbiting Silantes suddenly collapsed, and countless stars glowed. Merging into the fog floating above the World Tree, the next second, the seemingly illusory and powerless fog suddenly solidified and expanded crazily outward!

The boundary of the fog turned into a sharp arrow, slamming into the sea of ​​spiritual fire that spread around the Lost Home with all its strength.

There seemed to be a low and illusory roar in the darkness, and Silantes' impact stirred up ripples in the spiritual fire. However, only more flames emerged from the void, and gradually dyed the chaotic and pale mist. A layer of faint green - but Silantes is still hitting her, even if every hit is causing fatal ablation to her, this hit does not stop for a moment.

Duncan even felt a sense of astonishment.

This was the first time that someone dared to take the initiative to rush towards the spiritual fire.

And the next second, as Sirantes hit him again and again, he saw a hazy entity gradually taking shape in the mist above the World Tree.

It was a faint light, and no outline could be seen at all in the dim light, as if a soul was brewing and had not yet had time to take shape.

But Duncan immediately realized that it was Silantis.

"There is no point in doing this," he couldn't help but said to the glimmer of light. "You can't break through this barrier, and you will soon become part of this barrier yourself."

However, the shimmering light did not respond, only constant collisions, and the boundaries of the mist melted in the collisions. The low roar turned into a clear "bang" sound, which sounded again and again.

Duncan watched this scene with a tense face. For a long time, he slowly raised his hand.

The flames rose in the illusion and slowly flowed towards Selendis' body in the darkness.

"Release those elves, and those things that were swallowed by you, and let Qingfeng Port return to the real world," he said solemnly, "before it's too late, there is still a chance to save it."

The dim light finally reacted. It suddenly flickered, and a sharp and childish voice came from the darkness: "They are not elves!"

The light spots wandering around the wreckage of the World Tree suddenly became violently agitated, and more light converged into flowing water, pouring into the mist above Silendis!

However, just when the mist was preparing for the next impact, the restless light suddenly trembled violently. Then, many lights that had been integrated into the mist suddenly "flowed backwards" and began to leave the scene one after another. Due to Landis' "attraction", little bits of light fell from the sky above the World Tree like scattered petals, like stars surrounding the giant tree.

The next second, one of the falling points of light expanded and gradually turned into an illusory shadow——

It was an elf who was not too tall, with gray hair, and was wearing a dark blue college robe. His face seemed to have a look of fatigue that would never go away, but at this moment, he stood calmly among countless scattered and floating light spots. For a while, he stood quietly facing the "World Tree" that was as huge as a mountain and stood in the darkness.

The Keeper of Truth in Breezeport, Ted Leal.

Duncan looked at the sudden figure with some surprise: "I thought the man was gone."

Ted Leal just shrugged: "It's just a nightmare - not as good as grading assignments and papers that students rush out on the last day of vacation."

Perhaps due to the sudden loss of control by a large number of elves, Sirandis's mental entity seemed to fall into a short period of confusion, but soon her voice appeared in the darkness again: "Come back... come back quickly, it's dangerous outside! Come back... How about we wait for Sasloka to come home together..."

At the edge of the spiritual fire, the huge black billy goat suddenly stepped out of the flames. He raised his head and quietly stared at the pale and twisted World Tree: "I am right here, little sapling."

Silantis suddenly froze, her mental entity swaying in the fog, and it seemed that she could not tell whether the black goat in the flames was the creator in her memory. For a moment, she seemed to be wavering. The mist spreading from the edge of the canopy was quietly closing in, but the next second, sharp whistling and harsh noises suddenly swept across the entire darkness:

"No! No! You're not! None of you are! You..."

She stopped suddenly and lowered her voice as if muttering to herself in a daze: "You are not... you are dead...? You are dead... you are not elves... I..."

"We are indeed not the elves you remember, Silantis."

A voice suddenly appeared, interrupting Silantis's confused and confused thinking.

This voice was not loud, but it seemed to reverberate directly in the entire space. It sounded old, but it seemed to have a calming power.

On the deck of the Lost Home, an old man with a hazy and unreal body slowly walked up.

Luen turned around and nodded slightly to Duncan. Then he turned around calmly and stared at the giant tree in the darkness with a calm expression.

That is the World Tree in elven legends, their hometown, mother, myth, inheritance, the starting point of all legends, and the source of glorious civilization.

Now, she has been dead for a long time, but her body is gradually growing out of control and growing in death.

Rune had never seen such a huge tree - as an elf, he had never even seen a forest, and he didn't know how to survive in the forest. He had never seen the winding river passing through the valley and turning into a forest. In the gurgling creek, I have never seen birds and animals living in the forest, flowers are blooming in the forest clearing, and I have never heard the sound of wind and forest sea in the night.

It is said that the elves at that time lived longer than they do today - their lifespan is almost eternal, and they can regenerate from death under the protection of the World Tree. They are light and strong, and can run among the canopies of towering giant trees...

But Rune had never seen it.

He was born after all that destruction.

He came to the end of the deck. Aging had made his back slightly rickety. Years of working at a desk and a poor life schedule had made his body a little fatter. When he raised his head, wrinkles piled up on his forehead, with ridges and ridges. .

"We are very different from what you remember." He said to the World Tree.

Silantis did not speak, the glimmer of light just trembled slightly in the mist, and deep in the pale and twisted remains of the World Tree, there was a subtle rustling sound like the shaking leaves.

After a long time, the young voice sounded hesitantly: "What is the ravine on your face...?"

"It's wrinkles. When a mortal gets older, the skin will become loose and wrinkled, and it will become like this," Lu En said slowly. "And when it is cloudy and rainy, I will still feel pain in my waist and back, because I am already old. I have been living at sea again... My intestines and stomach are not very good now, and my teeth have been repaired. Maybe in a few years, I will die like other old people, and I will become ashes in the furnace. To nourish the plantations... We will not return to the World Tree, nor will we regenerate in the giant seed pods..."

He stopped and raised his head, staring at the distant light.

"It's very different from what you remember, isn't it?" he said again.

Deep in the wreckage of the World Tree, there was a slight rustling sound again.

"...Isn't it true that you can't come back..."

"Yes, I can't come back, I can't come back, and even if I come back, it may not be the same person you know," Lu En said slowly, "But... I have something I want you to see."

As he spoke, he reached out and groped in his arms, and after a moment, he took out a book.

The book was old and looked like it had been read frequently, and the cover was printed with elegant letters that were different from the common language in most city-states.

He opened the old book, found a passage on it, and read slowly: "...the first ray of sunlight appeared on the boulder. The traveler packed his bags. He wanted to cross the flowery hill and arrive before dusk. Roland Nahm's hill..."

"This is the Long Poem of Horo-Dazo..."

"Yes, it is that poem. Long ago, explorers found the stone tablets with this poem on the dark island, along with many other records. It took us a thousand years to recover the meaning of these words, and We have spent thousands of years looking for the flowery hill and the mountain described in the poem...but we have not found it. Even those dark islands disappeared in the fog on the border one day..."

Lu En said in a low voice. He put down the book and looked at the dim light in the distance.

"We have recovered a lot of things, half of which we still can't understand until now, but compared to humans and Sen'jin, the elves have the most complete historical heritage. We at least still remember that the Creator woke up in the dark and The first tree was planted in the dream of origin... Four hundred years ago, we restored the craftsmanship of the 'ring-tailed harp'. Its sound is very clear, just like what was recorded in the ancient scrolls. Seventy-six years ago, We have restored the last canto of the Hydeland Psalms, a collection of interesting stories said to have been dedicated to the gods...

“But there are many more that we still don’t know and will never know, those that were lost in the Great Annihilation and are no longer traceable in the Deep Sea Age, like those dark islands that disappeared into the fog.

"Silantis, I'm sorry, we are not the elves in your memory. We just picked up some fragments of the past from the rushing river, and tried our best to leave these traces in the world after the end of the world... …I don’t know if this is any comfort to you, but…

“That’s really all that’s left.”

In the darkness, the glimmer of light floated quietly, and the hazy and pale mist gradually shrank. Unknowingly, the dead and twisted branches on the edge of Silantis quietly dissipated, and the green flames It quietly surrounds the giant tree, just like... the forest that died a long time ago.

Duncan raised his head and looked at the huge black billy goat.

After a moment of silent communication, he nodded slightly.

The black goat stepped forward, stepped through the void, and slowly came to the foot of the giant tree.

"...You have grown so big." He raised his head and sighed softly.

The glimmer of light in the darkness trembled slightly: "I... did not complete what you asked me to do."

"No, you have done a good job." The black goat slowly lowered his head and gently touched the dry and torn tree trunk with his horn. At the tip of the horn, a green flame burned quietly, "Now, good boy It’s time to sleep, little sapling.”

In the pale mist, the glimmer of light gradually dimmed, the sound of wind and the rustling of leaves finally stopped, and the little bits of light gathered into a river, quietly surrounding the feet of Silantis - in the deepest part of the World Tree, Finally there was a burst of wailing.

The green spiritual fire rose into the sky, covering the entire giant tree in an instant, illuminating the entire darkness after the death of all things.

(I have to go on a business trip again, and I still have to go to a meeting. The Qingfeng Port chapter is also over. There will still be a few days of single updates, and I will resume it when I come back.)