Deep Sea Embers

It was very quiet in the captain's cabin. The faint and soft sound of the waves coming from the window made the tranquility in the room even more accentuated. After a while, the goat head finally sighed: "Ah , sounds good.”

"I thought you would ask a few more questions," Duncan raised his eyebrows upon hearing this, "Aren't you curious about where I took Silendis and my many secrets?"

"Curious," the goat head said bluntly, "but my reason and intuition tell me that it is best not to ask too many things called 'secrets', especially not to ask what happened when you left this ship. He’s the captain of the Lost Home, that’s enough for me, other than that… the less I know, the better.”

"...Intuition?" Duncan said thoughtfully. He looked at the dark wooden goat head in front of him and suddenly asked, "Did your intuition tell you that if I were not the captain of the Lost Home? , or if you know too many of my 'secrets', what will happen?"

The goat head was quiet for a while, and stayed quiet for nearly a minute before breaking the silence: "I only know that whenever I have the idea of ​​'crossing the line', I will see an endless starry sky - and under the shining of the stars, the lost The township number no longer exists.”

Duncan frowned slowly. After a brief thought, he shook his head and put aside the complicated thoughts for the time being: "Silantis... now stays in a safe place in a special state. You can no need to worry."

"That's good." Goat Head said softly, without asking any more questions.

"Now I have another question - what should I call you?" Duncan suddenly asked after a few seconds of silence, "Saslokar? Goat head? Or first mate?"

"...Let's just go by the previous name," Goat Head thought for a while, his tone seemed a little awkward, "First mate or Goat Head will do. The name Sasloka... is really a bit unfamiliar, now that I think about it. , that distant name doesn’t look like my own.”

Duncan was a little surprised: "Then when I first called you that, weren't you very quick to agree?"

The goat head's tone became increasingly weird: "...The atmosphere was at that point, it would be inappropriate not to agree..."

Duncan: "..."

He looked at the dark wood carving on the table with strange eyes for a moment, and finally couldn't help but said curiously: "I'm very curious about what state you are in now, or... what is your understanding of yourself? In the 'world At the moment of impact, you can feel the change in you. At that time, you seem to have completely returned to the state of being the 'King of Dreams', but that only lasted for a while."

Noticing the serious expression on the captain's face, the goat head finally began to think seriously. After a long while, it shook its head uncertainly: "Actually, I'm still a little confused until now. I can feel that it belongs to That part of the memory of 'Saslokar' has awakened in my mind, but I can also clearly feel... He is not completely me, and I am not completely Him.

"But like you said, when I saw the 'little sapling'... I had some changes. Maybe it was the influence of the mythical form, or maybe the little sapling left too deep a mark in my memory. With traces of it, I...'returned' to the state in my memory. For a brief moment, I even thought...that time had really gone back."

It stopped, as if quietly recalling the wonderful feeling at that moment, recalling that something in the depths of its memory gradually revived, and the process of another "personality" awakening in consciousness, but in the end, it slowly Shaked his head.

"But that only lasted a short time, and as the sun rose and the dream ended, I returned to this state. It seems that symbiosis with the Lost Home has permanently changed something about me - and to be honest , but I prefer it now.”

"Is that so?" Duncan said thoughtfully, "In other words, you are now Saslokar, but not completely Him. It sounds more like a person reassembled from the fragments of the ancient god. A completely new individual...but if you think that's fine, that's okay."

"There's nothing wrong with it," Goat Head said, quite free and easy. "Some things... once they're over, it's really hard to come back. We have to look forward. No matter how many things the Great Annihilation takes away, the fact now is that we are living In the Age of the Deep – let Saslokar remain in legend.”

"...You have changed after all. It was difficult for you to say such reasonable words so simply before." Duncan glanced at the goat's head subtly, then touched his chin, "But you reminded me. I, I just have a question to ask you."

When the goat head heard this, his tone immediately became serious again: "You can ask."

"Saslokar is dead, died a long time ago - do you remember this?"

"...Remember," the goat head thought for a while and gave a positive reply, "When several parts of the memory were restored and reorganized, this sentence has been echoing in my consciousness. It seems to be a very strong... 'Self-knowledge'."

"Yes, Saslokar was already 'dead' when the Great Annihilation occurred. This is a 'fact' that is deeply imprinted in your memory, and even imprinted in the subconscious memory of the elven race," Duncan nodded. , and then changed the topic, "But according to the records in the "Book of Blasphemy", during the second long night after the Great Annihilation, the 'King of Dreams' tried to create the world again, and was 'divided' because of the failure of creation - —The keel of the Lost Home, the 'Dream Skull' in the hands of the Annihilation Cult, and yourself are all evidence of this record.

“And we are basically certain that the ‘King of Dreams’ recorded in the Book of Blasphemy is Saslokar who died during the Great Annihilation.

"How did an ancient god who died when the Great Annihilation occurred go to Genesis during the second long night?

"Another similarly contradictory record is that of Tarijn, the 'Eternal Fire' worshiped by the Firebearers."

Duncan paused when he said this, took a sip from the water glass on the table, then adjusted his posture on the chair, and continued with a more serious expression:

"Tarijin is another 'god' who died when the Great Annihilation occurred. He is the protector of the Senjin people. According to Vanna's report and the record on the 'Chronicle', his death or 'Fall' is also an undoubted fact, but if He really died when the Great Annihilation occurred...then what about the 'Tarikin' worshiped by the fire-bringers in the boundless sea now? IV. Who is the ‘Eternal Burning Fire’, one of the gods?”

There was a slight creaking sound between the neck and the base of the goat's head. It shook its head from side to side. It took a long time before it sighed: "This sounds a bit scary."

Duncan looked at this guy silently: "Don't say it's nothing to do with yourself. You are one of the 'gods' in question."

"I don't remember," the goat head said very frankly. "What I told you, I just remembered some general memory fragments, and they were all concentrated before the Great Annihilation. As for after that What happened...I really don’t know.”

Duncan frowned deeply: "You have no memory at all about the second long night and the experience of creation during the long night?"

The goat head thought hard and shook his head helplessly: "As long as I can remember a little bit, I won't remember nothing at all..."

Duncan didn't pay attention to the other party's nonsense. He just frowned and continued thinking. After a long time, he slowly said: "If so, I have some guesses."

"Do you have any guesses?"

"I think... we shouldn't apply the simple state of life and death of 'mortals' to gods," Duncan thought for a while and said with a serious face, "I'll use you as an example - do you think you are alive now?"

The goat head was stunned for a moment. After thinking for a while, he said hesitantly: "I think... it's considered alive. Am I not living well?"

"What you mean by 'alive and well' is that your spine is soaked in subspace, one head is in the hands of the Annihilation Cult, and there are more heads that may still be floating in the cracks of the world?"

The goat's head made a "crack" sound on its neck, and then shouted: "Don't sound so scary! Why do I sound a little hairy..."

"But this is exactly your current state - not only are you dead, you can even say... your death is not peaceful." Duncan also felt that this topic seemed a bit strange, but it had already been said here, and he could only try his best. He continued with a straight face and a serious attitude, "And I guess that the status of the other 'gods'... is probably not much different from yours."

The goat head remained silent, as if he was in shock.

Duncan continued after organizing his words slightly: "The Creeping King, the Holy Lord of the Deep, according to the records in the Book of Blasphemy, is the creator of the third long night. His current state is that he has lost his mind. Being stuck in the crack between the deep sea and the subspace, he continuously created countless deep demons while unable to move, and continued to devour the deep demons.

"In the Firebringer's Codex, Tarijn is described as a giant guarding the original flame, and the giant himself is burning with eternal flames, forever scorching his body.

"Black Sun, I have seen him before. He was burned by his own corona, and his spirit has already collapsed. Now he just wants to be extinguished...

"The Storm Goddess and the God of Wisdom...I don't know their specific status, but I guess the situation is similar.

"Without all the mythical aura, based on my personal 'common sense' and 'subjective impression', none of these situations are normal."

Duncan said this, spread his hands, and made the final conclusion.

"The gods are dead - but their 'death' may be very long or very unique. They will not 'run' according to the 'life and death' that mortals understand. They will be in a certain state after death. ', or 'residues', can still affect this world, or...affect this piece of 'embers' burned out after the Great Annihilation.

"This is what the deep-sea era really looked like."

After Duncan finished speaking, the captain's cabin fell silent.

After an unknown amount of time, the goat-headed voice finally broke the silence: "...The way you describe it...is disturbing. I really feel a little hairy this time."

Duncan thought for a while and sighed softly: "...I should probably use a gentler way of describing it. It sounds a bit weird when I say it like this."

"No, I mean, the back of my neck is really itchy right now...please scratch it."

Duncan: "..."