Deep Sea Embers

In the remaining fire that gradually cooled after the death of all things, the corpses of the ancient gods ruled the ashes of the world, and something "grown" from the corpses built fakes and phantoms of the past among the ashes—— After stripping away all the mythical aura, and reorganizing the information he had mastered so far, the "Deep Sea Age" in front of Duncan presented the most realistic and chilling aspect.

Of course, he could describe this era in milder terms, or explain the current state of the gods in some acceptable way, but this does not change the essence of the matter.

He stood up and scratched the goat's neck - the former "Creator" raised his head and observed Duncan's expression: "You look very worried."

Duncan sat back and after a moment of silence suddenly spoke to himself: "...The whole world is just a pile of embers that are gradually extinguishing..."

"I heard Lucretia mention this." Goat Head said immediately.

Duncan nodded and said nothing more. Instead, he reached out and dug around in his arms. After a moment of groping, he took out two things.

One of them is a "spherical ball" that is emitting bright light. It is an ancient star that has been shrunk countless times. Flames flow on its surface, and the gentle flames continue to erupt, reflow, and surge, as if Maintaining the "operation" of stars.

This is the "gift" that Vanna received from Tarejin, the former sun of the Senjin people.

The other one is a piece of delicately cut pale golden crystal about the size of a fist. It has dozens of irregular and asymmetrical planes. Each side presents a smooth and perfect texture, and there seems to be something hidden in the crystal. It has a very precise and minute structure that spreads out from the center of the crystal like hair, forming a three-dimensional grid structure wrapped in the crystal.

The goat head's attention was first attracted by the "little sun", but then it fell on the weird light golden crystal. He was stunned for a moment and then became confused: "What is this?"

"If you follow the way the 'civilized world' is divided, this should be some kind of 'blasphemous prototype'," Duncan said casually, "This is what was separated from the body of the heir of the sun when it fell from the sky - before the flames Ay picked it up before it burned up."

The goat head was stunned for a moment, and then finally recalled the scene at that time——

The Son of the Sun tried to escape from the Dream of the Nameless One at the last moment, but was intercepted in the sky. At that time, he gave the monster the final blow in his mythical form. The thing fell apart from the clouds, and there seemed to be a sparkle in the center of the fragments. The shiny object was thrown out, but the situation was chaotic at the time. The object only flashed in the sky for a moment and was "swept away" by a ball of green flames. No one noticed... It turned out to be this thing?

A sound of flapping wings came from the side. Ai flapped his wings and flew to the navigation table. He tilted his head and looked at the strange crystal he had picked up. After observing it for a long time, he stretched out his neck and opened the shell with his mouth. He pecked the surface of the crystal: "The crystal is filled with hatred! The crystal is filled with hatred!"

Duncan ignored the noise of this silly bird next to him. He looked at the crystal in front of him and lost in thought. However, in his mind, he recalled the strange big umbrellas held by the tall and thin men in black known as "Sun Residues" - he also Remember, inside those weird big umbrellas, in addition to mechanical and circuit structures that are so exquisite that they are far ahead of their time, there are also crystal structures that have been cut with extreme precision.

This crystal-based "blasphemous prototype" seems to be a unique "technological creation" mastered by the "Black Sun" and its descendants and remnants.

A long time ago, after seeing the strange big umbrellas in the hands of the men in black for the first time, Duncan realized one thing-the possession of technological artifacts in the hands of those followers of the sun meant that they were not a barbaric and chaotic primitive group. , the advanced manufacturing techniques embodied in these blasphemous prototypes actually show an extremely advanced civilization.

In other words, the "afterglow" left by an extremely advanced civilization.

But now, after witnessing the truth of the Great Annihilation with his own eyes, Duncan has a new understanding of this matter.

The collision and annihilation of the world brought about the Deep Sea Age, and the world that collided was not only the hometown of the elves and Sen'jin. The warrior who threw the sword, and his own home world, were obviously in the great annihilation. were destroyed together at that time, and extrapolating from this, every ethnic group in the world today, every style of relics, and every unexplained and contradictory historical record probably represents a destroyed civilization.

Some of these civilizations may come from different planets in the same universe, but those with extreme deviations that can contaminate other "heritages" obviously come from universes with different laws.

So the black sun... is the orphan of which universe?

Duncan frowned slowly. He gently rubbed the surface of the crystal and said to himself thoughtfully: "So they are also homeless..."

"Who?" Goathead didn't react for a moment, but he quickly understood what the captain meant, "You mean Black Sun and his freaks?"

"Everything in the Deep Sea Age comes from the worlds that were destroyed during the Great Annihilation. The Ancient Gods are just powerful individuals who survived half-dead after the Destruction Day. The Black Sun cannot be created out of thin air - this crystal should represent This is the civilization that the 'Children of the Sun' once had."

"...But now this 'civilization' is standing on the opposite side of us. Their existence itself is a kind of destruction to the entire real world." Goat Head thought for a while and said slowly, "The black sun hopes to extinguish itself. And his descendants are obsessed with destroying the real dimension and making the Black Sun 'reborn' from the ruins of the world - they may have been a very glorious civilization, but now they are crazy from top to bottom, and it is obviously impossible to follow them. Earthly coexistence.”

"Yes, coexistence is impossible. There are many things in this world that cannot coexist with the civilized world, such as dangerous ancient gods, shadows in the spiritual world, and those things in subspace... But have you ever considered taking a deeper level? ——Why can’t these things coexist with the world?”

The goat head was stunned for a moment and seemed to start thinking.

"Everything is the 'ashes' left after the Great Annihilation. From the ashes, the corpses of the gods opened the current Deep Sea Age. In theory, today's Deep Sea Age is already the product of the mutual integration, transformation, and compromise of various worlds in the Great Annihilation. , in other words, since the Great Annihilation is over, and since the Third Long Night has successfully reshaped the world, then what exists in the world is already the result of 'rebalancing', and should not be the same as when the world collided. mutual contamination and erosion...

"But the fact is that there are still ancient gods like the Black Sun, and there are still many 'pollutants' that will cause disasters as long as they appear in the real world. This pollution and the 'erosion' that appeared around Silantis during the Great Annihilation It’s exactly the same, it feels like…”

Duncan stopped here, as if he couldn't find a suitable description for a while, but the goat head next to him suddenly said: "As if the Great Annihilation is not over at all?"

"Yes, it's as if the Great Annihilation is not over at all," Duncan nodded slowly and said with a particularly solemn expression, "It was just delayed, temporarily isolated somewhere, and slowly released into the world over time. Above, erosion still exists, and conflicts and pollution between different worlds are still proceeding slowly. The third long night has forcibly 'pinched' the embers together, but in this barely 'pinched' order, the antagonism and harmony at the bottom of all things The destruction goes on and on..."

The goat head gradually came to his senses: "This corresponds to the 'twilight' that the preacher finally mentioned..."

"Self-pollution and self-destruction are the destined trends of the Deep Sea Age. The day of destruction has been doomed at the beginning of history. The doomsday pollutes history and will eventually be pursued through the long river of time. This is what those evangelists have always wanted to do. 'Preaching' content," Duncan nodded slowly, "This kind of doomsday theory has always been refuted by mainstream society, but after learning the truth about the Great Annihilation, combined with the various 'characteristics' of today's Deep Sea Age, I We have to start thinking seriously about the doomsday theories of those madmen.”

Having said this, he paused and continued thinking: "Perhaps this is not a doomsday theory, but just some objective description of the third long night... The third long night is an incomplete and unsuccessful creation. , it does not fundamentally solve the 'conflict' caused by the collision of multiple worlds, but only provides a buffer zone to allow the world to find its own way out within a period of 10,000 years... Therefore, the third one is needed. Four long nights.”

"...Do you think this 'way out' has emerged?"

"No," Duncan shook his head, "Those Endgame preachers seem to know something, but they only know what the 'hidden dangers' left by the third long night are. They know that the conflict and collapse at the bottom of everything in the world is slowly progressing. If If they really know how to solve this problem, then they will not regard the Annihilation Cult and the Children of the Sun as cannon fodder, and will not let them go to the Dream of the Nameless One to find the answer.

"The information they provided to the Annihilation Cults and Followers of the Sun was vague and vague. It didn't sound like guidance with a clear purpose at all, but more like a test. This shows that the final preachers themselves don't know what the right direction is. .”

The goat head was silent for a while and suddenly asked: "What are you going to do with this crystal? If it is really some kind of blasphemous prototype... then the longer this thing stays in the real world, the higher the risk, even if it is If you put it on the Lost Home, it may not be safe for a long time."

Duncan thought for a moment and slowly raised his hand.

Wisps of flames rose from his fingertips and penetrated into the crystal.

"I'm interested in their secrets."