Deep Sea Embers

The hostess is coming, on this cold afternoon.

The sound of the pencil swiping across the paper rustled, and the lines of different shades extended and connected on the paper as if they had their own lives, gradually forming images. Richard devoted himself wholeheartedly to this "welcoming", and a kind of peace of mind , The emotion of expectation gradually filled all his thoughts.

Unconsciously, the coldness faded away, and the inexplicable feeling of emptiness that had always appeared from time to time recently disappeared. A smile appeared on his face, and only the only thought and the only picture remained in his mind—— She's coming.

That beautiful lady, that hostess whom he had never met before, he admired her and looked forward to her visit with joy... Would the hostess like this place? Will she like her arrangement? Will she smile and reward the doll for its loyalty?

Rustling... The pencil swept across the white paper briskly, and the hostess's gentle eyes came from the paper, looking at him with a smile.

Excitement and joy surged up, but Richard's hands were steadier than ever and faster than ever - he couldn't even remember when he had such high painting skills and could sketch out so quickly. These wonderful lines, in the end he even picked up the pencil with his left hand, and there was a faint afterimage between his two hands as he waved them rapidly...

However, footsteps suddenly came from the direction of the corridor, thump-dong-dong, dong-dong-dong, as fast as a heartbeat, bringing a disturbing noise.

"They are coming for you, cute ragdoll..."

The soft voice in my mind blew like the wind, carrying a faint noise.

The annoying, familiar feeling of coldness came again, and Richard felt a layer of irritation welling up in his heart. Someone was going to disturb him, interrupting the moment when he was meeting the hostess. They were almost at the door— —But I haven’t finished painting yet.

He speeded up again, waving his hands over the paper like dancing, but the annoying footsteps came earlier than expected.

The footsteps stopped at the door, and with almost no delay, someone knocked on the door.

The banging on the door was like a direct knock on the heart, echoing in this small room. It was gentle at first, but became rapid in the blink of an eye.

"Richard, are you in there?" Someone's voice came from outside the door, sounding a bit nervous and awkward "polite", "The saints held a meeting and asked everyone to go to the assembly hall."

"Don't go, it's a trap."

Richard heard a warning instantly ringing in his mind. He could no longer tell whether it was the rabbi's voice or his own thoughts - he ignored the sound at the door as a matter of course, and just continued to immerse himself in the painting in front of him. middle.

The silence in the room brought more rapid knocking on the door, and the continuous banging sounds soon came from the door. The people in the corridor banged the door panel hard and raised their voices: "Richard, we know you Inside, this meeting is very important, why are you still sleeping in?"

Just a little bit, just a little bit.

Richard frowned tightly and his arms shook like a spasm. The hostess blinked at him. In the picture outlined with black and white lines, her eyes were as agile as a living creature.

But it was still close, he still had some of the most important things to finish...

The knocking on the door suddenly stopped, and after a brief pause, there was a loud bang.

"Bang-bang!"

The thin wooden door was violently knocked open, and Richard's movements froze for a moment - and in this brief moment, someone rushed into the room, and a huge ghost hound pounced from mid-air. Then, he threw him to the ground directly.

Is the last stroke in the right place?

Richard struggled hard to look up, but the power of the Dark Hound prevented him from moving at all. He struggled to support his arms, but only hoarse and weird grunts and growls came from his throat, which only made him feel resentful. Fill the mind——

He hated the Deep Hound. He hated such rude and violent monsters as the Deep Hound.

Someone grabbed his arm from the side and quickly tied it with a rope. Then another person blocked his mouth to prevent him from using the power of the spell. The person who broke into the room dragged Richard off the ground. She got up, took away his pencil, and roughly dragged him towards the door.

Richard gave up resistance the moment he left the room. His thinking seemed to be interrupted, and his mind was as hazy as cotton stuffed. He was like a walking zombie being held up by several "compatriots", walking silently. In the corridor.

"Wait a minute," an Annihilation cultist holding Richard's arm suddenly stopped and looked up at another cultist walking beside him, "What was he doing when we rushed into the room just now?"

"It seems he is drawing," another Annihilation cultist frowned and recalled, "There is a large piece of paper spread out on the bed, but I don't see what he is drawing."

"...something's not right, I'll go back and take a look."

The Annihilation cultist who spoke first said quickly, then turned around and ran back to the room they just left. He stepped through the broken wooden door, quickly came to Richard's bed, and looked at the bed. Large piece of paper on the bed board.

It's just a blank piece of paper.

The Annihilation cultist frowned, feeling a little uneasy for some reason. Driven by this uneasiness, he raised his head and quickly observed the situation in the room - but found nothing.

The cultist made a vague grunt in his throat, and then out of caution, he bent down and picked up the white paper, rolled it up casually, and returned to the corridor with it.

"It's just a blank sheet of paper," he said to the others waiting in the hallway, "Let's go."

A blank piece of paper.

Richard, whose "compatriots" were holding his shoulders and controlling his movements, raised his head sluggishly, with confusion in his eyes, and looked at the blank scroll displayed in the hands of the vaguely familiar person opposite. After staring for a while, a smile finally appeared on his face.

But no one noticed his smile.

The chaotic footsteps disappeared from the corridor.

More footsteps soon appeared elsewhere on the ship.

The Annihilation cultists who accepted the instructions from the saints have already taken action. These priests are now walking through the long and dark corridors. They hold the lists they just counted in their hands and hurriedly knock on the doors one after another. Every "fellow" who had ever entered the Nameless One's dream was removed from the room.

A tense atmosphere began to spread throughout the ship. Some people noticed that the situation was strange, while others noticed that the ship had stopped sailing at some point. People who had not been taken away quietly gathered in the room, discussing and speculating nervously. They were wondering what happened, and those who were taken away had already arrived at the assembly hall one after another.

The saint fell into a brief trance on the high platform in the center of the hall. His mind was tired from spying on his fate for a long time. He suddenly missed the past, and missed the time when he still had a human body - even though the body was dirty and weak, But at that time, he could still lie comfortably on a bed, and there were not always all kinds of obscure whispers and chaotic roars coming from his head...

He sank in this trance, and his memories gradually weaved into a hazy curtain. Deep in the curtain, it seemed as if there was eternal peace waving to him.

The "tranquility" is a tall shadow burning with green flames.

The saint suddenly woke up from this warning sign of fate, and every nerve and blood vessel twitched and sent a burning sting.

"Your Excellency," a voice came from the side. A high-level priest was reporting the situation to him, "I have brought all the people you asked for."

The saint raised his eye stalks and glanced at the frightened or confused believers gathered in the assembly hall.

An indescribably thick shadow enveloped the entire hall.

The haze of fate blocked all his vision.

"Invaders are aboard!"

…

After everyone left, a subtle airflow suddenly appeared in Richard's room - and then, a figure suddenly appeared next to the bed.

It was like a "picture" that was originally flat on a certain surface suddenly "flipped" and "rised up", and Lucretia's figure emerged from the air.

She had been standing in front of the Annihilation Cult just now, and at the latest it was only about half a meter away - but she was turning sideways.

The picture has no thickness, and the eyes in the three-dimensional space cannot see the "image" parallel to the gaze.

Lucretia breathed out softly, looked at her hands, then picked up the pencil thrown aside and drew two random strokes on her palms.

Then she waved her hand, and the "thin" figure transformed from a picture without thickness into a normal entity.

She turned and glanced at the empty floor: "Rabbi, I know you are in the room."

Almost as soon as she finished speaking, a voice as thin as a little girl suddenly sounded in the room: "Hey, hey, hey! The mistress is here! The rabbi will come out right now!"

Along with this high-pitched and childish voice, countless white flocs suddenly appeared in every corner of the room!

The shadows in the corners, the cracks in the furniture, the potholes in the roof, the gaps in the floor, in all places that can be used to hide "fibers", countless wadding began to swarm out, as if the room itself was frantically expelling foreign matter. Generally, cotton wool fills Lucretia's field of vision in the blink of an eye, and then they quickly gather in the center of the room, and gradually transform into a rabbit shape that is completely made of cotton balls without a "skin".

Then, the rabbit-shaped cotton wool began to "turn" from the inside out, and colorful fabrics came out of its belly, wrapping it up in an instant, turning it into a large rabbit doll with a weird and scary shape. .

The scary doll swayed on the spot twice and jumped towards Lucretia happily: "The Rabbi is here, the Rabbi is here! Welcome, welcome, warm welcome..."

"Shut up," Lucretia casually grabbed the rabbit that rushed towards her in mid-air, her tone cold, "Keep quiet."