Deep Sea Embers

There were subtle ripples on the surface of the majestic mist like a huge wall reaching the sky. The cloud stream flowing down from the top of the wall of mist was briefly illuminated by a firelight from within - then the green flames spurted out, and the Lost Home was towering. The bow of the ship passed through the fog wall, carrying wisps of residual fog, and sailed towards the "normal sea" ahead.

Following the figure of the Lost Home, the shadows of the Brilliant Star, the Tide, the Rest, and the Restless ship, as well as escort ships of all sizes, also passed through the thick fog.

As the wall of fog gradually moved away from the stern of the ship, the hazy and chaotic light in the sky faded away, replaced by normal sunlight. At this time, the setting sun was gradually approaching the distant horizon. The double rune rings on the edge of Vision 001 had already touched the sea, and the golden The red brilliance came overwhelmingly, looking extremely magnificent.

The sailors who returned safely from the fog breathed a sigh of relief. Although technically the fleet was still in the border waters, at least the feeling of seeing the sun again and the undulating blue sea was enough to make them feel at ease and uniquely " The temperature of the world of order.

"We have contacted the Church Ark in Qingfeng Port," Vanna came to the bow of the ship and found the captain who was looking into the distance on the deck. "I briefly reported what happened on Holy Land Island. Your Majesty Helena looks forward to speaking with you. See you again.”

"Well," Duncan responded simply, but seemed a little absent-minded. After a while, he looked back at the sea in the distance and his eyes fell on Vanna, "Is there anything else?"

"We are a little worried," Fanna hesitated and then said seriously, "You seemed more worried after you came out of the captain's cabin. Did something happen?"

"Just discussing some disturbing matters with Goat Head," Duncan exhaled softly, "related to the two suspicious apparitions you and Maurice saw."

Fanna blinked: "Those two phantoms we saw?"

"Well, they..." Duncan nodded, but just as he was about to explain to Vanna, he was interrupted by a sudden voice that came into his ears.

It was a low hum, which sounded like a huge reed being violently struck deep in the clouds. The hum was distant and long, as if it echoed throughout the sky!

Vanna obviously heard the sound. She was startled for a moment and looked up in the direction of the sound, looking at the clouds in the distance. At almost the same time, Maurice and Lucretia also ran from the nearby cabin. He came out and looked at the sky in surprise.

Also hearing the strange buzzing were many sailors in the fleet. On the three main church warships, the priests and guardian soldiers who were alarmed by the buzzing ran to the deck one after another, looking at the remaining echoes in surprise. In the ringing sky, some people raised their fingers and pointed at the clouds in the distance, as if they saw something wrong deep in the clouds.

Duncan also squinted his eyes. His sight was attracted by a faint floating light behind the clouds, and he couldn't help but look in that direction. Then, the floating light became brighter in his field of vision.

It drew an obvious trajectory, moving behind the clouds at a seemingly slow but actually fast speed.

Not far away, Lucretia's eyes suddenly widened.

Accompanied by a continuous low roar that gradually became clearer and clearer, the floating light moving behind the clouds quickly magnified. Between the gaps in the clouds, a brilliant golden light flashed. After a moment, the floating light passed through. The clouds in the northwest direction fell into the northern sea along an arc in the shape of a brilliant light body.

Like a small sun disk falling, the huge luminous body gradually disappeared on the distant sea.

Duncan reacted instantly after a brief moment of astonishment. He suddenly turned his head to look in the direction of Lucretia, only to see that the latter was also looking up at him.

Duncan didn't speak, but the "Sea Witch" already knew what her father wanted to ask, and she nodded gently with a solemn expression.

The second luminary fell.

On the nearest Tide, some sailors exclaimed, and some of those who reacted quickly cast their sights on the sun, and those who were keenly observant... have discovered the second new gap in the rune ring.

Lucretia walked over quickly and took the initiative to speak without waiting for Duncan to ask: "Visually, the direction of the fall is to the north, it should be near the Cold Sea - I don't know if my brother has noticed... "

"I did see a golden light in the cemetery over there, but the view was blocked by the city buildings," Duncan said immediately, and then he concentrated his energy and called the mark of the far north in his heart: "Tirion."

An obvious panic passed along the mark, and then Duncan heard the response from the "Steel Lieutenant General" in his heart: "I'm here, father."

Along with his response, there were some noisy sounds, and there seemed to be some chaos around Tirian.

"Did you observe a huge luminous falling object?" Duncan asked immediately, noticing the chaotic sounds. "What are you doing over there? Why is it so messy?"

Tirian's voice seemed a little intermittent: "There is a little situation here... I saw the luminous falling object you mentioned..."

"Where is the approximate direction of the fall?" Lucretia's voice directly intervened, "How far is it from the city-state? Is it within the civilized world?"

There was sudden silence on Tirian's side for a few seconds, and a faint reply came: "...it hit me on the head."

Duncan \u0026 Lucretia: "...?"

"Strictly speaking, it hit the Frost Coast - but its light body is huge in scale, and part of the luminous structure extends directly into the city. My office is within the coverage area... Now there is some confusion here... This thing is really bright, It was so sudden that my eyes were a little uncomfortable..."

Duncan and Lucretia continued: "..."

Frankly speaking, Duncan really didn't expect this situation...

The awkward atmosphere lasted for a moment, and Duncan finally coughed twice: "Is anyone hurt?"

"It's not certain yet. There should be no direct damage, because the luminous part of the thing was non-corporeal, and it didn't disturb even a particle of dust when it fell. Its solid part fell outside the coast, and there happened to be no ships sailing there. "The chaos on Tirian's side seemed to have calmed down a bit. He was arranging things while replying, "But the fall of the luminous object was sudden and has caused chaos in the city. I am arranging manpower to calm the affected neighborhoods and confirm at the same time. Is there any damage..."

Tirian was silent for a moment when he said this, and then continued to speak after a while: "Lucy, this thing should be..."

"It should be the same thing as the luminous geometry here in Qingfeng Port - the rune ring on the edge of the sun has a second gap visible to the naked eye, and it is bigger than the last time," Lucretia said solemnly, " …The process of the sun’s disintegration may be accelerating.”

"...Damn it."

"I will pass my research information on luminous geometry to you as soon as possible. You need to establish a corresponding research facility. At least move the 'falling object' to a safe sea area near the city-state. There should be something in the center of it. An entity core... After the situation there is stable, send someone to find the entity core, and then tell me what state it is in."

"I know."

After a few more exchanges about the situation, Duncan ended contact with Tirian.

The deck was quiet for a while, and in the golden-red sunset, Duncan and Lucretia stood silently looking at each other.

A heavy pressure, like some invisible countdown pressing on her chest, made Lucrecia feel a little out of breath.

She raised her head, looked at her father, and opened her mouth: "Dad..."

Another strange buzz came from the sky, interrupting what she wanted to say.

The golden-red sunset suddenly disappeared—chaotic darkness enveloped everything in sight in an instant.

The sun went out again.

From Plande to Frost, from Breezeport to the border waters, this fleet, in full view of the sun, once again plunged into darkness - accompanied by a strange, low buzzing sound, the one in the center of Vision 001 The ball turned into a hideous and weird pitch-black hole, leaving only the double rune rings glowing with golden light remaining on the horizon, barely illuminating the hazy sky.

The two gaps in the rune ring were more obvious and dazzling at this moment.

"The observer effect anchor has shut down again..."

Alice walked out of the cabin and looked at the extinguished sun in the distance with some trance.

"How long will it stop this time?" Nina came over from the side and muttered uneasily.

"I don't know either," Alice shook her head, "Anyway, it's still reporting errors and the system is trying to restart."

Agou and Shirley also came out. One squatted silently on the deck and looked at the horizon. The other cautiously glanced in the direction of the captain not far away. Shirley whispered: "...it will really light up again." ? Could it be that it will stop lighting up now..."

"It's not that bad, right?" Nina was startled by Shirley's muttering, and then she thought about it and said a little uncertainly, "If that's really the case...should I consider hanging on the phone more often? It goes up to the sky to provide light to the city and so on...but I can’t do much by myself, and are there no holidays on weekends?”

Shirley, who was lamenting and sad next to her, heard her friend's words, and her expression suddenly became a little subtle. She turned to look at Nina: "...Are your thoughts a little outrageous?"

"The current situation is quite outrageous..."

Shirley and Nina kept talking further and further away from each other, as if to calm down their slightly nervous mood. But while they were chatting like this, that low and weird buzzing sound suddenly started to sound again. The sky rang.

Immediately after there was almost no reaction time, the world that had just been plunged into darkness for only a few minutes was once again illuminated by the sun - the sun was lit again, and the golden-red sunset shone on the sea as if it had never disappeared.

Shirley and Nina looked at each other.

This time the sun's "restart" speed is obviously much faster than the previous two times.

"It's on!" After a brief moment of confusion, Shirley finally reacted and shouted happily, "This time it only went out for a few minutes!"

"I was shocked. I thought it was going to be dark for more than ten hours straight as before..." Nina also exhaled beside her, "It seems the situation is not that bad."

Not far away, Morris seemed to relax, with a smile on his face.

Compared with the previous two times, the sun's extinguishing time was very short this time. No matter why it was able to start up so quickly... it was always a good thing for the sun to return.

On the Lost Home, the Tide, and other church battleships, people breathed a sigh of relief in the renewed sunlight, and a sense of relief soothed their newly tense nerves.

But an hour later, something wasn't quite right.

The sun remains in that position.

Two hours later, the long dusk was still not over.