Deep Sea Embers

This is a brilliant "light explosion".

A "light arc" equivalent to about a quarter of the sun's rune ring disintegrated in the sky, and then turned into a dozen larger luminous structures. During the short period of initial disintegration, they were still moving according to normal conditions. The trajectory of Phenomenon 001 climbed and moved toward the sky, as if each luminous structure still had residual power and navigation functions. However, after just a moment, their movements showed obvious signs of being out of control.

The luminous structure began to fall apart. Large and small light bodies were like fleets scattered in the storm, drawing bright lines in the sky that were gradually moving away, and many larger luminous bodies were split between them. Many smaller light sources - as inconspicuous as fireflies compared to the large debris, falling from the sky with flashes and a series of small explosions.

Light was like rain, pouring from the clouds. From the eastern border to the Western Islands, the light burst illuminated the night, making the entire sea glow with a layer of intense and strange golden sunlight.

Those large-scale debris fell relatively slowly. While continuously splashing luminous debris, they fell towards the entire world along their own trajectories. Most of the falling objects fell in the southwestern sea, and several others fell. Smaller fragments fell toward the center and north.

It is now the eighteenth hour after "nightfall", and the boundless sea is briefly illuminated due to another major disintegration of the sun. Due to the low height of the falling object, only a quarter of the rune arc is enough to illuminate the sky, so This "meteor shower" representing the approaching end of the world instead brought a "day" to the world that lasted for nearly an hour - and during this short day, the entire world fell into silence.

Duncan stood at the window on the second floor of the antique shop. He opened the narrow window at the end of the corridor, letting all the wind and sound into the house - there was silence in the neighborhood, and both the sounds of cars, horses and human voices seemed to have completely disappeared. In the city, however, there are actually a lot of people outside now.

Men, women, old and young walked out of the house or leaned out of the windows, staring at the flashes of light sliding down the sky. Groups of people gathered on the streets, including even urgently assembled teams of peace officers and guards.

Everyone seemed to be grabbed by the neck, keeping the same posture with their heads raised, and they were all still in the falling sunlight.

The only sounds between heaven and earth were the roaring and whistling of the luminous objects as they passed through the clouds, and the sound of bells from the distant church.

Then after an unknown amount of time, the sky began to gradually dim - the last luminous objects also passed the highest point between the clouds. They stayed briefly in the sky, seeming to be trying hard to carry out the original order to illuminate the world, but soon they disappeared. It lost power and fell into the sea like other fragments, gradually dimming in the gorgeous tail flame.

Night fell again, and Plande returned to the night again.

The whole world returned to night again.

A whistle sounded, suddenly breaking the silence in the neighborhood. The crowds gathered on the street woke up to the whistle and began to return home in an orderly manner.

Before closing the window, Duncan heard some other sounds - children were asking their parents what happened, asking why they couldn't continue going to school, why they couldn't go out to find friends, some were cursing under their breath, some were sighing, Someone was crying quietly.

The last thing that came from the window was the sound of whistles and church bells from the direction of the dock - it seemed that a warship had received an order and was preparing to leave the port.

Frame retracted his gaze from the window and continued to carve the last few symbols on the ceremonial stone slab with a very steady technique.

Under the light, the figure of the fire-bringering pope is like a stone statue standing between the light and shadow. His rock-like face shows no emotion at all, as if all his attention has been devoted to the "note" in his hand. "Slate".

The brazier in the church was burning brightly. A priest in black robes stood beside the brazier and reported the latest situation to the Pope: "...the patrol fleet in the southwest sea has noticed the falling direction of several major luminous objects. High-speed ships are being dispatched to search...

"There are currently no reports of falling objects falling directly near the city-state. It seems that all the sun fragments this time fell on the sea... There are currently no reports of ships at sea encountering falling objects.

"The Creation of the World has reappeared in the sky... In the past eighteen hours, three city-states have reported a significant increase in extraordinary erosion incidents in the city... They do not need reinforcements for the time being, but they hope that the nearest fleet can move closer to them...

"There has been an attack by deep demons in Messala Port. It is currently unclear whether this is a demonic invasion caused by nightfall, or whether there are remaining Annihilation cultists taking advantage of the chaos..."

Listening to the priest's reports, Frame nodded slightly, and then handed over the gray-white stone slab he had just finished carving: "I have written it all down - send this to the archives."

The black-robed priest bowed and took the stone slab, and saw the year and month written on it with deep carvings, as well as a record of the falling sun fragments.

The teachings of the Holy Scriptures could not help but appear in his mind——

Even if the end of the world ends, we should carefully record it to the last moment. The last breath of civilization should end with the pen of the history maker.

The black-robed priest left with the memorial tablet, and only the crackling brazier accompanied Frame's tall and silent figure in the church.

After an unknown amount of time, the Sen'jin pope seemed to suddenly sense something and turned to look at the brazier: "Helena, have you recovered?"

"It can only be said that the mental state is like that of a living person, and it is far from being 'recovered'." Helena's voice trembled in the flames, and seemed a bit distorted when it reached Frame's ears, "But now I'm lying down." It’s obviously unrealistic to take good care of your body in bed.”

"I've heard from Rune," said Frame. "It's... an amazing development."

"Are you referring to the goddess descending on me, or the 'captain's' plan?"

"...both," Frame hesitated for a moment and said slowly, "Of course, the latter is more shocking."

The sound in the brazier was quiet for a few seconds.

"Frame."

"I am listening."

"...Are you still recording history?"

"Still, I have been leaving historical records in accordance with the requirements of the Holy Scriptures."

"If the world ends and we fail to survive, will the tablets you carved on be picked up and read by new creatures one day in the future?"

"...If such a day comes, it means that the captain's plan has failed, the gods have failed, and even the age of fire has failed." Frame quietly stared at the dancing fire in the brazier, " No one will know about that history anymore, because even the concept of 'history' itself died in that day."

"...But you are still leaving records and guarding the totem of the fire."

“Because recording history is inherently meaningful, even if there are no latecomers, ‘history’ itself at least proves that we ourselves are still civilizations until our demise - as the mad poet Pullman described in his last verse:

"The years give me life, and I give the years memories."

"...I didn't expect you knew poetry."

"Poetry is part of history."

"...Is that so?" The voice from the brazier paused for a moment, and then continued, "Now please help me record one thing - next time you pray to the eternal burning fire, you should It’s carved in stone.”

Frame immediately took a piece of parchment from the side and took the pen: "Speak."

"...On January 21, 1902 in the new city-state calendar, the 'Song of the Sea' was crossing the six-nautical-mile critical line at the end of the eternal curtain. They are the pioneers of the civilized world."

"Sea Song, January 21, 1902... OK, I've written it down."

…

The fog seems to have turned into some strange entity, no longer a flowing, gentle airflow. The steamship is moving hard in this fog that seems to fill the entire world. Every step seems to be against a thick wall, being invisible. Power entangles, crushes, and binds.

And in this thick fog that was like some kind of dense mass, the boundaries of everything in the world disappeared unconsciously - the sea near the ship's side turned into something gray and illusory at some point, and the sky above was no longer clear. There were no visible clouds, and the hazy sky shrouded everything. Only very occasionally, the lookout could see the surging sea water in the gaps between the fog.

Those waters are distant and unreal, like mirages.

The white pioneer exploration ship flying the flag of the Church of the Deep was floating in the fog. Although the steam core was roaring all the time, due to the lack of any reference, the fog itself was always changing, so that the crew on the ship could not be sure at all. Is this ship really still moving forward - or has it been imprisoned in place by this strange "sea area"?

"We have lost all contact with the Church Ark, and we can only weakly sense the signal from the temporary lighthouse." A Church sailor wearing a dark blue smock came to the bridge and reported the situation to the captain of the Sea Song. "The steam core is operating at full power and we are still maintaining course."

"Um."

The captain of the Sea Song nodded slightly. She was a stern-faced lady who looked unsmiling. After listening to the sailor's report, she turned her gaze to the priest aside: "In this direction, you can hear Can you be more clear?"

The subject of the captain's inquiry was an old priest wearing a loose robe. The wrinkles on his face were already crisscrossed, his eye sockets were sunken, and his back was stooped. He looked completely unfit for such an ocean voyage from age to health. , but he was sitting closest to the captain, holding an exquisite incense burner made of brass in one hand, and holding an amulet carved from sea breath wood tightly in the other hand.

The old priest listened intently, as if he was listening for some signal beyond human perception. The people around him became quiet, as if they were afraid of disturbing the old man's mission.

After a long time, the old priest finally raised his head slowly.

He heard the voice, the echo of death, he smelled the smell, the stench of decay - he felt guidance, the soft voice of the goddess.

"Here," the old priest raised his hand, pointing in a certain direction in the thick fog, "He is here."