Deep Sea Embers

Passing over the black "islands" clustered in the surrounding waters, the Lost Home and the Brilliant Star gradually moved closer to the "central main island" made of black boulders, which looked like some kind of man-made giant structure.

Around the two ships, the thin mist flows slowly like some kind of living thing, floating on the nearby sea. The breeze blowing from the mist sweeps across the deck, and there seems to be a soft whisper and faint voice in it. Repeated gibbering.

Fanna stood on the edge of the deck, looking at the "Black Stone Island" that was gradually enlarging in her field of vision. She slowly and unconsciously clenched her hands. The gentle sound of the waves echoed in her mind at some point, and in a daze, She seemed to have returned many years ago, to the time when she first heard the sound of the waves - in the prayer room of the cathedral, in front of the icon of the goddess, she had just completed her baptism, and the soft sound was like the sea breeze. Like blowing into the heart:

"Ah...my little fish...you are here..."

Vanna suddenly woke up from her trance. She realized that it was not an illusion. There was really a voice ringing in her heart. At almost the same time, she saw changes taking place on the dark island - the magnificent "palace". "As if shaking slightly, countless huge limbs snaked out from every door and window of the palace, reaching into the air and then hanging into the sea, stirring the sea water and weaving clouds and mist.

Immediately afterwards, those tentacles suddenly disappeared, seeming to have retracted into the palace, but many large and small hazy shadows appeared near the island. They seemed to be gathered ships, and countless swaying figures emerged from the island. Walking ashore from the edge, holding torches and flags, stepping onto the black boulders like pilgrims, entering the temple from the two side doors...

Fanna seemed to hear the sound of music, which was the sound of some kind of festive flute and percussion instruments playing together. Scenes of illusions appeared and dissipated in front of her eyes——

She saw the crowds of pilgrims, and the scene changed, and she saw the scene when the craftsmen were building the palace. She saw the giant beasts in the ocean and the humans on the land gathered together to patrol near the vast coastline. She also saw people in gorgeous clothes lighting lights on the high platform, while the distant sky was gradually being swallowed up by red light - she saw war, peace, heroes, travelers, young warriors covering the crowds arriving at the temple, and then Couldn't sleep the next morning...

She tried to keep her eyes wide open in the illusion, staring at the huge shadow deep in all the illusions. She saw the palace made of black and dark green boulders opening its door to her, and an entity changing countless images emerged from it. She walked out and turned into the "Girl of the Sea of ​​Tranquility" with open arms in front of her: "We have been waiting for a long time..."

A low vibration suddenly came from the depths of the Ark, and Helena opened her eyes from meditation.

There was no main lamp lit in the prayer room, only a not very bright oil lamp burning quietly in front of the icon. The swaying flames made the surroundings shadowy, as if there were many whispering figures hidden in the light and shadow.

Helena's eyes swept around, and the voices whispering in the darkness gradually disappeared. Then she came to the icon of the goddess and stared at a dark red "pillar" extending from the floor - that was a A nerve cord extends from the bottom of the Ark to here.

"I seemed to hear His voice just now." She said softly.

"They arrived safely," an old and slow voice came to Helena's ears, "My compatriots... they are rejoicing, even the queen is happy."

Helena was a little confused: "Didn't the Sea Song arrive there before?"

"This is different, little girl," the old voice seemed to be smiling, "The Queen has been waiting for this visitor for many years."

"many years?"

"Yes, from the day the sun rises..."

The Lost Home patrolled the black island for a quarter of a circle, and finally found a suitable location for docking and landing at a gap in the boulder. The sailor carefully controlled the rudder to stop the behemoth near the coastline. , then, a small boat was put down from the Lost Home, carrying Duncan and others to the island.

"Let's go to the island and have a look. You stay here and don't move around." Duncan turned his head and said to the small boat that carried him ashore.

The boat docked in a small "bay" made of several rectangular black stones. After hearing the captain's instructions, it immediately rocked the bow up and down, making a splashing sound.

Then there was another gust of wind approaching from the sky, and a whirlwind carried countless colorful pieces of paper and flew over from the direction of the Brilliant Star. They circled and landed a dozen meters away from Duncan, condensing into Lucretia's figure.

Now everyone is reunited on the island.

There was a solid touch under the feet, and the feeling of stepping on land somewhat eliminated everyone's uneasiness after arriving at the end of the world. Duncan came to a rectangular black stone protruding from the ground and observed the road leading to the palace. Vanna's The voice came from the side——

"This is a place of pilgrimage. I saw many people coming here by boat from distant lands, lighting huge bonfires in all directions of the island, and decorating the road in front of the temple with flags..."

She recalled what she had seen in the vision, came to another boulder next to Duncan, and raised her hand to point to a wide trail composed of continuous stones in front of her.

"This road leads directly to the temple. Pilgrims have landed on the island in the morning, and the procession in costumes stretches from the coast to the entrance of the palace. The island itself was also built by people. They used a craft that I can't understand. The stones in the deep sea were smelted and re-forged into this kind of boulder, and then some kind of summoned giant beast was controlled to build the heavy boulder into an island..."

Duncan listened silently to Vanna's description, imagining what this place had been like in those forgotten ancient times. He jumped down from the rectangular black stone and led the team slowly forward - along the The "Pilgrimage Road" that Vanna saw in the vision leads to the temple.

"What else did you see?" Shirley walked beside Vanna and asked curiously.

"Humans on land coexist with giant beasts in the sea - they regard those huge sea beasts called 'Leviathans' as gods and messengers of gods, but that is not a pure religious belief, but a... A more intimate relationship," Fanna said slowly while sorting out the knowledge that was suddenly "thrown" into her mind, "They also coexist with many other giant beasts, in the sky and underground, controlling the mountains and glaciers. of……

"They signed contracts with all ancient beings and obtained power from those giant beasts. That power was enough to transform rivers, lakes, seas, mountains and earth, and build many incredible miracles... But I don't know how to describe those things specifically. I only saw many trivial fragments and some imaginary knowledge, and I couldn't imagine what it was like. Those... seemed to be just 'His' memories, and 'He' showed those memories to me... "

When Fanna said this, she suddenly became quiet and looked at the palace with a sad expression.

"... He was in such bad shape that He just showed me that and then stopped talking."

Duncan stopped on the side of the road.

He noticed something on the side of the road—a shriveled black mass, like dry seaweed, that looked unremarkable.

But he still frowned, staring at the wrinkled "seaweed mass", as if he felt something, and his expression was thoughtful.

"What's wrong with this thing?" Nina noticed it. She walked over to the "thing" and seemed to want to pick it up and take a look, but she was careful not to reach out and could only look at Duncan in confusion, "What did you see? ?"

Duncan frowned for a long time, and finally bent down and stretched out his hand towards the shrunken black substance - something that shocked everyone happened.

The crumpled black substance suddenly began to change, and with some dizzy visual distortion, it began to stretch and reorganize. When the captain touched it, it had turned into a rough cylinder, and when the captain When you pick it up, many delicate and complex patterns begin to appear on its surface, as well as structures like buttons and indicator lights.

Duncan looked thoughtfully at the delicate cylindrical device in his hand, and then pressed the most obvious button on the top of it.

Lively music came from inside the cylinder—drums, bells, and bagpipes.

Duncan looked at the cylinder quietly for a long time, then said nothing, just took it in his hand and continued walking forward.

Vanna was in a daze, and the "memories" that permeated the island suddenly overlapped in her field of vision again. She seemed to see the former owner of the small device - a child, staggering with the adults who were taking refuge. Behind them, the child raised one hand and was led forward by the adult, while the exquisite little device was ringing in his hand, emitting a cheerful melody.

The hallucination dissipated again, and she realized that the captain had gone far away, so she quickly stepped to catch up.

They finally arrived in front of the solemn black temple, and an extremely wide circular square appeared in their field of vision - a figure stood quietly in the center of the square.

Lucretia reacted instantly and immediately raised the short baton in her hand - but before she could make a follow-up move, the man standing in the center of the square, as if he had been guarding this temple from the previous era to the last moment. The figure collapsed silently.

It turned into a pile of ashes scattered by the wind, spiraling and disappearing into the air. Lucretia didn't even have time to see clearly what the last guardian looked like, whether he was a man or a woman.

"...That's the deputy commander of the Guards." Fanna said suddenly.

"Guards?" Morris said subconsciously.

Fanna frowned and shook her head after a few seconds: "...I don't know, I just suddenly thought of this sentence..."

A gradually distorted sound interrupted her words.

The musical sound emitted by the small cylinder in Duncan's hand suddenly began to become distorted and harsh. Immediately afterwards, its surface began to lose color, quickly shriveled and distorted. In just two or three seconds, the musical sound disappeared, and it changed into A pile of black matter that shriveled up like dry seaweed.

(Oh my god!)