Deep Sea Embers

The fragmented memories were suddenly reshaped, and the distorted and alienated cognition was restored in an instant, as if the whole world returned in a breath,

Vanna heard an illusory roar coming from the depths of her consciousness - in this roar, she once again knew her "self".

The yellow sand in the sky was bombarded by invisible forces, swirling in the wind, and wisps of black smoke emerged out of thin air, reintegrating into Fanna's body. She recalled her name, her origin, and where she came from. After what happened here, she recalled what happened to the Lost Home and her captain.

She turned around and saw the tall and majestic figure standing next to her, staring at her quietly, as if she had been standing there a long time ago.

Vanna finally took a long breath. After a brief period of confusion and confusion, she calmed down and spoke softly as if talking to herself: "I feel like I have had a long, long dream - this is really a dream." A long journey.”

"Fortunately, you were not completely lost." A smile appeared on Duncan's face. "For a moment, I could hardly see your shadow in the depths of burned history."

Fanna felt a little scared, but she quickly put this emotion aside. She raised her head and looked around, realizing that the boundless desert and the abandoned city in the desert had not disappeared because of her "awakening".

Everything here is not an "illusion" designed for her alone, but something like a "vision" that does exist at this "node". It is the eternally locked dream of Eternal Burning Fire, and another A kind of "reality" - she just woke up in the dream of the ancient god, but she has not yet left this huge dream.

But as she woke up, things had changed here - the prosperous city that was about to appear in her perception had retreated into the depths, and the phantoms and sounds in the streets and alleys had completely disappeared. Now, in this city It was quiet, and among the dead ruins, only the floating lights still illuminated the ruins silently.

"Burned history" she couldn't help repeating the captain's words softly, finally understanding the nature of this desert, and then recalled her own experience, "But I saw many things here, Frost Queen The coronation, a certain gathering during the archaeological discovery in the old city-state era, and the arrest of the Sea Mist Fleet, these should be the parts that have not been 'burned'. "

After hearing Vanna's words, Duncan just said a few words calmly: "The warmth is still there."

Fanna's face changed slightly. While her eyes quickly became serious, she recalled what she saw when she first set foot on this island of ashes, those burn marks with a faint red light among the warm ashes, and those Smoke rising from the distance.

What about the rest? "She shook her head, temporarily suppressing the strong uneasiness in her heart, and asked. "We have temporarily withdrawn to the ship," Duncan said casually, "The situation at this 'node' is different from before, perhaps because Tarijin's situation is so bad. , or maybe it’s the special power of ‘history’. This piece of ashes is too dangerous. I came here to find you alone.”

"I made you worry." Fanna breathed out with apology in her tone.

"Forget it," Duncan waved his hand, "Let's talk about your experience. Can you still recall it? How much do you know about this desert now?"

Fanna quickly sorted out her mood and thoughts. She knew that the captain had not finished what he had to do here, so she immediately recounted the experiences she still remembered in this boundless sea of ​​sand one by one. Including the sounds that had appeared in her ears, the ruins she saw along the way, and the "ding-ding-ding" sound that always appeared in her ears when the wind and sand blew up.

In fact, she couldn't remember the first half of her "journey". When she first fell into this boundless sea of ​​sand, her mind was in a state of confusion for a long time, but she still remembered the feeling one by one. Forgetfulness and blindness, this is my strongest impression of the first half of the journey, and this feeling seems to be the 'impression' left by my deliberate strengthening of my subconscious mind at that time. I should have realized what happened to me at that time However, I couldn't resist this change, so I could only forcefully write down this feeling, hoping to remind myself of the existence of 'forgetting' in the future -

All of my clearer memories of the journey began after I forgot my name and origin. From then on, I began to see those lost ruins in the desert more frequently. From then on, Start hearing those voices.

This is a process of gradual 'integration', and the most dangerous thing about this process is that it is not malicious at all. Everything is like the breeze and sunshine, unknowingly eroding my mind. When I react, this There is no way out of the city. "

When Fanna said this, she couldn't help but exhale softly. When she recalled the previous sinking and loss, she still couldn't help but feel a little scared. Then, she remembered another thing.

"By the way, before I recalled the Lost Home, I also met a person, a 'person' who didn't belong here like me," she said quickly, "he said his name was 'Pu Man'." "

"Puman?" Duncan's expression suddenly changed slightly, "The famous 'mad poet'?"

'Yes, I was in a trance at the time and didn't realize his identity, but now that I've recovered my memory, I'm sure that's the 'mad poet' recorded in history," Fanna nodded with certainty, " His appearance was the same as recorded in the book, and he was highly nervous and polite. He went around asking people about things here, and seemed to be looking for a way to leave. "

Duncan thought: "-could it be another 'shadow' in this desert?" "

'Probably not,' Vanna shook her head. 'He once showed his form in front of me. He said he fell into a dream again, and he mentioned that he was being locked up in a basement in reality, and there were 'people wearing robes'. The guard came to inspect his 'cage', I felt

He got here by mistake. "

"Stumbled into the dream of an ancient god at the end of the world?" Duncan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, "Even for the legendary 'mad poet', this is a bit outrageous -

He muttered, then thoughtfully: "The things you described seem to be facilities used by the church to house innate psykers. Frost Queen Leigh Nora mentioned similar things."

'The Frost Queen is right! That's it," Vanna reacted instantly and added another detail, "Puman even mentioned the Frost Queen. Although he didn't explicitly say the name, he should be referring to the Frost Queen after his death. Many years later, the same person who appeared in a cage—

Listening to Vanna's story, Duncan frowned deeply. Many speculations about the famous "mad poet" couldn't help but emerge, but soon, a sudden cold wind howled through the night. , allowing him to forcefully suppress these restless thoughts.

The wind reminded him that there were more important things to do.

"We will discuss the matter about the 'Mad Poet' after we go back. Maurice and Lucretia should be more professional than us in this regard. They are real scholars," Duncan said in a deep voice. "The top priority now is to find Tarijn, and a way to get you out of here safely."

And at this moment, just as Duncan finished speaking, a distant voice suddenly came faintly from the depths of the cold wind,

It sounded like the tapping of metal and stone, with a vague and intermittent "ding ding ding ding"

"That's the sound!" Vanna reacted instantly and immediately turned to look at Duncan, "What I heard along the way was this tinkling sound. Whenever it sounded, there seemed to be some changes in the desert, either. New ruins, or hearing those voices speaking

She stopped abruptly.

The tinkling sound continued, and then, Vanna suddenly noticed something.

The sound no longer seemed to come from all directions. This time, she seemed to be able to judge the direction from which the knocking sound came. After a brief misjudgment, she and the captain raised their hands and pointed to the depths of the city almost at the same time, saying in unison: "Here. side!"

The sound was far away, but its direction was extremely clear,

The two of them rushed towards the direction of the sound without hesitation.

And the sound never disappeared, as if it was deliberately guiding them. The tinkling sound echoed in the depths of the city all the time, and became clearer and clearer as time went by.

On the way, Vanna suddenly recalled what the "mad poet" said to her before disappearing. This city is infinite. Outside the city is the desert, and outside the desert is the city. Going outward, you can never leave here.

You can't leave by going outward - so you should go inward.

The "infinity" of history is some kind of counter-intuitive "one-way infinity"!

Whether you want to find the exit from here, or you want to find the ancient god in charge of history, you should go inside!

She finally figured it out and immediately told the captain next to her what she had discovered. After hearing this, Duncan just nodded with a serious face, then raised his hand and pointed around, "The city is disappearing."

Fanna raised her eyes and looked around.

The city is blowing away in the wind.

Those collapsed stone pillars were weathering and disintegrating at a speed visible to the naked eye, and yellow sand fell from between the high walls and towers. This process was not fast at the beginning, but almost in the blink of an eye it turned into an astonishing collapse - yellow sand Like a waterfall, pouring down from every commanding height of the entire city. Those ruins were covered by sand and dust, and in the next second they became part of the sand.

After just a few breaths, the entire city disappeared from her sight, as if its previous existence was just a dream.

Once again, there was only an endless sea of ​​sand in front of her.

And the sound that is already so close...

She raised her head and saw a small fire under the cover of night.

Just like the small fire she had seen a long time ago in another dream where there was only a sea of ​​sand. And the giant who she also met in another dream and even walked together, that old but tall giant The figure was sitting next to the fire that seemed to be extinguished by the cold wind in the next second. He lowered his head and used the stones and chisels in his hands to strike and carve the sand under his feet.

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