Deep Sea Embers

Black soil spreads down, covering the not very spacious tomb, just like the night closing at the end of time, burying the eternal death. The God who was born after the death of all things is now resting, welcoming us in this world. When it came to the end, it turned into a small mound on the hill.

The disorderly wind blew from the darkness, gently caressing the hills. The nameless wild flowers and grass on the hills swayed in the wind, making a slight rustling sound. Duncan stood in the wind, holding the shovel with both hands, for a long time. He stared at the pile of fresh soil in front of him.

Then he raised his head and looked around - the God of Death had not prepared a tombstone for himself, and there was no material here that looked like it could serve as a tombstone.

Duncan thrust the shovel he had used to dig the soil in front of the mound, and took some soil from the side with his hands and piled it around the catalpa to reinforce it and use it as a tombstone.

After doing this, he took a long breath and put his hand on the shovel handle for the last time.

Wisps of green fire accompanied by a faint starlight overflowed from between his fingers and slowly covered the "tombstone" of the God of Death.

Then he disappeared again.

"May you rest in peace, Bartok, goodbye." Duncan said softly, and his figure slowly disappeared into the wind.

The messy and broken wind turned into a short roar, and the light and shadow overflowed from the darkness and reorganized in an instant. After experiencing a brief weightlessness and changes in the five senses, the feeling of being down to earth appeared again, and the scene in front of Duncan quickly stabilized.

The majestic Door of Death still stands quietly in the center of the gravel wasteland, and in front of the triangular door, the tall figure sitting on the dark throne is slowly disintegrating silently, as if a When I woke up in the morning, the fragmented dream, the invisible shadow shrouded in the dark robe dispersed with the wind, and the robe also fell, rotted, and weathered like the night.

Among the flying black debris and smoke, only a faint green firelight with hazy starlight flickered in the wind.

Duncan lowered his head and saw that the edge of the hourglass in his hand was flashing with dim light, and vague whispers seemed to be ringing in his ears. He had an idea, and then took a few steps forward to hold the simple and exquisite hourglass. Placed next to the throne where Death once sat.

He came back and saw Agatha standing quietly, looking at the empty throne in a daze. After an unknown amount of time, the "gatekeeper" who was born from the phantom slowly turned his head and looked at the empty throne. Showing mixed emotions: "Is he resting in peace?"

"Well, I sent him on his last journey," Duncan nodded slightly, and then added, "The hourglass is part of the power he left behind, and I left it next to the throne, so that the death church in the world can They can still borrow some blessings for a short period of time and they can still use them now."

Agatha nodded slowly, as if she wanted to say something more, but couldn't. In the end, all her thoughts and emotions could only be turned into a faint sigh.

"We should go back," Duncan said slowly, "The final countdown has begun, and we must return to Queen Leviathan's node immediately."

Agatha said "hmm" and looked up in the direction from which she and the captain came, only to see that there was only a gravel wilderness that seemed to have no markings.

Dark night shrouds this land of death, and there is no way back from the path of the dead.

But at this moment, she saw the "gatekeepers" standing around the Death Throne suddenly moved. The tall phantoms standing silently slowly raised their hands, and one by one, they raised their hands and pointed to someone in the darkness. In this direction, the dusk-like light seemed to escape from their sides, and then converged in the direction of their fingers, extending and flowing invisibly.

Guided by thousands of tall illusions, a path appeared in the gravel wasteland. The path was shrouded in twilight. There were unknown wild flowers blooming beside the road, swaying slightly in the wind.

After the mechanism of death was shut down, and after the God of Death rested in peace, for the first time in the kingdom of death, there was a way for the living to return.

Agatha looked at this scene with some shock. She subconsciously looked up at the tall gatekeeper who initially led her and the captain, but saw that the gatekeeper just looked at her silently and waved his hand.

Leave, don't look back, don't communicate with the kingdom of the dead again. After Agatha understood what the other party meant, she turned around and set foot on the path leaving the gravel wasteland with the captain.

There was no "gatekeeper" guidance on the way back, only the occasional breeze blowing from the darkness, accompanying Agatha and Duncan. They walked on this path for an unknown length of time until the gravel wasteland disappeared, and The nameless black grass appeared in the field of vision again, until it returned to the depths of the swaying wilderness, and the huge figures of the Lost Home and the Brilliant Star appeared at the end of the field of view again and again. Then, just looking at the Lost Home After taking two steps in the direction, Duncan and Agatha returned to the place where they left.

The paper-folded boat was still parked in the open space, and Lucretia was standing on the bow in a daze. After seeing Duncan, she raised her eyebrows strangely, and then immediately jumped off the boat and faced him. This way.

"Have you been waiting here?" Duncan looked at the "Sea Witch" in front of him in surprise, "We have been away for a long time -

"You just left for a few minutes - not long after you and Agatha suddenly passed through a dusk-colored light curtain," Lucretia was surprised when she heard Duncan's words, " I thought you suddenly turned back due to some situation."

"How many minutes?" Duncan frowned when he heard this, but quickly put this incredible thing aside - he had experienced so many weird situations, and he was used to it.

"Our business is done," he said simply, "now let's return.

Lucretia looked at Duncan and then at Agatha who was following him. She instinctively felt that in the past "just a few minutes", her father and Agatha seemed to have had an unforgettable experience. Or "witness", but in the end she didn't ask anything, just nodded lightly: "Okay."

The pale flame in the brazier went out, and those low and vague voices gradually disappeared from her mind. Agatha, who was kneeling in the prayer room and meditating, raised her head, as if she felt something, and turned to "look" at the person beside her. Mirror.

Her eyes covered with black cloth can no longer see the scene in the world normally, but her clearer spiritual eyes allow her to see the "reality" from other dimensions more clearly than ordinary people.

In the mirror she saw a tomb, a wilderness plunged into darkness, and the twilight fading in the distance.

This brief "revelation" lasted only a second.

But the young gatekeeper and archbishop had already understood the truth conveyed to him by this scene. She knelt down quietly in front of the icon. After a moment, she lowered her head and returned to prayer. Her lips moved and she chanted silently. Blessings for the deceased are recited.

The prayer was not long, but she repeated it three times. Then she slowly got up from the cushion and came to the shelf not far away. She took out a pale flower from a wooden box on the shelf. The dried flower with petals turned around and placed it next to the candlestick in front of the icon.

In the distant city, there was a faint sound of commotion crossing the streets and entering the church.

Slightly hasty footsteps came from the direction of the corridor. A moment later, a priest's voice came from outside the door of the prayer room: "Archbishop, are you in there?"

"Come in." Agatha said casually.

The door of the prayer room was pushed open, and a middle-aged priest with short black hair and half of his face covered by bandages stepped in.

Then his eyes were attracted by the small white flower in front of the icon.

The middle-aged priest frowned subconsciously. He instinctively felt that the flower seemed to have some meaning, which led to some natural questions. However, he found that he could not remember what it was specifically. He opened his mouth and lost his vitality. His pale and cloudy eyes were full of doubts.

Then, Agatha walked over from the side and blocked the middle-aged priest and the little white flower with her body.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

A dazed look flashed across the face of the middle-aged priest, and then he immediately reacted and hurriedly reported: "Archbishop, another group of people came to the cathedral to seek shelter and guidance. More than a dozen people, according to your instructions, I let Mark took Sister Natasha to the reception. "

"Well," Agatha nodded, and then asked casually, "How are those people doing? Which neighborhood are they from?"

"They seemed to have been frightened to a certain extent, and were in a state of wavering and doubt, but they could not accurately describe what happened," the middle-aged priest reported. "The one in the best condition among them said that he suddenly woke up this morning. ", and then he felt that many things around him were wrong, and even the relatives and friends around him seemed weird and scary. He was very scared, so he went to the chapel to seek help, and then met other people asking for help there.

“The priest of the chapel gave them urgent tranquillization and blessing, and then sent two guards through the city to deliver them here.

"Most of them are from the port area in the south, and three of them are from the cemetery area. They almost don't know each other, they have no interactions, and their residences have no unified characteristics -

Listening to the middle-aged priest's report, Agatha didn't say anything, but nodded calmly.

"The city hall will send someone later. Temporary arrangements have been made at the shelter at the foot of the mountain. Although the accommodation conditions are limited, it is safe there."

'Okay,' the middle-aged priest responded, and then glanced at Agatha with some hesitation and uneasiness. While observing the expression of the "temporary archbishop," he said hesitantly, "Archbishop, what happened? This situation has been happening one after another recently, and even in churches

"John," Agatha interrupted, "do you remember what I said to the priests the day before yesterday?"

The middle-aged priest's expression changed slightly, and then he nodded.

"I can't explain it to you now, because even if I did, you wouldn't hear those sounds," Agatha said calmly, "but when you suddenly wake up, you will understand - and then Don't panic, just go to the inner sanctuary, someone will arrange it there."