Deep Sea Embers

Fanna stood on the highest tower of the Storm Cathedral. Through the open window, she looked beyond the roof of the church and looked at the lights flickering deep in the clouds and mist. Those urban buildings were no longer the same as in her memory. , and the direction of the distant sea.

The steam-powered pipes next to the spiral staircase in the tower squeaked slightly, and the copper incense burner hung on the pipe valves, emitting wisps of smoke. The old Archbishop Valentine stood aside quietly, dying because his blood stopped flowing. Her pale and turbid eyes looked into the distance with Vanna.

After an unknown amount of time, Fanna broke the silence in a low voice: "I still remember... I used to stand on this tower often. Whenever night fell, I would look at every part of Purand here. In the corner, the steam pipes were always hissing at that time, and the smell of incense was soothing.”

"That seems to have happened not long ago." Archbishop Valentine said softly.

"Yes, that seems to have happened not long ago," Fanna nodded slightly, "The nights at that time were always not peaceful. All kinds of things would come out of the darkness and disturb ordinary people. Human life, and I was confident at that time, feeling that I could fight against all enemies that threatened the city-whether they were dark cultists or things summoned by cultists."

The old archbishop said nothing more, but lowered his eyes slightly and looked in the direction of the church garden. In the misty night, there were waves of vague roars and creepy chewing sounds coming from that direction, as if there was some kind of giant monster. Being trapped in the depths of the fog.

"Sister Tyene has started eating again," Valentine said slowly. "At this time every day, she will devour herself. Twenty-four hours later, she will regenerate from the soil. There are still twelve people in the garden. The nuns and the twelve priests, they lingered near Aunt Tyene and at certain times entered the small cloister next to the garden - the same place you passed on your daily walk."

Vanna sighed imperceptibly and whispered: "Will they run outside the church?"

"I have ordered the garden to be sealed, but it is okay not to seal it," Valentine said. "Sister Terene never left the garden, even when she was 'alive', and those nuns and priests, they did not Not dangerous - the city is full of shadows more dangerous than them."

"My sword is useless." Vanna sighed.

"If there are prowlers trying to break through the high walls of various shelters, then we still need your force." Valentine shook his head. "There will be chaos, large and small, in the city at any time. Sometimes people suddenly find themselves at home. 'Wake up', sometimes it is blind prowlers who break through the security zone. We have arranged a new 'night watch force' to patrol and guard throughout the city, but there are always times when we cannot take care of it. If you are willing, I think they will very much welcome you as the 'Judge' back to lead them."

The old bishop suddenly paused when he said this, and then added: "Of course, you may need to readjust to your old subordinates. Some of the Night Watchmen have undergone...'changes', which makes them look less Like human beings, in today’s world, having reason and humanity is already a precious thing.”

"I won't care," Fanna laughed and moved her arms slightly, "No matter how you say it, the 'capacity' is higher than the number of people on the Lost Home, isn't it? I'm happy to return to this familiar job. At work - you can help me make arrangements."

"That's good," Valentine also laughed, and the old man nodded, "I will summon the Night Watch troops at the next shift and convey the good news to them. Do you want to answer your questions first during this time? The room is in good condition and is being cleaned all the time. ”

"Okay," Fanna said casually, but then she seemed to think of something again and asked uneasily, "Is there anything I need to pay attention to?"

"Ignore your ramblings about the dresser, it's not a voice of reason, and don't stare at the window for too long, it's prone to growing eyes and nothing else."

"...Frankly speaking, the situation is quite...'mild'."

Valentin shrugged helplessly, and at this moment, a glow emerged from nowhere and suddenly interrupted what he wanted to continue.

The two of them raised their heads in astonishment at the same time, looking for the source of the glow.

There is a cold and pale light in the clouds, which is the light shed from the creation of the world - due to the lowering of the height of the clouds, the "scar" that spans the entire sky is now completely located on the back of the clouds, making it difficult to see clearly from the surface. , only in the brightest gaps in the creation of the world and the thinnest clouds can you occasionally see part of the structure of the crack.

But now, they saw a strange light appearing between the gaps in the clouds.

It was not a cold and pale glow, but a faint orange glow. It was mixed with the original light of the creation of the world, and for a moment it even reminded people of the long-lost...sunshine.

Fanna was a little stunned. She looked up and looked for the direction of the Creation of the World. She finally saw the huge "scar" through a crack in the low-hanging clouds, and the strange orange light that was reminiscent of the sun was striking. It escaped from the edge of the creation of the world.

It looked like... a strong light source was erupting "behind" the Creation of the World. The light source was blocked by the crack in the sky, so only a little residual light escaped from the edge of the crack and diffused dimly in the sky.

Valentine also had the same association instantly. The old bishop looked at the sky blankly with astonishment on his face: "What is that..."

Vanna did not answer the old man, and the next moment, the orange light that diffused from behind the Creation of the World gradually dimmed until it was completely extinguished.

Then after a while, the orange light lit up again and diffused in the sky.

The invisible powerful light source flickered, like a navigation light in the night.

The whole world can see this scene.

Even all dimensions can see this scene.

At the end of the world, at the "border node" where the gods sleep, the dim and false sunlight once dispelled the mist, shining on the palace of Queen Leviathan, the server matrix of Pilot No. 2, the Ash Island of the Fire King, and the tomb of death.

In the deepest part of the deep sea, the uncontrolled and proliferating Pilot No. 1 slowly crawled at the bottom of the deep sea. The huge group of nanomachines almost filled every inch of space under the broken land. Between the countless uncontrolled tentacles, the dim sunlight suddenly dispelled the darkness and shone on the dark red core of Pilot No. 1.

In the far northern ice field of the Infinite Sea, ice sculptures stood quietly beside the huge archive building. The fire bearers were frozen on the ice field. The tallest one among them still looked south before freezing.

The distant and dim "sunlight" flickered. Even after being blocked and weakened by the creation of the world, it still coated those frozen faces with a layer of glittering light, as if it was deeply imprinted in every pair of frozen eyeballs.

This sunlight is poisonous. For the earthly creatures in the Infinite Sea, bathing in such sunlight is no different from being immersed in the whispers of the subspace.

But with the barrier and weakening of the World Creation, its impact on the mortal world has been minimized - even if there is still some "poison", that impact can be ignored.

Moreover, the world itself has been deeply distorted and twisted - in the face of the collapse of all things, the glory of the black sun is not much more serious than the world itself.

So, for the first time, the exiled sun began to shine to its fullest - after such a long exile, after all the descendants and remnants of the sun who had longed for his sunshine but could not get it were eliminated in history, he finally burned brightly in the end of the world.

The sunlight permeated the jump channel, outlining a bright and clear "light path" in the extremely uniform gray-white background.

Duncan felt a slight shake under his feet. Alice was fine-tuning the jump process and began to re-correct the course along the navigation signal released by the black sun.

Duncan narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the light at the end of the channel - there was no obstruction from the World Creation here, and the sunlight came across time and space, which looked even a little dazzling.

"I will light a lighthouse for you. In the night sky, you must sail towards the brightest direction..."

A civilization that created a Dyson sphere may not have developed to the technological level of the "New Hope", but they obviously know how to make their own voices in the universe, at least they can create a signal that is sufficient for starship navigation.

"I see the light, we are sailing in your direction, which should shorten the jump distance of the Lost Homeland," Duncan said to the sunlight. He knew that Black Sun could hear his voice in this way, "How are you now?"

"The burning process, I feel like I am boiling in the flames-it's painful, but it's good," Black Sun's voice trembled in the sunlight, "This is the first time I have really burned in ten thousand years. I thought I would be completely unable to bear it, but... this is good."

"In the new world, you can coexist harmoniously with your own sunlight, and avoid the pain of being burned by yourself," Duncan said with a smile on his face, "There will be A rule allows this to happen."

"... can this be done?"

"Yes, this is a one-time opportunity to customize a new world," Duncan said slowly, "You can even request some value-added services - such as changing your sunlight to pink."

"Aha, that's not necessary, but if it's possible, I do have an extra idea..."

"Oh?"

"Can you arrange a few more planets for me? Gaseous or rocky ones are fine... It might be a very relaxing thing to observe the evolution of life on different planets."

"Okay, I'll make a note - this wish will be realized after Alice's frying pan."

"It would be an honor."