Deep Sea Embers

Fanna woke up from a weird and chaotic dream, and found that the night was still dark outside the window—the cold and pale light of the creation of the world shone on the window sill depicting the deep sea runes, appearing peaceful and quiet.

However, the scene in the weird dream was still clearly reflected in her mind——

A ship, a big ship burning with green ghost flames, sailed from the boundary line between the sea and the sky, and ran over the entire Puland city-state like a crushing mountain. In the ghost flames, there were countless Shouts and desolate songs roared in unison, clamoring as if to overturn the whole world.

And at the same time as the giant ship descended, she saw a scorching sun rising from the depths of the city-state of Purand—not the well-known sun bound by ancient runes, but the sun as described by those sun believers. A burning celestial body like the "ancient sun" rose from the depths of the city-state, the flames melted the earth, and all the people flowed on the streets like wax figures.

The cathedral of the Church of the Deep Sea stood quietly in the center of the purgatory of the melting city of living fire. She prayed to the cathedral in her dreams, hoping to get the guidance of the goddess of the storm, but the cathedral only heard noisy and meaningless bells, No guidance came...

Fan Na sat up from the bed and came to the window in her pajamas. She glanced at the still peaceful city outside and the "creation of the world" in the sky, but the irritability in her heart boiled more and more.

After a while, the young judge looked back at the city. She came to the dresser near the bed and opened a drawer——

There is a dagger in the drawer of the dressing table. It is a curved ritual dagger. The rune symbolizing the Deep Sea Church shimmers at the base of the blade of the dagger, as if it is being stimulated by an inexplicable force to "resonate".

Fanna's gaze stayed on those flashing runes for several seconds before she cut a wound on her palm with the blade. As the blood oozed out, she placed her hand across her chest and whispered the words of the Storm Goddess. Name, in an attempt to seek guidance from the gods.

However, for some reason, she only heard some illusory waves roaring, and the "spiritual induction" state that she could enter very easily in the past has not moved today.

It was as if an invisible veil suddenly enveloped her, blocking the connection between her and the storm goddess Gemona.

Fan Na frowned a little bit.

The connection between believers and gods is disturbed. This situation is very rare, but it is not unimaginable-the mapping relationship between the subspace and the real world is difficult and complicated, and it is impossible to understand with mortal wisdom. There will also be temporary changes in strength and weakness due to the influence of the subspace, the deep sea, and the spiritual world. Coupled with the eternal turbulent disputes between the gods and the gods, and between the gods and the ancient gods, some believers It is also possible to suddenly lose the voice of the god in extremely rare cases.

But Gamona, Goddess of Storms... it shouldn't be like this.

The boundless sea surrounds mortal civilization. The power of the Storm Goddess penetrates all dimensions and affects the entire reality. All gods may lose contact with the real world. Storm Goddess... impossible.

This is also one of the reasons why the Church of the Deep Sea can become the most powerful church in the boundless sea.

The problem lies in yourself?

Naturally, Fan Na began to doubt her own state, but when she looked at her palm, she saw that the wound she just made had begun to heal quickly.

The blessing from the goddess is still there, and there is no delay in taking effect.

Vanna once again recalled the noisy and weird nightmare before, and the ominous omens she had seen in the past many days.

There must be a connection between all of this.

A ghost ship burning with green flames...a ghost ship...

Fan Na quickly recalled and compared the mystic knowledge she had mastered in her mind, and then her eyes suddenly became serious.

She is not an expert in the field of navigation, and she is rarely exposed to the absurd and strange stories circulated among superstitious sailors, but even in the orthodox church classics, there is a ghost ship that occupies a special position.

It was an ominous ship returning from the Warp, and its captain was Duncan, the terrifying captain who caused the Isle of Vitherland to be swallowed by the frontier collapse a century ago.

Vanna suddenly got up from behind the dressing table, but then she remembered—it was late at night, and the archives of the cathedral, like any other library, were closed at night.

And from a safety point of view, it is best for her not to talk about the content related to this dream with anyone within a few hours after the "dream of omen" has just ended-if this dream really points to that "Captain Duncan", then he is very It is possible to reversely perceive what mortals are talking about themselves through the connection established in this dream.

After all, it was a... "ghost" capable of returning from the Warp.

The safest way to do it right now is to wait patiently until the sun regains its dominant position in the world, and until the connection established by the dream gradually dissipates, and then go to the archives to look up relevant information, or consult with the archbishop in the church about these ominous things. omen.

In any case, if these omen dreams really pointed to the "Captain Duncan" and reminded her that the legendary ship Lost Land was stalking Purand, then as the guardian of the city-state, she must Stop that terrifying ghost captain from landing at all costs...

...

A tall, thin, black figure quickly walked across the deserted downtown streets, and the slender figure cast a flashing silhouette under the gas lamp.

A completely strange city, a completely strange building, plausible memories in my mind, and a civilian neighborhood that seems deserted and weird during the curfew time.

However, Duncan walked in such a back alley, but he was in a particularly happy mood.

He succeeded—not only successfully carried out the second spirit world walk, but also successfully controlled a body to the ground, and came to the surface of the city-state of Purand.

He is in contact with the civilized society of this world, and he is observing the architecture and technology of this era with his own eyes.

Moreover, he is still using a complete body—neither open-minded nor open-minded. This body, which looks normal from the outside, can make his next actions very convenient.

Frankly speaking, the health of this body is actually not very good. Even in the state of walking in the spirit world, Duncan can ignore most of the physical problems, and Duncan can clearly feel the sub-health state of this body, but he No complaints about it, even taken for granted.

After all, judging from these two experiences, walking in the spirit world occupies corpses that have died for a certain period of time—but can anything that is alive and kicking be a corpse?

A distant barking of a dog came from the end of the alley, and Duncan cautiously slowed down, hiding himself in the shadows between the buildings.

He didn't know if it was a patrol dog led by church guards who watched the night, but there was nothing wrong with being cautious.

Above the nearby buildings, there are huge pipe structures spanning the low houses. The light cast by the "pale scar" casts intermittent light and shadow between those pipes. Occasionally, steam leaks from the valves of some pipes. A hazy mist formed in the night.

The barking of the dogs went away.

Duncan came out from his hiding place, observed the movement on the street left and right, and casually comforted the pigeon Ay who was moving around on his shoulder, and then walked across the street according to his memory.

Between a row of low two-story or three-story buildings, there is an old door with a dirty sign hanging above the door, and the walls on both sides are dusty and lack of care The window of the store - this is a shop, the scale does not look small, but it is obviously lack of care, and the business is bleak.

That's where the fragments of memory in his mind directed Duncan to come.

He came to the old door and looked up at the sign on the door. A row of letters could be discerned in the darkness:

"Ron's Antiques," Duncan muttered under his breath, "is a concise name..."

After speaking, he began to search at the door. Since the memory in his mind was not very clear, he searched for a long time before finding the spare key from a hidden hook under the window sill.

The original owner of the body did not carry the keys or any items that would identify him or find the antique shop, which seems to be a prudence of a veteran cultist - but for a person who can For the memory-capturing ghost captain, these superficial cautions mean nothing.

Duncan opened the door of Ron's antique shop, stepped in and quickly closed the door.

The wooden door slammed, but the sound did not spread too far in the night. The signboard hanging above the gate was slightly tilted in the vibration, and the letters on the signboard squirmed in the pale and cold night. In the blink of an eye, the new words floating on the wooden board——

"Duncan Antiques".