Deep Sea Embers

Nina was very happy, because it had been a long time since she had a normal meal with Uncle Duncan and exchanged ideas about what happened in school, let alone seeing a smile on Uncle Duncan's face.

This reminded her of the past, the time when her uncle was not sick - since she lost her parents at the age of six, this father-like man became her only relative in this world, but since four years ago, that man The disease that even the doctors couldn't figure out the cause turned my uncle into another look. During this period of time... To be honest, it was very difficult.

Uncle is still supporting her to go to school and maintain her most basic life, but Nina can feel that all the colors about "future" have gradually faded from this familiar and friendly shop, dissipated in those spirits , pills, and those suspicious "friends" who deal with uncles in the gloomy and depressing gatherings.

She no longer expects to return her life to the way it was a few years ago, but even if the situation improves a little bit, she is very happy.

Duncan was also very happy, because he finally got access to more information about this world, and finally touched the historical context of this world—even if it was only a part of it, it gave him a kind of pleasure to push through the clouds.

The completely lost prehistoric "Era of Order", the "Great Annihilation" event that reshaped the order of all things, the deep-sea age that continues to this day, and the anomalies and visions all over the world... These things that he didn't know at all, or only half-understood, At this moment, there is finally a clearer outline.

After breakfast was over, Nina got up to clean up the tableware. She was quick in her hands and feet, and it could be seen that she often did these housework on weekdays—no doubt, she was also cleaning up the bedroom upstairs.

A guy who is seriously ill, has a decadent life and devotes most of his energy and enthusiasm to the cause of a cult is obviously not going to do these things.

But seeing the busy girl in front of him, Duncan couldn't hold back in the end. He got up and took the big tray in Nina's hand: "Let me carry it for you—see you struggling to go upstairs."

Nina looked at Duncan in surprise. She was about to say something more, but the latter was already striding towards the stairs.

The girl could only hurriedly follow, reminding her while following: "Uncle, be careful, the doctor said that your condition is not stable yet..."

"Doctor...Doctor Albert?" Duncan didn't look back, and searched for corresponding impressions in the memory fragments as he went upstairs, but there were only a few flashing fragments, "It doesn't matter, anyway, he still doesn't even know the cause of the disease. I couldn’t figure it out, and the most effective medicine prescribed was painkillers.”

"...Then you should listen to the doctor's advice," Nina followed Duncan up to the second floor, muttering as she walked towards the kitchen, "at least he knows how to keep healthy..."

In the middle of Nina's words, a sound of flapping wings suddenly interrupted her movements.

She and Duncan looked in the direction of the sound at the same time, and saw a shadow flashing through the crack of the half-hidden master bedroom door.

"Uncle Duncan, something flashed past your room!" Nina said in surprise, and then she stepped forward and grabbed the doorknob, "Could it be the cat next door..."

"Hey, don't..."

Duncan only had time to stop him for a while, and saw that Nina had already pushed open the half-hidden door, and the pigeon hiding in the room appeared in front of the two of them.

Ai Yi was standing on the top of the cabinet, with one paw holding French fries and stuffing it into his mouth. The sudden opening of the door made the whole pigeon stand still, and it stood there with one paw stuffing French fries. , the two mung bean eyes stared blankly at Nina and the wall on the other side.

Then it saw Duncan, flapped its wings twice, and made a loud noise: "Ah... coo?"

The corners of Duncan's eyes jumped, and he saw that the windows not far away were wide open, which was obviously Ay's escape route - and in the distance directly facing the windows, a pier could be vaguely seen bathed in sunlight.

The pigeon went to the pier to order some chips and came back...

"Pigeon?" Nina finally came to her senses at this moment, she looked at Ai on the cabinet in surprise, "Uncle Duncan! There is a pigeon in your room!"

"I see it," Duncan said blankly, "I don't recognize it."

Ai immediately threw the French fries and flew over, landed on Duncan's shoulder and shook his head.

"Well, it flew in this morning," Duncan sighed. "It may be a pigeon raised by others, but its brain is not very smart. I gave it something to eat and it didn't leave."

Ay listened, cooing loudly.

If there were no outsiders present and Duncan gave the order before, it must have started to shout "ah yes yes yes" at this time.

Nina didn't doubt her uncle's words at all, she just looked at the pigeon with bright eyes, then carefully approached, and asked Duncan while observing the pigeon's reaction: "Then...do you want to keep it?" ? Can I raise it?"

The girl's thoughts were all written on her face, Ai in her eyes was obviously just a beautiful and cute white pigeon, Ai tilted her head to look at Duncan, and made a cooing sound of doubt in her throat.

Duncan suddenly felt that the bird understood better when it was silent than when it was speaking...

After a while, he pretended to hesitate before nodding his head: "Yes—but only if the pigeon is willing to stay, it might fly away at any time, so don't complain then."

Nina immediately beamed with joy: "Great! I knew Uncle Duncan that you are actually a reasonable person!"

...

In the central prayer room of the Deep Sea Cathedral, the city-state bishop Valentine, wearing a black-and-gold-patterned priest's robe, stood solemnly in front of the icon of the Storm Goddess.

He is tall and thin, with thinning white hair and eyes as calm as deep water.

The candelabra in the prayer room is burning quietly, and the holy flame illuminates the room. The icon of Gomona lives on the platform. The goddess has no face, her head is covered with black veil, and her dress depicts many waves The long corrugated skirt hangs from her body to the edge of the platform—even though it is only a stone statue, the power of divinity is still manifested here. The whole statue exudes a strong sense of presence, as long as you stand around , you can feel a vague feeling of being watched and sheltered.

This feeling of being watched and sheltered is real, and it is under this watch and shelter that Fanna, who came to discuss matters with the bishop, can confidently and boldly speak out what she saw in the dream.

"...If what you see in the dream is good, it is indeed the Lost Country."

The bishop of the city-state, Valentine, turned around and looked at the young judge who came to find him early in the morning—even though from the point of view of the priesthood of the church, the judge in charge of military force and the bishop of the city-state in charge of ceremonies are equal. But when it comes to the study and judgment of supernatural events, it is normal for judges to seek advice from the bishop or even seek guidance.

"Is that really the Lost Home?" Even though she already had the answer in her heart, Fan Na couldn't help opening her eyes wide after hearing the bishop's judgment, "I thought..."

"Do you think that ship is just a legend now, just like the legends of all kinds of ghost ships that those nervous sailors brag about in taverns?" Valentine knew what Fan Na wanted to say. The old man shook his head and said in a deep tone, "The existence of the Lost Country is a fact recognized by all city-states and churches. It is not a legend, but something that can be found in church files."

"I know this. The Lost Homeland did exist. In the city-state archives of Plante, some of the construction drawings and start-up files of the ship more than a century ago can be found, but all these verifiable materials It's all limited to the time when the Lost Home is still a ship sailing in the real world, and only when Captain Duncan is still a human..."

Fanna spoke with a serious tone. She looked at the icon behind the bishop, and her expression became more cautious when she mentioned certain words.

"The key point is that the ship was clearly recorded as falling into the warp... A century ago, thousands of fugitives from the Thirteen Isles of Viserand witnessed with their own eyes that the ship was destroyed by the border along with their homeland. Collapsed and swallowed, and fell straight into the shadow of the subspace, and in the decades since then, although there have been eyewitness reports that the Lost Homeland reappeared in the real world, there is no real evidence, and quite a few scholars Everyone has doubts about the ship's 'return'..."

While talking, the young judge looked at the old man in front of him.

"Is it really possible for things swallowed by the subspace to reappear in the real world?"

"...So far, nothing other than the Lost Home has returned to reality after falling into subspace. Even for the Lost Home, there are only eyewitness reports after the fact. Scholars from all walks of life have doubts about the return of that ship. , This is indeed a fact, but this is not the point..." The old man said, his eyes suddenly fell on Fan Na, with a strange seriousness on his face, "The point is, judge, are you afraid of something? "