Deep Sea Embers

"This is your future room. The basic daily necessities are all available. If you need anything else, you can tell Alice, and she will arrange it for you if you don't forget.

"Next door is a small utility room, which you can also use freely. You can use it for prayer or meditation. You are a devout believer, so there should be a need for this.

"Don't go to the lower deck, don't be curious about those locked cabins, there will occasionally be strange creaking sounds or the sound of ropes rubbing against the floor in the depths of this ship, don't make a fuss, just leave it alone, if something is really wrong, I will Will handle it personally.

"When living on board, keep the crew rules in mind.

"Anything else to ask?"

Fan Na stood at the door of the room assigned to her, looking at the simple and normal furniture in the cabin, still feeling a little dazed.

Ordinary beds, ordinary tables and chairs, and ordinary cabinets, everything is clean, no suspicious shadows can be seen, no blood stains hidden in the corners of the room, and no writing on the ceiling or floor Blasphemy symbols - if you don't consider that this place is located inside the Lost Home, then this is just an ordinary cabin.

But if you have to say it, there is indeed something unusual here.

There is a special set of "Crew Rules" on the ship. There are "secret places" that are forbidden to enter deep in the cabin. The whole ship is alive, and even the ropes and buckets on the deck will often transmit disturbing movements—— These unusual details more or less conformed to her imagination of the Lost Country.

But compared to all of her imagination, these strange things are actually so gentle that they are harmless to humans and animals.

"...I've remembered it all," Fanna nodded slowly, and said to Duncan who personally sent herself to the room, "There are no more questions for the time being."

"Very good," Duncan said lightly, "Pack your luggage now, and dinner is about to begin—you don't have to participate in the deck barbecue after dinner if you're not interested, it's just Shirley and Nina's nonsense, but for dinner you To participate, it is a necessary process for new members to join."

"yes."

Fan Na silently put away her luggage, and after a little hesitation, she temporarily left the huge heavy two-handed sword in the room.

Anyway, carrying a two-handed greatsword to a restaurant is too weird.

When she followed Duncan to the restaurant, she was silent all the way.

But her preoccupied appearance couldn't hide from Duncan's eyes.

"If you want to ask anything, you can ask anytime." Duncan slowed down his pace and looked at Fanna who was following him slightly. Things on your mind—the uneasiness and confusion in your heart will be magnified by the boundless sea, and you never know when you will become an uninvited guest."

Fan Na's heart trembled, she hesitated for a moment, and finally said: "Actually, it's nothing, it's just that the development of the matter is different from what I imagined, and I'm a little... at a loss."

"Oh, understandable, I can even roughly guess what the Lost Homeland you imagined before," Duncan said casually, "The first day is a lively welcome party rather than a dark and bloody sacrificial ceremony. Incredible, right?"

"It's not as exaggerated as... the sacrificial ceremony, but the scene I imagined at the beginning is indeed not as peaceful as it is now." Fan Na seemed to smile a little, but she has relaxed a little now anyway.

"That's one of the reasons why your Pope asked you to come to this ship," Duncan said slowly. "She needs to know what the real Lost Home looks like, and I... also need you as a bridge to rebuild and connections between civilized worlds."

The restaurant has arrived.

Under the light of the shaking whale oil lamp, the long table was already covered with dishes, and the steaming fish soup was placed in the most eye-catching place of the whole table. Creaking sounds came from the depths of the cabin, like the song that this ancient expedition ship hummed when night fell.

Fan Na came to her vacant seat and looked at the delicious food on the table in front of her, emitting bursts of aroma under the warm light.

Alice got up and filled a bowl of steaming soup, and placed it in front of the new crew members.

"Please drink." The lady doll said politely.

Fan Na looked at the soup bowl in front of her. During the previous conversation with Morris, she already knew the "truth" of this special food, and also knew the unique symbolic meaning of this meal. She felt a slight trance in front of her eyes, but the trance disappeared in an instant.

"This is my fate?" She couldn't help muttering.

"No," Alice shook her head with a simple and serious expression, "This is your fish soup."

Fan Na was dumbfounded, and then a smile surfaced on the corner of her mouth.

It's quite fragrant.

...

In the Puland City-State Cathedral, Helena was standing quietly in front of the statue of the Storm Goddess, watching the burning candles at the feet of the statue.

Those candlesticks with intricate and exquisite decorative patterns were burning quietly, but the flames at their tops gradually rose up in Helena's vision, and then shook, split, spread, and spread.

In the blink of an eye, the church disappeared, the icon disappeared, and the candlesticks also disappeared. In Helena's field of vision, there were only countless flames—candles, big or small, far or near, high or low. Fire filled her surroundings, jumping and burning in a dark and chaotic boundless space, like stars.

Each cluster of flames represents a saint, representing the reliance of the Deep Sea Church since its heyday.

Helena raised her head, and the countless flames in her field of vision also moved rapidly. A large number of flames floated into the distance, and only a cluster of bright candles came to her, burning quietly in the darkness.

The pope watched the flames, patiently waiting.

In her line of sight, the flame finally began to shake gradually, and the shaking became bigger and bigger, and then at a certain moment, it suddenly burned violently, the flame was raised several times higher, and a dark green light was shining in the firelight. skyrocketed.

The whole process only lasted two or three seconds.

The flames returned to calm, emitting a faint green color, burning brightly and silently in the darkness.

"...It's really completely transformed." Helena couldn't help muttering softly, and then raised her hand subconsciously, as if she wanted to touch the cluster of quietly burning flames with her fingertips.

But she stopped at the last step.

The countless candlelights in the darkness faded instantly, and the scene in the church returned to its original state.

Helena raised her head and looked at the veiled statue of the goddess, quietly overlooking the church.

Light and shadow floated slightly on the surface of the holy image, and the hard shell carved out of rock seemed to gain elasticity like a living thing. Under the thick veil, a pale and illusory aura escaped little by little.

The icon lowered its head, and translucent, spirit-like tentacles condensed from the pale, illusory smoke, meandering out from the edge of the veil, and slowly falling in front of Helena.

The tentacles curled up and down, waiting for Helena to speak.

"Your courier has been on board and was completely transformed two minutes ago, and now she is part of the Lost Home," Helena said calmly and respectfully, looking at the tentacles, "but as before, she Still retaining humanity and sanity, and maintaining a spiritual connection with the community of believers."

The tentacles swayed slightly, and there was a low and weird rustling sound, mixed with the sound of gentle waves.

"Yes, I will pay attention to her condition from time to time," Helena said, "but if there is something really wrong with her spirit...for example, showing signs of being corroded by the subspace, then..."

Two illusory tentacles swung more widely, and the weird rustling sound was mixed with a series of grunts that humans couldn't make and recognize.

"I understand," Helena exhaled softly, lowered her head and said, "I will 'pull' her back as much as possible, and if the matter is really irreparable, I will try my best to let her come back with a human attitude." Return to your country."

The tentacles swayed gently, whispering soothingly, and then these illusory limbs turned into pale and thin mist again, rising into the air little by little.

The mist has returned to the goddess's veil, and the icon is also moving a little bit, returning to the previous appearance of calmly overlooking the world.

...

As the night fell, the cold brilliance of the creation of the world was already hanging high in the night sky.

Ice floes occupy the surface of the sea, and there are dangerous sharp ice fronts lurking in the sparkling waves. The steel battleship with a towering bow splits the waves during the night voyage, and advances headlong in the boundless sea of ​​ice floes.

The broken ice, big and small, seemed to capture the majesty of this steel battleship. Before the Sea Mist approached, it actively retreated to the sides. Under the cold light of the world's creation, the sea seemed to have broken a small path, and the giant steel Beasts walk the paths.

Tirian stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the dark and cold sea in the distance, frowning tightly.

"We have entered the cold sea, Captain," the voice of the first mate Aiden came through the night wind, "We will probably be back to the home port by this time tomorrow."

Tirian didn't look back: "Is there any news from Frost?"

"The spies reported that the Frost authorities transferred the submersible to Dagger Island near the city-state. There is an old ocean observation station there, which is now temporarily used as a research facility for the 'Eighth No. 3 Submersible'," Aiden said. Replied, "They don't appear to have opened the hatch of the submersible - perhaps out of caution, or perhaps awaiting higher orders."

"Well, at least those bastards still have the most basic caution." Tirian exhaled lightly, but his brows did not relax at all. "Aside from that, is there any new news?"

"The Frost City is still very calm for the time being. The authorities seem to have blocked the news about the submersible—in fact, it doesn't matter whether they block it or not. Few people know about the submersible plan half a century ago," Aiden said. Shaking his head, "Compared to this, another matter seems to have nothing to do with the submersible, but it seems to be worthy of attention."

"another thing?"

"Yes, rumors of...the return of the dead."