Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 809 Invisible City
Vanna has been traveling on this road for a very long time - so long that she can't even remember when and why she embarked on this seemingly endless journey, so long that she has forgotten where she started and the destination of her journey.

She only knew that the world was desolate. All she saw on the road seemed to be yellow sand all over the sky, lost cities that collapsed and collapsed on the Gobi Desert, and ancient relics buried in the sand. She passed through those ruins filled with a desolate atmosphere, as if she was traveling upstream from a forgotten time. Occasionally, she would stop in those ruins for a while, but would soon put them behind her - when the sun rose the next day, she would forget the specific appearance of those ruins, and only vaguely remember that she had passed by them and saw some broken and collapsed walls.

The wind blew from afar, whistling across the desert, the yellow sand flying, and blowing a sharp and terrifying sound like the howling of a ghost among the boulders. And in that sharp whistling sound, Fanna heard another sound, a sound that she would always hear during this journey:

"Ding... ding... ding..."

It sounded like metal hitting stone, or like some noise in a blacksmith's shop.

Fanna stopped in the middle of the sandy road, squinted her eyes and looked into the distance. She knew that whenever such "ding ding ding" sounds were heard, it meant that there were new ruins or relics nearby.

But she didn't know why this happened or where the sound came from.

A vague silhouette of a building suddenly appeared against the background of yellow sand, just like the scene that had been seen countless times during this journey.

Fanna looked at the abruptly appearing buildings for a while, and after a brief trance, she took a step towards that direction, walking forward against the increasingly chaotic and disorderly wind and sand.

At this moment, a young woman's voice suddenly appeared beside her: "Where are you from?"

Fanna looked in the direction of the sound in astonishment, but could only see flying yellow sand. There was no one in the direction where the sound came from, as if it was just an illusion.

She frowned, feeling that the wind and sand seemed to have even blown into her brain, making her thinking even more unclear. She shook her head and decided to move on.

That voice sounded again from beside him: "Why don't you pay attention to me?"

Along with the voices, one could faintly hear the footsteps of another person walking in the desert - very close to him.

Fanna suddenly stopped again and stared at the place next to her. She still couldn't see the person who was talking, but she seemed to vaguely feel the presence of someone... "atmosphere".

There is an invisible traveler walking with me, trying to talk to me.

Is this normal? Does this phenomenon exist in this world? Is there really an unobservable race living in this world?
Vanna felt her mind was in a trance again, and some absurd and weird associations popped up out of nowhere, but soon these messy thoughts faded from her mind. She hesitated for a moment and said hesitantly: "...I don't remember where I came from."

“Forgot where you came from?” The invisible travel companion spoke again, and his tone sounded a little higher. “Ah, that’s not good. It’s hard to go back if you forget where you came from… But it doesn’t matter. Situations like yours are not uncommon here anyway.”

"Here? Not uncommon?" Vanna looked up in surprise, "Is there anyone else here?"

"Yes, there are a lot," the voice said cheerfully. From the tone and content of the words, "she" seemed to be pointing in a certain direction. "Over there, in that city."

Fanna could not see the movements of her invisible companion, but she instinctively looked up at the silhouette of the buildings vaguely emerging in the wind and sand, and asked with curiosity: "In that city..."

"Well, in that city," the cheerful voice continued, "everyone came here from all directions. Some can still roughly remember where they came from, and some have even forgotten their own names. But it doesn't matter. This is what a journey is like, from a very far place to another very far place. Sometimes you stop for a while along the way, and sometimes you can't go any further when you stop. When you can't go any further, wherever you stop is the end point... Well, that's what my brother told me."

Fanna frowned, and after a brief hesitation, she took another step towards the hazy building complex. She heard another sound of footsteps almost immediately in her ears, and a faint breath following behind her.

"Your brother?" Vanna asked casually, "You have a brother?"

It felt very strange to talk to an invisible travel companion, but for some reason, she gradually felt that this was a natural thing - after all, it was not a bad thing to have one more person to talk to during this long journey.

"Yes, I have a brother, he is six years older than me," the cheerful voice said immediately, "but I haven't seen him for many years. He went to Vetherland to study there, and there has been no news since."

Vanna frowned slightly, as if she had heard a familiar word... Veseland? What was Veseland? A city?

"Are you worried about him?" she asked subconsciously.

"Don't worry," the voice beside me answered, "Many of us haven't received any news from the outside world for a long time, nor have we sent any news to the outside world. There's nothing wrong with that..."

The sound coming from the wind suddenly became distorted, as if the distance suddenly increased, and then there was a chaotic noise. Fanna did not hear clearly what the other party said in the last few words, and then there was silence around her.

She stood there for a few seconds, but she didn't hear her invisible companion speak again. She looked around hesitantly and broke the silence: "Are you still there?"

The only responses she received were the sharp, eerie whistling sounds in the desert and the occasional "ding ding ding" knocking sounds.

The traveling companion seemed to disappear in the wind.

After a while, Vanna shook her head and continued walking towards the distant city.

She trudged for a long time, and finally finished this extremely torturous journey before the sky darkened again. She saw the "city" mentioned by her travel companion. As expected - there was no prosperous city or residents here. What caught her eyes were only ruins in the yellow sand, and buildings that had been destroyed for who knows how many years.

Fanna found a gap in the shattered city wall that was suspected to be the remains of a gate. She confirmed the situation in the ruins of the city through the gap, and then walked into the "city".

However, just as she was about to pass through the "door", a serious and authoritative voice suddenly came from the air: "Stop, stranger - where are you from?"

Vanna was stunned.

There's an invisible guard...guarding the gate here?

She'd dealt with cultists in the sewers, monsters that grew in the darkness, but never anything like this.

She stopped and looked at the empty direction at a loss. After a brief thought, she decided to communicate with the other party in a "normal" way: "I'm... traveling, but I can't remember where I came from."

She still remembered that the invisible travel companion told her that there were many "residents" in this "city" who, like her, had forgotten where they came from. So perhaps her answer would not seem too suspicious here, right?

The "guard" did not speak, as if he was examining and judging something, or perhaps he disappeared in the wind and sand at that moment. Vanna waited patiently for a while, and just when she was about to give up waiting and walk in directly, a familiar and cheerful voice suddenly came from the side -

"Ah, there you are!"

It was the "invisible travel companion" who had suddenly disappeared before.

"I thought you were lost," the voice said happily to Vanna, "There are many forks in the road, especially those small paths in the woods. If you are attracted by the berry bushes on the side of the road and walk into the small path, it may take you a whole day to get out..."

In the woods? On a trail? On a berry bush by the road?
Listening to the chattering voices beside her, Vanna looked up in astonishment at the road she had come from - of course there was nothing there, only sand and stones, so where were the trees and berry bushes?
While she was stunned, the guard's voice reappeared. He was talking to the "invisible travel companion": "Is this your friend?"

"Well, we met on the road," the young woman said immediately, "She came from far away and is new here. She is not familiar with this place yet, so I took her to visit the city."

"...Then you can go in, but don't run around. It's getting dark, and the woods outside the city are not peaceful."

"Hey! Thank you!"

The cheerful voice thanked the guard, then turned to Vanna: "We can go in."

Vanna immediately withdrew her gaze from the desert outside the city and nodded in the direction of the voice: "Okay."

She entered this "bustling city" and walked on a wide and desolate avenue facing the city gate - the yellow sand buried the ruins on both sides of the road, and broken stone slabs were scattered on the ground in a disorderly manner. Occasionally, she would hear some vague sounds, which seemed to be vendors hawking their wares, passers-by talking, and the sound of wheels rolling over the road, but those vague sounds would almost immediately dissipate in the wind, and she would not even have time to hear anything clearly.

"How is it? It's very prosperous here, right?" The young and lively voice said beside Vanna, as if pointing at the shops on the roadside and the hustle and bustle of the road. "I have lived here for many years. This city is the most prosperous place in the entire continent!"

...The mainland? What is that?
Fanna felt dazed, as if some knowledge that did not belong to "common sense" suddenly broke into her cognition and wanted to get into her brain.

But the next second, her firm will dispelled this trance.

The knowledge didn't sink in.

(End of this chapter)