Deep Sea Embers.

Chapter 815 Bonfire
When Duncan woke up, the overflowing starlight began to quickly gather, and the desert that was almost soaked in starlight quickly returned to its original state, and Tarek also breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, this "eternally burning flame" turned around and glanced at Vanna who was not far away.

As the starlight filled the air, Vanna was hardly affected - in fact, she didn't even seem to notice the spreading starlight. She was just lost in thought like Duncan, and only at this moment did she raise her head and look around.

Some lavender starlight diffused on the edges of her silver-white hair, as if the starlight had existed for a long time and only appeared at this moment under some kind of "irradiation".

"You have been gradually changed by the power of the Fire Usurper and have begun to become an extension of his power," Tarekin said, breaking the silence and nodding slightly to Vanna. "This confirms my judgment - the essence of the Fire Usurper is not the flames, but the things hidden under the flames."

At this moment, Vanna finally began to understand what the captain and the "ancient god" in front of her were discussing. Her expression changed several times, and she looked thoughtful.

"So strictly speaking, you have never set foot in this world, Fire Usurper," Tarekin once again looked at Duncan, "You have been observing everything in the boundless sea through a veil. Only occasionally, you can use your own eyes to perceive its fleeting 'real side'. The 'end of the flame' you mentioned - I can think of what it is - is caused by this limitation.

"Navigator One's 'takeover' is based on the premise that you must continue the shelter. Continuing the shelter means that you must maintain your 'cognition' of the shelter's current state. To maintain your knowledge of the shelter's current state... you must be 'Duncan'."

Tarekin paused briefly here, as if giving Duncan time to think, and then continued in a low voice: "Because the Fire Usurper's gaze will destroy this world - its appearance depends on your observations.

"And the reverse is also true. When you want to execute the 'first step', you must be the Fire Usurper - because the gaze of 'Captain Duncan' will cause the sanctuary to continue in flames, thus ushering in the 'end of flame'. This has nothing to do with your subjective will, and it may be the only thing in this world that you cannot control."

The Fire Usurper's gaze will destroy this world...

Duncan didn't say anything. He was thinking about what Tarekin said, about the plan of Pilot One and his own plan, and about...

In the eyes of "Duncan" and "Zhou Ming", the world appears differently.

"I understand." After a long time, Duncan - he still needs to be "Duncan" now - finally exhaled softly, raised his head and met Tarek's gaze, "Thank you for your reminder, this is indeed crucial."

"That's good." A smile appeared on Tarekin's face, and then the old and hunched giant stretched out his hands to support his body and the ground beside him, gradually exerting strength, and slowly stood up from the yellow sand in a difficult but firm posture.

The sand fell from his body, like the passing years gone with the wind. He stood in the desert under the night sky, looking up into the distance.

After a while, he sighed softly: "There is almost nothing left..."

"What was this place like originally?" Fanna couldn't help but ask after hearing the other party's sigh.

"Originally? Originally, it wasn't a prosperous place, because from the very beginning, the 'history' in the shelter was just an illusion built in the long river of time. It was my 'sculptures' and the Fire Bearers' constant ritual recording, inheritance and repair that made the real world outside seem to have been 'developing and continuing normally along the time'. But here... this place has never been prosperous.

“But at least, it wasn’t a desert at that time—in that endless expanse of dry land, there were extremely rare rivers and oases dotted around, because even in the illusory flow of time, there were reflections of things that really happened and were truly worth recording.

"At that time, there were even cities on this land, and intelligent tribes lived beside oases. Those were reflections of the real world, reflected in this dreamland carved by me. And in their memories... the world was once prosperous, and it has always been prosperous."

The old giant bent down, grabbed a handful of sand from the ground, and watched them gradually fall through his fingers and flow away in the cold night wind.

"Then, I encountered 'rot'. More and more things disappeared in the real world, and the history of the shelter became riddled with holes. Every time the shelter 'adjusted itself', more and more 'gangrene' appeared in the time stream. The dry land was gradually covered by yellow sand, and the memories and sounds of the past echoed in the ruins, and finally became what you see before your eyes."

Fanna couldn't help but think of that city, the sounds she heard and the relics she saw when she was trekking in this endless sea of ​​sand.

And then, she suddenly thought of something else: she thought of some unorthodox "theories" and "academic conjectures" that she had seen in the archives of the cathedral when she was still in Pland - the two sides of the world.

Some scholars believe that the whole world is a two-sided coin - in a certain dimension, there is a "dry land" where the sea and land are completely mirror images. There is an endless dry land, and extremely rare rivers and oases dot the drought. There is even an intelligent civilization in that dry land, and they are a reflection of everything in reality...

Fanna opened her eyes wide, and she couldn't help but look into the distance, looking at the endless sea of ​​sand, imagining the ruins of cities of all sizes dotted in the sea of ​​sand...

This is the place that scholars have speculated is a reflection of the world.

It turns out that it really exists - at the end of the world, in the decaying and disintegrating memory of a decaying ancient god.

Vanna raised her head suddenly, as if she wanted to say something to Tarekin, but just as she was about to open her mouth, a strong wind suddenly swept up the yellow sand.

The wind and sand were like a curtain rising from the sky and earth, closing in around her and the captain, and then disappearing in the blink of an eye - the wind stopped, and the giant standing hunched over in the desert had disappeared from her sight.

The chaotic light from the sky shines through the clouds and thick fog, illuminating the small island covered with ashes. A breeze blows from nowhere, and a layer of fine and pale ash dances in the wind, floating around like a veil.

Fanna woke up from her daze, looked into the distance, and saw only endless ashes in front of her. Sparse columns of smoke rose from the distance, slanting up into the sky.

Not far from her was a bonfire that seemed to be about to go out.

Tarekin was sitting there - skinny, hunched, almost a pile of dried-up bones. He was the bonfire itself, his flesh and bones were the firewood for the bonfire. Tiny and weak flames ignited between his charred bones and remaining flesh, trembling gently in the breeze.

The giant lowered his head and sat there motionless. There seemed to be something piled beside him, but now there were only some undulating, shapeless ashes. In his hand, he was still holding a black stone piece like a chisel - it seemed that he was still carving something seriously until he could no longer move.

Vanna slowly walked to the dying fire, raised her head, and looked at the giant's face for a long and silent moment.

In a trance, she seemed to hear that familiar voice again——

Ding…ding ding…

Duncan walked over and gently placed his hand on Vanna's shoulder.

"We should go," he whispered, "before the fire here is completely extinguished."

Vanna nodded slightly.

Duncan took another step forward and pointed his finger at the remaining flame on Tarekin's body.

Silently, the flames were quietly dyed with a layer of dark green, and then the flames leaped, and gorgeous starlight appeared in the flames, flickering slowly like breathing.

In the vague perception created by the flames, he whispered in his heart: "See you in the new world."

……

In the eternal night, a huge fleet is sailing towards the north.

The night wind blew across the calm sea, bringing with it the coldness peculiar to the cold northern sea, which seemed to freeze people's hearts and lungs gradually. The pale and cold light of the Creation of the World illuminated the entire world. The large and small ice floes floating on the dark mirror-like sea reflected the light of the Creation of the World. Under the night sky, they were like hideous and pale ghosts, moving slowly but actually quickly outside the ship's side.

Even the huge and sacred bonfire could not dispel the coldness that enveloped the entire sea. Frame stood next to the huge fire in the center of the church ark. For a moment, he even felt that the blazing flames in front of him seemed to have suddenly lost their temperature. What came to his face was no longer the heat of the fire, but an endless emptiness, sharp and biting cold.

The sound of footsteps coming from the side woke up the Firebringer Pope who was meditating with his eyes closed. Frame looked in the direction of the sound and saw a priestess wearing a black dress with fire patterns and a veil walking towards him, bowing her head to him beside the big fire.

"Your Holiness, we have crossed the sea area around Frost and have just received a signal from a ship of the Deep Sea Church. They will meet up with us in half an hour and deliver the 'cargo'."

"Well," Frame responded, "...is the archive ready?"

"It's ready for storage," the tall Sen'jin priestess replied, "The storage areas have been readjusted to make room for the new documents."

Frame nodded silently.

"In addition, the Frost City-State just sent a message," the priestess continued, "Archon Tirian sent us greetings. The original text is as follows -

"With all the best wishes in the world, I pay tribute to the recorders and inheritors. Please move forward with peace of mind. All actions of survival are meaningful. In addition: 'they' have crossed the node of fire and will go to the last stop."

(End of this chapter)