Deep Sea Embers

Nina went back to her room to sleep.

In this world, most people go to bed early and get up early - the time after the sun recedes is dangerous. The dim light of the World Creation will cause the distortion of the entire world to reach its peak. Even if the city is protected by lights, people must be cautious. The ground faced night.

There is no way to go out to gather, and there are not many means of entertainment. Although reading books at night is not as dangerous as reading at sea, it can easily lead to mental exhaustion, auditory and visual hallucinations, and occasionally attract unnecessary prying eyes in the night. , so all things considered, the safest way is to go to bed early and wait for the sun to rise the next day.

Duncan didn't feel sleepy at all.

He turned off the lights in the room and stood near the window with his shirt on, casually admiring the night view of the city of Purland under the night sky while recalling his conversation with Nina after dinner.

Nina remembers a fire, and the remaining memory of his body also contains a fire - in the fire, "he" took a six-year-old girl to escape from a collapsed and burning building, and the distant streets were full of fire. Crazy crowds and diffuse fog.

However, only the two of them remembered the fire - Nina once mentioned these things to other adults, but they were regarded as "the confused memory of a child after being frightened." The newspaper eleven years ago also clearly recorded the "truth" : At that time, there was only one factory leak that caused group hallucinations at the junction of Puland Lower City and Cross Street District, and there was no record of any fire.

Duncan frowned slightly. Another doubt in this matter was "himself".

According to Nina, "Uncle Duncan" actually didn't remember the fire. She was the only one who remembered it. She even mentioned it to Uncle Duncan (although it should have been "Ron" at that time) when she was a child. about the fire, and Uncle Duncan was one of the adults who thought she "remembered things wrong after being frightened".

But now, the scene of the fire appeared in Duncan's memory - it was the deepest memory left in the mind of the original owner of this body.

What's the problem? Why in Nina's memory, her uncle did not remember the fire at all, but Duncan found the corresponding scene deep in the memory of this body? Has Nina's uncle been lying? Or has this memory been sealed until a ghost captain took over the body, and the deepest memories surfaced?

Duncan tapped the window lattice unconsciously with his fingers, silently sorting out the timeline in his mind.

He integrated the information he got from the Sun Cultists:

Eleven years ago, fragments of the sun appeared for the first time in the city-state of Pland, and the extraordinary phenomena caused by the fragments may affect a large area.

Also eleven years ago, Nina became an orphan. In her and Duncan's memories, there was a fire that happened in the lower city - but except for them, no one remembered the fire, nor any Evidence that a fire occurred.

Since then, the sun fragments have been dormant in the city-state, without any abnormal movement. The only record left of a certain incident that year is the "Cross Block Factory Leak Incident".

For several years, Nina lived with her only relative.

Four years ago, the followers of the Sun God in the city-state of Purander tried to awaken the sleeping sun fragments in advance and held a dangerous sacrificial ceremony. However, the ceremony failed and was destroyed by the newly promoted trainee judge. Vanna led the team to exterminate, and the power of the cult suffered a heavy blow. After the massive purge campaign, the Church of the Sun God was expelled from the city-state.

But even though the ritual at that time did not proceed to the final step, the "awakening" attempts of the cultists may have had a certain impact, and the sun fragments began to gradually escape from their slumber after that.

It was also around that time that Nina's "uncle", who depended on each other for life, contracted a strange disease and gradually degenerated under the torture of the disease. He finally accepted the temptation of the remaining Sun Cultists in the city and became a cult minion.

Not long before the time expired, news of the Sun Fragment activity began to attract Sun cultists to regroup in the city. The cultists who had been dormant for four years re-held the sacrificial ceremony. What happened next... was Duncan's intervention.

Throughout the timeline, many things seem to be vaguely connected, but they all lack key evidence.

The most suspicious thing is what extraordinary phenomena were caused by the sun fragments eleven years ago. Did that fire exist?

The city-state authorities erased the truth of the accident and erased the traces of the fire? And then out of the interest of maintaining order, announced the whole thing to the public as a collective hallucination caused by a factory leak?

But that doesn’t explain why the fire was completely absent from many people’s memories—unless the authorities also went to great lengths to reconstruct the memories of everyone involved.

And there is another point - in this world, anomalies and visions are open to the public. Even children know the existence and dangers of extraordinary things. The authorities are also aware of this and have always adhered to the principle of "announcement of dangers in advance." The city should be governed with the policy of ensuring that citizens have the common sense to protect themselves. If it was really just a fire caused by extraordinary power... then why did it have to be hidden?

Unless... there is a bigger problem behind the fire, so that even just the disclosure of the news will cause some dangerous factors to spread out of control.

Duncan suddenly frowned.

Or there is another possibility.

Paranormal phenomena have strange characteristics. In many cases, the harm they cause is not only limited to the physical level, but can even distort people's cognition, so much so that it distorts the evidence that has been written on paper - if people's memory and understanding of this event are Did you know that even the records of city-state authorities and churches were contaminated by solar debris?

Duncan felt that his imagination was a little too open. As a "novice" who was not familiar with the field of anomalies and visions, his imagination was too unrestrained. But on the other hand, he couldn't stop the idea as soon as he came up with it. live.

People's memories, authorities' records, and even things written in black and white in archives more than ten years ago can all be distorted and replaced - he might not have believed this before, but now, he was better than anyone else. All have to believe.

Because the place he is in is now called "Duncan Antiques Store".

Everyone here knows their old neighbor, Mr. Duncan, who owns the antique shop.

Duncan breathed a sigh of relief. He lowered his head and looked through the second-floor window at the street illuminated by gas lamps.

Now only one question remains.

Regardless of whether the fire eleven years ago existed or not, whether it was sun debris that polluted the memory of the person involved and the records left by the city-state, there is only one point that is crucial:

Why Nina remembers the fire.

…

Uptown, in a mansion owned by the consul.

Vanna wakes up from a nightmare.

But this time, the nightmare was no longer related to the Black Sun, nor was it pointed to the Homeless Ship returning from the subspace - she just suddenly dreamed of things from her childhood.

On that night filled with fog, smoke, blood and crazy crowds, the twelve-year-old girl was carried by her uncle to escape from the siege of the mob.

In the dream, she seemed to be back to the helpless and fragile look she once was. Her proud martial arts and powerful magical power disappeared into nothing. She could only run away in a hurry, chased by madmen and shadows, and crossed paths with her uncle. The pipes and valves above the factory, she looked down at the city in horror amid the thick smoke and heat waves, and saw the boundless sea of ​​fire rising everywhere, filling the entire city as far as the eye could see...

The young judge wearing a nightgown sat on the bed, took a deep breath, and looked at the sky outside the window - the clear light of the Creation of the World was still hanging high in the sky, and the wall clock hanging near the window showed that it was just past midnight.

She felt like she had been living in a nightmare for a century.

Fanna got up and turned on the light, came to the dressing table and looked at herself in the mirror. She whispered the name of the Storm Goddess. After gaining inner peace, she sighed and said to herself as if to comfort herself: "At least I won’t dream about that ship now…”

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly heard footsteps coming from the corridor outside the house, followed by a knock on the door: "Fanna? Fanna, are you having a nightmare?"

It was the voice of my uncle—the most admired governor of this city.

"I'm fine." Fanna calmed down, then straightened her clothes, got up and opened the door.

Dante Wayne stood at the door. This middle-aged man with gray hair and gray eyes, not too burly, had obviously just woken up. He casually put on a coat and looked at his niece with concern after the door opened.

Because he lost an eye in a certain incident, he now has an eyeball made of ruby ​​- exquisite gold patterns can be seen inside the eyeball, and on the orbit around the eyeball, you can see the traces of eleven years ago The hideous scars left behind made his face intimidating.

But Vanna has long been used to it, and she knows that her uncle is actually a kind and fair man.

"I had a nightmare," she rubbed her eyes with a helpless tone, "I didn't expect to wake you up."

"It's nothing, I sleep very lightly as I get older," Dante Wayne looked at Vanna with concern, "Are you dreaming about your childhood again?"

"Well, I'm dreaming about that time again."