Deep Sea Embers Chapter 82: Only fire in dreams

Nina went back to her room to sleep.

In this world, most people go to bed early and wake up early - the time after the sun goes down is dangerous, the shimmer of the creation of the world will make the whole world warp to its peak, even if the city is protected by lights, people It is also necessary to face the night with caution.

There is no way to go out to gather, and there is not much entertainment. Although reading books at night is not as dangerous as reading at sea, it can easily lead to mental exhaustion, auditory hallucinations and visual hallucinations. Necessary snooping, so taking all into consideration, the safest way is to go to bed early and wait for the sun to rise the next day.

Duncan didn't sleep at all.

He turned off the lights in the room and stood near the window wearing a shirt, casually admiring the night view of the city-state of Pland under the night, while recalling his conversation with Nina after dinner.

Nina remembers a fire, and there is also a fire in the memory of his body - in the fire, "he" and a six-year-old girl escaped from a collapsed and burning building, far away The streets are full of frenzied crowds and diffuse fog.

However, only the two of them remember the fire - Nina had asked other adults to mention these things, but it was regarded as "the confused memory of a child after being scared stupid", and the newspapers eleven years ago also clearly recorded it. "Truth": At that time, there was only one factory leaking at the junction of Lower Town and Cross Street, which caused group hallucinations, and there was no record of any fire.

Duncan frowned slightly, and another doubt in the matter was "himself".

According to Nina, "Uncle Duncan" doesn't actually remember the fire. She was the only one who remembered it all the time. She even talked to Uncle Duncan when she was a child (although it should have been "Ron" ”) brought up the fire, and Uncle Duncan was one of the adults who thought she had “been scared and remembered something wrong.”

But now, Duncan's memory has a picture of the fire - that is the deepest memory of the original owner of the body.

What's the problem? Why in Nina's memory, his uncle didn't remember the fire at all, but Duncan found a corresponding picture in the depths of this body's memory? Is it Nina's uncle who has been lying? Or is this memory kept sealed until a ghost captain takes over the body, and the deepest memory emerges?

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

He put together the information he got from the Sun Cultists:

Eleven years ago, the sun fragments first appeared in the city-state of Prand, and the extraordinary phenomena caused by the fragments may spread to a large area.

Also eleven years ago, Nina was orphaned, and in her memory with Duncan, there was a fire in the lower town - but no one but them remembered the fire, Nor is there any evidence that a fire ever occurred.

Since then, the sun fragments have been dormant in the city-state, and there is no longer any change. The only record left by a certain incident in that year is the "Cross Street Factory Leaking Incident".

For several years, Nina lived with her only family.

Four years ago, the followers of the sun **** in the Prand city-state tried to wake up the sleeping sun fragments in advance, and held a dangerous sacrifice ceremony, but the ceremony was unsuccessful and the newly promoted The trainee Inquisitor Fanna led the team to put out the fight, and the power of her cult was severely hit. After the massive smashing campaign, the Church of the Sun God was expelled from the city-state.

But while the ritual didn't go to the last step, it's possible that the cult's "awakening" attempts had some impact, and the sun shards began to drift out of their slumber after that.

It was also around that time that the "uncle" who depended on Nina for life contracted a strange disease, and gradually fell into degeneration under the torment of the illness, and finally accepted the temptation of the remaining Sun Cultists in the city and became a cult minion.

Not long ago, the news of the Sun Fragment event began to attract the Sun Cultists to gather in the city again. The cultists who had been dormant for four years re-held the sacrifice ceremony. What happened after that... Duncan intervened. .

Throughout the timeline, many things seem to be vaguely connected, but key evidence is lacking.

The most suspicious thing is eleven years ago, when the sun debris caused some extraordinary vision, did the fire even exist?

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

But that doesn't explain why the fire is completely absent from the memory of many people - unless the authorities also went to great lengths to recreate the memories of all those involved.

And one more thing - in this world, anomalies and visions are open to the public, even children know the existence and harm of extraordinary things, and the authorities clearly know this, and they have always adhered to the " "Announce dangers in advance to ensure that citizens have common sense for self-preservation" to govern the city, if it is really just a fire caused by extraordinary power...why have to hide it?

Unless...there's a bigger problem behind the fire, so that even the mere disclosure of the news will cause some kind of danger to spread out of control.

Duncan frowned suddenly.

Or there is another possibility.

The characteristics of extraordinary phenomena are strange. In many cases, the harm caused by it is not limited to the physical level, and even distorts people's cognition, so that it distorts the evidence that has already fallen on paper - if people have an understanding of this event. What about memory, cognition, and even the records of city-state authorities and churches contaminated with sun fragments?

Duncan felt that his brain was a little too big. As a "novice" in the field of anomalies and visions, his imagination was too free for him, but on the other hand, when he came up with this idea, he immediately Some can't stop.

People's memories, the records of the authorities, and even the things written in black and white in the archives more than ten years ago can be distorted and replaced - such a thing may not have believed in the past, but now, he Believe more than anyone.

Because of the place he was in, it's now called "Duncan's Antiques".

Everyone here knows their old neighbor, Mr. Duncan, the antique store owner.

Duncan let out a slight sigh of relief. He lowered his head and looked through the second-floor window at the street lit by the gas lamps.

Now there is only one question left.

Regardless of whether the fire 11 years ago existed or not, whether or not the sun debris contaminated the memory of the person concerned and the records left by the city-state, there is only one important point:

Why Nina remembers the fire.

…

Uptown, in a mansion under the consul's name.

Vanna wakes up from a nightmare.

But this time, the nightmare was no longer about the Black Sun, nor did it point to the homeless ship returning from the warp—she was just suddenly dreaming about her childhood.

On that night filled with fog, smoke, blood, and frenzied crowds, she was only twelve years old and fled from the mob siege by her uncle on the back.

In the dream, she seemed to return to her helpless and vulnerable appearance back then. Her proud martial arts and powerful magical power had vanished. She could only flee in a hurry under the pursuit of madmen and shadows. She and her uncle crossed the pipes and valves above the factory. She overlooked the city in horror in the thick smoke and heat waves, and saw the boundless fire rising everywhere, filling the entire city as far as she could see...

The young Inquisitor in nightdress sat on the bed ~IndoMTL.com~ took a deep breath and looked at the sky outside the window - the light of the creation of the world was still high in the sky, and the wall clock hung near the window Shows it's just past midnight.

She felt like she had been stuck 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 goddess of the storm, and after she gained inner peace, she sighed, 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 from the corridor outside the house, followed by a knock on the door: "Fanna? Did you have a nightmare, Fanna?"

It was the voice of my uncle—the city-state's most admired consul.

"I'm fine." Fanna calmed down, then tidied up her clothes and got up to open the door.

Dant Wayne is standing at the door. This middle-aged man with gray hair and gray eyes, who is not too burly, obviously just woke up. He casually put on a coat, and after the door opened, he looked at his own body with concern. niece.

Having lost an eye in an incident, he now has an eyeball made of ruby ​​- a delicate pattern of gold on the inside of the eyeball and ten orbits around the eyeball. The hideous scar from a year ago made his face intimidating.

But Fanna is used to it, she knows that her uncle is actually a lenient and just person.

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

"It's nothing, I've gotten very little sleep with age," Dante Wayne looked at Fanna with concern, "dream about being a kid again?"

"Well, I dreamed of that time again."