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 fades is dangerous, the twilight of the world's creation will make the distortion of the whole world reach its peak, even if the city is protected by lights, people must be cautious The ground faces the 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 fatigue, 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. While casually admiring the night scene of the city-state of Purland under the night sky, he recalled his conversation with Nina after dinner.

Nina remembered that there was a big fire, and the residual memory of his body also had such a big fire - in the big fire, "he" took the girl who was only six years old to escape from a collapsed and burning building, and the distant streets were Frantic crowd and diffuse fog.

However, only the two of them remember the fire - Nina once asked other adults to mention these things, but they were regarded as "a disordered memory after a child was frightened and stupid", and the "truth" was clearly recorded in the newspaper eleven years ago : At that time, there was only one factory leak at the junction of the lower town of Plande and the cross street, which caused mass hallucinations, and there was no record of any fire.

Duncan frowned slightly, another doubtful point in this matter was on "himself".

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

But now, the picture of the fire appeared in Duncan's memory—that was the memory left in the deepest part of the mind of the original owner of this body.

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

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

He integrated the information he got from those Sun Cultists:

Eleven years ago, sun fragments appeared for the first time in the territory of the city-state of Purdand, and the extraordinary phenomena caused by the fragments may spread to 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 did anyone remember it. Evidence that a fire has occurred.

Since then, the sun fragments have been dormant in the city-state, and there are no more changes. The only record left by a certain incident that year is the "Cross Street District Factory Leakage Incident".

For several years, Nina lived with her only relative.

Four years ago, the followers of the sun god in the Puland city-state tried to wake up the sleeping sun fragments in advance, and held a dangerous sacrificial ceremony, but the ceremony failed, and the newly promoted trainee judge at that time Fanna led the team to fight, and the power of her religious order was hit hard. After the massive campaign of suppression, the Church of the Sun God was expelled from the city-state.

But even though the ritual did not go to the final step, the cultists' attempt to "awaken" may have had some impact, and the sun fragments gradually began to come out of sleep after that.

It was also around that time that Nina's "uncle" contracted a strange disease and gradually degenerated under the torment of the disease. Finally, he accepted the temptation of the remaining Sun Cultists in the city and became a cult minion.

Not long before the time was up, the news of the Sun Fragment activity began to attract the Sun Cultists to regroup to the city. The cultists who had been dormant for four years held a sacrifice ceremony again, and what happened after that... was Duncan's intervention.

In the entire timeline, many things seem to be vaguely connected, but there is a lack of key evidence.

The most suspicious thing is eleven years ago, what kind of extraordinary vision was caused by the sun fragments at that time, did the fire exist or not?

The city-state authorities erased the truth of the accident and erased the traces of the fire? Then for the sake of maintaining order, announce the whole thing as a collective hallucination caused by the factory leak?

But that doesn't explain why many people don't remember the fire at all—unless the authorities 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 danger of supernatural things. Govern the city with the policy of ensuring that citizens have the common sense of self-preservation". If it is really just a fire caused by extraordinary power...why do you have to hide it?

Unless...there is a bigger problem behind the fire, so that even the mere disclosure of the news will lead to some kind of dangerous factor spreading out of control.

Duncan frowned suddenly.

Or there is another possibility.

The characteristics of supernatural phenomena are strange. In many cases, the harm it causes is not limited to the physical level, and even distorts people's cognition, so that it distorts the evidence that has fallen on paper. Did you know that even the records of the city-state authorities and churches were polluted by debris from the sun?

Duncan felt that his brain was too open. As a half-baked "novice" in the field of anomalies and visions, his imagination was too much to let him go. live.

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 all be distorted and replaced-he might not believe this kind of thing before, but now, he is better than anyone else. Believe it.

Because the place where he is located is now called "Duncan Antique 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 window on the second floor at the street illuminated by gas lamps.

Now there is only one problem left.

No matter whether the fire eleven years ago existed or not, no matter whether the sun fragments 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 under the name of the consul.

Fan Na woke up from a nightmare.

But this time, the nightmare was no longer related to the Black Sun, nor did it point to the Lost Homelander returning from the warp—she just suddenly dreamed about something from her childhood.

On that night full of fog, smoke, blood and frenzied crowds, at the age of twelve, she escaped from the siege of the mob on the back of her uncle.

In the dream, she seemed to have returned to her helpless and fragile appearance back then. Her proud martial arts and powerful magical powers were gone, and she could only flee in a hurry under the pursuit of madmen and shadows. The pipes and valves above the factory, she overlooked the city in horror amidst the thick smoke and heat waves, and saw the boundless sea of ​​fire rising everywhere, filling the entire urban area as far as she could see...

The young judge in a nightgown sat on the bed, took a deep breath, and looked at the sky outside the window—the brilliance 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 sunk in a nightmare for a century.

Fan Na 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, and after gaining inner peace, she sighed and said to herself as if comforting herself: "At least Don'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: "Fan Na? Fan Na, are you having a nightmare?"

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

"I'm fine." Fan Na collected herself, then straightened her clothes, got up and opened the door.

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

Having lost an eye in an incident, he now has an eyeball made of ruby—delicate gold lines can still be seen inside the eyeball, and the eye socket around the eyeball can be seen eleven years ago. The hideous scars left behind made his face intimidating.

But Fan Na has long been used to seeing it, she knows that her uncle is actually a kind and fair person.

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

"It's nothing, I'm already light sleeper when I'm old," Dante Wayne looked at Fan Na with concern, "Are you dreaming about being a child again?"

"Well, it's that time again."