MTL - Deep Sea Embers-Chapter 49 Two looming dark clouds

The gods live in the kingdom of God far away from the real world. The world believes that that special dimension is the cornerstone of the world. Unlike common sense, this "cornerstone" is not located at the bottom of the world, but at the apex of all dimensions.

The ancient kingdoms of Crete described the structure of the world as they knew it in the texts they left behind:

The cornerstone of the world is at the top, protected by eternal truth and order, and the kingdom of God is in the cornerstone, and it will always exist;

From the kingdom of God down, it is the reality where all living beings live. All beings in this world can enjoy the afterglow of order and can survive in a relatively stable and fertile real world;

From reality down, it is the spiritual world that gradually deviates from the perception of mortals. In the spiritual world, the blessings of the gods have been thinned, and the power of twisting and grotesque has begun to gain the upper hand;

From the spiritual world down, it is a deep and deep sea that is no longer suitable for biological survival and dominated by strange forces. It can no longer be regarded as a part of the material world, but more like a reflection of nothingness;

Beyond the deep sea, is the bottom of the world - the depth of the warp entrenched in the shadows of all things, the extremely dangerous ancient gods and the bodies of all kinds of sinister things are entrenched in the warp.

In the accounts of the ancient kingdom of Crete, the gods made a contract in the cornerstone. This contract is the source and yardstick of all the laws of the world. This order flows down, determines the laws of the world's operation, and also infiltrates all things in the world. , and as the "depth" continues to decline, the power of the order will begin to weaken, and the warp will gradually take the upper hand - the "cornerstone" and the warp where the gods are located are like the upper and lower ends of the world, "order" ” flows unidirectionally between these two endpoints.

This is an ancient gift left to the world by the glorious civilization that pioneered the deep-sea age 10,000 years ago. In the long years, countless scholars have studied this "layered structure" exhaustively, but have not found this model. Now, it has become the "standard model of the world" recognized by the world.

In this standard model, earthly mortals will fall into deeper places, but few people can return from the "deep" to the "shallow", even if occasionally one or two lucky ones return to reality from the spiritual world. I have never heard of any heaven-defying existence that can reach the "cornerstone" dimension of the gods from reality.

It is precisely because of this that the Homeless returning to reality from the warp becomes the most outrageous vision in the world - its return goes against the world's cognition of the standard model of the world.

But on the other hand, the existence of Homeless is in line with the classic discourse about anomalies and visions: the law of perpetual misalignment of anomalies and visions.

But no matter what, Bishop Valentine and Fanna didn't think that the ghost captain had the ability to avenge the storm goddess - even if he had the heart, he couldn't do such a thing.

Because the "cornerstone" and the real world are discontinuous, it does not have the relationship between the real and the spiritual world, the spiritual world and the deep sea, and there is a continuous falling, material intercommunication relationship. So far, no scholars have found the "cornerstone" and reality. The evidence that the world can be directly connected, even the gods, can only indirectly reduce their influence through methods such as projection and metaphor. A ghost ship... How can it be possible to counterattack the kingdom of the gods?

Since there is no way to seek revenge for the Goddess of Storms herself, then of course the only options left are the followers of the Goddess in the world.

As the headquarters of the Deep Sea Church, the Cathedral of Storms is a "cruising ark" that sails hidden on the boundless sea. It comes and goes without a trace. The Pope who sits on the ark has the power to control the storm on behalf of the lord. It is not a good start. Target.

Then the city-state of Pland, which is fixed at sea, has obvious goals, and is open to the outside world, naturally becomes a better choice: 80% of the people in this city-state are followers of the Storm Goddess.

Vanna had already decided that the ghost captain was here for revenge - after all, the Homeless fell into the warp in a storm a hundred years ago, and she couldn't think of any other reason to explain why it disappeared. After so many years, the Lost Homeland will suddenly return to the real world, and it will also point its finger at the city-state of Perand.

But what exactly is the ghost captain going to do?

Fanna frowned, and said slowly while thinking: "Bishop Valentine, do you think... The Lost Homeland has something to do with the recent changes of the Sun Believers in the city-state?"

After she finished speaking, she paused and added: "In my dream last night, I saw the burning sun and the Homeless appear in Prand together. The simultaneous arrival of the two disasters may be the omen given to me by the goddess... …”

"But don't forget, in the underground sacrifice ground, that contaminated 'sacrifice' killed the priest of the dark sun, that was a baptized 'messenger'," the bishop shook his head, "at least at the sacrifice site. , the positions of Homeless and Black Sun appear to be hostile."

Fanna didn't speak for a while, but fell into contemplation because of the bishop's words, and the old man opposite her continued after a brief silence: "As for those believers who worship the dark sun, I got some from the city-state of Rensa this morning. Wireline..."

Fanna raised her head immediately: "Information?"

"The sun heresy is not just resurgent in Prand. Recently, they have changed in many city-states. A large number of sun heretics have recently transited through the ports of Rensa and Moco, and are gathering in Prand. Some of them have been arrested." The bishop nodded, "During the interrogation, the heretics mentioned 'shards of the sun'."

"Sun shards...the shards that fell off after the disintegration of the 'real sun god' in the alien port?" Fanna reacted suddenly, "They think there is a sun shard hidden in Pland?"

"It looks like this at the moment. I don't know where the heretics got the information, or it may be the 'revelation' they got in their madness. In short, now they believe that some of the wreckage of their 'lord' is hidden in this city. ," Bishop Valentine's expression was calm, "and they saw this as the hope for the revival of the dark sun."

"...Those lunatics," Fanna couldn't help cursing in a low voice, "how many lives have they killed in order to resurrect that dark, blasphemous sun!"

"The dark sun is our name. The sun **** in their minds is bright and represents the most real order. You can't expect that group of irrational cultists to have any conscience when their hands are bloody, Valentin shook his head. "They firmly believe that what they say and do is justice. There are only two languages ​​that work best when dealing with them, one is caliber and the other is pounds."

Hearing the bishop's speech in the style of the deep sea church, Fana couldn't help but tremble at the corner of her mouth: "Looks like we have to be busy."

"The boundless sea is never peaceful, and the city-state is also in the boundless sea," Valentine said. "Captains will face the storm in the ocean, and we will face the storm brought by the fools of the earth. Inquisitor, prepare yourself. The city-state of Perand may be facing a challenge."

"Two challenges," Fanna corrected seriously, "in addition to the believers of Black Sun, there is also a mysterious and terrifying ghost captain - if Homeless and Black Sun are really not the same, then our troubles will start from one become two."

Bishop Valentine pondered for a while: "Perhaps there is another possibility - according to the situation in the sewer sacrifice ground, maybe the Lost Homeland will fight with the believers of the Black Sun?"

"...Those two troubles merged into one destructive trouble, Bishop Valentine," Fanna looked at the old man who was clearly starting to think, "The ghost ship returning from the warp and a group of competing I can't think of a worse situation than the cult of the Sun Fragment fighting in the city-state of Perand, possibly accompanied by the descent of the dark sun."

Valentine sighed and admitted that Vanna was right.

"In short, it is easier to achieve the goal of working together with the sheriff's troops to arrest the sun heretics that have penetrated into the city-state, and eliminate the threat of the black sun before the situation becomes serious," said Fanna. After Homeless disturbed her mentally and at the same time entered the field she was good at, her thinking became obviously active, "As for the ghost ship... We don't know its next actions, we can't do it for the time being, we can only do it first. It is good to monitor the spiritual world and the sea around the city-state..."

Speaking of this, the young judge couldn't help shaking his head, with a serious and helpless expression: "Damn, who knows what a ghost captain will want to do next..."

...

"I want to add some ketchup..." Duncan beckoned to Nina across the table, "You can hand it over and I'll make it myself."

Nina immediately handed the ketchup: "Okay Uncle Duncan."

It's noon now, and Duncan and Nina are eating lunch in the kitchenette on the second floor. The food in the antique shop is simple - a local Prandian savory pancake, served with ketchup or hot sauce, and vegetable rich Soup, I can't say it's delicious, but both Duncan and Nina enjoyed it.

It's been a long time since Duncan had a normal lunch like this, and it's been a long time since Nina had a normal lunch like this.

Duncan felt like he was starting to like the place.