Deep Sea Embers

Every day, before noon, Vanna would traverse the courtyard of the magnificent Pland Cathedral, walking along the path between the flower beds leading to the sanctuary. The path was 103 steps long, with an additional 27 steps from the entrance of the sanctuary to the statue of the goddess. Since becoming the city’s inquisitor, these steps had become an integral part of her life.

She was familiar with every detail in the cathedral, from the courtyard to the sanctuary, as familiar as her own hands.

In all the days and nights that had passed, she never imagined that this short journey would be so… challenging and lengthy.

The doors of the sanctuary opened, leaving the intense sunlight behind. As Vanna’s eyes adjusted to the slightly dimmer interior, she saw two figures standing in front of the goddess’s statue at the center of the room.

The daylight streamed through the tall stained-glass windows, casting a radiant glow upon the statue of the goddess. Archbishop Valentine and Pope Helena turned their gazes towards the inquisitor entering the room.

“You’ve arrived,” Helena nodded gently, “one minute later than agreed.”

“Sorry,” Vanna approached, bowed her head slightly in front of the goddess’s statue, and then looked at the Pope, “I was delayed a few minutes while handing over work to my subordinates.”

“No problem,” Helena nodded gently and glanced at Valentine beside her, “I have already spoken to Archbishop Valentine about your situation. He will help you with the transition and arrangements for your work, so you don’t have to worry about the city-state. Your uncle has also received the news and understands the church’s arrangement. However, I still hope you will have a good talk with him to ease some of his concerns about the future.”

Despite thinking she was mentally prepared, Vanna’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing the Pope’s words.

A feeling of being unable to distinguish between dreams and reality surged in her heart, leaving her momentarily dazed. She tried to grasp this emotion accurately but eventually found that all her emotions amounted to just a sigh – ah, it really happened.

Yet, she suddenly became confused and even felt absurd. She looked at the Pope before her and couldn’t help but say, “You truly intend to send me to the Vanished? Of course, I don’t doubt your decision. I just suddenly feel… this is not a trivial matter. At the very least, we need to understand Captain Duncan’s attitude. Will he really allow a high-ranking priest to board that ship so casually?”

Vanna felt her words were somewhat disordered, but she still tried to organize her thoughts and continued, “The incident happened abruptly yesterday. Upon returning, I realized something was off. The Vanished isn’t an ‘open area’ that can be accessed casually. How do you plan to…”

“Ah, you finally realized this issue,” Helena laughed and shook her head, “I thought you’d only remember to ‘ask for directions’ when it’s time to leave.”

Vanna’s eyes widened in surprise, and then she saw Helena take out a rolled-up parchment from her side, smiling as she handed it over.

Vanna accepted the parchment with a puzzled expression, carefully unrolling it, and as her eyes scanned the text, her expression gradually turned more animated.

“The Storm Church, servants of Gomona, are informed… now receiving one personnel transfer from your side for work needs, temporarily assigned to a combat position on our ship… The treatment on board is on par with first-class crew members, and the salary and expenses for the transferred personnel are still paid by your organization. The payment method is…

Vanished’s Captain, Duncan Abnomar, signed in Vision-Pland, December 19, 1900.”

At the end of the document, in addition to the handwritten signature, there was a prominent red seal.

Vanna: “…”

The young inquisitor appeared somewhat confused. She looked down at the personnel transfer acceptance letter in her hand and then glanced up at the Pope before her. After looking back and forth several times, her gaze settled on Archbishop Valentine.

“Don’t look at me,” Valentine said without expression, “I didn’t expect this either.”

Vanna’s lips quivered slightly: “The signature on this…”

“It’s real,” Helena said nonchalantly, “The seal is also genuine. If you go to the city-state archives, you can even find an old file from a century ago when the Vanished was resupplying in the port of Pland, with the same seal and signature.”

Vanna listened in a daze, her mouth agape as if she had a myriad of words to say, but Helena interrupted her first: “You must admit, this is quite reasonable.”

“I…” Vanna pointed at herself, then raised the parchment in her hand, and finally blurted out, “But isn’t this a bit too reasonable?! And when did you…”

“Just yesterday,” Helena said gravely, with a concealed smile in her eyes, “I had an extensive discussion with Captain Duncan about your onboarding process. We have always believed that this should be a formal and contractually-bound personnel transfer, requiring official documentation for the record.”

The female Pope paused at this point, observing Vanna’s still somewhat conflicted expression, and couldn’t help but spread her hands and laugh: “What else, Vanna? How did you think we were going to send you to the Vanished? Light a few bonfires, draw blasphemous symbols on the ground, and then tie you to a stake and sacrifice you over? Like those dark heretics who sacrifice kidnapped girls to subspace in damp caves?

“Vanna, we are the Storm Church. We follow standard procedures.”

Vanna’s lips trembled, realizing that she hadn’t initially considered the details of this personnel “handover.” However, the whole thing felt odd because the process was too reasonable.

All her concerns about her future were instantly dispelled – she even suspected that she would encounter a lavish staff meal on the Vanished, and after the formal dinner, there would even be a deck barbecue…

That’s the Vanished! The Vanished!

The peculiarity in Vanna’s eyes was all noticed by Helena.

“Alright, now that you’ve seen the document, you should have dispelled your last concerns,” the female Pope said with a smile. “Go and rest. Do some preparation work before departure – more detailed contents are on the back of this document, including the specific handover time and method. You can review it when you get back.”

Vanna was ushered out of the sanctuary in a bewildered state.

After the young inquisitor left, the cathedral quieted down for a while until Valentine’s voice broke the silence two minutes later: “Actually, I’m quite curious.”

Helena glanced back: “Curious about what?”

“What exactly happened that made you suddenly decide to send Vanna to the Vanished,” Valentine said with a slightly serious expression, “I know your reasons, and they are indeed valid, but the whole thing seems… somewhat hasty to me. You seemed eager to establish contact with that ‘Captain Duncan’ without making enough preparations. What happened?”

“You’re a perceptive person, Valentine, you always have been,” Helena looked quietly at the old bishop who had been loyal to the church for many years, and then sighed, “Actually, this matter will soon not be a secret anyway, so it won’t hurt to tell you now.”

She paused and then began: “Do you remember the ‘warning’ that Captain Duncan sent through Vanna not long ago?”

“Warning?” Valentine frowned slightly, and quickly thought of something, “You mean, about Vision 001?”

“Recently, disturbing news has come from the elf city-state ‘Wind Harbor’ near the border,” Helena nodded, “The ‘Sea Witch’ Lucretia sent them a gift. Guess what it is?”

Valentine hesitated, sensing the truth hinted at by the Pope’s words, and his face lit up with excitement: “It couldn’t be… something really fell from the sky, right?”

“A glowing, pale golden fragment, a geometric object larger than the Grand Storm Cathedral, falling from the sky,” Helena said, “Though there is no definitive evidence yet that the fragment is from Vision 001, but…”

Helena didn’t finish, just shaking her head.

Valentine listened, dumbfounded, and after an unknown amount of time squeezed a few syllables from his throat: “By the Goddess.”

“Our world is having problems, and the situation is more serious than we thought. The Vanished is the only voice warning the civilized world so far – and this warning has been confirmed,” Helena spoke slowly, “This is Captain Duncan’s active goodwill. No matter how terrifying that ship was, we must now respond because… this time it’s not just a city-state that’s in jeopardy, but the sun above our heads.”

“Can Vanna really accomplish this mission?” Valentine dismissed his previous doubts but began to worry about another matter, “She’s actually a bit reckless and not very good at… meticulous and cautious interpersonal interactions. If we were to send an envoy ‘onboard,’ she wouldn’t be the best candidate.”

“The best candidate is not for us to decide, Valentine,” Helena shook her head.

She turned around, silently staring at the statue of the Storm Goddess Gomona.

“The chess players determined the positions of the pieces from the very beginning.”