Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 138 “The Bright Star”

So it’s bad enough to have one Vanished in this world…

Lucretia sat quietly in a high-backed chair covered with velvet cushions in the divination room illuminated by dim candlelight. She couldn’t focus while gazing at the crystal ball because the image of that afternoon from a century ago kept coming to mind….

“Our world is just a pile of extinguishing residual embers…” The figure from the past had already blurred from her memory, but she could never forget what she heard from that depressed voice.

Now, of course, she knew that her father had already been infected with madness at that time, that he would completely abandon his humanity shortly afterward and choose to actively embrace the “blessing” of subspace. Nevertheless, Lucretia still believed that if she had taken some time back in the day to speak to her father, then perhaps… he might’ve chosen a different path instead of crossing the world’s border.

Maybe it’s just a whimsical desire on her part, and perhaps the Vanished being lost forever was a fact engraved in the annals of time. However, she still wants to know the truth of what happened back then.

“Lucretia, are you still listening?” Tyrian’s voice suddenly came from the crystal ball, which brought the lady back from the daze.

“Brother,” she looked squarely at Tyrian in the crystal ball, her tone becoming a little serious, “do you remember what our father said before he last sailed to the border? That time he didn’t let us follow…”

“Of course I remember,” Tyrian nodded, “he said that he had found a clue to Anomaly 000, the cure for this world. He refused our request to follow and even ordered the other escorts at the time to turn back. That’s the last time we saw the Vanished in its normal form. Afterward, everything started to change.”

“That’s right Brother, all the crew members on the Vanished stopped talking from that point forward as if cursed with the spell of silence. Father could still communicate with us, though, saying he did not find Anomaly 000 and that even if it did exist, the origin of the world’s distortion isn’t with it. The so-called cure that he sought never existed. This continued until the evening on the upper deck, where he revealed that the world was nothing more than a series of dying embers….”

Tyrian did not speak for a while. Then after an undetermined amount of silence, it was Lucretia who broke the awkwardness: “After that, I specifically contacted the fleet of the churches patrolling near the border, including the Flame Bearers, the Storm Priests, the scholars of the Truth Academy, and even the gloomy Death Church, I asked them about anomaly 000, but they all said that there couldn’t be an anomaly or vision numbered zero…”

“I also inquired about the matter too,” Tyrian said in a deep voice, “and got the same reply as you… There are no anomalies and visions numbered zero in the world. Not that there are none, but that there are no corresponding ‘vacancies’ at all in the list.”

“Yes, the list that flowed out of the nameless king’s tomb, the very list that held all the visions and anomalies of the world. If it says there are no vacancies for that spot, then there never will…”

“That’s why I said that Father was probably already infected with madness before he left for the border. He couldn’t have known about this information.”

Speaking of this, Tyrian suddenly stopped and eyed his sister through the crystal ball with a wary look, “Why did you suddenly bring up this topic? We haven’t talked about this for half a century. What are you planning to do?”

“…… Don’t worry, I won’t plunge headlong into that magnificent wall of fog like our father did,” Lucretia rarely showed emotions on her face, so the fact that she was smiling was something strange. “I’m looking for clues left by our father, but I don’t want to follow his old path.”

Tyrian fell silent for a moment and nodded slowly: “… That’s good to hear.”

Now it was Lucretia who did not know how to continue the conversation, leaving the siblings staring off into the air for a relatively long and uncomfortable minute. This continued until a whistle from the Sea Mist suddenly blew from the outside, thus breaking the awkward atmosphere.

“Are you really going to Pland? Because of the invitation from the administrator?” Lucretia asks.

“The ‘invitation’ is not important. I don’t care about the safety of the city-state. However, the admin said in his letter that the Vanished has reappeared in the real world. If true, I must go and investigate the matter in person,” Tyrian said with a serious face. “That ship has not been in the world for almost half a century. It worries me why it would reappear so suddenly.”

Lucretia thought for a moment and asked, “You had an encounter with the Vanished half a century ago, and I remember that you were still with the former Frostbite (Frost) city-state… Was it really the Vanished that you saw back then?”

“…… It’s true. Although it’s difficult to believe, it’s indeed the Vanished,” Tyrian said in a deep voice. “I can still remember the exact location of each mast and the distribution of cables.”

“Then… was it really our ‘father’ who stood on the deck at that time?”

Tyrian lowered his head slightly, his face hidden by the shadows: “… It’s him alright, even though I’d rather that thing not be him.”

Lucretia watched her brother through the crystal ball with hesitance and worry: “Be careful. If it is really him, it will be very dangerous.”

“I know,” Tyrian sighed softly, “that’s not him anymore, but a crazy ghost corrupted by subspace. I won’t take things lightly…”

Lucretia shook her head expressionlessly: “No, I meant, if that’s really our father, he will definitely get more ruthless in the beating after learning what you turned the Sea Mist into.”

Tyrian visibly widened his eyes in shock but quickly picked up on the meaning: “Hey, what do you mean by that just now? This is the fruit of modernization! What’s so bad about steam boilers and rapid-fire guns! Besides, how can you even mock me? Compared to the Sea Mist, which part of the Bright Star is still the same…”

The crystal ball blanked out at that part, leaving Lucretia the room to finally issue a soft sigh of relief as she got up from her chair.

Big Brother is still so high-spirited. A little stimulation, and he’s back to normal. It’s good that he’s keeping a strong interest in modern things, that will help maintain his soul and keep it from decaying.

A series of light footsteps then came from a darker part of the room, accompanied by the friction of mechanical parts and the clockwork of something walking over. Lucretia followed the sound with her eyes until she eventually came face to face with a doll that was the same height as her own, the moving metal and ceramic joints slightly scary under the dim lighting.

“Mistress, please have some tea.” The doll maid offered a teacup from the tray she was holding.

“Thank you,” Lucretia took the teacup and asked casually, “Luni, where are we now?”

The clockwork puppet, known as Luni, replied like a true maid with a curtsy bow: “The Bright Star has just crossed the ‘Cape Island’ and is currently sailing on the edge of the eternal curtain. Do you want to enjoy the view from the window?”

“…… Open the dome then,” Lucretia took a sip of black tea and placed the cup back on the tray in Luni’s hand, “It’s dawn. I should bask in the sun to help with my skin.”

“Yes, Mistress.” Luni hung her head slightly and stepped backward.

At the same time the words of this magical doll puppet spoke, a slight vibration started to take hold in the divination room.

The creaking of mechanical devices sounded continuously, and the humming and crunching of the gears formed a sort of weird concerto in the air while things moved. First, the walls began to recede, followed by the blooming of the roof like a flower on stage.

This was the upper deck of the Bright Star, where Lucretia the “Sea Witch” lives. From her post at the top, her view overlooked not only the sea but also the entire structure of her vessel that’s been visibly split into two parts.

The first half of the ship has been completely transformed with countless runes and magical creations making up its hull. Instead of calling this segment a ship, it’s more suited to assume it’s a beast reconstructed with magical materials and runes as its core. It’s both grotesque and beautiful like an object from the legends.

In the second half of the ship though, this was not so friendly looking. Its hull had been transformed into a ghostly translucent form, constantly shrouded in a veil of light. If perceived hard enough, one might even be able to make out its original appearance that’s similar to another – a certain warship built a century ago by the name of the “Vanished”.