Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 96 “Peering”

Sitting inside the captain’s room of the Vanished, Duncan slowly opens his eyes after transferring the bulk of his consciousness over. Glancing around the room, he found nothing astray. It’s the familiar furnishing, the same glistening glow of the setting sun shining off the golden mask on the table, and most importantly, the same white dove plopping down at the shelves like a lazy dog.

So why did he return? Simple, the man’s trying an experiment – what could he do with the shell back in the antique shop while only a small portion of his mind controlled the body? The answer came quickly once he went outside and met an old street neighbor. They exchanged some pleasantries of the weather, said a few words about the recent events, and then bid farewell due to the late hour. Of course, the shop owner’s actions were rigid and sluggish, but who would care about the behaviors of a drug-addicted gambler known to be ill?

Pleased by the results from the experiment, Duncan smiled and returned his full attention to the ship where he picked up the golden mask. There are a lot of things he could do in Pland, but there was not enough sunlight to do it all in one day. He could try it during night time of course. However, that would surely draw the attention of the authorities. Best not to try that method.

Now back to the mask at hand. It’s heavy, likely cast out of pure metal.

Looking at the golden thing, Duncan began to ponder the possibilities. Was the thing made of pure gold? If so, should he sell it for a lot of money?

Sure, he’s currently free from the burden of financial pressure, but who said he couldn’t use the fund at a later date? Nobody ever complains about having too much money, and he wouldn’t either.

Those cultists are like sheep with multi-purpose uses. They provide him with intel about the world, their existence reported for bounties, and their supernatural items like this mask refined for further exploitation….

“The sun cultists are so full of treasures, hoho….” The ghost captain rubs his chin like a devious businessman.

Ai, who was strolling about on the shelf now, suddenly stopped and stared at the crude behavior. Sharply crying out in her female voice: “Can you not be so inhumane? Can you not be so inhumane?”

“You are not qualified to talk about me, you blasted bird!” Duncan shoots an accusing finger right back at Ai, who was bobbing her head up and down in disgust.

Then rubbing his fingertip to summon up a spark of green flame, the ghost captain returns his attention to what he had in mind. First, he’s going to clean out whatever taint the mask has before doing some tests. However, right as he’s about to carry out the act, a mysterious and ethereal voice seemingly echoes out from within his heart.

“Or it might connect them to the Vanished~”

Duncan’s body froze into a cinderblock, shocked by the sound that came out of the blue.

He turned and faced the bird next to himself: “Did you hear anything?”

Flapping her wings, Ai proudly sang her woes like a barb in a tavern: “Listen~ the voice of the sea is crying ~ oh heavens, thou shalt hurt us again ~.”

“Stop, stop, stop… I shouldn’t have asked you at all!” Duncan quickly glared at the dove to make her stop. He totally regrets ever trying to communicate with the likes of this bird.

Shirking off his discomfort, the ghost captain carefully searched from within for the brief “connection” he got during the interaction. It was all darkness at first, but soon, he saw a glimmer of light emerging from the front. Grabbing onto this to not let it evade his grasp, the man pulls himself forward using the power of the ghost fire. He couldn’t see much at first, only the chittering chattering voices behind an oval-shaped mirror found commonly in homes of this world.

This was about as far as he got before something blocked him. There’s an invisible veil blocking his consciousness from advancing. Then it hit him. It’s not that he lacked the ability to enhance the connection, but rather Duncan didn’t have a medium to possess like the other shell inside the antique shop to station his mind in reality.

Understanding the problem, Duncan came to the mirror and casually touched the mirror with his flame.

The ghostly green flowed outwards, rippling through the silver surface to form a new layer atop the mirror. In the next second, the shimmering stopped, and now he could see behind the muddled image of the mirror with clarity!

Overtaken by curiosity, Duncan leaned over and peered into the room illuminated by lights. There’s an unusually tall lady standing near the window and reading something using the afterglow of the skylight. Based on her lax stance, it doesn’t appear she had noticed the spooky presence currently observing her from the rear.

……

Vanna’s gaze remained firmly on the document she was currently reading, confirming the content verbatim.

This was a jointly discussed and drafted document by the bishops of each city-state. Then personally reviewed and approved by His Majesty the Pope sitting in the Storm Cathedral using the spiritual resonance they shared. The whole process had no room for mistake and was sheltered under the watchful gaze of the goddess to ensure the texts weren’t corrupted.

Such a special document served only one purpose: to inform every voyaging ship that sails the sea a superior anomaly has escaped the control of the civilized world.

This was necessary.

The anomalies that are out of control on the boundless sea will not disappear forever in the eyes of the world. Although the deep sea would eventually swallow everything, it never swallows the “anomalies” that fall into it. Instead, those who are out of control would wander on the fridges of the civilized world more bizarrely and dangerously like wolves wandering around the pastures, chasing and threatening the safety of voyages. Almost every year, seafarers would die due to these out-of-control anomalies.

And as the custodian and sealer of said anomaly, every church has the duty of informing the captains who may encounter such danger. No one would think it was damaging to the church’s reputation because this was one of the primary responsibilities of the church to begin with.

Timely notification of the out-of-control situation may be able to save a ship that unfortunately encountered an anomaly one day in the future or have the possibility of resealing and containing the danger.

Under normal circumstances, such a notice would be sent to the port unit within 24 hours of the out-of-control incident, but this notice involving “anomaly 099” was a little later than normal.

Why? Because this event involves not only Anomaly 099 – the puppet coffin, but also Vision 005 – the Vanished. There’s a strict criterion for such a high-profile case. It’s dangerous to know too much in this world less they want to draw the attention of said danger through the knowledge.

Vanna’s face sank as she read the document word by word, confirming whether the phrasing in the paper conformed to the sacred and invisible structure of prayer and whether it could avoid the gaze of the infamous ghost captain.

And on the window glass beside her, in the gap between the light and shadow that neither she nor the regional bishop could perceive, Duncan was leaning his head out at the contents of the document and became shocked.