Deep Sea Embers

A small bright flame jumped into life on the tip of the wick, and the calming aroma slowly spread around the room with the volatile compound of the oil it’s made of. Vanna wasted no time breathing in the smell, allowing the dagger blade to slit a small opening in her hand.

The blood soaked into the fine lines inscribed on the dagger due to this, as if absorbed by whatever mystical power this object wielded. There’s a brief sting from the gesture, but that’s only for a few seconds before the goddess’s blessing healed the lady’s wound.

She stared down at the ritual dagger, not moving an inch. Vanna knew her indecision was silly when performing a ritual, but she wanted to see for herself it was not her illusion that it’s working. So, once done and confirmed it’s going as planned, she placed the blook-soaked dagger over the flame and allowed it to burn.

“Please hear, Goddess of the Storm, Gospel of the Deep Sea, Maiden of the Quiet Sea, hear me, your faithful follower needs guidance…”

The flames crackled, and the blood on the dagger suddenly ignited with unsettled sparks- the signal that the channel had established.

Using blood as a guide, a saint could create a communication line with the higher realms. In a way, this could even be seen as talking directly to the gods.

The gentle battering of the waves sounded in her ears as she expected. Then Vanna felt the air around her becoming moist, followed by a saltiness hitting her nose before the entire scene changed around the room.

The familiar bedroom disappeared, and the surroundings turned into an endless body of water. It’s faintly glowing from beneath the surface, and hundreds of mysterious light sources continuously swam around like one could imagine a swarm of jellyfish carrying out their life cycle.

But that’s not what she’s here for. Before long, Vanna had noticed the blurry image of a lady coming into existence within the waters.

From the initial impression, it looks like a lady in a long white dress with numerous hazy shadows spreading out behind her in multiple directions. Vanna couldn’t see past the veiled face, but there was no doubt in her heart that this was the avatar of the storm goddess. It’s a small sliver of the Gomona’s power, and it’s been condensed into human form so a mortal like Vanna could seek an audience during troubled times.

Unexpectedly, despite being the one to initiate a ritual to seek help, it was the goddess’s avatar who initiated the desire to speak – not verbally, but an urging directly into the mind of the inquisitor’s head.

“I…” Vanna slightly hesitated before seemingly making up her mind to speak bluntly, “I have survived to this day because of subspace. Why did you choose me as a saint and send me your blessings knowing this?”

The hazy and blurry avatar did not move, but Vanna did not dare to force a reply. She knows that although what she saw was only a projection, this projection was indeed a direct link to Gomona. Her very question was a risk, an offense to the goddess.

Eventually, after an unknown amount of time in this spatial dimension, an idea suddenly entered the inquisitor’s brain – similar to an implant.

“…… It makes no difference…”

“It makes no difference?” Vanna was stunned. This confusing answer was even more challenging to understand than obscure and broken prophecies given to the faithful. She instinctively felt there should be some other “context” in this answer, but she failed to understand the information and could not find the next clue. Finally, out of desire and reflex, she asked: “What makes no difference? I don’t understand why you would choose someone like me knowing I’m tainted by subspace…”

However, Vanna’s sentence didn’t get to finish before the illusions around her started to warp and twist violently, followed closely by a different soft bright light coming up from the depths of the sea. It pulsated like a beating heart, causing the goddess’s avatar to weaken to the point of collapse. This new entry pushed the connection between the two out; however, Vanna did catch a few broken words before then: “Time is limited… Soon… Critical…”

The connection completely broke after the last word.

Vanna found herself rudely thrown back to the real world, heart pounding and breathing suffocating as she convulsed for air. She looked around, finding the illusions gone with the dagger she assumed was still in her hand gone, dropped to the floor without her knowledge. The only undisturbed thing was the runed candle still quietly burning at the table, the flames beating restlessly.

After an unknown amount of time, Vanna’s gaze finally withdrew from the candle flame, and she picked up the dropped dagger and slowly put it back in the drawer.

Her mind was swirling with the only information that had entered her mind during that brief exchange.

“There is no difference” and “time is limited, about to hit critical”.

She still couldn’t understand what the former meant. As for the latter… it had a clearer meaning, but what exactly was about to hit critical that’s still out of her grasp.

Is the goddess telling me that something major is about to happen? Are you warning me that I have limited time to prepare for something important? What does critical mean? What’s critical? Another crisis? Another reality invasion-level disaster?

Is it related to the crisis that Pland just lived through?

This prayer did not calm Vanna’s mood and caused her to become even more unsettled than during the day.

But suddenly, a strange color appeared in the afterglow of the corner of her eye, making her chaotic thoughts stop instantly.

The flame jumping on the runed candle had turned green at some point.

In the next second, she jerked, looked up at her dresser’s oval mirror, and met eye-to-eye with Captain Duncan.

“Are you alright?” The gloomy and majestic figure spoke and inquired.

“It’s you?!” Vanna jumped and distanced herself from the mirror, “You disrupted my ritual just now?”

“Ritual? I think you misunderstood,” Duncan shook his head, “I suddenly sensed your aura growing extremely chaotic. That’s why I came to check on the situation. I might’ve missed some enemy hidden in the city without realizing it. It seems I’ve been reckless to come unannounced.”

Sensing my aura… that’s why he came to check?

Question marks popped up over Vanna’s head due to her doubt regarding the answer and the meaning behind certain words. If she didn’t know better, the lady might’ve assumed the ghostly captain was actually a pervert and stalking her in bed.

“Don’t worry, you’re still in the real world,” Duncan said casually, “so I strongly recommend that you don’t jump chop me like the last time. You’re really going to make a mess of your room.”

“…… I’m not a brute who only knows how to jump,” Vanna suddenly found communicating with this ghost captain was really tiring. The other party’s words and deeds would always exceed the records in the archives, and whenever he appeared, it would always catch her off guard like now. It’s becoming exhausting. “What else are you planning besides coming to check? I thought… you’ve left completely.”

Duncan in the mirror frowned as if a little troubled by the overly wary and hostile attitude of the young inquisitor in front of him: “You can relax a little, preferably a little more polite too. I have indeed left, but the distance in time and space does not mean much to me. Besides, I just protected your city-state. Don’t you think you should at least say thank you?”

Vanna stared intently at the ghost captain, and after a few seconds of deliberation, she suddenly took a step forward and actually lowered her head: “Thank you very much for your help. At least in this matter, Pland owes you a huge debt.”

This blunt thank you exceeded Duncan’s expectations. He thought this girl’s brain would be as solid as her muscles, but she’s apparently more than just bronze: “It’s fine… No need to be so serious. I was just mentioning it.”

“We may have different positions, but your act of sheltering Pland cannot be denied,” Vanna raised her head with a serious expression. “Countless people have survived the disaster today. For that, I must thank you as the inquisitor out of duty.”

She paused and then spoke with a straight face: “But this does not mean I have relaxed my guard against you and the Vanished. We still can’t determine what your purpose is for the civilized world… At least until I confirm this, I’m all…”

“Okay, I see what you mean,” Duncan interrupted Vanna, who smiled at the young inquisitor like an amused senior. The other party’s words and attitude were far from polite, but this kind of overly straight personality was also not dislikable, “Then let’s speak about something else… You seem to be in trouble?”

Vanna met Duncan’s gaze and took a few seconds before taking a small breath: “Sorry, it has nothing to do with you.”

“…… Irrelevant, but I’m curious,” Duncan said lightly, “whether you want to admit it or not, you can’t dispel the imprint I’ve left on you. Vanna, I can sense your bad state at the moment. Maybe I can help you.”