Deep Sea Embers

The atmosphere in the Nest became eerily quiet for a brief moment, so much so that the constant, low-grade tremors that usually echoed between the stars seemed to pause. Ray Nora noticed the humanoid figure in front of her freeze, almost as if her words had put it into a temporary state of suspension. Then, after what felt like an eternity, the area of space that had been still, where the starlight had paused, started to pulsate and shift once again, breaking the silence.

“Is there only one lantern? Can you tell me more about its surroundings? And where exactly can it be found?” Zhou Ming pressed, his gaze locked onto the Frost Queen’s eyes with intense curiosity, bombarding her with questions.

Ray Nora answered quickly, “There’s just a single lantern, and it’s hanging from a broken piece of wood. That’s all there is—no other objects around. It seems to be suspended in mid-air, enveloped by a dense fog,” she explained. “As for its location, it’s incredibly close to your ‘palace’, almost directly beside it…”

She paused momentarily as if a flood of additional details had just occurred to her. After organizing her thoughts, she resumed, “The lantern itself doesn’t emit a strong light; logically, it shouldn’t be visible from a distance through the fog. Yet, the instant I arrived here, it caught my eye. I maneuvered my ‘drifting house’ closer to it, and it took a considerable amount of time to actually reach it. It’s as if… the lantern’s light isn’t hindered by the fog or how far away one is; as long as it remains lit in this place, its light seems capable of reaching any location within this fog.”

Upon hearing her detailed account, Zhou Ming sank into a deep contemplation. Ray Nora added, “Of course, these are merely my own observations and speculations—you must understand, many phenomena here are… ‘unusual’, making it challenging for me to discern whether my perceptions or feelings accurately reflect reality.”

“I understand,” Zhou Ming responded softly. Then, something seemed to jog his memory, prompting him to suddenly stand and walk over to a desk a short distance away.

Ray Nora stayed seated on the sofa, wary of moving. From her perspective, she watched as the mass of previously stationary starlight started to stretch and move in an unpredictable direction, eventually coming to a halt.

Not paying heed to the confused look, Zhou Ming reached for a sheet of paper at the edge of the desk and grabbed a pencil, quickly beginning to sketch. He drew a lantern with a traditional design, crafted from brass, attempting to accurately capture the intricate details of the lantern that hung in the captain’s quarters.

After a short time, he returned to Ray Nora with the drawing in hand, showing her the depiction on the paper. “Does the lantern look like this?” he asked.

The entity made of starlight extended its limbs, each ending in numerous eyes that converged their focus on a singular point. In front of these eyes, a holographic projection of a lantern materialized as if summoned from the void.

Ray Nora’s body stiffened in response. History had shown that the casual demonstrations of high-dimensional beings could prove fatal to the unprepared mortal, capable of driving even the most seasoned scholars to the brink of insanity with a mere glance. However, she quickly realized she was not descending into madness.

The multitude of eyes fixed upon her with a softness, displaying a patient and friendly anticipation for her reaction. It appeared she had become thoroughly acclimated to the presence of these starlit beings.

“…It’s very similar,” Ray Nora found her voice, scrutinizing the projected image with a careful eye. “The details elude me, but the resemblance is striking—somewhere between seventy to eighty percent accurate.”

Zhou Ming exhaled a sigh of relief upon hearing her assessment, his theory now gaining substantial credence.

The lantern was “his”—a beacon left by Duncan Abnomar during his final journey in the year 1800, a “marker” akin to a guiding light in this otherworldly domain.

Zhou Ming’s mind was awash with contemplation, silence enveloping him as he pieced together fragmented thoughts. The lantern amidst the fog took on a symbolic meaning beyond mere illumination; it served as a beacon of guidance.

For vessels adrift in the fog, a light piercing the gloom signifies the path to safety—a beacon towards refuge.

His own abode, shrouded in the fog, might mark the boundary of this realm or perhaps lay even beyond. Here, the passage back to the realm of order is veiled by chaos…

The presence of the lantern established a “connection”—geographically pointing towards the Boundless Sea and temporally marking the moment when the Vanished would reemerge into reality, signaling the impending conclusion of the Boundless Sea’s existence.

Lost in his thoughts, Zhou Ming’s gaze drifted, reflecting on the profound implications.

His experiences had led him to a vague understanding of the “deep rules” governing the world, among which the critical role of “information” in the fabric of reality stood paramount.

Evidently, the “captain” who had ventured to the world’s edge had also encountered these truths—it appeared that in the final voyage of the Vanished, “he” had come to know many secrets.

Zhou Ming’s attention shifted towards the apartment door. Under his intense stare, the door seemed to swing open, revealing the swirling, pitch-black fog beyond—on the other side lay the Vanished, specifically the captain’s quarters adjacent to the “Door of the Lost.”

That was the lantern’s rightful place.

Thus, it was confirmed: the lantern had always been right at his doorstep, a constant presence.

Zhou Ming’s focus returned from the vivid imagination of his contemplations, the door in front of him remained closed, a silent guardian awaiting its owner’s return to reality from the depths of thought.

Ray Nora, in the meantime, was careful to keep her silence. While she couldn’t discern any human-like expressions from the swirling mass of starlight that represented the being in front of her, she sensed its deep engagement in thought. The thoughts of this entity sent ripples through the surrounding chaos, accompanied by a constant, low, indistinct moan that seemed to fill the space around them. She remembered the rigorous training from her youth, designed to keep her from listening, thinking, or trying to comprehend these sounds that sought to invade her mind.

Her goal was clear: to prevent her own thoughts from dissolving into the entity’s, to avoid becoming just another transient idea within its vast contemplation.

Thankfully, this intense period of reflection seemed to come to an end—the omnipresent low moan slowly subsided, and the entity’s attention returned to her with a gentle focus.

“Sorry, I got a bit distracted,” Zhou Ming offered courteously, “Now, let’s shift our conversation to your other experiences. I’m quite intrigued.”

Ray Nora let out a sigh of relief, grateful for the shift in focus. She found it far easier to talk about her experiences than to “listen” to the entity’s thoughts.

“After I broke free, I had trouble controlling my ‘drifting house’ at first, so I ended up wandering for what seemed like an extended period. In fact, I believe I experienced a longer duration than you might expect, encountering numerous strange phenomena related to timelines along the way…”

Zhou Ming listened without interruption to Ray Nora’s recounting of her adventures post-escape. His attention was unwavering and filled with interest as she described the remarkable and supernatural things she witnessed upon gaining her freedom.

For the most part, the tales of her travels didn’t offer much in terms of solving the current puzzles Zhou Ming was pondering over; they were largely accounts of peculiar landscapes and phenomena one might encounter in the realm of spirits. However, for Ray Nora, these experiences were beyond anything she could have imagined or encountered during her rule as the Frost Queen.

She had achieved her desire to explore, witnessing a myriad of vistas throughout her extensive journey.

Eventually, Ray Nora came to the topic of the last “disturbance” she faced and how she arrived in this fog-enshrouded location.

“…The disturbance occurred after I escaped subspace while I was navigating just above the abyssal deep sea, under that ‘dome’ with the stagnant starry sky,” she reminisced, “Suddenly, a shockwave erupted from the depths of the sea, seemingly aiming right at me, and forcefully ejected me outwards. Following that was a lengthy period where I lost complete control over my ‘drifting house.’ By the time I managed to stabilize, I found myself here.”

Zhou Ming was deep in thought, his brow furrowing as he pondered the situation. “Could it be the Nether Lord?” he murmured to himself in a low tone, his voice tinged with uncertainty. “But that doesn’t seem quite right… There has to be a reason behind this.”

“The Nether Lord?” Ray Nora, catching his muttered speculation, reacted with visible surprise. “Do you mean to say that the Nether Lord was responsible for creating that shockwave and intentionally sent me here?”

“Just speculating,” Zhou Ming clarified with a shake of his head, aware that no definitive answer was at hand. Thus, he quickly steered the conversation away from the topic. “Let’s not dwell on that for now. Let’s talk about this ‘fog’. Are you familiar with what this place actually is?”

Ray Nora took a moment to consider his question, her silence stretching for a long moment before she gave a complex nod.

“In the beginning, I was clueless. But after spending some time enveloped in this dense fog, I began to witness… ‘phantoms.’ Knowledge seemed to flood into my mind out of nowhere,” she spoke softly, a hint of awe in her voice. “This is the end of the world. Here, I’ve glimpsed the shadow of the end of all things.”

“You should consider yourself fortunate for having followed that lantern to my doorstep and stopping outside my place,” Zhou Ming responded gravely. “It’s a good thing you didn’t venture further into this fog. Otherwise, you might have never found your way back.”

At this moment, even the brave Frost Queen felt a shiver run down her spine.

She realized that she had been like a traveler on a raft, powerless against the current, hurtling toward the brink of a waterfall. Just as she was about to be swept over the edge and into the abyss, she was fortuitously stopped by the only “rock” in the rapids.

Though the collision with this “rock” nearly shattered her.

After a brief pause, however, a look of hesitation crossed her face, and she eventually voiced a troubling thought: “Actually… I ventured a bit too deep…”

Zhou Ming, momentarily caught off guard, responded with a puzzled “Hmm?”

“…After I followed the ‘light’ to your ‘palace,’ I attempted to make contact with the large ‘entity’ there, but you didn’t respond at the time. Instead, a shadow surged out from your ‘palace.’ That indescribable force struck my ‘drifting house,’ causing it to lose control once again for a brief moment, and I was pushed deeper into the fog. Thankfully, it wasn’t too severe this time…”

Zhou Ming’s expression turned slightly awkward at her admission.