Deep Sea Embers

Duncan held the ball of fire while looking for a place to start, but at seeing the way Alice was behaving, he sighed and took a moment to explain. “My ghost fire is completely under my control, don’t you believe me?”

When Alice heard this, she flailed her hand up in the air: “I believe, I believe…”

Only then did Duncan withdraw his gaze and focus his mind.

With the conditions now on the Vanished, it was impossible to fully test Alice’s “coffin”. However, this does not mean he cannot do some “preliminary research” first. Now that he has become more adept in the control of the ghost fire, he has vaguely touched upon some doorway to use this to explore the secrets inside supernatural things.

He still didn’t dare to use this flame on Alice of course, but if it was to study her wooden box… that’s another story.

After some preparation, Duncan slowly reached out. He extended a cluster of flames from his fingertips to the surface of the ornate box, letting it sink in like some illusory reflection.

First it covered the outside, then the inside, followed by the green flame seeping straight into the wood until the very box transformed and reconstructed into its skeletal structure!

“AH, Captain, Captain, it’s burning!”

The puppet shouted in amazement, but her cry did draw a response due to Duncan focusing his attention on control. The man kept a firm eye to ensure nothing went wrong at this stage because a part of his consciousness was about to enter the item.

Gradually, calm and silence took over the ghost captain’s environment until even the endless sounds of waves and wind disappeared from his ear. His mind entered a vast “place” unlike anything he had conquered in the past through the channel he created.

If he had to coin an analogy, using the flame to control the sun talisman gave him the feeling of easily filling up a cup of water. In this case, with Alice’s coffin, it’s like pouring his mind into a large lake. The volume couldn’t even be compared.

Is this the gap difference between an artificially mass-produced supernatural item and an anomaly ranked in the upper numbers?

Duncan realized something in his heart, and in this flash of thought, he suddenly sensed the connection of his flames reaching a peak – the transmission of power became smooth as a river as turbulent “memories” flooded into his mind!

There were sounds of waves battering against unfamiliar coastlines, cold winds blowing against high walls, and the distant and frozen landscapes of shadowy crowds gathering together.

Duncan’s vision zipped across the air, flying dozens of meters to take an aerial view of the whole place. From above, he saw a strange and unknown city, and at its center was a stage with crowds of onlookers gathered around it.

Duncan also heard numerous whispers and chatters with his ears. It’s noisy and jumbled due to all the voices. However, there’s no question in the ghost captain’s mind that these voices aren’t from the crowds of shadows beneath him but rather an echoing murmur that encompassed the entire city. It gives off an ominous and oppressive vibe.

Then suddenly, Duncan jerked to attention at a tension grabbing at his rear. Swinging around, he suddenly found himself standing on the ground, staring at a towering thing in the center.

It’s a guillotine—a sharp-bladed instrument for beheading its victims.

Through the bit of historical knowledge in his mind, Duncan realized where he must be right now.

The Frost Queen, who had been executed by the rebels half a century earlier, was tied and standing before him.

She had the exact same fact as Alice…

Duncan didn’t know what to make of this. He understood they weren’t the same people, only in appearance, yet he felt ill watching this picture knowing what was to come.

“Your time is up, Frost Queen.” The cold and distant voice yells out from behind the stage as if raising the curtain to the show.

In the next second, Duncan saw two phantoms rapidly appear next to the guillotine. The two shadows came to the Frost Queen in an attempt to bend her knee. Yet, the queen’s figure did not move like the two phantoms were weak children.

Now the jumbled noise around the stage grew even louder and more turbulent, followed by the crowds of shadows swaying like they were upset at the outcome.

“QUIET!!” The same cold voice that yelled before spoke again, this time more enraged than commanding. “MAINTAIN ORDER IN THE EXECUTION GROUND!!!”

More phantoms emerged around the guillotine. They forced the Frost Queen to bend her knee and lock into that cold torturous apparatus this time. With this, the cold glistening blade of sharp death began to rise as the locks and cogs turned.

Duncan frowned. Although he knew this was just an echoing memory, he still subconsciously took a step forward when looking at the face of “Alice”…

But it’s with this gesture that the Frost Queen turned her head slightly. She’s looking straight at the ghost captain as if they’re acting in the same time and space.

“Whoever you are, please don’t pollute history.” The queen says softly but with power.

Duncan stood frozen in amazement and heard even more shocked outcries from around the guillotine, “Who are you talking to?!”

The Frost Queen had already retracted her gaze then, returning to her cold demeanor. “Do it before the sun sets.”

The guillotine blade fell with that sentence.

Instantly, boundless darkness surged from all directions, tearing apart the illusion that had replayed the historical event in detail. Duncan knew what was happening with this past echo, and sure enough, his connection “here” was rapidly fading. But even so, his ears could still grasp onto a few vague and broken sentences at the end.

“…… The Frost Queen is dead, and we have cut off the channel for the Vanished to return to the real world…”

“…… Ray Nora vainly tried to build the second Vanished… She colluded with the shadow of subspace. The evidence is conclusive, so her death is well deserved….”

“…… The new administrator will soon restore order, and all materials related to the ‘Abyss’ exploration plan will be destroyed… However, active whistleblowers still have a chance to be forgiven…”

“Full pursuit of the rebel ship Sea Mist and the defecting navy… Dead or alive doesn’t matter… Wait, what is that sound… Quickly run. This place is going to collapse!”

Exclamations, shouts, the sound of buildings collapsing in the surroundings, and the roaring waves rocked his ears….

In that moment, Duncan abruptly broke out of the boundless darkness like someone desperately surfacing from a deep dive. The last connection had snapped, signaling the end of the historic show and his return to reality.

Opening his eyes, Duncan’s first sight was Alice plucking her head off and snapping it back on for fun: “…?”