Deep Sea Embers

The green flames bloomed, spreading wantonly in the air like a door until they swelled big enough to allow Duncan to step through the portal.

She was promptly followed by Shirley, who was still a little blindsided by what’s occurred.

Duncan glanced back at the girl behind him, looking up and down before he spoke in a deep voice: “How does it feel? Is there any discomfort?”

“I’m... okay,” Shirley was still dizzy, but this dizziness was more of a disorientation caused by being abruptly carried by the big boss than physical discomfort. She looked up at Ai, who had returned to the form of a white dove and landed on Duncan’s shoulder. After a long time, she suddenly used her spiritual contact to communicate with Dog hiding in her soul, “Dog, can you beat this dove?”

“...... Don’t ask, even if you ask, I can’t beat it.” Dog’s voice sounded muffled, “Forget the bird raised by this big boss, even the fish stew is out of my league...”

Shirley was stunned: “Why did you suddenly mention fish stew?”

“Because I can see that there is probably nothing in line with common sense around this being...”

Duncan didn’t know that Shirley was muttering to Dog in secret. First confirming there was nothing wrong with the girl using the mark he placed on her, the man eventually sighed in relief after confirming she was alright.

He didn’t use the girl as a test subject. In fact, he’s already tested the transportation with various live animals beforehand, all of which were perfectly fine afterward. Even so, he didn’t want to wantonly ignore Shirley’s health.

Once done with the health check, Duncan shifted his attention to the surrounding environment.

At the end of the street, he could vaguely see the dilapidated streetscape. The plumbing facilities that have been in disrepair crisscrossed along the houses on both sides, and some of the pipes have tiny steam coming out of their connections. It’s hissing and leaking.

This was a common sight in many parts of the lower city.

But Shirley still recognized this place right away.

“This is... the sixth block?” Her eyes widened in some surprise, “Mr. Duncan, did you sense that mark here?”

“That’s right, Block Six, we’re back here again, but...” Duncan exhaled, then frowned slightly, “but the imprint faded a minute ago.”

“...... Faded? Is it extinguished?”

Shirley asked with a look of surprise, but Duncan didn’t answer, only staring thoughtfully in a certain direction.

In Shirley’s “dream”, he had implanted a cluster of flames into the remaining blob of the attacker. The order was to return to its main body. Then soon after, the connection ended until now with the mark reappearing in the real world.

If there are many coincidences, then it’s no longer a coincidence. Nina’s dream, Shirley’s nightmare, the mark appearing at the sixth block, all these clues pointed to the invisible curtain here.

There must’ve been something they overlooked the last time they visited

Narrowing his eyes, Duncan didn’t believe the flame he had left behind had been extinguished. Although he couldn’t pinpoint the exact location, the faint feedback told him it was still burning.

Since the flame was still burning and growing, it meant that its “mission” wasn’t over – it was still chasing, devouring, and assimilating the attacker. Perhaps, it may have even grown into a huge fire outside of reality.

He wanted to find this gap that was out of his view, the gap that seemingly connected dreams and reality.

“That abandoned factory is in the other direction...” Halfway through, Shirley raised her arm and pointed to a large building in the distance.

“We’re not going to that factory,” Duncan said quickly, “let’s go this way.”

“Oh...” Shirley answered, jogging her short legs to keep up with Duncan.

The withered and yellow leaves drifted with the wind and fell at Shirley’s feet. As she stepped on the fallen leaves, she heard a slight crackling sound that was similar to a burning ember. Around them were nothing but ordinary streets. The old houses lined up along the sides, standing in the wind and facing indifferently at the uninvited guests who intruded here.

But then, Shirley noticed something was wrong – there was no pedestrians on the street.

The sixth block was indeed deserted compared to the other parts of the city. In fact, it’s borderline listless, cold, and withdrawn. But by no means should it be like this without a single soul in sight!

A very uncomfortable feeling permeated from the bottom of her heart. This gave Shirley the exact same sensation of being trapped inside her nightmare again. Out of a desire for protection, she subconsciously got closer to Duncan until she accidentally bumped nose first into the man’s waist.

In the next second, Shirley drew up the full text of curse words in her dictionary.

“It seems that we have arrived.” Duncan’s calm voice interrupted the girl’s momentary crankiness.

“I’m very, very sorry. I really didn’t mean to, please... Wah?” Shirley subconsciously popped up a string of begging mercy when she came back to attention, only to realize they had stopped before an abandoned building.

It was a chapel.

A community church, which could be found everywhere in the city-state of Pland, stood at the end of the path.

It has all the hallmarks of the Storm Church: an elongated spiraling structure with black roof tiles and white stone bricks. However, the hanging vines and decaying dirty attachments told a story of abandonment.

It was once a sacred building, but now the smell of decay and forgottenness filled every crack in its brickwork.

“...... This is the ‘church’ mentioned by the old man near the intersection last time?” Shirley recalled the last time she visited this place, “I remember he said there was a nun living here, but that nun was often not in the church...”

“It’s not a ‘frequent absence’ that can be explained by the level of ruin like this,” Duncan said casually, striding toward the church gates. “It’s not so much that the nun goes out often, but that this place seems to have been forgotten for eleven years.”

Shirley watched as the other party walked towards the church, instinctively resisting the building and not wanting to follow. However, she eventually followed suit after overcoming the momentary hesitation.

The next moment, Duncan pushed open the half-covered church door to reveal the scene inside.

Warm and bright candlelight fell into Shirley’s eyes, and the clean chapel was brightly lit, unlike the forsaken appearance outside. At the end of the neatly arranged benches, the statue of the goddess of storms, Gomona, stood quietly in the light.

A nun kneeling in prayer had stood up after hearing the noise.

“It has been a long time since anyone visited this church,” the nun smiles warmly with arms spread open.

“Oh... It looks like this is indeed the spot,” Duncan said softly with a calm expression as he observed the smiling nun in front. “The gap in the curtain.”

He blinked. In his eyes, the smiling nun maintained a living appearance at one moment but turned into a bunch of humanoid wriggling ashes at the next. Meanwhile, the church behind her showed a strange superposition state – the flames were burning on the intact benches, ashes and sparks drifted from the roof, and the fire scene had interlaced with this calm reality.

It was as if two very different realities had been forcibly merged in this church.