Deep Sea Embers

Not only did Vanna vaguely sense something was off, but the nearby saints also detected a disturbance. Their ethereal soul projections unconsciously glanced at the ancient being enshrouded in cloaks, its appearance ghastly and horrifying. In their memories and the church’s records, all descriptions of this “tomb guardian” were accompanied by terms like “cold, dutiful, indifferent” – never had any record mentioned that he would utter “please” to the chosen listener!

Nonetheless, Vanna had no time to dwell on this. She saw the tomb guardian waiting patiently for her, so she quickly collected her thoughts and nodded: “Alright.”

The tomb guardian turned and guided Vanna toward the grand, ancient tomb palace, leaving the saints in the square to watch the pair vanish into the distance.

Once the massive tomb doors shut behind them, seemingly sealing off the sounds of the outside world, Vanna’s heart steadied within the chilly, silent corridor.

This was her second time entering this tomb. In contrast to her initial apprehensive and tense emotions, she had now somewhat acclimated to it.

She knew the path: to continue straight, traverse the corridor filled with messages from her predecessors, enter the innermost chamber, and behold the body of the Nameless King. Then, she would forget everything she had seen and heard before being transported outside the tomb – while the parchment in her hand would hold the notes she had personally documented.

The secrets forbidden to leave the tomb would be stripped away, while those that could be shared with the world would remain. The corruption she experienced while acquiring knowledge would be safely left behind in the tomb chamber, accompanied by her “forgetfulness.”

Vanna composed herself and took a step forward, only to halt in surprise upon hearing heavy footsteps following from behind.

Under normal circumstances, the tomb guardian would depart once the listener entered the tomb, but this wasn’t the case!

“Is there… anything else?” Vanna couldn’t help but inquire, her tone cautious and defensive.

The tomb guardian looked downward, his single exposed eye exuding a murky gaze, and a raspy voice emerged from his chest: “No, just escorting – do you require an escort?”

Her unease intensified. Although Vanna had only entered the tomb once and was not well-versed in all details related to “Vision 004,” she instinctively sensed that the tomb guardian’s behavior seemed somewhat off… a stark contrast to the records.

Nevertheless, Vanna remained composed. She was acutely aware that she was in an ancient vision of high rank, and every detail here was vital to her survival. Consequently, she exercised extreme caution and did not impulsively accept the tomb guardian’s “additional service”: “I think… I know the way.”

The tomb guardian silently gazed at the “visitor” before him, his single eye revealing no emotion. After a few seconds, he merely nodded and slowly retreated: “Alright, please proceed, and I will escort you out when you are finished.”

The tomb guardian’s figure vanished into the corridor, leaving the lady dumbfounded for a moment before Vanna realized the guardian had used the word “you” at the end.

“Why was this cold and aloof ancient guardian so courteous today…?”

She shook her head, striving to dispel all distracting thoughts from her mind, worried that this ancient vision might induce some mental disturbance. Focusing on her task, she proceeded through the lengthy corridor and entered the tomb chamber deep within the palace.

Inside the chamber, the enigmatic headless corpse continued to occupy the towering throne, with ghostly fire basins burning on either side. Facing the Nameless King’s body was a chair that had evidently been moved there recently.

Vanna’s eyelids flickered.

In that instant, the typically serious and disciplined inquisitor entertained a rather absurd notion – would a fruit plate be added the next time she visited?

She approached the chair and cautiously sat down, then raised her eyes to the headless corpse on the throne.

The following second, she opened her eyes to find herself standing in the vast, open stone square. The turbulent sky filled her sight, mysterious lights emanating from the shattered pillars in the distance, and a rumbling noise originated from behind her – Vision 004 rapidly descended back into the ground.

Still somewhat dazed, Vanna noticed the saints in the square had swiftly gathered.

An ethereal saint, carrying the familiar aura of Valentine, approached Vanna with urgency: “Quickly, see what’s recorded on the parchment.”

Vanna snapped back to reality, hastily picking up the parchment in her hand – as anticipated, this parchment was still incomplete, but compared to the previous one, which had only a small fragment remaining, the situation had improved considerably.

Only half of the parchment was missing, while the remaining portion contained legible writing.

Vanna’s eyes scanned her own handwriting:

“Shadows in the deep darkness have begun to rise.

“The day of setting sail.

“Vision – Pland.”

The saints exchanged glances, and Valentine’s saintly apparition gazed at Vanna in astonishment, instinctively wanting to ask something but uncertain how to phrase it.

There was a significant issue with the parchment’s content. However, the listener couldn’t recall her experience in the central tomb chamber, and the text that could be brought out on the paper was the only information available. Vision 004 wouldn’t provide any further answers; the sole guarantee was the accuracy and truthfulness of the parchment’s content.

“Shadows in the deep darkness… the day of setting sail…” a saint couldn’t help but murmur, looking perplexed at his counterparts, “The information conveyed from the tomb in the past was relatively precise and unambiguous; rarely were there such vague metaphors…”

“Perhaps this is precise and unambiguous information, just that the key part was torn away,” another saint mused, “Rather than that, the content of the last sentence is…”

“Vision, Pland,” someone whispered softly.

Vanna’s gaze was also fixed on the last sentence of the parchment. Among the three sentences, only this one had completely captured her attention. She naturally thought of the great fire, the ghost ship, and the ghostly flames that eventually engulfed the entire city-state. But then, she noticed something else.

“No number…” she said in surprise, then looked up at Valentine and repeated, “No number?!”

At this moment, she didn’t even know which point to be more surprised at first – whether to be surprised that Pland had been identified as a “vision,” or to be surprised that this vision had no number!

The saints were somewhat restless. Although they were high-ranking clergy from various church regions with strong wills and powerful forces, they couldn’t help but fall into confusion and bewilderment. The low, uneasy discussions echoed around them, and some more familiar saints approached Vanna and Valentine, inquiring about the recent situation in Pland.

This made Vanna feel somewhat helpless – compared to the experienced Bishop Valentine, she was still too young.

Fortunately, the commotion lasted only a short while, and the saints gathered in the square suddenly quieted down. Vanna looked up and saw the shadowy figures retreating to the sides while an elegant lady dressed in a luxurious robe walked toward her and Bishop Valentine.

They immediately bowed at the newcomer: “Your Holiness.”

“No need for formalities,” the ruler of the Storm Church, the storm goddess’s representative in the mortal world, Pope Helena, looked at Vanna, then at the parchment, “May I take a look?”

“Of course,” Vanna quickly handed over the parchment, “Here you are.”

Helena took the parchment, her eyes scanning the text, then looked up at Vanna with a faint smile: “The handwriting is quite nice – much better than the writing in your report.”

Vanna was taken aback, not expecting the Pope to suddenly bring this up, and then she felt a little embarrassed: “That report… I wrote it in a hurry. The city-state was in a bit of chaos at the time…”

“I understand. When I first wrote such a long report, I almost wanted to eat the pen,” Helena said with a smile, “So the typewriter is a good invention, why not use it?”

Vanna replied with a strange tone: “I always accidentally break it, and I’m not used to it.”

Helena’s smile became even more evident, and then she handed the parchment back to Vanna, casually saying, “I’ve already read all the reports you submitted about the historical pollution incident in Pland, including the part about the Vanished. Frankly, after experiencing such a drastic change, it’s not surprising that the city-state of Pland has become a place similar to a ‘vision.’ Although the birth process of this vision is extraordinary, being ‘extraordinary’ is the nature of anomalies and visions.”

She paused for a moment, and her expression gradually grew serious.

“However… having no number is a bit too extraordinary.”