Ashes Of Deep Sea Chapter 591

Chapter 591: Chapter 590 Long Dead Chapter 591: Chapter 590 Long Dead When Duncan opened the door to the captain's cabin, the “goat head” next to the navigation table immediately reacted–it seemed to lift its head in a state between sleep and wakefulness, slowly turning towards the door, then recognizing the figure that appeared.

“Ah, we meet again,” the pitch-black carving spoke with a peculiar slowness utterly unlike the goat head's usual incessant chatter, “You left in quite a hurry last time…”

“You still remember me?” asked Duncan, casually closing the door behind him and walking toward the navigation table.

He passed by an antique, oval-shaped mirror near the room's entrance, where hazy light and shadow began to stir, and Agatha's ghostly, translucent figure flashed across the mirror's surface.

The goat head on the table did not seem to notice Agatha's presence; its gaze remained fixed on Duncan, slowly turning its head in tandem with his steps. It spoke languidly, “I do remember you. Ah, this is indeed somewhat remarkable, considering I've forgotten so much… this clear sensation of remembering a person… truly wondrous.”

Duncan reached the navigation table and glanced down at the “sea chart” on it.

The chart still displayed the shadow of a lush forest, and the ethereal silhouette representing the Homeloss floated above the forest, moving slowly through the clouds as if surveying the entire woodland.

Duncan quickly compared the scene before him with the one in his memory, confirming that the “sea of trees” had not changed much since last time, except that Homeloss' position had indeed shifted significantly.

“I did indeed leave in a hurry last time,” Duncan nodded, speaking offhandedly as he sat down at the navigation table. His gaze swept over the nearby oval mirror, then naturally fell back onto the goat head, “How is Silantis doing?”

“She's sleeping very soundly now,” the goat head said slowly, “Last time… she was merely startled, I hope that hasn't caused you any trouble.”

“It's fine, I don't mind,” Duncan replied, placing his hand on the table and quietly, cautiously manipulating the power of fire.

In the periphery of his vision, wisps of faint green firelight appeared within the captain's cabin.

Duncan quickly controlled the spreading flames, keeping them subdued to prevent excessive stimulation of the “Silantis” the goat head referred to, meanwhile firmly confirming another matter in his mind.

The flames were not summoned by him just now, but were the “sparks” he had purposefully left on the Homeloss in the real world during the day.

As he suspected–the sparks left on the Homeloss in the real world could “burn through” the border between the Dreamscape and reality, appearing synchronously on this eerie Homeloss, and in this manner, transporting the flames here was akin to “smuggling” them into the Dreamscape. By carefully controlling their spread, they wouldn't overly agitate Silantis.

In a sense, these projected flames became an “intrinsic structure” of this mysterious Homeloss, no longer treated as an “alien disturbance” as the flames he summoned here last time had been.

Duncan exhaled lightly and commanded the flames to subside, to lie dormant, retreating back into the cracks between the deck, walls, and ceiling.

He had found a secure way to transport the flames here; by repeating this one or two times more, he might use the smuggled flames to burn through the entire eerie Homeloss, thus gaining complete control of the ship distorted from the shadow of the actual Homeloss.

The goat head showed no reaction to Duncan's actions–the quietly emerging flames in the room might as well have been nonexistent to it. It just stayed still, as if it were a genuine wooden carving, provided Duncan didn't strike up a conversation.

“Is Silantis always dreaming?” As Duncan sensed the slow migration of those sparks on the ship, he began to casually converse with the goat head on the table, “Is that whole forest outside part of Silantis' Dreamscape?”

“Outside?” The goat head shook its head slowly, “I don't know what you mean by 'outside' but Silantis is indeed always dreaming… she has been dreaming for a very, very long time. Those dreams indeed contain lush forests, along with… them.”

Duncan's interest was immediately piqued, “Who are 'they'?”

The goat head slightly bowed its head, as if about to slip back into a half-dream state. After a moment, however, it responded, “They are beings birthed within the forest–in the distant past, they gave their species a name, calling themselves the Elves…”

Duncan's eyes suddenly hardened–
This answer itself didn't surprise him, but at this moment, what he thought of was the words spoken by the goat head aboard the real Homeloss–“Remember them”!

The “they” mentioned by both goat heads must mean the same thing!

Remember them… why emphasize “remember”? And what caused the Goat Head to eventually forget “them”?

Duncan's expression changed several times in rapid succession as he quickly connected the clues, feeling almost certain about his bold speculation regarding the goat head's true identity. So, with a markedly solemn demeanor, he looked into the goat head's eyes.

“What is your name?” he asked.

The goat-headed creature gave no answer, instead uttering a series of indistinct mumbles, like the mumbling of someone in a dream.

“Are you Saslouka?” Duncan pressed on, undeterred by the lack of response, leaning slightly forward without realizing it, “The creator of legends among the Elves, the original crafter of Dreamscape, the creator and guardian deity of Silantis–Is your name Saslouka?”

The goat-headed creature's mumbled utterances suddenly ceased.

Its head swayed from side to side, seemingly responding to the name Duncan had mentioned. After several seconds of hesitation and contemplation, it finally raised its head–
“Saslouka is long dead, dead for a very long time ago.”

…
“They all died a very long time ago, when the world died, no creature could survive that day.”

The unending sandswept winds, like the cycles of fate, swept across the vast sand sea time and time again. The giant, wearing a ragged robe, sat down cross-legged among a cluster of grotesque and twisted rocks. His massive form seemed to intimidate the sands, causing the chaotic winds to halt several meters from the stone pile, preventing the dust from settling on the “Traveler.”

He continued to tell of past events.

Fenna sat across from the giant, a good listener, taking a brief respite.

The continuous “shadows,” resembling the ruins of a city, were now nearby; one could see them by merely lifting their gaze.

This journey had been shortened–Fenna could clearly feel it.

With the pace of ordinary walking, she and the giant couldn't possibly have reached the vicinity of the ruins in such a short time.

This incredible phenomenon was obviously related to the giant accompanying her–It seemed that by traveling with this giant, the “distance” of the journey would be shortened.

After reaching this realization, Fenna didn't hide her guess and shared her speculation with the giant.

The giant answered frankly: “In a single day, I can reach any corner of this 'world'. This is my ability because only then can I observe and record all the changes occurring in this world at any time–Observing and recording, that is my duty.”

He shook his head as he spoke, sighing with a hint of regret: “It's just that… now there's nothing left in this world worth observing or recording.”

Fenna lifted her head, staring blankly at the rubble of the ruins not far away.

It was indeed, as she had first guessed, the ruins of a city–Yet at first glance, she could hardly associate those ruins with a “city.”

They were a series of stacked grey-black boulders, rugged and bizarre stones spreading like a jungle across the sandy earth, showing no trace of their once architectural form, and almost no sign they had ever been sculpted by civilization.

Fenna could hardly imagine what kind of disaster could have reduced a magnificent city to such a state–As if the entire city had melted in an instant, with more than half of the material in the city vaporizing in the blink of an eye, and the remaining structures quickly melting and flowing only to solidify in the severe cooling that followed, forming the rugged boulders.

But if there truly had been an instance of high heat… Why would the vast lands outside the city turn into a sand sea?

Such intense heat would melt the sands, turning them into glass-like material. There wouldn't be a desert around the city, but rather a vast expanse of sintered obsidian ground.

Fenna wasn't the best in her cultural studies, but she knew this basic knowledge.

“What exactly happened to reduce the city to this state?” She couldn't help but ask the giant, “You just mentioned that the world has died… What killed this world?”

The giant bowed his head, his face lined like carved stone, his eyes like muddy flames, gazing into Fenna's eyes.

“Don't try to comprehend that apocalypse; it is beyond the mind of mortals, even beyond the wisdom of the gods–When it came, those who worshipped me sought my aid. I glanced at the apocalypse, and it seared through my intellect and soul, Traveler… That is not something describable by words.”

The giant said, slowly raising his hand, pointing to the blood-red fissure in the sky.

“The only thing I can tell you is that when the apocalypse came, 'Corrosions' that did not belong to this world swarmed out from that rift, shattering the ground beneath our feet in an instant, then painfully reassembling it. All of our glorious achievements, in the end, were reduced to dust by the Corrosion.”

Chapter end

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