Deep Sea Embers

The gods with supreme power live in the cornerstone of this world, watching the operation of this world with a vision that transcends time and space, and the devout believers who convert to the gods with spiritual power will, to a certain extent, see from the secret connection between themselves and the gods. The direction of some reality in the future, or the changes that are taking place in an unknown corner of the world at this moment.

This kind of peeping is not bound by time and space, and there is an implied risk of being eroded by the warp, but for those devout believers, this dangerous and powerful force is exactly what they use to protect this endless ocean. The biggest reliance when lighting a fragile civilization.

The devout Inquisitor has seen a similar vision for days in a row.

In half-dreaming, she saw that the boundless ocean was dyed with a layer of ink, and then a thunderous noise came from the depths of the sea. The flaming gigantic ship rose from the seabed and slowly floated up in mid-air like an airship. Another invisible giant covered in starlight followed behind the gigantic ship, walking towards the direction of the city-state of Perand step by step.

In Inquisitor Vanna's life so far, there have been only two "omens" of such magnitude and scale.

The first occurred in childhood, when she woke up from a blood-filled nightmare, then lost her parents to a cult attack, and was left with the scar that lasted her life.

The second time happened four years ago. In her dream, she saw a dark sun rising under the city-state, which wiped out the largest stronghold of the Sun God sect infiltrating the city-state. Scattered minions are still hiding in the vast complex and ancient tunnel system beneath the Plant, and they are entangled in meaningless entanglements with the guardians of the church.

For the third time, she saw a ship return from the deep sea and bring an indescribable giant into the world.

She lied to the priest in front of her—the omens she saw were actually very clear, so clear that she, the judge, could lose sleep for days.

The pastor looked at the quiet gray-white eyes of the lady in front of him, and after hesitating for a long time, he said, "But you prayed to God, and it seems that you didn't receive any bad feedback?"

"...The goddess doesn't necessarily remind you of all the risks. Sometimes hardships are just trials," Fanna said calmly. "Stop talking about this. What news is there from the Explorers' Association?"

The pastor nodded immediately: "The contact person from the association has just contacted, and the relics left at the association headquarters have sensed that the ship appeared in the southwest waters, but there seems to be a problem with the telegraph device on the ship, and it is currently in a state of being unable to communicate. It can only be determined that the ship was approaching the coast of Pland at normal speed and course."

"...disappeared in the perception of the sacred object for a time, and then appeared out of thin air on another sea surface that was far away from the scheduled route. The current state was unable to contact, and it drove straight to the city-state...and was performing the task of escorting the abnormal object before losing contact. ," The judge's brows furrowed a little, the intuition brought by dealing with strange things all year round was beating, making her vigilant, "I remember that the ship is called the White Oak?"

"Yes, the White Oak, the captain is Lawrence Creed, a member of the Explorers' Association, an experienced captain. Due to the special cargo, the ship reported to the church before sailing from the city-state of Renza." The pastor said while recalling, "By the way, the accompanying pastor on that ship is a registered priest of the Church of the Storms."

"Church compatriots... I hope the situation is not too bad," Fanna said solemnly, "In short, the situation of that ship is not quite right. The entire route from Rensa to Prand is under the control of the Explorers' Association. 'Stable area', but the ship had disappeared from relic perception... I suspect that the White Oak may have briefly left the real world, and even... may have gone somewhere it shouldn't.

"Notify the port guards to keep an eye on the White Oak immediately after entering the port, and no one or anything can leave the ship until all inspections are completed - is there any response from the security forces?"

"Please rest assured, your uncle... Your Excellency the Consul has ordered the sheriffs to control the perimeter of the port and raised the alert level of the port. From now until the alert is lifted, all ships entering and leaving Prand will be temporarily on the west side. alternate port calls.”

"That's good—uncle has always been a cautious person," Fanna's tense expression finally relaxed a little, "as long as he doesn't let the ordinary people in the security forces get involved in this matter."

The priest looked at Fanna's gray eyes, carefully selected his words, and said, "Do you think... that ship has been 'contaminated'?"

"It's not certain yet, but even if a ship that briefly leaves the real world eventually returns, it is rarely completely normal. It may be that some items on the ship have been unknowingly alienated and become 'abnormal', which may be hidden in the hearts of the crew. Mental illness in the depths, maybe even extra sailors and replaced captains... It is always right to report the highest vigilance on ships that have experienced abnormal phenomena."

"Alas... I hope that the ship and its crew are all well," the priest couldn't help but put his hands across his chest, chanting the name of the Goddess of Storms, "May the Goddess of Storms protect those who bravely challenge the sea."

"May they all be well," Fanna lowered her eyelids and gave a soft blessing, and then seemed to remind the priest in front of her, "But if they unfortunately fail to 'well,' we have to be prepared."

"Yes, I understand."

Fanna nodded, but just as she was about to refocus on the city outside the window, a rush of footsteps suddenly came from the direction of the stairs.

The next moment, a guardian wearing a black-bottomed silver-bordered uniform with the emblem of waves and a dagger on his chest ran up the stairs quickly.

"Your Majesty Judge!" The young guard took a deep breath and said in a hurried tone, "We found a cult sacrificial base for the worship of the Sun God in the sewers, and we even caught a group of believers!"

Fana's expression suddenly became more serious: "Those cultists who worship the dark sun? Wait, you said that what you found was a sacrificial site...not a hiding place? They dare to hold sacrificial activities again?!"

"Yes, it is the place where the ritual was held, and we have found evidence that the ritual was held," the guard said quickly, "and also found a large number of victims in the crypt not far from the ceremony site - among them large numbers of victims. Most of them have already had their hearts sacrificed. It's just... that something is wrong over there at the sacrifice site."

Fanna saw the look of absurdity and confusion on the guardian's face. She picked up the heavy sword that was blessed by the goddess of the storm from the side, and quickly walked towards the stairs while carrying it on her back. : "Lead the way, I will go to the scene myself."

"Yes!"

The heavy blessing sword and the metal shoulder armor made a crisp crashing sound, and hurriedly walked through the long stairs in the clock tower. Fanna came to the small square in front of the clock tower and saw that several guards had gathered. Standby here, two steam walking machines are parked on the edge of the square, and the sound of clicking is constantly coming from the spider-like mechanical body.

Fanna didn't stop, just gave the guards a sign to go, and went straight to one of the walking machines - this huge machine about the size of two two-wheeled carriages was like a mechanical spider lying on the ground, its steel limbs. Wheels for sliding on flat ground and steel hooks for special environments are installed on the edge, while on both sides of the upper shell of the walker are the firing cockpits with rotary guns.

It is difficult for pure technological creations to cause enough influence on "abnormalities" or "visions", but the crushing firepower can kill the heretics who hide behind and control the abnormality - of course, this thing is not very effective in the sewers. Power, it can be used to block doors, but it is quite useful.

Splattered with holy 8mm bullets, a horde of heretics trying to escape could be sent to serve their Lord in the Warp in the blink of an eye.

The gray-haired and gray-eyed Inquisitor jumped directly into the carapace of the walker, and stood firmly in the dark with his long sword on his back. The other two guards climbed to the firing cockpits on both sides of the carapace, followed by a The series of cylinders and compression pipes made the sound of pressurizing and depressurizing, and white steam was ejected from the joints of the walking machines. The huge mechanical spider immediately got up, jumped to the nearest main road in one step, and quickly flew in a sliding mode. Rush to the nearest sewer entrance.

(It’s time to push the book again, the title of the book is “Into Unscientific”, a black science and technology article by Xueba, I’ve been bouncing around several times after milking, and now it’s almost 1.4 million words to order. If you are interested, you can check it out)