Embers of the Deep

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Vigilance

Before the divine icon of Storm Goddess Gomona, blessed candles burned tranquilly, bathed in the Sky Light cascading down from the dome, making the City-State Bishop clad in a dark robe appear as though he was showered in divine grace.

Bishop Valentin thus raised his head amidst the light, quietly gazing into Fenna’s still resolute gray eyes. His words seemed to carry a form of Magic Power, and, faintly, Fenna heard the gentle sound of ocean waves undulating in her mind, followed by a thunderous rumble—With external forces aiding, the power of the goddess finally broke through the veil in her heart, exploding within.

Fenna abruptly gasped for air as if she had suddenly returned to land from drowning in deep water. Her chest heaved violently, and her heart thudded loudly; the omnipresent gaze of the deity pressed down upon her. In a semi-dazed state, she heard Valentin’s voice continue to reach her ears:

"Homeloss’s existence is recorded in history, and the foreboding dreams you’ve experienced are an objective reality. Given these two points, your normal reaction should have been to initially assume the existence of a threat and then seek a solution—but you just now subconsciously questioned whether Homeloss truly exists, indicating that you are subconsciously avoiding the message conveyed by the foreboding dream.

"Judge, your subconscious denial of Homeloss’s existence is proof that the ship really does exist—it seems it truly is nearing the boundaries of the civilized world." ƒrēewebnovel.com

Fenna felt a layer of fine sweat on her forehead, but the veil that had always obscured the connection between her and the goddess seemed to have disappeared, which eased her heart somewhat. The words of the City-State Bishop made her realize what had happened:

Without her realizing, she had already been influenced by Homeloss!

This is characteristic of many terrifying apparitions and anomalies: causing the toucher to become cognitively disordered, resulting in subconscious neglect and denial, and thus, growing increasingly influenced without awareness!

This kind of subconscious neglect and denial is a natural instinctive reaction for sentient beings to protect themselves, it is an aversion to danger. However, when in contact with anomalies, this instinctive reaction can become a source of complacency, ultimately leading to becoming an unwitting victim of apparitions and anomalies!

As a Judge who often dealt with transcendent forces, Fenna was well-versed in such knowledge, but she never thought that she would also fall into this type of "psychological trap"—had her strong willpower truly been ineffective?

"I don’t remember when I was influenced," she honestly said in front of the Bishop, a fellow devout believer. She did not shy away from this vulnerability she had exposed—being affected by an anomaly or apparition and falling into a psychological abnormality was a very normal occurrence, and shame or concealing it would be futile. "After awakening from the foreboding dream, I came straight here, without interacting with anyone or touching any books or relics along the way. I believe I haven’t been corroded by external influences."

"But you did, indeed, exhibit intentional avoidance of the foreboding dream just now... so the influence must have occurred even earlier," the Bishop said intently, watching Fenna’s face as if constantly observing any change in her gaze or fluctuations in her breath. "Have you recently come into contact with anything abnormal? It might be the contamination from Homeloss... leaving an anchor point in your subconscious early on."

"Recently..." Fenna furrowed her brow, then suddenly recalled the "sacrifice" fallen at the Black Sun ritual site, remembered the green flames flickering in the victim’s eyes, and her own severed finger.

Her eyes widened, staring intensely at the Bishop: "The other day, I led a team to clean up the Black Sun ritual site in the sewers, was there any report afterward about an unnamed contamination at the scene? Was there any report of a contaminated ’sacrifice’?"

The Bishop shook his head: "No, you sent those heretics to the Cathedral and went straight back afterward."

A chill went through Fenna’s heart: "Did anyone else who participated in that operation report anything of that sort?"

"There have been no reports— all the case files recorded only matters related to the Sun Heretic."

Under the divine icon of the goddess, the Bishop watched Fenna, and Fenna watched back.

"It seems we have found the initial ’landing’ point of the contamination," the Bishop sighed softly, his expression still calm, but his eyes seeming to brew a stormy force, "In the holy name of Gomona, Judge, are your memories of that night still clear and complete?"

Taking a deep breath, Fenna replied, "In the holy name of Gomona, I remember all details of that night."

The Bishop nodded, turned to light special incense, then placed the bronze incense burner at the foot of the divine icon while speaking in a steady voice, "What happened then?" freewebnøvel.com

Thus, Fenna laid bare everything that had occurred at the sewer ritual site from her memory—she didn’t miss any details. With the aid of the sacred incense, her memory and thoughts became clearer than ever, and the experiences of that night were as vivid as if relived...

She still remembered how the sacrificial victim suddenly opened their eyes, still remembered the green flames flickering within their eye sockets, she still remembered the flames falling onto her fingertips, yet she decisively performed purification. On her way back to the church, she silently told herself, "The contamination has been completely purified, the contamination has been completely purified, the contamination has been completely purified..."

Throughout the journey, she kept muttering that phrase to herself, and all the Guardians walking with her were muttering those words, too!

Nobody thought there was anything wrong with that!

Recalling it now, it was such a terrifying and bizarre scene—under the desolate night sky, a squad of the church’s Guardians walked through the silent and deserted streets, everyone constantly whispering the same phrase to themselves until they returned to the church.

And during this process, they still thought they were acting normally: guarding the newly caught heretics, cleaning up the polluted ritual site, escorting the heretics back...

"...’Spectral Flame’ falling on the soul, the physical-level purification brought about by severing limbs is ineffective; what you get is just a deceptive sense of comfort—the correct procedure is to immediately light incense, sprinkle holy oil on the ground to arrange a temporary sacred site, and then use the prayer ritual to summon the Goddess’s power for one’s ’spiritual’ purification."

"...It’s my fault," Fenna said heavily, "I should have been more vigilant, more alert."

"It’s a lapse, but not a mistake," the old man shook his head, "You possess great power, but as a Judge, you’re still slightly lacking in experience. Luckily you are now free of its influence, which means the ’contamination’ that lingered on that sacrificial victim was not very strong; it only caused you psychological interference... From the incense ritual just now, I could roughly gauge its strength."

He paused, seemingly pondering and judging something: "The Guardians who acted with you should have been less affected; they were just standing around you, their influence should rapidly fade with the prayers in the church.

"Overall, although the contamination you all experienced was sinister and peculiar, since the source was severed, the aftereffects are not frightful, as shown by your performance just now and the feedback from the incense; even if you didn’t come today, you would have realized something was amiss in a few days.

"What we need to worry about more is the future."

"The future..." Fenna repeated the Bishop’s last word, her expression slowly turning grave.

Yes, the future, this matter was not yet over.

The vision revealed by the prophetic dream was a warning descended from the Goddess—what she was currently dealing with was perhaps just the prelude to a storm.

"’Homeloss’ has not appeared within the civilized realm’s sight for many years; many believe it has returned to the Subspace, becoming one of the many shadows in the deepest reaches of the world, but now it seems, Captain Duncan’s obsession with the real world still persists."

Bishop Valentin slowly spoke, turning to gaze at the statue of the Storm Goddess.

"A century ago, ’Homeloss’ plunged into the depths of the Subspace; although there is no conclusive evidence, many eyewitness reports mentioned that a great storm was lingering in the nearby sea at the time—the ship’s fall was partly influenced by the storm...

"The Storm is my Lord’s domain."

Fenna furrowed her brow: "Do you think Captain Duncan wishes... to take revenge on the divine?"

"It’s hard to say—even for a ghost returning from the Subspace, seeking revenge against a deity is unimaginable. Deities reside in divine realms, divine realms hidden above reality, and it’s only logical for things in the world to fall from upper layers downward; never has it been heard that someone can travel upwards to the ’divine realm’ that is loftier than reality...

"But if Captain Duncan is seeking revenge on my Lord’s representatives on Earth... it’s highly possible.

"The sacred Storm Cathedral patrols the world on behalf of the Lord over the Endless Sea, mostly navigating in concealed routes, with no one being able to track its whereabouts; compared to that... the Plunder City-State is, besides the Storm Cathedral, the largest anchor point of faith for the Storm Goddess in the world... and it is an anchor point accessible to all.

"From this point of view, that revenge-seeking ghost choosing to land in the Plunder makes perfect sense."