Deep Sea Embers

In a world where everything was bathed in shades of gray and white, the shadowy Mirror Vanished, which veiled the Bright Star, moved silently through the corridor-like expanse. Its massive structure was surrounded by green flames that glowed with a ghostly light, creating a navigational link between the ship and its environment while Anomaly 077 piloted the vessel toward the Boundless Sea.

The voyage back seemed to drag on forever. The monochrome corridor stretched on indefinitely, presenting a dreary landscape devoid of any wind or noise outside the ship. Even though the crew was well-acquainted with this path, it felt as though they were making no progress, caught in an endless journey that everyone on board grew weary of.

The Bright Star functioned both as a cutting-edge exploration vessel and a mobile fortress for the sea witch. It housed numerous dangerous laboratories and workshops, making it a place not conducive to light-hearted pursuits.

Shirley, utterly bored, leaned against the railing, staring into the perpetual gray and white abyss. She mumbled to herself, “When will we ever arrive? It feels like we’ve been aimlessly floating in this void since we set out.”

“You’re not wrong,” Nina agreed, joining Shirley at the railing and letting out a deep sigh. “It does seem like we’ve spent most of our time just drifting here.”

After a brief silence, Shirley confessed, “I kind of miss the captain.”

“It hasn’t been that long since we were last with the captain,” Dog’s muffled voice came from the deck below them. He looked up at Shirley and remarked, “Weren’t you just saying yesterday how relieved you were to be free from someone constantly pestering you about reading and writing?”

“That’s different,” Shirley replied, looking at Dog with a conflicted expression. “I still feel… it’s complicated.”

Dog lowered his head, acknowledging Shirley’s difficulty in expressing her feelings.

Dog quickly raised his head, the green flames in his eye sockets flickering wildly. “Did you two feel that? It felt like the deck just shook.”

“Could we be approaching our destination?” Shirley speculated, her gaze shifting towards the horizon. A strange, indistinct line began to materialize within the gray and white. “Look, something is appearing!”

No sooner had Shirley spoken than another, stronger tremor shook the Bright Star. The entire ship trembled, and soft alarm bells rang out from different areas shrouded in the spectral illusion of the Mirror Vanished.

Alarmed, Shirley exchanged a concerned glance with Nina and rushed towards the stern’s control wheel.

As they sprinted, the chains of the dark abyss suddenly tightened, pulling Dog into the air before he could stand. Dangling and bouncing, he shouted, “Hey, Shirley, slow down! At least warn me first! Don’t rush off like this—”

But Shirley didn’t listen. She continued to drag Dog along as she ran across the deck, with Nina moving even quicker, like a swiftly darting flame.

When they reached the control wheel, they discovered Lucretia already there, intently monitoring the situation. Sailor, the helmsman, gripped the wheel tightly, his face marked by nervous confusion.

Nina hurried over to Lucretia and inquired anxiously, “Miss Lucretia, what happened?”

With a serious tone, Lucretia explained, “We are exiting the ‘corridor’ prematurely. We have not yet returned to the Boundless Sea.”

Although Shirley was not an expert in navigation, her experiences sailing the frontier made her acutely aware of the seriousness of their situation. Her eyes widened in alarm, “Ah?! Damn… Exiting prematurely means falling directly into chaos. It could take years to return…”

Lucretia paused, lost in thought for a moment, before addressing Sailor, “What’s the situation now? Can we still control it?”

Sailor responded quickly, “No, the corridor is collapsing, and we are veering off course—it’s as if some massive ‘target’ is interfering with it. I can only maintain the ship’s stability now. Be prepared; we are about to exit!”

Just as Sailor finished his explanation, a violent tremor, stronger and more sudden than the earlier ones, shook the Bright Star violently. It seemed as if the ship was flung several meters into the air before crashing back down onto the sea. Amid the thunderous roar, even Lucretia nearly stumbled. Simultaneously, the uniform gray and white ‘corridor’ seemed to rip apart from the force, disappearing from view.

Within seconds, an immense expanse of dense, chaotic fog surrounded them. Outside, a mirror-smooth sea surface shrouded in mist appeared. The Bright Star found itself adrift in this obscured ‘sea,’ directionless and unable to identify any landmarks or determine its position.

Visibly shaken, Shirley stared into the distance at the thick fog typical of the frontier seas and sighed deeply, “Ah, it’s over, we are still at the frontier…”

Lucretia, frowning and with a tone laden with concern, added, “Even worse, we’re not just at the frontier but outside the six-mile limit.” She peered into the swirling fog and continued, “If we were inside the six-mile limit, there might still be a chance to catch the civilized world’s radio signals, or at least find a way to ‘navigate’ back to the Boundless Sea. But beyond it…”

Sailor cut in grimly, “This time, ‘direction’ is completely useless.”

Agatha, materializing like a misty, ethereal figure on the deck, approached with an understanding of their plight and asked about their next steps, “Miss Lucretia, should we temporarily disengage the projection of the Vanished?”

After a moment’s consideration, Lucretia decided, “No, keep it for now. Although it’s just a projection, it’s still the shadow of the Vanished, which can provide some protection to the Bright Star in this eerie sea… Are you under a lot of stress?”

“I’m fine,” Agatha reassured her, shaking her head, “I can maintain it for a few more days easily. But it can’t be maintained indefinitely.”

“I understand,” Lucretia acknowledged gently. Her attention then shifted to something flickering deep within the fog—perhaps a ship’s lamp, or just an illusory glimmer of hope?

“There’s something there!” Shirley exclaimed, her excitement palpable as she jumped up and pointed into the distance. “There’s something flashing over there!”

“Head that way,” Lucretia decided after a brief moment of contemplation.

She knew this decision was somewhat impulsive. This area, the frontier beyond the crucial six-mile limit, was not governed by the protective influence of the Four Gods’ nodes or the temporal and spatial safeguards known as “navigation lines.” Any phenomena they encountered here could be perilous—be it a transient breeze, a deceptive illusion, or a siren-like whisper.

Venturing towards an unidentified presence in this frontier zone carried significant risks. Yet, with the Bright Star having prematurely exited the navigational corridor and now hopelessly adrift beyond the essential boundary, swallowed by a relentless dense fog and possibly surrounded by emerging time rifts and enigmatic “entities” that could be just as dangerous, they seemed to have no other option.

The flickering light in the fog might be a “drifting object” that had originated within the six-mile limit, and approaching it could potentially offer a route back to the Boundless Sea.

Guided by Sailor’s skilled handling, the Bright Star, surrounded by spectral flames, slowly adjusted its course, inching closer to the shimmering light deep within the fog.

As they approached, the light remained consistent, growing clearer instead of dissipating into the mist.

Lucretia breathed a sigh of relief, but her anxiety soon surged anew.

The light was real, not an illusion—it was a tangible entity, a mysterious object drifting through the fog-laden sea…

What kind of ominous object could it be?

Lucretia glanced back toward the deck, reassured by the thought that under the protective guise of the Vanished’s mirrored counterpart, combined with the Bright Star’s formidable arsenal and unique capabilities, they were well-prepared to face whatever awaited them.

Her father’s critical mission was far from complete, and she was resolute not to perish en route home for an unknown cause.

Other crew members emerged from below deck and gathered on the aft deck, quickly catching up on the situation through the updates provided by Shirley and Nina. They too began to anxiously watch the light as it grew steadily clearer through the dense fog.

Suddenly, as if the fog momentarily thinned, the light and the silhouette behind it became distinctly visible.

Using the lens embedded in his face, Morris was the first to make out the shape behind the light, and his expression subtly changed.

It was a ship.

A frontier exploration vessel, distinguished by the unique features of a paddle wheel power system and a ghostly half-body.

It was the Bright Star.

A silence fell over the deck, and after a short pause, many eyes turned to Lucretia.

“…It looks familiar,” Shirley murmured quietly.

Snapping out of her daze, Lucretia realized—

“That’s the Bright Star… from a long time ago, when I first crossed the critical six-mile limit.”