Deep Sea Embers

The familiar car overturned on the road, as if there was an accident on the way to the cathedral, and her uncle was obviously in the car—Vanna's spirit, which was already in a trance due to exhaustion, tensed up at this moment , and rushed to the side of the car almost in the blink of an eye.

Then, she suddenly noticed that the arm that fell out of the car window was twitching slightly, and the blood-soaked palm seemed to lift a little as she approached.

Uncle is alive!

Fan Na reacted in an instant, and hurried forward with one hand to stabilize the posture of the car, while the other hand pinched the deformed door frame, and then leaned in to prop up the deformed internal structure while checking Dante's injuries. He rescued his uncle from the car while trying not to cause secondary damage, and then immediately cast a magical spell. With the support of the little energy left, he called out the sea breeze of Lanze, trying to bring the vitality back to the already insane Dante's body.

The almost suffocating hot wind is still raging on the street, the scorching ashes and falling sparks make the city-state look like a purgatory, Fanna spreads the power of protection around her, resisting the deadly environment around her with strong coercion, she After putting Dante flat on the ground, after some rescue, I finally saw this relative who had been dependent on me for 11 years opened his eyes slightly.

"Ah... Fanna... you're back..."

These were the first words Dante said after opening his eyes.

"Yes, I'm back." Fan Na didn't notice what was wrong with Dante's "I'm back" at the first moment, but subconsciously stepped forward and held Dante's hand, "How do you feel now? You can still get up Is it? I'll take you to the cathedral..."

"No... don't bother me as a burden," Dante shook his head slightly, he held Fan Na's hand instead, and exerted a slight force on his fingertips, "I should have thought that one day...they would come and take it away." This price...you leave quickly, before they find you...leave Purand, go to a place where no one knows you..."

Hearing her uncle's whisper, Fan Na was startled suddenly, she suddenly realized that her uncle seemed to know something that even she didn't know, which made her tone tremble a little: "What do you mean? Who are they referring to? What price will they take away? You... don’t you know what happened in the city-state long ago?!”

Dante raised his eyelids, his prosthetic eye made of ruby ​​was broken at some point, blood flowed down from the wound on the edge of the eye socket, and the only remaining human eyeball reflected the fire in the street. After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke softly: "Finish missionaries... and the subspace behind them... Fanna, do you still remember the fire 11 years ago?"

"The fire 11 years ago..." Fan Na opened her eyes slightly, "Do you actually remember that fire?!"

"How can I not remember...it burns before my eyes every day," Dante showed a wry smile, "I thought I could lie to myself for the rest of my life."

Chaotic thoughts boiled in her head, Fanna seemed to forget her tiredness and pain at this moment, she stared closely at her uncle's eyes that had begun to cloud, and thoughts about the fire, the black sun, subspace and All kinds of information about Preacher Final Yan, before these clues almost buried herself, she finally asked: "But what does this have to do with subspace and Preacher Final Yan...and me, what does this have to do with me?" Contact? Why 'they, come to me? What the hell are they going to take' price,!?"

After Fanna uttered this series of questions, she felt a little regretful. She felt that she was not talking to her uncle, but as if she was judging a prisoner, but Dante obviously didn't care about this. Said in a low voice: "When the fire was burning, I glimpsed... a ray of projection in the subspace. When the ultimate and dangerous truth came, I made a wish to the subspace."

"You made a wish in the subspace?" Fanna looked at Dante in astonishment, "What wish?"

"I hope nothing happened, I hope you... come alive."

All the expressions on Fan Na's face froze instantly.

Dante quietly stared at the niece in front of him, his face seemed to be crying, but with a bitter smile, he slowly raised his hand, as if wanting to stroke Fanna's hair, his lips moved , with a low voice: "Fanna... you grew up
I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, uncle is useless, back then... I couldn't save you..."

"But I remember you took me away from the fire..."

"The only thing I brought out from the fire was a mass of ashes," Dante said softly, "It was just a matter of an instant, there was no time to react, and you turned into a small mass of burnt ashes... I was crazy I want to escape from that nightmare, I want to bring everything back to before the disaster, anyone can help me, even gods, demons, even subspace... Then, something responded to my call Wish, it took me many years after that to understand what was responding to me at that moment..."

Fan Na seemed to be unable to hear what Dante was saying behind her.

She just slowly raised her hands and looked at her flesh and blood body.

After some time, she finally broke the silence: "So, in a sense, my survival is actually the result of the blessing of the subspace?"

Dante closed his eyes slightly, he couldn't answer this question, he could only acquiesce in this way.

"Then...how did I become a saint?" Fanna asked immediately, she was asking her uncle, but she seemed to be asking herself, "How could the Goddess of Storms allow an Insubspace Bless those who survived to become their own believers, and even bestow great power and protection?"

"I...I don't know," Dante slowly shook his head, "Maybe only the goddess can answer your question, but...how about us..."

Fan Na remained silent, her thoughts were more chaotic than ever, the belief that had supported her for so many years had an irreparable crack at this moment, and she didn't know how to face her own beliefs, and even how to face her own feelings. "Existence", but after a moment of silence, she slowly stood up, and said softly as if talking to herself: "In any case, someone must stop this invasion of reality, and must... let everything we are familiar with return to reality." real world."

"Fanna, you're going to die," Dante's eyes widened suddenly, he tried his best to prop up his upper body, "You can't stay here anymore, the foundation of reality here is breaking, you have to leave Purand, get out of this vision until it fades from your memory—listen, if your survival is truly the result of the blessings of the Warp, then correcting history may well lead to your own annihilation, such Paradoxical conflicts are not something mortals can..."

Fan Na just watched her uncle quietly, her gaze was gentle and calm.

"Uncle, didn't you say that you love this city-state and everything in it?"

Dante was silent for a while, and a resolute expression returned to his face: "...Of course, so I will stay here and face fate with the city-state. I am prepared whether I survive or die in the end, but... But you're different, Vanna, you can't..."

"Me too," Fanna interrupted softly, "I love this place too, and I'm ready for everything... Just like what you taught me since I was a child, responsibilities lie."

Dante quietly looked at Fanna standing in front of him, and at his only relative in this world. The figure of the latter was as tall as ever, resolute and steady like a seawall ready to face huge waves.

He knew that his words would no longer matter.

So he sighed softly, supported himself with the last of his strength, slowly moved aside, and leaned against a nearby street lamp.

"Then go," he said softly, "I'm here...waiting for your return."

Fan Na lowered her head and looked at her uncle in front of her.

In her memory, her uncle is still a tall and resolute mountain, but since when has he been so much shorter than herself?

She bent down slightly, her voice was low and gentle: "...If all goes well, the Prand you are familiar with will return to the real world. At that time...don't forget me."

Dante didn't say anything, just nodded slightly.

Vanna straightened up.

However, at the next moment, a disturbing vibration suddenly came from a distance, interrupting her movements, and then, there was a terrifying loud noise, and the toothache, the structure of the building was torn and collapsed Screeching sound.

Fan Na looked at the voice in astonishment.

She has never felt fearful and uneasy like this moment, and the scene reflected in her eyes in the next second confirmed the source of this uneasy.

She saw a burst of flames shooting into the sky from the direction of the cathedral. The air waves from the explosion almost dispersed the scorching smoke in the sky, followed by a dazzling and weird flash, as if a small sun was gradually rising from the ground. To devour and melt down everything from the bottom up.

Immediately afterwards, something even more terrifying happened.

She heard more explosions, more piercing noises, and she saw one after another soaring flames rising from all over the city-state, huge fireballs floating above the sea of ​​fire like rounds of small suns, and that Every position where the fireball rises represents a church.

Even when the city was melted by fire, the continuous bells finally stopped gradually, and the isolated islands of shelter in the city-state fell one after another.

Fan Na felt that her mind was almost blank for a while, and in the next second, she was driven by instinct to rush towards the direction of the largest flash of light, towards the Storm Cathedral in the center of Prand.