Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 129 “Dark Night”

Duncan didn’t know why, but he got this sensation that something had changed with the ship. What’s the word? Satisfaction? Yes, that’s the word best to describe the mood of the Vanished as it sailed at top speed against the waves.

Strolling the deck as he watched the ghostly sails drumming against the nonexistent wind, he raised his head and looked up at the towering mast. Then he knocked on the railing and said thoughtfully: “You are also bored with the aimless drifting, right?”

The Vanished did not answer him, only slightly creaking under the stress of the waters from below deck. But the ship didn’t need words; instead, it had ropes that slithered across the deck like a snake to dangle beside Duncan.

“…… That’s not cute you know, it’s even a little scary,” Duncan glanced at the snakish cable in front of himself, “is this how you scared Alice the last time?”

The cable swayed in place twice and quickly slipped away like a guilty child.

Heaving a small breath, Duncan wanted to enjoy the fresh breeze at night when a sudden jerk of his power hit him. It’s from afar, much further away than what’s on the ship. At first, he didn’t react but realized it was directly coming Pland. In the city-state, there are only several individuals that he’s marked, and this time it’s in Nina’s room next door.

Without hesitation, he allowed his consciousness to float into the darkness, feeling his way to the source. He assumed it may be his niece’s mark calling for help, but it turns out it wasn’t – it’s actually Shirley’s….

What happened to Shirley?!

Without a second delay, Duncan shifted the main focus of his mind back to the second body inside the antique shop. Rushing up, he lightly knocked on the girl’s door to no avail. There’s no movement inside.

After a brief hesitation, the man knew he couldn’t wait any longer as Shirley’s mark cried out again. So he pushed the door open and entered – just like when she was a child, Nina always slept without locking the door.

The bedroom was dark, with only the shimmering light of the street lamp from the window illuminating the outline of things. As far as Duncan could tell, there was nothing abnormal here.

Shirley and Nina were sleeping quietly on the bed, one head facing the other end, and the other had her leg up against the former’s belly.

The sleeping position is very artistic….

Of course, Duncan wasn’t interested in paying attention to the sleeping positions of the two girls. Instead, he’s more worried about the crumpled forehead on Shirley’s face and the squirming black line swimming around the girl’s arm.

Duncan didn’t like what he saw. Activating the mark he left on Shirley, he intends to use the special properties of his ghost fire to find the source of “erosion” in the room.

Immediately, a tiny green flame rose up beside the bed to illuminate the surroundings. However, the flame only flickered a few times before eventually staying in place.

There is no erosion in the room….

Duncan’s brow furrowed even deeper, and he moved closer to observe Shirley’s pained expression.

Because he wasn’t sure how much the ghost fire affected the living, he couldn’t directly release a large area of flame to “scan” the entire room like in the factory. Still, even a little spark from his ghost flame should draw a reaction if there’s anything here.

The erosion…. is not in the real world? Then the spirit world? Or is it something else?

Duncan swiftly went over the possibilities, thinking up what options he had to choose from. Then quickly running back to his own bedroom next door, he yanked the dove who was napping by the windowsill.

“Wake up, we’re spirit walking.”

After a series of “cooing” protests from Ai, Duncan once again entered the dark tunnel with the endless starlight. He first calmed his mind, then allowed his consciousness to fly towards what he wanted. Unlike the mark he left on the White Oak steamship and Vanna, Shirley’s mark was intentionally made by him, meaning it was far more stable and easier to connect in here.

…….

Shirley shot open her eyes and found herself sleeping in a familiar yet unfamiliar bedroom.

Touching her temple to get the lightheadedness from her mind, she slowly crawled up from the sleeping position to scan the room. Gradually, memories of where she was surfaced, sending her eyes into a wide angering shock.

Jumping in a fury, she got out of bed and swore a long verse of curses in the air: “Damn, damn it, damn it…! XXXXX it’s this again, it’s this again!!”

Unlike in reality, where she’s wearing Nina’s passed-down pajamas, Shirley had on a light pink pajama here, and her voice had devolved into an immature version found only in her memories….

“Don’t XXX torture me anymore! Don’t XXX torture me anymore!”

Shirley roared the phrase over and over again in the darkness, her limbs punching and kicking at the mottled planks of the wall. She even tried to bite at the doorknob to force it open. Sadly, try as she might, the younger version of the girl could do nothing but whimper at the doorway, watching painfully as the morning light slowly seeped through the crack.

Eventually, a series of faint footsteps reached her ears from the other side of the door, then came a gentle and familiar voice: “Shirley, Shirley? Are you up? Still angry?”

Shirley’s body visibly trembled at her mother’s voice, those eyes drawing beads of tears as she greedily clung to the door like it would allow her to see the other person.

“Shirley, your dad and I are going to buy you a cake. It’s our baby’s birthday after all… When we come back, you won’t be angry anymore, okay?”

“Don’t go…” Shirley cried out, then the crying turned to desperate yells, “DON’T GO… DON’T LEAVE!!! DON’T LEAVE ME! I BEG YOU, DON’T LEAVE MEEEE!!!!”

She finally lost it and started wailing like a baby that she was in this dream: “DON’T XXXX GO! DON’T GO OUT! DON’T GO OUT THERE!!!!”

However, time continued to flow as it did in the memory engraved inside her mind. Eventually, the folks outside left, followed by the rustling sound of the woman grabbing a purse, then the gearing turning sound of a key turning inside the front door.

Shirley crumbled to the floorboard after hearing the final click of her parent’s departure, signaling the start of the countdown.

When her heartbeat reached one thousand and two hundred times, the exclamation of fire came from afar.

When her heartbeat reached one thousand and six hundred, the pungent smell of smoke penetrated through the cracks in the door.

By the time her heartbeat reached one thousand and eight hundred, the streets were filled with the frenzied lights of red like the entire city had been thrown into molten magma.

When her heartbeat finally hit two thousand, a heavy, muffled bang smashed through the front door – the same kind of sound of a giant beast crashing through the entrance and prowling about inside her home.

Afterward, the door to her own room finally fell down as well – the very door that Shirley couldn’t make a dent in. It’s now shredded apart like paper.

A terrifying creature had appeared there. Pitched black and oozing with dark miasma around the bony structure, this was a dark hound that was not her Dog, and right now, it has found the six-year-old girl in front of it as the perfect target to kill.

Shirley calmly stared at the dark hound that had appeared in front of her. She knows this wasn’t her friend but the perfect replication of the past she experienced.

The hound stepped into the room, followed closely by the crunching sound of meat and flesh….

Despite having one of her limbs being devoured, Shirley didn’t move, nor did she scream at the piercing pain. In fact, her entire existence had become a numbing blob of nothingness as she recalled how long it took for the dark hound to become her Dog. Was it a day? Or a week?

Gradually, her consciousness gradually faded until the dark dream started to blur inside her peripheral vision. But suddenly, her eyes picked up on a figure next to the bed, a deeper shadow that’s not supposed to be there!

From what she could tell, the figure seemed to have been there the entire time and didn’t just pop out suddenly. This shouldn’t be possible, at least not according to the countless times she had endured this torturous nightmare.

“I did not intend to pry.” The gloomy and majestic figure finally spoke as a spark of green flame came to life, revealing the face behind the shadow.

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