Chapter 96 “Peering”

This Translation is hosted on bcatranslation.com

In the cozy, well-organized captain’s quarters aboard the Vanished, Duncan gently awoke from a state of meditation, his arms folded neatly across his torso. Taking a brief moment to reorient himself, he surveyed his surroundings with a familiarity that only a captain could possess. Sensing no immediate discomfort or ailments, he exhaled a subdued sigh of relief.

Duncan then transitioned his primary focus back to the reality aboard the ghostly vessel. Simultaneously, he maintained control of another body—his physical self—that was left behind in the city-state of Pland. This secondary version of Duncan was awkwardly navigating the aisles of an antique store he owned there. Methodically, he tidied up the ground floor, dusting off antiques and realigning artifacts, before hanging a “Closed” sign on the shop’s front door.

Returning his full attention to the ship, Duncan rose from his chair, extending his arms and legs in a satisfying stretch. His eyes were immediately drawn to his desk, where his pet dove was casually walking along the edge. Adjacent to the bird was a mysterious sun mask, its golden exterior shimmering in an almost otherworldly way as the last rays of the setting sun penetrated through the window. The mask seemed alive, its intricate patterns glowing as if charged by some ethereal energy.

Back in the city-state of Pland, the secondary Duncan took a moment after hanging the “Closed” sign to converse with a neighbor who was returning home. He exchanged pleasantries and chit-chatted about the day’s weather and the current economic environment. Though his facial expression was a bit rigid and his speech not as fluid as it once was, the neighbor didn’t think much of it. They still remembered Duncan as a man who had once battled gambling addiction and alcoholism, and in their eyes, his current respectable life was surprising enough. A touch of awkwardness seemed trivial in comparison to his transformative journey.

Back aboard the Vanished, a soft smile curved Duncan’s lips. Content that he had managed the social interaction in Pland remotely without arousing suspicion, he turned his attention back to the sun mask on his desk.

The immediate tasks in Pland had limitations, particularly due to the city-state’s stringent curfew laws. Nighttime was most convenient for Duncan’s “original” self to be active aboard the Vanished. Duncan had plans to make the most of this isolation by closely studying the mysterious sun mask, a recent acquisition from a Suntist priest.

The mask was cool and heavy, suggesting it was crafted from a material of substance, possibly pure gold. Holding it in his hands triggered a flurry of thoughts. His pragmatic side wondered if the mask could be melted down and sold for a handsome profit. Though he had managed to stave off immediate financial woes in Pland, additional resources were always beneficial in the complicated machinery of human society.

Contemplating further, Duncan considered the other potential gains from the Suntist community. Information could be mined, bounties could be claimed by reporting them, and magical artifacts could be secured for personal objectives. If any items lacked immediate usefulness, it seemed entirely rational to repurpose them for monetary gain. After all, Duncan knew that resources—be they monetary, informational, or mystical—were tools for survival in a world full of unpredictability.

Caught in a moment of deep thought, Duncan found himself stroking his chin as he mused, “These Suntists are veritable gold mines from head to toe.”

His pet dove Ai, who until that moment had been aimlessly wandering around the table, abruptly stopped and tilted her head toward Duncan. In a surprisingly sharp, feminine voice, she blurted out, “Have some compassion, have some compassion!”

“Irrelevant input from a bird,” Duncan retorted, glancing at Ai dismissively. “You’re not qualified to pass judgment on me.” With that, he readied his fingertips to summon ethereal flames, intending to purify the sun mask from the inside out. He wanted the mask clear of any possible lingering energies before conducting any serious tests or studies on it.

Eerie green flames flickered to life at the tips of his fingers. Just as he was about to channel this magical energy into the mask, he heard a soft, almost inaudible whisper that seemed to emanate from the core of his being: “…This could potentially connect them to the Vanished…”

Startled, Duncan froze in his tracks.

He looked toward Ai and queried, “Did you hear any voices just now?”

Pausing briefly, the dove responded by flapping its wings and breaking into an entirely discordant melody: “Listen~ to the cries of the sea~ lamenting over another broken heart~”

“Enough, enough, enough! I shouldn’t have asked,” Duncan snapped, annoyed. He felt that talking to this bird was like wrestling with the unpredictable phenomena of quantum physics—neither communication nor interpretation was clear or exact. After shushing the dove, Duncan refocused his energies, attempting to recapture that elusive sensation, that mysterious ‘whisper’ that had momentarily seized his attention.

He was certain he hadn’t imagined it. The voice had been young yet infused with a strange solemnity. Concurrently, he also detected a nebulous ‘link,’ much weaker than the psychic bond he had with his other body in Pland but undeniably real.

Choosing to put the golden mask aside for the time being, Duncan turned his attention to the green ethereal flames that still flickered at his fingertips. He felt that this fragile connection he sensed was somehow related to the elemental fire he had summoned.

Carefully, he closed his eyes, tuning into the ‘directional’ guidance emanating from the flames. In the shroud of darkness that enveloped him, he perceived a faint glimmer of light materialize before him.

The light vaguely resembled a ‘window,’ and behind that window, indistinct figures seemed to be moving. Duncan couldn’t make out the details or hear any sounds emanating from the other side, yet he felt a sense of purpose from the flames guiding him.

He opened his eyes and looked in the direction where the ethereal light had briefly shone. To his surprise, he saw an ordinary mirror hanging beside the door of his quarters. It was a simple, oval-shaped mirror encased in a dark wooden frame—utterly mundane and void of any supernatural attributes, exactly like something one would find in any typical home.

Yet, something told Duncan that this mundane mirror could be more than it appeared, especially given the mystical flames and the elusive ‘connection’ he had just sensed.

Duncan sensed that the ethereal flame he had conjured needed a medium to strengthen the delicate connection he had just discovered. Recalling the ephemeral vision and the directional guidance he had sensed, he suspected that the unassuming mirror hanging beside the door might serve as that medium.

Mirrors have a long-standing symbolic association with insight and divination in various mystical traditions. They’re considered not just reflective surfaces but extensions of one’s cognitive capabilities, enabling vision into realms otherwise obscured from ordinary perception.

Duncan walked up to the mirror, extending his hand so that the flickering green flame came into contact with the glass surface. As if guided by some unseen law, the ethereal fire spread across the glass, swirling and cascading like liquid light. A channel of shimmering, green-tinged light appeared on the surface, coalescing into the same ‘window’ he had glimpsed in his earlier moment of darkness. Compelled by curiosity, he leaned in for a closer examination.

In the quivering play of this luminous portal, Duncan saw an interior space warmly lit by lamps. A tall woman, her back turned to the window, was engrossed in reading a document in the dying daylight. She seemed blissfully unaware of the spectral observer on the other side of the glass.

The woman, named Vanna, was meticulously scanning each line of the document she held. It was a formal announcement collectively crafted by bishops from various city-states and then ratified by the Pope at the Storm Cathedral. This intricate process was conducted in a state of psychic resonance, a means of long-distance collaboration shielded and sanctified by the Storm Goddess to eliminate any risk of corruption by outside forces or anomalies.

The message served a singular, urgent purpose: to alert sailors navigating the Boundless Sea about a high-level anomalous object that had broken free from the confines of civilization and control.

Such warnings were not trifling matters. Anomalies don’t simply vanish when loosed upon the open sea. The deep ocean might be a great devourer, but anomalies remain exceptions to this rule. They frequently become maritime specters, haunting the outskirts of known routes and posing severe threats to sailors, much like predatory wolves lurking around a herd of sheep. Uncontrolled encounters with such anomalies often resulted in sailor deaths, year after year.

As stewards of such knowledge and the appointed sealers of these dangerous anomalies, it fell to the Storm Church to broadcast this information. It wasn’t a smear on their reputation but a moral imperative, a sacred duty they owed to the people.

Normally, such announcements were disseminated to port authorities within 24 hours of an incident occurring. However, the disclosure concerning “Anomaly 099” had suffered a delay. It wasn’t just about this particular anomaly; it also implicated something referred to as Vision 005. This required the Pope and the bishops to exercise extreme caution, carefully calibrating the language to provide accurate information while avoiding unwanted scrutiny from the ethereal entity known as Vision 005.

As Vanna reviewed the document, she rigorously ensured that each word and sentence resonated with the sacred and intangible structure of prayer. This meticulous exercise was aimed at avoiding the notice of the captain of the ghost ship known as Vision 005.

But in that moment, hidden within a sliver of light and shadow on her window, Duncan was surreptitiously eavesdropping on the document’s contents. Had the captain of the ghostly ship known about this, he would undoubtedly have been both shocked and intrigued.

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