Chapter 645

Chapter 645: .

The flames rose.

It was as if a fountain of fire as tall as a mountain burst out in the darkness. The last remains of the World Tree turned at once into ash and phantom in the flames. Then the fire wound and flowed, spreading through the dark, chaotic space into a boundless sea of fire. That sea of fire burned away the last borders of the Nameless One’s dream and drove all things back to their “proper place” in the Mortal Realm.

The Boundless Sea appeared. Its endless waters rippled with tiny waves beneath the heaving flames. The sky appeared, pushing back the darkness above the fire and slowly brightening. The city-state appeared. It took solid shape as the flames surged upward, and as the flames faded, every lamp within it slowly lit up.

The whole world seemed to rise out of the darkness, slowly emerging from the sea of fire and once more merging with the Mortal Realm. Duncan stood at the bow of the Vanished and watched it all. For some reason, he suddenly recalled the ancient Elven legend: in Saslokar’s first dream, all things in the world were shaped out of dark chaos.

What he saw before him looked like that “Genesis Protocol” from the legend happening once again.

And at the end of the Genesis Protocol, sunlight appeared over the endless blue waves of the sea.

At some point, the flames had begun to fade. Morning sunlight spread in from the farthest edge, splendid and grand as it covered the endless sea and Lightwind Harbor, which was slowly waking to the dawn. The nightmare was fading. Everything that had been swallowed by it would return to the Mortal Realm as the sunlight rose—and those things that had briefly reappeared in the dream now also had to return to what they had been.

The huge black billy goat stepped on the waves and, with a single stride, came to the side of the Vanished. The ancient God once seen as the “Creator” lowered his head a little and pressed his sharp horn against the tall mast.

A point of ghostly green flame leaped at the tip of his horn and returned to the Vanished.

He said: “I return the fire to you, Captain.”

Duncan looked at the Black Goat and said: “I could have handled it myself. You did not have to…”

The Black Goat shook his head and said: “But it was most fitting that I did it myself. A very long time ago, I created her. Now it should also be me who sees her off on her final journey.”

Duncan did not answer, only gave a slight nod.

The Black Goat went on: “…Do not feel regret for this. It was something that was bound to happen. In a way, it had already happened long ago—Atlantis had ceased to exist even before the age of the Deep Sea began. What appeared in the nightmare was only a runaway shadow. Letting that shadow keep growing would have been the greatest insult to her. Besides…”

He paused suddenly, and Duncan asked with some curiosity: “Besides?”

The Black Goat seemed to smile a little and said: “Besides… you have already taken her away, have you not?”

Duncan raised his eyebrows at that. He understood at once what Saslokar meant, and it surprised him: “It seems you have sensed a few things.”

The Black Goat said slowly: “Not clearly, but I can vaguely feel it.” The ghostly green flame rising from the deck of the Vanished was reflected in his eyes. Not long ago, he had briefly been granted that fire and, within it, had felt a trace of Duncan’s true power. “Your flame took Atlantis to a ‘place’ I cannot understand. I do not know what that place is, but my instincts say it is good, very suited for my little sapling to have a long sleep.”

The sunlight grew brighter. The splendid double rune rings of Vision 001 were slowly rising above the sea’s surface. The morning sunlight shone on the Black Goat’s body, giving that huge form a crystal-like, half-transparent unreal texture.

The Black Goat lifted his head, glanced at Vision 001 in the distance, and said with some feeling: “The dream is over. Time to return to our posts. They really have built something remarkable…”

In the next second, the Black Goat’s body quietly cracked in the morning glow, like a soap bubble pricked under sunlight, and it vanished silently into the wind.

Duncan stood dazed on the deck for a while. Then he turned and looked at Rune standing not far away. The old Elf’s body had already returned to normal. He stood slightly bent in the rosy light, his expression still a little blank.

Duncan said casually: “I thought you would come greet Saslokar. He is the Creator from your legends, and you may be the last Elf to see him in his Mythic Form—I do not have the energy to let him take that form very often.”

Rune finally snapped out of his daze. He gave Duncan a slow look, then suddenly slapped his palm in regret and said: “Ah! I did not react just now!”

Duncan: “…”

After staring for two seconds, Duncan’s mouth twitched. He said: “It is fine. You can still talk with him. You will just have to go to the captain’s cabin and chat with my First Mate Goathead from now on.”

After he finished speaking, he ignored the way the “Pope’s” expression suddenly turned strange, waved his hand, and walked toward the rest of the deck.

Nina was already running happily toward him and called out: “Uncle Duncan!”

Duncan raised his arms to catch this “little Sun” as she leaped at him from midair. Then he lifted his head and looked at the others walking over.

Vanna came up to him, lifted her hand to point at the city-state not far away, bathed in sunlight, and said: “Lightwind Harbor seems to be restored. I just do not know how things are inside the city.”

Lucretia said: “Once we dock, I will go check the situation in the city. In theory, based on how the Nameless One’s dreams worked before, everything should restore itself when the dream ends. But this incident was so large. There will likely be some ‘aftereffects’ left behind.”

Morris also walked over, but his gaze went another way. The Cathedral ship, which looked like a small city-state, was sailing through the waves, clearly headed toward the Vanished floating on the sea.

Morris said: “The Academy Ark is approaching. Looks like they want to talk with us.”

Duncan said as he raised his hand to point at Rune, who was heading toward the captain’s cabin: “That is normal. Their ‘Pope’ is still on our ship. You should go greet your mentor too. You two have probably not seen each other in the Mortal Realm for many years.”

Morris nodded and started toward the captain’s cabin.

Duncan turned his head to glance at Vanna and asked with some concern: “Are you really all right already? Do you not need to go back to your room and rest?”

He still clearly remembered that when he had just brought this valiant maiden back to the ship, she had used up all her strength and could barely walk. Now she already looked full of energy again.

Vanna also lowered her head to look herself over. She hopped in place twice, swung her arms and legs a bit, then patted her chest, a proud smile on her face, and said: “I am fine. I just rested for a while. My strength is completely back now.”

The corner of Duncan’s mouth twitched. For a moment he did not know what to say. Shirley, however, muttered under her breath to the side: “Man, the Athlete is really something… Burned to death by the Sun twenty-seven times, and after sitting on the deck to settle down for a bit, she’s already back to normal…”

Vanna immediately corrected her with a very serious face: “It was twenty-eight times. I was a bit scorched just now. I miscounted when I told you.”

Duncan: “…?”

He stared speechlessly as Vanna and Shirley walked off, still arguing over whether it had been twenty-seven or twenty-eight times. After a long while, he finally smiled and shook his head.

“This is really nice.”

He heard Alice say softly not far away.

Duncan turned and saw Miss Doll sitting on a large barrel at the edge of the deck. She faced the direction of the sunlight, head lifted and eyes half-closed, letting the light spill over her face. Her legs swung lightly over the rim of the barrel, and her body swayed a little with them.

“It is really nice…” she sighed softly again.

Duncan walked over and suddenly asked beside the doll: “What is nice?”

Alice let out an “Ah” and almost fell off the barrel on the spot. Only when she saw it was Duncan did she relax. She grabbed his arm, used the force to steady herself back onto the barrel, and said: “You scared me.”

Duncan laughed and reached out to pat Miss Doll’s hair: “What are you sighing about?”

Alice thought for a moment, then raised her hand to point toward the city-state and said: “The way things usually are is really nice. No huge fires, no strange tree. Everything looks like what I know. The ship is back on a calm sea, and we do not have to fly over weird, scary forests anymore… I can scrub the deck like usual again, and go back to the kitchen to cook.”

As she said this, Miss Doll suddenly seemed to remember something. She jumped off the barrel at once and ran off, waving back at Duncan without turning her head: “the Sun is up! I have to go make breakfast! Captain, wait for me!”

Duncan watched in mixed surprise and amusement as that scatterbrained doll dashed across the deck. On the way, she was tripped by a rope that suddenly popped up, crashed right between Shirley and Dog, and stirred up a whole noisy commotion. Vanna hurried over to look for the doll’s head, which had rolled off to who knew where…

In almost the blink of an eye, the Vanished had returned to its usual “lively” state.

After a long time, Duncan smiled and shook his head. He pulled back his gaze and looked again at the large barrel Alice had been sitting on. He lifted his foot and gave its side a little kick: “Do you all also think it feels good to return to everyday life like this?”

The barrel wobbled in place, and its lid suddenly popped open.

Inside, the barrel was packed full with Wave Amulets.

Used by the Athlete as a container to pile amulets in, by the doll as a chair, often turning into Dog’s homework desk and Shirley’s target for random doodles, the barrel did not seem very happy.

Duncan’s expression turned a bit odd. He quietly reached out and closed the lid again.

Then he sat down on the barrel as well, quietly gazing at the sunlight in the distance.

The world had returned to peace again, for now—but it was truly nice.