The flas atop the alchemy platform began to burn silently, and the liquid in the flask bubbled. Rahm’s gaze emanated from the fog of deep thought, and Rune felt his consciousness drawn to a dark, profound place—after passing through a long, dark "tunnel," he saw several faint glimrs at the tunnel’s end.
These were his old friends—Helena, Banster, and Frem.
He approached their figures, and before he could greet them, Helena was the first to break the silence, "You seem to be in good shape, Rune—It looks like we don’t have to worry about the Academy of Truth needing a new Pope."
"Thank you for your ’concern,’" Rune glanced at Helena, though clearly not minded by her words, then turned to the others with a slight nod, "Sorry to keep you waiting—I needed so ti to restore order aboard the Ark and to my own condition."
The tall, rock-skinned Frem examined Rune’s soul projection seriously and with a deep voice, "Is the incident resolved?"
"It’s resolved," Rune nodded, "Order is being restored in Light Breeze Harbor, and the elves in other parts of the world should gradually wake up. The worst has been averted."
"...We need more information," Banster, the tall and thin elderly man devoted to the god of death, added with a grave expression, "The impact of this incident surpasses the previous Plains and Frost incidents. It directly affects a ’race’ and points to a ti before the Deep Sea era... What exactly happened in Light Breeze Harbor?"
Rune paused briefly, his gaze sweeping over the figures before settling on the leader of the Fire Transmitters, Frem. After a mont’s deliberation, he finally spoke solemnly, "With the help of Captain Duncan, I witnessed the ’Great Annihilation’—the ultimate truth of our world, far beyond anyone’s imagination."
Then, he shared all of the deeply hidden events in The Dream of the Naless with his three old friends, including the catastrophic collision that destroyed two worlds and also the information about the Senkin People’s holand world without reservation.
Clearly, even for the followers of the four gods, this information was too shocking—after Rune finished speaking, the dark space, supported by Psychic Echo, fell into prolonged silence.
"The world’s... collision and fusion?" After who knows how long, Helena finally broke the silence again, her eyes fixed on Rune in the darkness, "Are you suggesting that the ’world drift theory’ is confird?"
"More like sothing beyond ’world drift’... You didn’t witness it firsthand, so it’s hard for you to imagine how terrifying that ’collision’ process was. It was the annihilation and reshaping of all things, everything in the mortal world turned into a dark, chaotic ’primordial soup’ in an instant. It looked... like the Subspace, and there are definitely more than two worlds involved in the ’collision’; perhaps dozens or hundreds of worlds collided at the sa ti—Silantis’s mories are just a corner of that grand annihilation..."
Rune tried his best to describe his feelings when he watched that scene and the thoughts it provoked, while Frem, the massive Senkin Pope, maintained silence and thought. After a long ti, this giant-like figure suddenly spoke, "Are you sure... that the giant accompanying Miss Fenna was the ’Eternal Fla’?"
"The current clues point to that," Rune nodded seriously, "that ’Chronicle Pillar’ is now aboard Holoss, I’ve seen it myself."
He paused briefly then added with special seriousness, "But I must warn you, taking that item won’t be easy..."
"I know," Frem shook his head before Rune could finish, "I’ll give this matter careful consideration... What’s most important now isn’t the ’Chronicle Pillar,’ but the information about our Lord, or more precisely, everyone’s ’Lord’ that we serve."
He lifted his head, visibly applying an intangible pressure with his gaze on every figure present.
The others, of course, understood the implications of his last sentence.
After all, they were those on this world closest to the four gods—they had long felt what lay behind that vague and awe-inspiring veil.
"...Our connection with the gods is increasingly difficult, and the effect of the Pilgrimage Ark is gradually waning," Banster slowly said, "When the Ark was first established, I could almost hear the Lord’s voice directly in the ditation chamber, but now, after these years, that voice has beco a faint and muddled whisper."
"The Pilgrimage Ark is just a supplental anchor; it can strengthen our connection with the ’Lord’ but can’t truly delay decay," Rune slowly shook his head, "When we built these Arks, we actually knew that this day would eventually co."
Banster fell silent, the tall and lanky elderly man slightly closing his eyes as if quietly sensing and listening to sothing. After a long while, he spoke softly, "Sotis, I can almost sll Their gradually decaying scent..."
The dark space fell quiet for a while until Rune finally spoke in a low voice, "... yes, we all can."
Banster turned his head, looking into Helena’s eyes in the darkness, "... The fleet of the Deep Sea Church has been operating on the border for a long ti, have you made any progress?"
"The vanguard team is still circling in that endless fog," Helena said with a hint of frustration, "There are no navigational routes or landmarks deep within the fog, and both the sea and sky possess a bizarre texture. Even using the ’Observatory’ for navigation, the margin of error is unacceptable... We’ve tried to establish so temporary lighthouses where the fog is thinner, but they only allow us to penetrate a limited distance into the fog... Any further, and the lighthouses are swallowed by the fog."
"Our fleet has encountered the sa problem," Frem added, "We entered the border through a different gap in the Eternal Veil. At first, the fog was rather sparse, and the sea conditions were normal, but as soon as we ventured deeper, the fog sharply thickened, our lights disappearing into the mist as if devoured by sothing."
"This exploration operation has been ongoing for so ti now," said Rune seriously, "We’ve pulled together patrols from around the world to amass at the border seas, which must have already drawn the attention of many City-States. Continuing this way, whether we can find the ’points of connection’ between the gods and the mortal world is one thing, but causing speculation and panic among the people is certain."
Silence fell among the several figures, and the bishops each fell into deep thought. After several minutes, Helena suddenly said, "Throughout history, only one person has truly ventured deep into the ’border’ and returned alive from that fog."
"...Yes, that is also the last thing I wanted to discuss in contacting you all," Rune nodded slightly, "’He’ also wishes to establish a more in-depth exchange with the Four God Churches—not just simple etings, but a genuine, deep ’collaboration’."
This was clearly a sensitive and hesitant topic, and the other three figures did not speak for a while. Rune then turned his gaze first to Helena, "You should be supportive—That saint nad Fenna has been living on that ship for a long ti. You must have received a lot of information from her, and I believe you, like myself, have many insights on the current state of that ship and its captain."
"Fenna... Well, judging solely from the information Fenna relayed, that captain indeed seems trustworthy," Helena rubbing her forehead, her words sowhat awkward for so reason, "Sotis I even doubt whose saint she really is, she’s been too trusting of the ’captain’ lately."
"But at least you can be certain she remains faithful to her beliefs—otherwise, you wouldn’t still hear her voice through the blessing of the Storm Goddess," Rune smiled, "I t your saint recently. Although our interaction was brief, I could tell she is an...honest and genuine person, her judgnt of that captain is trustworthy."
"I also agree to further our interaction with that captain, including direct contact and inviting him to join our current operations," Frem also said, "Although I don’t have a saint who was taken onto that ship, I trust Rune’s judgnt, and anyway, I need to see that ’Chronicle Column’ with my own eyes..."
Helena and Rune exclaid in unison, "Can you stop ntioning ’saints being taken onto the ship’ every ti?!"
Frem spread his hands, "Alright, I won’t ntion it."
Then their gazes unanimously landed on the only figure who had not yet expressed an opinion.
Tall and thin, wrapped in a black robe, Banster felt sowhat awkward under the three piercing gazes and couldn’t help but frown, "What are you looking at for?"
"Now, it’s only your opinion we’re waiting for," Rune said with a serious expression, "We all agree to establish a deeper interaction with that captain and to reveal our operations in the border seas to him—what do you think?"
Banster pressed his lips tightly together, his mind clearly still wrestling with the decision, and after a long ti, he sighed reluctantly, "I need so ti to get my bishops to accept this."
Helena was imdiately surprised, "So you personally accept it?"
"What else?" Banster spread his hands, "Personal feelings must yield at tis like this—as long as ’he’ doesn’t take anything away from this ti."
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