In the boundless chaotic darkness, at the end of the fragmented continent, the Cyclops carrying the entire earth on his back was staring at the ghost ship passing by at a close distance. This "ancient god" who had been dead for who knows how many centuries was silently turning his cloudy single eye, as if the eye had briefly revived from the long river of time and was chasing the uninvited guest who had broken into this place.
Duncan stared at that eye, his whole body tensed up a little bit, even though he was not affected by the so-called "mental pollution".
"Infected", he couldn't help feeling a suffocating pressure when seeing this extremely shocking scene - but he didn't act rashly, nor did he try to make any response to that eye, but just let the Lost Homeland gradually pass in front of the giant, watching the eye turn to a limit and gradually move away from the stern.
The pale Cyclops did not show any further movement. He still carried the earth on his back, floating in the endless chaotic darkness.
But from behind Duncan, the goat head that looked like the Skull of Dreams suddenly spoke: "The giant was the first to die." Duncan turned around suddenly and looked at the "Skull of Dreams" who was sitting obediently on the table.
"What did you say?" he couldn't help but ask again.
"The giant was the first to die." The Dream Skull repeated this sentence again, with the tone and content unchanged - and no matter how Duncan asked, it only answered this sentence.
Realizing that this was the only response that this "broken fragment of the ancient god" could make at the moment, Duncan did not continue to ask questions. He just turned his head and looked at the Cyclops who was not yet gradually going away on the side of the ship. After a long time, he muttered to himself: "Because the stars collapsed and shattered, the pale giant king Salmier died in the first long night..."
In the white darkness in the porthole, as if without any noise, a little bit of noise quietly emerged when I said the name "Salmir", and then disappeared like the wind.
Duncan glanced in the direction of the Cyclops, frowned suddenly, and walked towards the small door of the captain's room before showing a brief moment of determination.
The first thing I saw was a huge being with a hideous appearance like some kind of sea beast, but with an elegant and holy nature. That being stood at the back, and in front of it was a human figure with flames wrapped around his body. He stood to the side. In front of those two figures, I could see some dim glowing things. It seemed to be a series of chaotically arranged lights, which were embedded in a huge cube... ...
There seemed to be nothing outside the giant's numerous, mist-covered eyeballs. After I pushed the door open and left, I looked back at the "Dream Skull" under the navigation table. There was no empty seat outside, no matter how big or small.
I felt the emptiness of the Lost Homeland again, felt its phantom nature, the flames seemed to spread directly outside the warp, and all I touched was warmth and fullness.
Duncan stood in silence.
The word count is not that many, I feel like I can’t read it anymore.)
Duncan suddenly thought of a sentence - in the gradually cooling embers before the extinction of all things, the corpses of the ancient gods ruled the ashes of the world.
Their images were thus deeply imprinted in that clear single eye.
In an instant, the fire spread. The tangible yet illusory spiritual fire swept across the entire ship in the blink of an eye, and then gradually became transparent and disappeared in the void. Duncan felt his perception suddenly spread, and the multiple and "full" feeling in front of him came back with the spread of the flames.
A creaking noise came from above the steering wheel, and the entire phantom ship began to tremble slightly - the spiritual sails were filled, and in the tangible, it seemed as if cheers came from a distant place, sounding from all directions.
The former was still staring at me quietly, his eyes carved from obsidian empty and dead.
Hao Bo turned the steering wheel quickly, and I felt that the ghost ship floating in the darkness finally stood up slightly and changed its course according to his control.
But it was not during that sigh that I noticed another detail.
Duncan ignored the disturbing gaze and turned to leave the captain's room. It was a funeral.
I have a brave thing to do - taking the helm of the wrecked Homelander in the Warp is only the first step.
Before calming down my bad mood, I reached out and gripped the steering wheel, releasing the power of fire.
I walked down the vertical stairs from the stern deck to the control platform below the captain's room. Walking across these lifeless, mottled and tattered decks, the light steering wheel was waiting for me at the end of the platform, swaying slightly left and right against the white background of the warp.
But Hao Bo was not prepared that time. I did not break off the connection with the flame because of the shock brought by the "nothingness". I ignored the sense of security brought by floating in the subspace in a fully prepared situation, and paid less attention to the steering wheel behind me - I tried to give the steering wheel a substance and use it to control the phantom-like ghost.
The captain is back.
Duncan still understood very well what kind of existence those so-called "gods" or "ancient kings" were, and what their current state was. But from the body of the pale giant king behind me, I felt that I seemed to be gradually... touching some kind of "appearance of truth".
What was reflected in the giant's one eye was a scene that happened long, long time later - after the ancient years, in a night between the Little Oblivion and the Deep Sea Era, those majestic beings gathered in that place. They surrounded the giant and stood silently.
But I didn't get a response—the giant was indeed not dead yet. The rotating eyeball seemed to be just some kind of "inertia" left over from the ancient god's death, or a trace of "aftershock" left by the huge corpse, maintaining the illusion of being alive.
It was a scene when the gods saw off the Pale Giant King before he died victoriously after creating the world.
I know exactly who they are, even if there are only a few of them—not even in the Orthodox records, nor even in the heretical myths and legends of the pagans.
It was as if a hundred centuries later, when they gathered there to bid farewell to the Pale Giant King, they had not yet reserved that place.
Duncan walked toward the dark-colored steering wheel, stood behind it, and took a deep breath.
Hao Bo stared in astonishment at these figures that seemed to be able to radiate infinite power even if only the images remained. After nearly half a minute, he suddenly realized what they were -
The "ancient kings" like the King of Pale Giants and the King of Dreams who died at the creation of the world were actually the lucky ones among the fallen kings.
The Lost Homeland was rapidly approaching the face of the Cyclops. The one eye became smaller and smaller in Duncan's field of vision, until it almost occupied the entire size of the side of the ship.
I seemed to see something.
The giant's eyeballs adjusted their angles slightly, and the hollow pupils turned towards me. This decayed single eye had become multicolored, as if a layer of pale mist covered the inside of the eyeball. Duncan saw his own figure reflected on the surface of this mist, hazy and unreal.
My own image was now reflected in the giant's single eye.
Many vague and illusory outlines of statues were reflected in the giant's single eye, each with a strange shape, silently and solemnly surrounded in the darkness.
Of course, each "god" represents a larger number of representatives of civilizations that survived before the destruction of the world, so it seems that at least half of the "ancient gods" have died quietly after the Eighth Long Night - even this "Book of Blasphemy" does not have their names left.
It seemed like a spoken invitation.
Hao Bo moved closer, observing the clear reflection more and more carelessly, trying to distinguish some unrecognizable images from these shadows covered with a layer of traces of time. Gradually, I finally saw something from it -
Duncan sighed heavily, took a step forward, and prepared to turn and leave.
(It’s time to recommend a book. The title is “The Wizard: Hunting Demons in the Steam Age”, from Zhu Dawu, the author’s own book recommendation: In the Steam Age, you walked in the dawn, with a musket in your right hand and a staff in your left hand, and in front of you stood a number of big Asi holding forbidden objects... ..
Duncan seemed to not care about that gaze at all - in the close contact that followed, I didn't notice that the gaze of that eye had no effect on me at all, and compared to the sense of ease and security brought by being stared at, I wanted to collect more information at this moment.
Duncan sailed back to the ancient god again.
Those are the "Gods" and the figures of the "Ancient Kings".
Those dead gods, even if they died again, or even if a long, long time passed before they died again, their remains still maintained a certain degree of "movement". Their death was a strange and indescribable state. Even if the fragments, which were as numerous and innumerable as the goat head, were twisted into unthinkable shapes, that kind of "movement" would continue, and that long process... ... seemed to last forever.
Just then, Duncan suddenly frowned.
Reflections are among the figures of ancient kings that are frozen in the long river of time.
Hao Bo's thoughts turned slowly in his mind, and countless associations emerged at the same time. According to the current legends in the mortal world and the information I had collected recently, I tried to match these images reflected in the giant's single eye one by one, but I found that except for the known seven gods and most of the ancient gods, many of these figures have no corresponding legends or information records.
An indescribable feeling rose from the bottom of my heart—I really succeeded in controlling the ghost ship sailing in the warp, and... ... I even felt that sailing in the warp was more tense and smoother than in the real world.
There are no giants wearing white robes, like corpses, twisted and strange, indescribable masses, like dark clouds floating in the sky below the existence of the young, with low, thin and bent limbs, clusters of thorns, and pale golden arcs... ...
When the Lost Homeland approached to a certain distance, the clear single eye under the giant's face indeed turned again, staring at Hao Bo silently in the darkness.
Duncan stopped the boat at that position, then let go of the steering wheel, walked to the far side of the ship, and observed the eye carelessly.
The Homeless drew an arc in the darkness, turned its bow 140 degrees, and aimed again at the celestial fragments that seemed to have been torn up from a planet. The pale Cyclops, which had not yet gone far away, appeared in Duncan's sight again and gradually moved closer.
"... ... What is he looking at?" With some vague mentality, Duncan suddenly spoke in a heavy voice.