In the gradually cooling embers after the extinction of all things, the corpses of the ancient gods rule the ashes of the world, and something that "grows" from the corpses constructs counterfeits and illusions of the past among the ashes - after stripping off all the mythological halos, and after re-sorting out the information currently available, the "Deep Sea Age" before Duncan's eyes presents the most real and chilling side.
He could certainly use milder terms to describe this era, or explain the current state of the gods in some more acceptable ways, but this would not change the essence of the matter.
He stood up and scratched the goat's neck. The former "creator" raised his head and observed Duncan's expression: "You look worried."
Duncan sat back down, and after a moment of silence, he suddenly spoke to himself: "... The whole world is just a pile of embers that are gradually going out..."
"I've heard Lucrecia mention this before," the goat-headed man said immediately.
Duncan nodded and said nothing more. Instead, he reached out his hand and rummaged in his arms. After a moment's searching, he took out two things.
One of them is a "ball" that is emitting brilliant light. It is an ancient star that has been shrunk countless times. Flames are flowing on its surface, and the gentle flames are constantly erupting, refluxing, and surging, as if maintaining the "operation" of the star.
This is the "gift" that Vanna received from Tarekin, and it was once the sun of the Sen'jin.
The other one is a delicately cut piece of light golden crystal about the size of a fist. It has dozens of irregular and asymmetrical planes, each of which has a smooth and perfect texture. There seems to be a very precise and subtle structure hidden in the crystal, which spreads out from the center of the crystal like a hair, forming a three-dimensional grid structure wrapped in the crystal.
The goat-head's attention was first attracted by the "little sun", but then fell on the strange light golden crystal. After a moment of hesitation, he was very confused: "What is this?"
"If we follow the classification of the 'civilized world', this should be some kind of 'blasphemous prototype'," Duncan said casually, "This is what was separated from the body of the Sun Child when it fell from the sky. Before the fire burned it out, Ai 'picked it up'."
The goat head was stunned for a moment, and then finally recalled the scene at that time -
The Heir of the Sun tried to escape from the Nameless Man’s Dream at the last moment, but was intercepted in the sky. He dealt the freak a final blow in his mythical form, and the thing fell from the clouds in pieces. There seemed to be a shiny object thrown out from the center of the fragments, but the situation was chaotic at the time, and the thing only flashed in the sky for a moment before being "swept away" by a ball of dark green flames, and no one noticed... So it was such a thing
A sound of flapping wings came from the side. Ai flapped his wings and flew to the navigation table. He tilted his head and looked at the strange crystal he had picked up. After observing it for a long time, he stretched out his neck and pecked the surface of the crystal with his beak: "The crystal is filled with hatred! The crystal is filled with hatred!"
Duncan ignored the noise made by the silly bird. He looked at the crystal in front of him and fell into deep thought. In his mind, he recalled the strange umbrellas held by the tall and thin men in black who were called "solar residues" - he also remembered that inside those strange umbrellas, in addition to the sophisticated mechanical and circuit structures that were far ahead of their time, there were also crystal structures that were cut with extreme precision.
This crystal-based "blasphemous prototype" seems to be the unique "technological creation" possessed by the "Black Sun" and its descendants and survivors.
A long time ago, after seeing the strange umbrellas in the hands of the men in black for the first time, Duncan realized one thing - the technological creations in the hands of those followers of the sun meant that they were not a barbaric and chaotic primitive group. The advanced manufacturing skills embodied by these blasphemous prototypes actually showed an extremely advanced civilization.
In other words, it is the "afterglow" left by an extremely advanced civilization.
And now, after witnessing the truth of the Great Annihilation with his own eyes, Duncan has a new understanding of this matter.
The collision and annihilation of worlds brought about the Deep Sea Age, and the world where the collision occurred was definitely not only the homeland of the elves and the Sen'jin. The warrior who threw the sword and his own homeland were obviously destroyed in the great annihilation. And based on this inference, every ethnic group in the world today, every style of relics, every inexplicable and contradictory historical record, probably represents a destroyed civilization.
Some of these civilizations may come from different planets in the same universe, but those that deviate greatly enough to pollute other "legacies" obviously come from universes with different laws.
So which universe is the Black Sun from
Duncan frowned slowly. He gently stroked the surface of the crystal and muttered to himself thoughtfully, "So they are also lost people..."
"Who?" The goat-head didn't react at first, but soon understood what the captain meant. "Are you talking about Black Sun and his freaks?"
"Everything in the Deep Sea Age comes from the worlds destroyed during the Great Annihilation. The Ancient Gods are just powerful individuals that survived the Doomsday half-dead. The Black Sun cannot have appeared out of thin air. This crystal should represent the civilization of the 'Descendants of the Sun'."
“… But now this ‘civilization’ stands against us. Their existence itself is a destruction to the entire real world.” The Goat Head thought for a while and said slowly, “The Black Sun hopes to extinguish itself, while His descendants are obsessed with destroying the real dimension and making the Black Sun ‘reborn’ from the ruins of the mortal world—they may have been a very glorious civilization, but now they are crazy from top to bottom, and it is obviously impossible for them to coexist with the mortal world.”
"Yes, they can't coexist. There are many things in this world that can't coexist with the civilized world, dangerous old gods, shadows in the spirit world, and those things in the warp... But have you ever thought about a deeper level - why these things can't coexist with the mortal world?"
The goat head was stunned for a moment and seemed to start thinking.
"All things are the 'ashes' left after the Great Annihilation. The corpses of the gods opened up the current Deep Sea Age from the ashes. In theory, the current Deep Sea Age is the product of the integration, transformation, and compromise of the various worlds in the Great Annihilation. In other words, since the Great Annihilation has ended and the Third Long Night has successfully reshaped the world, then the existing things in the world are the result of 'rebalancing' and should not produce the same mutual contamination and erosion as when the worlds collided...
"But the fact is that there are still ancient gods like the Black Sun, and there are still many 'pollutants' that will cause disasters as long as they appear in the real world. This pollution is exactly the same as the 'erosion' that appeared around Silantis during the Great Annihilation. It feels like..."
Duncan paused here, as if he couldn't find a suitable description for a moment. The goat-head beside him suddenly spoke: "It's as if the Great Annihilation has not ended at all?"
"Yes, it's as if the Great Annihilation has not ended at all," Duncan nodded slowly, his expression particularly solemn, "It was just postponed, temporarily isolated somewhere, and slowly released into the world over time. Corrosion still exists, and conflicts and pollution between different worlds are still slowly progressing. The Third Long Night forcibly 'pinched' the embers together, but in this reluctantly 'pinched' order, the opposition and destruction at the bottom of all things have been going on non-stop..."
The goat-head gradually realized: "This corresponds to the 'dusk' mentioned by the End Preacher..."
"Self-pollution and self-destruction are the inevitable trends of the Deep Sea Age. Doomsday was destined at the beginning of history. Doomsday pollutes history and will eventually follow us through the long river of time. This is what those Doomsday preachers have been preaching," Duncan nodded slowly. "This doomsday theory has always been refuted by mainstream society. But after learning the truth about the Great Annihilation, combined with the various 'characteristics' of the Deep Sea Age today, I have to start thinking seriously about the doomsday theory of those lunatics."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "Perhaps this isn't some doomsday theory, but just some kind of objective description of the Third Long Night... The Third Long Night was an incomplete and unsuccessful creation. It didn't fundamentally resolve the 'conflict' caused by the collision of multiple worlds, but only provided a buffer zone to allow this world to find a way out on its own within 10,000 years... That's why the Fourth Long Night is needed."
"… Do you think this 'way out' has appeared?"
"No," Duncan shook his head. "Those End Preachers seem to know something, but they only know what the 'hidden danger' left by the Third Long Night is, and that the conflict and collapse at the bottom of the world is slowly progressing. If they really knew how to solve this problem, they would not use the Annihilation Cultists and the Children of the Sun as cannon fodder, and would not let them go to the Dream of the Nameless One to find the answer.
"The information they provided to the Annihilation Cultists and the Sun Followers was vague and unclear. It didn't sound like clear guidance at all, but more like some kind of test. This shows that the End Preachers themselves don't know what the right direction is."
The goat-head was silent for a while, then suddenly asked, "What are you going to do with this crystal? If it is really some kind of blasphemous prototype... then the longer it stays in the real world, the more dangerous it will be. Even if it is placed on the Lost Homeland, it may not be safe for a long time."
Duncan thought about it and slowly raised his hand.
Wisps of flames rose from his fingertips and penetrated into the crystal.
"I'm interested in their secrets."
(End of this chapter)