Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 92 “Endless Guesses”

Morris sighed. “When those of us who dig into history and spend our lives researching the world’s mysteries, we would always be stumped by the wall of the unknown.”

The old man had a thick layer of exhausted frustration on his face as if he had travelled for most of his life doing exactly what his peers had done to no success.

“The history before the Great Annihilation is fragmented and contradictory, and the records between each city-state are like bizarre stories with no connection…. Because of that, nobody can conclusively say which is the truth.”

Duncan did not speak for a while and went mute. Unlike the old man’s sighing mood, he, on the other hand, just went through a baptism storm.

As a “foreigner” who has experienced the information age of modern Earth, he could already guess what those things are in the wild histories.

The dome covering the entire continent may likely be an artificial ecological device to replicate a desirable environment for its residences. As for the seawater fuel segment in the story, probably some sort of hydro-fusion engine to run the machinery.

Now for the giant ships sailing across the stars, that’s even easier to figure out. They’re likely a group of colonization starships that occasionally stops at a star system to extract gas and alloys from the planets to sustain its supplies.

Now that leaves the elvish tale of the demon god and dream world… From dreams to the sea taking over reality… Duncan couldn’t figure out what this was for a while, but it sounded like a fantasy concept from a magical world, something completely different from the technological worlds he had heard from the previous two stories.

As Morris said, if all they had to go upon were those fragmented historical texts, then it’s no wonder nobody could decipher the truth.

“Perhaps you are right. There is a ‘horizon limit’ on the key event to the Great Annihilation,” Morris’s voice came from across the counter again, interrupting Duncan’s train of thought. Rubbing the forehead as he spoke in a low tone, “We cannot observe the ‘event’ on the other side of the horizon, so the history before the Great Annihilation is a concept for us that can never be traced.”

It’s then Duncan’s brain got a bold and new idea over how distressed the old man appeared, which he said aloud: “Then…. what if these records are all true?”

Morris raised an eyebrow and looked at Duncan with some surprise: “Oh?”

“What if all these records are true, and the history recorded by each city-state or race is really what they know the world as before the Great Annihilation?” Duncan rubbed his chin and said thoughtfully, “Maybe our ancestors 10,000 years ago really came from completely different homelands and had completely different civilizations? The Great Annihilation trapped these exiles from different worlds on this sea, and the records are the results of those descendants who managed to survive before the knowledge was lost in time?”

Now that he’s on a roll, Duncan didn’t pause and went on a tangent: “The essence of the Great Annihilation may not actually be the end of the world, but a ‘great teleportation’?”

Morris appeared shocked at how wide his eyes had become: “… The conjecture of the Brock Bendis school? World Drift Theory? This is a relatively unpopular genre to study.”

He was amazed, but now it was Duncan’s turn to be confused. The ghost captain didn’t expect others to come up with this idea before him.

“I only have little tidbits in this regard. Years of experience and occasional reading, but I do like this theory.”

“I also like it as well. Although it’s unpopular.” Morris shook his head, “But like all other conjecturing theories, we don’t have evidence, so it’s just a theory.”

“Other schools also have some interesting theories. The Clark school for example assumed the distorted history is due to subspace corrupting the truth, while the Villentium school believes the world was a myriad of isolated lattices before the Great Annihilation. And then there’s the Bologna city-state, the people living there does not believe the world existed at all before the Great Annihilation. Instead, they claim the historical texts are merely illusions created by the shadows in subspace to fool the world….”

“Allow me to say something forbidden Mr. Duncan, but even heretical cults have their own version and understanding of this world. Take the preaching Enders that worship subspace as their religion. Their version is that the world’s end is already upon us, that history is only catching up upon the world from the rivers of time. The cryptic and chaotic records we know of? They’re all because of subspaces corruption, polluting the truth until everything is torn apart. Once the corruption is complete, that’s when the whole world will fall into subspace…”

The more Duncan listened, the more shocked he became. After a long time, the man subconsciously shook his head to get himself in order: “I didn’t know that there were so many strange assumptions…”

“Ordinary people don’t dabble in this field, so it’s not common to hear such stories. What’s more, anything related to history is inherently dangerous due to its relation with the occult,” Morris said. “But one truth remains: if thousands of scholars spent hundreds or even thousands of years groping on a certain field with no resolution, they must’ve formulated all the possibilities already.”

Duncan slowly understood what the old man meant. These people do not lack imagination or vision to see beyond the fog, but rather they lack the fundamental foundation and evidence to support their theories.

“…… Isn’t there any evidence left? Like any at all?” Duncan asked with a look of bewilderment, “Is there not a single physical trace to go upon? There must’ve been some clues to track, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many wild histories out there.”

“So far, it has not been discovered,” Morris said slowly. “10,000 years, plus one dark age after another in between with countless city-states rising and falling, if there was something, it would’ve been lost and destroyed along the way by now. What can be passed down are manuscripts of unreliable sources, or second-hand oral stories like in the elvish states.”

Duncan didn’t know what to say until he eventually compressed the emotions into one single sigh. “Studying the ancient history of this world is really difficult.”

“Yes, we have to not only face the fragmented ages of history but also the status quo of nothing to grasp upon,” Morris sighed. “With limited resources on each island, no city-state can fully invest its resources in such a field. And if there is something to be excavated, it’s very likely been dug up by now on land. What can’t be excavated is likely at a place that mortals like us can’t reach.”

“Like the bottom of the sea?” Duncan said suddenly.

“Under the sea? Ha, what a frightening and bold statement,” Morris laughed with amusement. “But indeed, that is something a lot of historians thought about when they have nothing but desperation left…. There are likely pieces of evidence at the bottom of the sea, perhaps mountains of artifacts from other civilizations. It would explain a lot of mysteries we have now. Sadly, no mortal can dive into the depths of the sea.”

Speaking of this, he paused for a moment: “But this does give rise to another hypothesis… Although the idea hasn’t evolved into a school yet by other scholars, but many people have speculated that the ‘old world’ is actually hidden in the ocean. More precisely, located in the depths between the deep sea and spirit world.”

“Why do you say that?” Duncan’s interest got piqued by this idea.

Morris thought for a while and explained: “Because many broken ancient records mentioned the world before the Great Annihilation had a ‘starry sky’, and we all know, the starry sky is the interfacing layer between the deep sea and the spirit world.”

Duncan almost choked himself to death due to his own saliva: “Ahem… wah?”

“Are you all right?” Morris was taken aback by Duncan’s strong reaction, “This shouldn’t be so shocking…”

“I’m fine. I was too deeply drawn into your story that I accidentally choked.” Duncan quickly waved his hand to let the old man continue, “The starry sky is between the deep sea and the spirit world, of course I know, of course I know…”