Deep Sea Embers

Duncan found himself reclining comfortably on the plush sofa in the living room, engrossed in the pages of the newspaper he had picked up from a local vendor that same morning. He would occasionally shift his gaze, taking in the sight of Shirley as she furrowed her brows in concentration, diligently penning down words on a paper that lay on the coffee table. He also observed Dog, who seemed to be wholly absorbed in his reading of “A Brief History of the City-State.”

In this unsettling and ominous reality that they found themselves in, Duncan had managed to carve out a semblance of familiar normalcy. The everyday routine provided a sense of reassurance, a comforting rhythm that echoed the life he had once led on Earth.

Duncan’s thoughts turned towards an idea he had entertained for a while. With Dog, Shirley, and Nina’s presence, he had successfully resurrected an old dream of his – reinstating the small, intimate learning environment he once called Captain Duncan’s classroom. This time, though, it was not on Earth but in this strange new world.

He cast a glance across the coffee table to see Nina, who was perched on a petite stool, engrossed in completing her winter break homework. Morris was hovering nearby, supervising her progress and occasionally offering guidance to correct minor errors.

“You’re doing a commendable job, Morris,” Duncan complimented, “Nina’s fortunate to have you.”

Morris responded with a warm smile, “She’s a diligent young girl, and I wouldn’t want to inhibit her growth in any way.” He then turned to glance at Shirley’s open workbook, his expression subtle yet revealing, “I must admit, I didn’t anticipate your aptitude for teaching others.”

Duncan arched an eyebrow in curiosity, “Oh, is that so?”

“The structured study plan you’ve outlined for Shirley, Alice, and Dog is logical, even professional,” Morris confessed, albeit with a touch of hesitance, “And the examination papers you’d prepared earlier, they were quite professional as well. It’s rather… surprising.”

Morris seemed to choose his words carefully, demonstrating his genuine concern for the matter at hand. Initially, when he learned of Duncan’s keen intent to tutor the trio who hadn’t yet learned to read, he didn’t envisage structured learning materials like flashcards and workbooks or basic arithmetic exercises. Instead, he imagined a more chaotic, perhaps even sinister scene, akin to a cult seeking forbidden knowledge.

However, Morris was forced to reevaluate his expectations upon seeing the fearsome Captain Duncan whip out a stack of literacy flashcards. While he had gradually adapted to Duncan’s off-duty persona – amiable and pacifistic – the thought of such a notorious figure from subspace earnestly imparting knowledge, particularly literacy, still felt rather disconcerting.

Knowing the underlying meaning in Morris’ carefully chosen words, Duncan offered a casual response, dismissively waving his hand with a grin, “Perhaps, in another life, I dreamed of being a teacher?”

Caught off guard, Morris fell silent. Meanwhile, Duncan cast a glance at Shirley’s less-than-perfect penmanship and sighed, “Sadly, the disparate learning progress among these three ‘pupils’ can be quite exasperating.”

Morris fell silent, pondering for a moment before he agreed with a nod, “Indeed. It seems like Dog could potentially self-study in a library all the way to a college degree while Shirley is still grappling with simple words. And Alice… Alice is…”

Duncan released another sigh, completing his sentence, “Alice is hardworking, but in the end, she’s still Alice.”

The learning curve of the trio onboard the ship, who were initially unable to read, hadn’t followed the trajectory that Duncan had expected. He had anticipated Shirley, with her innate intelligence, to make quicker progress. However, her stubborn refusal to embrace learning and her despondent attitude had resulted in her remaining semi-literate. Alice, in contrast, displayed commendable perseverance, yet her puppet-like cognitive abilities didn’t seem particularly attuned to the nuances of reading and writing. Surprisingly, it was Dog who proved to be the most proficient learner. He had advanced to reading literature independently and even solving cubic equations, demonstrating an unexpected level of diligence and comprehension.

Of the numerous shadowy hunters in pursuit of knowledge, it appeared that only Dog had managed to keep pace.

In all honesty, this was a significant blemish on Duncan’s — or rather Zhou Ming’s — otherwise pristine teaching record.

While Duncan sighed inwardly, Alice, who had stepped out earlier to pick up groceries, finally made her return, arriving nearly twenty minutes later than anticipated.

“I’m back!” As Alice stepped into the room and set her shopping down, she greeted everyone present. Noticing the top student, the underachiever, and the scholarly Dog diligently engrossed in their work, a bright smile illuminated her face, “Nina! Shirley! Dog! You’re all here?”

“We arrived this morning, and I’ve been… doing homework for the majority of the day…” Shirley looked up, her eyes glistening with tears, “The Captain said I have to redo everything from page sixteen onwards in my vocabulary book…”

“Three times,” Duncan interjected calmly, “Don’t conveniently cut your task down by two-thirds.”

Choosing to disregard Shirley’s subsequent reaction, he turned his attention to Alice, “What kept you? Did you run into any issues?”

“No, not at all!” Alice responded quickly, waving her hands dismissively, “I just came across something intriguing… I didn’t stop to watch! I was… conducting an investigation…”

Alice, a puppet by nature, was terribly inept at lying and concealing the truth. Her hastily concocted excuse quickly revealed the fact that she had been delayed by something interesting that had caught her attention en route.

“Investigating?” Duncan looked at Alice, his interest piqued. Despite having warned her not to wander off, he wasn’t particularly concerned about her slight detour. It was a minor issue. What intrigued him more was that Alice, who was usually rather oblivious, was now using words like “investigating” with unusual seriousness.

Even if it were merely a spur-of-the-moment fabrication, Duncan found himself intrigued by what Alice claimed to have investigated.

“On a nearby street, there was a household, and someone had died. The clergy was present,” Alice began her tale, detailing her observations during her detour on the way home, “A woman confessed to killing her husband, and the bystanders mentioned the man had passed away before… Oh, and I saw a woman who dresses just like you! She was covered in bandages too…”

Duncan attempted to follow Alice’s somewhat disjointed and vague narrative, trying to piece together what had transpired. When he picked up on the mention of a “bandaged woman,” his eyebrows knitted together. Just as he was about to delve deeper into this detail, he noticed Vanna, who had been feeding Ai at the dining table, abruptly stand up.

“There’s a stranger approaching,” Vanna reported tersely, “It’s a member of the clergy.”

Immediately, Duncan signaled Alice to be silent and don her veil again. Dog, who had been perched by the sofa, evaporated into the shadows within a blink of an eye. Ai fluttered her wings and sought refuge atop a nearby cabinet while Morris rose from his seat, making his way towards the door.

“Stay calm, we merely have a visitor,” Duncan reassured everyone composedly. He nodded to Vanna and Morris’s tension before leisurely strolling to the door and swinging it open.

A young woman stood outside, dressed in a black trench coat, swathed in bandages, donning a black round hat, and clutching a staff. She was frozen in the midst of raising her hand to knock.

For a moment, it was as though time stood still.

Duncan took a moment to study the woman from head to toe before glancing down at his own attire.

“Ah, a fashion collision,” he quipped casually.

“That’s her! That’s her!” Standing slightly behind Duncan, Alice finally caught sight of their visitor and leaned in excitedly, “The woman in black I told you about, the one I saw when I was returning from shopping…”

Alice’s voice seemed to snap the visitor out of her daze. Agatha’s facial muscles twitched slightly, and after a concerted effort, she managed to drag her gaze away from the towering figure before her to the source of the voice.

The breathless, golden-haired girl she had encountered a short while ago was standing inside the house, observing her with a mixture of curiosity and delight.

So she was indeed here.

Agatha drew several deep breaths, her efforts focused on steadying the wild galloping of her heart. The faint ringing that had started in her ears gradually subsided, and the darkness that had descended over her vision and the afterimages spawned by her abrupt confrontation with the “truth” slowly began to dissolve. A sigh of relief slipped from her lips as she recalled the reason behind her visit.

A stiff and discomforting smile began to form on her face, “I… I didn’t mean to intrude. I came to assess the situation, and you…”

“Come in,” Duncan replied, an air of indifference in his voice. He gestured for her to enter, “It’s rather chilly outside. We do not need to stand in the doorway to converse.”

Caught off-guard, Agatha hesitated, seemingly unable to process his response.

Observing this, Vanna, who had been quietly standing nearby, found herself frowning at the woman, “You rushed here fully aware of what this place is, yet you didn’t consider the possibility of what might occur once the door was opened?”

“Cut her some slack,” Morris quickly interjected, “It’s only natural to be taken aback upon meeting the captain for the first time. The higher one’s spiritual vision, the more pronounced this reaction tends to be. This poor girl is clearly at sea.”

At Morris’s words, Vanna’s mind went back to her own initiation into the crew of the Vanished and conceded that the old man had a point.

As Vanna and Morris carried on their exchange, Agatha finally collected herself. Although her thoughts were still in somewhat of a tumult, her rationality had wrestled back control. With Duncan deliberately damping down his overwhelming presence, she found her cognition wasn’t significantly disturbed. She hurriedly apologized, “I’m sorry, I was momentarily dazed.”

Then she took a cursory look at the space Duncan had created for her and took a step forward after a brief pause of hesitation.

She was well aware of what this place represented. She also knew that the imposing figure she had encountered was essentially an unspeakable entity that had descended upon the city-state, whose rank potentially rivaled the ancient gods.

She knew she was venturing into a “fallen site.”

However, when the door swung open, retreat was no longer an option.

Behind Duncan, Morris watched the tightly wound young woman enter the house and murmured to Vanna, “She’s handling this better than you did initially.”

Vanna retorted softly, “That wasn’t my fault. The captain was downright terrifying the first time he ‘entered my dream’.”

Morris conceded with a nod, “That’s fair…”

Vanna added, “But I was significantly calmer the second time around.”

Overhearing the quiet exchange between the two, Duncan finally couldn’t resist turning around to admonish them, “Neither of you were particularly composed the second time either. Keep it down, we have a guest.”