Chapter 5: Interlacing

Chapter 5 Intersections
The massive shadow crushed in, and everyone aboard the White Oak saw a moment that would be memorable enough to last a lifetime.

It was the ancient and majestic looking three-masted warship – in an age where steamships were no longer a rarity, the sailing warship emerging from the fog was ancient as if it had stepped out of a painting from a century ago, its masts towering, its sides steep, its dark wooden hulls ablaze with the green firelight of the departed souls, and its massive sails nothingness drummed up, the sails coalesced with hissing visions and layers of fiery flames – scenes such as these, even on the dreadful infinite sea, only appeared in the most horrific legends of shipwrecks.

“It’s going to crash!!!”

Some crew members exclaimed loudly, these people who made a living at sea and were known for their bravery and rudeness could not help but lose their heads when facing such a huge ship, they shouted and ran, some tried to find a place to hide on the decks, some grabbed everything around them that could hold themselves in place, and some even knelt down directly in the midst of the bumps and winds and waves and prayed and recited with unprecedented piety Gemona, the goddess of storms, or Bartok, the lord of death.

On this boundless sea, the blessings of the gods had waned, but only the power of these two righteous gods could still look upon all their people equally.

But not all the crew lost their calmness, the first mate of the ship first turned his attention to his most trusted captain, he knew that sailing on the infinite sea is full of crisis, and the experienced captain is always the key to decide the fate of the whole ship, Lawrence has set foot on the sea for more than thirty years, this old captain of more than one hundred years may not be as strong as in his younger days, but the experience he has survived in this ocean may still be able to provide a silver lining for all. He may not be as strong as he was when he was younger, but his experience in surviving the ocean may still provide a chance for all of us.

The ship that emerged from the fog clearly didn’t look like a normal ship sailing in the real world, but more like something emerging from the spirit world or “deeper”, and if it was some kind of transcendental vision, then perhaps it could be fought with some kind of transcendental power instead.

The old captains who sailed on the boundless sea were more or less experienced in facing transcendental visions.

However, the first mate only saw fear and shock on the captain’s face.

The old captain held the steering wheel motionlessly, as if he hadn’t noticed that the entire ship had been completely shrouded in shadows, he stared dead on at the crushing shadow of the ship directly in front of him, the muscles on his face tensed as if he were a stone sculpture, he finally squeezed out a few words from between his teeth, and those few words were even colder than the wind on the cold sea:”… . it’s the Lost Country ship ……”

“The ship …… captain?!” The first mate was startled by the name that drifted into his ears, like everyone who had made a living on the infinite sea, he had heard the name from many crew members older, more senior and more superstitious than himself, “What did you say? That ……”

“The Lost Country Ship!!!”

Captain Lawrence, however, acted as if he hadn’t heard the first mate’s voice, he simply gripped the White Oak’s steering wheel as hard as he could, hissing and growling as if he were about to roar at something, and almost as soon as his words had fallen, the looming hull of the Lost Country finally touched the bow of the White Oak.

Almost all the sailors screamed.

Yet the expected earth-shaking impact didn’t occur – the huge ship burning with green flames seemed like a phantom on a grand scale, sweeping across the White Oak’s deck in a whistling vision of light and flame, thick hulls, eerie compartments, dimly-lit corridors, blazing keels and pillars… …The sailors stared in horror as they watched themselves crashing into the phantom ship’s vision, and the burning green flames of the phantom ship swept past them like a web of fire.

Lawrence also watched the flames roar towards him, but before that, he first saw the flames sweep past the first mate in front of him – the first mate’s body suddenly transformed into an illusory spirit body in the illusory flames, and the bones in the spirit body burned like firewood, and then he saw the pastor beside the prayer platform in front of him, and saw that the flames on that pastor’s body suddenly brightened up. The flames on that priest flickered and dimmed, as if the gods behind him were still sheltering him from the engulfing of the Lost Country with a meager bestowal of blessings.

Then the flames reached Lawrence, and he saw the same change in his own body, while a strong feeling of weariness, obedience, and awe filled his whole body, and the marine amulet which he had concealed in his body began to work, and an alternating sensation of burning heat and coolness barely maintained his reason, and, in what remained of his sanity, he “passed through” the ship of the Lost Country, and was able to see the flame. What was left of his senses, he “passed through” the cabins and corridors of the Lost Country.

The eerie and depressing ship’s hold came and went, with old wooden pillars burning with green fire wrapped around rotting ropes and barnacles, he saw a huge cargo hold, in which all sorts of weird things that should have been buried in the deep sea were lying quietly, and he saw a luxurious cabin, in the center of which there was a wooden goat’s head placed on a table.

The goat’s head was twisted around and gazed indifferently into Lawrence’s eyes.

At last, Lawrence raised his head with all his strength, and he saw the figure at the helm of the wheel-the tall figure clad in the black mariner’s uniform beside the classical rudder as if he were the lord of a nightmare, the figure who dominated all the phantom flames, and even the sea, which was already in the depths of the spirit world, seemed to yield to his majesty, and in the presence of whom the sea was already in the depths of the spirit world, Lawrence looked at him as if he had no power over the sea. Even the sea, which was already in the depths of the spirit world, seemed to be afraid of his majesty, and to have torn a rift behind him.

Lawrence closed his eyes in resignation – he knew that he was now part of the Lost Country, and that the nightmarish captain needed some sacrifice to satisfy his never-ending emptiness and loneliness. But in the next instant, he braced his courage and opened his eyes again, feeling as if all the courage and madness he had ever felt in his life had come together in those few seconds, and recalling the knowledge he had gained from books as well as legends, he gazed at the horrible captain who stood on the Lost Country with as much honesty and calmness as he could muster.

“You don’t have to take everyone-take me away and spare my crew.”

The tall figure did not answer, however, he merely cast his eyes indifferently, and there seemed to be a small bit of curiosity in that gaze – as if he was curious as to why a small, mortal captain would dare to bargain with himself.

Lawrence finally pressed on and let out a roar, “They all still have wives and children!!!”

That figure standing on the Lost Country ship finally reacted, staring in Lawrence’s direction, seemingly saying something, but a kind of loud whistling sound rang out from the side, and amidst the whistling sound, Lawrence could only vaguely hear some movement, yet he couldn’t hear a single word clearly.

The response that came from the Lost Country was thus dissipated in the whistling of the waves –

“What did you say? The wind is too strong for me to hear!!!”

In the next instant, a great clamor rushed into Lawrence’s ears, mingled with the sound of the wind, the waves, and the shouts of the sailors outside the door, and out of the corner of his eye he saw green flames darting and fading away, while the last remaining phantom of the Lost Country dissipated cleanly out of the air like a mist.

Lawrence drew a sharp breath, and then noticed that his own hands, which had been burned out by the green flames, were restored to their original state, and that even the others in the cockpit had been transformed back into flesh and blood, and that the pious priest was lying on his back beside the praying table, breathing heavily while chanting the holy name of the storm goddess, Gemona, and that the unsettling purplish-black smoke of the incendiary censer was gradually dispersing, and that what was rising from the copper hood, was pure white smoke.

It took Lawrence a long time to catch his breath, and then he looked around in disbelief, as if he couldn’t believe that the nightmare of a few moments ago was over, until the first mate’s voice came from the sidelines, “Captain! That ship-the Lost Country-is gone!”

Lawrence was a bit disoriented and reacted for a few seconds before muttering, “…… He actually left us alone?”

The first mate didn’t hear him for a moment, “Captain? What did you say?”

“That Captain Duncan ……,” Lawrence muttered subconsciously, but then immediately slapped himself as if he had accidentally brought up some forbidden word, and then he jerked his head up to look at the first mate, “Roll call of the entire ship. Quickly! Find out who’s missing from the ship!”

The first mate immediately nodded his head and took the order, but just as he was about to leave, Lawrence immediately called out to him again, “And see if there are any more people on board!”

The first mate froze for a moment, and then immediately reacted, with a trace of shocked fear in his eyes, he took a deep breath and whispered the name of the Storm Goddess, and then immediately darted outside to the deck.

Still sailing in the state of the spirit world on the White Oak, the sound of the muster bell rang like an urgency.

(There will theoretically be another one at noon~~)

(End of chapter)