Chapter 649 – Are the Gods Dead?

Chapter 649 – Are the Gods Dead?

It was quiet in the captain’s room, the sound of the waves coming vaguely from the window was thin and soft, rather accentuating this stillness and ease in the room – it had been a while before Goathead finally let out an exclamation, “Ah, that sounds good.”

“I thought you’d ask more,” Duncan sniffed and raised an eyebrow, “Aren’t you curious as to where exactly I’ve taken Silentis and my many secrets?”

“Curious,” Goathead said bluntly, “but reason and intuition tell me it’s best not to pry into too many of the things called ‘secrets’, and especially not into what all happened to you when you left this ship, you’re the Captain of the Lost Country, and that’s enough for me to know, beyond that …… the less I know the better.”

“…… Intuition?” Duncan said thoughtfully, looking at the blackened, carved wooden goat’s head in front of him, and suddenly asked, “And did intuition tell you what would happen if I wasn’t the captain of the Lost Country anymore, or if you knew too many of my ‘secrets’?”

The goat head was quiet for a while, and it was quiet for almost a minute before breaking the silence, “All I know is that whenever I have the thought of ‘crossing the border’, I will see an endless starry sky – and under the illumination of the stars, the Lost Country ship no longer exists.”

Duncan slowly frowned, and after a brief moment of contemplation, he shook his head, putting the tedious thoughts aside for the moment, “Silentis …… is now staying in a safe place in a special state, so you can stop worrying.”

“That’s good.” Goathead said softly, not asking anything more beyond that.

“Now there is one more question – what should I call you?” Duncan, for his part, asked suddenly after a few seconds of silence, “Sasloca? Goathead? Or First Mate?”

“…… Let’s go with what we used to call you,” Goathead thought for a moment, actually seeming a bit awkward in his tone, “First Mate or Goathead is fine, the name Sasloca . . it’s just a little strange, now that I recall it, it’s distantly unlike my own name.”

Duncan was a bit surprised, “Then you weren’t quite quick to agree when I started calling it that?”

Goathead’s tone grew more and more odd, “……The atmosphere was there, and it was inappropriate not to say yes……”

Duncan: “……”

He eyed the dark wooden sculpture on the table strangely for a moment, and finally couldn’t help but speak curiously, “I’m curious about what kind of state you’re in right now, or …… what’s going on with your perception of yourself? You could feel the change in you at the moment of the ‘World Crash’, when you seemed to have fully returned to your state as the ‘King of Dreams’, but that only lasted for a moment.”

Noticing the serious expression on the captain’s face, Goathead finally began to think seriously, and after a long while, it shook its head with less certainty, “Actually, I’m still a bit confused even until now. I can feel that the part of the memory belonging to ‘Sasloka’ has awakened in my own mind, but I can also clearly feel …… that He is not exactly me, and I am not exactly Him.

“But like you said, when I saw the ‘sapling’ …… I had some changes, perhaps it was the influence produced by the mythological form, or perhaps the sapling simply left too deep a trace in my memory, I …… ‘returned’ to the state in my memory, and for a brief moment, I even thought …… that time had really gone backwards.”

It paused, as if quietly recalling the marvelous feelings of that moment, recalling the gradual revival of something in the depths of its own memory, the process of another “personality” awakening in its consciousness, but in the end, it slowly shook its head.

“But that only lasted for a short time, and with the sun rising and the dream ending, I returned to this state, it seems that the symbiosis with the Lost Country has permanently altered some of my nature – and to be honest, I rather prefer it as it is now.”

“Is that so?” Duncan said thoughtfully, “That is to say, you are now both Sasloca and not quite Him, which sounds rather more like an entirely new individual reconstituted from the fragments of an ancient god …… but that’s fine if that’s fine with you.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” Goathead was sprightly, “some things …… are really hard to come back from when they’re gone, we always have to look ahead, and no matter how much the Great Annihilation took away, the fact of the matter now is that we’re living in the the Age of the Deep – let Sasloca stay in the lore.”

“…… You’ve changed a bit after all, you used to have a hard time saying something so sensible so dryly,” Duncan eyed the goathead twice with some subtlety before rubbing his chin, “but you’ve reminded me, and I happen to have a question for you.”

Upon hearing this, Goathead’s tone immediately became serious once more, “You ask.”

“Sasloka died, a long time ago – do you remember that?”

“…… Remember,” Goathead thought for a moment and gave an affirmative reply, “While several parts of my memory were being restored and reorganized, this phrase kept echoing in my consciousness, it seemed to be a very strong …… ‘self-awareness’.”

“That is correct, Sasloca was ‘dead’ when the Great Annihilation took place, a ‘fact’ that is deeply imprinted in your memories, and even in the subconscious of the memories of the elven races. “Duncan nodded, followed by a turn of phrase, “But according to that Book of Blasphemy, during the second long night after the Great Annihilation, the ‘King of Dreams’ attempted to create the world again, and failed in his attempt at genesis and was ‘ torn apart’ – the keel of the Lost Country, the ‘Dreamland Cranium’ in the hands of the Annihilationists, and yourself are all evidence of this record.

“And we are essentially certain that the ‘King of Dreams’ recorded in the Book of Blasphemy is Sasloka, who was already dead at the time of the Great Annihilation.

“How did an ancient god who was already dead when the Great Annihilation occurred go to ‘Genesis’ during the Second Long Night?

“Another similarly contradictory record is that of Tarekin, the ‘perpetual flame of pay’ worshipped by the fire-bearers.”

Duncan paused at that, taking a sip from the glass of water on the table, then adjusted his posture in the chair and continued with a more serious expression:
“Tarekin was another ‘deity’ who died when the Great Annihilation occurred, He was the protector of the Sengin, and according to what Vanna reported and what was recorded on that ‘Chronicle Pillar’, His death or ‘Fall’ was also a conclusive fact, but if He really had died when the Great Annihilation occurred …… then what about the ‘Tarekin’ that was now worshipped by the Fire Transmitters on the Infinite Sea? What about it? And who exactly is the ‘Forever Burning Salary Flame’, one of the Four Gods?” A slight crunching sound came from between the goathead’s neck and the base, and it shook its head from side to side for a long while before lamenting, “That sounds a bit creepy.”

Duncan looked at the guy silently, “Don’t say it like it’s no big deal, you’re one of the ‘gods’ involved.”

“I don’t remember,” Goathead said with particular candor, “As I told you, I’m just remembering generalized snippets of memories, and they’re all centered around the time before the Great Annihilation, and as for what happened after that… …I really don’t know.”

Duncan frowned deeply, “You have no recollection at all about the Second Long Night, and the experience of Genesis during it?”

Goathead thought very hard for a moment and shook his head helplessly, “I but I can remember a little, and not at all ……”

Duncan didn’t care about the other party’s nonsense, he just frowned and continued to think, and only after a long time did he slowly open his mouth, “If that’s the case, I do have some guesses.”

“You have guesses?”

“I don’t think …… we should apply the simple state of life and death of ‘mortals’ to the gods,” Duncan said with a serious look on his face as he thought about it, “Let’s use the you as an example – do you think you’re alive now?”

The goat head was stunned, and after thinking about it hesitantly said, “I think …… it counts as alive, don’t I live well here?”

“By ‘alive and well’ do you mean your vertebrae are soaked in subspace, one head is in the hands of an Annihilationist, and many more may still be floating in various crevices of the world?”

Goathead’s neck gave a crunch, then screamed, “Don’t make it sound so scary! Why does that sound a little hairy to me ……”

“But that’s exactly the state you’re in right now – you’re not only dead, you can even say …… that you’re not quite at peace with your death,” Duncan also felt that the topic seemed a bit weird, but having said that, he could only try to be stern. Here, he can only try to face with a serious attitude to continue to say, “And I guess, the other several ‘gods’ state …… I’m afraid it is not much different from you.”

The goat head did not say anything, as if he was in a state of shock.

Duncan, on the other hand, continued after slightly organizing his words, “The King of Creeps, the Holy Lord of the Profound, according to the Book of Blasphemy, that is the Creator of the Third Everlasting Night, and His current state is that He has ‘lost his mind, is stuck in the rift between the Profound Deep and Subspace, and in his inability to act he constantly creates countless Profound Demons, and in turn constantly devouring the Profound Demons’.

“In the Canon of the Fire Bearers, Tarekin is described as a giant who watches over the primordial flame, and this giant himself burns with an unquenchable flame that permanently scorches His body.

“The Black Sun, I have seen Him, who was scorched by His own corona, and whose spirit, long since broken, now seeks only to be extinguished ……

“The Goddess of Storms and the God of Wisdom …… I’m not sure of their exact state, but I’m guessing the situation is similar.

“Stripped of all mythological aura, and just from my personal ‘common sense’ and ‘subjective impressions’, none of these situations are normal.”

With that, Duncan spread his hands and made his final conclusion.

“The Gods are dead – except that His ‘death’ may be long, may be unique, and He will not follow the mortal understanding of ‘life and death’ to ‘functioning’, and some sort of ‘state’, or ‘residue’, of His after-death can still affect this world, or . . influence this piece of ‘residue’ that burned away after the Great Annihilation.

“This is what the Deep Sea Age truly looks like.”

Duncan’s words fell, and silence fell over the captain’s cabin.

It took an unknown amount of time before Goathead’s voice finally broke that silence, “…… The way you describe …… it is disturbing, and I’m really feeling a little hairy this time.”

Duncan thought for a moment and sighed softly, “…… I probably should indeed change the way I describe it to a milder one, it sounds a bit creepy when I put it that way.”

“No, I mean, the back of my neck is really kind of itchy right now …… you scratch me.”

Duncan: “……”

(end of chapter)