Nina went back to her room to sleep.

In this world, most people go to bed early and get up early - the time after the sun sets is dangerous, and the faint light of the World Creation will make the distortion of the entire world reach its peak. Even if the city is protected by lights, people must face the night with caution.

There is no way to go out and gather together, and there are not many means of entertainment. Although reading books at night is not as dangerous as reading at sea, it can easily lead to mental fatigue, auditory and visual hallucinations, and occasionally attract unnecessary prying eyes in the night. So considering all factors, the safest way is to go to bed early and wait for the sun to rise the next day.

Duncan was not sleepy at all.

He turned off the lights in the room, stood near the window in his shirt, and casually admired the night view of Plande City-State under the night sky while recalling his conversation with Nina after dinner.

Nina remembered a big fire, and the remaining memories of his body also had such a big fire - in the fire, "he" fled with a six-year-old girl from a collapsed and burning building, and in the distant streets there were frantic crowds and dense fog.

However, only the two of them remembered the fire - Nina had mentioned these things to other adults, but they regarded it as "the confused memory of a child who was frightened." The newspapers eleven years ago also clearly recorded the "truth": at that time, there was only a factory leak at the junction of the lower town of Plande and the Cross Street District, which caused collective hallucinations, and there was no record of any fire.

Duncan frowned slightly. Another suspicious point in this matter was "himself".

According to Nina, "Uncle Duncan" actually didn't remember the fire. She was the only one who remembered it. When she was a child, she even mentioned the fire to Uncle Duncan (although it should have been "Ron" at that time), and Uncle Duncan was one of the adults who thought that she "was frightened and remembered things wrongly."

But now, the image of a fire appeared in Duncan's memory - that was the memory left in the deepest part of the mind of the original owner of this body.

What's the problem? Why in Nina's memory, her uncle didn't remember the fire at all, but Duncan found the corresponding picture deep in the memory of this body? Was Nina's uncle lying? Or was this memory sealed until a ghost captain took over this body, and the deepest memory emerged?

Duncan tapped the window frame unconsciously with his fingers, silently sorting out the timeline in his mind.

He put together the information he had obtained from the Sun Cultists:

Eleven years ago, solar fragments first appeared in the territory of Pland City-State. The extraordinary phenomena caused by the fragments may affect a large area.

Also eleven years ago, Nina became an orphan. In her and Duncan's memory, there was a big fire at that time, which occurred in the lower town - but except for them, no one remembered the fire, and there was no evidence to prove that the fire had ever occurred.

After that, the solar fragments lay dormant in the city-state and no longer made any unusual movements. The only record left of an incident that year was the "Cross Street Factory Leakage Incident."

For several years, Nina depended on her only relative for survival.

Four years ago, followers of the Sun God in the city-state of Pland tried to awaken the sleeping sun fragments in advance and held a dangerous sacrifice ceremony, but the ceremony failed and was extinguished by the newly promoted trainee inquisitor Vanna. The power of the cult suffered a severe blow, and after a massive cleansing campaign, the Church of the Sun God was expelled from the city-state.

But even though the ritual did not reach the final step, the cultists' attempt to "awaken" it may have had some effect, and the fragments of the sun began to gradually emerge from their slumber.

It was also around that time that Nina's "uncle", who depended on her for everything, contracted a strange disease and gradually became corrupted under the torture of the illness. He eventually accepted the seduction of the remaining sun believers in the city and became a minion of the cult.

Not long ago, news of the Sun Fragments' activities began to attract Sun Cultists to gather again in this city. The cultists, who had been lying dormant for four years, held sacrificial ceremonies again. What happened next... was that Duncan intervened.

Throughout the timeline, many things seem to be vaguely connected, but they all lack key evidence.

The most suspicious thing is what kind of extraordinary phenomenon did the solar fragments cause eleven years ago, and did the fire really exist?

The city-state authorities erased the truth of the accident and the traces of the fire? And then, for the sake of maintaining order, announced the whole thing as a collective hallucination caused by a factory leak?

But this does not explain why the fire is completely absent from many people's memories - unless the authorities have gone to great lengths to reconstruct the memories of everyone involved.

And there is another point - in this world, anomalies and unusual phenomena are open to the public. Even children know the existence and harmfulness of supernatural things. The authorities are obviously aware of this and have always adhered to the principle of "announce dangers in advance to ensure that citizens have common sense of self-protection" to govern the city. If it was really just a fire caused by supernatural powers... why did they have to hide it?

Unless... there is a bigger problem behind the fire, so that even the disclosure of the news will cause some dangerous factors to spread out of control.

Duncan frowned suddenly.

Or there is another possibility.

The characteristics of supernatural phenomena are strange. In many cases, the harm they cause is not limited to the physical level. It can even distort people's cognition and even distort the evidence already on paper. What if people's memory and cognition of this incident and even the records of the city-state authorities and the church are contaminated by solar fragments?

Duncan felt that his imagination was a little too wild. As a "newbie" in the field of anomalies and visions, his imagination was too unbridled. But on the other hand, he couldn't stop the idea once it came out.

People's memories, the records of the authorities, and even things written in black and white in archival files more than a decade ago can all be distorted and replaced - he might not have believed this in the past, but now, he believes it more than anyone else.

Because the place where he was is now called "Duncan Antique Shop".

Everyone here knows their old neighbor, Mr. Duncan, who runs an antique shop.

Duncan breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his head, and looked through the second-floor window at the street lit by gas lamps.

Now there is only one question left.

Regardless of whether the fire eleven years ago existed or not, regardless of whether the fragments of the sun contaminated the memories of the parties involved and the records left by the city-state, only one thing is crucial:

[Why does Nina remember the fire? ]

※※※

In the upper city, in a mansion belonging to the consul.

Vanna woke up from a nightmare.

But this time, the nightmare was no longer related to the Black Sun, nor did it point to the Lost Homeland returning from the warp - she just suddenly dreamed of her childhood.

On that night filled with fog, smoke, blood and frenzied crowds, the twelve-year-old girl was carried on her uncle's back to escape from the siege of the mob.

In her dream, she seemed to have returned to the helpless and fragile state she was in those days. Her martial arts and powerful magic powers that she was proud of had vanished into thin air. She could only flee in panic as the madman and the shadows chased her. She and her uncle crossed the pipes and valves above the factory. She looked down at the city in horror amid the thick smoke and heat waves, and saw an endless sea of ​​fire rising everywhere, filling the entire city as far as she could see...

The young judge in her nightgown sat in bed, took a deep breath, and looked at the sky outside the window. The clear light of the Creation of the World was still hanging high in the sky, and the clock hanging near the window showed that it was just past midnight.

She felt like she had been trapped in a nightmare for a century.

Vanna got up and turned on the light. She came to the dressing table and looked at herself in the mirror. She whispered the name of the Storm Goddess. After she found inner peace, she sighed and said to herself as if to comfort herself: "At least I won't dream about that ship now..."

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly heard footsteps coming from the corridor outside the house, followed by a knock on the door: "Vanna? Vanna, are you having a nightmare?"

It was the voice of his uncle—the most respected archon of this city-state.

"I'm fine." Vanna calmed herself down, straightened her clothes, got up and opened the door.

Dante Wayne was standing at the door. This middle-aged man with gray hair and gray eyes, not too tall, had obviously just woken up. He casually put on a coat and looked at his niece with concern after the door opened.

Because he lost an eye in an incident, he now has an eyeball made of ruby ​​- delicate gold patterns can be seen inside the eyeball, and hideous scars left eleven years ago can be seen on the eye socket around the eyeball, which makes his face terrifying.

But Fanna was already used to it, she knew that her uncle was actually a kind and fair man.

"I had a nightmare," she rubbed her eyes, her tone somewhat helpless, "I didn't expect to wake you up."

"Nothing. I just tend to sleep lightly as I get older," Dante Wayne looked at Vanna with concern. "Are you dreaming about your childhood again?"

"Yeah, I dreamed about that time again."