The greatest courage for a mortal is to challenge the sky and the ocean.
The slightly salty sea breeze blows from the east, blowing along the long coastline of the east coast, blowing past the port houses with black sloping roofs and ancient spire towers, with black crowns and shield flags. The sky above the main castle of the port city "Mobius" was flying, the flag faced the endless sea, and the sun was rising on the sea.
Earl Owen Dyson, who has short black hair, dark blue eyes, and is wearing a black double-breasted trench coat, stands in front of a window facing the sea. From the commanding heights of the castle, he quietly overlooks the prosperity below. city scene, and the sparkling calm sea in the distance.
This is Port Mobius, the largest seaport on the east coast of the Typhon Empire, and a must-stop for humans in the east when visiting the ocean.
Used to be.
The Dyson family has ruled this land for hundreds of years. The ancestors of Earl Owen led the original people to fight through obstacles here, using the power of boulders and magic to reshape the solid eastern part of the empire. Seven hundred years ago, this was an extremely prosperous city. Typhon, who had just founded the country, relied on this harbor to open the door to the sea and opened up important colonial sites on several islands in the east. The people mined ores and planted spices on those islands, providing a steady stream of precious resources for the new country. They also used the prosperous eastern continent route to maintain the flow of materials in the southeast and northeastern regions of the empire. Port Mobius served as the basis for all of this. The hub of the city, its status was transcendent for a while.
However, the prosperous scene only lasted a short time.
The corruption of the three dark sects has ruined humanity’s qualification to challenge the ocean - the departure of the Sons of Storm has made it impossible for humans to perceive the storms and magical turbulence on the endless sea, nor can they calm down the rage of the ocean. , the sea area that can be safely navigated is only a dozen nautical miles close to the land, and these "safe routes" are still intermittent and cannot be connected at all.
Initially, brave captains and scholars tried to use experience, courage and alternative extraordinary magic to maintain those routes. However, the high cost and the embarrassment of national strength when Typhon was founded made those brave The challenger finally chose to give up. The colonial islands in the distant sea were forced to be abandoned, and the output of minerals, plants, and marine life from the ocean was also forced to be interrupted. This short-lived and prosperous Port of Mobius also suffered in the following hundreds of years. was in trouble.
It has transformed from a prosperous port city into a distribution center for offshore fishermen and a resting place for nearby business travelers. The city relies on the sluggish offshore fishery and passing taxes to survive to this day.
And until today, it has become prosperous again.
Earl Owen's eyes swept across the edge of the city, sweeping over the towers rising near the coastline and the vaguely rising smoke.
That is a burning rock mining mine.
No one thought that the people who finally brought Port Mobius back to life would be those ashes that were once considered useless and worth less than mud.white stone.
There are burning stones everywhere along the coastline. Those stones are the raw materials for producing rich dust and crystal matrix. The emergence of new technologies has made them from worthless to hot. As the largest one on the east coast, As a city, Port Mobius miraculously came back to life overnight. In just a few years, it became prosperous again.
And what is changing as rapidly as Mobius Port is the entire Typhon Empire.
The great Rosetta Augustus brought prosperity and changes to the empire. Although many of the "changes" he brought made some stubborn and conservative nobles very dissatisfied, these dissatisfied The nobles did not include Count Owen Dyson, the lord of Mobius. For this border count who had experienced a huge transformation from poverty to wealth, what Her Majesty Rosetta brought to him was an absolute improvement.
What made the border count even more excited, and even a little excited, was that after making the empire rich and powerful, the talented and sagacity of the emperor finally turned his attention to the endless sea again.
The sparkling sea surface undulated slightly in the distance, and the rising sun shone with fine phosphorescence on the sea surface. Count Owen knew that the seemingly calm sea was actually extremely dangerous, with chaotic storms more than ten nautical miles away. The turbulence of magic and magic will make even the most powerful extraordinary people bury themselves in the deep sea, and those turbulences and storms will also cut the original complete coastal route into pieces. Hundreds of years ago, the new and weak Kingdom of Typhon failed to recapture it. Those routes, but today, the reborn Typhon Empire may have the ability to challenge the sea again.
A sound of footsteps approaching from far away woke Owen Dyson out of his thoughts. He heard the attendant's voice coming from behind: "My lord, that creature is awake."
< p>Earl Owen turned his head: "I understand-lead the way.""Yes, my lord."
Owen Dyson left the room facing the sea, in Accompanied by his attendants, he walked through the long corridors of the castle, walked into the deep corridors, and arrived at the deepest part of the family castle. In a secret room engraved with many runes and reinforced with a large amount of sacred and magical materials, he saw To the "creature" the attendant spoke of.
He was wrapped in a somewhat worn black robe and lay quietly on the stone bed in the center of the secret room. A large number of rune chains and sacred amulets imprisoned him there, suppressing the extraordinary power he might possess.
In fact, Owen could tell at a glance that this was a human being, but he had mutated beyond recognition.
The exposed arms, face, and neck of this "human being" are covered with chilling, light cyan fine scales. His eyes are like snake-like golden vertical pupils, and his hair has become... It faded away, and was replaced by a layer of greasy cortical growth that looked like seaweed covering his scalp. His palms were twisted and stretched, with something like webs connected between his fingers, and what was even more frightening was his Legs——
The flesh and blood of those legs are like some kind of chaos product.The objects generally blur together and are no longer distinguishable from each other. They are close together, their joints are bent, their skin is stuck together, and they are covered with scales.
This looks like some kind of unfinished transformation, or... it is in the middle state of mutating from human to some strange and strange shape.
This "monster" has woken up. When Earl Owen approached, he saw the opponent's eyes turning, and the terrifying golden vertical pupils swept towards him, and the opponent's body But he was still lying quietly on the stone bed, with only a slight rise and fall in his chest.
Earl Owen frowned, and a mage wearing a moon pattern robe stepped forward next to him.
"Sir, I have used sedative spells and the extract of moongrass to stabilize his mental state. This monster is safe for the time being."
Owen Dyson nodded. , looking at another figure not far away - it was a knight, with a medium build, a thick beard and deep-set eye sockets.
"Tell me the details of when you discovered this 'creature'." He said to the knight.
"Yes, sir," the knight nodded, "We found him in the south near the desert - some locals reported that there were unusual winds and rains in that area, and there was a roaring sound on the sea. We were worried that magic turbulence was invading the land, so we went to check, but found this 'monster' on the rocky beach on the coast.
"There was nothing similar to ship debris around him, nor was there anything nearby. No ship was found that ran aground on the rocks. I guess he did not come by ship, but probably swam over...
"He was semi-conscious at the time and was a little wilted from the sun, but when we got closer , he woke up quickly and acted very aggressive. He attacked us with some kind of acid arrow-like spell, but fortunately we brought two mages over and subdued him with spell counterattack.
"He fainted due to excessive weakness. Before he fainted, he kept mumbling sentences that no one could understand. The soldiers were a little scared after hearing those mumblings. Some people said that they were raised by fishermen. The cursed language he came to was a language that could only be spoken by the dead who were swallowed by the waves...
"Except for the half-broken amulet, there was nothing on him to prove his identity, but his clothes were absolutely It was made by human hands... I guess he is a poor man cursed by the terrible power in the deep sea. Of course, this is just my judgment." Earl Owen hummed and looked at the mage beside him. : "What's the secret in the amulet?"
"There's no secret, sir," the mage said, picking up the broken amulet and handing it to Count Owen, "It's completely damaged. The magic power has gone away, and the remaining spell model has no reference value, and there is a very strange point - the decorative pattern on its surface seems to have been deliberately polished, and it is completely invisible."
Earl Owen took the amulet, which was only half the size of an old imperial round gold coin, and turned it in his hand for a look.
It is the remnant of a circular talismanThe half that was saved may be made of mithril. It was obviously once an extraordinary item, and just as the mage said - there are obvious polishing marks on one side of it. The workmanship is very rough, but the identifiable traces on the amulet have been completely worn away. pattern.
Owen threw the amulet casually into the hands of the attendant.
"You were once a human..." He came to the side of the humanoid creature with scales and webs, bent down and stared at the disturbing eyes, "Really?"
"Hiss...heh..."
What came from the throat of the humanoid creature was a hoarse voice that was difficult for humans to make, like some kind of amphibian creature. It was chaotic and low, and it was difficult to distinguish. .
"You have been in the sea for a long time...the smell of fish, the smell of mud, and the smell of magic in the storm." Earl Owen still stared at the other party, "What is there in the far sea? What is it?" What made you look like this?"
His response was still a chaotic and inexplicable voice. Listening to the weird voice, Owen even vaguely had the impression of surging waves in his mind. .
"Some unknown supernatural power has twisted this poor guy," the mage on the side said, "Sir, I have communicated with him many times before using hypnosis and other methods. This poor guy The human language ability has been completely lost."
"No, your method is wrong," Count Owen said, and casually took off a pendant that emitted a faint blue light.
He brought the pendant close to the "monster" lying on the stone bed. The latter stared at the mysterious and deep blue light, and suddenly his eyes widened slightly.
“A long time ago, when this city of Mobius was still a prosperous seaport, the Dyson family and the Church of Storms were closely connected,” the earl said slowly. “We have preserved many things related to the Church of Storms. Storm-related artifacts, such as a pendant that was blessed by the Storm Priest... Now, tell me, Son of the Storm, what happened to you?"
Even if there is nothing identifiable on the other party's body? Things, even if the lines on the surface of the amulet have been polished away, Owen Dyson can still guess the origin of the man from the distant sea in front of him.
After all, he and his family have been guarding this sea area for hundreds of years.
The black-robed "monster" on the stone bed stared at the pendant in Count Owen's hand, and suddenly took a deep breath. In his hoarse voice like a broken bellows, he slowly spoke in a tone that sounded like he was talking in his sleep. Said: "Have you...heard...the call of the deep sea?"
"The call of the deep sea?" Earl Owen frowned, "What are you talking about?"
Black The voice of the monster in the robe became more and more ethereal, as if its mind had gradually escaped: "Ah...in the dark and deep seabed...the gods have changed...the one who devours flesh and blood is calling with the sound of the tide...listen carefully, you Can you hear..."
"It seems that your mind has been completely contaminated," Earl Owen shook his head regretfully, preparing to put away the amulet, "But I still thank you,Thank you for once again reminding me of the dangers of the ocean and that I should be cautious about it. ”
The amulet emitting blue light gradually left the sight of the black-robed monster. The latter was breathing violently, but suddenly, his breathing calmed down, and a strange, mixed expression appeared on his face. A smile of calm and joy.
The fine scales made this smile look particularly terrifying.
Earl Owen heard the last few syllables coming from the monster's throat:
"I heard it, I heard it... She is calling... Eva is calling us... to get back on track..."
The monster on the stone bed let out a long sigh, and then , under everyone's gaze, his body suddenly collapsed into a liquid like turbid sea water.