Sirens, visitors under the deep sea, rulers from the indescribable dark abyss, are waiting quietly and patiently in the sea outside the island.
The grand and ancient temple was silent. Most of the priests who once bustled here had disappeared. The last converts were hiding in various rooms, waiting for the fateful day to come.
In the deepest room of the great temple, an old man wearing a triple crown of storms stood in front of a bed depicting waves, clouds, and lightning, looking down at the person lying on the bed.
That was the last Storm Priest in the temple besides him, the Pope, an extraordinary person with powerful strength and firm will.
However, now this powerful man can only lie on the bed in a daze, weakening little by little in the huge panic. His skin has turned gray-blue visible to the naked eye, something like a sea fish. The scales covered all the skin on his neck and limbs - in fact, the storm priest's legs have even "melted" and deformed, and the original human limbs are gradually merging into something between fish and snakes. The shape of the space made it impossible for him to even wear human clothes anymore, and he could only wrap his whole body in a thin blanket.
"His Majesty the Pope..." The Storm Priest lying on the bed suddenly moved his lips and murmured in a low voice, "Are you still there..."
"I am, "Storm Pope Thor Storm bent down and said in a low and gentle tone, "Can you still hear my voice?"
"I can...although it sounds far away," Storm The chief priest whispered, and the scale tissue near his neck kept rising and falling as he spoke, "Are we at the seaside now?"
The Storm Pope shook his head: "Have you forgotten, we are in the temple in the center of the island? , this place is far away from the seaside..."
"Really...I can't remember clearly. I heard the sound of the waves, very close, and thought I had reached the seaside..." the storm priest said slowly , "There is also the sea breeze blowing on my face, I feel...very comfortable."
The old pope's expression dimmed, and his speech slowed down: "...There is no sea breeze here."
"Maybe it's because my time is almost up..." The priest of the storm was silent for a moment and said with a hint of relief. He slowly raised his severely mutated right hand, and on the slender light green Between the fingers, there are tough webbings connecting the original human limbs. "I have heard their calls more and more clearly, as well as the call from the sea itself... It was a very gentle voice, and I felt that she ...There is no malice."
Faced with such low murmurs, the Pope did not speak for a while, and an unspeakable silence condensed between the two.
A few seconds later, the priest of the storm, who was still lying on the bed, broke the silence: "We have been on this road for too long... Maybe it's time to give up."< /p>
The old pope shook his head: "This is not like what you usually say."
p>"But this is not an 'ordinary' day," the Storm Priest said in a low voice, "We head to the deep sea persistently, trying to find answers from the deep sea, but a fallen god cannot give us any answers... Our initial persistence has deteriorated over the past seven hundred years. You, me, and many other officiants, at first we persisted in seeking the truth, but in the end, 'searching for the truth' became an excuse for all kinds of paranoid behavior... ...What is happening to us now is probably the price of everything. Paranoia...has led to even more paranoid changes..."
The old pope was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "...you were betrayed by someone He is called a 'philosopher', so he is still thinking about these things to this moment."
"Thinking is a human instinct, a talent and a birthright..." It is called " "Philosopher" the storm priest said in a low and slow voice, "I only hope... that when I completely become one of 'them', I can still think as I do now, as I do now..."
His words suddenly stopped, and an unsettling noise replaced human language, constantly mumbling from the depths of his throat. The sound seemed to be mixed with the faint sound of waves, and there seemed to be invisible water flowing in the room. There was a moist, seaweed-like breath permeating the air, and the water element was enriched, forming visible stains on the bed, floor and walls. In this terrifying vision, lying on the bed The man began to rapidly transform towards the final stage of mutation -
His last distinctive feature as a human being, his light blue eyes, were quickly being covered by a pale golden chaotic color. The original pupils gradually turned into a pair of vertical pupils. Amidst the suddenly intensified breathing, Pope Sol Storm heard another barely identifiable human language coming from the other party's throat: "Ah, I heard. Arrived... the sound in the waves... Under the Pope's crown, I heard the call of the dark abyss, a voice, many overlapping voices..."
The Pope held the officiant's hand. With his hand, he felt that the other person's soul was resonating with some more distant and higher will. This man was gradually being affected by the consciousness in the endless deep sea. The officiant's lips moved, and his eyes became more and more trance-like. His last words The words were intermittent: "Those voices are calling...those voices are calling...those voices are saying..."
Suddenly, his trance seemed to have faded away, and an unprecedented clarity emerged in the head priest's mind. In the mutated eyes, the lips of Naga, who was still human a few seconds ago, were shaking violently, as if the last instinct in his muscles was still fighting, but in the end his fight failed-
Then The trembling lips finally turned into a bright smile, and the corners of his mouth raised, extremely happy: "Let's dig for giant squid!!"
Saul Storm released his hold on the officiant's hand, He sighed dejectedly.
This person already belongs to the deep sea.
Everyone on this island hasIt belongs to the deep sea.
The officiant who turned into a naga was still lying on the bed, still immersed in the trance brought about by his first "promotion". The pope wearing the triple crown of storm stood up and adjusted his clothes. , picked up the scepter leaning against the corner, turned and walked towards the door - he left the room deep in the temple, walked through the deep and long corridors, and walked through the closed doors one after another. Behind each door, There were inhuman low murmurs, inexplicable sounds of waves, and a chilling, slippery sound like a sea snake crawling on the ground.
He walked through all of this expressionlessly. The pope's robes were gradually eroded and disintegrated by the elements. As his steps continued to extend, scales began to appear on his face and between his fingers. Webbed, moist and lubricated thick skin covered his torso, with scales and fins slowly protruding from the thick skin. He staggered to the ground and dropped the scepter. After a few seconds, he slowly got up again and took the Pick up the scepter and continue to snake forward.
Thor Storm passed through the streets of the town that had become empty and silent. He came to the coast. Many Nagas came out of the nearby houses and followed them silently. Behind him, they climbed over the port ramp that had been built bit by bit by hands and shoulders by the family hundreds of years ago, and arrived at the end of the trestle leading to the sea.
The sea water surged, and a gorgeous throne made of water elements slowly rose from the water. A graceful and elegant woman with long silver-white hair and an extremely beautiful appearance stood in front of the throne. Next to her are the maids of the deep sea in gorgeous clothes, and on both sides of the throne are the Tidal Royal Guards holding particle pulse rifles and trident light wave blades.
"Thor Storm," Siren Queen Petia nodded slightly, with a smile on her face, "We have been waiting for a long time."
"We The last person lasted longer than expected," Sol Storm lowered his head, "We want to wait until this all ends smoothly."
"It doesn't matter, this is what we did from the beginning. Promised," Pythia said gently. "Although I am not a human being, I understand the mood of a race that wants to maintain its original form until the last moment... The human who persists to the end, if he knows that as early as half of the Everyone on the island, including you, the Pope, had been transformed into Nagas a few months ago, so he would probably commit suicide - this is a great tragedy."
"... This drastic transformation of life form will have a great impact on a person's body and mind, and before the transformation is completed, the human mind cannot imagine or understand it." Sol Storm in Naga form shook his head, " Anyone who has not completed the transformation will be trapped in fear during the mutation process, and too many people have committed unnecessary self-harm."
"Fortunately, we have solved the problem of Naga losing his mind in the early stages of transformation. Otherwise, the chaos will become more serious," Petiya said with a nod. She looked not far away, where the sea water was surging, and a machine made of many pipes and antenna devices radiated a moist brilliance in the sun.The completed tower-like facility gradually rose to the surface of the sea. "I will keep the mental stabilizer here for a while. After the thinking and personality of the last batch of Nagas on the island are completely stabilized, I will take them to the continent of Io."< /p>
The tower-like device was created by the Krakens after they studied Naga for a period of time. For the Krakens who possess advanced technology, it is a very simple thing and its functions are very Simplicity - By continuously releasing "spiritual songs" that are inaudible to human ears but can be recognized by Sirens and Nagas, it comforts those Nagas who are in a daze because they have just completed the transformation, so that it would take about a month to recover their memories and Personalized naga can regain consciousness within a few hours after the transformation is completed.
The "psychic singing" that the Sirens like can speed up Naga's awakening. The discovery of this phenomenon was a complete surprise to the Sirens - it originated from the Siren's attack a few months ago There was an episode when they held the "New Naga Citizen Welcome Meeting" on the sunny beach. At that time, the deep sea witch Hathaway drank an overdose of "big squid extract", and the high-level witch who fell into a state of severe excitement broke through the royal family. The guards blocked the block, and together with several other equally excited witches, they performed a song of death heavy metal - the sirens love music, and they are good at all styles of music, but apparently Naga, who had just embraced the deep sea, had not yet followed the Romans. At that time In the accident, more than half of the Nagas fell into a deep coma...
Three days later, the Deep Sea Witch, who woke up from a hangover, thought about it and believed that it was not the musical instrument that had an impact on the Nagas. Rather, it was the powerful "psionic songs" of the sirens - and she subsequently conducted a series of experiments that confirmed her thoughts.
After a series of complex tests and adjustments, the Krakens created a "mental stabilizer" that can quickly regain sanity for the first-time transformed Naga. This advanced device consists of two main components : A music player with "sounds" that only Sirens and Nagas can hear, and a bunch of pipes and antennas to make the player look awesome.
Petia retracted his gaze from the mental stabilizer and sighed slightly in his heart.
The Krakens can only carry out this level of "technological research and development" now.
But fortunately, the situation is gradually getting better. As more and more sea monsters master the secrets of arcane magic and begin to understand and deal with the natural laws of this world, the sea monsters are frozen. The technology tree that has been sealed for millions of years...is finally showing signs of loosening up.
The former Storm Pope and current Naga leader Thor Storm did not know what the queen he had recently sworn allegiance to was thinking about at the moment. He was just concerned about the future of the Sons of Storm. After getting After the Queen's further promise, he seemed much more relaxed: "We have had friction with you for many years... Fortunately, it is finally over."
"The Siren does not want to fight with anyone. , It's a pity that we have been unable to communicate smoothly." Petiya came back from her thoughts. She smiled and nodded lightly to the Naga leader in front of her, "Now you have learned from the spirit.If you feel the kindness of the Siren in the echo of energy, then as a celebration of reconciliation between the two parties... we will also share the secrets of the deep sea with you.
"Welcome to be a member of the ocean, and may this be your new home."