Deep Sea Embers

Zhou Ming briskly entered his apartment, casting his gaze immediately towards the window that faced him as he walked through the door. Outside, a persistent grey-white fog clung to the world, giving it an air of timeless, unresolved mystery. Accompanying this visual stillness was a sound akin to the patient tapping of raindrops, rhythmically knocking on the windowpane from an unseen source. Though no one was visible beyond the glass, the persistent knocking was undeniable evidence of a visitor’s presence.

As he stepped further into his apartment, Zhou Ming felt an unmistakable awareness of the person waiting at the window. This sensation was unusually vivid, likely intensified by a previous encounter that had forged some kind of metaphysical connection between them.

A thought crossed his mind, pondering if the act of receiving a visitor here somehow enabled one to sense their presence from “the other side,” before they were fully visible.

Driven by this curiosity, Zhou Ming approached the window. As he neared, the figure of Ray Nora materialized outside the glass, her backdrop as ever was the opulent and timeless bedroom she was known for. Standing there, the Frost Queen continued her patient knock, her eyes—somewhat empty yet reflecting the sparkle of stars—fixed on the window. Without hesitation, Zhou Ming welcomed his ethereal visitor, expressing his gladness at her return.

“Please let me in…” Ray Nora’s voice broke the brief silence, her gaze taking a moment longer than usual to focus on Zhou Ming, her tone betraying a hint of weakness.

Zhou Ming immediately picked up on Ray Nora’s distress, stepping aside to allow her entry and extending his hand to assist the Frost Queen with evident concern.

It was then, as Ray Nora shifted to move through the window, that Zhou Ming noticed the startling absence of her left arm. But it wasn’t just the arm that was missing; part of her shoulder, chest, and abdomen had also disappeared as if cleanly consumed by an unseen force. Remarkably, there was no blood, only a mysterious “light membrane” that seemed to seal the jagged edges of her wound, giving off the illusion of slowly creeping further across her body, threatening to consume more of her.

As Ray Nora made her way into the apartment, Zhou Ming quickly overcame his initial shock, supporting her carefully as he noted her alarmingly low body temperature, which felt almost ghostly.

“We haven’t seen each other in some time,” Ray Nora managed to smile, acknowledging Zhou Ming as a comforting presence, “Returning to your ‘palace’ after such an intense journey feels incredibly soothing…”

“Let’s not focus on that now,” Zhou Ming interjected with urgency, guiding her towards the sofa. As he did, he couldn’t help but inquire, “What happened to your arm?”

“Don’t be concerned for me, my arm hasn’t truly vanished,” Ray Nora explained, settling onto the sofa with visible exhaustion. She then placed her right hand near her left shoulder, hovering it over the space where her arm would be. “I’m clutching something invisible, which causes parts of my body to ‘disappear.’ But I can’t release it; if I do, it will vanish into thin air. I’ve attempted to let go several times, to no avail, so I’ve kept a firm grip on it… It appears I’ve held on for far too long.”

“Holding onto something?” Zhou Ming echoed, visibly puzzled as his gaze shifted to where her left arm should have been. “What is it that you’re holding?”

“I’ll attempt to hand it over to you now,” said Ray Nora, taking a moment to gather her strength. She straightened up, miming the motion of handing something over with her right hand, “I’m not certain of the outcome once it’s in your possession. It might still vanish, or it might transform into something tangible. I truly don’t know…”

Her clarity seemed to wane under the influence of this mysterious entity, yet she persistently tried to transfer it. Zhou Ming, unable to see anything, extended his hand instinctively—he felt the cool touch of Ray Nora’s fingers, followed by something cold, soft, and formless settling into his palm.

Ray Nora had successfully transferred an invisible entity, a tangible yet unseen object.

Almost immediately, Zhou Ming observed Ray Nora’s form beginning to restore itself—her shoulder, chest, and eventually her entire arm re-materialized before his eyes.

And yet, he could still feel the cold, nebulous presence in his hand.

“…It’s still present,” Zhou Ming remarked, looking down at his palm in astonishment, “What in the world could this be…”

His voice trailed off, his eyes widening with shock as he watched something that had been invisible in his palm slowly materialize. Initially, it appeared as a nearly transparent shadow, which gradually solidified into a mass of dust-like grey substance with indistinct edges.

The grey substance remained quiet in Zhou Ming’s hand, seemingly alive with internal, incomprehensible motions. Its core undulated and pulsed unsettlingly, with vague shapes forming within it, while its periphery was shrouded in a mist that seemed to swirl, inducing a sense of vertigo in the onlooker.

“…What exactly is this?” Zhou Ming couldn’t contain his bewilderment, quickly looking back up at the Frost Queen, “Where did you come across this? Is it from the ‘beyond the borders’ you mentioned before?”

As the mysterious object left her possession, Ray Nora’s physical and spiritual vitality notably improved. Her complexion brightened considerably.

“At the furthest reaches of the fog, beyond the ‘boundary’ I mentioned previously, these entities are found in abundance… The entire ‘realm’ there is composed of them,” Ray Nora explained, her voice reflecting a mix of wonder and bewilderment. “After our last discussion, I began to not only perceive them but also see them. Yet, deciphering their true nature remains beyond my grasp. The most astonishing discovery, however, is that these substances can be transported back here. I brought a small sample with the hope you might shed some light on its essence.”

Zhou Ming’s expression grew increasingly pensive, his brow furrowing as he digested the revelation that the substance indeed originated from beyond the known confines of their world. This realization seemed to trigger a cascade of thoughts and hypotheses in his mind, intertwining with a peculiar sensation…

He felt a subtle shift within his very core.

His transformation, it seemed, had unexpectedly accelerated.

The cosmos around them resonated with a low, reverberating hum, filled with voices speaking in tongues too arcane for comprehension. Ray Nora cast a wary glance around, then deliberately focused her mind, tuning out the celestial whispers that filled the space.

She had witnessed these phenomena before and maintained her composure, unlike her initial reaction.

To her, the noise was perhaps a natural consequence of thinking on a cosmic scale.

After a moment, Zhou Ming let out a sigh, as if he had arrived at a hypothesis regarding the nature of what Ray Nora had brought back. The only step remaining was to confirm his suspicions.

He lifted his hand, within which a soft green light flickered. He focused, attempting to manipulate the flame based on the sensations he experienced during his transformation. Under his intent gaze, the green of the flame slowly dimmed, replaced by the appearance of faint stellar patterns within its dance.

Ray Nora watched, her eyes wide with a blend of shock and curiosity.

“Do you… have any idea what this is?” she inquired, her curiosity piqued.

The figure, seemingly woven from the fabric of the night sky itself, turned towards her, its voice resonating with a warmth and a hint of joy:

“It’s raw material.”

“Raw material?” Ray Nora echoed, her astonishment palpable. She was clearly struggling to grasp the concept. “What kind of raw material?”

“The foundational substance of a promising universe, the elemental units of data—as I had guessed!” Zhou Ming declared, locking eyes with Ray Nora. He slowly opened his hand, revealing the cluster of grey-white substance that had now completely merged into the starlight, assimilated into his being. He had come to a profound understanding of the nature of this material, “Data is eternal, undergoing endless transformation. The hypothesis of Navigator Two is true; data forms the bedrock of existence—everything is a manifestation of information, including the phenomenon of the Great Annihilation itself!”

Ray Nora listened, her expression one of puzzled fascination, while Zhou Ming, unable to contain a surge of excitement and enlightenment, began to pace beside the sofa. His mind raced with thoughts, occasionally pausing to distill his burgeoning insights.

Zhou Ming elucidated his theory with growing enthusiasm, addressing Ray Nora with a clarity meant to bridge the complex gap between their understandings. “Consider the universe and everything within it as if it were an immense computational entity, a ‘mathematical machine’ of sorts, operating on an unimaginable scale. This machine processes and manifests all the variables of existence, functioning in a self-sufficient and consistent manner. Every entity, every phenomenon we witness in our reality, is essentially data being processed by this universal system. The occurrences we experience, the very fabric of our reality, are outcomes—’solutions’ produced by the calculations of this cosmic machine…”

Ray Nora found Zhou Ming’s rapid discourse challenging to grasp fully. With a mix of curiosity and confusion, she interjected, “Are you suggesting that our reality is not genuine?”

Zhou Ming was quick to clarify, his hand gesturing dismissively at the notion of illusion. “No, our existence is very much authentic because we are integral to this mathematical construct. We, and everything around us, are manifestations of countless information units,” he elaborated, intent on making his point clear. “If the essence of all existence is information, then ‘reality’ as we know it is solely a network of information. This insight sheds light on the nature of the Great Annihilation… However, explaining this fully would take us considerable time, time I believe you could use to figure out on your own. The crucial concept here is that information never disappears; its ‘fundamental units’ merely undergo a state change…”

Pausing momentarily, Zhou Ming’s thought process visibly deepened, then with a determined gesture, he emphasized his next point.

“The ‘mathematical machine’ that underpins existence has always been operational, endlessly computing all possible ‘solutions’. Its constituent ‘parameters’ neither cease nor vanish; they merely undergo transformation—into states beyond our current capacity to perceive or interpret. Within the framework of this machine, these transitions remain part of the ongoing ‘calculations’. Yet, for us, beings who rely on deciphering these computations to comprehend our universe, this transformative phase… is what we see as the Great Annihilation.”

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