Navigator Two

When the gentle sound of waves faded from her consciousness, Vana stood there in a daze for a very, very long time.

As a member of the Lost Homeland, and as someone who had undergone Subspace reshaping, her awareness was firmly anchored on the "side" where the sound of waves still existed. She realized what had happened almost instantly, then rushed from her cabin like the wind and arrived on the deck where the captain was.

"Captain!" Vana came before Duncan. Normally composed, she now looked somewhat at a loss. "The sound of waves in my mind has faded. Over on the Goddess of Storms' side, perhaps..."

"I know." Duncan nodded lightly. "The decay has worsened."

Vana stood blankly before Duncan, listening to that indisputable answer. For a long while, she made no other movement. Then she turned to look at the uniform "gray-white" passage ahead of the Lost Homeland, while instinctively calling the Goddess's name in her heart, just as she did whenever she prayed.

She still could not hear that familiar sound of waves. In her "spiritual perception," there were only faint whispers and chaotic murmurs—in the past, these had been nothing but "noise" during prayer, yet now they had become the only "comfort" in her heart.

Then, from the corner of her eye, shadows suddenly emerged from the depths of the uniform, boundless gray-white expanse before the Lost Homeland and the Brilliant Star. Layers upon layers of black things appeared along their route, and a flat, mirrorlike "sea" spread out there.

A hazy voice that seemed to span time and space entered everyone's minds aboard the ships. It seemed to be Alice, but was badly warped and distorted: "Transition complete... disengaging from the passage."

The next second, the gray-white passage around the Lost Homeland and the Brilliant