A little over ten minutes later, the image displayed on the room's floor had reached a pitch-black stretch of seabed.
The image paused briefly, as though Nina, who had descended into the sea, was adjusting to the surrounding light and water pressure.
Soon, the image grew clear, then continued downward.
Before long, a stretch of completely collapsed, severely decayed ruins appeared in the image, so far gone that their original appearance was impossible to discern.
Still, the extent of the underwater ruins made it clear that the buildings had once formed a sizable complex.
Bernadette, who was gazing at the image, suddenly spoke:
"These ruins were all constructed from steel, but so much time has passed that they've decayed beyond recognition."
"Moreover, they must have been built long before the Fourth Epoch. Otherwise, they wouldn't have deteriorated to this extent."
As she spoke, she looked at Edefana.
He shook his head slightly. "In the Second Epoch, the oceans were always Soniathrym's domain. The great dragons and elves were enemies, so the dragons never ventured there."
"But I once entered the depths of some elves' minds and dreams. Ruins like these already existed on the seabed back then. Many elves and sea monsters knew about them."
"He... ahem, the Dragon of Wisdom and I both speculated that before the Second Epoch, during the First Epoch, when darkness and madness completely shrouded everything, civilizations had existed in this world, only to be destroyed later for some reason."
The image formed from starlight on the floor suddenly vanished, and Bernadette asked:
"The chaos sea? Is that the source of the changes on this seabed?"
Cyril glanced at Edefana. Seeing that he had no desire to speak, Cyril took the initiative:
"More or less. The power that caused the mutation in that strange well