Nasaton was the siren's city, which was hidden in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It had existed since the dawn of time and the city's glorious days were even before the Mythological Age on land. Aside from the sirens, no one knew how to get into the city. Not the technologically-advanced humans, or the omnipotent supernatural gods of yore. None had managed to locate Nasaton. Some had theorized that the city was located deep in one of the ocean's trenches and it was obscured by volcanic activities deep under water. Some had argued that a massive invisible barrier was erected to prevent unwanted guests from poking their heads in. However, all these guesses were quite far off the mark.
Nasaton was on Earth, but not exactly. It was sandwiched between a dimensional gap that was linked to the real world. The spatial distortion had caused the city to be invisible to all forms of detection methods, and also prevented anyone from actually reaching it. Only the sirens knew how to access the city, and over the last 10,000 years, only a handful of visitors had been allowed into the city. These included otherworldling scholars, and a few lucky humans. It was these visitors who left behind hearsay of the mysterious city's existence.
But their stories were pretty much taken as absurd fantasies. They soon devolved into mere myths and legends for the later generations.
"Inside a dimensional gap?" Vivian was very interested upon hearing what Shaqira had said. "How did you build it? It took the Athens Sanctuary many generations to come up with the Shadowy Divide and there was still a way to breach it. How did Nasaton come up with this complete invisiblity?"
"I don't know about that." Shaqira shrugged. "The azure water dome was already there when I was born. Apparently, the city's been resting in the gap since the beginning. No one actually talks about who created the city, and no one has actually bothered to ask as well."
Hao Ren turned his head slightly towards Shaqira as he drove. "Say... this may be a bit sensitive, but aren't sirens immortal? Don't tell me there's no one back home who's lived since the founding of the city? Surely they would know?"
"While sirens are indeed immortal, we will still choose a time to 'renew' ourself as we return to the water and come out as a new life." Shaqira roughly explained a siren's life cycle before shaking her head. "There are a few elders, not much, but they exist. But they never spoke about the origin of the city. One of the rules of Nasaton is that we don't speak of the past. We simply stay out of conflict and live a peaceful life. We do not interfere with others and brook no interference. That's how we had lived for so long. It seems like the city was eternal... until the Queen's orders to go to land."
"So you'll ocassionally let outsiders visit your city?" Y'lisabet was laying the seat behind Shaqira's as she poked her head out. "Are you well informed about the outside world?"
"Every rarely. Like I said earlier, there are expections." Shaqira nodded. "We too are curious about the outside world and have some communications with those living on land. Long ago we would send out sentries every few hundred years to learn of what was going on on land. The sentries will use a Deepwater Orb to record what was going out to let the rest see... Back in the ancient days, or your Mythological Age, we even made short alliances with some of the coastal supernatural familes. But they were soon wiped out."
Vivian smiled. "What do you think of world on land?"
"It was rather dull at first and things were changing very very slowly. Humans were still using bronze weapons for a good thousand odd years. Only after two sentry cycles did we see them moving onto iron. Those supernatural familes were progressing even slowly than humans. There were times than after a milleania our sentries still found them observing humans fighting each other, or fighting beasts to pass their time. Then things went on overdrive. The end of the Mythological age was a surprise to everyone, the speed which the demon hunters and humans grew far exceeded the pace of the Mythological age's collapse. Everytime a new batch of sentries came ashore they saw new kingdoms and the ruler of the land changed from time to time. Then came machinery and industry... while it is not as grand as Nasaton, the advances that humans made in technology for the last hundred years have been nothing but impressive."
Vivian nodded. "Yes, I think so too. This world is progressing and advancing faster and faster. The first time I woke humans were using bronze for don't know how long, then when I woke again they had moved from windmills to steam engines, another nap later they had electricity. Frankly speaking, I don't dare to sleep nowadays. I'm really afraid that one day I overslept and wake up to find that humans were all gone, and what was left standing was a few launch towers, and all humans had migrated into the stars."
Hao Ren guffawed. "Wow, seriously? Surely you jest."
Vivan gave a snort. "You won't understand how I feel. But what I said is true. Sleeping is really a waste of time. I knew a fellow vampire called Odrian, and he was one of the lucky few to lived through the Mythological Age until recent times. He had managed to obtain an ancient relic and was about to go into slumber to absorb its energies. But he ended up dead in his sleep."
Lily was shocked. "How does one even do that?"
Vivian shrugged. "He had went to Novaya Zemlya back in the 1950s to slumber. Over forty years since the Soviets had lobbed at least a few hundred nuclear warheads on that island. I'm not sure if he was killed in the initial blast or not, but my best guess is that he was probably annihilated there and then. I've never seen him after that, so he's probably nothing but radioactive dust now.
Cold sweat was all over Hao Ren's forehead. "...."
"That is to say, trying to go into a trance for a hundred years now with a relic is not a good idea." Vivian sighed. "During the peaceful and idyllic days it was fine, doing that now is a death sentence. Human advancement is like on steriods and they had moved on from sending human waves to into a gun line to intercontinental ballistic missiles. You'd probably get blown apart by humans if you'd try that. And given how maniacal humans can be, I won't be surprise if they blow Earth up on find day. So the smartest thing a supernatural can do now is to read the papers and get ready to run for their lives at the first warning... Why are you guys all quiet?"
Hao Ren patted Vivian on the shoulder. "I think we need to find a cure for your nacrolepsy issue."
Shaqira only looked on in silence. As a siren who had only seen the land for the first time a hundred years ago, anything she says would have been awkward.
As dusk fell, the crew had reached the designated point. It was a deserted coast that was littered with shattered rocks. It was far away from the city and had no proper roads. As there were no signs of humans nearby, they didn't need to worry about invoking a supernatural phenomenon here. Along the coast were some rock formations that formed a sloping cliffwall and the signs of erosion on the cliffs were testament to the passing of time. Shaqira sighed as she saw the scene. "I still remember there were plenty of such coastlines a hundred years back... Places like this were in abundance when I first came to shore, and to find somewhere like this is very difficult nowadays."
Hao Ren kept his car and turned towards the ocean with a stretch and a deep breath. The oceanview was really relaxing and the slightly salty seabreeze was comforting too. Wuyue too had the same motion, she looked excited but there was a visible shred of anxiousness as well."
Hao Ren immediately picked up on that. "Nervous?"
"That feeling you get when you go back to your hometown for the first ime in years." Wuyue smiled. "Mother had warned me to stay away from the deep sea since I was young. Perhaps she had noticed the change in Nasaton back then. Now I'm about to go against her advice... I hope she don't blame me."
Hao Ren smiled. "I'm sure she's just worried. If we can ensure your safety, your mother won't be blaming anyone."
Rollie was nervous the moment she got down of the car and she stuck close to Vivian by squatting beside her. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the sea while letting out a soft, nervous purr. This was her first time seeing a sea.
"Lets get moving, we could probably rest the first rest stop before night fall. If you guys are not tired we could make it all the way to the center of the Pacific." Shaqira squinted as she deciphers the sea breeze. "This is a good day to set out to sea."
As she said that, a shimmering glow formed around Shaqira as she readied herself to bring the group into the ocean. At that very moment, the MDT suddenly darted out of Hao Ren's pocket. "Wait! A spatial distortion! Someone is teleporting in!"
Vivian immediately frowned as she sensed the familiar magical frequency from the surrounding.
"Beware, demon hunters!"
Nasaton was the siren's city, which was hidden in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It had existed since the dawn of time and the city's glorious days were even before the Mythological Age on land. Aside from the sirens, no one knew how to get into the city. Not the technologically-advanced humans, or the omnipotent supernatural gods of yore. None had managed to locate Nasaton. Some had theorized that the city was located deep in one of the ocean's trenches and it was obscured by volcanic activities deep under water. Some had argued that a massive invisible barrier was erected to prevent unwanted guests from poking their heads in. However, all these guesses were quite far off the mark.
Nasaton was on Earth, but not exactly. It was sandwiched between a dimensional gap that was linked to the real world. The spatial distortion had caused the city to be invisible to all forms of detection methods, and also prevented anyone from actually reaching it. Only the sirens knew how to access the city, and over the last 10,000 years, only a handful of visitors had been allowed into the city. These included otherworldling scholars, and a few lucky humans. It was these visitors who left behind hearsay of the mysterious city's existence.
But their stories were pretty much taken as absurd fantasies. They soon devolved into mere myths and legends for the later generations.
"Inside a dimensional gap?" Vivian was very interested upon hearing what Shaqira had said. "How did you build it? It took the Athens Sanctuary many generations to come up with the Shadowy Divide and there was still a way to breach it. How did Nasaton come up with this complete invisiblity?"
"I don't know about that." Shaqira shrugged. "The azure water dome was already there when I was born. Apparently, the city's been resting in the gap since the beginning. No one actually talks about who created the city, and no one has actually bothered to ask as well."
Hao Ren turned his head slightly towards Shaqira as he drove. "Say... this may be a bit sensitive, but aren't sirens immortal? Don't tell me there's no one back home who's lived since the founding of the city? Surely they would know?"
"While sirens are indeed immortal, we will still choose a time to 'renew' ourself as we return to the water and come out as a new life." Shaqira roughly explained a siren's life cycle before shaking her head. "There are a few elders, not much, but they exist. But they never spoke about the origin of the city. One of the rules of Nasaton is that we don't speak of the past. We simply stay out of conflict and live a peaceful life. We do not interfere with others and brook no interference. That's how we had lived for so long. It seems like the city was eternal... until the Queen's orders to go to land."
"So you'll ocassionally let outsiders visit your city?" Y'lisabet was laying the seat behind Shaqira's as she poked her head out. "Are you well informed about the outside world?"
"Every rarely. Like I said earlier, there are expections." Shaqira nodded. "We too are curious about the outside world and have some communications with those living on land. Long ago we would send out sentries every few hundred years to learn of what was going on on land. The sentries will use a Deepwater Orb to record what was going out to let the rest see... Back in the ancient days, or your Mythological Age, we even made short alliances with some of the coastal supernatural familes. But they were soon wiped out."
Vivian smiled. "What do you think of world on land?"
"It was rather dull at first and things were changing very very slowly. Humans were still using bronze weapons for a good thousand odd years. Only after two sentry cycles did we see them moving onto iron. Those supernatural familes were progressing even slowly than humans. There were times than after a milleania our sentries still found them observing humans fighting each other, or fighting beasts to pass their time. Then things went on overdrive. The end of the Mythological age was a surprise to everyone, the speed which the demon hunters and humans grew far exceeded the pace of the Mythological age's collapse. Everytime a new batch of sentries came ashore they saw new kingdoms and the ruler of the land changed from time to time. Then came machinery and industry... while it is not as grand as Nasaton, the advances that humans made in technology for the last hundred years have been nothing but impressive."
Vivian nodded. "Yes, I think so too. This world is progressing and advancing faster and faster. The first time I woke humans were using bronze for don't know how long, then when I woke again they had moved from windmills to steam engines, another nap later they had electricity. Frankly speaking, I don't dare to sleep nowadays. I'm really afraid that one day I overslept and wake up to find that humans were all gone, and what was left standing was a few launch towers, and all humans had migrated into the stars."
Hao Ren guffawed. "Wow, seriously? Surely you jest."
Vivan gave a snort. "You won't understand how I feel. But what I said is true. Sleeping is really a waste of time. I knew a fellow vampire called Odrian, and he was one of the lucky few to lived through the Mythological Age until recent times. He had managed to obtain an ancient relic and was about to go into slumber to absorb its energies. But he ended up dead in his sleep."
Lily was shocked. "How does one even do that?"
Vivian shrugged. "He had went to Novaya Zemlya back in the 1950s to slumber. Over forty years since the Soviets had lobbed at least a few hundred nuclear warheads on that island. I'm not sure if he was killed in the initial blast or not, but my best guess is that he was probably annihilated there and then. I've never seen him after that, so he's probably nothing but radioactive dust now.
Cold sweat was all over Hao Ren's forehead. "...."
"That is to say, trying to go into a trance for a hundred years now with a relic is not a good idea." Vivian sighed. "During the peaceful and idyllic days it was fine, doing that now is a death sentence. Human advancement is like on steriods and they had moved on from sending human waves to into a gun line to intercontinental ballistic missiles. You'd probably get blown apart by humans if you'd try that. And given how maniacal humans can be, I won't be surprise if they blow Earth up on find day. So the smartest thing a supernatural can do now is to read the papers and get ready to run for their lives at the first warning... Why are you guys all quiet?"
Hao Ren patted Vivian on the shoulder. "I think we need to find a cure for your nacrolepsy issue."
Shaqira only looked on in silence. As a siren who had only seen the land for the first time a hundred years ago, anything she says would have been awkward.
As dusk fell, the crew had reached the designated point. It was a deserted coast that was littered with shattered rocks. It was far away from the city and had no proper roads. As there were no signs of humans nearby, they didn't need to worry about invoking a supernatural phenomenon here. Along the coast were some rock formations that formed a sloping cliffwall and the signs of erosion on the cliffs were testament to the passing of time. Shaqira sighed as she saw the scene. "I still remember there were plenty of such coastlines a hundred years back... Places like this were in abundance when I first came to shore, and to find somewhere like this is very difficult nowadays."
Hao Ren kept his car and turned towards the ocean with a stretch and a deep breath. The oceanview was really relaxing and the slightly salty seabreeze was comforting too. Wuyue too had the same motion, she looked excited but there was a visible shred of anxiousness as well."
Hao Ren immediately picked up on that. "Nervous?"
"That feeling you get when you go back to your hometown for the first ime in years." Wuyue smiled. "Mother had warned me to stay away from the deep sea since I was young. Perhaps she had noticed the change in Nasaton back then. Now I'm about to go against her advice... I hope she don't blame me."
Hao Ren smiled. "I'm sure she's just worried. If we can ensure your safety, your mother won't be blaming anyone."
Rollie was nervous the moment she got down of the car and she stuck close to Vivian by squatting beside her. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the sea while letting out a soft, nervous purr. This was her first time seeing a sea.
"Lets get moving, we could probably rest the first rest stop before night fall. If you guys are not tired we could make it all the way to the center of the Pacific." Shaqira squinted as she deciphers the sea breeze. "This is a good day to set out to sea."
As she said that, a shimmering glow formed around Shaqira as she readied herself to bring the group into the ocean. At that very moment, the MDT suddenly darted out of Hao Ren's pocket. "Wait! A spatial distortion! Someone is teleporting in!"
Vivian immediately frowned as she sensed the familiar magical frequency from the surrounding.
"Beware, demon hunters!"
