Fenna’s words left everyone on the scene in shock.
This even shattered the many speculations Duncan had just established about "The Dream of the Naless".
Fenna had never even entered that "forest" — she hadn’t seen any forest at all but had been trapped in a desert... What was that desert?!
After a mont of stunned silence, Duncan suddenly spoke up, "Were there any signs of human activity in the desert? Were there any peculiar landforms worth noting, or anything that made a deep impression on you?"
"There were many strangely shaped boulders, towering and twisted, as if sothing in motion had suddenly solidified into form. In the distant reaches, I could also see continuous shadows, but it was uncertain whether they were rock formations or a cluster of buildings—it was too far away," Fenna recalled her experience on the "other side of the Dreamscape," sharing the details of what she had seen, "Moreover, the most noteworthy thing was a faint red rift in the sky, very, very large in scale."
"A red rift?" Duncan’s eyes changed in an instant, and he beca more alert, "What did it look like specifically? Besides that red rift, what else did you see in the sky?"
"I rember its appearance," Fenna responded, rising to grab paper and pen from the side table. She rapidly sketched on the paper, "Its color was dark red, with fuzzy edges, as if shrouded in mist, the depths faintly glowing, with vague details visible within..."
All eyes were fixed on the tip of Fenna’s pen, and Duncan couldn’t help but lean forward, watching her sketch the "crack" composed of many chaotic lines on the paper. As those lines gradually matched up with the "red light" in his mory, his expression grew increasingly grave.
After a short while, Fenna stopped, pushing the paper forward, "This is approximately it. My drawing skills are limited; I have done my best. Apart from this rift, I didn’t see anything else in the sky."
"There was nothing else?" Duncan was montarily taken aback, asking reflexively, "The sun? What did the sun look like?"
For him, this question was essential—if Fenna had seen the sun in that "desert," then the "form" of that sun would be of utmost importance!
However, Fenna still shook her head, "There was no sun—although it seed like dayti and the sky was filled with radiance other than the red light, I did not see the sun."
Everyone looked at each other, even Duncan was montarily stunned, until Fenna’s voice rang out once more, bringing everyone back, "That’s all the information I have on my end."
Finally, all eyes turned to Duncan.
Nina blinked curiously, "Uncle Duncan, what did you see?"
"I saw a section of the real world that had been distorted and mutated," Duncan mused for a mont before slowly beginning, "Tall trees and countless vines covered the streets, as if spreading from the forest of ’The Dream of the Naless’ into reality itself, but we didn’t see any scenes related to the ’desert’. In the deepest part of the mutated district, we found an exceptionally large vine..."
With more people ca more ideas, and Duncan didn’t hide what he had seen while attempting to "Scout" that vine—the eerie Holoss navigating through the dark fog, the familiar yet strange goat head on Holoss, the changing sea charts, and the many pieces of information that goat head revealed in a dream-like state.
When his words fell, the room beca even quieter than after Fenna had finished speaking.
"This... It’s even more bizarre than the desert I encountered..." Fenna couldn’t help but murmur.
A-Dog also grumbled in a muted tone, "How to put it... worthy of the captain..."
Duncan glanced at the Abyssal Hound without concern for its sentints and added, "That ’goat head’ ntioned Silantis at the end, which I am very concerned about."
"If I rember correctly... that’s the na of the World Tree from the ancient elf legends," Fenna nodded gently, "It’s also known as the Tree of Life, the Origin Giant Tree, the great demon god ’Saslouka’ created it as the first life in the world according to elf belief..."
The people at the scene fell into thought, even Alice, who usually couldn’t keep up with the pace, appeared to be pondering hard, and after a brief silence, Lucresia finally raised her head, looking at Duncan with a hint of hesitation, "Dad, about the ’First Mate’ on Holoss right now... You haven’t quite told its origins. What exactly is that goat head..."
"It cos from Subspace; that’s all I can tell you," Duncan said, then quickly shifted his tone, "But this ti... I might have to go and confirm so things with it."
Now, all the clues were finally laid out on the table, and every person who had been scattered to various parts of reality and the Dreamscape the night before had gathered their own pieces of information before Duncan.
After organizing his thoughts, Duncan took a deep breath, temporarily setting aside the jumbled questions in his mind and sweeping his gaze over everyone in the living room.
"Now, we can ascertain a few things—
"First, the scale of The Dream of the Naless is expanding, its influence is intensifying, and it has even developed to the point where it can interfere with the real world. We can’t yet determine the reason for this change, but it is most likely related to the approaching ’Fourth Long Night’ and the alteration of the sun.
"Second, ordinary people in the City-State seem utterly oblivious to the influence of The Dream of the Naless, during the anomaly, people within the range of the Dreamscape disappear, and when the Dreamscape ends, they return to the real world and resu their daily lives. We cannot yet determine where they go during the Dreamscape, nor can we ascertain whether this phenonon is limited only to ’Elves’—there are many rchants and adventurers of other races in Light Breeze Harbor, and we need to figure out their situation from last night."
"Third, during the anomaly, we were segregated into different locations—remaining in the real world, entering the vast forest within the Dreamscape, or entering a mysterious ’desert’, and we cannot yet determine whether this ’segregation’ is random or follows a pattern."
"Fourth, the Heretics and Sun Cultists, as well as the Doomsday Preachers who provide them with intelligence, clearly know more information..."
He summarized the known information point by point, then lifted his head to look at the others, "Is there anything else to add?"
"I can’t think of anything for the ti being," Lucresia shook her head, "What concerns now is whether the ’anomaly’ from last night will reoccur, and how we should respond if it does."
"It will most likely reoccur," Morris sighed, "The influence of The Dream of the Naless is evidently strengthening, and the anomalies it causes will only increase. But to look on the bright side—if it recurs, we will have more opportunities to discern additional patterns. Currently, we have many speculations of which we cannot be certain, yet many questions might be answered during a second major anomaly."
Listening to the old scholar’s analysis, Duncan nodded in agreent, "This isn’t blind optimism; we indeed need to distill the patterns of The Dream of the Naless from more anomalies."
"But The Dream of the Naless will scatter us and sever our communication with the captain," Fenna interjected, "That’s a significant problem."
"Regarding that, I already have a general idea," Duncan, recalling his experience from the previous night, particularly after establishing a connection with that enormous vine and after setting foot on the eerie ’Holoss’, spoke thoughtfully, "If The Dream of the Naless expands again, I should have the chance to verify this idea."
Sherry looked up at Duncan, then around at the others, "So... what do we do in the anti? What’s our next move?"
"The Dream of the Naless could change again at any mont," Duncan spoke, his gaze falling on Lucresia, "Right now, we need to confirm whether other parts of the City-State were also affected last night, and the quickest way is to contact the Governor of Light Breeze Harbor."
"Leave it to ," Lucresia imdiately said, "I’ll go see Sala l in a mont and find out if he noticed anything last night."
Duncan humd in acknowledgnt, then turned to Morris and Fenna, "We’ll also need to investigate the nearby districts to see if, besides Elves, other residents of different races living around Crown Street were influenced by the Dreamscape and to see if they had any unusual experiences last night."
"Understood," Fenna promptly nodded, "That’s sothing I’m quite adept at."
Morris also nodded, "I know so old friends at the Academy of Truth; they can provide assistance to facilitate the investigation."
Duncan’s gaze finally turned to Nina and Sherry.
"You two stay at ho for now," after a mont of contemplation, Duncan said, "We don’t need you to do anything for the ti being, but if we uncover any leads on the Sun Cultists or Heretics, we might need your help."
Nina imdiately showed a sowhat disappointed expression but agreed obediently, "Oh...
Sherry, curious, asked, "And what about you?"
"I need to go back to the ship," Duncan said, rising from the sofa, "I’m heading out now."
Alice subconsciously stood up as well, "Then I’ll co too!"
Duncan stopped and gave this marionette an inquisitive glance, "Why are you coming along?"
After thinking it over and looking at the other people in the living room, Alice raised her hand to scratch her head, proudly asserting, "I don’t know!"
Duncan: "..."
After a brief silence, he suddenly sighed with a smile.
"Alright then, if you want to co along, co along; I’m not comfortable leaving you in the city anyway."
Alice imdiately perked up, "Hehe..."
A mont later, everyone set out, acting in accordance with the plan.
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