Duncan knew there was no need for the goat head to lie to him—or rather, even if it wanted to deceive him, there was no need for such clumsy acting.
The disjointed sentence was the only mory this "first mate" brought back from Subspace—it really seed not to know what happened, nor the cause and effect of that sentence.
Duncan supported himself on the table with both hands, and sat back down in the chair behind the navigation desk, looking intently into the goat head’s eyes as if trying to see more secrets in those obsidian-carved eyes, "So, a long, long ti ago, there were so people very important to you. You tried desperately to rember them, and at that ti, you already knew you would eventually forget many things, so ’rembering them’ beca a strong thought... This thought was so powerful, yet still it couldn’t prevent what happened—in the end, you only rember that sentence."
"Perhaps... it is like that," said the goat head, its tone tinged with uncertainty, "but I don’t feel any regret, just sotis a bit confused..."
It muttered to itself then suddenly stopped and looked up at Duncan, "Captain, what exactly happened? What kind of incident would involve ?"
Duncan sat in the armchair, fingers curled in recollection, gently tapping the desk in front of him. The Spectral Fla turned into ripple-like waves, slowly rippling away with his tapping.
"... The influence of The Dream of the Naless expanded last night, seeping into the real world, and I touched a ’root tendril’ that extended from that Dreamscape into our reality. If my guess is correct... what I made contact with is one of the fundantal roots of the world in the original belief system of the Elves, Silantis."
Instantly, from beneath the goat head’s neck, there ca a crack, and its entire head froze on its pedestal.
Duncan glanced at it and said indifferently, "You crackled too early."
"Ah... what?"
"After touching Silantis, I entered into a dinsion that was neither Dreamscape nor reality. Another Holoss was navigating in that dinsion, and on that ’Holoss,’ there was another you."
The goat head’s neck crackled again at once.
Duncan paid no attention to the ominous noises coming from the sinister "first mate," as he calmly recounted his experience from last night, especially the eerie atmosphere aboard the Ghost Ship, the changes that occurred at the "Door of the Displaced," and the odd reactions displayed by that familiar yet strange "goat head."
Throughout his narration, he kept observing the goat head’s expressions and behavior across from him.
Its reaction was not suspicious—besides shock, it was still shock. Even if it were a stiff wooden face, the look of astonishnt was clearly visible at a glance.
"It looks like you’re quite surprised," Duncan concluded the entire sequence of events, nodding to the large first mate at the table, "now you understand why I have been so serious?"
"I... yes, now I completely understand your reaction," the goat head started hesitantly, "but I don’t know... I also don’t rember..."
"I should have ntioned to you that in Subspace, I also saw a Holoss. That ship was dilapidated, like a reflection of Holoss after enduring even longer years of decay and deterioration, but the weird thing about that ship was only the ship itself—there was no you on it," Duncan said slowly, "Now, I have seen a third Holoss. It sails in darkness and fog, and on it, there’s another you—What about the future? Will there be a fourth, a fifth? After all, what is the current status of this ship, do you have no clue at all?"
The goat head hesitated, and this ti it was silent for a long ti, as if struggling to find a "safe" way to handle the topic. It was an indeterminate while before it finally spoke, "I don’t know if you will encounter a fourth or fifth Holoss, nor do I know how many peculiar ’states’ this ship might split into and present. But, there’s sothing that might help your thoughts... this ship wasn’t always like this."
"It wasn’t always like this?" Duncan frowned, "I guess... you’re not referring to the ’changes’ caused by Holoss falling into Subspace?"
"No, the change is much larger, much more thorough," the goat head slowly shook its head, "In my confused and fragnted mories, it has shown many faces—huge chunks of tal, throbbing and pulsating flesh, dark, cold rocks, abstract and terrifying shadows. In the depths of Subspace, it could be another shape at any ti, and this state lasted..."
The goat head suddenly stopped.
Duncan heard a low creak and a disturbingly dull echo coming from deep within the ship’s hull, the floor underfoot also trembling slightly, while a tense and uneasy "feeling" gradually perated the entire ship, as if... the entire ship was shaking, losing its stability.
"Let’s stop there; I can imagine the state you’re describing," said Duncan in a low voice.
The goat head nodded cautiously.
The tension and trembling that had pervaded the entire ship gradually ceased, and in the real dinsion, the ship regained its stability once again.
Duncan, however, frowned in thought—
The ship seed as if it were about to "collapse" into sothing else due to the goat head’s "description," but under his own "captain’s" gaze, it eventually returned to a stable state of containnt.
So, did the change Holoss underwent in just a few seconds reveal so kind of "essence" of the ship to him? Or perhaps... sothing more?
After pondering quietly for a while, Duncan shook his head and turned his gaze back to the goat-headed figure, "What do you think about ’another you’ on that ship?"
"Sorry, Captain, I don’t know."
The goat head muttered dejectedly, as if the words he’d said the most in this brief period were those, besides "I don’t rember."
Duncan wasn’t surprised by the answer, but imdiately followed up with another question, "Do you dream?"
"Dream?" The goat head was stunned for a mont, but quickly shook its head; this ti the answer ca exceptionally smoothly, "I do not dream—your loyal first officer is always vigilant, after all, soone has to keep a constant watch over the ship..."
Duncan didn’t care about the self-praise in the latter part of the response. Upon hearing the goat head’s reply, he just mumbled to himself thoughtfully, "You don’t dream..."
The goat head spoke up uneasily, "Captain..."
Duncan looked at it, "Speak."
The goat head seed sowhat awkward and hesitated a long while before speaking, "Earlier, you ntioned that on the eerily atmospheric Holoss, the door of the captain’s cabin was inscribed with ’May He Wander in the Dreamscape,’ and the ’’ inside that cabin also ntioned the na Silantis to you. Are you suspecting..."
"Yes." Duncan nodded calmly without letting the other finish.
The goat head was at a loss as to how to continue.
"But I can only harbor such suspicions, unless one day you suddenly regain your mory and tell yourself that you have a na—that na being ’Saslouka.’"
Silence fell upon the captain’s cabin for a while.
After what seed like an eternity, the goat head broke the silence with a muttering, "Most of the old elven legends are bizarre contradictions; they can’t really be taken seriously..."
"The more bizarre and contradictory the ancient legends, the more they rit deeper investigation when they suddenly connect with certain clues in the real world," Duncan said quietly and earnestly, "After all, you yourself do not know your past, do you?"
"Although you say that, this... is just too fantastical," the goat head grumbled, "I don’t want to have anything to do with legends of this caliber; and frankly, looking at now, I’m nothing more than a sculpture on the ship..."
Duncan gave no definite response, simply shaking his head with a sigh before rising from the navigation table and slowly moving to the window, looking out at the ship’s bathed deck in sunshine and mist, and the undulating sea beyond.
A soft, tapping noise against the glass suddenly reached his ears.
Duncan imdiately looked towards the source of the sound.
Agatha’s ethereal figure quietly appeared on the window, raising a hand to point in a certain direction.
Duncan frowned slightly, then turned to look at the goat head still mumbling at the edge of the navigation table.
After a brief mont of contemplation, he walked over, "Don’t think too much about it now. Regardless, your primary duty now is as the first officer of the Holoss—take good care of this ship for . Leave the rest to ."
The goat head was suddenly startled awake, then looked at the captain, who was bending down towards him, with so surprise. After a mont of stunned silence, he hastily responded, "Ah, yes, Captain, I... I understand."
"Mhm," Duncan nodded slightly, then made his way toward the door deep within the captain’s cabin, "I’m going to rest in my room for a bit and organize my thoughts."
The goat head’s voice imdiately followed from behind, "Yes, Captain!"
Duncan didn’t turn back; he waved his hand and entered his own captain’s quarters, closing the door behind him without really resting, but instead approached a mirror in the corner of the room.
After ensuring there was no noise from outside, Duncan stepped forward and tapped on the mirror.
Shadows and smoke rose in the mirror, and Agatha’s figure appeared within—the forr "gatekeeper" now residing in mirrors throughout the Holoss nodded to Duncan in greeting.
"You have sothing to tell , and you want to speak here—to avoid the ’first officer’?" Duncan asked seriously, "What’s the situation?"
"I heard your conversation with the first officer, Captain. There’s a situation I need to report to you," Agatha nodded, speaking gravely, "Last night, Holoss did not remain uneventful—its ’shadow’ disappeared for a ti."
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