Taran El felt the immature yet piercing scream nearly burrow through his soul.
It was as if an invisible force was tearing at his thoughts, a vast consciousness assaulting his mories. That scream transcended the dinsions of ti and concept, reverberating in every phase of his life he could recall. Although it lasted only a brief mont, the pain and confusion it caused were tenfold, a hundredfold greater than what he had felt when he drank the blood crow concoction.
Then he felt the entire Dream of the Naless begin to collapse—the wind howled, the earth tore apart, the remnants of the World Tree in the distance rapidly crumbled, and the silhouettes of the forests further away seed to roll up and curl as if gravity was reversed; all of these sank into darkness within seconds. He beca aware of the dissolving Dreamscape, and imdiately after, the existence of the real world. Light appeared at the end of the darkness, flowing and swirling like a vortex on the opposite wall, gradually stabilizing. Afterward, he heard the voices of others around him—
He awoke in the real world at dawn.
Everyone was awakening.
"What happened... How did the Dream of the Naless suddenly collapse?"
"I don’t know, there seed to be a gust of wind... All I rember is the land in the distance rolling back..."
"Is anyone hurt? Is everyone here? What ti is it now?"
People nearby conversed, sounding bewildered amidst the chaos.
Taran El struggled against the sharp pain in his mind—the impact of the earlier scream accompanied his awakening into the real world, causing him to feel a headache so intense it was as if he was truly about to die suddenly—the crazy spinning in his vision finally began to slow.
He found himself sitting on a low bench in the corner, surrounded by Knowledge Guards who were rapidly coming to their senses and trying to understand what had happened.
The curtains nearby had been pulled open, and the sunlight of early morning spread along the rooftops of the city blocks while the streets outside remained quiet, with only occasional noises.
Taran El, holding his forehead, slowly stood up from the corner. His thoughts were still a muddle, but after hearing the conversation of the Knowledge Guards, he gathered so strength, "It might have sothing to do with the last sound I heard..."
Finally, soone noticed the scholar’s dire state; a Knowledge Guard quickly approached and steadied Taran El, who seed about to fall, "What did you say?"
"I think I might have touched the consciousness of Silantis, but..." Taran El began, frowning, but suddenly, he stopped mid-sentence and looked toward a specific spot in the room with tightly knitted brows, "...Sir Ted Riel hasn’t returned?!"
The others in the room seed to realize what had happened, and several gazes instantly focused on the middle chair.
That was the chair where the Truth Confidant Ted Riel had sat to enter the dream—now that all operatives had returned to the real world, the chair was still unoccupied.
After a mont of silence, soone nervously broke it, "...Maybe the Truth Confidant woke up earlier than us and left on his own?"
"That’s unlikely; it’s not in the Confidant’s character, plus there are marks on the door that would have left a trace if it had been opened—whether from the outside or the inside."
Taran El, with a furrowed brow, listened to the conversation beside him. He gently pushed aside the support from others and walked to the chair.
On the small table beside it, the containers once used to hold the potions still sat, seven droppers and a large beer bottle quietly reflecting the glow of the dawn light from outside the window.
Vaguely, he heard noises coming from outside the window—the sounds of chaos from an unknown direction.
There were cries in the streets, the sound of running in the corridors.
Shadows of trees swayed outside the window.
...
Nina woke up from the collapsing Dream of the Naless. After realizing she had returned to the real world, she was montarily stunned.
The ending of this Dream of the Naless... seed different from before.
This ti it was more abrupt and violent, carrying a sense of chaos and destruction, as if it wasn’t just an awakening but rather being torn apart from the inside out by a force.
She raised her head and saw Mr. Morris sitting across the table also appeared contemplative. Clearly, her teacher also felt that this ending of the Dream of the Naless was unusual.
At that mont, she suddenly heard Sherry’s voice coming from the direction of the window, "Hey hey, look outside! Holy shit!"
Nina, without ti to criticize the other’s use of vulgar language, instinctively stood up and turned to look toward the window.
The lush tree shadows swayed outside, coming into her view.
Trees, trees everywhere, just like the ones in "The Dream of the Naless": tall, lush, and naless towering trees. They filled the streets, crowded the city districts, and filled every inch of the view with rampant greenery that seed like another "Endless Sea." Innurable tree crowns rged into surging green waves, covering the sky between the buildings and even blending with the tallest towers and bell towers in a bizarre symbiotic posture.
This scene was as though a forest had been directly "superimposed" upon the City-State as if Dreamscape and reality had rged into one, eroding each other into inconceivable forms.
Fenna, Morris, and Nina arrived at the living room’s floor-to-ceiling window and stared dumbfounded at the outside scenery; they were speechless for quite a while.
Sherry then saw chaos starting to unfold on the distant streets.
The residents of the City-State had woken up early in the morning, and the shocking transformation of the streets had clearly broken through the previous "cognitive limits." The forest vista that nearly covered the entire city brought imnse panic, and the plants that rged with the buildings physically disrupted the city’s operation—people were exclaiming, so were trapped in their hos, and more buildings were nearly entirely consud, with only fragnts of walls and rooftops visible amongst the intertwined, sprawling trees. The fate of the people who had lived in these buildings was now uncertain.
Loud explosions rang out from above a nearby block, a steam pipeline had leaked, and the high-temperature, high-pressure gas burst out from the valves into the treetops, forming large swathes of dissipating white vapor. Elsewhere, a water pipeline had burst at so unknown point, and a massive column of water broke through the ground between the streets, creating a "spring" of staggering proportions among the towering trees.
From a distance ca the sharp, piercing sirens of steam-powered walkers. The City-State Guards seed to be attempting so action, and the Academy’s Knowledge Keepers appeared to have reacted as Nina heard familiar whistles from the streets—
Despite the chaos, despite everyone being abruptly awakened from Dreamscape, years of training and a series of complex and ticulous ergency response procedures still ca into play—the forces maintaining order rushed fearlessly into the dense forest engulfing the City-State.
However, at this mont, they faced a challenge far beyond their imagination.
This was a flourishing forest, a vibrant mass of plant life.
This was sothing only recorded in ancient, absurd legends and contaminated scrolls.
The Elves of the deep-sea era had embraced the ho of their ancestors in a way no one had anticipated—this boundless green hell.
In a daze, a gust of wind blew through the City-State, rustling the branches and leaves of the forest. Countless leaves undulated in the wind like green waves, and amidst the wavering leaves seed to whisper the murmur of the forest—
"...You are not Elves..."
Vividly colored paper pieces twirled and danced through the dense forest, lightly passing through the twisted, mutated buildings and the uneven towering trees. The forest’s wind carried the leafy waves, bringing layers upon layers of rustling sounds, as well as muffled murmurs and whispers.
Lucresia’s figure solidified out of the whirlwind of colored paper, landing atop a giant tree near the Academy District.
She held onto a branch beside her, carefully stepping on the treetop, and looked toward the streets now covered by forest and distorted by Dreamscape.
She heard the whisper carried by the wind and even felt the indescribable disappointnt and annoyance mixed within that whisper.
"Rabi," she called softly in her heart.
The voice of the Nightmare Rabbit quickly responded in her mind: "Rabi is listening~~"
"Those Heretics, how are they? Did they cause this?"
"Rabi isn’t sure, oh— But they seem quite confused too, the collapse of Dreamscape seems to have exceeded their expectations... Even the saint was alard, and those who entered Dreamscape were called in for questioning. Rabi was almost exposed... Luckily, Rabi had spread parts of himself inside them in advance..."
Lucresia frowned.
"Did you still ’eat’ them all? I rember warning you to control your appetite."
"No, no, only those Heretics who entered Dreamscape, Rabi left so cotton on them. This was to complete the task given by the Mistress safely and securely," Rabi hurriedly explained, "There are still many Heretics on the ship, Rabi didn’t touch them..."
Lucresia was silent for a few seconds. After feeling the tension and fear slowly transmitting through the soul bond from the bottom of her heart, she slowly said, "Rember my orders well, for your own good—don’t forget, that ship and everyone on it are my father’s prey."
The voice of the Nightmare Rabbit imdiately rose again, this ti with unmistakable panic and nervousness: "Yes, Rabi understands, Rabi will absolutely..."
Lucresia cut off the communication with the rabbit.
She then composed herself, and sowhat clumsily, she called out another na in her heart.
She soon heard a response coming from afar—
"Lucy, I’m listening."
"Dad, sothing has happened in the City-State," the "Witch of Endless Sea" began with a grave tone, "the real world, it’s serious—You’d better co back quickly."
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