Sherry felt she had been sinking in the darkness for a long ti—continuously sinking as if the whole world had suddenly turned into nothingness, and she would forever sleep in this descent.
Suddenly, a vast force surged through her arm, and A-Dog’s voice rang directly in her mind, "Sherry! Wake up! Wake up! Don’t sleep!!"
Sherry finally woke from the constantly sinking dream and almost jumped up on the spot, "A-Dog! Fire! The city is on fire again!"
The terrifying scene of flas spreading across the sky seed to still burn in her lingering mory. The dreadful pressure of the entire city being engulfed by flas made her heart pound; she could not recall how long it had been since she had such a nightmare that, at the mont of waking, she was not sure if she was truly awake or had fallen into another impending fiery nightmare.
But A-Dog’s voice pulled her back from her panic, "Sherry, there’s no fire, that was just a dream, there’s no fire here now..."
Sherry finally fully woke up, shook her head, the scene before her eyes still sowhat blurred, but she could see lush greenery in her view, hear the sound of flowing water nearby, and she also saw A-Dog beside her—this finally cald her down, and she leaned on A-Dog while gasping for breath, "Damn, that scared to death... So what was that about... Why was the city suddenly all ablaze? Now we..."
"We are in The Dream of the Naless." Lucricia’s voice suddenly ca from the side, stopping Sherry, who was mumbling to herself.
Sherry looked toward the direction of the voice; as that strange blurriness finally faded, she saw that "witch" Miss standing on a tree stump not far away, and she also clearly saw the lush forest around them, and a stream flowing through a glade nearby.
After being stunned for two or three seconds, Sherry finally figured out the situation. She hesitantly stood up straight, observing the surrounding forest and spoke softly, "Are we back in this forest again?"
Then, she suddenly thought of sothing, and her face instantly panicked, "Wait, what about the real world?! We’ve entered the dream again, is the ’outside’ city still burning..."
"There is no real world anymore, Sherry, at least for Light Breeze Harbor at this mont, reality has been completely devoured by Silantis," Lucricia said, calmly looking at the girl who was becoming frantic again, patiently explaining, "Do you rember? My father told us when he contacted us last ti, Light Breeze Harbor in the real world has disappeared—since then, we have already fallen into Silantis’s Dreamscape along with the entire city. Those forests invading the City-State, and the City-State being invaded by the forest, all are part of the dream."
Sherry looked confused, seemingly still unable to grasp the current situation. Seeing this, Lucricia just gently shook her head, "Just like how the elves in the City-State would disappear after nightfall—what is devoured by Silantis’s dream will disappear from the real world. We always thought that only elves could ’disappear’ in this way, but now it seems... even the City-State itself can ’enter dream’ under the influence of the ancient god."
Sherry finally slowly widened her eyes, the fact that the entire City-State had been devoured by the dream left her intensely horrified. After a long ti, she spoke with a helpless face, "So...what’s the situation now? How did we end up here again..."
"This is another layer of the Dreamscape—Sherry, look up, this is no longer the ’forest’ we know."
Listening to the words of the witch lady, Sherry finally realized the slight anomalies in the scenery of the forest, noticing the unusual "sky" that appeared between the treetops.
She hesitated and looked up, an endless expanse supported by branches as vast as mountain ranges in the sky unfolded before her eyes.
It was as if another forest was suspended in the sky, a trendous structure of treetops intertwined above the plains and mountains, glowing vines and light spores falling from the treetops, sprinkling light in every corner under the canopy, branches of indeterminable diater and length spanning across her view, eting at the far end to form a "trunk" resembling a massive peak, with countless "thin branches" hanging down towards the ground.
Where those "thin branches" fell, dense vegetation grew, forming a forest under the sky’s canopy.
"This... this thing..." Sherry stuttered several tis, finally managing to speak, "Silantis!!"
"Yes, Silantis, we’ve finally t her," Lucresia looked up, quietly observing the "canopy" that nearly completely obscured the sky, and the structures between the treetops that seed like man-made constructions or settlents, "This is the World Tree, deeply engraved in the mory of the Elves... more magnificent than I imagined."
"Wait a minute, I’m a bit confused, I need to sort this out..." Sherry spoke rapidly, while involuntarily looking up again at the colossal tree that seed to cover the whole world, "We’ve now reached a deeper layer of The Dream of the Naless, where the real Silantis lies dormant. So, what next? Should we negotiate with this tree to see if it can continue sleeping?"
Lucresia did not respond imdiately but looked serious and composed herself.
"Rabi."
The rabbit’s voice imdiately responded in her heart: "Rabi is listening~"
"What’s the situation on that ship? What are the Heretics doing?"
"Rabi was just about to report to you, things seem a bit strange here..." The rabbit’s voice sounded very low, as if it was hiding from soone’s gaze while cautiously responding, "Those Heretics suddenly all hid in their rooms, Rabi heard them saying sothing... The saints sensed an ominous sign in fate, all operations are temporarily halted, they also ntioned a warning from the Doomsday Preacher, a new great void is about to appear, we must leave quickly..."
"An ominous sign? Flee from the great void?" Lucresia’s expression subtly changed, "Are you saying that the Heretics have detected so danger and are fleeing?"
"It seems so, this ship is now running at full speed in so direction; before, it was just drifting slowly," Rabi said cautiously, "Mistress, Rabi is suddenly a bit panicked. Could it be that Rabi has been exposed? Could it be that the Heretics have noticed Rabi’s presence and got scared away..."
"No, you’re not worthy yet," Lucresia said without hesitation, "You’re not even a match for that ’saint’—that ’saint’ might have received so other intelligence..."
"What should Rabi do now?" The voice of the rabbit sounded truly a bit panicked. This evil spirit, adept in navigating nightmares, seed to be greatly affected in the real world, "It seems like these Heretics don’t plan to enter The Dream of the Naless anymore. Rabi can’t use the Dreamscape to return to your side either..."
"Just hide properly. I’ll co and fetch you later," Lucresia said swiftly, "Don’t worry, I will appear before you—if I can’t find you, my father will appear before you. Rember, you have seen him. Do you understand what I an?"
As she finished speaking, the nightmare rabbit let out an almost broken scream, "Rabi understands!!!"
Lucresia ended the communication with an expressionless face.
Sherry was still standing anxiously by her side, apparently waiting for Miss "Witch’s" response.
"The annihilation of the Heretics seems to have noticed sothing; they’ve paused their actions," Lucresia exhaled softly, telling Sherry, "It’s still unclear if there are any changes in the actions of another group of Sun Followers."
After hearing this, Sherry hesitated and asked uncertainly, "Does that an we don’t have to worry about encountering those Annihilation Heretics here?"
Lucresia just calmly looked at her for two seconds before speaking, "No, it ans that the change in this dream has gone beyond the Heretics’ plans—they have once again created a ss that they themselves can’t clean up, and we... are now right in that ss."
Sherry was frightened by the suddenly somber tone of the "Witch of the Sea." She paused, and just at that mont, a slight rustling sound suddenly caught her attention.
The sound ca from the direction of the stream; initially, it seed like just normal water sounds.
But soon, the water sounds started incorporating strange noises, spreading to the surrounding soil, rocks, and bushes...
Sherry saw tentacles made of flesh rising from the stream.
The soil began to move like the skin of a mollusk.
In the shadows of the bushes, sharp teeth were chewing on sothing.
And on a tree closest to her, the green tips of the branches, leaves slowly opened their eyes.
Sherry took a deep, cool breath.
The entire forest seed to begin to squirm.
She finally let out a full-lunged scream, "I know why those Heretics aren’t coming—run!!"
...
Fenna opened her eyes amidst a whirl of sand.
Her mind still held the impression of a sudden fire erupting in the city, and the noise and explosions from the streets still seed to echo in her ears, but after a long period of darkness and a sensation of falling, she realized that she had once again returned to that familiar place.
"Traveler, we et again."
The familiar voice ca through, and the sandstorm also gradually subsided with this voice. Fenna looked up and once again saw the giant clad in tattered robes.
Instantly, Fenna understood the current situation.
From the dreaming City-State, she had fallen into a deeper layer of this dream.
"This is our last eting, Traveler," the giant spoke again.
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