Holoss began to accelerate toward Silantis—the Ghost Ship charged forward enveloped by raging flas, facing waves towering one above the other, and constantly against the terrifying howls and storm coming from the direction of the giant tree.
It seed that Silantis had noticed this sudden change, and its instinct to resist invasion into the Dreamscape imdiately ca into effect—the waves on the sea surged tumultuously, influenced by the giant tree, transforming the seawater into barriers as sharp as fanged blades, smashing down toward the bow of Holoss with an almost crushing force. Between the roaring of the great waves, the storm also brought forth countless hazy apparitions—these apparitions seed like an ancient legion interspersed with myriad animal and bird illusions grotesquely twisted beyond recognition. They surged over the gaps between the sea waves, racing toward the Ghost Ship blazing within the storm.
Holoss, however, did not avoid the oncoming storm, instead, its sails bulged further, and its speed increased.
Ethereal green flas burst forth from every seam of the deck, every cabin window, every gun port of the ship, as if to ignite the whole sea, this living fire directly crashing into the storm composed of nightmare illusions.
The towering waves scorched by the flas evaporated, creating a vast gap. The blades entwined within the wind were devoured by an invisible force and dissipated into harmless mist with the next gust, and the apparitions erging in the storm turned into true phantoms—
They harmlessly passed through the body of Holoss; the Spectral Fire seed to cause them no harm, nor could they impact Holoss. Yet, as Holoss sailed past, these apparitions gradually halted, as if awakening from a prolonged Dreamscape, silently dissipating in the wind.
Thereafter, Holoss entered an even greater Storm, more illusions, and a nightmare closer to the essence of Silantis.
Much like how a person can never perceive the exact mont their sleep begins, after an indiscernible instant, the whole world outside of Holoss had plunged into chaos and dimness, the Endless Sea disappeared, so did the sky, and the "sunlight" spreading across the distant sea vanished unbeknownst to anyone.
Only the storm apparitions continuously surging within the darkness remained, along with an imnse "tunnel" appearing intermittently within the storm, seemingly woven from countless vines and roots, with Holoss speeding along this indescribable "tunnel."
After another mont imperceptible to senses passed, even sound vanished—the whole world outside of Holoss fell into silence.
However, the apparitions of the storm still existed, their silent churning seeming even more odd and terrifying than before.
Holoss continued sailing through this intertwined plant structure, the entire ship floating as if in nothingness, where ahead in this void, only the vast shadow of Silantis persisted.
It seed like the only solid entity left in the world, as if it was the last tree after everything else had collapsed into oblivion—
Or perhaps, the first tree.
Rune felt sowhat relieved—after passing that undetectable "mont of entering the dream," or perhaps after so sort of "transformation" suddenly occurred on the ship, he found that the relentless calling in his mind had suddenly weakened; he felt his consciousness steadily stabilizing, and he could hear his heartbeat once again.
He lowered his head, seeing his body slowly recovering.
Looking through the window, he could see that giant tree stretching miles into the dark space.
Although still deep within this dangerous and terrifying "ancient god’s dream," and knowing Silantis was still trying to "protect," or rather eliminate, every elf in this world, the old man couldn’t help but murmur to himself in a low voice, "...truly beautiful..."
A voice ca from beside him, "Yes, really beautiful..."
Rune looked toward the source, only to see that the eerie goat-head on the navigation desk was looking out the window and sighing—ethereal green flas flowing and rising through its wooden structure, with another fla gathering beneath it, like a blurred, twisted spine, linking it to the deck below.
"At the beginning, I planted her in a darkness just like this," the eerie wooden goat-head continued softly, seemingly lost in its mories, carefully picking up the fragnts from deep in its mory, "but back then, she wasn’t this large... just a small sapling, crooked and even a bit... ugly.
"I didn’t know then what she would grow into, what she should grow like—she shaped herself, what I did was rely to let her grow, to keep growing.
"Then, I learned to imagine more things, more trees, plants that grew with the trees, and various creatures living among the plants... I placed them around the dark, and unknowingly, the darkness began to recede, the world started to grow lush, and many things happened that were beyond my initial imagination. Overall, it was quite interesting—much more interesting than a boundless and aningless void.
"So, the creatures that evolved in the forest with Spiritual Intelligence gave a na, they called ’creator’.
"But I didn’t really understand this title they gave , I didn’t understand much of what they said—they also did so very strange things, which I couldn’t comprehend.
"They gathered together to dance, placing the hunt of the harvest under the feet of a public goat sculpted from tree roots, they erected huge waterwheels by the river, decorating them with brilliantly colored fabrics. And when they finally mastered the ability to fly through the sky, they used giant flying machines to leap from the branches of Silantis, gliding over the hills, reaching the end of Silantis’s sight amid cheers...
"They said it was to please the great creator, to keep the creator from leaving.
"But I didn’t understand what they were doing, their... performances and gifts, I actually had no interest, never had."
"But I saw them enjoying themselves, so I thought it must be good."
Rune fell silent. His eyes slowly widened in an incredulous manner as he stared at the goat’s head on the table that exuded a sinister aura.
He opened his mouth, but complex emotions blocked all his words—he only managed a strange gurgle from his throat.
Suddenly, a crackling explosion erupted in the captain’s quarters, interrupting any further actions and words from the old elf.
A ghastly green Spectral Fla ignited out of nowhere, and within the flas, a tall figure took shape. Duncan stepped out of the fire, his gaze landing on the goat’s head, "Have you rembered everything?"
"Fragnted, chaotic, just vague impressions and so fleeting images," the goat’s head creaked slightly, slowly turning its gaze towards Duncan, "I can feel that many ’fragnts’ are scattered elsewhere."
"Planning to gather them all?" Duncan casually asked.
"...It doesn’t matter," the goat’s head paused for two seconds, unexpectedly shaking its head to Duncan’s surprise, "At least it’s not sothing to consider right now."
"...Okay," Duncan looked deeply at the goat’s head, then turned his gaze out the window, "Prepare for ’contact’; we are not far from the ’Tree Trunk.’"
"Do you want to steer personally?" the goat’s head asked.
"No," Duncan shook his head, "If I were steering, we’d probably never find where Silantis is hidden—since you’ve rembered so things, you continue to steer. I think this part of ’mories’ should be enough to guide us in the right direction."
"Understood."
The goat’s head responded succinctly.
Honestly, Duncan found the sudden brevity of its speech sowhat disconcerting.
But he quickly put that peculiar thought out of his mind.
The Holoss began navigating through the silent, layered illusions of the Storm and the tunnels and veils woven from countless vines and roots—this Ghost Ship, which had once road the edges of the dark veil many tis, had finally found the correct direction.
Duncan then turned to look at Bishop Rune.
After a mont of slightly awkward eye contact, he gestured to the daydreaming Alice beside him, "You might as well co and untie the old man..."
"Oh." Alice agreed, sowhat regretfully coming over to "release" the elf elder still bound by ropes to a post.
Rune’s mouth twitched slightly, awkwardly trying to speak calmly, "Actually, I think it’s fine, Ms. Alice’s actions are quite... professional..."
However, he was only halfway through his sentence when a violent vibration suddenly shook the entire ship!
It was as if the Holoss had instantly collided with so colossal, invisible entity, a trendous jolt emanating from the bow along with a nearly deafening noise that made one doubt if the ship would disintegrate on impact. The mast began to sway violently, the spiritual sails flashed intensely, and the flas streaming across the deck burst into a fierce explosion!
Duncan instantly reacted to this sudden, invisible collision by pressing his hands on the nautical table in front of him, first stabilizing the ship’s condition with Spectral Fla, while quickly shouting, "Tie him back up, quick!"
Alice reacted faster than ever, "Aye!!"
"Wait just a—" Rune managed to shout before Alice tied him up tightly again—the poor bishop was no match for the living automaton on the Holoss.
Almost simultaneously, Duncan’s peripheral vision swept past the window, scanning the dark nothingness surrounding Silantis.
The Spectral Fla erupted around the Holoss, as if "sniffing" sothing, wildly spreading towards that darkness.
And within the cascading shadows cast by the burning Spiritual Fire, he saw... a shadow even more enormous than Silantis!
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