Since discovering this strange ship, the Lost Homeland, sailing in endless darkness and fog, Duncan had been cautious not to attempt to take over its helm.
Because he couldn't be sure of the nature of the ship, nor did he know how the ship would react to his "takeover".
But now, he knew that this ship was the shadow of the Lost Homeland, and that it was Goat Head's unconscious "dream entry" that caused this change, which dispelled many of his concerns.
It's time to let this ship sailing in the dream know who is the real captain.
Duncan walked slowly up to the control platform on the stern deck, passing the iron hooks and cables near the control platform - the cables were silent, lying dormant in the darkness, and the dark-colored steering wheel was swaying slightly left and right in the center of the platform, as if it was still fine-tuning the rudder even in this dream world, as if the goat head was still dutifully controlling the course.
Duncan came to the rudder, took a deep breath, and couldn't help but recall the scene when he first stood on the bridge and put his hands on the rudder.
Putting the irrelevant thoughts out of his mind for the time being, he reached out and slowly grasped the wooden handle on the edge of the steering wheel - he felt a smooth and cool touch, as well as a slight resistance.
Duncan ignored the resistance coming from the dream. He mobilized the "safety fires" that had been sent to the ship before, ordered them to gather towards the control panel, and gripped the rudder tightly.
The next second, wisps of flames appeared out of thin air in the darkness, and the spiritual flames ignited the control panel at the stern in the blink of an eye. Duncan's body turned into a translucent spirit in the flames, and the entire control panel including the steering wheel was instantly enveloped by flames!
In an instant, Duncan felt the ship changing in his hands. He felt that it was presenting a clear structure in his mind, just like the Lost Homeland in the real world. He felt its deck, its mast, each of its sails and rigging, as well as the cabins and corridors shrouded in darkness and secrecy under the deck...
The whole ship was making creaking sounds. The Homeless, which was made of shadows as "raw materials" and shaped by the power of dreams, seemed to have suddenly woken up. It finally recognized its captain. Every part of the ship seemed to cheer, and the ropes, barrels and other objects that were silent a second ago began to sway in the darkness.
And then, as the spirit sail gradually filled up, Duncan felt that the ghost ship, which had been slowly wandering in the dark fog, began to accelerate, as if it had a sailing target, and began to sail towards a certain direction in the darkness.
Duncan was surprised to feel the changes of the ship, especially its sudden acceleration in the darkness. However, before he could carefully sense what was ahead of him, a voice suddenly came from nowhere and went straight into his mind: "... Who is there?"
It was a female voice that sounded childish, with a vague and ambiguous tone as if she was half asleep and half awake. The voice was everywhere in the darkness, and the next second after hearing it, Duncan felt a sudden appearance of light and shadows in front of his eyes. Then, a huge structure suddenly appeared from the darkness in front, and a hazy phantom light appeared in the front!
It looked like a huge whirlpool, but in the whirlpool, countless structures that looked like vines or branches could be seen. Endless vines and branches surged from the front of the Lost Homeland, and in the blink of an eye covered almost every inch of space outside the ship's side. In front of Duncan's eyes, the huge plant structure occupied all of his vision, and continued to extend and move backwards as the Lost Homeland sailed.
It felt as if the ship had suddenly "flown" into a "tunnel" woven from some huge plant structure, with vines and branches intertwined to form the walls and dome of the tunnel. A huge sense of oppression also followed, and at the same time, countless glimmers of light emerged along the vines and gathered together like water.
Those "lights" finally touched the Lost Homeland and began to move along the deck and the side of the ship towards the stern deck where Duncan was. There seemed to be something converging in the lights, but they could never present a clear shape. They just kept converging and getting closer, as if they were looking for something.
Duncan held the steering wheel tightly in the face of the huge visual pressure and mysterious glow. He controlled himself and did not intend to leave the bridge no matter what happened. He watched the dark vines and branches moving outside the ship's side and felt that the speed of the Lost Homeland was decreasing little by little, as if there was an invisible resistance slowing down the ship. Then, the wandering lights finally gathered near him, and he heard that tender, childlike voice again -
"Who is it? Who's there?"
Duncan stared at the light intently, saw it coming near him, wandered aimlessly around the control panel, and listened to the voice in his mind constantly ringing.
"Are you back? Sasloka... Are you home? You've been away for a long time...
"I can't see you... Where are you? Can I open my eyes now? Is this all over
“I… I can’t open my eyes, Sasloka, I’m a little scared, I can’t see anything… But something is coming…
"I protected them all. I built a wall. You can see them when you come back... But I can't see you. Are you there? Are you back?"
The light called out again and again, wandering and gathering around the control panel, and then constantly dispersing into blind and chaotic streams of light. Several times, the faint light even flowed near the steering wheel and even touched the corners of Duncan's clothes and cuffs.
However, "she" seemed unable to sense Duncan's presence.
"She" couldn't see anything, as if... the owner of this voice and Duncan were in different dimensions, in different time and space.
Duncan looked at the wandering streams of light and listened to the voices that seemed to ring directly in his mind. When the light approached, he could even feel a slight heat, and the words that kept repeating in the voice seemed to be conveying a lot of vital information. He frowned, and after a brief hesitation, he finally reached out his hand, one hand continued to hold the rudder, and the other hand reached out to one of the streams of light.
The light touched his palm, and a temperature that seemed real and illusory came from it.
Then, the faint light penetrated his arm, and the temperature it brought also faded away, as if it was in another dimension, and the light flowed towards the stern.
But it was in this moment of contact that Duncan knew, or "confirmed" the name of this faint light and voice—she was Silantis, the world tree of the elves.
The name came directly into Duncan's mind in the form of information, as if presenting... the contamination of knowledge.
Duncan was stunned for a moment, and then he felt the deck under his feet suddenly tremble.
The next second, the tremor appeared on the entire ship. The "Lost Homeland" sailing in the dark fog began to shake violently. The spiritual sails quickly went out in the darkness, and countless cracks appeared on the deck. Everything that made up the hull was fading and disintegrating, and even the steering wheel in Duncan's hand began to gradually lose its solid touch.
Duncan was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening -
The stability of dreams is decreasing, and the time to "wake up" has arrived.
But this time he clearly avoided the stimulation of the fire on Silandis, and in the previous contact, he did not feel any signs of Silandis "awakening"... Why is the stability of the dream still rapidly decreasing
…
The sudden disorderly wind in the desert woke Vanna from her thoughts. She suddenly stood up from the sheltered pile of rocks and looked in the direction where the wind and sand were sweeping.
The wind and sand rose like a wall in the distance, and everything in the dust and fog quickly became hazy. The rugged rocks became unreal and distorted, as if they would disappear from this world at any time.
After a brief moment of shock, Vanna received a message from the captain -
The stability of the Nameless Man's dream is declining, and this dream is about to end.
The flying dust and the constantly distorted and unreal scenery mean that the boundary of the dream is approaching rapidly.
Vanna suddenly turned her head and looked across at the bonfire that was almost going out.
The old giant was looking up, a calm fire burning in his stone-like sunken eye sockets.
"Traveler, it looks like it's time to say goodbye."
Fanna was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: "How... do you know..."
"I don't know what's going to happen, but I can feel the temporary end of a journey. You are leaving, right?" The giant said gently, slowly rising from the rubble. His body stood up in the wind like a tower. He lowered his head and looked calmly into Vanna's eyes. "You don't belong to this destroyed world - you still have life in you, and this world has not had life for a long time."
Vanna opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say - in this brief moment before waking up from the dream, it seemed that the only time left for her was to say goodbye.
The giant smiled, bent down and picked up the strange-looking long staff.
Fanna noticed that there were several more symbols on the surface of this huge "cane", which was taller than the giant's height.
There were a few letters with an inexplicable... vaguely familiar feeling. For a moment, she even felt that she could understand them, but the next second, the meaning of those words faded from her mind like flowing water.
Those were words she didn't recognize.
"Traveler, perhaps we will meet again," the giant's voice came from above, interrupting Vanna's distraction, "and perhaps soon."
Vanna was startled: "Why?"
The giant pointed to the cane and said, "Because there is a sentence here that I haven't finished carving yet."
Vanna blinked and was about to ask something, but the wind and sand were already rushing towards her from behind - in the suddenly raised sand and dust, the world in her vision quickly shook and collapsed.
The next second, the collapsed world reorganized itself into a familiar living room, a familiar dining table, and a familiar roof.
Those familiar faces also reappeared in front of her.
(End of this chapter)