In the waters near Breeze Harbor, on a sea covered with mist far away from the main shipping routes, the huge and majestic silhouette of the Lost Homeland was slowly patrolling in the fog.
Then, a layer of ripples that seemed real and illusory suddenly appeared on the sea surface, and the reflection of the ghost ship rose and fell in the ripples. In a very brief moment, the reflection seemed to condense from the sea surface, but the next moment, everything returned to its original state.
In the captain's room, the wooden goat head on the edge of the navigation table suddenly turned its head in confusion. With a slight creaking sound from the base, it raised its head and looked around. After a long while, it murmured in confusion: "Why did I feel something strange just now..."
On the wall in the corner of the room, layers of black mist had been floating in the quaint oval mirror. Agatha's figure stood in the mirror, quietly looking at the goat head on the table.
The goat head finally noticed the sight coming from the side. It immediately turned its head and exclaimed after seeing Agatha: "Hey... You scared me! Why are you looking at me so early in the morning?"
As it spoke, it shook its head again, as if it suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Ms. Agatha, where did you go last night? Why do I feel that your presence is not on the ship... Don't you run around in the mirror at night?"
Agatha did not answer Goat-Head's question immediately, but continued to quietly observe the "first mate's" every move. It took a long time before she broke the silence: "Didn't you feel anything last night? Didn't you notice anything unusual when I left?"
"No," the goat-head was stunned for a moment, then vaguely realized, "Wait, what do you mean... Did something happen again last night?"
"Well, the captain should be here to see you soon," Agatha frowned and nodded, then asked, "You said you felt strange just now? What's going on?"
The goat head reacted for a moment before realizing that the other party was referring to the mumbling that he had just made to himself. Although he didn't know why the "former gatekeeper" who always gave people a calm and peaceful feeling had such a strange attitude this morning, he still replied: "I don't know how to describe it, it's just... I got a start? It's like someone tapped me on the shoulder when I was distracted..."
Agatha looked at the goat head in confusion: "... You have shoulders?"
"That was a pat on the head - metaphorically, you know what I mean by metaphor," the goat-head shook his head, "I might have been distracted when I was steering the ship, and there was a little wind and waves on the sea just now, which woke me up..."
"There was no wind or waves on the sea. It was always calm. Only the dream world caused ripples." Agatha shook her head. "You were dreaming just now."
The goat head was stunned for a few seconds before he uttered, "...Ah?"
…
Looking at the city streets that had completely returned to normal in the morning light, Duncan frowned slightly, with a thoughtful expression on his face.
The two puppets stood quietly behind him.
After thinking for an unknown amount of time, Duncan suddenly muttered, "It seems that no matter how long I stay 'over there', no matter how the Nameless Man's dream ends, the time in the real world after 'awakening' will always be early morning..."
Alice turned her head to look at Luni, then turned back to look at the captain, scratching her hair in confusion: "Ah... Did you stay 'over there' for a long time this time?"
"It feels like I stayed in that dark and foggy space almost twice as long as last time - until I woke up from the dream again," Duncan nodded slowly, "and it seems that the time node in the real world is still the same as before, the time when the sun just rose in the early morning. This is... somewhat in line with the law of dreaming."
He paused for a moment, organizing his words as he explained to Alice, "The passage of time felt in dreams is chaotic. One second and a thousand years of perceived time may only pass in a split second in reality, and will be calibrated the moment you wake up."
Alice thought about it and shook her head in confusion: "I don't understand..."
"It's okay, it's not important," Duncan laughed, temporarily putting away the messy thoughts in his mind, and stepped forward to ruffle Alice's hair, "Let's go back first. This exploration... has yielded a lot."
With the two puppets, Duncan quickly returned to the "Witch House" at 99 Crown Street, and his crew members had returned from the dream world and gathered in the living room again.
When Duncan walked into the living room, Vanna, Morris and others had already begun discussing their experiences in the dream of the nameless man.
Unlike the last time when everyone fell into a dream without any warning, this time the "entering the dream" was carried out with preparation. The "temporary mark" that Duncan left for everyone with fire ensured that the crew could exchange basic information in the dream of the Nameless Man. So after waking up from the dream this time, everyone did not have to spend extra time explaining what they had experienced, but could focus on exploring various clues.
Duncan's arrival interrupted the conversation among the crew members. Morris and others stood up and saluted the captain. Nina rushed over quickly, looking particularly happy: "Uncle Duncan!"
Duncan hugged Nina gently, then scanned the figures in the living room. He saw Lucrecia sitting on the sofa opposite the coffee table with a strange expression. He smiled and spread his hands: "You want a hug too?"
The Sea Witch thought about it and shook her head: "No."
Duncan smiled, sat down at his seat, and quickly regained his serious expression: "Okay, let's talk business - let's skip the basic intelligence exchange. The focus of our discussion now is the emergence of two new situations.
“First, it was ‘Shirin’ who appeared before Shirley, Morris, and Nina.
"The second is the 'giant' that Vanna met who claimed to be a god."
He raised his head and his eyes fell on Morris.
"I want to hear your opinion first, Maurice."
"The plural 'Shireen' appeared in the dream, which means that we need to adjust our previous judgment of 'Shireen'," Morris took off his monocle and wiped it while saying, "We previously judged that 'Shireen' was just a mental entity that appeared in the Nameless Man's dream, equivalent to an 'indigenous resident', and her actions were not closely related to the operation of the dream, but now it seems that this is not the case...
"When the scope and duration of our activities in the dream exceed a certain level, a 'Shirin' will appear around us and try to guide us to the place called the 'Wall of Silence'. This kind of 'guidance' may be a mechanism of the Nameless One's dream itself.
"In other words, the elf named 'Shirin' may be the 'incarnation' of a certain law in the Nameless One's dream. She is not a mental entity, but a mechanism. When the conditions are right, she will be triggered, and when the conditions change, she may disappear."
Morris said, his eyes fell on Shirley beside him.
The "disappearance" mentioned by the old scholar was obviously referring to the "Shireen" who had been with Shirley before - that "Shireen" finally turned into a tree.
"As for the specific rules of this 'triggering' and 'disappearance', it may take several more tests to summarize, or it may never be summarized," Morris put on his monocle and continued, "but one thing is certain, the appearance of 'Shirin' is kind to us 'visitors', but malicious to the cultists who invaded the dream. She called the invaders 'filth', which should represent the 'judgment' or 'position' of the Nameless Dream. This is good news for us."
Duncan listened to the old man's analysis, nodded silently, and then his eyes fell on Vanna.
"So what do you think about that 'giant', Vanna?"
"I have no idea," Fanna thought for a moment and shook her head frankly. "I recalled everything the 'giant' told me, but I couldn't find any corresponding parts to the myths and legends in the real world or the historical records. Even in the elven culture, which has a relatively complete historical heritage, there is no mention of the giant or the 'city of hills and plains' described by the giant..."
"Even the 'inheritance' of the elves is only relatively complete. If the giant came from the era before the Great Annihilation, then it is normal that we cannot find corresponding clues in modern records." Lucrecia shook her head. "The key question is, what is the relationship between the giant, the desert under his feet, and the 'elves'?"
The "witch" raised her head and looked into Vanna's eyes.
"Ms. Fanna, you didn't see any trace of a forest in the desert, and you didn't hear any information about elves from the giants, right?"
"Yes, not at all." Vanna answered affirmatively.
"That elf named 'Shirin' has no idea what a desert is, and the only thing that can be associated with 'giants' is the description of the creator Sasloka - she said Sasloka is a god without a fixed image, who can transform into a deer, a goat, and a giant, but this connection seems too far-fetched to me," Lucrecia said as she pondered, "So the situation now is that Vanna and the rest of us seem to be divided into two 'times and spaces'. The environment we face, the people we meet, and the information we hear are all completely different, but these two 'times and spaces' are definitely connected..."
"Yes, at least these two 'times and spaces' are definitely part of the Nameless One's dream," Morris nodded immediately. The old scholar had a thoughtful look on his face. After thinking for a moment, he slowly spoke, "Then we have to figure out one thing: what causes the huge difference between these two time and space? Is it the discontinuity in space or the discontinuity in time?"
(End of this chapter)