Chapter 127: 127
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It initially started off as nothing more than a whisper in the wind. The murmuring echo of an incomplete thought was all it had been in the beginning.
Sometimes it'd catch his attention, if only for a second. He'd turn his head and mistakenly look around in confusion, thinking that someone had called out to him.
That was how it began — rather innocently.
It was a curious thing, but it was not something that deserved too much attention. He'd witnessed stranger things happen before, as well. Not a single day went by without him being reminded that he lived in a mysterious world filled with… anomalous phenomena.
There other, more pressing concerns he had to attend to anyway, such as the goddamned forest that'd taken up residence in his bedroom, for instance. It'd cost him a very pretty penny to have the towering blossom trees that'd shot out of his roof removed.
In the span a single night, he'd lost over three hundred thousand credits.
The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!!
And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred grand!
Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single night!!
Peculiar, fleeting hallucinations were the least of his worries as far as he was concerned… until his life started getting stranger.
Some at the back of his head was telling him that something was wrong.
That he needed to wake up. Now.
What began as little more than an oddity had become something that he could no longer ignore.
Another day passed without his knowledge and everything returned to normal.
...The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!!
…And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred thousand credits!
…Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single night!!
Had he noticed it sooner, he might've been able to stop it. Probably. But it was too late now. What had begun could no longer be stopped.
He had seen something on what'd been a relatively normal day — an untruth that should not have fooled him.
The moment he laid his eyes on it, everything changed.
It had happened so casually, out of the blue, that it'd caught him completely off guard.
He'd been working the front of the bakery, putting pastries the Lu'um had made on their display racks when it had happened. Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted…
A tall, beautiful woman stroll past the bakery. Her long, golden-brown hair shone like autumn fields at sunset. She looked no different than when he had last seen her. Same as that day, when she…
It should have set off a major red flag in his head. It had not.
Like an innocent fool, he set off the moment he realized what he'd seen in hot pursuit.
That how it had begun — the Blur.
He couldn't remember when it first started, but he was certain that it had not happened whilst in a dream. Everything else was up in the air, though. Day and night had blurred into a single thing and so had He.
Ever since that day, Cem-Elle had transformed into something else.
Was it sunrise or sunset? The sun had not moved an inch since then, either upward or downward.
The people, too, had changed along with the twilight sky. They'd all become languid, unambitious and seemingly content with the world around them. It was as if everyone had given up on hope on living.
They were alive now only in the strictest sense of the word. It was a disheartening thing to witness. A town filled with walking husks lived only to continue living another day and nothing more.
An unknown amount of time had passed until he finally broke out of the spell himself. When he did, he nearly lost it. His suffering had begun that day… and never ended since then.
I can't tell how much time has passed anymore… Nothing works the way it's supposed to in this godforsaken place.
Days? Weeks? Months? Years...? He couldn't tell and no one would give him an answer. Every time he asked someone, they'd just shrug their shoulders and say, \"What's the point? We're already out of time, anyway…\"
Why do they always stare at the sun whenever I ask them? What's the point of this depressing, hopeless world?
He wasn't sure if it was a dream or not, since there was no way to really tell the difference. If Reed slept, he'd always find himself back in bed at home, repeating the beginning of the same day, unaware of what'd happened until...
...The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!!
...…And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred thousand credits!
...Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single night!!
The stone — it had transformed. What once lacked life had now seemingly been given one.
It throbbed like a beating heart made of stone and followed him wherever he went now. He quickly learned that it was impossible to get rid of it.
At first, he had left it in his bedroom but in a surprising turn of events, it had turned up downstairs in the bakery. It didn't much for Reed to figure out what it wanted so he eventually…
Picked it up.
With the greatest of ease, too. Reed almost fell over backward when he picked the stone up because he had mistakenly assumed that it'd challenge him again.
It was maddening, but if he fought it hard enough, he could break the loop and escape the spell. The stone heart would call out to him and beckon him to pick it up. It was the key that had allowed him to regain his free will, albeit until he fell asleep again…
It's strangely warm and comforting… for a stone heart. The throbbing I could do without, though. Makes it feel a little too realistic…
Whenever Reed held the stone heart close to his own chest, the stone heart would beat a little faster as if excited. And when he put it up to his ears, Reed swore he could hear it speak to him.
He heard a few coherent whispers every now and then, but most of the time it was most intelligible white noise.
Reed... was aware that he sounded a bit unhinged, but that didn't matter to him. What he needed were answers and if the stone heart could provide them, he'd gladly speak to it, even if it made him look like a madman…
It's not the townspeople give a shit what I do, anyway.
I could probably walk around the town buck naked and scream profanities at the top of my lungs and they wouldn't even bat an eyelid.
Reed was absolutely positive that the stone heart was the source of the problem.
What else has the power to create something like this other than Lu'um, myself or the stone? This little mortal town doesn't have anything crazy enough to do this…
There's no way Lu'um would ever do this and I'm powerless, so…
It's either 'his' or the stone's doing. Either way, I want OUT.
If Reed figured out what it wanted, he was sure it'd release him. Probably.
What else he did have to lose? If he didn't try, it wouldn't be long before he'd fell asleep again. The worst was he didn't know when he'd regain his free will, either.
Maybe the next loop if I'm lucky? Or perhaps a dozen loops from now? A hundred loops from now? There's no telling when it'll happen because I can barely remember anything from the previous loops…
It's all a fucking blur. I can't tell up from down. Lies from the truth.
It might as well be true.
It might as well be false.
…Does it even matter?
Time had lost its meaning in the twilight world, regardless of whether it was a dream or not. A month might have passed. Perhaps an entire decade.
Reed chuckled. I've gotten myself in a real shitshow this time. This is a special kind of evil. I'm genuinely impressed, to be honest...
His eyelids were starting to get heavier. He had struggled for the longest to keep himself awake, but he could no longer fight back against the temptation.
Reed sighed and said, \"I miss tomorrow…\"
Eventually, his body betrayed him and he closed his eyes for a second. That was all that it took for him to go down. He was gone.
It would have been a wonderful morning had it not been for Reed's sour mood. It'd cost him a very pretty penny to have the towering blossom trees that'd shot out of his roof removed.
...The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!!
...And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred thousand credits!
…Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single…
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It initially started off as nothing more than a whisper in the wind. The murmuring echo of an incomplete thought was all it had been in the beginning.
Sometimes it'd catch his attention, if only for a second. He'd turn his head and mistakenly look around in confusion, thinking that someone had called out to him.
That was how it began — rather innocently.
It was a curious thing, but it was not something that deserved too much attention. He'd witnessed stranger things happen before, as well. Not a single day went by without him being reminded that he lived in a mysterious world filled with… anomalous phenomena.
There other, more pressing concerns he had to attend to anyway, such as the goddamned forest that'd taken up residence in his bedroom, for instance. It'd cost him a very pretty penny to have the towering blossom trees that'd shot out of his roof removed.
In the span a single night, he'd lost over three hundred thousand credits.
The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!!
And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred grand!
Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single night!!
Peculiar, fleeting hallucinations were the least of his worries as far as he was concerned… until his life started getting stranger.
Some at the back of his head was telling him that something was wrong.
That he needed to wake up. Now.
What began as little more than an oddity had become something that he could no longer ignore.
Another day passed without his knowledge and everything returned to normal.
...The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!!
…And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred thousand credits!
…Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single night!!
Had he noticed it sooner, he might've been able to stop it. Probably. But it was too late now. What had begun could no longer be stopped.
He had seen something on what'd been a relatively normal day — an untruth that should not have fooled him.
The moment he laid his eyes on it, everything changed.
It had happened so casually, out of the blue, that it'd caught him completely off guard.
He'd been working the front of the bakery, putting pastries the Lu'um had made on their display racks when it had happened. Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted…
A tall, beautiful woman stroll past the bakery. Her long, golden-brown hair shone like autumn fields at sunset. She looked no different than when he had last seen her. Same as that day, when she…
It should have set off a major red flag in his head. It had not.
Like an innocent fool, he set off the moment he realized what he'd seen in hot pursuit.
That how it had begun — the Blur.
He couldn't remember when it first started, but he was certain that it had not happened whilst in a dream. Everything else was up in the air, though. Day and night had blurred into a single thing and so had He.
Ever since that day, Cem-Elle had transformed into something else.
Was it sunrise or sunset? The sun had not moved an inch since then, either upward or downward.
The people, too, had changed along with the twilight sky. They'd all become languid, unambitious and seemingly content with the world around them. It was as if everyone had given up on hope on living.
They were alive now only in the strictest sense of the word. It was a disheartening thing to witness. A town filled with walking husks lived only to continue living another day and nothing more.
An unknown amount of time had passed until he finally broke out of the spell himself. When he did, he nearly lost it. His suffering had begun that day… and never ended since then.
I can't tell how much time has passed anymore… Nothing works the way it's supposed to in this godforsaken place.
Days? Weeks? Months? Years...? He couldn't tell and no one would give him an answer. Every time he asked someone, they'd just shrug their shoulders and say, \"What's the point? We're already out of time, anyway…\"
Why do they always stare at the sun whenever I ask them? What's the point of this depressing, hopeless world?
He wasn't sure if it was a dream or not, since there was no way to really tell the difference. If Reed slept, he'd always find himself back in bed at home, repeating the beginning of the same day, unaware of what'd happened until...
...The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!!
...…And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred thousand credits!
...Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single night!!
The stone — it had transformed. What once lacked life had now seemingly been given one.
It throbbed like a beating heart made of stone and followed him wherever he went now. He quickly learned that it was impossible to get rid of it.
At first, he had left it in his bedroom but in a surprising turn of events, it had turned up downstairs in the bakery. It didn't much for Reed to figure out what it wanted so he eventually…
Picked it up.
With the greatest of ease, too. Reed almost fell over backward when he picked the stone up because he had mistakenly assumed that it'd challenge him again.
It was maddening, but if he fought it hard enough, he could break the loop and escape the spell. The stone heart would call out to him and beckon him to pick it up. It was the key that had allowed him to regain his free will, albeit until he fell asleep again…
It's strangely warm and comforting… for a stone heart. The throbbing I could do without, though. Makes it feel a little too realistic…
Whenever Reed held the stone heart close to his own chest, the stone heart would beat a little faster as if excited. And when he put it up to his ears, Reed swore he could hear it speak to him.
He heard a few coherent whispers every now and then, but most of the time it was most intelligible white noise.
Reed... was aware that he sounded a bit unhinged, but that didn't matter to him. What he needed were answers and if the stone heart could provide them, he'd gladly speak to it, even if it made him look like a madman…
It's not the townspeople give a shit what I do, anyway.
I could probably walk around the town buck naked and scream profanities at the top of my lungs and they wouldn't even bat an eyelid.
Reed was absolutely positive that the stone heart was the source of the problem.
What else has the power to create something like this other than Lu'um, myself or the stone? This little mortal town doesn't have anything crazy enough to do this…
There's no way Lu'um would ever do this and I'm powerless, so…
It's either 'his' or the stone's doing. Either way, I want OUT.
If Reed figured out what it wanted, he was sure it'd release him. Probably.
What else he did have to lose? If he didn't try, it wouldn't be long before he'd fell asleep again. The worst was he didn't know when he'd regain his free will, either.
Maybe the next loop if I'm lucky? Or perhaps a dozen loops from now? A hundred loops from now? There's no telling when it'll happen because I can barely remember anything from the previous loops…
It's all a fucking blur. I can't tell up from down. Lies from the truth.
It might as well be true.
It might as well be false.
…Does it even matter?
Time had lost its meaning in the twilight world, regardless of whether it was a dream or not. A month might have passed. Perhaps an entire decade.
Reed chuckled. I've gotten myself in a real shitshow this time. This is a special kind of evil. I'm genuinely impressed, to be honest...
His eyelids were starting to get heavier. He had struggled for the longest to keep himself awake, but he could no longer fight back against the temptation.
Reed sighed and said, \"I miss tomorrow…\"
Eventually, his body betrayed him and he closed his eyes for a second. That was all that it took for him to go down. He was gone.
It would have been a wonderful morning had it not been for Reed's sour mood. It'd cost him a very pretty penny to have the towering blossom trees that'd shot out of his roof removed.
...The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!!
...And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred thousand credits!
…Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single…
It initially started off as nothing more than a whisper in the wind. The murmuring echo of an incomplete thought was all it had been in the beginning.Sometimes it'd catch his attention, if only for a second. He'd turn his head and mistakenly look around in confusion, thinking that someone had called out to him.That was how it began rather innocently.It was a curious thing, but it was not something that deserved too much attention. He'd witnessed stranger things happen before, as well. Not a single day went by without him being reminded that he lived in a mysterious world filled with anomalous phenomena.There other, more pressing concerns he had to attend to anyway, such as the goddamned forest that'd taken up residence in his bedroom, for instance. It'd cost him a very pretty penny to have the towering blossom trees that'd shot out of his roof removed. In the span a single night, he'd lost over three hundred thousand credits. The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!!And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred grand!Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single night!! Peculiar, fleeting hallucinations were the least of his worries as far as he was concerned until his life started getting stranger.Some at the back of his head was telling him that something was wrong. That he needed to wake up. Now.What began as little more than an oddity had become something that he could no longer ignore.Another day passed without his knowledge and everything returned to normal....The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!! And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred thousand credits!Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single night!!Had he noticed it sooner, he might've been able to stop it. Probably. But it was too late now. What had begun could no longer be stopped. He had seen something on what'd been a relatively normal day an untruth that should not have fooled him. The moment he laid his eyes on it, everything changed. It had happened so casually, out of the blue, that it'd caught him completely off guard. He'd been working the front of the bakery, putting pastries the Lu'um had made on their display racks when it had happened. Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted A tall, beautiful woman stroll past the bakery. Her long, golden-brown hair shone like autumn fields at sunset. She looked no different than when he had last seen her. Same as that day, when sheIt should have set off a major red flag in his head. It had not. Like an innocent fool, he set off the moment he realized what he'd seen in hot pursuit.That how it had begun the Blur.He couldn't remember when it first started, but he was certain that it had not happened whilst in a dream. Everything else was up in the air, though. Day and night had blurred into a single thing and so had He. Ever since that day, Cem-Elle had transformed into something else.Was it sunrise or sunset? The sun had not moved an inch since then, either upward or downward. The people, too, had changed along with the twilight sky. They'd all become languid, unambitious and seemingly content with the world around them. It was as if everyone had given up on hope on living. They were alive now only in the strictest sense of the word. It was a disheartening thing to witness. A town filled with walking husks lived only to continue living another day and nothing more. An unknown amount of time had passed until he finally broke out of the spell himself. When he did, he nearly lost it. His suffering had begun that day and never ended since then.I can't tell how much time has passed anymore Nothing works the way it's supposed to in this godforsaken place.Days? Weeks? Months? Years...? He couldn't tell and no one would give him an answer. Every time he asked someone, they'd just shrug their shoulders and say, \"What's the point? We're already out of time, anyway\" Why do they always stare at the sun whenever I ask them? What's the point of this depressing, hopeless world?He wasn't sure if it was a dream or not, since there was no way to really tell the difference. If Reed slept, he'd always find himself back in bed at home, repeating the beginning of the same day, unaware of what'd happened until......The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!! ...And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred thousand credits!...Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single night!!The stone it had transformed. What once lacked life had now seemingly been given one. It throbbed like a beating heart made of stone and followed him wherever he went now. He quickly learned that it was impossible to get rid of it. At first, he had left it in his bedroom but in a surprising turn of events, it had turned up downstairs in the bakery. It didn't much for Reed to figure out what it wanted so he eventually Picked it up.With the greatest of ease, too. Reed almost fell over backward when he picked the stone up because he had mistakenly assumed that it'd challenge him again. It was maddening, but if he fought it hard enough, he could break the loop and escape the spell. The stone heart would call out to him and beckon him to pick it up. It was the key that had allowed him to regain his free will, albeit until he fell asleep againIt's strangely warm and comforting for a stone heart. The throbbing I could do without, though. Makes it feel a little too realisticWhenever Reed held the stone heart close to his own chest, the stone heart would beat a little faster as if excited. And when he put it up to his ears, Reed swore he could hear it speak to him.He heard a few coherent whispers every now and then, but most of the time it was most intelligible white noise.Reed... was aware that he sounded a bit unhinged, but that didn't matter to him. What he needed were answers and if the stone heart could provide them, he'd gladly speak to it, even if it made him look like a madmanIt's not the townspeople give a shit what I do, anyway. I could probably walk around the town buck naked and scream profanities at the top of my lungs and they wouldn't even bat an eyelid.Reed was absolutely positive that the stone heart was the source of the problem. What else has the power to create something like this other than Lu'um, myself or the stone? This little mortal town doesn't have anything crazy enough to do thisThere's no way Lu'um would ever do this and I'm powerless, soIt's either 'his' or the stone's doing. Either way, I want OUT.If Reed figured out what it wanted, he was sure it'd release him. Probably.What else he did have to lose? If he didn't try, it wouldn't be long before he'd fell asleep again. The worst was he didn't know when he'd regain his free will, either.Maybe the next loop if I'm lucky? Or perhaps a dozen loops from now? A hundred loops from now? There's no telling when it'll happen because I can barely remember anything from the previous loopsIt's all a fucking blur. I can't tell up from down. Lies from the truth. It might as well be true.It might as well be false. Does it even matter? Time had lost its meaning in the twilight world, regardless of whether it was a dream or not. A month might have passed. Perhaps an entire decade. Reed chuckled. I've gotten myself in a real shitshow this time. This is a special kind of evil. I'm genuinely impressed, to be honest...His eyelids were starting to get heavier. He had struggled for the longest to keep himself awake, but he could no longer fight back against the temptation. Reed sighed and said, \"I miss tomorrow\" Eventually, his body betrayed him and he closed his eyes for a second. That was all that it took for him to go down. He was gone.It would have been a wonderful morning had it not been for Reed's sour mood. It'd cost him a very pretty penny to have the towering blossom trees that'd shot out of his roof removed. ...The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!! ...And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred thousand credits!Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single
