Tetra, the shepherd boy, sat alone on the vast plains, staring at the flowing clouds.
It was a peaceful world.
In the pasture, sheep leisurely grazed on grass, and he just had to quietly watch over them.
But young Tetra was neither satisfied with this simplicity nor bored by this meaningless time.
"What kind of dream is this anyway?"
The words that escaped the young country boy's lips had a cold, mature tone.
Tetra the shepherd boy.
No, Rudger Chelici, who was dreaming of being that boy, found this situation utterly incomprehensible.
'I lost consciousness, and then I was born as a completely new being.'
It was like his previous life, as if he had died and lived a new life.Rudger knew that this wasn't real life, but a dream following someone else's life exactly.
In other words, Rudger Chelici was dreaming of being Tetra the shepherd boy.
'Someone else's dream. Moreover, the current year is far in the past compared to when I lived. Tetra, this boy, has long been dead.'
Rudger instinctively realized this was a prison created by Nirva.
As an apostle serving the god of dreams, Nirva had exploited the gap in Rudger's mind and given him someone else's dream.
'Mental attacks shouldn't have worked on me.'
Mental attacks and curses didn't work on Rudger.
The fact that he was still having this dream meant that Nirva's power was more than a simple curse.
'Of course. This is just a dream. You can't simply call a dream a curse.'
Before falling asleep, Nirva had told him to dream of a butterfly.
In fact, this was the second dream.
The first dream was of a butterfly, and that butterfly flew around until it died.
After that, he opened his eyes to find himself working as a shepherd.
'A dream as real as reality.'
Rudger clenched and unclenched his hand.
The sensation on his palm was vivid. So was the feeling of the wind blowing through the flowing clouds, and the smell of sheep wafting from a distance.
Could you really call it a dream when all five senses were this clear?
He could have dismissed it as a strange experience, but Rudger couldn't take it lightly.
In fact, this situation gave him a kind of eerie anxiety.
'When I became a butterfly, I forgot for a moment that I was Rudger Chelici.'
There's a saying called "Butterfly Dream."
It came from an anecdote where Zhuangzi dreamed of becoming a butterfly, and when he woke from the dream, he was confused about whether he was a butterfly or Zhuangzi.
If he had dreamed and awakened, he could have dismissed it as a dream of becoming a butterfly.
He must have known that, yet Zhuangzi momentarily thought he was a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuangzi.
That's because he didn't just dream from Zhuangzi's perspective of being a butterfly, but truly lived a life from the butterfly's perspective.
Even if it was just a dream, it was so vivid, and the entire process felt so real.
'From another perspective, one could say that by going beyond the human self and learning diverse perspectives of others, one can understand the principles of all things.'
But if that's the case what happens to the self that is "me"?
He hadn't worried about such concerns until the end of the butterfly's life but when it all ended and when he opened his eyes again and a new dream began Rudger realized that the dream hell Nirva had created was just beginning.
"Still."
Rudger wiggled his finger.
Sparks of magic power flickered from his fingertips.
An awareness of magic that the original boy Tetra would never have recognized.
The fact that he recognized this meant that he was still Rudger Chelici.
"I can't give up. I'll escape from here.”
With that resolution, Rudger stood up.
* * *
Clara Cowen slowly opened her mouth.
"Originally, this story has been passed down only to Dream Masters since ancient times. With a stern warning not to disclose it to anyone else."
Clara was about to tell that secret now.
Her gaze, mixed with affection and concern, turned toward Franz.
"You certainly fell into the depths of Dreamland. But you also know. At that time, you definitely had outstanding talent, but not enough to descend to the depths. You were still too young back then."
"That's..."
"No need to hide it. That day, you fell because you received a call, right?"
The gazes of the Dreamwalkers who didn't understand turned toward Franz.
"A call?"
"What's that?"
Franz's lips trembled.
"You knew?"
"Despite your young age, you clearly had exceptional talent, so you received its call. So without knowing it yourself, you grabbed it and fell into the depths."
"Master. What exactly is that 'it'?"
By this point, everyone realized that Clara wasn't telling an ordinary story.
As everyone listened with bated breath, only Zantman cautiously asked.
"It's a fragment."
"A fragment?"
"Yes. A fragment that escaped when something originally whole was shattered. Those fragments were scattered throughout the world, and one of them came into the hands of our Dream School."
"Why would you..."
"Long ago, a previous Dream Master participated in a certain research. It was an important task that would determine the future of this world."
Clara calmly took a breath.
What she was about to say were things that shouldn't be casually mentioned behind anyone's back.
She knew this, but still had to do it because if not now, there might not be another chance to convey the truth.
"The fragment we received is a piece of a very dangerous relic. In the past, long before the Empire was formed, people tried to use this relic for something. I don't know exactly what it was. I was just told it was something very important and related to the entire world."
Everyone was surprised by the enormously expanded scale.
But no one casually denied that her words were absurd.
Because everyone knew the Master wasn't someone who spoke frivolously.
"Then, interferers appeared. They tried to eliminate everyone involved in this matter in an instant. The relic was shattered, and its fragments were scattered throughout the world. The previous Master secured one of them. And to hide this fragment from everyone, he tried to conceal it in a deep place untouched by human hands."
But the Dream Master couldn't find a suitable place.
He was too old at the time and had exhausted much of his power. It was too late to do anything.
So he selected the person who would become the next Master, revealed the truth only to him, and entrusted him with that role.
The next generation's Dream Master also searched various places but couldn't find a suitable location.
He even thought that it would be safer to hide it within the Dream School.
Thus, the relic fragment remained in the Dream School and continued to be passed down to later generations.
"Who exactly is looking for it, that you have to hide it so thoroughly?"
"The Bretus Holy Nation."
At Clara's words, everyone's eyes widened.
The Bretus Holy Nation? Why does the headquarters of the Lumensis Order come up here?
It was difficult to understand.
But at the same time, they understood why she had tried to conceal this truth.
Because even the Dream School would have trouble if they carelessly provoked the Lumensis Order.
Considering the fate of those they branded as heretics, it was natural.
"But the current Bretus Holy Nation doesn't have much influence in international society. There's no need to worry so much..."
"That may be true now. But it wasn't like that in the old days. Back then, they commanded the continent, and beyond that, there existed power that wasn't revealed. What I'm wary of is precisely that unrevealed power."
The Bretus Holy Nation suddenly becoming quiet happened about 20 years ago.
Apart from locking their doors that day, until then, their influence extended to every corner of the continent, so much so that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say there was no place it didn't reach.
"But that wasn't the important thing. Nathaniel was designated as the next Dream Master and learned the truth from the previous Master. The choice Nathaniel made at that time was to hide the relic fragment in Dreamland."
"Dreamland!"
The Dreamwalkers exclaimed in surprise.
But some Dreamwalkers nodded as if they understood.
"Yes. Dreamland is a place no one can enter casually unless they're a Dreamwalker."
"If you want to hide something, it might be the perfect place."
"But the surface can be reached when people fall asleep. So it would have to be hidden in a deeper place."
The Dreamwalkers, who had been chattering among themselves, fell silent simultaneously and looked at Clara.
Clara nodded, confirming that this was true.
A sigh of "huh" flowed from here and there.
"We took the relic and moved to the middle layer. But even if we left an object in the middle layer, we couldn't transfer something from reality to Dreamland. Dreams are dreams, reality is reality. The difference was too clear."
If they had given up here, they might not have known but Nathaniel didn't give up.
"Nathaniel said there was a place to put real objects in the dream world. The moment I heard that, I realized what he was trying to say."
The expressions of all the Dreamwalkers hardened because there was only one place where the boundary between dream and reality completely collapses.
"He was thinking of going down to the depths to hide it."
Clara admitted this was true.
"I objected. If you go down to the depths, the probability of never returning is too high. Even for the two of us, going to the depths was too dangerous."
Clara wanted Nathaniel to keep the relic fragment stored normally like other Masters because that's what they had done until now and there was no need to take risks but Nathaniel, perhaps due to his sense of responsibility, didn't find that very appealing.
"I persuaded him as he was contemplating. I pleaded with him, asking if he would leave our precious son behind."
At the mention of their precious son, Franz clenched his fist.
"So we agreed to discuss this matter later and pushed it out of our minds. Unfortunately, that was just me. The righteous and responsible Nathaniel didn't do that."
Then one day, an incident occurred.
As Nathaniel took the relic to the middle layer of Dreamland, the relic fragment reacted to something deep in Dreamland.
"We didn't know. Just as we looked into the abyss to hide something, the abyss was also looking at us."
At that time, neither Nathaniel nor Clara knew this fact.
It was so subtle and quiet that there was no way to notice it, even if they had been on high alert.
What responded to the power imbued in the stored relic fragment was Franz, who was said to have been born with the talent of the greatest Dreamwalker in history.
Franz widened his eyes.
"Don't tell me, at that time..."
Clara nodded with an apologetic face.
"What happened to you wasn't your fault. It's our responsibility for not noticing that power. The role of placing the relic fragment in the depths was originally Nathaniel's."
It was bound to happen someday.
Franz was just a victim who got caught up in it.
Franz's voice trembled at the truth he had never heard until now.
"...Why are you telling me this only now?"
"Because if not now, there won't be another opportunity."
Clara said that, then shook her head.
"No. This is just my excuse. In fact, there might have been opportunities anytime. The fact that I couldn't do it was all because I was inadequate. At that time, I too was immersed in sorrow and couldn't think rationally. I couldn't even think about telling the truth."
But I shouldn't have been like that.
At Clara's follow-up words, the Dreamwalkers hung their heads heavily.
It wasn't just Franz who was saddened and frustrated by what happened back then.
Clara had lost her beloved husband.
It happened so suddenly, and Clara hadn't even had time to prepare her heart to let Nathaniel go.
That shock was beyond words.
Even for someone like Clara, she was much younger back then, and accordingly more emotional.
Clara couldn't even emerge from her own sorrow, so she couldn't take care of Franz.
Instead, she tried to stop Franz, and that created the opportunity for Franz to leave.
The once-harmonious family collapsed in an instant.
She lost her husband, and then her son left too.
Clara focused on nurturing the Dream School so that the Dream School, shaken by Nathaniel's sudden death, wouldn't be swept away by the waves of the world.
"The fact that I strived to save the Dream School was, in truth, for myself. I wanted to salvage something. I wanted to create a place to support me, a place to lean on as I was falling apart."
Clara shed tears.
"All of this happened because I was lacking, because I was selfish. So it's all my fault. Even the fact that you ended up like this..."
"Enough!"
Franz shouted angrily.
"Enough, please."
"Franz..."
"What changes by knowing the truth? Nothing. The past is already gone, and we're trapped in this damn prison created by that demon. We only have one thing to do. Kill that demon. So please stop talking about the past now. I just can't listen to it anymore."
With those final words, Franz turned his back and left the place.
Looking at that retreating figure, Zantman thought that Franz seemed like a child trying to deliberately ignore a truth too overwhelming to bear.
* * *
Many people were imprisoned.
Among them were those who had been caught in the crack while trembling with anxiety in the middle layer.
"Wh-where is this?"
"Let's try moving first."
They didn't know where the exit was, but staying in this deformed space made them even more anxious.
People took a deep breath and opened the nearest door but beyond the door was pitch-black darkness.
"What? There's nothing there?"
The moment someone muttered those words, golden eyes glared from within the darkness.
People froze at the sudden sight, and the person who had opened the door first was dragged into the darkness.
-Crack! Snap!
-Aaaaargh!
Terrible sounds mixed with screams echoed and shortly after, an old man emerged from the darkness.
The old man, missing one arm and looking weary, muttered to himself as he looked at the people.
"This feels truly sinful."
People tried to flee in terror, but Nirva didn't leave them be.
As he stretched out his hand, a sandstorm swept up and swallowed the people.
People screamed in the sandstorm.
The screams didn't last long. Soon, people collapsed like puppets with cut strings, completely dried up.
Having absorbed all their life force and energy, Nirva couldn't hide his guilt despite the rising power.
"To think that I would dare touch the offerings that should be dedicated to the Goddess."
It means he's broken to the extent that he has to do this.
Nirva's pupils gleamed with killing intent.
"You erased the line I was trying not to cross. You shouldn't have done that."
The labyrinth's monster moved on to find his next prey.