Chapter 721: Act 80 – The Ball of Yesteryears I
Draped in saintly white battle robes, clad in silver armor, and wielding a lance and a halberd. The lance was adorned with a beautiful temple cross, while the halberd resembled a sharp lance with expansive wings beneath. Below, the shaft was tied with a swallow-tailed flag, on which were painted a cross, a resplendent sun, angels, and saints.
On the flag, in graceful script, were the words ‘Tuienn sior chumree’, meaning “the Holy Sword beneath the Radiance.”
The procession also included elves, with pointed ears and long golden hair braided. Their steeds were draped in white robes, adorned with patterns of the sun and thorns.
The entire group was enveloped in a shimmering white light, slowly advancing through the forest, yet silently, making the scene appear eerily surreal.
“Lord!” Medisa tugged at him twice to bring him back to his senses. Brendel exhaled; this was the Holy Knights of the Greyus Knights’ country, exactly like the ones he had seen in “Amber,” or perhaps it was indeed that very group.
“Rosa!” Someone in the procession cried out, and a knight stumbled out of the ranks. “Rosa, Rosa? Where are you going?”
“Stop him!” Brendel suddenly reacted, but the person beside him was a moment too late, and the knight quickly disappeared into the dark forest. The group became agitated, and he hurriedly reminded them loudly: “Do not look over there; it’s a fantasy of the mind, existing only in your memories. Those are the delusions of the nameless, intertwined with your dreams. If you are tempted, you will fall with ‘them’ and be replaced by ‘them’—”
Having established his authority in previous battles, his words made everyone shudder, and the group stabilized considerably. But Brendel still noticed some slowing down; any hint of confusion in their hearts could lead to being consumed by this forest.
He quietly had Nemesis count the numbers, and in just a few minutes, seven people were missing from the whole group. He knew those individuals would never return; they would wander in a dream forever unreachable by the living, until their deaths when their souls would linger here.
He sighed.
“Those weak-willed individuals.” Nemesis’s face was cold, her lips pressed together, and the contours of her profile became distinct beneath her dark hair.
Brendel turned to look at the Lady Knight, somewhat displeased: “No one can claim to be unshakeable; everyone has something or someone important in their hearts—”
“It is precisely because of this that they waver before the faith they should uphold. Hank’s fiancée Rosa is waiting for him to return; Collins has two sons and a daughter, yet they cannot hold on to their belief in their loved ones—” Nemesis’s voice trailed off: “I chose them because I thought they were the finest knights; I believed they could survive and return.”
Brendel was taken aback, suddenly seeing the despondency in Nemesis’s expression: “Are you angry because of this?”
“No, it’s just that I misjudged people and harmed them.” The Lady Knight replied softly, casting a cold glance at Brendel before turning to leave.
Brendel stood stunned for a moment until someone patted his shoulder. He turned to see Phillas’s handsome yet mischievous face. “Lord Earl, you truly are remarkable. You even dare to provoke Lady Nemesis. They say powerful women are thorny roses—yet Lady Nemesis must only have thorns, lacking the fragrance of roses.” The young knight said mysteriously.
Brendel shot a glare at the guy: “But I remember you were flirting with her just a few days ago?”
Phillas shrugged, entirely unperturbed by being called out, and replied with mock seriousness: “It is precisely because of that I can understand this deeply.”
Brendel continued to stare at him.
“Because she gave him a good beating.” Laurena’s voice came from behind. The Lady Knight stepped forward and jabbed her sword’s hilt into her fiancé’s side, then turned to ask, “Mister Brendel, haven’t you noticed something unusual?”
“Hmm.” Brendel looked around. He had certainly noticed or rather knew all too well—knights trudged through the forest, parting thick underbrush. But the surrounding light was rapidly darkening, as if shrouded in a layer of black mist; initially, he could at least discern shapes fifteen meters away, but now it seemed dark enough that he could barely see a few people nearby.
“Ha, what’s going on?” Phillas seemed to just notice the surrounding situation, rubbing his arms and shivering as he asked.
“I was just about to talk to you about that—this is a dream delusion.”
“A dream delusion?” Laurena inquired, puzzled.
“Simply put, we are in a dream. This dream is the dream of the nameless from within the forest, ‘they’ often dream of everything from their previous lives. But this dream is shrouded in the real world, connected to the world in our memories. The nameless often use such means to entice travelers, leading them astray in the forest.”
“No wonder I just saw that little woman, Martha, from Leno; she looked as charming as she did back then, with a voluptuous figure—” Phillas’s words were interrupted by a sharp glare from Laurena.
“Do you mean this is an illusion, Lord Earl?”
“Not entirely.”
Brendel replied as they walked. After passing through a dense thicket, the woods seemed to become sparser. He saw a flat area appear, dense darkness surging from all sides. The knights nearby also seemed to sense something amiss, starting to stir.
“Everyone, gather closer.” Nemesis’s voice rang out from ahead. The Lady Knight’s tone was as steadfast and cold as ever, like a flag in the darkness. Brendel sometimes didn’t much like her personality, but he had to admit Nemesis was an excellent soldier.
More excellent than the senior sister.
This open terrain reminded him of a place. After walking for a while, uneven pebbles and gravel indeed began to emerge on the ground. This was a riverbank, a terrain only found in the valley bottom.
Yet he could not determine if this was the Sighing Wall—
“You know about dreams, don’t you, Miss Laurena?” Brendel turned to reply: “Everything in dreams is uncertain. Time in dreams flows depending on the activity of your thoughts during sleep; thus, we can neither be sure we have reached that place nor how long we’ve been walking in the forest. As we traverse this dark forest, everything we see is merely a dream.”
“Wait, I’m getting a bit confused.” Laurena put a hand to her forehead: “Are you saying this is a dream, and you are in my dream, Lord Earl?”
“That would be rather unfortunate—” Phillas replied, a hint of jealousy in his voice.
“Of course not; you can interpret it as a half-dream, half-awake state.” Brendel shot a glance at the guy.
“You mean we, a whole bunch of people, are wandering around the forest, collectively sleepwalking?”
Brendel thought this guy’s analogy was terribly awkward. Nonetheless, it was indeed the most fitting description of their current situation, so he nodded at both of them.
“That’s wonderful—I mean for the beasts in the forest; Brendel, can you imagine what it’s like to have food come right to your doorstep?—I bet the waitstaff at Rustra’s ‘Unicorn and Maiden’ Inn wouldn’t have such excellent service.”
“What if I wandered to d*ath in this forest? Do you think they would put up a gravestone that says ‘Friend of the Forest’, and maybe even award me a two-thousand-pound medal? The medal would have to be engraved with the ‘Unicorn and Maiden’ Inn’s emblem to prove my selfless contribution to this forest as an exceptional waiter—”
“Shut up!” Laurena interrupted Phillas’s lengthy tirade: “Lord Earl, is there any danger in this dream?”
“This dream is connected to the dreams of the nameless from their lives; if you are seduced by them, your soul will remain in this forest forever, never waking again.”
“What should we do then?”
“Be steadfast.” Brendel replied, raising his voice: “Everyone, huddle together; this forest is a delusion woven by the nameless. Be cautious, as it will soon pull you into the dreams of the past. If you do not want to sleep forever in this forest, just remember two words—steadfast, calm.”
His voice carried far.
The dream of the nameless bore some resemblance to the battle of the Golden Demon Tree. But unlike the dream of the Forbidden Fruit Garden, this dream truly existed in this world; the dreams of those stripped of their names would devour everyone, like a massive whirlpool pulling them toward the center.
To escape these dreams, salvation of the entire dream world was the only recourse.
The darkness grew denser. Brendel could barely make out Laurena and Phillas beside him. In the darkness, some people were still questioning whether they should push forward in that direction.
“Forward.”
That was Nemesis’s answer.
But in truth, that direction held no significance. After walking for a while, the surroundings grew quieter, as though even the howling wind had fallen silent. After a moment, rhythmic insect chirps seemed to echo again, and in the distance, melodious music floated through the air.
It was not the ethereal song of elves or fairies, but rather human-made music, like a brass instrument playing a lively tune. The sound was faint, as if coming from some direction outside the forest.
Brendel blinked, feeling the light around him gradually brighten again. The forest had completely thinned out, revealing a broad open space ahead, with lights in the distance, resembling a small town.
He stood alone by the riverbank, stars twinkling above him, the forest full of beautiful black pines, the moonlight reflecting on the gently flowing water, as if it were a night after a midsummer in Buche or Shubli.
Nemesis, Laurena, Phillas, Freya, and all the knights had vanished. He paused for a moment, then tried to invoke the mental connection, but there was no response.
Brendel then realized.
He had ‘fallen asleep.’
This was his dream.
……(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please consider voting for it on Qidian (qidian.com); your support is my greatest motivation.)
