Chapter 1204: Predator and Intruder |
Jacob stood at the edge of the deeper layers, his flaming eyes fixed on the shifting abyss before him.
The fragment he had just consumed was gone, but its impact remained as a faint pulse lingered within his consciousness, not power but understanding.
Without hesitation, Jacob moved, but not forward recklessly; instead, downward into the layers where instability still existed, and where fragments drifted like broken stars, for here, just as Nyx stated, the Dreamscape didn’t care enough to defend.
This time, it didn’t take Jacob long to find another small, flickering fragment, which was barely holding shape, and he somehow knew it was another Fragmented Nightmare.
After deciding on the target, Jacob approached silently and carefully before he touched it.
The next moment, darkness swallowed him, and then emerged sudden, violent pain. He knew he was inside a nightmare again.
This time, he seemed to be inside a broken mantis’ body with torn limbs and shattered chitin.
The mantis was crawling and dying while something massive loomed overhead, watching coldly and waiting with a hint of cruelty. Jacob felt it all. The agony, the helplessness, and the instinct screaming to survive.
However, this time, he didn’t resist or try to escape; instead, he observed coldly and tried to remain detached, yet he still couldn’t deny or cut off the deep, painful emotions.
At that moment, the nightmare twisted in response to Jacob’s thoughts, but he had already learned and quickly anchored himself, then pulled.
The memory tried to resist, but Jacob felt the resistance was slightly weaker than before, and then...crack...it broke.
The next moment, Jacob opened his eyes, and another fragment floated before him before he consumed it without hesitation.
Without stopping, Jacob moved to another one, and then another...each nightmare was different, like one was an endless pursuit, another was failure during evolution, and another was being devoured again and again.
Jacob lived them all, felt them, and endured them, but he no longer lost himself because this time he knew what he was. An intruder, a parasite...a nightmare within a nightmare!
Slowly, Jacob could tell that something had changed as the Dreamscape no longer reacted as violently to his presence, and he could guess the reason behind it as well.
Jacob no longer imposed himself; he blended in and moved like a thought that didn’t belong, yet couldn’t be removed.
After getting the hang of the Fragmented Nightmares and following Nyx’s advice, he shifted targets to the Fragmented Dreams.
"...A dream?" .
The first Fragmented Dream he found gave him a feeling of being quiet, soft, and warm, completely opposite to a Fragmented Nightmare.
Jacob hesitated for the first time and didn’t directly touch it like the Fragmented Nightmares because Nyx had warned him that dreams were protected, for they were precious and cherished, making them unpredictably dangerous in different ways, unlike the Nightmares.
But this one was the weakest of them all, a Fragmented Dream, and after devouring many of the Fragmented Nightmares, he was slightly more confident, so he reached out.
The next moment, the world changed, and this time there was no pain or fear, only stillness. Jacob found himself inside an empty void, and in that emptiness, a sense of peacefulness washed over him.
Apparently, a younger mantis was floating, evolving slowly, with no predators to run from or hunger to drive it insane; there was just existence and growth.
Jacob felt it as well that strange sensation of satisfaction, and couldn’t help but think, ’...So even you had moments like this,’
Suddenly, the dream pulsed as if acknowledging him, but unlike nightmares, it didn’t resist immediately; instead, it tried to preserve itself.
At that moment, Nyx’s solemn voice rang, "Don’t use force here, or it would collapse violently and you’ll be in world of trouble because unlike a Nightmare that in itself is indelible, a Dream is impermanence.
"A Dream won’t last forever, and might even change into a Nightmare anytime, that’s why it’s a dream, a desire, and if you use force to fulfill a desire, it will turn into an aversion or revulsion.
"Instead of forcibly pulling it, try to merge with the dream, and carefully dissolve into it, but don’t lose yourself, and wait for the right movement to come. I know you’ll be able to do just follow your instincts!"
Jacob eyes flickered with understanding, ’So, if I use force it would collapse violently, huh?’
He calmed his mind and began to adapt to the dream, as Nyx had stated, and instead of pulling, he slowly and carefully merged and dissolved into it.
Furthermore, just like Nyx said, as he was dissolving into the Fragmented Dream, he suddenly felt a vague yet peculiar pull, and he instinctively knew that it was the ’right moment’ that Nyx had told him, and without hesitation, he took it!
Thus, the fragment cracked, but softer yet deeper.
Back in the Dreamscape, Jacob exhaled slowly as he looked at the Fragmented Dream in front of him.
"That was really...different."
The next moment, he consumed it, and this time, the sensation was slightly euphoric, intoxicating even as if he was drinking wine, as it lingered longer, clearer, and richer.
"Hehe~, you finally have a taste of a Dream..." Nyx’s sly voice sounded, "But it was just a Fragmented Dream, wait until you devour a True Dream, I promise you, you’ll forget those bitter drinks you called alcohol!"
"Is that so?" Jacob dismissively brushed off Nyx’s words as he knew too well that Nyx had been indulging in foods of the Virtual World other than gambling, completely contradicting her own statement.
Thereafter, Jacob finally began his journey between nightmares and dreams, moving endlessly between them.
Each one teaches him something different. Like nightmares taught resistance, control, and detachment. On the other hand, dreams taught patience, subtlety, and integration.
Finally, through both, Jacob began to grasp the first true concept of Dreamscape Law, Anachronism!
In simple terms, Anachronism in Dreamscape mean without any force or dominance, but presence; the ability to exist where one shouldn’t without being rejected.
At first, he struggled; sometimes he triggered reactions, sometimes he was forced to retreat, and sometimes he nearly lost himself again. But each time, he improved, and then time began to blur!