Deep Sea Embers

Duncan’s words undoubtedly tempted Shirley, yet she couldn’t resist. From the deepest part of her heart, she does want to know, which manifested in the form of an irrepressible urge.

In this nightmare that has tormented her for eleven years, outside this locked room, on the streets she had not seen for eleven years ago… what exactly awaited her?

She subconsciously took a small breath, then turned her sight to the window that was nearby.

In the past, all she knew was the hazy darkness shrouding the outside world, but now, she could finally peer into what that chaotic light stood for…

“Can people really walk around in their dreams,” Shirley couldn’t help but mutter, “I don’t know what’s out there… Could it be nothingness outside?”

“Dreams are a reflection of the human subconscious, and the human subconscious tends to remember some ‘details’ that even one cannot perceive.” Duncan’s voice came from the direction of the doorway that had already been pushed open, “Maybe you were stuck in this room eleven years ago, but the light, shadow, and sound outside the window were all part of the things you memorized. These details are clues that will allow us to glimpse into what happened.”

“Of course, the decision is up to you. If you refuse, I will not continue to spy on your dreams – I will stay here, and don’t worry, as long as I’m around, this nightmare will not continue. You can sleep in peace, and tomorrow there will still be a clear morning.”

Shirley bit her lips lightly and then seemed to expend tremendous strength to make up her mind: “I… want to go out and have a look.”

“Okay,” Duncan nodded, leaning sideways to make way for the girl, “I’m with you.”

A subspace shadow, a mobile natural disaster, took the initiative to say that he wanted to walk with her – this should have been a terrible invitation, but for some reason, Shirley only felt relief from the words. To her, Duncan represented a warm light that suddenly barged into the endless dark nightmare.

It was sort of crazy to think that way, but that’s just how it was. The girl was gradually getting accustomed to living with an evil god now.

Duncan followed behind Shirley as the two stepped into the living room in Shirley’s memory.

Dog also followed them from the rear with a rather nervous appearance. He kept watching his surroundings, and he would prick his skull up from time to time like he was searching for any abnormal movement from the streets.

“Dog, what are you doing?” Shirley asks after getting a little confused.

“Scouting,” Dog said in a deep voice, “we are entering the unknown zone in the dream… Further on is the area that doesn’t exist in your memory. In theory, the things in front will become more and more twisted to fit your subconscious imagination and emotions. In the case of fear acting as the dominant emotion, the environment may generate something… that’s not so friendly.”

Shirley was amazed: “Dog, you actually know so much!”

“Only a little bit,” the dark hound cheekily raised his skull high, “I’m also a proper shadow demon…”

Duncan didn’t care about the conversation the pair was having mentally; instead, he was watching for any clues in the living room.

A kind of chaotic darkness had enveloped this slightly shabby living room from what he could perceive. Nevertheless, he could still see the shelf placed against the wall, a table and few chairs in the middle, and a clock hanging with its dial unmoving.

Everything appeared to be in order, except for the deep claw mark on the floorboard.

That’s the mark left behind when Dog broke inside the home.

In addition, there was no blood, no corpse, no scorch marks in the living room – the “fire” seemed to be confined to the streets outside, or simply because in Shirley’s subconscious mind, the fire never spread into the home.

They walked through the place and eventually came to the front door where there’s a huge hole through the middle segment. Aside from the door frame and a few loosely hanging pieces of wood, the entire thing had been smashed apart.

Further out, there are streets currently engulfed in fire.

Shirley stopped here. The girl didn’t realize it before, but she’s truly afraid of going into the streets where it’s burning.

“Shirley?” Dog glanced up at his partner with concern.

Shirley tightly bit her lips as if she didn’t hear Dog’s voice. She was having second thoughts, and her mind had started to wonder what might’ve happened to her parents that night. They also stepped through the front entrance here, and afterward, they never came home…

But then the soft clatter of chains brought the girl back to attention. It was Dog taking the initiative to walk outside, slightly tugging at the girl to join and break her trance.

“Shirley, it’s okay. There’s nothing scary outside, and if there is… I can’t tell.”

Shirley looked at the hollow eyes of the dark hound with some surprise. Then pursing her lips: “Thank you.”

Then she stepped out with her feet after so many years of being confined.

The streets are still filled with a thin layer of misty smoke, so it was quite difficult to get the full picture of the carnage. Even so, the thin, darkishly red fuzz in the distances told them the houses and street lamps were still there, but burning…

Duncan frowned at this view.

The fires on the street they’re walking on had already been extinguished, leaving only traces of the flames behind in the form of shapeless ashes and molten metal in the corners. All of this pointed to a huge tragedy, but he couldn’t find any signs pointing this to the sun fragment.

But on second thought, this seems normal – after all, this was just Shirley’s dream, a stage woven by her memory and emotions, so it’s not genuinely bringing back everything from eleven years.

With this understanding in mind, he followed Shirley slowly through the streets that had been burned by the fire.

Suddenly, his footsteps halted.

“Mr. Duncan?” Shirley looked back in surprise.

Duncan frowned and waved his hand to silence the other two while focusing his ears on movement sounds.

Just now, his ears definitely picked up something, a faint voice crying out somewhere.

After carefully keeping still and listening, he eventually pinpointed the source to a pile of ash by the roadside.

It was a twisted pile of black ash mixed with some charred black fragments. It appears whatever, or whoever this was, they’ve died and left nothing behind. There was even an ember still burning next to the ash. If observed long enough, one could even partially make out the shape of the individual who died here by the way it’s curled up….

Duncan stared at the ash for the longest time until he slowly bent down to investigate.

“…… I…… I don’t want to die…” The cloud of ash murmurs.

Duncan popped his eyes, while Shirley on the other hand blasted her true thoughts out: “What is this XXXX thing?!”

Duncan swung his head back immediately, causing the gothic girl to quickly adjust her wording again: “Um, I mean this is terrible…”

“…… I prefer the straightforwardness you showed just now,” the corners of Duncan’s mouth twitched as he said this. In fact, he was also frightened silly by the murmuring from the ashes here, but that got entirely overshadowed by Shirley’s outcry.

“I don’t want to die…”

“Help…”

“Go home…”

“Who will help…”

A creepy numbness had started to spread across the girl’s heart, causing Shirley to clutch her hands against the hem of the dress. Despite having the courage to fight with a dark hound in hand, the girl clearly lacked resistance to these purely weird occult evils.

But at this moment, the surprise quickly turned to confusion: Is this really her own nightmare?

In this “edge of dreams” that has long drifted beyond her own memory and recognition, these cries for help shouldn’t be here. It shouldn’t be possible if she never came into contact with such a thing back then.

Shirley subconsciously looked to Duncan for the answer but saw that the latter was also looking her way with a scrutinizing gaze.

“It may not be just a dream,” the man said in a deep voice.