Chapter 236: Apparently Alice Is Illegal (Patreon)

"I… well… I certainly don't mind it, if what I am told is truth. And it isn't just that. Throughout the entire ordeal... I never felt any malice from her. She could have shattered my mind the moment she seized the reins, but all that leaked through the bond was a suffocating helplessness. As if she despised what she was doing more than anyone else could. 'Feel' might sound absurdly vague, but that was the impression. Weird as it sounds."

Not as weird when I thought about why Sybil had chosen Avena as her vessel. Her high affinity for water was the main reason. Even though Avena herself wasn't powerful enough to feel its full effects, it certainly seemed amplified after Sybil took over her body.

Right now, I was speaking to Avena. There were two possible routes for Sybil at this point. Since we needed to extract the Key from her true body, her consciousness required another vessel. But not just anyone— her vessel would determine how much of her own power she could use. So far, Avena had been perfect for her, but that didn't mean she could be allowed to keep the body indefinitely.

I wasn't particularly close to Avena, but I liked her from the moment we met.

So I wanted to know if the second option was more comfortable, that they both could reside in the same vessel until we found a new one for Sybil. Probably after returning to the waking world.

That was why Sybil had retreated, and I could speak to Avena directly.

"Well, the decision is up to you."

"It should be okay… I think. I hope."

One could only hope. I had no idea what dual-piloting a body was like. Or wait— I did. I had co-piloted with my doppelganger for a while earlier. She was now back in my dreamscape, probably glaring at Lotte.

It wasn't too deeply uncomfortable. At least in theory. Right now, there was a clear power gap between the two. For me, at least, I had the freedom to banish my doppelganger whenever I wished and had full control, even though she was more powerful than me. Avena didn't seem to have that choice.

"I’m still struggling to wrap my head around the scale of it all," Avena admitted, looking down at her trembling hands. "I'm sorry. It will take me a while to find my footing."

"Take all the time you need," I said, offering an easy shrug. "We have plenty."

Or I thought so.

We did not have much time at all. Time in here moved much faster compared to the waking world. But that only meant our doom was approaching faster than we thought. I looked outside the window of the tower that I had made my home these past few days, watching everyone gather below— everyone they could find after I tasked the Kovraths to send the word out. Curious led it all, convincing every other species here of the truth and offering them a chance at salvation.

The Kovraths were, as usual, much like my half-dragon form. The flamebird folk from the east were a little more draconic too. They had long necks, flaming red features, and looked almost like miniature wyverns. They were called Ignari. It was the form of the northern forest dwellers that surprised me. The Veyraths.

They were essentially small, obscenely floofy bunnies with curved draconic horns and voluminous, silky coats. Where the Ignari were physical skirmishers capable of fortifying their bodies with sacred energy, the Veyraths were brilliant mana resonators, capable of expanding their mana reserves and accelerating their regeneration to absurd degrees.

Their matriarch was a pristine white furred bunny adorned with intricate gold and silver celestial markings named Lilianna, was currently talking with Serath near the southern courtyard.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WHY WAS SHE SO PRECIOUS AND FLOOFY!!

It took me all my willpower to wretch my gaze away from her. Apocalypse first, floof pats later.

The main issue was the four domains. Now that they had four keys, and the fifth almost in hand, it seemed like the realm had picked up on it— and the domains were accelerating toward each other. The divine flames of the north, the abyss of the west, the verdant forest up north, and the black sea down south, all would coalesce much sooner than I had initially thought. And nobody knew what reaction they would have after doing so.

We would most likely need to be out before all that.

And not just that— the Dream Sea of the realm itself was acting strange and more haywire. After all, it was the final domain— Sybil's. Maybe seeing her surrender had counted for something, as it was getting more tumultuous. How very annoying.

Not like we planned on staying for long anyway, but I would have liked not to feel the constant pressure of a ticking clock.

Further, I had been planning on witnessing how my plan regarding the task I gave Alice—Codeword: Nightmare Nuke— would go. But once again fate seemed determined to dump the entire cesspool upon my head in a single, chaotic avalanche.

But oh well. I was tired right now. The last few days had been rather exhausting, and I needed some well-deserved sleep. And speaking of sleep—I looked at Avena once more, and an idea suddenly struck me.

What if…

Well. It could be worth a shot. What's the worst that could happen?

"Step into my dreamscape, Sybil," I told her.

Avena had a surprised expression before it dissolved, swept aside as azure colour pooled in the depths of her pupils as Sybil resumed the helm. Now she had a cool, guarded mask for her expression.

"I am inclined to question why you would demand such an intrusion, master," she murmured, "yet it is my station to comply."

"Oh, don't play bashful now. Just follow instructions. Come to think of it, you never once attempted to breach my dreamscape. Wouldn't that have been your opening gambit against an anomaly like me?"

"It was the very first avenue I weighed," Sybil admitted. "Yet the moment my awareness brushed the periphery of it, I was seized by an overwhelming... dissonance. I possess no precise lexicon for it. Call it just… intuition. My instincts have preserved my life across all those years, so I chose not to force my way through. And your casual invitation only confirms that my hesitation was warranted."

Clever old snake. Just intuition, huh.

At least she hadn't detected a direct conceptual presence, which meant Lotte’s seclusion remained safe. I was worried if Sybil had sniffed her presence somehow, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

"Relax," I offered, flashing a reassuring grin. "Just slip through the veil once I drift off. I might have solution to solve your little vessel dilemma, well, not me personally, but a resident who shares the lease." I paused, tapping my chin. "Actually... you might want to squeeze your eyes shut when you step over the threshold. Just in case! See you on the other side!"

Before she could raise an objection, I jumped onto the massive featherbed and let out an jaw cracking yawn. Sybil looked thoroughly unenthusiastic about the entire venture, and well, frankly, I hadn't expected her to jump for joy.

***

"Sooo..." I began, shuffling my paws and studiously avoiding direct eye contact. "I am entirely aware that I’ve been giving you the cold shoulder. AND you have zero right to hold it against me!"

Lotte just looked at me with her massive, amused eyes. "Little hatchling, I have never held an ounce of blame against you. Not once. Not ever."

Oh Thalador, this conversation would be getting awkward and painfully sentimental real quick. I could feel my doppelganger's glare on us from a little ways away as well. But here— I just didn't know how I would navigate it. That's why I'd been avoiding having a direct conversation with Lotte so far. That sort of thing tended to happen when your whole world came crashing down on you, reminding you that you had this oh-so-mysterious and special past, and all the stuff associated with it now belonged to you. I just… kind of didn't want any of that. Why couldn't I just be me—Jade, just a gold-scaled dragon who hoarded floof and breathed fire at inconveniences. I wanted Lotte to just be …Lotte, not some fragment of an ancient curse woven into my very marrow.

"Who says you aren't allowed to be just… someone? Who decrees that you cannot simply be Jade?" Lotte’s voice whispered softly into my thoughts, reading my mind. "Who dictates that you are forbidden from being merely yourself? You are not obligated to worship the shadows of your progenitors, little one. That’s the whole point. You are entirely permitted to live a long, stubborn life doing precisely what you adore."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear the speech," I grumbled, waving a claw dismissively. "Except their debts are already biting chunks out of my hide. It's just a matter of time before more of them catch up to me. But bah! I don't really want to talk about it— or anything about it, for that matter. I need your help! Well... sort of. I don't even know if the mechanics translate, but I figured I’d consult the expert. Unless you already plucked the scheme from my thoughts. Which you definitely did."

"Or perhaps I did not. Indulge me, little hatchling. Speak it plainly."

"I, well, you did something with Alice. I don't know what it was exactly, but you sort of rebuilt her after she was destroyed. Gave her a new body. Of sorts. I was just wondering if you could do the same for someone else?"

"Ah… well, it shouldn't be too difficult. But you have yet to render your toll, little one. Here I have rested in the quiet, eagerly awaiting the recounts of your campaign."

Oh… yeah… I mean, between everything else, I had completely neglected her favourite indulgence. I had no idea how far her sight penetrated beyond my skull, but the only time she ever radiated undiluted delight was when I laid out the spectacles of the waking world before her.

I puffed up a bit. I loved recounting the it all just as much as she loved hearing it. And the last few days had been rather entertaining in themselves. "Hohoho, consider it as premium payment for your services!"

I cleared my throat, threw my claws wide and began weaving the tale while the ancient curse settled in to listen.

***

"…"

"…"

"Are you… holding together over there?" I asked, squinting down at her. "I know her carpentry can be a touch jarring. Same thing happened to Alice when she went under her chisel."

"Do not worry, Master. I have already severed that specific sequence of memories and buried them beneath several layers of my mind. A mortal breakdown would serve no tactical purpose in our current predicament. Therefore, I have elected to pretend that threshold never occurred."

Huh… I never thought about it that way. She had crossed the boundary into my dreamscape just as instructed, eyes dutifully shut. Lotte, who was now thoroughly bribed by my masterclass in storytelling, had graciously agreed to fashion the leviathan a new vessel. But the process once again involved her spontaneously exploding upon gazing at Lotte, and Lotte rebuilding her once more while humming a merry tune. Well, couldn't blame her, I’d want to redact that from my memory too.

Looking down at Sybil right now, she had taken a doll-like form as well. Well, not taken—but by the way Lotte had rebuilt her, it certainly looked exactly like how she appeared in her humanoid form: a veil over her face, twin horns covered in white roses, and a white gown.

"Though this vessel, Master..." Sybil breathed as her porcelain fingers trembled. "It defies every law of the architecture. It is vastly beyond anything I dared conceive, even in the heights of my arrogance!"

Her tone had been a bit more fervent ever since we walked out of the dreamscape.

"It was just porcelain and lace. I don't see what's making your horns spin."

"No, no, Master, you do not understand. The core rule of the Dream Sea is that it rejects all sorts of physical things. You can't be physically present there— ever. But this vessel... it is both tangible and composed of the very quintessence of consciousness. It is woven from the raw fabric of that oneiric reality. I can shift between physical density and pure thought at a whim! It is impossible. It should be an existential contradiction! What manner of being dwells within your skull to forge such an anomaly?"

I scratched the scales along my jaw. "Is slipping between ghost-mode and solid flesh really that big of a deal?"

"Is it a big deal?!" Sybil’s voice spiked an octave. “Master, consider the mechanics! Earlier, my entire motive was to escape this prison, but I had to do it the right way. My physical vessel couldn't leave this realm, so I was forced to play its game. I could have just left my consciousness in the Dream Sea for an indefinite amount of time, there was only so long one could stay there consciously before the sea starts to assimilate it into its vastness, leaving your physical form to wander in a state called a Hollow. It's a state where your consciousness has died but you're still technically alive. There needs to be an equilibrium. But with this form…"

Sybil was shaking. "I am unburdened by an external anchor. The vessel and the soul are a singular spectrum. If I need to escape, I could just do it… without thinking for another second. I could just ride the currents of the Dream Sea and emerge outside this prison. It's the same thing Alice is doing, Master. I just didn't see it earlier properly, as I was incapable of even forming such a concept—"

Sybil was spiraling now. But her words struck me like a sledgehammer to the temple. Wait…

My eyes widened as the gears ground together in my brain. Alice was literally coming here in her physical form, after all.

Every time I visited Lotte, my physical carcass remained sprawled out on a bed, asleep. The same applied to Belle, whenever she lounged in my dreamscape, her badger body was drooling into a pillow elsewhere. None of us entered the dreamscape with our actual bodies.

Except Alice.

Alice had been physically riding my shoulder into the waking world, popping into my dreamscape, and materializing back into reality all along.

HUH?!

If I possessed a vessel like that, physical cages just… ceased to exist. Dimensional wards, sealing arrays, everything else would be meaningless. I could just slip through the cracks of reality and flip everyone off on my way out!

WHAT?!?

I immediately collapsed backward onto the featherbed, closed my eyes, and forced my consciousness into the deep dark.

“LOTTE! MAKE ME A GHOST DOLL!”

"No."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

***

"Well, I certainly wasn't thinking I would have company doing it all…" Alice said, side-eyeing Sybil in her brand-new doll form.

"Well, if it makes your work easier, then that's all we need."

"Yes, Mistress. I should be able to cut a couple days' worth of preparation if we both work together."

While Sybil was looking rather bouncy, after all, it would be the very first time she would be going out. Her centuries-long dream of stepping beyond the cage was finally within reach, and the little porcelain vessel could barely contain the vibrations of her giddy delirium.

I couldn't share her excitement, as I was rather jealous of these two now. Why didn't I select water affinity when I had the option to! Bah— but still, whining wouldn't change anything. And I didn't think Lotte was too inclined or keen to change my species from a dragon to an enigmatic doll, even if I were to have a water affinity.

So, before I bid them farewell, there was another thing that Alice needed to do.

"And remember the first task. Make sure you do it without her even being aware of it."

"It's a simple branding process, Mistress. Rest easy. The next time Lysska closes her eyes, she will awaken directly upon the shores of your dreamscape."

Well, maybe I was being extra cautious here. But one couldn't be too cautious. Lysska was on the verge of ascension to Gold, but she was missing one key piece she needed to fuel her ascension.

The piece that couldn't be told to her in the waking world in any manner, because of certain laws the Overlord made. But that didn't mean I wouldn't be able to help her in any manner. And that also brought me to one thing I wanted to do before my evolution.