Chapter 46: A Dream and a Desolate Reality

I had a dream, a vivid one, where I had transformed into Sun Wukong, soaring through the heavens, desperately evading the palm of the Buddha. Yet, no matter how I tried, I could not shake him off. Ultimately, with a single strike, he tore off my wings…

“Buddha, you cheated! Monkeys don’t have wings!”

As I spiraled down from the sky, I cursed indignantly.

He paid me no mind. I continued to fall, endlessly plummeting through the air, as if I would never reach the ground.

I woke with a start, bolting upright from the ground.

“Aargh—!”

A piercing shriek, like the mournful cry of a cuckoo echoing through the heavens, was followed by another searing, tearing pain that erupted from the right side of my back, a pain that pierced me to the bone.

Collapsing back to the ground from the agony, for a fleeting moment, I feared my nightmare had become reality, that Buddha had truly severed my wings. But I quickly recovered my senses, turning my head to the right to look…

Indeed, it was Sally. She lay sprawled across my wings, curled into a tight ball, clutching a large handful of feathers, drooling profusely.

“So soft…so fragrant…”

This was utterly outrageous! Nearly half of my wing was soaked through with her saliva. With a forceful shove, I rescued my wings from her demonic oppression.

Ugh… My right wing felt completely numb. She had been using both of them as a pillow! Moreover, they were now dripping wet and significantly heavier, the increased weight pressing noticeably on my back.

“Ugh—!”

By then, dawn had broken. Watching several glistening strands of viscous fluid slowly drip from the tips of my feathers, I couldn’t help but retch a few times. I dared not move my wings freely, fearing that a single careless flap would send saliva splattering everywhere.

“Mmm…”

Shoved aside, Sally soon stirred, groggily sitting up. She blinked, her eyes hazy, as she surveyed her surroundings, before suddenly snapping awake.

“How did I end up sleeping on the ground?”

“You have the nerve to ask! You used my wings as a sleeping mat!”

Her actions infuriated me. I vigorously rubbed my wings against the ground, hoping to clean them somewhat.

“And it’s one thing to use them as a mat, but why did you have to smear them with so much drool?!”

“Oh, your feathers… Pfft—”

Seeing the sorry state of my wings at that moment, she instantly understood. But what was the meaning of her inability to suppress a laugh?

“That’s what you get! Who told you to fall asleep so quickly last night?!”

She showed not a shred of apology, and it sounded as if she were blaming me.

“What about your promise to help me clean up?”

Her reminder suddenly brought to mind my previous promise. I instantly realized my oversight.

‘Damn! The gold coins are gone.’

“I’m sorry, I was truly exhausted; I couldn’t stay awake any longer…”

As I apologized, I suddenly noticed her face was quite clean, and there were barely any traces of the Ghost-Faced Dragonflies’ green fluid on her.

“Huh? How did you get clean?”

“With water, of course!”

As Sally spoke, she conjured a basin from thin air. Then, casting a water-sphere spell into it, a basin of fresh water was instantly created.

“It was such a hassle by myself; it was so dark last night, and no one was there to help me, so it took ages to wash.”

“So your clothes are spares too?”

Noticing she wasn’t wearing yesterday’s attire, I immediately understood.

“Of course! Storage rings are incredibly convenient, aren’t they?”

Sally flashed me a brilliant smile, then squatted down, cupping the fresh water to wash her face. Afterward, she even pulled out a comb and a mirror to check her appearance, only putting them away once she was satisfied with her reflection.

“…”

‘Is being rich so great? Does having money mean you can do whatever you want?’

Once she had finished grooming herself, I couldn’t resist washing my wings with water as well. While they dried, I took the opportunity to carefully observe our surroundings.

Although it was now daytime, the oppressive aura of dark elements had diminished considerably. However, the cloud cover remained exceptionally thick, casting a dim, visible light over everything. It felt as though a torrential downpour was imminent, yet there was no sign of it.

Nevertheless, this did not impede my view of the distant landscape.

Upon first waking, I had noticed we were in a vast, desolate rocky wasteland, a landscape consistent with my assessment from the previous night. However, with my wings pinned, I had lacked the presence of mind to examine it closely.

Only now did I truly observe that, as far as the eye could see, beyond the wasteland, stood barren mountain ranges in the extreme distance, devoid of even a hint of green.

Another peculiar detail caught my attention. Behind one of the mountain ranges, several plumes of thick black smoke billowed upwards, their source unknown.

“I’ll go up and take a look; you stay here and don’t move.”

I instructed Sally. To ascertain the cause, I intentionally ascended higher and higher into the sky, until I was nearly touching the clouds. It was then that I realized the source of the billowing smoke was, in fact, a series of erupting volcanoes, with faint glimpses of red lava flowing down their slopes.

I was utterly dumbfounded. Pulling out my compass, I checked its reading. The volcanoes were situated directly to the south, precisely in the direction we had flown last night. Behind me, to the north, the Orc city we had passed was still faintly visible.

‘Wait, when did the royal capital turn into volcanoes?’

‘Could we have truly gotten the direction wrong from the start?’

To suddenly arrive in this barren land from the verdant Asante Kingdom, having only flown for about two hours in total, made absolutely no sense. What on earth was happening?

After landing, I recounted everything I had seen to Sally. Upon hearing it, she looked utterly bewildered.

“Volcanoes? Are you sure you saw them?”

Her expression indicated she didn’t quite believe my description. Therefore, I resorted to my previous tactic, tying her to myself once more and ascending into the sky.

“Do you believe me now?”

High in the air, I felt Sally’s body trembling incessantly. Whether it was from the wind or something else, I couldn’t be certain. In any case, I sensed something was profoundly wrong with her, and immediately descended back to the ground.

“What… what are we going to do…?”

As soon as Sally was freed from the ropes, she clutched my hand, asking frantically. I could even discern the glistening hint of tears in her eyes, reflecting her fear.

“How could it have come to this? Where is the royal capital?”

“This…”

To suddenly find ourselves in an utterly unfamiliar environment, surrounded by lurking magical beasts, I could certainly comprehend the pressure such a situation exerted on her. Yet, with the royal capital apparently transformed into volcanoes, I felt equally despairing.

We had been meticulously following a southward course, so how could this have happened? I didn’t even dare to confirm whether Navareli was truly gone or if we had simply misjudged our direction.

After a moment of calm reflection, I offered a suggestion.

“Perhaps we should fly back?”

“Back? Back to the Orc city? What would you do there?”

Sally cast me a puzzled glance, not immediately grasping my meaning.

“Not there. I meant to retrace our steps, following the path we came, to see if we can eventually return to Tedles Town.”

I elaborated on my idea. In truth, I had already emerged from my initial shock, and was slowly realizing that this disorientation was far from normal, and likely couldn’t be explained by conventional reasoning.

“You’re right. We have nowhere else to go; the path south is impassable. So, we can only return to our starting point. At the very least, that will help us clarify many things.”

Sally, too, understood. With a genuinely viable plan now presented, she seemed less frantic than before.

“But didn’t we fly above the clouds last night? Are you sure we can find our way back?”

From her perspective, this concern was certainly valid. Without ground references from earlier, what if we got lost again on the way back?

“I’ll make sure to fly at a lower altitude, ensuring we can see the ground as much as possible…”

Clutching the compass once more in my palm, after the events of last night, I no longer dared to guarantee that everything would be fine.

With the plan now decided, we wasted no further time, and promptly set off.

The return flight proceeded smoothly. To avoid the Orc city, I deliberately ascended above the cloud cover as we passed over it, only descending to a lower altitude once we had traveled a considerable distance past it.

“These clouds are so thick, yet they don’t rain and never disperse.”

Sally gazed upwards, a slight frown creasing her brow.

“It feels as though there are traces of magic within them…”

“Magic?”

Her words prompted me to glance upwards as well. Indeed, there was a deeply unsettling sensation. The clouds hung oppressively over the land, not appearing to be naturally formed.

We continued flying north for a while longer, but still, no trace of vegetation appeared. As far as the eye could see, the ground remained a desolate expanse.

I had a persistent intuition that we might no longer be within the Asante Kingdom. To confirm this suspicion was simple: we needed to see if we could retrace our path to Tedles Town. If we couldn’t return, then it was highly probable we had inexplicably crossed over somewhere along the way.

But where exactly did we cross over? I reviewed the entire journey from last night, yet nothing particularly strange came to mind. This was incredibly puzzling; it was as if an invisible hand had suddenly relocated Sally and me high in the sky, without any prior warning.

However, if we were to consider this from the perspective of a dimensional crossing, many inconsistencies remained unexplained.

“Sally, how did you recognize the Orc city? And those Ghost-Faced Dragonflies?”

As we flew, I posed a crucial question that directly pertained to whether we were still in this world.

“The Bishop once participated in a campaign against the Dark Realm and had seen Orc cities. That one looked pretty much like his descriptions, especially with all the skulls. As for the Ghost-Faced Dragonflies, they’re a common troop type in the Orc Realm.”

Given her explanation, it seemed we hadn’t crossed into another world.

Could it be that only our spatial location had changed, and we hadn’t actually left this world? I began to consider the problem from this new angle.