After Owen's resolute declaration echoed through the underground stone hall, Tenzin nodded with an expression that was both serious and respectful.
"Very good..." the old monk pointed to the staircase leading to the outside world. "...Then let us go. The 'Nightmare Knot' you perceive is the 'wound' that has torn open into the world of reality. You must go to that location yourself to be able to use your [Essence of Dreams] to open a path inside."
The two said no more, but quickly headed out of the central hall, back up the ancient stone staircase that led upwards.
The moment they stepped out of the monastery's secret entrance into the outside world, the atmosphere changed completely... The "veil of mist," which had once seemed like a natural phenomenon, now seemed to have a "presence" and "malice." It was thick and moved slowly, like a breathing beast. The chilling mist pierced the skin like a thousand needles, and the surrounding trees had begun to take on unnaturally distorted shapes.
Owen heard incomprehensible whispers on the wind and saw strange shadows moving in the corner of his eye. It was the effect of the nightmare slowly eating away at reality.
He clenched the fist wearing the "Gauntlets of the Sun God" tightly, feeling the searing energy circulating within, which was restlessly responding to the evil energy around him. The feeling made him both confident and nervous at the same time. 'This is my first fight as a Guardian... and the first fight without [Scales of Covenant] to back me up...' The thought made his heart a little heavy.
"Do not let it disturb your concentration," Tenzin's voice sounded from beside him, as if reading his mind. "What you see and hear now are merely reflections of your own fears, magnified by the power of the nightmare."
Owen nodded in acceptance of the warning. He closed his eyes, ignoring the distractions around him, and focused all his concentration on the [Essence of Dreams] to "lock on" to the "scream" he had heard in his vision. Instantly, he could clearly sense the direction of that evil energy... as if an invisible compass had appeared in his mind. He began to lead Tenzin, forging a path into the deepest and most dangerous part of the forest.
The deeper they went, the thicker the mist became, until visibility was no more than two meters. The whispers grew louder and began to sound like the voices of "people he knew," calling for help... which he knew was just a mental trap.
"We're getting close," Owen said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "I can feel the energy getting stronger up ahead."
Tenzin, who had been following silently, nodded. "I can feel it as well... Prepare yourself, Guardian... Its true face... may be far more terrifying than you can imagine."
Tenzin's warning still echoed in the silence. The two walked a few more steps... and suddenly... the dense forest opened into a clearing in its heart... revealing a sight that made Owen stop and hold his breath without realizing it.
Here... the mist wasn't just floating, but was swirling violently around "something," like a small, soundless tornado. Every tree around the clearing was twisted and dead, their withered branches pointing straight to the center of the misty storm like the arms of corpses pleading for help.
And at the center of that misty storm was the image Owen had seen in his vision... "a jet-black tear, ripped in mid-air."
It was truly a "wound" on the body of the world. Its edges were constantly twisting and splitting. A dark purple energy gushed from it without pause, like blood that would not clot. And most chillingly... the tear had "no depth." It was a void that absorbed everything, even light, making it look like a two-dimensional black hole pasted onto the fabric of reality.
Tenzin stopped at the edge of the energy's reach, his face grim and a little pale. "That is your target... I cannot go in with you. That world will reject anyone who is not a 'Dream Traveler.' ... Everything depends on you now."
But before Owen went in, Tenzin placed a hand on his shoulder and said in the most solemn voice, "Be careful... The land you are about to enter was created from the intense memories and despair of a shattered soul. Trust in the power of a Guardian... but do not trust what your physical eyes see. A previous Guardian was defeated by an illusion of someone he loved... Do not repeat that mistake."
Owen nodded in acceptance of the warning. He stepped forward with determination and held out the hand wearing the "Gauntlets of the Sun God." He focused all his concentration on the [Essence of Dreams] he had just received and imagined "opening a door" into the tear. Not by destroying it, but by "accepting" and "connecting" with it.
A faint golden energy radiated from his body and connected with the black tear... The tear, which had been twisting madly, calmed for a moment... and opened wider, like a mouth inviting him in.
Owen glanced back at Tenzin one last time before turning to face the chilling dimensional gate. He didn't hesitate for a second... He stepped into the darkness...
The moment he crossed the invisible threshold... all sound vanished... followed by light... and finally, sensation... Owen's body was completely swallowed by the darkness of the tear, as if he had never been there at all.
…..
The first second he crossed the invisible threshold... all sound vanished... followed by light... and finally, sensation...
The next second... he opened his eyes.
Before him was no longer Blackwood Forest, but a sight that made his heart stop for a moment... He was standing on the ruins of a giant suspension bridge made of a white metal, like ivory. The thousands of cables that had once held the bridge were now snapped, hanging down into the bottomless abyss below like the roots of a dead tree. When he looked down, he saw nothing but an eternal darkness.
And when he looked up... he saw it... "The Necropolis of the Sky."
It was the ruin of a city built on hundreds of massive floating islands, connected by bridges and walkways that had mostly crumbled. The spires of skyscrapers made of a white, porcelain-like material soared into a "sky" that was not a sky... but a ceiling of purplish-black clouds that had formed into unnatural, still clumps, like a painting. The only light in this dead world came from the "void tear" visible in the distance... It floated prominently on the cloud ceiling like a "moon of catastrophe," weeping tears of dark purple energy that shone down on everything.
The air here was frigid and tasted of ozone and ancient dust. He inhaled and could feel a sorrow so heavy it was almost tangible... It felt like walking through a futuristic metropolis that had been abandoned for hundreds of years.
Owen stepped forward cautiously. The sound of his sneakers on the metal floor of the bridge echoed uncomfortably in the silence. He crossed the ruined bridge to the city's main entrance... and the sight he saw was even more shocking.
The wreckage of strangely shaped vehicles sat motionless on the roadside like a graveyard of cars. The once-beautiful hanging gardens, now with their trees and flowers turned into sharp, brittle, black crystal. The glass walkways that had once connected buildings were shattered into a spiderweb that glittered in mid-air.
As Owen was walking through the central plaza that had once been the center of prosperity, he noticed something that broke the sad symmetry of the ruined city...
It was a "footprint."
But it wasn't an ordinary footprint... It was a massive impression, as large as a car tire. It was pressed so deep into the plaza's alloy floor that it had sunk into a shallow pit. The edges of the footprint were distorted and had faint traces of melting, as if it had been stamped with high heat... and most importantly... the dust of ages that covered the entire city was completely absent from this footprint.
It was a footprint that had just been made... not long ago.
And in that moment... he "felt" it.
It wasn't a sound he heard with his ears, but a "vibration" that traveled through the metal floor to the soles of his feet... It was a steady, heavy, and cold rhythm...
Thump... Thump...
It was the heartbeat of a massive industrial machine... and at the same time, his [Essence of Dreams] began to vibrate violently... He could feel a raw and crazed "malice" not far from here. It wasn't the sorrow that pervaded the entire city, but a targeted "rage"... and it had just awoken from its slumber... because of his visit.
The vibration transmitted through the metal floor was Owen's only compass in this dead land. He abandoned his aimless exploration and began to follow the rhythm of the machine's "heart" with determination.
The path led him from the central plaza into a narrow alley flanked by towering, ruined buildings. On the walls of these buildings, he noticed massive scratches that ran in long lines... marks made by metal scraping violently against metal with enough heat to melt the building's surface, which then re-solidified into ugly scars.
He followed the vibrations to the industrial sector of the sky city. Here... the environment looked different. It was filled with the ruined structures of giant warehouses, lined up like a graveyard of titans. The roofs of most of the warehouses had collapsed, revealing twisted steel frames that pointed to the sky like the ribs of a dead beast.
And the vibration... was the strongest... coming from the largest warehouse at the very end of the industrial sector.
Owen stopped in front of its dark entrance. The giant steel doors had been ripped from their hinges as if they were mere cardboard. Their wreckage was piled pathetically to the side. From the darkness within... he could feel the intensified aura... the smell of burnt circuits, rusted iron, and a liquid that smelled like a mix of motor oil and blood.
He decided to step into the darkness...
The inside of the warehouse was dim and silent. Only the purplish-black light from the "moon of catastrophe" shone down through the holes in the roof in beams, revealing a picture of complete devastation. The wreckage of cargo vehicles had been crushed and piled up like broken toys. Steel containers had been torn open, revealing the goods inside, which were now nothing but worthless trash.
And at the center of the wreckage... under a purple moonbeam... Owen found the source of the vibrations.
It was a "cargo-moving robot," over 5 meters tall... and it was no longer in its original state... It had been consumed by the "nightmare" and fused with the surrounding wreckage until it had become a horrifying iron beast!
Its original structure was twisted and deformed. One hydraulic arm had fused with sharp metal debris to become a massive "claw" that still sparked with blue electricity. The other was still a clamp, but it was now gripping the wrecked vehicle tightly as a weapon. Black, vein-like cables had sprouted from cracks all over its body and were pulsing to the "Thump... Thump..." he had heard. The most terrifying part was its head... The multiple sensor eyes that had once been blue now glowed a blood-red, and a thick, viscous black liquid seeped from the joints like tears that never stopped flowing...
It was the image of "something massive and terrifying" he had seen in his vision, exactly!
The moment Owen stepped into its range of perception...
The "Thump... Thump..." sound suddenly stopped...
An uncomfortable silence fell over the abandoned warehouse in an instant... All the red eyes snapped to fix on him at once... before it let out a distorted roar... It wasn't the sound of a machine, but the scream of metal, full of pain and madness!
"GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
The iron beast lifted the wrecked vehicle above its head... preparing to throw it at Owen... a full-scale opening to the battle!
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