Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1775 - 1774: Dreams and the Saturday Meeting
Saturday noon, No. 6, Saint Delan Square.
Dorothy, humming an unknown tune and wearing an apron, happily brought the platter of stewed beef to the table. Meanwhile, the house’s owner and the pet cat were both leaning their heads on the table, looking at the glass jar brought by Miss Writer.
Shard was leaning over, while Mia was sprawled entirely on the table. Inside the small cylindrical glass jar were three crawling spiders.
These were Dorothy’s spellcasting materials, as she was attempting to learn a new arcane technique, "Spider Walk Spell", using the traditional story "Spider Walker" as a blueprint. This arcane technique allows spellcasters to walk on any surface. Although not very strong in effect, it is essential to Dorothy’s series of arcane technique concepts.
After lunch, she was going to kill the spiders and make them into a magic potion. So although the spiders couldn’t eat lunch, this could be considered their final meal.
"Speaking of which, since you don’t have spiders, geckos, or mice at home, should I leave these spiders here?"
The golden-haired girl joked, and Shard shook his head:
"No need, the situation at home is very good now. Besides myself and Mia, the flowers that Luviya is growing on the windowsill are thriving as well."
That’s the effect of "Power of the Earth: Abundant Field".
As he spoke, he swatted Mia’s curious paw reaching for the glass jar. This cat sometimes has too much curiosity, especially towards small moving things.
"Now, let’s continue our earlier topic. You said you had a weird dream last night?"
Returning to the kitchen, Dorothy asked.
Shard hesitated:
"It’s not that strange. I’ve had nightmares in the past few days. When Luviya interpreted the dreams, she said things that could be used to analyze last night’s dream."
In the dream last night, he only remembered white hands like meat snakes grabbing him and pulling him in all directions. The dream was magnificent, bizarre, and hazy but also enchanting. If it weren’t for last night’s experience, he would seriously suspect that his recent series of dreams were all messed with by "Desire".
[They’re not.]
"I know they’re not. Please don’t insult me."
Saying that, he glanced at the oil painting hanging in the living room, while Dorothy, carrying vegetable soup back, asked with a smile:
"Luviya can interpret dreams? It’s my first time hearing this. By the looks of you, was last night’s dream influenced by yesterday’s events? But yesterday was Friday, I heard from Lecia you went to Galina’s banquet. What did you experience?"
Despite feeling rather embarrassed, since Dorothy asked, Shard beckoned the apron-wearing girl and briefly explained the situation. This was also to inform her and Lecia about what true integration of "Duality" meant, Megan and Audrey were a unit even before they were born, a special innate existence, whereas Lecia and Dorothy obviously were postnatal.
But clearly, Dorothy’s focus wasn’t on the current state of the "Duality" witches. Her face reddened, shocked as she listened to Shard’s ordeal:
"It can be like this? I originally thought that the Red Butterfly Day between Lecia and me was already..."
"That shouldn’t be the focus."
"Shard, please make sure to let me and Lecia meet this witch!"
"Wait until the Green Lake incident is over... What are you planning?"
Dorothy smiled without speaking, lowering her head to kiss Shard’s forehead:
"Are you recently doubting our feelings for you?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Your dream indicates that you’re truly uneasy. In the past, despite experiencing so many things, were your dreams as frequent as they are now?"
Today is a somewhat leisurely Saturday. After lunch, Shard hugged Mia and went with Miss Writer to attend the meeting at Dr. Schneider’s place.
Currently at the beginning of Rain-Prayer Moon, it’s the best season of the year. On Saturday afternoons, everyone appears somewhat lazy, casually chatting about recent events, spending the whole afternoon together.
This group’s meeting did not have many fresh topics. Mia’s drowsiness seemed to have infected everyone, as apart from the doctor hosting the meeting, including Shard, everyone took a short nap in between, but the doctor did not mind.
The most important topic of this meeting was the announcement from the Academy he conveyed to the group members:
"After Wednesday’s Night of the Eclipse, the spatial stability of the material world has been affected to a certain degree. With Green Lake Region as the center, space instability events have surged. Therefore, the Academy hopes the correspondence circle mages can report the abnormal space phenomena in their areas. It would be better to solve it ourselves, if not, the Academy can contact the church to handle it."
He held a long roll of parchment in his right hand, resting his left on the sofa armrest, supporting his face:
"The spatial anomalies currently recorded by the Academy include: random teleportation — careless wandering may end up thousands of miles away, so we must pay attention to the number of missing people in the area; spatial fragmentation zones — entering them results in the body shattering into pieces, even dangerous for circle sorcerers, luckily our spirit is sufficiently perceptive to capture danger signals; spatial disarray zones — similar to urban legends of ’endless alleys’ or ’recursive streets’, but such things should be discovered promptly by the church."
"Just yesterday there was such an incident in Tobesk Northern Area."
Priest Augustus suddenly spoke, waking up Luviya, who was nodding off incessantly:
"Tobesk? We haven’t heard anything."
Though she took a little nap, it seems she didn’t miss anything important.
"I learned about it by overhearing idle chatter in the church. The area isn’t large, it just trapped a newsboy and a beggar."
The priest added, yawning as well. With this temperature and the sunshine outside, it was perfect for a nap.
"Doctor, please continue. Are there any other phenomena that have been collected?"
Dorothy asked with great interest.
"Yes, there are."
The doctor continued to look at the parchment in his hand:
"The next one is quite rare, a solidified spatial rift, meaning a rift that connects two different locations. But this only appeared once, on the Carsonrick side, unrelated to us. The most dangerous is the weak space areas, where some ancient sealed evil objects or beings from outside space might break into the material world. This is the main issue the Academy wants us to pay attention to."
The others noted down this information, and the doctor especially addressed Shard:
"The Academy warns all students with spatial powers to avoid frequent space-crossing spellcasting to prevent danger. For a period of time, the spatial order of the material world will remain chaotic and fragile. You must be careful."
Shard nodded while petting the sleeping Mia:
"I understand."
He was well aware that if the situation continued to evolve, it would eventually become like the Bygone Era: Sixth Era apocalypse, where the entire world’s time and space order collapsed. But it was too early to think about such things now. He only felt that the cat lying on his lap was getting hot, as the sun through the window shone directly on Mia’s back, which made Shard a bit worried that Mia might get "roasted".
He tried to pick up the cat, who became softer once sleepy, but Mia immediately resisted.
This week, Shard submitted a reading report and his Magic Potion class work, "Universal Antidote," a potion that neutralized most common plant poisons, to the Academy. While busy with the Green Lake investigation, he didn’t neglect his studies. Priest Augustus borrowed a book from the Academy Library, while Luviya submitted her stargazing records.
Before the meeting ended that afternoon, Priest Augustus gave Luviya a small bag of coins he had collected for her. In return, Luviya would later divine some matters for him. As for after the meeting, unlike last time, Shard, instead of leaving with Dorothy, waited until everyone else had left. He sat opposite the doctor who walked in through the door and said:
"It’s confirmed, Maze Demon - Yaruu. On Wednesday night during the Night of the Eclipse, I saw it."
The doctor wasn’t too surprised. After listening to Shard’s account of the encounter with the Demon alongside the Miss Apothecary, he agreed there was no issue:
"That’s it. The creature is very cautious and won’t easily reveal its true form. Shard, do you have a way to lure it out again?"
Shard nodded:
"Yes. By entering a dream of specific people, a door can be accessed, and the evil spirit demon will definitely appear again. It claimed it would, but it will likely appear as an illusion, not in its true form."
"That’s fine, that’s fine."
The doctor smiled and shook his head:
"As long as it projects its power here, I’ll be able to catch its tail. This creature isn’t strong, at least no stronger than the mirror in Randall Valley, just very adept at hiding. And you mentioned it’s in a dream? That makes it easier; I have fewer constraints in a dream."
Shard also found this more convenient:
"Doctor, when do you plan to set off?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
"Next Monday, I need to make some specific preparations. You don’t need to see me off. I’ll leave quietly, trying not to attract others’ attention. I checked the train schedule; it takes a day and a half to get to Green Lake. We’ll meet on Tuesday or Wednesday."
He shook his head, seemingly looking forward to it.
"But I must say in advance, the situation at Green Lake is quite complicated right now."
Shard warned.
"I know, I’ll follow your arrangements when I get there."
The doctor had no objections:
"I don’t know how long I can stay at Green Lake, but I’m sure I can help you. Last time you mentioned that evil spirit demon was working for a Thirteen Rings diviner? That’s dangerous, but not enough to deter me."
"Alright, I’ll prepare a room for you in advance. It’s called the Green Lake Hotel, the best hotel on the North Shore, and the owners are my friends. The living conditions are quite nice."
Shard said with a smile, and the doctor nodded, then looked out at the good weather:
"I hope this short trip goes well. The Maze Demon - Yaruu’s power is different from all the powers I currently hold. Once I’ve consumed it... the Eight Rings aren’t far away."
