Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 382: Dreamless Space

Chapter 382: Dreamless Space

The room smelled mildly of lavender, causing Alex to recall memories, both good and bad, both from Earth and Eventide, leaving him melancholic and in need of a distraction.

"You have to focus on that dream. Even if you can’t remember it completely, still try and keep your mind on what you do remember. We’ll handle the rest." Arwen explained with Elena nodding in response.

He watched as Arwen handed a small bottle of the familiar green liquid to Elena, who though nervous, was trusting enough to do as instructed, downing the green liquid in a single gulp.

Nadia was close by, her spirituality active as she prepared to act in the case of any anomalies.

Thankfully there was none and soon enough, Elena fell into a deep slumber, her expression relaxing as she fell back on the bed.

"What now?" Alex inquired as he rose to his feet.

Arwen replied. "Considering I no longer have my dream powers, we can’t directly navigate the DreamWorld as was the case last time."

"Then?"

"We’ll make use of a dream catcher and then have to experience each one as well."

"I don’t understand."

"A dream catcher helps to draw out a dream from a person’s psyche, that way, if they are having a nightmare, the source can be purged and if not, keep foreign spiritual entities out."

"So what you are trying to do is get Elena to have that dream again and then using the dreamcatcher, draw it out so we can all experience it?"

"Just you and Arwen, I’ll keep watch," Nadia replied in Arwen’s stead with Alex nodding.

"Fine then, hopefully this works. What’s the chance of success?"

"Truthfully?"

"Mn."

"40%, the problem lies not only in my inability to navigate dreams any longer but also because Elena can’t recall the specifics of that dream. Regardless, whatever she dreams about, we will experience the same."

As she spoke, Arwen took out two more vials of the same green liquid and handed it to Alex.

"Here."

Alex took it and taking a deep breath, imbibed the mucus-like substance, feeling it slide down his throat before letting out a sigh.

Closing his eyes, he leaned back in his chair and moments later, fell into a deep sleep.

***

It happened quickly.

One moment he was in Elena’s quarters and the next, he was in a dark space, floating about with no chance of deciding where to go.

Was this Elena’s mind right now or had he inadvertently entered Nyx’s realm?... It was difficult to tell and the longer Alex remained, he found it harder to hold coherent thought.

Just as it began to feel like he would lose himself to the drowsiness that threatened to overtake him forever, there was a bright light, and then... the scenery changed.

He found himself in a storage room with a single gas lamp at a corner illuminating the room barely enough to fit 10 people.

Several documents were placed on wooden shelves with words written on them that looked too blurry to read for some reason despite his best attempts to decipher their contents.

After struggling with no chance of success, Alex had no choice but to look away to assess his current situation before deciding to step out of the store room.

He pushed the door open and peered outside, quickly realizing that the storeroom was in some kind of underground tunnel.

The tunnel was lit up by more gas lamps connected to pipelines arranged intricately.

Ensuring there was no one in sight, Alex stepped out of the storage room and then after some thought, decided on heading left.

***

It soon became apparent that the tunnel he entered was one of many branching tunnels leading in various directions.

He moved with conflicting purposes as he sought to figure out the essence of the dream he was in and to also find out if Arwen had successfully made it into the dream.

Unfortunately, despite walking for more than what Alex presumed to be an hour, he hadn’t managed to resolve any of them and so was left making his way past guards and people donning strange attires that looked a lot like what plague doctors wore in the 1800’s on Earth though instead of a bird mask, it was a netmask instead.

Though he wasn’t sure what would happen should they notice his presence, Alex didn’t plan on poking the hornet’s nest.

After meandering his way through several tunnels with little success, Alex soon noticed that those donning the doctor attire all moved in a particular pattern and so, decided to follow them.

He had initially tried to eavesdrop on what they said but their words were jumbled up and didn’t appear to have much meaning, just like the documents he’d found in the store room he appeared in.

Soon, the doctors he followed arrived at their destination, making their way into an expansive hall with incredible machinery built around a building set up at a corner with a balcony.

If Alex was none the wiser, he would have thought he had made it into a secret late 1900s nuclear test site.

As his eyes scanned the area, his gaze soon fell on the spectacle at the center of the hall, and almost instantaneously, couldn’t help but feel like he could be anything he wanted to be as long as he got closer to it.

However, he managed to restrain himself and realizing he was in the open, moved to hide in a corner to observe only to notice that his preferred hiding spot was already occupied.

"It worked!" Arwen remarked excitedly, causing Alex to let out a sigh of relief.

He was worried he had ended up losing this bubbly little subordinate of his.

"How long have you been here?"

"I came in a few minutes ago."

"Do you recall anything before coming in here?... Like a dark space?"

"That is usually what is known as a Dreamless Space. Remaining there would have killed us if we had let our psyche get drawn into the drowsiness permeating the space. Luckily, Elena saved us before it was too late."

"I see," Alex muttered, unsure of how to feel considering he just nearly died.

However, he soon shrugged off those thoughts as he shifted his attention to the reason they entered this strange dream.