Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

It was as if the music full of nostalgia entered into the afterplay—quietly, the figures of the two teenagers who fell on the ground behind them disappeared from the field of vision, and the scenery of the town gradually moved away. I also discovered that we were heading away from the town.

I shifted my gaze, and Elus was quietly walking forward, but her eyes were looking at her feet in a daze. I thought about it, and still asked with concern:

"Although it feels like you should be left alone for a while. But you also know... now is not the time to allow me to leave you alone."

The dazed Elus seemed to tremble because of my voice suddenly coming from beside her, and then her eyes shifted to me. Looking at the pupils that reflected the light, I didn't know how to continue for a while, and my voice couldn't help but become a lot quieter.

"So... well, anyway, I still have an obligation to ask you which direction you are going now."

She flickered her eyes thinking about my words, then lowered her eyes again. The little hand holding the crutch tightly seemed to be seeking comfort, but was at a loss as to what to do because all the feedback was cold touch.

"There... in that town, I couldn't settle down to find the Dream Palace..." Elus said cautiously, took a deep breath, and the white mist that she exhaled slowly spread towards the sky. His eyes also floated into the air, "Only by staying away from there... I can think about the problem calmly, probably."

Something must have happened in that town. I can say that. It is by no means meaningless that Elus would ask me such inexplicable questions. My answer must have touched a fragile part of her heart, and she just started sobbing.

"Is that so..."

While thinking about Elus' abnormality, I replied to her pretending to be calm. I looked to both sides - without realizing it, we had already walked out of the magic town, but the road continued towards the unknown front. Both sides of the path are empty and desolate, as if facing a vast expanse of blue sky. But in a blink of an eye, it was covered by dark clouds again, and it was really cloudy and cloudy. There are always rustling sounds in my ears, and then some unknown and strange animals pop out... so that even a red dragon passing through the air is not a rare sight.

Of course, to me, this is naturally a very unreal scene. However, Elus seems to have been living in this kind of world, the scenery in these dreams must be the scenery that she sees every day in her eyes.

I don't know how long I walked forward, but Elus didn't stop. She looked distinctly aimless. I am even more certain that she is not focused on finding the dream palace at all, so I can only speak while thinking.

"Hey... that town... in your real world, does it really exist?"

Elus suddenly stopped in her footsteps, I looked at her slender back, I couldn't help but paused, and walked a few steps forward to her.

"It's better to say that everything that appeared in this dream...is something that happened in the past, is it...is that so?"

As soon as the voice fell, everything around suddenly became unstable. Elus didn't deny my hypothesis, but she didn't seem to want to admit it. She seemed to be hesitating about how to answer, so she could only rub the staff in her hand, and her eyes were also wandering, unable to focus on the same point.

I feel a little regretful, shouldn't I ask her that. Just as I was thinking this way, the scenery behind her finally stopped swaying, and the picture in front of me froze slowly, as if a sunken ship had been salvaged after several years.

What remains in the picture at this moment is an ancient building that seems to be some kind of relic, decayed and stubbornly standing among the forests. A rather unsettling air surrounds the ruins, revealing a depressing atmosphere of "stay away from strangers".

"What's going on!? This is...?"

I put the doubts in my heart into words, and in a blink of an eye I found Elus staring behind me for some reason. I stretched out my hand and shook it in front of her, but she trembled all over. I followed her gaze a little puzzled, and turned around. Who pushed away the blue color in the jungle, and a blond-haired boy appeared in front of his eyes with a slightly innocent smile. Besides, there were two or three figures beside the boy.

"Strange..." I tapped my temple with my index finger, and my brain immediately put this figure together with the boy named Charlotte in the tavern. The image of him shaking hands with me flashed in front of my eyes, and I looked towards Elus, "Isn't he... isn't he in that tavern?"

Elus didn't answer me, and I don't know if she didn't want to answer me, or if she just didn't know how to answer. The boy walked towards me, I put aside the doubts in my heart, and instinctively greeted the boy in front of me, but the next second... Charlotte's body passed through my outstretched arm out of thin air.

The boy was smiling, and he obviously didn't see Elus beside me, and approached the ruins like no one else. Only then did I realize that he wasn't walking towards me at all, but was heading towards the ruins behind me.

I looked at Elus in confusion, and the wry smile on Elus' face made me swallow the words I was about to ask. I didn't understand the meaning of this expression, but her slightly sad eyes made my heart beat half a beat slower. In the blink of an eye again, the boy and his companions had already walked into the building, and the next moment, the scene of the jungle was torn apart by the indoor scene forcefully squeezed into the field of vision.

I blinked quickly, adapting to the instantaneously changing scene. The next thing that came into view was the candlelight that was lit one after another.

"Where is this..." I asked in a sad tone, took a step back, and looked around quickly. At the moment we are in a room full of ancient furniture. Apart from the candlelight, there was only faint moonlight coming from the exit not far away.

Through this exit, I can see the jungle I was in just now. At the same time, someone's footsteps sounded. The visitor held up a wooden stick, and a flame shot out from the palm of his hand, igniting the wooden stick, making the surroundings much brighter.

"It's Charlotte... again?" I looked at the person and sighed slightly. I suddenly realized that I and Elus had followed Charlotte and the others into the ruins, even though none of us allowed Dreamland to do so.

I turned my gaze to Elus who had been silent all this time. She was also looking at me cautiously, and when she saw me watching her, she quickly lowered her head.

"Elus... After all, you can't manipulate your dreams well, can you?"

My words undoubtedly touched something of her frailty, Elus seemed to lose her strength suddenly, and there was no trace of arrogance in her eyes.

"There is still a difference from you." Elus replied stubbornly, unconvincingly stating the difference between her situation and my newcomer's situation. I couldn't help but smile helplessly, even if I was hit, I would still be brave, which really fits Elus' character.

"Tell me, what's the difference?"

Elus didn't answer my words, but her eyes wandered to Charlotte, clearly thinking about something. Seeing Elus watching the boys and girls who broke into the ruins tenderly and sadly, I had no choice but to turn my eyes to them.

"Hey, let me tell you! Elder sister Riko said earlier that this is the place where some people witnessed the demon king's subordinates coming in and out, and this is it!" came the voice of the blond boy.

Although he was clearly talking about something dangerous, there was a strange sense of excitement in his tone.

"Hey, that waitress who wears a red nightdress all day will tell you this."

The speaker appears to be slightly older than Charlotte. She glanced at Charlotte rather lazily, then raised the wine bottle indifferently, and poured the wine into her mouth. In any case, it brings out its mature charm to the fullest.

"He's not wrong this time. According to the master, this place was really the Demon King's stronghold in the past."

The boy with the pockets had silver hair. He scanned the surroundings sharply, stretched out his hands, and slightly closed his eyes, and then, a magic circle glowing with blue light appeared in response. In the next instant, the ice surface started from the magic circle and extended all the way forward until it formed a layer of ice on a huge door a few meters away from him. At this moment, the blond boy seemed to understand his intentions, he kicked his heels, jumped forward at full speed, and kicked towards the frozen door. With the crisp cracking sound, spider web-like cracks spread, the ice door sunk inward, flashed fire, and dust flew up immediately.

"Keep your voice down, idiot, what if you get caught!" The voice came from the figure beside the drunk girl, but I couldn't see her clearly for a while.

Anything in this situation can only remind me of the plot of a magical story. However, when these things appeared in the same situation, I suddenly thought of something. While looking at the few people in front of me, I thought about it.

"Ha...so that's the case." My words caught Elus' gaze, "Because this is a dream, all this can be explained clearly."

Just a few minutes ago, in that small town, I have seen these people who appeared here.

What I witnessed was the fight between the silver-haired boy and the blond-haired boy when I was young. Thinking back carefully, the boy who melted the flames of his hands together, and the boy who drew an ice bridge in the empty sky are also these two boys in front of him.

Because this is Elus' dreamland, and the dreamland is composed of memories, so these things that happened at different time points will happen one after another before my eyes.

In order to confirm something, I slowly shifted my gaze to the girl with a blurred face in the team. Once the line of sight was focused, the girl's figure immediately became clear. Even though she pulled the black pointed hat very low so that I couldn't see her face clearly, the long crimson hair behind her and the staff that was far taller than me undoubtedly told me who she was. who.

At the same time as I came to this answer, I looked at Elus who was beside me, and she looked away, looking forward in a daze, her eyes full of bewildered sadness.

I took a deep breath, and finally said the words that had been silting up in my heart just now:

"Hey, these are all your memories, right... Elus?"

Elus's body trembled suddenly, she kept shaking her head, took a few steps back, turned around and ran out of the ruins.