Under the dim orange glow of the firelight, Alex focused inward. His only thought was the Fragment Recall.
The cabin and the world outside did not make it easy. It was quiet, and that was the problem. His concentration kept breaking at the soft creak of the cabin walls as the wind shifted beyond them.
After a while, Alex managed to hold his focus. The world fell away, and Alex found himself standing on a floor of pure black glass.
To his left, a silent, massive river cut through the void, splitting into endless smaller streams that fractured further into countless glowing threads. To his right, a slow swirl of light pulsed and drifted, like distant galaxies, each one a world beyond worlds.
“The Veil between worlds,” Alex said, not with his mouth, but from everywhere at once.
“Morpheus,” he called.
The answer did not come as a voice, rather a shimmering screen unfolded before him.
------------------------------ MORPHEUS --------------------------
Lucidity : 48% ▼
Realm Alignment : (Lucid Realm) ▼
Lucidity Tier : Tier 1 (Lucid Dreamer) ▼
Tier Level : Lv 2 (Lucent Bound) ▼
Dream Resonance : 205/300 ▼
Dream Trial : The Crying Spire (1/3) ▼
Fragment Recall : 2 ▼
Anchor : Those You Long For are within reach, yet worlds lie between you. ▼
Hidden Insights : Some knowledge resists observation ▼
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alex’s gaze swept the screen and paused on the Tier Level. Noticing detailing he had not seen before, he expanded it with a thought.
[ Tier Level: Lv 2 (Lucent Bound) ]
[ Description: Lucidity persists under strain. Clarity is maintained through intent, not chance. Tether your focus, and the realms of dreams will reveal themselves. ]
“Lucent Bound, huh…” Alex murmured. He frowned, then sighed. “Does everything have to be cryptic?”
The screen offered no answer.
“Forget I asked,” he muttered, moving on.
His eyes lingered briefly on Dream Resonance, noting the number, before shifting to the Dream Trial.
He sighed and moved on. Dream Trial: The Crying Spire (1/3). No info on what the "1/3" actually meant, though he assumed it counted the destroyed root.
Annoyed, he continued. His attention caught an unfamiliar text near the edge of the screen.
Hidden Insights.
He read the subtext slowly. “Some knowledge resists observation.”
Alex hesitated. His finger hovered before he realized he had raised his hand at all. “Here goes nothing.”
He tapped it. The screen shimmered brighter. Its runic blue deepened into something darker.
HIDDEN INSIGHTS----------------------------------------
Dream Nexus: The Corrupted Glade▼
-------------------------------------------------------------------
“Wait. What?” Alex stared. After a moment, he tapped it again. The screen rippled like water, then settled.
“Lucent Bound,” Alex whispered. A quiet understanding stirred in him, unspoken but certain. His rise to Level Two was the reason this had appeared.
“All right then.”
He expanded the entry.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
[Dream Nexus: The Corrupted Glade]
[Description:The Corrupted Glade is a wound. It was once a stable dream-ground, anchored by repetition, meaning, and passage.]
Alex clenched his jaw. “Do you talk like this on purpose?” he asked, frustration leaking through. “Can you just be straightforward?”
The screen did not respond.
After several seconds of staring, as if willing the words to change, he dismissed the screen. Darkness returned, broken only by glowing threads and distant galaxies.
Given everything he had seen, learning more about the Dream Trial seemed logical. Maybe even the Anchor. But the Dream Nexus felt urgent in a way the others did not. after all, it was the only one under hidden insights.
Besides, Alex remembered what it had felt like before, stumbling into a Dream Nexus without knowing what it was. Ignorance had nearly killed him then. With Dire Consequences looming, the risk felt heavier now.
He did not want to die. Especially not in his sleep.
Decision made, Alex summoned the screen again. This time, only one section appeared.
[Fragment Recall: 2]
[Description: A finite resource. Spend a Fragment to ask Morpheus a question about a person, place, or event tied to the current dreamscape.]
[Notice: Use wisely. Fragments are the currency of meaning. Once spent, they are gone until earned anew.]
“Huh… only that appeared” Alex paused. Then realization clicked. “Intent,” he said quietly. “That is why.”
As the thought settled, a voice echoed through the Veil. Ancient and Familiar.
“Your Focus Binds The Way”
[Dream Resonance: +12]
Alex blinked, then let out a quiet laugh. “All right,” he said. “Let’s begin.” He focused on the Fragment Recall.
Nothing happened.
He reached out and tapped the shimmering text. Silence.
“…Seriously?” Alex muttered. Irritation threaded through the tension. Maybe it wasn’t a button. Maybe it never was. Morpheus hadn’t been literal about anything so far.
“Alright,” Alex said quietly, eyes narrowing. “Let’s try this your way.” He closed his eyes and spoke, not aloud, but through exerting his thoughts, imagining it, willing it.
“I want to recall.”
The space deepened instantly. The black glass beneath his feet darkened, swallowing light as a massive black orb formed around him, pulling him inward.
Inside it was pitch black. The Veil beyond was distant, its threads and galaxies barely visible. Here, there was nothing.
Alex swallowed.
Then the voice returned, woven through the darkness itself.
“You Pull Upon What Remains”
Alex stiffened. “Uh… Okay,” and then carefully, slowly, he began. “Morpheus... Explain more on the dream nexus?.”
The orb vibrated. A jagged red screen tore into existence.
FRAGMENT RECALL ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dream Nexus:
A convergence where dreaming paths fracture and bleed into one another. Here, intent carries weight, and those who enter unbound risk becoming echoes within the Nexus itself
The Corrupted Glade:
A wound. Once a stable dream-ground, anchored by repetition, meaning, and passage. Travelers passed through it. Dreamers hunted there.
Then it was overused.
Too many crossings. Too many awakenings without resolution. Too many wills imprinting themselves and leaving. The Glade did not break. It accumulated. Memory layered upon memory. Intent bled into soil. Fear learned how to grow roots.
And now, the gloom is here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The words settled into Alex like damp ash.
It wasn't evil. Not cursed. Just… exhausted. Used. Worn thin by too many people passing through without finishing what they started. The idea gnawed at him in a way blades and monsters never had. This wasn’t a place that hated dreamers. It was a place that remembered them too well.
Alex felt a tightness in his chest, an uncomfortable recognition. How many times had he pushed forward without understanding? Without closure? Without stopping to ask what he was leaving behind?
“So it’s not hunting us,” he murmured, more to himself than to Morpheus. “It’s… responding.”
The darkness around him thinned slightly, like breath returning after being held too long. The massive black orb receded, dissolving back into the familiar expanse of the Veil. The glowing threads and distant galaxies reasserted themselves, steady and indifferent.
Then the pull came.
Alex opened his eyes. The fire had burned low. The cabin lay in silence. Outside, the forest was quieter still.
Though the Veil was gone, one thought remained, anchored tighter than fear.
If the Glade remembered those who passed through it, then he would make sure it remembered him for finishing what he began.
