127 Cem-Elle In Twiligh (2/2)
...The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!!
...…And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred thousand credits!
...Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single night!!
The stone — it had transformed. What once lacked life had now seemingly been given one.
It throbbed like a beating heart made of stone and followed him wherever he went now. He quickly learned that it was impossible to get rid of it.
At first, he had left it in his bedroom but in a surprising turn of events, it had turned up downstairs in the bakery. It didn't much for Reed to figure out what it wanted so he eventually…
Picked it up.
With the greatest of ease, too. Reed almost fell over backward when he picked the stone up because he had mistakenly assumed that it'd challenge him again.
It was maddening, but if he fought it hard enough, he could break the loop and escape the spell. The stone heart would call out to him and beckon him to pick it up. It was the key that had allowed him to regain his free will, albeit until he fell asleep again…
It's strangely warm and comforting… for a stone heart. The throbbing I could do without, though. Makes it feel a little too realistic…
Whenever Reed held the stone heart close to his own chest, the stone heart would beat a little faster as if excited. And when he put it up to his ears, Reed swore he could hear it speak to him.
He heard a few coherent whispers every now and then, but most of the time it was most intelligible white noise.
Reed... was aware that he sounded a bit unhinged, but that didn't matter to him. What he needed were answers and if the stone heart could provide them, he'd gladly speak to it, even if it made him look like a madman…
It's not the townspeople give a shit what I do, anyway.
I could probably walk around the town buck naked and scream profanities at the top of my lungs and they wouldn't even bat an eyelid.
Reed was absolutely positive that the stone heart was the source of the problem.
What else has the power to create something like this other than Lu'um, myself or the stone? This little mortal town doesn't have anything crazy enough to do this…
There's no way Lu'um would ever do this and I'm powerless, so…
It's either 'his' or the stone's doing. Either way, I want OUT.
If Reed figured out what it wanted, he was sure it'd release him. Probably.
What else he did have to lose? If he didn't try, it wouldn't be long before he'd fell asleep again. The worst was he didn't know when he'd regain his free will, either.
Maybe the next loop if I'm lucky? Or perhaps a dozen loops from now? A hundred loops from now? There's no telling when it'll happen because I can barely remember anything from the previous loops…
It's all a fucking blur. I can't tell up from down. Lies from the truth.
It might as well be true.
It might as well be false.
…Does it even matter?
Time had lost its meaning in the twilight world, regardless of whether it was a dream or not. A month might have passed. Perhaps an entire decade.
Reed chuckled. I've gotten myself in a real shitshow this time. This is a special kind of evil. I'm genuinely impressed, to be honest...
His eyelids were starting to get heavier. He had struggled for the longest to keep himself awake, but he could no longer fight back against the temptation.
Reed sighed and said, \”I miss tomorrow…\”
Eventually, his body betrayed him and he closed his eyes for a second. That was all that it took for him to go down. He was gone.
It would have been a wonderful morning had it not been for Reed's sour mood. It'd cost him a very pretty penny to have the towering blossom trees that'd shot out of his roof removed.
...The refurbished hovercraft we'd bought for the trip to Mardeimus cost us a hundred and forty thousand credits for fuck's sake!!
...And that wasn't even a high-end model from this year, goddammit! We bought a mid-range older model and it still cost over a hundred thousand credits!
…Two hovercrafts worth of property damages in a single…