Chapter 567: Phenomenon Under the Night Sky

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Duncan rubbed his forehead, feeling a dull ache as he placed the key on the table. His mind was overwhelmed with memories from his recent visit to the mysterious “Alice Mansion.” He was particularly haunted by his encounter in the garden with an entity claiming to be an ancient deity. This being had imparted cryptic messages that left him pondering, and he couldn’t shake the image of a mysterious object that seemed to materialize next to an empty void within the mansion’s walls.

As he stood there deep in thought, Alice noticed his return. Lifting the hem of her shirt slightly, she turned her head toward him with a curious look and cheerfully inquired, “Captain, you’re back! Did you find the answers you were searching for?”

Duncan let out a soft sigh. “I gathered more information, but it has led to even more questions.” Seeing Alice’s perpetually upbeat expression, he briefly pushed aside the overwhelming thoughts and managed to smile. “However, I’ve made significant progress. I have a new immediate goal in mind.”

“A new goal?” Alice cocked her head, slightly confused.

Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, Duncan declared, “Our next step is to capture some members of the Cult of Annihilation.”

Many questions still weighed heavily on Duncan’s mind. Why had random items from his bachelor apartment ended up in Alice’s Mansion? Why had these items morphed into shadow-like figures, visible only to the mansion’s servants? What had become of the mansion’s missing gardener? And who were the mysterious entities known as the “Cleaners”? Although these questions seemed impossible to resolve at the moment, Duncan felt that pursuing another lead offered by the entity he referred to as the “Nether Lord” was worth a try.

Concerning other mysterious topics like the status of Vision 001, the cryptic sounds he’d heard, ancient kings, the Great Annihilation, and the truths of endless dark nights, it was clear that the ancient deity knew much. This deity seemed willing to share this privileged knowledge with Duncan, whom it called a “Usurper of Fire.”

Duncan concluded that for now, his primary focus should be on establishing a connection with the abyss, as the Nether Lord had suggested. The first step toward this goal? Capturing some followers of the Cult of Annihilation.

Yet every time Duncan pondered this newfound directive, he couldn’t help but feel an odd sense of disquiet gnawing at the edges of his thoughts.

Alice, however, didn’t dwell on the complexities. She was simply ecstatic that Duncan had formulated a new plan. Her face beamed with anticipation, though she didn’t completely understand the reason behind the mission. “That’s wonderful! When do we start this capture, and where should we go to accomplish it?”

“Cultists aren’t like jellyfish you can just sweep up from the sea,” Duncan said, rubbing his aching forehead once more. “We’ll rest today, and tomorrow, I’ll discuss the specifics with Vanna and Morris.”

Alice nodded in agreement, but another question immediately sprang to mind. “What’s a jellyfish?”

“It’s a marine creature,” Duncan replied, his face twitching awkwardly as he sought the right words. “They’re mostly found in the ocean and are semi-transparent. Some species are poisonous, while others can be eaten.”

“Eatable?” Duncan had mentioned jellyfish being edible as an offhand comment, but Alice’s eyes sparkled immediately. “Is it delicious?”

Duncan made a puzzled expression, clearly caught off guard by her enthusiasm. “Why are you so interested? You don’t even possess a digestive system to consume food.”

“I could prepare it for you to eat!” Alice exclaimed, her face glowing with excitement. “Captain, when we find some free time in the future, let’s go catch some jellyfish!”

The conversation had taken a surreal turn, and Duncan struggled to maintain a straight face. He quickly waved his hand to dismiss the odd topic. “Okay, okay, I promise. When we get the opportunity, we’ll catch some to eat,” he assured her.

Content and cheerful, Alice took her leave.

Duncan let out a light sigh and shook his head in mild resignation. He then walked over to the window to take in the view.

Night had already fallen. Vision 001, a puzzling celestial object, had dipped below the ocean’s horizon hours ago, its influence vanishing from the world. The “rift of the World’s Creation” now manifested in the sky, casting a chilly, almost sentient scrutiny over the entire cityscape.

Despite the night, a form of “sunlight” still illuminated the sky. This light originated from “luminous geometric bodies” floating on the ocean surface near the city-state. The glow from these bodies was partly blocked by the city’s buildings, breaking up into scattered beams of light that swept across the sky over the urban center. These beams of light carved out a surreal, almost alien landscape that resembled the twilight sky dissected by curtain blinds.

In this fragmented lighting, the rift of the World’s Creation appeared intermittently, as if sliced into segments by the rays. It was no longer a cohesive arc that spanned the sky from one end to the other. Whenever these beams of light crossed its path, the rift became momentarily invisible, only to reveal itself in sections untouched by the light—like jagged, pale crevices in the darkness.

A thought suddenly crossed Duncan’s mind, pulling his brows together in a frown. He had overlooked an important detail and now began to scrutinize the unusual phenomenon in the sky with renewed curiosity.

The luminous geometric bodies floating on the ocean surface had a limited range of illumination. Scholars from the academies of Harbor had already determined their reach, which extended only over the city-state and a portion of the nearby waters. There was no way their light could reach as far up as the sky to impact the rift of the World’s Creation.

What he observed was puzzling: in areas where these fragmented “sunbeams” traversed the sky, the rift disappeared.

Could it be that the light wasn’t actually affecting the rift directly but instead was altering the perception of those observing it from the ground?

This led him to ponder the true role of Vision 001—referred to commonly as the Sun. Was its function not to suppress or contain the rift of the World’s Creation but rather to render it “unobservable” to sentient beings, perhaps by overlaying or filtering it out through some unknown mechanism?

It was a revelation that added another layer of complexity to the ever-growing list of enigmas he sought to unravel.

For a fleeting moment, Duncan felt as though he had stumbled upon a vital clue concerning Vision 001—the Sun, as it was commonly referred to. It was as if he had pulled a thread in the fabric of a complex tapestry, unveiling a crucial mechanism behind its mysterious functions.

But just as he was about to plunge deeper into this intriguing revelation, a flicker of something bizarre in the corner of his eye yanked him out of his contemplation. He immediately sensed that something was terribly amiss.

Compelled to investigate, Duncan strode briskly to the window and pushed it open to focus on a specific direction. He looked out onto a street that intersected with Crown Street. His memory of this locale was vivid; he remembered the array of rooftops, the heights of various buildings, and a particularly distinctive spire that rose conspicuously amid the concrete jungle.

However, what greeted his eyes now was completely outlandish. The streetscape had been overtaken by an impenetrable forest bathed in twilight. Towering trees had inexplicably erupted through the asphalt and the concrete foundations, transforming familiar buildings and that signature spire into ancient-looking groves. The metamorphosis was even more jarring due to the extensive, vine-like structures that had unfurled from this new forest, with some tendrils creeping into Crown Street itself.

Caught between the eerie lighting from the fragmented “sunlight” and the “rift of the World’s Creation,” these dark, rapidly-growing vines seemed to be sprouting along the streets, wrapping around buildings and scaling walls and lampposts as if possessed. They appeared like nightmarish tentacles breaching the boundaries of reality, spreading their influence incrementally.

Blinking to confirm he wasn’t hallucinating, Duncan found the visual “anomaly” persisted. If anything, under the strange duality of sunlight and rift, the vines appeared even more palpable than before.

Despite the extraordinary transformations happening, the city was shrouded in an unsettling silence. Whether it was the distant areas or those buildings already entangled by the malevolent vines, not a peep could be heard. It was as if the city was under a spell, entranced in some kind of collective, eerie hibernation.

Glancing around, Duncan noticed lights still on in several nearby homes, suggesting people had been awake and active just moments ago. It was perplexing that no one seemed aware of the grotesque transformation taking place outside their windows.

Snapping his gaze away from the unnatural tableau, Duncan pivoted and headed briskly for the door. But before his hand could reach the knob, hurried footsteps echoed down the hallway and the door was thrust open.

Alice, who had left only a short while earlier, burst back into the room. Her face was flushed, eyes wide in apparent panic. “Captain… Captain! Have you seen what’s happening outside—”

“I’ve seen it,” Duncan interrupted, steadying the agitated automaton with his words. “This could be some kind of grand-scale illusion or even a shift into an alternate reality. But it hasn’t touched our residence yet. Calm yourself, Alice. Gather everyone in the house. We need to make sense of this situation.”

Upon hearing Duncan’s directives, Alice seemed to find some semblance of calm. She nodded her head vigorously and blurted out, “Oh… yes, Captain! I’ll go find the others right away!”

With that, Alice turned and scampered down the hall, her feet clattering against the floor as she disappeared from sight. Duncan glanced one more time at the bewildering landscape that had overtaken the streets, bracing himself for the enigma that now demanded to be unraveled.

The eerie “forest” that had inexplicably materialized in the heart of the neighborhood remained intact, its lush and verdant foliage casting dark silhouettes against the night sky. It was as if the very shadows had merged, taking on corporeal form to create this densely packed thicket. Interestingly, the vines—those insidious tendrils that had branched out in all directions—seemed to have halted their menacing crawl. A multitude of these vine-like extensions, ranging from thin wisps to robust ropes, had come to a standstill at the very boundaries of Crown Street, almost as if respecting some unseen border.

But this observation only pertained to what Duncan could see from his limited vantage point. The unnerving fact remained that he could not know the extent of this anomaly or if other parts of the city had been similarly transformed into grotesque landscapes.

Just as he began to grapple with the wider implications, the familiar sound of hurried footsteps echoed in the hallway outside his room. Alice’s voice, tinged with an unmistakable note of urgent concern, reached him: “Captain, Captain, Captain! The… the others are all missing!”

For the first time, Duncan felt genuine surprise that shook him out of his analytical mode. “The others are missing?”

“Yes, vanished without a trace!” Alice quickly sprinted into the room, her nod so vigorous it seemed she might detach her own head. She cupped her hands around her face in a dramatic gesture of concern. “I just went to check on Nina and Shirley’s rooms; both are empty. Miss Lucretia is also nowhere to be found. I knocked on several other rooms, and there was no answer. The clockwork servants are in the living room, standing completely still, like statues. It’s downright creepy!”

A sense of foreboding tightened around Duncan’s heart. His eyes narrowed and his face adopted a grave expression. However, before diving into further action, he took a moment to soothe Alice, whose mechanical nerves seemed frazzled by the escalating weirdness. He then closed his eyes for a moment, extending his senses to search for the unique “markers” he had placed on individuals in his circle, like Vanna and Morris. These markers served as a sort of psychic radar, allowing him to gauge their status and approximate locations.

The markers still existed, but something was awry; their status readings were garbled and unknowable, as if distorted by some external force.

“We need to go downstairs and conduct a thorough search,” Duncan finally opened his eyes and gestured toward a small cabinet next to him. From atop the cabinet, the tiny creature named Ai, who had been taking a nap, fluttered her wings and landed gently on Duncan’s shoulder. “Alice, stay close to me; whatever happens, do not stray.”

Alice, her doll frame almost trembling with anxious energy, nodded emphatically. “Alright… alright, Captain!”

And so, armed with a resolve as thick as the inexplicable forest outside, Duncan led Alice down the staircase and into the depths of the house that now seemed more like a vessel sailing on uncharted waters. With every step they took, the air seemed to grow thicker with the weight of uncertainty and impending revelations.

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