After helping Benjamin to his feet, Annan could clearly feel that Benjamin had become much more silent.
Or perhaps, had he become much calmer?
Picking up the lamp, Benjamin continued to lead Annan forward. But he did not strike up another conversation, focusing only on finding the way.
...Had Benjamin discovered something?
Initially, he never stopped talking to Evelyn...
From Annan’s perspective, the topics the boy chose were incredibly awkward — he talked enthusiastically about the fortresses of the Dead Alliance, much like chatting with an art student girlfriend about new military equipment for an entire afternoon...
Annan wondered how the real Evelyn would have responded.
Would she just keep smiling and listen quietly?
Benjamin let out a puzzled sound, "Why is this door open..."
He remembered that the last time he was here, this place was closed...?
Annan’s heart tightened slightly as he softly inquired, "What is this place?"
He had already noticed that the location ahead was his initial "birthplace," the "prison."
"I remember this... the teacher spoke about it."
Benjamin furrowed his brows, trying to recall, "This seems to be... where they kept the corpses."
Annan was taken aback.
Benjamin hummed affirmatively, asking with some concern, "Are you scared? If you’re scared, we won’t look."
"...Are there still corpses inside?"
Benjamin answered, "The Silver Baron church has already cleaned it up once."
"Then... I want to have a look."
Annan spoke in a very soft voice.
Benjamin was silent for a moment, gripping Annan’s hand a bit tighter.
The young Benjamin replied briefly.
He took Annan into the "prison," lifting the green fire lantern in his hand.
Only then did Annan finally get a clear view of the environment inside the "prison" —
It was a public space, similar to a communal bathhouse, much larger than what Annan had initially imagined.
In the cruciform room, the center was a low wall that had once been full of inscriptions, now violently scratched out with a sword. The low wall was just over a meter high, reaching halfway up the room.
Around the central low wall, at intervals of every two meters or so, hung chains with some familiar "shackles." There were about twenty or so such "chains with shackles" setups throughout the room.
The place Annan started at was just the "spot" closest to the door.
Annan asked subconsciously.
Indeed, Benjamin knew what it was.
"Do you know about the Half-Living Maidens?"
Benjamin answered in a low voice, "The priests of the Pale Princess are not alive... And although they are priests, they have no place during the Pale Tide.
"Because they are both living and dead; neither living nor dead — the Pale Tide only welcomes the dead. If they want to join the Pale Tide, they have to secure themselves here first."
As he spoke, Benjamin instinctively walked towards the shackle closest to the door, right next to the one that had restrained Evelyn’s wrists in the dream.
Pointing at this shackle, he explained to Annan — or perhaps to "Evelyn," very carefully yet somewhat distractedly, "They would shackle their necks or wrists here, then release their souls — the teacher said that the Half-Living Maidens could send their souls out of their bodies. But if they leave their bodies for too long, they can’t return... They’re no longer the Half-Living Maidens, but homeless specters."
"And you see... there are tiny blades here. If this iron hoop bears heavy pressure over time, the blades will gradually protrude, inflicting more and more intense pain."
"When the Half-Dead Girls feel the increasing agony in their bodies, they won’t linger in the Tide of the Pale and will return to their bodies promptly. The body is the home of the soul."
"...It’s like a clock, then?"
He knew that in this era, there were clocks capable of being set to a specific time.
Benjamin nodded, "Yes, it’s that kind of timing device... the one I showed you! It doesn’t run like a standard pocket watch, but it can time precisely. After being activated and released, it will count backward, and when it reaches zero o’clock, it will ring with a ’ding’—it’s said that transforming wizards all have these things to ensure experiments... ah, sorry."
Realizing he had gone off-topic again, Benjamin abruptly stopped speaking.
But Annan had already received very critical information—
For the Half-Dead Girls, the body is... the home of the soul?
He immediately thought of the main mission in the dreamworld.
In that instant, Annan’s pupils contracted slightly.
—In the dream world, Annan would hear reversed songs from the lake’s reflection.
—After each death, he would return from the dream to reality.
—The mission required "Evelyn" to keep her limbs intact in the dream.
—To complete the sacrificial task, paradoxically, it had to be done in reality.
The Pale Princess is also known as the Unfettered Girl, and her priests—the Half-Dead Girls—are not allowed to fall in love with anyone.
That includes themselves.
...Naturally, that includes Benjamin too.
Annan glanced at Benjamin subconsciously.
He probably understood.
"Evelyn" might have been dead for a while, and that so-called dream... must be the true essence of the church that the soul of Half-Dead Girls sees when leaving the body.
Ordinary people who glimpse the Tide of the Pale just once and run back inside will fall severely ill immediately, not to mention Evelyn, who was captivated enough to watch the entire dance of the Pale Princess up close.
She had probably died then and there.
But clearly, the Pale Princess was interested in her pure soul.
Just as the Silver Baron could animate the already dead "Elle" for a while longer... "Evelyn" might be the Pale Princess’s "Elle". The Evelyn of now was already half a Half-Dead Girl. That’s why she could hear the voices of specters, why she would faint from time to time, and enter another world in her dreams...
For Evelyn, these belonged to "premonitory dreams."
But she was not seeing the future; she was entering the "True Pale Church" in her soul state!
So, her smashing open the "prison door" in the spirit world would cause the corresponding door in the real world to burst open as well.
The fallen soldier statue at the door might also have been moved violently in the dream by "David"—
Evelyn suddenly asking Benjamin to accompany her to the Pale Church was probably because the ritual to transform into a Half-Dead Girl had to be completed by Benjamin in its final step.
"Evelyn" falling into the water and tumbling down the stairs might be because she was instinctively rejecting this—she hoped Benjamin would leave.
But if Benjamin really left, she wouldn’t be able to transform into a Half-Dead Girl—she would not be able to follow the "dancer under the moon" and would die completely after returning home.
This is why the task Annan received in reality was "not to go home"!
Because if she gave up on the sacrificial ritual, she would lose the Pale Princess’s favor and turn into a corpse.
This might have been Evelyn’s original outcome.
If she truly loved Benjamin, with her pure heart that caught the attention of the Pale Princess, she surely wouldn’t want Benjamin to personally behead her.
So, the main mission Annan received actually referred to "the next main mission."
He would have to go through several more "dream worlds" before he could obtain the final mission to leave the nightmare—the "real" main mission!
...With that said, there’s only one question left.
—Whose nightmare is this, exactly?