The God-Forsaken Land — late at night, when the frequency of lightning had fallen very low.
«Two slices of white bread with a portion of roast meat between, the taste is not bad at all… that sweet-and-sour drink, a speciality of the Sea of Fog, is better than I expected…» Once Klein had swallowed his last mouthful, he praised the meal from his heart, and tossed the remaining wrappers into the dark depths around him; in any case there was here no notion of environmental protection, and no rubbish bin.
Of course, he had taken care beforehand to sever the bond between such things and himself — just as now, whenever he discarded a secret puppet, he would visit «Origin Fortress» to «sterilise» it, lest
«Mm, inanimate objects are not turned into a hidden state by the darkness of this place…» Klein raised the hurricane lamp Daniz had sacrificed to him and shone its light upon the items just cast aside.
Having dealt with hunger and thirst, only then did he have the heart to try certain things whose level of danger he had already divined.
Within the swaying of dim yellow light, Klein's right hand shot forward and dragged, out of the air, another self.
That was his projection within the chinks of history — also holding a hurricane lamp.
The next second, Klein passed into the grey-white mist and let his consciousness 'awaken' within the projection that he himself had summoned.
Surrounded by troops upon troops of monsters and wrapped in endless darkness, that projection opened its mouth, intending to pronounce the name Amanesis: «…»
He could utter no sound at all; the thing he wished to say seemed to have been «hidden» away.
«As I had supposed, just so.» Klein, wearing a half-tall silk top hat and a black knee-length overcoat, slowly let out a breath.
Glancing at the hurricane lamp that gave off its dim, yellow glow, he suddenly intoned, in low tones, in the
Hardly had his voice died away when above a hundred bolts of lightning, as if answering the summons, came writhing and twisting down together, in an instant covering the area.
Klein had no time to dodge; even after swapping places with his secret puppet, he was still within the strike's range.
In a great silver-white blaze, he fell at once to the ground, his body all blackened and convulsing violently, looking like an enormous lump of coal.
Then his figure crumbled rapidly, vanishing like a mirage.
Klein — with a real top hat upon his head, in an Intis-style overcoat, holding a plain hurricane lamp — at once «returned» to reality, and walked on as though nothing had happened.
After a short while his form suddenly blurred and then sharpened again.
Then Klein once more opened his mouth and uttered, in the Giant tongue, another name: «Au…»
He had scarcely sounded the opening syllable when transparent flames burst from within him; in an instant he was burned to ash, with not even a chance to swap places with the secret puppet.
Klein's figure rose anew; he adjusted his top hat and, with a perfectly unflustered expression, walked on across the hill, dotted with weird plants.
«Herabogen.»
……
«Badhair.»
……
«Oumibela.»
……
«All quite unremarkable; no corresponding divine residue lingers about the area around Silver City…
«
He sometimes detoured, sometimes used «Flame Jump»; he did not follow exactly the route that had been mapped out from Silver City.
……
Audrey, sensing her potion had digested a little more, very actively made use of «Dream Travelling» to leave her family's residence and enter the various dreams of the area around her.
Knowing how matters stood at present, she had a strong yearning to become a demigod.
While thus «travelling», she suddenly caught sight of an acquaintance.
She was a noblewoman with whom Audrey was on good terms — twenty-nine years old, married the year before last to a viscount.
At this moment rose petals were drifting one after another within the lady's chamber; the bed was snow-white, upon it lay a pair of heart-shaped rings; and from the window there came a tap-tap of knocking.
Cheeks flushed, the lady made her way at brisk pace to the window and opened it.
A man wearing a black iron mask and a dark cloak sprang in, embraced the lady, and said in low tones: «I shall carry you away from your sorrow.»
Then the two began their entanglement in many a form, rolling all the way onto the bed.
As a «Dream Walker» striving to digest her potion, Audrey had long since witnessed the like of such scenes; she had passed the bashful stage and had remarked to herself, on more than one occasion, how rich, how full of imagination each person's dreams were. At this moment she did not so much as falter; she preserved the manners proper to an «Audience», as if witnessing a somewhat excessive piece of drama.
Examining a little, she perceived a problem: the man in the black iron mask was not the lady's spouse, but seemed rather to be a young lord from the noble circles.