A month has passed. Henry was walking with a basket of mushrooms. Tiny and soft.
The caps of tree-like mushrooms blocked the sun, covered the undergrowth with darkness.
The house of a modest family was located far from the village. And only Henry, the doctor, and Henry's wife knew about him.
The peasant stopped abruptly. – Does this strange feeling still bother you? I became a father. Oh, it's been a month! Time flies fast, I can't even believe it. The days pass. Years pass. Lives light up and go out, m-yes. It's a couple of steps from a philosopher to a madman. Thirteen-fold proof of this.
Henry took a deep, deep breath of the forest air.
"When the day of my funeral comes, Supreme, I want fourteen crazy homeless people to dance on my grave! Yes, this is a strange desire, I clearly understand."
And then the man pretended to change his voice:
"Then what's gotten into you, huh? Why such extravagances?"
And again, Henry switched to a normal timbre:
"I just want to show my son that death and suffering have no meaning. Okay, stop fooling around. Let's go home! I'll cook sweet mushrooms, it will be amulet, m-m-m!"
When Henry entered the small rattan house, he immediately noticed the grin of the Doom.
"Susanna, why does our son look like a donkey who has eaten too many sweet mushrooms?"
"Dear, Romulus has been smiling all day. I don't know why. Should I call Dr. Chu?"
"This little possum definitely has something on his mind. But I'll still call a doctor to calm my nerves."
The Duum opened his mouth and uttered a single word:
"H-Henry!"
"I?!" Henry jumped.
"Romulus… Can you tell me my name? Come on. S…"
The baby's lips moved, and he dropped out a very hilarious answer:
"A mushroom!"
"Dear! Your son called me a mushroom. Why?"
Henry shrugged his shoulders.
"Now tell me, Romulus: Mo-om! Mom! Mom!"
"Mom-m! Mom!"
[A pale woman and an energetic man are happy!] The Duum yawned and fell asleep.
***
Blood. A lot of blood. It permeated the entire operating room: the walls, instruments and doctors.
A man with gray hair on his temples was watching behind the glass. His face had a dead color.
"Damn it! Use the art of Pain Deprivation and the art of Blood Restoration! We have no right to lose the Queen!" the royal doctor shouted at the assistants, "Do not lose heart! Come on! Come on!"
Doctors of various stripes surrounded the queen and worked smoothly. And the king sat and waited humbly. He was not a doctor and could only rely on the professionalism of his subjects.
An hour later, the fuss subsided. The chief Royal doctor was nervously clenching his fingers.
"Your Majesty, we are very sorry."
The King propped his forehead.
[They're sorry, hehe? To them-alive! Can they be killed for a misdemeanor, for negligence?! As a warning to the others, you miserable worms, my wife died in your arms!] the king shook his head – [No, come to your senses, the King of Noda. Be merciful. They are the best doctors of your kingdom-have done everything possible.]
The King sighed:
"Thank you for the work done. Go to rest. You deserve it. I have to stay with my grief."
The doctors bowed and left.
The King approached the corpse. Seeing his wife's glassy eyes, the husband covered his face with his palm:
"Useless. Helpless. Pathetic. Garbage."
A hand fell on the king's shoulder. The features of the face were blurred by the time of oblivion, the voice barely made its way through the depths of the subconscious – the yellow, bilious cloak was the only one that retained its brightness and impressiveness.
King Duum stood on the threshold and looked at the dream scene. Without saying a word, the former king turned around. The stage crumbled to dust.
Once again in the Spring Garden, the Duum found a cozy place, materialized a fishing rod and began to fish.
"In my state, lucid dreaming is a real panacea. It's a good thing that Goon taught me this" the Duum was just thinking out loud and did not even think that anyone would hear him.
"You're welcome, brother."
The float began to waver, but the king was no longer paying attention. His smile faded.
"What annoying nightmares. Do children really only dream about them?"
"Do you think I'm a nightmare?"
The king picked up a carp and threw the fishing rod again.
"Hey, Duum?"
Doom ignored the nightmare.
"Are you deaf?! Turn around, old Sharon!" the nightmare hit.
A sharp thorn pierced the skin on the back of his head. The Duum managed to react and bounce back. [What?! Did the nightmare damage me? If I had hesitated, this nightmare would have smashed my head with its spiked fist! ]
"Die! The traitor!" Goon's nightmare clone gave chase.
But his victim disappeared into thin air without a trace.
"Hmm? The Art of Absolute Invisibility? You cowardly rat! We both know that it can last no longer than a minute at rank 5! When the disguise is gone, I'll find you even a hundred Bau away!"
"I'm not thinking of hiding. Here I am! Try to catch up! the silhouette of the king appeared in the distance."
A hail of fire rained down from the sky. The whole garden turned into hell.
[So the dream transformation is useless, but the invisibility has affected him? What if you wake up and destroy the dream? El-ludas! Something is blocking my actions.]
Gong's clone was covered in sharp spikes. The nightmare roared and rushed forward. The king ran into the depths of the ruined garden.
***
"What happened?!"
"The back of Romulus' head is bleeding!"
"Because of what?!" Dr. Chu turned pale.
"The thing is, we don't know!"
***
"You worthless Sharon! An insensitive killer! You only know how to hide and run away!" the clone was losing its resemblance to Goon. More and more often the monster let out a growl.
[Fast]. The King was breathing heavily. [Absolute Invisibility!] The Duum is gone.
"Pathetic Sharon! You pathetic traitor! You can't escape! I can't hide while my heart is beating!"
"Sorry, I'm tired of running. I need to rest!"
"A-a-a-a-a!"
[I think that's enough. I have prepared enough to kill this monster here and now!]
Two spears were stuck in the back of the nightmare.
"You pitiful, dishonorable coward!" The monster's spiked fingers reacted with lightning speed. They flew in the direction from which the attack came.
The skin and flesh were stripped from the king's shoulder, exposing the bone. The Duum bounced back. The hand hung like a whip. [This attack is much faster than that of a real Gong. Thank Dral, this nightmare is slow in moving, or not?]
The clone of Gong licked his fingers.
"I can smell your blood!" Woo-ha-ha-ha!"
[El-ludas!] The race continued. And now it was stupid to count on a respite: the clone had cracked the Duum's disguise.
[I'll hold out for another forty minutes and just drop dead.]
The clone was also losing strength. The deep wound in his back was bleeding profusely: as the Duum suggested, the arts that he used in reality work on the clone. This also works in the opposite direction: the attacks that the real Gong used can also be used by his clone to kill the Duum.
[But the last attack was faster.]
After thirty-five minutes, after running a few Bau, the Duum began to slow down. A grin blossomed on Clone Goon's face.
"I knew that you would lose all your strength right now! Ha-ha-ha! Isn't that what you were afraid of, that Kamo and I would try to kill you? Well, you did everything to make your fears confirmed!"
"It's either now or never!"
The iron blade bit into the monster's head.
"Hmm? You haven't used anything like this before, but this trick just scratched me. It was a good attempt, but..." the clone broke off on the floor of the word, "Stop, and who am I telling this to? Who was I chasing at all! A-a-a-a-a!"
The clone has lost its former appearance.
Ghostly smoke floated above the ground. The Duum did not see this, because he was plunged into the darkness of unconsciousness.
Without a host, the sleep around became chaotic, except for a tiny area the size of a room.
The living smoke made an indistinct sound and dispersed.
***
Darkness. There is no time. There is no sound. There is no thought. The Duum has not lost consciousness for a long time.
He woke up in his parents' bed. The pale woman was whiter than before. Previously, an energetic man was silently cooking herbs together with a man in a shabby robe.
The woman immediately began to cry and hugged the baby. The man and the shabby robe turned around. The Duum heard their collective sigh of relief.
The Duum's arm and head were bound with bandages. [It's bad. Very bad. So dreams in this world are capable of causing physical harm? I am very lucky that I already know how to navigate in a dream quite well.]
"Glory to the Supreme, Romulus is awake! Dear, Romulus is alive! I was so worried!"
"See, and you thought that my son would fall into a coma!"
"O Supreme One! O Supreme One!" Dr. Chu could barely stand on his feet.
Henry pulled up his favorite chair. The Doctor sat down without talking.
"I'm sorry, it's my fault. I'm a lousy doctor."
"Heh-heh. And with what? Wandering Nightmares are a rare phenomenon. I myself still thought that these were just legends. Well, don't lose your temper, brother! Let's get back to cooking medicinal soup."
Chu nodded.
[Hmm. You know, the local language is quite melodic. I still haven't got bored watching these people talk.
Oh!] the Duum fidgeted, [The body aches! First the umbilical cord tried to strangle me, then the nightmare caused injuries. There's definitely something here. My new life is under threat.]
An energetic man and a shabby dressing gown were busy at the pot for another two hours before pouring the gelatinous brew into a plate. The shabby robe pinched his nose. The pale woman turned pale. And the energetic man shook his head, poured the broth into the nipple and gently lifted the Duum's head.
[It smells like socks. Funny. And it tastes exactly like liquid rubber. Is there any rubber in my new world at all? But anyway, I've tried worse things.]
Henry, Chu, and Suzana exchanged glances.
He grimaced, but swallowed. It's not normal! Chu spoke with his nose pinched, " It's impossible to even smell it.
"Hey, our task was to make medicine, not royal cabbage soup!" The smell doesn't suit him, "Henry muttered."
"But, dear, this is really strange."
"I'm afraid that due to the compression of the neck, Romulus' head has suffered, and the perception of taste has deteriorated. Eh, Doctor Chu, eh," the doctor restrained himself from crying.
"Strange or not, we can only wait for the effect, hehe."
Susana stroked the child's bandaged head. "Glory to the Supreme, Romulus has opened his eyes."
The Duum felt better. The "rubber" broth, oddly enough, gave a surge of cheerfulness. "And this energetic man knows a lot about cooking."
A shabby robe conducted an inspection of the Duum. He smiled. He told his "parents"something. "They are happy, smiles from ear to ear. My condition has definitely improved, and it's not just good health."