The old mage's gaze was nailed to the thick Black Leather Book on the table.
He was one hundred percent certain that there had not originally been such a book on this table—and the feeling it gave him was familiar. He could not find it in his memories, yet he knew what it was.
"So... I've already begun Dreamwalking," Modir suddenly said in a low voice, as if talking to himself. The corner of his eye swept over the surroundings before he looked toward the sea and coast beyond the porthole. Everything there now had normal colors; those familiar shades of black, white, and gray seemed not to have appeared this time. "But it seems I haven't entered the shadow world..."
"We are at the most blurred boundary between reality and dreams. You need not begin Dreamwalking, for the dream will come to find you. Nor need you return to reality, for reality lies within the dream," the voice came from the book again. It was Modir's most familiar voice, yet inexplicably strange. "Only here can I speak with you without worrying about 'leakage' or 'diving.'"
The old mage quietly watched the Black Leather Book before him. Only after a moment did he softly say, "You are me."
"Yes," the Black Leather Book said with a smile in its voice. "You are me."
"I am Modir," the old mage said softly.
"I am Verde," the Black Leather Book answered just as softly.
"It seems we're the same... We're both gradually recovering our 'selves,'" Modir suddenly realized. "I've recently remembered some things, and you... seem to be the same? What will happen if this continues? Will we become one?"
The Black Leather Book gave no response.
But Modir did not mind.
"So four nautical miles offshore isn't really a 'Safe Zone'