"Big brother, I'm ready."
Moon Dew flew to the cottage door and peered out through its window. Beyond lay emptiness and darkness. That was... the Sea Beyond Dreams.
She had always been somewhat afraid of the Sea Beyond Dreams, but today she was eager to give it a try.
She just wondered where the city Big Brother had mentioned was. Was it in the Sea Beyond Dreams, or in the more distant Silent Dream Land? Perhaps the Inner Dream Sea? The Chaotic Dream Plain?
Moon Dew could hardly wait.
Just as she was about to open the door and take the first step, Angel's voice came from behind her.
"We're not going through the front door. This way."
Moon Dew froze. If not through the front door, then where?
She turned and saw that a door had appeared from nowhere beside Angel, who stood in the middle of the cottage. A pitch-black vortex spun at its center, like an abyssal black hole waiting to devour whoever came near.
"Is this the door to that city?"
Curious, Moon Dew went to Angel's side to examine the door up close. The sensation that it might swallow her grew stronger.
"Yes." Angel paused, then asked softly, "How does this door make you feel?"
Other Dream Guests had shown clear resistance to an "exit."
To a Dream Guest, a Dream Bubble was a safe haven, a place of comfort. The existence of an "exit" disrupted that balance of safety.
Even if Dream Guests had no conscious concept of "safety," an instinctive sense deep within them kept them from leaving that haven.
So whether they were lucid or not, Dream Guests reacted to the sight of an exit with strong aversion.
That was why challengers escorting Dream Guests had to consider how to get them