My Dragon Got Lost QAQ

—It seems now is not the time to deal with this. I can only step in to clean up the mess after Persephone and Theresia have finished their little tricks.

So she turned her head and looked at Theresia. Then she saw the pink and white furry creature suddenly cover its mouth and lower face with both hands, like a startled rabbit.

"I won't say anything!" The Princess shook her head vigorously, covering her mouth, and a muffled sound came from behind her hand.

"Yes, I know." Miss Surtr nodded. Suddenly she moved closer, then, amidst the Princess's suppressed scream, she swept her up in her arms. "I just came to see you. And to ask you for a favor."

The secrets of the world were clearly revealed before her—she still didn't know where she was, but she knew she was still on the Terra. Laevateinn was still by her side, and she still controlled her body.

And so, she gained... no, she regained her power.

She led the Princess straight up into the clouds, through layers of mist, and onto the back of a giant whale in the sky. And amidst the long, drawn-out cry of the whale, the clear, azure sky cracked open with ripples.

"Can you leave this place? This land, this Reeds Field, this space?"

She looked at Theresia in her arms and asked.

"Just for a moment..." Theresia turned her head slightly and whispered.

So Miss Surtr placed the Princess on the whale's back.

It was smooth, unlike those 'realistic' creatures; this giant whale soaring in the sky originated from pure fantasy and nothingness. It was a phenomenon, not a living being. And with Miss Surtr gently stepping on her foot, this behemoth let out a long roar, flapped its massive fins, and the earth was immediately left behind.

She steered the whale away from the direction of that enormous breath.

Then the sky cracked open before her eyes, like an onion splitting open, layer upon layer of the firmament being ripped apart and pierced through as the giant whale moved. Countless continents floating and sinking in the clouds came into view, and bizarre and fantastical scenes also appeared on the inner side of the layers of sky.

There are castles made of cake, and candy little people laughing and playing in rivers of cream and honey. They wave flags made of apple slices and watch giant whales leaping and bounding in the clouds.

There are crystal-clear 100x100 Rubik's Cubes, and a million crystal palaces the size of gardens, each inhabited by vibrant and beautiful flowers. As the giant whale passes by, they wave their branches and leaves, some joyfully, some shyly smiling.

There was a giant bubble, like a ball of yarn, and a cat, about the size of a mountain, was chasing and playing with it in the sky. When it saw the giant whale, it meowed curiously, and then suddenly more than a thousand cats of different colors and breeds, all of them very cute, jumped out from around the whale.

They pounced on Theresia, meowing ingratiatingly. As Theresia cast a look of expectation mixed with helplessness at Miss Surtr, a waterfall of cookies rained down from Surtr's fingers—the cats scattered in all directions, chasing after the cookies.

A small black cat stopped at her feet, meowed a few times, and wagged its two tails gently.

So Miss Surtr patted the cat's head. The giant whale stopped, and the surrounding area was a clear, quiet, and vast expanse of pure sky.

"Miss Christine, is that so? Please give my regards to your master." She picked up the little black cat and tossed it into the air. The little black cat, with a startled cry, turned into a dissipating bubble.

Theresia cast a curious glance at her.

"I don't know her yet," Miss Surtr replied. "I don't know her master either. But if we disregard the butterfly effect, she shouldn't be dying at this time—so I have an obligation to send her back. After all, this is the paradise of the Feline Beasts."

"You... you've been here before!?"

"This is my first time here," Miss Surtr replied with a smile. "But having been to similar places many times, I can naturally understand the underlying principles at a glance. Don't worry, I didn't try to pry into the secrets you want to protect. After all, I haven't looked any further."

This is a place only the dead are allowed to come to.

But only Theresia lingered here.

Looking up from the Reeds Field, the entire landscape is a place of blissful fantasy.

So, where are humans?

What lies beneath the Reeds Field?

She saw Theresia's eyes silently redden, so she politely turned her head away, giving the pink and white-haired girl a moment to maintain her ladylike composure. And then—

"Surtr, how do you want me to help you?"—she heard the Princess's voice.

"I need to go to the Dream Realm to understand the changes that have occurred here." The flame-haired Sarkaz girl chuckled as she replied, "Persephone is monitoring my body. And I hope you can observe my soul when I enter a dream."

Chapter 87: My Dragon is Lost QAQ

Sink.

Once the promise was made, the girl's will immediately began to sink.

It sank into the sea.

Sinking into the starry sky.

Sinking into nothingness.

And within the void, myriad colors of light bloom.

She tried very hard to maintain her own will and to feel the subtle changes that occurred as she traveled through the world.

Just as the portal between the two worlds appeared in her mind, she felt several different auras swirling and intertwining around her.

There was a presence very close to me, like a shadow, like a thread, gently entwining around me and surrounding me.

The other aura felt somewhat hard, like some kind of solid yet fragile mineral. Similar to calcite, it faintly revealed a light green hue.

Further out, a slightly more distant aura resembled a burning flame. It was somewhat murky, yet unlike ordinary fire; it looked more like some kind of vibrant life force—no, it wasn't far away. It was actually right beside him. Even closer than the other auras.

Finally, an aura as vast as the ocean swirled at the outermost edge of my perception. It seemed to want to come closer, but it was simply too far away. However, when my attention turned towards it, it seemed to be drawn towards my area as if by some kind of inspiration.

—Is this what they are?

—Are there really four of them?

A question mark arose in Miss Surtr's mind. Based on her previous experience of feeling a chill before entering the dream and then bringing Frostnova with her, these four auras were most likely people she knew. And if she were to cross the gate between the two worlds with any one of them, she would naturally meet her on the other side of the dream realm.

Who could it be?

—My first impression is that it's somewhat like Amiya ... but it's hard to say. After all, even a long sleep is still sleep; maybe Amiya isn't asleep yet. This aura is Theresia's aura.

—The second one... Do I know someone like that? Kal'tsit? My relationship with her shouldn't be so close that we'd be entangled in a dream. Or is the principle of dream-world travel different from what I expected?

—Third, ah, I'm confident about this one. It's definitely Talulah, although the purity and sense of distance are a bit subtle...

—Fourth... the ocean is a broad term. There shouldn't be any Iberia operators near Chernobog. Hmm... I can't think of anything. It can't be Skadi, that happy orca... I remember she hasn't joined Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals yet. And the last time we met, I just smashed her into lava.

Four auras swirled around her, hovering in the air. She wanted to reject them all and pass through the gate between the two worlds alone. However, she found that she couldn't dispel them at all. As soon as she approached the gate, they would follow her like a school of fish caught in an ocean current.

—At least one person will come along... Hmm, it seems to be the kind of mechanism that chooses for me if I don't, or perhaps it's a natural law. Is it because the previous door only allowed me to come and go alone, but now it's been expanded? Is that why this happened?

"There's no other way; we have to take this step. Amiya is too young, Theresia can't easily leave from there. The situation with the other two auras is also unclear. I'm sorry, Miss Alina. I'll need to borrow your Talulah for a while."

Miss Surtr's thoughts raced as she consciously directed her will towards that vibrant, fiery aura. Then—

Grab it and pass through the gate between the two worlds.