The chains locked over it belonged to the Ghost King. That was easy to tell. But I couldn't guess what the chain that disappeared into the void was.
I thought about it for a long time, but got nowhere. I couldn't connect it to any supernatural phenomenon I knew, so I had to set the matter aside for now.
When I came back to myself, I realized I'd been observing and thinking for a long time, yet the dream hadn't changed.
I remembered the skeleton and warily turned to look. It was still floating there, even holding the same pose, motionless. Its billowing cloak hadn't moved at all.
I froze for a moment, then looked at the infant girl. She was motionless too—not even her chest rose and fell with her breathing.
Time had stopped.
I stared at the scene in shock, but as soon as the feeling rose within me, time began moving again.
The girl breathed smoothly. She was no longer perfectly still like before, nor was she struggling to breathe with her face turning purple.
The skeleton's cloak billowed and rippled, as if its body were about to be swallowed up by it.
The surrounding scenery trembled along with the change.
I could feel the force radiating from the skeleton tugging at my soul.
A thought came to me, and I recalled the scene from a moment ago.
It seemed I could control time within the dream. If so, I should be able to go a step further and choose which point in time I saw.
I wanted to see the past, not the next few minutes of the future.
I wanted to know how this skeleton—or rather, this demon spirit—had come into being and changed.
The thought had barely formed when I sensed another force pulling