"Everyone has seen [Dreaming], right?"
Nearly every aberration involved [Dreaming]. For instance, during that continent-shaking aberration several decades ago, many people fell into eternal dreams they had constructed themselves.
Chloe had heard about what happened then. In a city reduced to ruins, countless citizens still carried on with their lives. They wore neat clothes, went to work, ate, and slept as usual, completely unaware that they had already died.
The city was dead, yet its residents stubbornly believed they were still alive.
That stubbornness interfered with reality, making reality acknowledge that they were alive—of course, it could not truly keep them alive, but neither did it allow them to die.
It was said that even now, people who had already turned to white bones remained trapped in their dreams, unable to awaken.
[Dreaming] had occurred many times before, but never in a situation as bizarre as this.
First of all, [Dreaming] could only allow them to continue moving; it could not change the fact that their bodies were decaying. Those who entered dreams during aberrations were merely moving corpses. While one might find their lost souls by diving into the Sea of Unconsciousness, the instant they realized they were dead, they would rapidly rot away.
Yet the Fishmen beneath the airship did not look dead at all. The flesh on their bodies looked no different from that of the Fishmen on the battlefield.
If Chloe had to describe it, this seemed more like the Fishmen had entered [Dreaming].
But how could that be? Was Gem Bay inhabited entirely by Fishmen?
Even if Gem Bay truly were a kingdom of monsters, how could these Fishmen live in complete accordance with human society?
Leaving aside everything else, did Fishmen need ships? Why were so many ships docked at the pier?
Moreover, the