The gloomy castle stood alone in the mist. Ancient trees that were ten thousand years old stretched across the surroundings, emitting a damp and rotting smell. The forest was gray and green, made up of sturdy oak trees and old iron trees. Here, thick and solid black tree trunks pushed against each other, twisted branches weaved into a dense and towering canopy, and deformed intertwined roots wrestled with each other underground.
In the dream, there was no distinction between time and place. Above the river, there was white mist. Hoffa drove a small boat alone, roaming the river in the dense forest, calling Chloe's name from time to time.
Ever since he drove the boat out of the previous dream, he had come to this strange and yet familiar place.
The forbidden forest, the black lake.
Hogwarts.
This deep and silent, suffocating land of shadows.
On the black lake, the boat moved with the paddles, and the night wind blew through his hair. Everything was so quiet and serene. Is it finally my turn, he thought.
The castle in the distance was out of reach, and in the mist, he saw a dark green meadow on the shore of the lake, and Chloe's back sitting on the edge of the meadow.
He parked the boat on the shore of the lake and walked up.
From the forest behind him came the faint sound of laughter. "Did you hide well? I'm coming to find you. " The voice was cheerful and familiar. He turned his head and saw a strand of silver hair flash behind the old oak tree. His heart trembled, and he immediately turned his head and clenched his fist.
Calm down.
After he forced himself to calm down, he walked to the nun's side, only to see her sitting on the grass like a Japanese tea ceremony lady, looking at the castle on the other side of the lake in a daze.
"Is that the Hogwarts?" she asked without turning her head.
"Yes," he replied.
"I should have been in that school, my family would have definitely sent me there, and I would have also received that mysterious letter. If I didn't have this strange ability," she said softly, "I really don't know which school that legendary sorting hat would have assigned me to."
Hoffa sat beside her. "Aldo is dead."
"If I could stay in Hogwarts, perhaps I wouldn't have met with such a mess. I would have studied steadily and passed the Magus Registration Examination. Finally, I would have found a job in Gringotts or the Ministry of Magic. Perhaps I could have opened a coffee shop in Diagon Alley …"
"It's the same everywhere. It's not as good as you think."
"Are you sure it's not because of you? Who would leave that school if they weren't so cold? "She said casually.
"Maybe, Chloe. I'm sorry." Hoffa tried to pull her back to reality.
"What are you sorry for?"
"I'm sorry about Mary's death. I could have done better, but I didn't. I didn't care about your feelings, and I also ignored her life and death. This is the truth, and I'm very sorry. "
Chloe was stunned for a while. She slowly turned her head, as if she was meeting him for the first time.
Hoffa continued, "If you want to save her, I'll help you after we leave this place."
Chloe shook her head and sighed. "Forget it. It's been a long time … Even if I want to save her, there's nothing I can do."
"If that's the case." Hoffa grabbed Chloe's hand. "Come back with me. This isn't the real world. We still have important things to do. Do you still remember that ship of orphans? You swore to bring them to England. "
Chloe said helplessly, "But how are we going to leave this place? Leave this never-ending nightmare."
"I've found the source of the dream."
Hoffa said, "But it's not a real thing."
"Who cares what it is? It's been a long time, Hoffa. I even think that death is the only way to escape from this dream. Perhaps, in the real world, Aldo has already woken up. "
"No, that's impossible." Hoffa shook his head. "You think so because the dream made you feel that death is the only way to escape. But that's definitely not the case. It uses all kinds of methods to provoke the shadows in people's hearts in the nightmares. It either makes them kill each other or makes them self-destruct. Its goal is to break people's minds. I think that if you choose death, its goal will be achieved. "
"What else can it be?"
"I have a guess. The monster that created the dream didn't come earlier or later. It just had to come when your magic power went berserk. "
"How would I know? Is it a coincidence?"
"It's not a coincidence. How long has it been since we last ate and drank?"
"A long, long time," Chloe muttered.
"Time."
"Time?"
"The speed of time passing is different. In this long time, I didn't feel any hunger, thirst, or the urge to pee. These are all normal human physiological needs. "
"What are you trying to say?"
"Either I'm already dead, or the speed of time in the real world is completely different from the speed of time in the dream. The speed of time passing here is greatly reduced.
And the source of this ability, I think it's because it absorbed your magic power related to time and then turned it into dreamforce. "
"What you said is possible. When I activated my ability, I did feel that something was staring at me, but so what?"
"So it absorbed your magic power."
"If you have something to say, then say it."
"You still don't understand, Chloe. Your magic power is gone, and so is mine. Aldo, Anker, they all have no magic power.
It's not that maintaining this dream doesn't cost anything, but the wool comes from the sheep's back. The more I want to recover my magic power to resist this dream, the more my magic power will unconsciously flow away. It will become the source of the nightmare to use to harm me.
In the beginning, this nightmare covered the entire island, the underground corridor, and the entire city. Because at that time, there were four of us.
But as our numbers decreased, the scale of the nightmare also decreased. When I was in Paris, I noticed that the nightmare looked very big, but there are some places that can't be reached at all. It's just an illusion. "
He pointed to the towering castle in the distance. "Don't look at the Hogwarts Castle in front of us. It's just for us to see. The distance in the real dream is only as big as this grassland."
Chloe's eyes became a little more spirited. "So the only way to stop this nightmare is to stop trying to recover magic power and cut off all channels."
"That's right." Hoffa couldn't help but pat her head.
"The body of that creature can't be considered strong, and there's no way it can physically destroy our bodies. It can only use this kind of dark method, otherwise it wouldn't be superfluous."
But the recovery of magic power for people with wizard blood is as natural as breathing. Without a special potion, can you cut off your own magic power? "
Huo Fa said, "I have an idea. However, I think we should stay calm while we cut off the magic power."
Chloe smiled. "Thank you, but I'm very calm, Hoffa. Aldo told me before that ashes to ashes and dust to dust. What's done is done. Mary can't come back, and the people in the monastery can't come back either. But this is your dream. You're the one who should be thinking about how to stay calm. "
As soon as she finished speaking, faint laughter came from the forest in the distance again.
"Hoffa, where are you? You're going to die if we catch you. "A girl said cheerfully.
"He's probably hiding in a tree hole like the sloth." Another girl calmly analyzed.
By the lake, Chloe turned her head and asked curiously, "It's strange. Our nightmares are either bugs, darkness, or tragedies. But your dream is about playing hide-and-seek with girls."
"Nightmares don't care what the content is. It's enough as long as it makes me suffer," Hoffa said calmly.
"Hide-and-seek is very painful?"
"Of course not."
The voices behind him were getting closer and closer. Without saying anything, he jumped into the black lake.
"Hey, there's someone there."
"He's dressed so strangely."
Even in the water, Hoffa could still hear the voices clearly, making him very sad. He covered his ears, but the voices still accurately penetrated his ears.
"Did you see a boy? Black hair, golden eyes. "
Someone on the shore asked Chloe.
Chloe said, "I saw him."
"Shh, where did he go?"
Chloe pointed at the castle in the distance. "He went back."
"Liar," a girl said calmly.
"Ha, really? That's against the rules. Wait, why are you dressed like that? Aren't you a student of our school? "another girl asked arrogantly.
"I'm not."
"Tell the truth," the calm girl said.
"Hmm … Forget it, who cares. Miranda's feeling is definitely right. You were lying earlier. Tell me, where is Hoffa? Tell me and I'll let you watch him play dead. It's so fun. "
Chloe was silent for a moment, then shook his head.
"I really haven't seen anyone with black hair."
"Tell the truth."
The calm girl was slightly surprised.
"Hey, that's very strange."
The two whispered to each other for a while. "Forget it, Miranda, let's continue looking."
The voices gradually faded away. Hoffa came out of the water, wet. He sat beside Chloe and sighed.
"Your friends?" Chloe asked.
"Yes."
Hoffa nodded.
"Why don't you come out and meet them? They don't look dangerous."
"They're all fake." Hoffa shook his head. "Let's begin."
"What did you do to let them down? You're too ashamed to meet them. "
"That's true." Hoffa smiled. He grabbed Chloe's hand and closed his eyes.
"Empty yourself. Don't think about anything."
Chloe followed his instructions and closed her eyes. Hoffa chanted and converted life.
Just as he chanted the incantation, it was like a weak dam meeting a strong current. It collapsed in an instant. But very rarely, he stored a small amount of magic power in his body. Although this magic power dissipated in the blink of an eye, it gave him hope. It worked.
He chanted the incantation in his heart again.
Over and over again.
4:6
3:7
Bit by bit, the magic power was removed from their bodies and converted into life. The intense feeling of his brain being torn apart made him feel extremely uncomfortable. It was like a car without petrol being forced to start. It was extremely difficult.
Gradually, the proportion of magic power in their bodies decreased.
Cracking sounds came from beside him.
He opened his eyes slightly. Chloe must be in extreme pain too. Her brows were furrowed, and her teeth were biting her lips until they bled. But the effect was quite obvious. The grass, the sky, and the castle in the distance were like glass. Cracks appeared one after another.
2:8
1:9
The scale of the cracks became larger and larger. He could almost see the bright moonlight outside the dream and smell the salty sea breeze in the air.
But at the most critical moment, a pair of soft hands climbed up his back, followed by a teasing chuckle. "You can't hide this time." The voice blew the hair by his ear. It was incomparably real. "I found you."
Hoffa froze as if he had been electrocuted.
Not only that, strands of silver hair fell from his ears. The person behind him whispered with a chuckle. "You've grown a lot. It seems like you've suffered a lot."
"Stay here with me. As long as you turn around."
The girl gently bit his earlobe and said softly.
Hoffa opened his eyes. The cracks in the dream were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. His life was also being converted into magic power.
It was extremely urgent. Cold sweat kept coming out of his forehead. He needed something to divert his attention.
Thus, he saw Crowley's hands. He had seen many people's hands, and this pair of hands was undoubtedly the best looking one. The lines were soft yet three-dimensional, white yet powerful. The fingertips were sharp and the nails had a faint pink hue to them.
"What are you looking at? Why don't you look at me? "
A sad voice came from behind him. He forced himself not to think about what was behind him. He stared at the thing in front of him.
Eh, the joints of her thumb can actually turn back. That's amazing. Hoffa held Chloe's hand tightly. Why did it turn back? Did she let go?
Raising his head, Crowley opened his eyes and placed his palm on the back of Bach's head. He pressed Bach's head against his own and said, "Mr. Bach, we still have a lot of things to do."
At this moment, Hoffa understood why Aldo was so loyal to the nun. Yes, she did have a power that could calm people's minds.
"Of course."
The voice in his ear subsided. He finally recited the incantation. Convert life.
Finally, the dream shattered. In the countless cold fragments, the two woke up from the dream and returned to the real world.
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