Chapter 74: Some Things Keep Getting Complicated
Dillan couldn’t stop looking at the flower.
The white lily rested quietly in the center of the dining table.
Ordinary.
Beautiful.
Completely harmless.
Yet...
Every person in the room seemed to be watching it.
No one touched it.
No one spoke.
It was Lyra who finally broke the silence.
"...It doesn’t belong here."
Commander Yuna folded her arms.
"What do you mean?"
Lyra’s silver eyes never left the flower.
"It crossed something."
"...Crossed?"
"The boundary."
Yuna frowned.
"The Resonance Field?"
A small nod.
"...Someone reached through it."
The room became silent.
Dr. Yeon looked up from her tablet.
"That’s impossible."
"I know."
"The Field has never been breached."
"I know."
"So either we’re looking at a phenomenon we’ve never documented..."
Yeon adjusted her glasses.
"...or someone deliberately placed that flower."
Dana looked toward Dillan.
"...Did you tell anyone where you lived?"
"No."
"Nobody?"
He shook his head.
"Only you guys."
Mira leaned against the wall.
"I checked the apartment cameras."
"And?"
"They never recorded anyone."
Dillan let out a tired laugh.
"...Great."
Nobody laughed with him.
That afternoon...
Dillan volunteered for paperwork.
Normally...
He hated paperwork.
Today...
Anything was better than sleeping.
Stacks of Gate reports covered his desk.
He forced himself to focus.
Read.
Signed.
Stamped.
Repeated.
Hours passed.
Or at least...
He thought they did.
"...Dillan?"
He looked up.
Park Jisoo stood beside his desk.
"...You’ve been staring at the same page for twenty minutes."
"...What?"
"You haven’t written anything."
Dillan blinked.
He looked down.
The report was blank.
His pen rested exactly where he’d placed it.
"...That’s impossible..."
He distinctly remembered finishing three reports.
Jisoo frowned.
"You okay?"
"...Yeah."
His answer came automatically.
"I’m fine."
Jisoo wasn’t convinced.
Five minutes later...
Dillan opened another report.
The words blurred together.
He rubbed his eyes.
The letters slowly shifted.
Changing shape.
Becoming...
Handwriting.
Elegant handwriting.
Across the report...
A single sentence appeared.
You work too hard.
His chair scraped loudly against the floor as he stood.
Everyone inside the office turned toward him.
The paper was blank again.
Nothing written.
Only ordinary Gate information.
"...Dillan?"
Yuna’s voice echoed across the room.
"...Do you need a break?"
He stared at the paper.
"...Maybe."
That evening...
Mira entered the surveillance room again.
She replayed every camera around Dillan’s apartment building.
Thirty-two cameras.
Three nights.
Nothing.
Until...
Camera Twenty-One.
The image froze.
Static covered the screen.
Exactly two seconds.
When it cleared...
A woman stood beneath the streetlight across from Dillan’s apartment.
Long dark hair.
White dress.
Face hidden.
She wasn’t looking at the building.
She was looking directly...
At the camera.
Mira’s heartbeat slowed.
"...Can you see me?"
The woman smiled.
The monitor instantly turned black.
Every screen inside the surveillance room shut off simultaneously.
Darkness.
A second later...
Power returned.
Every recording from Camera Twenty-One had vanished.
Deleted.
"...No..."
Mira immediately searched the backup server.
Nothing.
The footage no longer existed.
Someone...
Or something...
Had erased it.
Elsewhere...
Lyra stood inside the Resonance Chamber.
The invisible membrane surrounding the headquarters shimmered softly.
Normally...
Its rhythm was peaceful.
Tonight...
It pulsed unevenly.
Almost...
Like another heartbeat had begun echoing beside it.
Lyra slowly reached forward.
The membrane responded.
Ripples spread across its surface.
Then...
Another ripple answered.
From outside.
Lyra’s expression slowly changed.
"...You’re already here..."
The chamber became silent.
Only one quiet whisper returned.
Too faint for anyone else to hear.
"...I’m almost home..."
Lyra’s pupils narrowed.
That night...
Dillan placed three alarms beside his bed.
11:30.
12:00.
12:30.
He intended to wake himself repeatedly.
Anything...
To avoid another deep sleep.
Before lying down...
He opened his notebook once more.
Every page remained exactly as he’d left it.
He slowly wrote:
If you’re real...
Who are you?
He closed the notebook.
Turned off the light.
The first alarm rang.
He silenced it.
The second.
He silenced it again.
The third...
Never rang.
Warm sunlight greeted him.
He stood inside a quiet train station.
Everything looked strangely familiar.
People walked past him.
Laughing.
Talking.
Living ordinary lives.
None of them had faces.
Only blurred silhouettes.
"...Where am I?"
No answer.
Then...
He heard footsteps behind him.
Slow.
Measured.
Patient.
He already knew who it was.
He didn’t turn around.
"...Please..."
His voice sounded exhausted.
"...Just tell me your name."
Silence.
Then...
A warm pair of arms gently wrapped around him from behind.
Not forcefully.
Tenderly.
Almost lovingly.
He froze.
A soft voice whispered beside his ear.
"...You remembered to ask this time."
His entire body became rigid.
"...Who..."
She rested her head against his shoulder.
"...Not yet."
Blue windows suddenly erupted across the station.
[WARNING.]
[Oneiric Malformation Progression: 19%]
[External Consciousness Synchronization Increasing.]
[Host Memory Integrity... Declining.]
Dillan’s pupils shrank.
"...Memory...?"
Another notification appeared.
One the System had never displayed before.
[WARNING.]
[Childhood Memory Fragmentation Detected.]
The girl slowly tightened her embrace.
"...It’s alright..."
She smiled.
"...You don’t need those memories."
"...I’ll give you new ones."
The train station lights went out.
One by one.
Until only her glowing crimson eyes remained in the darkness.
Watching him.
Smiling.
Waiting.
"...I’ll give you new ones."
The words echoed through the darkness.
Soft.
Gentle.
Filled with a warmth that should have been comforting.
Instead...
They made Dillan’s blood run cold.
The girl’s embrace tightened ever so slightly.
Not enough to hurt.
Enough to remind him...
She wasn’t letting go.
"...Let me go."
His voice barely rose above a whisper.
She didn’t answer.
Instead...
She rested her cheek lightly against his back.
"I waited..."
A pause.
"So long..."
Blue windows erupted around them once more.
[WARNING.]
[Oneiric Malformation Progression: 22%]
[Host Memory Integrity Declining.]
[Recommendation: Immediate Consciousness Separation.]
Another notification appeared.
Then another.
Each one more unstable than the last.
[ERROR.]
[Memory Restoration Failed.]
The girl’s smile slowly disappeared.
"...Stop..."
She wasn’t speaking to Dillan.
She was speaking...
To the System.
"...Don’t give them back."
The blue notifications flickered violently.
Cracks spread across every floating window.
The dream itself began collapsing.
Darkness swallowed the train station.
The girl’s arms loosened.
"...Soon..."
She whispered.
"...You’ll remember me."
Everything shattered.
Dillan woke screaming.
His voice echoed throughout the apartment.
His chest rose and fell violently.
His breathing wouldn’t slow.
The digital clock read...
3:17 A.M.
Again.
The exact same time.
His entire body trembled.
"...No..."
He climbed out of bed so quickly he nearly collapsed.
His legs felt numb.
His balance was gone.
He stumbled into the hallway.
Turned every light on.
Bedroom.
Kitchen.
Bathroom.
Living room.
Light flooded the apartment.
Only then...
Did he feel safe enough to breathe.
Morning didn’t improve anything.
If anything...
It made the nightmares harder to ignore.
Dillan couldn’t remember making breakfast.
Yet there was a dirty frying pan in the sink.
A half-empty cup of coffee on the table.
A plate with crumbs scattered across it.
He stared at them.
"...Did I..."
Nothing.
No memory.
Not even a fragment.
His phone buzzed.
Dana
Where are you?
His eyebrows furrowed.
He looked at the time.
9:42 A.M.
His shift had started forty minutes ago.
"...What?"
He didn’t even remember leaving bed.
Guardian Network Headquarters.
Dana walked directly toward him.
Without saying a word...
She placed both hands on his shoulders.
"...Look at me."
He did.
"When was the last time you actually slept?"
"...I don’t know."
"You’re forgetting things."
"...I know."
"You scared me this morning."
He frowned.
"...Why?"
"You called me."
"...I did?"
Dana slowly nodded.
"At four thirty."
His stomach tightened.
"...What did I say?"
She hesitated.
"...You kept asking who the little girl was."
Silence.
"...Then you hung up."
Dillan’s face slowly lost color.
"I..."
He couldn’t remember making that call.
Not even dialing her number.
Across the room...
Mira quietly watched the conversation.
Something wasn’t right.
Not just with Dillan.
With the data.
She opened every security log from the previous night.
Nothing.
Again.
Until...
She checked Dillan’s phone records.
One outgoing call.
4:31 A.M.
Duration:
32 seconds.
Exactly what Dana said.
"...So he really called."
She immediately opened the audio backup.
Most Guardian Network phones automatically archived emergency calls.
The recording began.
Static.
Heavy breathing.
Then...
Dillan’s voice.
"...Do you remember..."
Static.
"...The little girl..."
More static.
Then...
Another voice.
A woman’s.
Soft.
Calm.
Loving.
"...He doesn’t have to remember anymore."
The recording ended.
Mira stopped breathing.
"...Who..."
That voice...
It wasn’t Dana’s.
Elsewhere...
Lyra sat quietly inside the Resonance Chamber.
She hadn’t moved for over an hour.
The invisible membrane surrounding the headquarters rippled gently.
Then...
Without warning...
A second ripple answered.
Closer than before.
Lyra slowly opened her eyes.
"...You’re getting stronger."
Silence.
Another ripple.
This one...
Almost sounded like laughter.
Very faint.
Barely audible.
"...You’re reaching him..."
Lyra whispered.
"...Through dreams."
She stood immediately.
For the first time...
Urgency entered her expression.
That evening...
Dillan decided to test something.
He placed a voice recorder beside his bed.
If he spoke in his sleep...
He wanted proof.
He also placed his notebook on the bedside table.
Every page had been photographed.
If another sentence appeared...
He would know.
No excuses.
No hallucinations.
Evidence.
He turned off the light.
Closed his eyes.
Darkness came almost instantly.
Rain.
Cold rain.
He stood beneath a broken umbrella.
An empty playground stretched before him.
Rust covered every swing.
Every slide.
Every climbing frame.
The sky was gray.
Silent.
Lonely.
A little girl sat alone on one of the swings.
Slowly moving back and forth.
Back...
And forth...
Back...
And forth...
She wasn’t facing him.
"...Are you..."
His voice caught.
"...The one from my dreams?"
The swinging stopped.
She answered without turning around.
"...Your dreams..."
A small laugh escaped her lips.
"...No..."
She slowly stood.
"...These are our memories."
Dillan froze.
"...What...?"
She finally began turning toward him.
For the first time...
He saw part of her face.
A pale cheek.
Soft lips.
Then...
Just before the rest became visible...
Everything around him began bleeding.
The rain turned crimson.
The playground rusted away into ash.
The swings snapped.
Blue windows exploded across the sky.
[CRITICAL WARNING.]
[ONEIRIC MALFORMATION PROGRESSION: 28%]
[HOST MEMORY RECONSTRUCTION DETECTED.]
[DO NOT...
The final message glitched violently.
Letters disappeared.
Returned.
Then...
The System screamed.
[WAKE UP, DILLAN!]
The girl’s glowing crimson eyes slowly lifted toward the notifications.
For the first time...
She looked...
Annoyed.
"...You’re so noisy."
She gently raised one finger.
The blue windows shattered.
Every System notification disappeared.
The dream fell completely silent.
And for the first time since the nightmares began...
The System...
Was gone.