The road ended without warning.
Elias stepped over the snapped remains of a wooden sign, its letters burned away by time and rot. Beyond it: a village, perfectly intact, yet wrong in every way. There was no wind, no birds, not even the creak of wooden shingles swaying in the air. Just... stillness. And the fog, curling like breathless ghosts across the cobblestones.
Mara's voice was hushed. "This place wasn't on the map."
Elias nodded, scanning the houses. Lanterns still hung outside the doorways, flickering faintly, as if someone had just lit them. But there were no footsteps, no voices, only those lights, whispering of routine in a world that had forgotten motion.
Then they saw him.
A man stood in the middle of the street, holding a basket full of rotten apples. His eyes were open. His chest moved. But he did not blink. Did not turn.
He was sleepwalking.
System Warning: Dark Red-Tier Entity Detected
Area Contamination Level: 78%
Status: Dream-Bound Zone - Time Displacement Active
Mara whispered, "I read about this. Echo hunters who entered dream-bound zones... most never woke up."
The two moved slowly past the villager. His mouth was slightly open, breath wheezed through cracked lips.
They turned a corner and froze.
A dozen more villagers stood or walked in slow motion. One swept an already clean porch. Another watered dirt where no plants grew. A child sat on the edge of a well, rocking back and forth.
Each of them wore the same expression.
A peaceful, empty smile.
And above them all, perched on the bell tower at the heart of the village:
The Sleepwalker.
Tall. Slender. Its arms draped like drapes, impossibly long, fingers brushing the rooftop. Its face is hidden beneath a gauze veil stitched shut. It made no sound. But it watched.
ENTITY: THE SLEEPWALKER
Dark Red – Level 2: Dreambound Entity
Origin: A hospice fire, where patients died during a collective hallucination of heaven.
Current Affinity: Sleep/Memory/False Peace
Suddenly, Elias felt drowsy.
He shook his head, but the heaviness lingered.
Mara cursed. "Don't look at its face. Even covered, it'll pull you in."
Too late.
The world blurred.
The fog swelled.
And Elias was no longer in the village.
He stood in a memory.
The hospital room. Pale green walls. The sound of machines.
His mother was there.
Alive.
"Elias," she whispered, "You did your best. Stay here with me. Rest. You've earned peace."
Her hand reached out. Warm. Soft.
But he knew this was wrong.
Too perfect. Too easy.
He touched the Mirrorclast Knife at his belt. It pulsed with cold energy.
He slashed down across his palm. Pain. Real.
The dream cracked.
His mother's face melted away.
The bed dissolved into cinders.
And the Sleepwalker's true form loomed overhead, stretching across the skies of his memory.
Echo Affinity: Resonant Bind Activated
Fragment Absorbed: Dream Echo - "Lullaby of the False"
Elias woke screaming.
Mara was dragging him into a church, sealing the door behind them with salt lines.
"Welcome back," she said grimly. "You were humming."
He looked down at the knife. The mirror shard inside now pulsed a soft, rhythmic beat, like a child breathing in their sleep.
New Skill Unlocked: Dreamveil Break
Slash open a dream-sealed area or banish dream-afflicted Echoes.
Path Affinity: Gray +2 / Human -1
Elias exhaled.
And the church bells rang.
The Sleepwalker had found them.
The doors trembled as the air grew thick with static.
Then silence.
"Elias," Mara whispered, "We can't run. Not from this one."
"No," he said, eyes darkening. "We confront it. Inside its own illusion."
He opened the prayer book on the altar. Inside was a mirror. Old. Tinted.
Item Acquired: Worn Confessional Mirror
Can be used to reflect Echo-bound illusions. Compatibility: High.
Elias drew the Mirrorclast Knife, its echo humming to life.
He stepped toward the altar, holding both items before him.
"I'm going in," he said. "If I don't return "
"You'll return," Mara interrupted. "Because I'll drag you back myself."
He smiled, faintly.
And then he cut through the veil.
The dream this time was worse.
He stood in a burned-out orphanage hallway. Cots melted into walls. Laughter, soft and broken, echoed from every direction.
And the Sleepwalker stood in the center, face unveiled.
But it wasn't a face. Just a mirror. And inside it, Elias's reflection.
It smiled at him.
"Stay," it said in his voice.
The mirror cracked.
"I SAID STAY!" it shrieked.
Elias lunged, Mirrorclast raised.
He drove it straight into the reflection's heart.
Light shattered. Screams echoed.
The dream burned away.
He awoke in the church. Mara kneeling beside him, blood on her hands, holding his.
"You were bleeding from your eyes," she said.
He sat up. The village was still. The fog is lifting.
The Sleepwalker was gone.
And behind his ribs, something new stirred.
Dark Red Entity Neutralized: The Sleepwalker*
Fragment Absorbed: Mirror of False Peace*
New Echo Skill: Reflective Doppel (Gray)*
Create a temporary clone of a dreamself to distract or mislead Echoes. Duration: 15s.*
Path Update:* Gray +3 | Human -2
*Sanity Status: 58% Stable
Elias looked to the fading fog.
Another village saved.
Another piece of himself gone.
And the path to Gray had begun.
To be continued...