"An entire city… kept awake?"
Lux tilted her head, struggling to grasp Duke's words. Insomnia she could understand, but how could an entire city be forced into sleeplessness?
Fosbayro, though only a border town in northern Demacia, still held nearly ten thousand residents. Nearly ten thousand people, all unable to sleep, that seemed impossible.
"In the end, sleep is nothing more than a self-adjusting, self-protecting mechanism of the human body," Duke explained, turning from the window. "Disrupt that mechanism, and forcing everyone to stay awake is no more than child's play."
"And once the city is sleepless, if we can track down the anchor, the one being used as the tether, then we can drive the nightmare back into the realm of souls where it belongs."
He paused, frowning. "But there's a serious problem right now."
Standing by the window, Duke turned to face Lux.
"Many people in this city are already on the verge of collapse."
He beckoned her over and pointed to the figures wandering the street.
"See them?"
Lux nodded. "Mm."
"They're people who've been tormented by nightmares so badly, they no longer dare to sleep."
Duke rapped his knuckles lightly against the glass. His left eye, the divine prosthetic, gleamed, seeing far more than ordinary vision. Every soul wandering the streets was shrouded in a thick aura of shadow magic.
That could only mean one thing: they were already tainted by Nocturne's influence. Without timely rescue, their days were numbered.
"If I set my plan into motion now," Duke went on, his tone grave, "many of these poor souls will collapse under the strain and die on the spot."
"I can tamper with the natural sleep cycle, force people into wakefulness, even whip them into a manic frenzy, but once the effect ends, the debt has to be repaid. However long they were kept awake, they'll have to pay it back in rest."
He shook his head with a trace of regret. "And with so many already like this, wandering the streets rather than risk lying down, the plan to keep the entire city awake won't work. Not yet."
Duke gave a helpless shrug. In truth, inducing mass insomnia wasn't difficult. A special frequency of sonic waves could be released into the air, subtly disturbing the body's systems, keeping people restless, unable to sleep.
Combined with a chemical mist, the whole city could be driven into wakefulness, even a state of frantic energy.
But not everyone could withstand that. The moment he conceived the idea, he had already dismissed it.
"So there's no other way?" Lux asked quietly.
"There is," Duke replied, picking up Edith's drone controller and sliding it over his wrist. The small machine whirred to life, scanning outward from Fosbayro in widening circles. "But it'll take time. As long as we locate that boy being used as the anchor, Nocturne can be banished easily."
"Then… what can I do to help?"
"You?" Duke reached out and ruffled Lux's hair, a faint smile softening his sharp features. "For now, just help me stabilize the city. Whether it's through your parents, or by talking to the city's judges and enforcers, whatever it takes, keep order."
"Right now, Fosbayro cannot afford chaos."
"And if chaos does break out?" Lux asked, curiosity laced with unease.
Duke's mouth quirked into a thin smile. "Then the nightmare itself will come crawling out."
Outside Fosbayro, in a small clearing among the trees,
The night was pitch-black. A frail figure sat atop a grassy mound. On closer look, it wasn't a hill at all, it was a grave.
The mound was crowned with a simple cairn of stones, the silhouette stark against the night sky.
Dark smoke coiled in the air. Shapes of monsters, ghastly, twisted, circled above, as though waiting for the right moment to descend upon the world. Black lines, like serpents, wound themselves around the massive stone tablet set before the grave.
Upon that stone was carved the tale of a warrior who once saved his village by driving away a demon.
This was the tomb of Garen and Lux's great-grandfather.
"Someone has broken free of my nightmare."
The frail figure atop the grave spoke, its voice cold and hollow enough to freeze the spine.
"Who dares run wild in my hunting grounds?"
As the words fell, icy eyes flared within the figure's sockets, and the sky itself rippled with shadow.
"I will find you. Nightmares always pursue those who refuse to sleep."
Within a home in Fosbayro,
Heavy curtains sealed the windows. The room was dark. On the bed, a man lay with eyes shut tight, brows furrowed as though trapped in a terrible dream.
"Daddy, tell me another story!"
"No, Abel, you need to sleep now."
Dayan smiled gently, closing the storybook and rubbing his son's short hair before standing from the chair at his bedside.
"But I want another one!"
"You have to sleep. Tomorrow I'll continue the story, alright?"
"But, " The boy's voice suddenly twisted, his wide eyes filling with tears of blood, his voice rasping into a monstrous growl. "I said I want another one!"
"Daddy!"
"Ah!"
Dayan jolted awake, chest heaving. Beside him, his wife still slept soundly. Relieved, he slipped from bed and padded into the kitchen for water.
The dream clung to his mind with unbearable clarity, replaying like real memory.
"Maybe I should check on Abel…"
Drawn by an inexplicable pull, Dayan made his way to his son's room. The door was ajar. From within came a wet, crunching sound.
Gulp.
Swallowing hard, he pushed the door open.
His wife sat slumped on the floor, back to him, hands moving to and fro as she shoved something into her mouth. The sound of chewing filled the room.
"Honey… what are you eating?"
She turned her head slowly. Her face was smeared with blood, her lips clamped around a severed pinky finger.
"Sorry," she said hoarsely. "I was just… too hungry."
She slurped the finger down like a noodle, her jaw crunching wetly, blood dribbling from her mouth.
"Won't you have some too?"
She pointed toward the bed.
Dayan's gaze followed, and froze.
His son's lifeless body lay sprawled there, eyes wide in terror.
"Ahhh!!"
Dayan screamed, and jolted awake again, drenched in sweat.
Beside him, his wife lay peacefully asleep. Trembling, he shook her awake.
"What is it?" she murmured drowsily.
He explained the nightmare. She comforted him, whispering softly, and he leaned into her embrace.
But pain pricked at his shoulder. He looked down, she was chewing into his flesh, her smile twisted, teeth dripping with blood.
"Sorry, darling," she said with that same monstrous grin. "I was just too hungry."
"No… this isn't real…" Dayan stumbled back, tumbling off the bed. Pain from the fall made him squeeze his eyes shut.
When he opened them again, sunlight filled the room. His shoulder was intact. His wife was already downstairs, preparing breakfast.
The smell of food reached him. Stomach rumbling, he descended, only to find a neighbor seated at the table.
"Good man Dayan, perfect timing," the neighbor greeted warmly. "Your wife's prepared quite the feast."
She placed a steaming pot on the table.
"Try it, love," she said cheerfully. "I've been preparing this soup for a long time."
Smiling faintly, Dayan lifted the lid,
, and saw his son's bloated corpse floating in the broth.
Clang!
The lid clattered to the ground. His wife stood over him with a butcher's knife, smiling sweetly.
"What's the matter, dear?"
"Daddy…"
From within the pot, Abel's eyes opened wide, weeping blood.
"Daddy, tell me another story."
"No… no, no!!"
Dayan clutched his head, tearing at his hair in despair.
When he squeezed his eyes shut, silence fell.
And when he opened them again, his wife's gentle breathing filled the room. But his gaze lingered on her with something darker, something shaken.
Just before dawn,
Noise erupted in the streets, drawing Duke's attention at the inn.
He had only just sent Poppy to escort Lux back to her family estate when he sat down to plan his next move against Nocturne.
"Kill him!"
"Punish him!"
"He's a murderer, kill him!"
"What's going on?"
At the window, Duke saw angry townsfolk dragging a bound man through the street. Torches flared, faces twisted with hatred.
"It's all fake, it's all fake!" the man screamed, struggling against his bonds. "Dreams! You're all monsters! We're being hunted, we'll never escape!"
The cries reached Duke's ears, and a chill settled in his chest. He rushed downstairs, stopping the innkeeper at the door.
"What happened?"
The innkeeper sighed. "I just heard it myself… that man slaughtered his sleeping wife and child, then turned on his neighbors. Killed six with an axe before they managed to subdue him."
Duke's eyelid twitched. "When?"
"Just now. Heaven help us, what's happening to this city?"
Outside, the mob dragged their prisoner toward the livestock auction stage, turning it into an execution platform.
Duke's divine eye saw the truth, the city's sky was smothered by shadow magic, a suffocating black cloud pressing down.
"How did it escalate so quickly…?"
End of chapter....
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