Wonderful Insane World-Chapter 61: Dreambound

Dylan stayed silent for a moment.

Not to be dramatic—he didn’t mean to. It was just... something inside had shifted. Deep. Rooted, maybe. He rubbed the back of his neck, his fingers still a bit damp.

"That’s terrifying, what you just said."

He smiled, but it was more of a nervous reflex than any real amusement.

"Like... I felt fine. Aligned. Everything was clear, for a second. And now you’re telling me I was this close to triggering something most people never even get near?"

He paused, then locked eyes with Élisa.

"And your mother... was she ever that close?"

The question came out instinctively. But he almost regretted it the moment it left his mouth.

Élisa’s face tensed for a second. A shadow passed through her eyes, but she didn’t look away.

"Yeah. Once."

She said it without flinching. But the tension in her jaw told another story.

"It was a long time ago. Before I hit twenty. My late mother came back from a hunt with an anima gem—second-tier beast. She absorbed it right there, in front of the whole village."

She paused, hands clasped in front of her like she was holding something back.

"I saw the Essence twist. I felt my soul hum like a wire ready to snap. But nothing. No Stigmata. Just that feeling of brushing up against something massive... and missing it."

She straightened up, shrugging with a weary kind of irony.

"And now I see you. The kid from another world, couldn’t even meditate properly two days ago, and here you are... brushing against what others chase their whole lives."

Maggie let out a quiet snort from the shadows, arms folded.

"He’s not a kid. Not really. You felt it too, didn’t you? That kind of calm... only people who’ve seen too much breathe like that."

Dylan grimaced, this time openly.

"Hey. I just had to grow up fast."

"Yeah, well, your soul—it’s got more years than your face."

Élisa watched him for a beat longer, then finally exhaled:

"We’re gonna have to be careful with you, Dylan. It’s not about potential anymore. It’s about pace."

He raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if you go too fast, you’ll burn out from the inside. But if you wait too long... you’ll lose sync. The energy will drift. You’re walking a ridge now. And every step you take from here on out—every single choice—it’s gonna matter."

Dylan nodded slowly, lips pressed in a thoughtful line.

"Anyway... the next anima gem is yours. I’ll use the time to gain full control over my body."

Then he looked up toward the mouth of the cave, where the light was already starting to fade.

"So I better not screw this up."

He said it simply. No drama.

But both women looked at him with a strange weight in their eyes, like they’d just caught a glimpse—hidden in the quiet of his voice—of a truth bigger than even he could yet understand.

---

Night had fallen fast. Darkness had spread across the world like a thick veil, swallowing every last trace of light.

In their cave, the trio had retreated into a kind of primal comfort: a sputtering fire, a hot meal, and a quiet silence, broken only by the crackling of embers.

Dylan sat on a rock near the fire, devouring his portion with a hunger that even surprised him. His teeth—sharper since the awakening—tore through the meat effortlessly.

Each bite made him feel like a predator, a hunter both ancient and newly born. He could feel raw instinct pulsing in his jaws, and for a moment—or two—he felt... formidable.

But that feeling shattered the moment his eyes fell on Maggie.

She wasn’t eating. She was devouring. The wild boar they’d hunted just before sundown was vanishing between her hands like she was possessed by a ravenous demon.

Dylan froze, meat halfway to his mouth. His gaze flicked from his own meal to Maggie, then to Élisa—who was eating slowly, methodically, as if she were watching a play she’d seen a hundred times.

"...Is that normal?" he asked in a low voice, eyes still locked on Maggie.

Élisa shrugged, one corner of her mouth lifting in a jaded half-smile.

"She’s always eaten like that. But ever since she awakened her core, it’s gotten worse."

Maggie looked up, a bone between her teeth, perfectly innocent.

"What? I’m restocking. My essence runs on protein. And there happens to be a lot of it in meat."

"Everything runs on meat in your case," Dylan muttered, shaking his head, half disgusted, half fascinated.

"You still have room?" he added, watching her toss aside the bone and reach for another piece.

She stared at him dead serious.

"You ever seen a volcano say no to a lava flow?"

Dylan stared back. Then let out a short laugh, caught off guard by the grotesque sincerity of her answer.

He glanced at his own plate—the bones already picked clean—and realized that while his hunger wasn’t fully gone, his body felt like it had hit a strange equilibrium. His energy was settling, like a beast finally coiling into its ribcage.

"Well... not gonna lie, I thought my appetite would be wilder now. But Maggie... that’s another level."

Élisa nodded, not breaking the rhythm of her calm chewing.

"I have a theory... She’s probably more body-aligned than mind-aligned. People like her process raw matter and convert it fast. Their bodies digest and refine at higher rates."

"Is that really how it works?"

"The awakening’s still a mystery. Humanity barely understands a fraction of it. So no, I can’t really answer you. Especially since I haven’t formed my spiritual core yet."

Dylan stayed quiet for a while, watching the firelight flicker across the damp cave walls.

"So once you do... your advice might not be enough anymore."

Maggie finally dropped her last bone, belly full, looking properly satisfied.

"Alright, enough talk about mystical metabolism. Who’s taking first watch?"

Dylan fixed her with a crooked smile, his voice calm and amused:

"It should’ve been my turn... but I’ve got other plans tonight."

"Last night, I had a nightmare. You remember that girl I saw while out hunting? I saw her again—in my dream," said Dylan, a little too expressively.

"Dylan... I didn’t take you for the type to dream about little girls," Élisa said dryly from her corner.

Dylan gave her a look but didn’t respond. He continued, more composed:

"She was creepy as hell... but anyway, I saw her coming out from deep inside the cave. So I figured we could maybe check it out."

Élisa straightened, her gaze sharpening instantly. Maggie, mid-digestion, froze—eyebrows raised, caught between alert and relaxed.

"Wait, wait... You mean the girl from the woods? The one who didn’t seem... exactly human?" Maggie asked, arms crossed, half-serious, half-ready to strike.

Dylan nodded slowly, his eyes fixed on the fire like the image was still burned into his retinas.

"Yeah. Her. In the dream, she came out from the back of the cave. She looked... fuck, how do I even explain... She wasn’t here to talk, let’s put it that way. Her skin looked like wet parchment, and her eyes—empty. And yet, I saw her. She stared right at me."

A silence fell. Not heavy, but charged. The fire’s crackle suddenly seemed louder, like it was trying to fill the space.

Élisa gently set her empty bowl down beside her.

"And you want to go there? Because you saw something creepy in a dream?" she asked—not mocking, just her usual blunt pragmatism.

"Yeah."

He didn’t elaborate. That kind of yeah didn’t need it. It said: I know it’s irrational. But I feel it.

Maggie exhaled through her nose, eyes drifting up to the black ceiling of the cave.

"Well... I’m not sleeping with that image in my head anyway. And hey, what if there’s treasure down there?"

She stood up, dusting her hands off on her thighs.

"We taking torches?"

Dylan nodded and stood too.

Élisa remained seated for a few seconds longer, thoughtful.

"Some dreams are just echoes of the mind. Others are warped memories."

"And some are warnings," Dylan said softly.

Élisa’s eyes settled on him. His tone had shifted. Darker. Less "maybe," more "I know."

She rose without a word and grabbed her short spear.

"Alright. Let’s explore. But if we run into something we’re not ready to handle... we pull back. Got it?"

Dylan nodded. Maggie clicked her tongue, smiling.

"If this turns out to be another one of your weird-ass delusions, Dylan..."

He shrugged, lopsided grin on his face.

"Well, at least we’ll walk off dinner, right?"

The torches flared to life. The cave, all at once, seemed to hold its breath. The air thickened. Less natural. Like it was listening.

They stepped into the darkness, the flames casting twitchy shadows on the walls, dancing with every footstep.