Angor thought there was an invisible barrier in front of him that had bent the light.
Carefully, he picked up a broomstick from a pile of junk and tried poking into the “barrier”. The broomstick did not meet any resistance, nor was it cut or damaged in any way. It went through the unknown obstacle smoothly.
But Angor saw something wrong with the light again.
As soon as the broomstick went past where the “barrier” was supposed to be, the tip of it suddenly grew darker as if the nearby light source could no longer reach it.
Angor looked at the object in his hand, which displayed two different brightness at two ends, and was sure that there was something right in front of his position that had certain effects on objects nearby.
Perhaps it meant to block light from traveling through, or even to block all sound, judging from how everything was so quiet around here.
Angor then tried reaching an arm into the “barrier”, before retracting it.
Nothing was wrong. His arm looked fine.
Now that he knew the strange boundary had no effect on his soul form or common human bodies, since there were “clowns” beyond the barrier who looked rather healthy apart from their strange behaviors, he puffed up his courage and stepped into the area ahead.
And he was surprised to hear all kinds of voices suddenly booming around his ears, which almost sounded deafening because he was so used to absolute silence just a second ago.
“Praise the Queen, praise the moon, praise our new home!”
Just as he thought, the unknown barrier meant to stop all sounds from reaching through, which allowed these noisy clowns to sing to their hearts’ content without disturbing the outside world.
But as he tried to check behind him, he realized that the path he was walking on just now was gone. The quiet street, the street lamp... the area behind him was replaced by darkness.
He then tried leaving by running into the darkness. But no matter how he moved, he always found himself back at square one just like how the darkness around the outer city prevented anyone from going out.
Since he couldn’t leave now, he chose to move ahead and look for Nausica among the singing clowns.
There were too many people around him. While they danced madly, one of them happened to jerk his head around, which allowed him to notice Angor.
The clown quickly stepped back from Angor while yelling, “Praise Shava!!!”
The dissonant voice immediately drew everyone’s attention. Soon, Angor found himself becoming the center of attention among the crowd.
At the same time, the song, which echoed in the area, had been replaced by a new one.
While praising “Shava”, all the clowns bowed to him politely before they moved far enough so that they left enough space for Angor to walk through.
While Angor was wondering what he should do next, two shadows descended from the sky.
The one landing on the left was “Aria Singer” Froggy, who wore a miniature tail suit, while the “Red Fox” Fox stood to the right side in a glossy gauze dress.
Fox began to perform a song using its harp, while Froggy took a deep breath, adjusted its collar, and started singing something Angor couldn’t understand.
Angor forced himself to smile while listening to the terrible performance.
As soon as it ended, Angor clapped his hands and pretended that he enjoyed it very much.
“Such a beautiful voice, Mister Froggy! Like the moonlight that provides my heart with warmth on a cold night!”
Froggy looked quite happy upon hearing those words. At least Angor believed so, since he couldn’t tell whether Froggy was “smiling” when looking at its bulging eyeballs.
Compared to Froggy, Fox looked rather modest as it patiently waited for Angor’s comment.
“Pleasant and tender melodies as ever, Miss Fox. Your song reminds me of the elegant visage or her highness.”
His flattery worked well. Froggy was smiling so hard that he lost his balance and tumbled to the floor, while Fox had covered her muzzle using her fluffy tail.
“We are glad to receive your exquisite commendation, Lord Shava,” said Fox.
“Yeah, croak! May our friendships last forever!” Froggy stood up while speaking politely. “It’s such a pity that this land is forsaken by the moon, or I could have found the best musicians and present you our best music fest ever!”
Just like when it was singing, Froggy’s voice kept rising and falling dramatically.
Angor maintained his bright smile while silently complaining in his mind, Oh god... Time to test my acting skills again.
He was glad that he went through many occasions that required him to put up shows in front of other wizards. He might not be a professional performer, but he had learned enough not to mess up such a “facade”.
“I sensed the brilliant power of Lord Shava just a moment ago. That sky-reaching power wave almost destroyed our hemi-passage. Thank goodness you stopped it in time, Shava, or our plan will be postponed again,” said Fox as it gave Angor a curious glance. “Is it perhaps... your true body has descended upon this world, Lord Shava?”
True body? Angor wondered. Are they talking about my right hand?
He rolled his eyes as he quickly gained an idea.
“Just a small part of it, and I still have some trouble controlling it fully. That’s why I ejected my soul, I can’t hold back that cyclone attack otherwise.”
At least this wasn’t a complete lie.
Fox was easily convinced. “I see! This humble world is too weak to fully welcome your true valor. It’s just reasonable that you have to take it slow.”
Angor quickly changed the subject so that the monsters did not keep talking about him, which would ruin his show sooner or later.
“I see you have gathered so many people here, so you can...?” Angor intentionally dragged his tone.
“So we can give our Queen a warm welcome as she presents her nightwatch!” Froggy picked up Angor’s phrase, much to Angor’s delight. “Too bad the Queen’s not willing to show her grace somewhere without moonlight, so she sent a dum-dum instead.”
Froggy hopped in place while speaking. It looked like it was angry about something.
The queen won’t come? Angor narrowed his eyes. He knew that this “Queen” planned to take over the wizarding world by sending her army. He believed there was probably something that prevented her from coming here directly.
“A dum-dum. Are you referring to Yorkshire the Puppeteer?”
“That’s him, croak! The silly dog of Minister Dim has come as well! If the Minister hears about this, he’ll get so embarrassed that he would go streaking on the moon and let us watch him!”
Minister Dim? This name had reminded Angor of yet another figure working for Padt Family—a blacksmith.
“About that silly dog...” Angor moved aside and revealed the spotted dog behind him that was still wagging its tail madly.
Froggy and Fox exchanged some looks.
“Sigh. That’s the silly dog. It’s supposed to stay with us, but it ran off to somewhere from this interlayer. So it met with you, Lord Shava.”
Angor quickly noticed a particular word that might be useful: the “interlayer”.
He knew what it meant. During Twilight Auction, when he accidentally summoned the “Queen”, that special realm of an elegant castle hall was an interlayer. Later, Sunders helped him sever the connection between that castle hall and Nightmare Realm, thus turning it into his own piece of Nightmare Domain.
According to The Mystery of Nightmare Domain, which was composed by Sunders, an interlayer always suggested the existence of a “hemi-passage”.
As for the passage...
He looked up at the black vortex above his current position.
Next, he quickly looked away and pretended that he wasn’t interested in the vortex.
“Where is Yorkshire, if I may?”
“That dum-dum went off to find this dog! I think he ran into a Nightmare Watcher who betrayed us and is fighting with the watcher right now.”
Froggy was smiling for some reason. It seemed he was happy to see Sunders and Yorkshire fight each other.
Fox looked away and showed a worried look.
Angor nodded and moved around while observing the possessed citizens so that he might find Nausica.
It was too difficult. The area wasn’t exactly bright, and his task was made harder when all people would stay away from him while making funny faces.
Angor decided to ask Toby to fly around with a lit oil lamp held in his beak so that they could check the surroundings better. Fox and Froggy didn’t question the presence of Toby—they already saw Toby together with Angor during the Twilight Auction.
“Her highness won’t do her nightwatch this time, so what’s our next plan?” While searching, Angor did not forget to pry information.
“This city looks rather fine. We may remain here and recuperate,” said Fox.
Are they going to turn Sleepless City into another of their “camp”, like Pocratee? Angor wondered.