Chapter 17 The Cave

Chapter 17 The Cave
Cold, damp, the stench of rotting flesh, the noise of chains rubbing against the ground.

Many strange perceptions flooded Duncan’s mind, but he didn’t succeed in opening his eyes for a moment – at this moment, he felt as if his soul had been split into two parts, one of which remained on the Lost Country, while the other part had been shoved into a completely alien shell that was as difficult to navigate as an old and broken machine! The senses of the Lost Country were rushing through his nervous system, mixed with a certain sluggishness and numbness, and he tried to open his eyes and move his fingers, but he couldn’t feel the existence of these corresponding body parts at all.

This uncomfortable feeling lasted for several seconds, the nervous system of that unspeakable numbness and sluggishness before finally faded, Duncan felt his “body” as if from a long hibernation awakened, and a little bit of restored the ability to move.

He finally opened his eyes and saw clearly the situation around himself at this moment.

Duncan saw many people – or rather, many dead bodies – thrown around in the damp and waterlogged dirt and rocks, most of them in rags, and a few with their bodies still intact. a few with complete garments still on them.

Drops of condensed water dripped from the top of the cavern, and the sound of sewage flowing as if from an underground river or drain could be faintly heard in the distance, while the sound of chains rubbing together appeared to be coming from the depths of a tunnel connected to the cavern, and was already fading away.

Duncan blinked, trying to make sense of what had happened – he looked down at his right hand, and what he saw was a completely unfamiliar and thin palm, and ragged clothing at the arm, and the brass compass that had been in his hand before had long since disappeared.

He looked up beside him again, and he remembered glimpsing a shadow following him as he traveled through the web of starbursts and light, a shadow whose silhouette looked as if it were a bird of some kind, but of course, he found nothing.

The birdlike shadow did not seem to have traveled with him into real space.

Duncan slowly clenched his palms, forcing down the nervous unease in his mind, and then tried rubbing his fingers together.

A very faint green flame emerged from his fingertips.

It must be said that this cluster of embers now looked far weaker than what Duncan was familiar with, but he still felt a bit of peace of mind, and at the same time as the embers burned up, his still somewhat chaotic spirit was also slightly revitalized and felt more clearly than just now a certain …… mental level of tearing and connection.

He clearly sensed that another part of his spirit was not here, he sensed the presence of the Lost Country, sensed his own self who was sitting at the desk, brass compass in hand.

The sensation was wonderful, but Duncan immediately became vaguely aware of what was happening now:
A …… sort of projection, or extension, of his mind had occurred, and a portion of that projected mind had traveled across an unknown distance and was now burrowed inside yet another strange body.

And in this projected state, he can still clearly feel the existence of his own “body”.

This must have something to do with the brass compass! Could this be the ability of that “abnormal item”?

Duncan’s mind was filled with speculations, but he didn’t let them take up too much of his time. After confirming that his own body was still safe and sound, and that his spirit was still under control, and that he had only temporarily entered a distant and nameless body, he had already settled down a bit, and was ready to confirm what the situation of his “new body” was in the first place.

First of all, the first point can be sure that the surroundings are not on a ship.

This is land – a land that he had not been able to find after so many days at sea!
The second point, this gloomy cave does not look like a good place, the surrounding scattered corpses also does not look like a normal “burial” scene, he is now occupying this body …… because of what kind of unlucky reason to be trapped in such a hell on earth inside?

Duncan took a deep breath, a support body sat up – his body had been leaning on a large stone, that posture can not be said to be comfortable.

And it is this inhalation plus a rise, Duncan suddenly from the body to feel a huge strange – he felt himself into the body into the air at once unloaded out, some kind of empty and weird feeling also from the chest, and even with the rise of the action also happened to distort.

Duncan looked down in surprise to see a large hole.

The hole opened up at the heart, and naturally the contents were gone, and there was a cool breeze blowing through it, mixing with the breath Duncan had taken in that hadn’t quite dissipated a moment ago, and eventually escaping into the humid air.

Duncan even got a clear view of what was behind him from a certain angle. “…… Crap?!”

Even if his nerves were thick, even if he had more or less grown some “world experience” on the Lost Country, Duncan still felt himself breaking out in a layer of cold sweat at this instant, and he felt his own goosebumps appearing in endless peaks, and every single hair of sweat stood up!

And after this fierce moment of shock, he immediately realized that: he is still standing here, and even still have the power to curse.

With his heart gone and a big hole in his chest, he didn’t even feel any pain from this body!
“This is …… a corpse?”

A few moments later, Duncan had woken up, further figuring out his situation and quickly calming down.

Taking over the body of a corpse and getting up and moving around might not be something to be alarmed about; after all, he still had a ghost ship that could sail by itself and a wooden goat first mate who could rave people to the point where their brains boiled over, and he’d recently met a cursed mannequin who could split up and was adept at riding the waves of the infinite sea, and what could be less alarming than a “dead man talking”? “Dead Man Talking”?
At least he only lost his heart, Alice’s head is still often not above the neck it ……

With all these thoughts running through his head, Duncan regained his composure as fast as he could to his own surprise, and then he confirmed the mobility of his current body, and adjusted slightly to the out-of-shape movements brought about by the abnormalities in his chest, before taking a step towards the corpses that had been dumped in the cavern.

“Sure enough ……”

Duncan looked at the first corpse, feeling unsurprised after seeing the appalling hollow in the other’s chest.

It was a middle-aged man with a haggard face and ragged clothes, looking as if he were a beggar by the side of the road; he had already been dead for a long time, but his furious eyes still conveyed the struggle and despair he had felt at the moment of his death.

As Duncan continued on, he saw body after body that had lost their hearts, and they fell miserably on the cold stone, with only two exceptions – those two had hideous wounds on their heads that seemed to be the result of slamming into the stone and killing them instantly.

Duncan couldn’t help but make some associations – perhaps these were two men who had cut themselves off before facing the agony of the gouging out of their hearts.

To be honest, the cave was a little too exciting for the average person, and even Duncan felt a little overwhelmed by all this examination, so much so that he had to find a cleaner rock to sit on in a more distant area after checking over all the bodies, sorting himself out a little and speculating on the truth of it all as he calmed down.

Obviously, it was appalling murder – but judging by the overly cold and uniform manner in which it was done, it seemed to be more than that, revealing a certain evil …… sense of ritual.

Duncan summoned the spirit flame again, feeling the connection between himself and his “body”, knowing that at any time he could cut off this “projected state” and return to the safety of the Lost Country.

But he felt the need to understand what was going on here.

Even if it was just to get some information about the land.

Duncan exhaled, feeling the wind leaking from his chest, and rose to his feet from the boulder where he had been resting for the moment, looking down the tunnel deeper into the cavern, remembering that the sound of chains rubbing together had come from there earlier.

This underground space is not only corpses, there are other people moving around, those who can move freely in this terrible place …… should be able to give him some answers.

It certainly wasn’t very safe to just barge over there and check out the situation, but Duncan didn’t care –

His own heart was wide open now, anyway.

(End of chapter)