Plague Doctor

Translator: Lonelytree

There was a giant distortion behind the red door, there was a flurry of light and shadow… It felt like two completely different memories were clashing against each other, forming a new creation with each collision. It looked like static from an old television. There was static, some images and then more static…

Gu Jun felt an intense pain in his mind. Peacock under his right hand was shaking as well. Her struggle became more pronounced. She was waking up and shaking off the hypnosis.

“Wait, do you hear the singing?” He immediately stepped in. He did not hear any song himself but Peacock did like music so there had to be some symbolic presence in her memory, it would help her find a stable spot among the chaos.

“Yes… I do hear it…” Peacock mumbled, “It is one of my favorite songs…”

“Yes, you are right.” Gu Jun continued with his hypnosis while using his own mental power to help push her forward. “Think of the times you’ve relaxed to this song.”

The lights and shadows started to stabilize. A song was weaving its way through. Suddenly clear memories flashed before Gu Jun’s eyes. A white van sped down the highway, it was a young girl about 16 at the wheel. She had on mature make-up and fashionable clothes. While she drove, she sang at the top of her lungs. Her expression was haughty, even a little bit arrogant. The young girl… was definitely Peacock but just slightly younger.

Gu Jun’s brows creased, this was definitely not something that happened in the Dreamlands, the girl was not a member of this land’s travelers either. He could hear more clearly that Peacock was singing an English Song… it was Taylor Swift’s We are never ever getting back together. The song was quite famous but it was released about 8 years ago. ‘Is that when this memory was from? Back when she was on Earth?’

“Where are you going?” Suppressing the agitation in his heart, Gu Jun asked. He realized Peacock really did not intend to lie to him, because he could sense that these memories were buried so deep that probably the girl herself did not know about their existence… Something bigger was at work here…

“It’s Judy’s birthday party…” Peacock mumbled and her voice was slowly changing, she was speaking in English, fluent English. Even her tone had changed, like it was a different person speaking, “Tom will be there too, I know that bastard is going to beg me to forgive him. But fuck him! I’ve given him enough chances, not anymore!”

The images changed. Now there was a house with a garden and pool, noisy music and human activities. It was a party scene. Gu Jun frowned even further, this was not China… he could see Asian faces, but also Caucasians and African Americans, yes, this was definitely not set in China. So where did Peacock grow up? America? Europe?

“Is Tom here?” Gu Jun asked slowly, “Is he here?”

“There he is…” Peacock murmured. In the image she was chatting happily with a group of girls when a young man walked over. She glanced at him before giving a loud gasp, and released a flurry of land’s traveller’s language, “Malachite, where are we?!” Gu Jun now managed to take a good look, Tom was Malachite, or a younger version of Malachite…

Instantly, the images started to flicker like it might collapse at any moment. Peacock grabbed her head in pain and groaned. “Where is this place, who are these people? Our people are waiting for us to return. We have to return with the Pnakotic Manuscripts or the Ossarians will…”

“Kate, Kate?” The few girls asked in concern. “Kathlyn, are you alright?!”

‘Wait, they can hear her?’ Gu Jun’s heart chilled. ‘This happened in her actual memory, and not a distortion of the two different identities?’ At the same time, the young man’s face dropped as he crumbled to the ground with his hands pressed against his head. “Ah… No, Peacock, we might be falling into a hallucination…” The first half of the sentence was uttered in English, the latter half in the land’s traveller’s language.

“What is wrong?””Something’s not right, did they have too much to drink? Someone called 000!” Gu Jun could hear the girls scream. ‘Which country has the emergency number 000? Right, it is Australia…’ He had been there for his brain tumor. So Peacock’s memory of ‘Kathlyn’ was set in Australia.

Seeing as the hypnosis was about to collapse, Gu Jun quickly called out, “Kathlyn, Kathlyn!” He hoped to use the name to stabilize her other identity. “Did you hear that? There is another song coming on, one that you have heard before. Kathlyn, what is the name of that song? Tell me.”

“Song?” Peacock muttered. Struggle was clear on her face as another consciousness was fighting for control. “Yes, it’s a song to praise the Phecda Hero…”

“That’s not the song.” Gu Jun interrupted her and gave her the direct suggestion, “It is an English song, you can hear it, just listen to the melody. The song that you’ve been hearing on the way to the party.” He had no idea what he might dig up. How did Peacock and Malachite end up at Dreamlands? How did they get here? And what organization were they affiliated with?

“English song…” Peacock’s voice was changing and she resumed her usage of English, “Yes, I can hear it now…”

Gu Jun used his mental power to stabilize the images but it was like trying to calm a raging sea. The pictures were shifting, her memory was swirling. A great expanse of desert, like the one that they were in now but there were stone houses, clean lakes and tall statues… Suddenly the face of a cute girl flashed through, she was holding a porcelain puppy, looking at him with open curiosity. ‘Sugar Gem… City of Kindles? Is this City of Kindles… It seems to really exist…’

But suddenly, the image of the desert changed again. It was still a sandy geography but there were some bushes and low trees. He could see some modern housing, a highway and a brown English road sign next to it…

[ Welcome To

Geikie — Windjana Way

LENGTH – 155km ]

“Hmm.” Gu Jun was about to take a closer view when the scenery changed again. The modern house, highway and electric poles faded away. In the endless desert, there were 5 young people striding down the sand. Peacock, Malachite and 3 other people that he had seen at Dylath-Leen. They looked about their age now.

They moved forward expressionlessly, with the emotion of robots. They were heading towards a cluster of large rocks, three of the rocks were arranged in such a way to form a gap and there was strange light leaking out from inside.

“That is…” Something triggered inside Gu Jun as he saw the five walked towards the gap one by one. One after another, they disappeared into the light. The last to depart was Peacock, once she did, all the images started to twist madly.

“Ah!” Peacock’s eyes flew open. Her face was scrunched together as she groaned continuously in pain.

Gu Jun was forced out of it as well. He took a deep breath and quickly ordered. “Peacock, it is over now! Wake up, it’s over now!” They were still at the ‘City of Kindle’ in the desert at night. Malachite down the distance was kneeling on the ground with his hands over his head as well. The Zoogs patted their bodies, evoking gasps of shock.

“It is over now.” Gu Jun commanded but Peacock was still trapped in the painful memory, her curled up body was shivering badly. Gu Jun twisted his brows and turned to shout at the Zoogs. “Where is this channel that you mentioned?!” The Elder Zoog said it was in this desert but he did not pinpoint the exact location. According to him, the Zoogs would have to be in the channel’s proximity to sniff it out.

“Erm.” The Elder Zoog immediately snapped into action. He tapped his stomach to reply, “Actually it is not far from here, we should reach it in another 500 steps.”

Gu Jun’s heart sank. He glanced at Peacock who was in throes of pain and then turned to look at Malachite who was asking the Zoogs who they were talking to. The young man appeared to have been sucked into a deeper whirlpool of hallucination…

Peacock’s group of five did not come from the past or the future, but the present. They had entered the Dreamlands through a channel that connected to a desert somewhere in Australia. Once they reached this City of Kindles, they soon departed to Ulthar to search for the Pnakotic Manuscripts. At least something or someone who had taken over their bodies did.