Chapter 74: Lakes and Fogs [Illustration]

Daniel opens his eyes to the fresh air of the grassy plains that stretches before him.

The dive into Anne's realm is no different from before, aside from the feeling of already standing. More importantly, he has to blink twice to confirm that night has shadowed the land as described. That said, despite having only the faintest illumination from the stars above, the scenery has simply become a different painting that isn't any less beautiful.

But can it still be admired if its changes are consequential?

"Aha, there you are! Finally joined, I see."

Burying his awe, he turns a full one-eighty to Mary. There, in front of her lake, her outline simmers with its glow as if it were brimming with life. He'd normally take time to appreciate her shaded contours with such a backdrop, except...

"What...the...fuck?"

His eyes inevitably pop out, ripped from his girlfriend's presence to the unmistakable white tear above. It snatches him as he watches the crack pulse out magical symbols that demand royal attention.

Mary and Anne didn't nearly do justice to describing the anomaly, already bigger than Daniel imagined. Swallowing slowly, he tries to calm himself while forcing his legs to join his counterpart's side.

Suppressing a short laugh, Mary crosses her arms and nods. "Yep, you're holding the same reaction I did."

Snapping away from the mesmerizing hole in space, Daniel shakes his head before thinning his lips. "First off, are you okay?"

The dark artist raises a brow before gasping. "Ah, right, we're pretty wrapped up against each other in the real world. I feel fine, but it's strange how none of that comes through."

Pausing, she grins. "Well, we could do it here if we wanted. Wouldn't that be meta?"

Daniel drops his head. "You're crazy. Let's be serious here, please."

"Oh, fine, but you have to admit it was heart-pounding being squeezed together. I know you felt good, wiggling your hips behind my bigger butt so eagerly~"

The male artist glances away. "I...I'll refuse to encourage more of it. Anyway, has anything changed since you and Anne dived into this place?"

Mary titters at her boyfriend's lack of honesty, but otherwise, she lifts her gaze back to the hole in the sky.

"Well, the tear seems to be the same as last time, so...maybe that's good? Other than that, we have a new lake! Guess whose it is?"

Following Mary's hand to the right of them, Daniel catches the third lake's similar glow, seemingly about a hundred meters away. That's about the same distance from Anne's lake to their left.

He narrows his eyes. "Mine?"

"Bingo!" Mary chirps. "It was a good thirty minutes before you arrived, so I checked it out while waiting for you. Not that I need it to revisit your memories, but it's cool to see a wobbling view of our sex life from your perspective."

"Why specifically...you know what, nevermind."

It may be him, but the lake also seems smaller in comparison to the other two. He decides against questioning with a more notable body of water missing.

"What about Mother's lake?" he asks.

His fellow artist hums, placing a finger on her chin. "I wondered that as well. Now that Anne has access to Viviane's time, she should be here as well in some form, right?"

They scan the area with that in mind. Thankfully, the lakes shine in the dark like moonlight across ice rather than water, so if there is a fourth lake, it should be pretty obvious. On the other hand, his second slime mother is a special existence compared to humans and even Anne. Perhaps the same rules for how memories gather in this metaphysical reality are different for her.

'No, why would that matter?' Daniel rejects in his head as his brows lower. 'Memories are still memories. If Anne can access Viviane's time, then it should show up somehow.'

"Wait, there's...something in the distance below the tear!" Mary points.

Looking closely, a light cloud clings to the ground further in front of them. Granted, one would be hard-pressed to see it in the dark, given the faintest grey against the light reflecting off Mary's lake, but it's worth noting when everywhere else is clear.

"Well, it's something, but it seems a little far. Do we really have to walk that distance?" Daniel asks.

Mary giggles as she slides her hand into his. "Love, this place is vast, but aren't you sick of staying in the same general area?"

Daniel snorts. "I guess...well, it doesn't look like we have much of a choice."

"Then, shall we swim through my lake? Ah! Wait, no, let me rephrase: Shall we swim through me?"

Grinning slyly, Daniel rolls his eyes, but is unable to prevent his lips from rising to her stupid joke. "I think I've swum enough with you, much less in you."

"Ha! Come now, love. Are you going to really take your time walking around my lake? Unlike yours over there, we'll easily lose fifteen minutes if we don't go straight through mine."

Flinching, Daniel momentarily holds his breath. "No way...Are you saying my lake is small?"

"Pfft, it's basically a pond," Mary maintains, waving her hand. "It's cute, though. I wonder why it's so small, hmm?"

"Really, Mary?" Daniel questions back flatly. He's more disappointed at such an unoriginal allusion.

Snickering, his girlfriend leans forward. "Oh, relax! Mummy knows you're plenty big in other ways~"

"Now I'm confused. Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

She narrows slyly. "My ass says it is, at least."

Daniel snorts. "Being blunt isn't very British of you."

"Hey, I've been in America for too long!"

"Agreed."

Moving on, Daniel turns his attention to her waters. "Since I don't know how much time we have here, we'll swim through yo-I mean, your lake, alright? Before that, I want to see your viewing of the Isis book with Merlin's message that you said magically appeared before you."

Mary gasps. "Oh, right! All you have to do is recall what I remember as a young girl as you focus in on a place of the waters. Who knows, maybe you'll get a different message."

He understands Anne didn't receive any message, meaning Merlin may not have expected his slime mother's viewing, or involvement, for that matter. Although he's not holding any expectation for a message either, he steps closer to the shore and narrows his eyes.

As he stares at the calm water's surface, he recalls the moment young Mary picked up the book. When she opened it...

Nothing.

For Daniel, it's all missing. That's emphasized by how the wavy image in the waters only shows Marlin's panicked face with the dropped book shut after the fact.

Mary clicks her tongue. "I guess it doesn't play in full for you. Let me try it again."

Daniel relaxes his attention, allowing the female artist to take over from her original recollection. As she squints, he can see the same memory playing, but this time, it shows her actually opening the book.

However, there is no magic, only a blank page.

"Huh!?"

Apparently, it's blank for Mary now as well. With such a discrepancy, she drops her focus with a few blinks, then waves her arm, shouting at her waters. "Hey, stupid wizard, I know what I saw! You're not going to replay some magic and generate some steamy words?"

At the very least, the blank page shows something was unlocked, considering Daniel couldn't even pull that from his collection of foreign memories.

"Maybe his message was a one-time thing?" he suggests.

Slumping, Mary exhales. "Yeah, probably. Well, it was worth trying."

Daniel smiles reassuringly. "In any case, your uncle will be coming over with the book, so we'll have more chances to discover other aspects. You said he'd be coming this weekend, right?"

Rubbing her head, Mary grows a little annoyed at the thought of her family member. "Yes, but I have no idea what he's thinking. After denying to pay at least part of the ticket, he texted me just after dinner that he'd reimburse me once he sees our loving shapeshifters. Jeez, he didn't even think I would go through and pay for his flight!"

"I don't blame his caution," Daniel admits. "I'm a bit worried about how he'll react."

Mary scoffs. "He's studying a magic book! I think he'll fare much better than I did."

Stretching her arms forward, she prepares to take a dive. "Let's not dawdle any longer. It should be safe to swim, right? I mean, it seems like normal water aside from you being able to breathe in it."

"That was with Mom's lake, but I'm assuming it's the same with the other ones. Let's just hope there's nothing that drags us down."

Mary stiffens as Daniel's first experience with Viviane vividly plays back in her head. Swallowing, she laughs nervously. "Um, actually, you know what? I'd rather not get wet. Besides, we should be more careful with all the changes that occurred, and surely, we have enough time in this world before we wake up, right?"

Daniel stares blankly at his counterpart's shifty-eyed excuse. Although part of him just wants to swim through to rattle her bones, he isn't keen on swimming either.

With a light shake of his head, he squeezes her hand with a smile. "Alright, we'll go around. Just don't complain about the travel...you know, given how large you are."

Catching the corner of his lips rising further, Mary opens her mouth silently before narrowing her eyes. "You're technically right, but at the same time, I should've seen that coming."

...

..

.

Some distance later, after passing around Mary's lake, the two artists notice the fog growing stronger as it shrouds their feet. Behind them, the three lakes are mere shining dots that only dim as they move further into the depths of their uncertain direction.

The tear above that quakes with magic provides the only meaningful light: almost a guidance, one could say. Were it not for that, they wouldn't be sure whether they're keeping straight.

"This is going well," Mary begins, her tongue sour. "Not. Creepy. At. All."

"Why even point it out?" Daniel asks, less concerned.

"Well, I'm sorry!" she growls before swallowing to reign in her chills. "But in seriousness, what do you make of this?"

"It's a fog."

Mary drops her head. "Yes, I see that, love. Let's not be that serious and have a bit more imagination."

"Well, that's more of your forte, so you tell me."

Curling her lips, Mary looks around as the area fades into more grey, and oddly, a little brighter as a result. Despite it being nighttime, the fog seems to be spreading more of the light it receives above.

"We're...passing through the shadow realm! Yeah, that probably is a thing, right?"

Daniel's lips break into a smile as he shakes his head. "You're such a dork."

"Hey, let's not ignore your childhood," Mary reminds.

"Fine, we're both dorks," he says, chuckling.

They squeeze their hands together in their moment of brief uplift, but not even that helps them with their next step.

"Huh...Gwak!"

Mary drops from Daniel's view with a delayed squawk, her hand sliding out of his grasp before he can react and tighten. It takes a moment for his girlfriend's disappearance to register before his pupils shrink.

"Mary!"

Heart racing, Daniel steps closer to his fellow artist's previous position, only to nearly stumble as well. Luckily, he catches himself, then bends to one knee to feel out the ground with his hands. To his horror, it slopes out into a mixture of dirt and sand with no clear end.

"Shit, Mary!"

Calling out again, he squints in the hopes he'll see where she dropped; however, no amount of focus would help cut through the fog. Without any response or sign, he's about to follow her down....

At least, until a hand shoots out, gripping his arm.

"Fuck!"

The artist's heart almost stops beating, but he has enough mind to recognize Mary's dark skin showing through the fog. Hearing her grunt, he exhales slowly before helping her back onto her feet.

"Oh god, that scared me!" the ebony artist gasps. Not wishing to slip again, she tugs closer to her fellow artist, her breasts squishing against his body as she does. Glancing downward after taking another breath, she growls. "Why the hell is there a depression here?!"

More relieved than anything, Daniel wraps his arms around her and forces them to take a few steps back for safety. Seeing how they still remain on solid ground, he eventually adds space as he grips the sides of her arms.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

Mary hums, taking time to pat herself down. At the same time, the drip of concern in her coworker's voice makes her smile, but she clears her throat. "Other than the sudden fall, yeah, I think."

They turn towards the general area of the slope to try to make out the terrain change. As if expecting their attention, some of the fog in their view decreases, revealing enough of a large ditch that stretches out with little warning.

A dried lake.

"Wait a minute, could this be...no, that can't be, right?" Mary questions, mirroring Daniel's similar thoughts regarding Viviane; however, it doesn't make sense. After all, why would such an empty lake exist far out from the more healthy lakes, especially when Anne carries her slime sister's memories?

Or could this feature have been here before Viviane left Anne?

Without answers, Daniel thinks back to the lake dweller's time alone. In some ways, the mist and silence of the area matches what his slime mother had to deal with. The only difference from memory is that her lake was full, not to mention that a green flame is assumed to have swallowed her into a different realm.

"Please...enough..."

Before they could dwell further on the matter, Mary and Daniel's ears perk to a weak but familiar cry behind them. They turn around to find the silver-haired mother collapsed on the ground, her hands bundled into a fist, shaking.

"Mother?! Wait, how...?"

While Daniel calls out, confused, Mary immediately rushes to the slime's side, unable to worry over such details of her joining.

"Oh my god, love," Mary begins, crouching to her side. "Are you-ack!"

Flinching with more surprise, Mary stretches away with her hands up as the lake dweller disperses into the air before she can touch her. Now holding her breath, she slowly returns her gaze to Daniel, equally stunned.

Like that, a floodgate of Viviane's old and new memories fills the air.

"The constant cries! Please, how can I help this child? Answer me!"

"Waah! I'm the worst mother ever!"

"Always the same...always the fucking same!"

"Hmph! If you're truly sorry, call me Mommy."

"My very own clone, ha ha...how foolish. I'm going crazy!"

"Oh...oh, child...mngh"

Her struggles, love, insanity, and confusion all appear around them, with near-physical images of herself and others in those moments. At this point, it's apparent that the current lake dweller isn't actually here with them; rather, they are witnessing a different form of memory instead of ones that would play on a lake's surface.

In that case...

Recovering, Daniel finds his voice again. "Mary, I think this is the same as our lakes. We need to stop thinking about her!"

"Ah!"

Like a switch, Daniel's theory proves correct as the voices cease. Along with it, various images of the elder slime disperse into the suspended particles in the air.

While the area regains its uncomfortable silence, Mary straightens and joins her boyfriend's side, less disturbed. "Whoa, that's actually amazing! It may be spread out, but it's still water around us that must've filled this lake!"

"Yes, or what's left," Daniel adds, returning his eyes to the ground depression.

Unable to guess the reason behind the features, he rubs his forehead. "I think we should head back before...?"

A distant wail of a baby interrupts his thought process, inducing a cold down his spine.

"Mary, do you hear that?"

"Y-yes, I hear it! Just for the record, I'm not triggering this one, I swear!"

Neither is Daniel.

There's no image of Viviane appearing anywhere near them, but knowing this was a constant source of torment for the elder slime, it's definitely more than related. In fact, a pain builds within their hearts, ingrained in them by the lake dweller's long dealings with such a cry.

Mary especially winces, her maternal strings tugging. There's something horrible about a child calling out to its mother, yet never receiving the attention it needs.

So, how could she ignore that now, especially when Viviane tried her best to reach such a child?

"Mary, we need to leave," Daniel urges, understanding exactly what his fellow artist is thinking. "Remember, this is all from past dealings."

"No, but...someone was left behind. What if there's something here that helps us understand your Mother better?"

The wail grows in volume, and Mary gasps. Biting her lips, she grasps Daniel's hand as her eyes plead further. "Love, we don't know if we'll get this chance again. There's something different about this one compared to Viviane's memories!"

Daniel curls his own as he gazes out into the distance. The wailing never stops, but unlike with Viviane's former realm, he agrees that it feels like he can hear where it's coming from. Regardless, his elder slime mother was never able to reach this child, so how will their presence help?

Despite his doubts and desire to not get lost in this fog, Daniel ultimately cannot ignore the call. He squeezes the ebony artist's hand with a bitter smile. "Alright, but if the cry changes direction or doesn't get louder, then we head back, alright?"

"Of course."

They begin moving away from the ditch into more of the surrounding fog. While keeping their ears attentive to the untiring cry, they also check above them, making sure the tear in the sky is visible so they have a reference to turn back.

Their hearts beat louder as the cry grows more pronounced, adding to the idea that they're already closer to the baby than Viviane ever was. Perhaps their anxiety comes from the elder slime, who desperately wishes she could meet this child in need.

Carrying that hope, the crying stops.

It puts Mary and Daniel suddenly off course. Given no further guidance, they scan around them as silence once more permeates the dense cloud surrounding them. The only thing that can be heard is their hearts beating out through their bodies.

Hoping for more, Mary's breath halts as she catches a shadowed figure in the distance.

"Love," she whispers, grabbing Daniel's attention towards her view.

The male artist blinks as he sees the figure as well. Feeling unease, though, he squeezes Mary closer to him. It's obvious that, without any trigger, this is more than just a passing memory.

Cautious, they creep closer to the figure. With each step, the ground becomes increasingly damp with the addition of small puddles that splash between their toes. They can't even begin to consider the changes, but the terrain's relationship to the figure and cry isn't random.

Eventually, they approach close enough for their eyes to peer through the haze, uncloaking two people. Straightaway, they freeze together.

"Daniel, that's-"

"I know."

The same dark-haired woman who was about to be burned in one memory, then offered consolation to Viviane in another, holds a baby wrapped in cloth with a gentle smile on her face.

Oblivious to her audience, the mysterious woman's eyes soften as she grazes the hidden face of the bundle in her arms.

"I've seen many abandoned children such as yourself, little one," she begins.

'Abandoned?' Daniel repeats in his head.

Mary swallows and steps forward, seeing no reason to be discrete. "E-excuse me, is this the child who was crying out?"

The woman doesn't answer and turns around, giggling. For a brief second, Daniel's pupils shrink when he sees bits of silver hair dressing the baby's head before being hidden by the holder's back.

'What?'

"So, my child," the woman continues as if uninterrupted. "I'll protect you as I've done for others."

"Wait!" Mary calls out, stretching a hand, but the woman walks away from them and fades into the fog without a shadow left behind.

Stunned, the ebony artist has to blink a few times before straightening and placing a hand on her hips, huffing.

"What the hell?! Is this really a memory? Maybe a hidden one? I don't understand. We didn't even trigger anything!"

"Let's not worry about the behavior of the place here," Daniel insists, his forehead creased harder than it ever was. "It's clear this whole place is a mess."

For that reason, one can easily get lost in such a spot. If this is similar to what Viviane had to deal with, it's no surprise she couldn't rediscover herself.

"Ah...Daniel, you're fading!"

The artist blinks, then looks at his arms. As his vision darkens, he looks up at Mary to see she's fading as well.

He gives a wry smile. "It looks like our time is up."

For now, Daniel leaves with a better idea of his elder slime mother, but there is a problem.

He sighs. 'This is why I wanted to go back...'

While they've learned a lot, Daniel can't help but groan, knowing they'll start lost in this fog the next time they enter Anne.