At dusk.
The yellowed sky glowed with a captivating sunset, the clouds like soft golden cotton candy floating overhead. Each one had a different shape, enough to set anyone's imagination wandering.
Below lay a remote little town.
Mud-brick houses stood scattered all around. There were no skyscrapers, no cars, and the architecture looked extremely primitive.
The people here dressed simply and had darker skin, seeming to belong to an ethnic minority.
"According to Nahewo tribal legend, a dreamcatcher protects the dreamer by trapping nightmares in the center, while good dreams are passed along through the feathers and gifted to the sleeping person."
A dark-skinned middle-aged man in a rough cloth shirt was explaining this to the group.
At that moment, Lucian and the others were standing in front of a stall, with a beautiful ornament hanging before them.
It was a lovely piece, circular in shape, with many feathers tied in the middle in a sunflower-like pattern, like a fully blooming flower from the other shore.
Grandpa Max smiled and walked off with the middle-aged man to look around elsewhere.
"Oh~ this place is boring as hell." Ben yawned and stood there listlessly, not even wanting to move.
"Haha, blockhead, I think you're still dreaming!" Gwen seized the chance to mock him.
The street was lined with stalls selling all kinds of strange little items. They all looked fairly old, and at a glance the place felt a bit like an antique market.
A pretty long-haired girl, about twelve years old and dark-skinned, was performing a graceful dance. Accompanied by the surrounding drums, every smile and glance from her lovely face was enough to make people lose themselves in it.
"This is my daughter, Kai," the middle-aged man said, his eyes full of pride.
Grandpa Max smiled. "Wes, the last time I saw her, she couldn't even walk. In the blink of an eye, she's already this grown."
"Yeah. Times really do change." Wes let out a long breath, sounding emotional.
Meanwhile, Ben was staring so hard his eyes had practically gone blank.
"I just realized... this place actually isn't that bad..." Ben stared wide-eyed at the girl singing and dancing.
Wes smiled faintly. "She's performing our Nahewo tribe's traditional sacrificial dance."
Ben folded his arms and started spouting nonsense. "I've always wanted to see a traditional dance before summer vacation ended."
"Since when are you interested in traditional dance?" Gwen asked, baffled.
Just then, the performance ended.
The youthful dark-skinned girl walked this way on her slender legs.
Ben's eyelids drooped, his eyes turned dreamy, and he was practically drooling.
"Ahem... get a hold of yourself." Even Lucian felt embarrassed for Ben.
Crack!
A bolt of purple lightning suddenly tore across the sky, and a terrifying peal of thunder exploded overhead.
The clear sky instantly turned dark and sinister. Rolling black clouds, like a giant hand from the heavens, covered the entire town in the blink of an eye.
"You sure that wasn't a rain dance?" Gwen looked up at the pitch-black sky, a bad feeling rising in her chest.
"Absolutely," Kai replied.
But the moment the words left her mouth, a blinding bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky and struck the ground right in front of them.
The nearby pedestrians panicked and scattered.
One thick bolt of lightning after another roared wildly, striking the surrounding houses without pause, as if the heavens themselves had flown into a rage.
Then came the torrential rain, with raindrops as big as soybeans pouring down.
"It's raining! Quick, get in the Rustbucket and take cover!" Grandpa shouted as he ran off.
He moved so fast you'd never guess he was a sixty-year-old man.
The others quickly followed.
"Ben? Move!" Lucian turned back and saw Ben still standing there in a daze, apparently lost in some unspeakable fantasy.
"Huh?" Ben finally snapped out of it. "Why's it raining? Hey, wait for me!"
Boom.
A bolt of purple lightning struck behind Ben, kicking up clouds of dust.
Ben suddenly turned his head, his pupils shrinking slightly.
Through the hazy dust, a massive black shadow crouched within, waiting for its chance to move...