Traveling through time, I'm making pancakes in Warhammer

Chapter 408 Snakes and Insects

Dreamland

Howard knew clearly that he was in a dream.

He trudged through the dark mud, surrounded by dry branches covered with thorns.

Something seemed to be wandering under the knee-deep humus. From time to time, a cold, sticky touch slid across his calves, causing ripples on the turbid, foaming water.

"Stop..."

A deep and ethereal voice came from the dark place.

He followed the sound, but thorns wove a web in his path, and when he backed away, the thorns that blocked his path scattered.

He stood before the wall of thorns again, but this time he did not retreat. Instead, he stretched out his hand and began to tear it apart.

Sharp thorns pierced his flesh, and in his dream, all his gifts were taken away. The pain was fed back to his brain tenfold and a hundredfold. His hands began to bleed, but when the blood fell on these black thorns, it emitted wisps of white smoke.

"Oh!"

Finally, a flame burst out from where his blood dripped, and then ignited a raging fire.

The dry black thorns screamed and came alive under the scorching flames. The entire swamp boiled because of the flames, the water surged, and the thorns danced wildly like dragons and snakes.

Howard looked at the riot he had caused with indifference. He raised his bleeding hand like a candle in the darkness. The unclean things were afraid of its power and made way for him.

Howard kept walking forward, the noise behind him became farther and farther away, the brambles around him began to turn green, and even began to bloom with small red flowers.

He lowered his raised hands, and the brambles around him did not come alive, nor did they block his way. Instead, they formed a corridor in front of him that was covered with small red flowers.

Howard looked back, but this time, the way back had disappeared.

So he no longer hesitated and walked forward.

The small flowers blooming on the brambles became more and more luxuriant, and finally even covered the surface of the brambles, laying a scarlet carpet of flowers on the ground.

At the end of the corridor is a quiet thorn cage. Inside the cage stands a thorn tree made of many thorns woven alternately. This thorn tree extends countless branches, and a corpse is pierced on each branch.

At the top of the thorn tree, Howard saw Freya.

She was pierced through the chest like a nightingale, hanging from the treetops.

She was not completely dead. Blood flowed from the part where she was pierced, winding around the branches and then dripping down.

But after landing, the blood splashed and turned into red petals.

That's where those little red flowers come from.

Howard stared at the pierced Freya. Perhaps sensing his gaze, Freya looked at the human with her empty pupils and blinked.

Another drop of liquid fell to the ground, but this time it was not red blood, but transparent tears.

The quiet cage of thorns also came alive. The thorns moved, causing the petals to fly and blocking Howard's sight.

The snake-like thorns entangled him again. Howard lowered his head and saw a black spike breaking out of his chest, with a small red flower blooming on it.

……

Howard opened his eyes and all he could see was the nebula hanging in the sky and gradually rotating.

He woke up.

There was no doubt that he had just had a dream.

He dreamed of Freya.

But he couldn't tell whether this absurd dream was a nightmare or a sweet dream.

He lay on the grass. Without Freya's guidance, he could only walk alone on this beautiful but desolate grassland where no human habitation could be seen, and sleep under the starry sky at night.

After the quarrel with Freya in the arena, the demon never came to him again. It might not be a bad thing if the relationship between them cooled down until it ended.

Howard sat up, looked up at the night sky for a while, and decided to keep moving forward. At least he had to find a way to leave this planet first.

"Can't you stay with me for a while?"

But just as Howard was trying to stand up, a girl's voice came from beside him.

Howard looked around in confusion. A girl appeared beside him. Her delicate little face was still childish, but her breasts had grown quite large.

Howard's breath missed a beat when he saw the girl.

He recognized the girl.

During his first audience with Slaanesh, Slaanesh had put him into an illusion to test him, in which Slaanesh maintained this image.

"What? Did you have a nightmare?"

When Howard was in doubt, the girl reached out her hand and gently touched Howard's forehead with her fingertips.

"I haven't come to see you since you came back," said the girl.

So Howard was basically certain that the girl in front of him was Slaanesh, or an incarnation of Slaanesh.

When Slaanesh's hand touched his forehead, Howard subconsciously wanted to hide, because he knew very well that the guy in front of him was not as harmless as he looked. Freya had taken him to the throne to see him twice before, and the experience was extremely unbearable to recall.

However, the dodging posture only lasted for a moment, and Howard suppressed his inner fear and allowed Slaanesh to touch him.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Slaanesh asked again, "I am curious about what the dreams of a soulless person would be like."

"It wasn't really a nightmare." Howard knew he couldn't tell Slaanesh about the contents of the dream, so he opened his mouth and said, "I just dreamed I was taking an exam."

"Exam? Does this make you so nervous?" Slaanesh looked at the sweat beads on Howard's forehead, his eyes full of suspicion.

"You might not understand." Howard shook his head. "What I fear isn't the exams, but the dark and gloomy years they represent."

Seeing that Slaanesh still looked skeptical, Howard explained further:

"When I was young and ignorant, I was afraid of many things, such as poisonous insects, snakes, and various ghosts, so my childhood nightmares were always about these things. But after I understood some things, I understood the habits of insects and snakes, and I knew how to get along with them without hurting each other, so I was no longer afraid of them, and they no longer appeared in my nightmares."

"But after these things left my dreams, every time I had a bad dream, I always dreamed that I was taking an exam. I dreamed that I was back to the days when I had to study day and night for more than ten years without knowing the difference between day and night. Of course, now it all seems like just a minor setback, but when I was young, it was a huge mountain weighing on my heart. The impact of childhood experiences on a person has a lag. When I am awake, I can laugh it off, but in my dreams, I become that child again. Can you understand this?"

Howard was stunned for a moment when he said this, because the excuse he gave to the Lord of Pleasure was indeed his true situation. But he realized at this moment that in addition to the exam, there seemed to be something else invading his dream.

Howard's words finally moved the terrifying being before him, so he stopped dwelling on this question and asked:

"How much do you remember about the thing that was stored in your brain?"

Yes, the Lord of Pleasure couldn't have come to see him just to care about his mental health. His visit late at night had a strong purpose.