To think that the Tooth Fairies born in nearly a thousand years have actually never dreamed?
Does this mean that the connection between the Dream Realm and the Mirror World is in fact growing less and less close? That there is even a faint decoupling in recent times?
While Angel was frowning in thought, Laplace asked, "What are you thinking?"
Angel did not hide it and voiced his thoughts.
After listening, Laplace asked in puzzlement, "You mean that not dreaming is related to the decoupling from the Dream Realm. That one has to be within the Dream Realm’s sphere of influence in order to dream?"
Angel: "Not necessarily."
Frode had once shared with Angel some of his insights regarding dreams.
A dream is actually a window through which the tangible consciousness observes the intangible consciousness.
Put simply, the essence of a "dream" is the manifestation of the chaotic emotions buried deep within one’s heart. These chaotic emotions are born under the workings of the subconscious; when you possess self-awareness, it is very difficult to glimpse the true face of these chaotic emotions.
And a dream becomes the channel by which the self-aware consciousness perceives those chaotic emotions.
If you analyze this explanation carefully, you’ll find it conceals a standpoint of "solipsism."
Dreams arise from the heart, and the heart is the self.
In this way, it seems as though dreams have nothing to do with the Dream Realm, and only concern the self.
In truth, that is not the case.
In Frode’s explanation, the Dream Realm is rather abstruse; this likely stems from the rigor of one who works in that field. Frode was once a Dream System Apprentice; his explanation leans toward fundamentalism, a faction that allows no deviation in how one speaks of their field of study. Outsiders listening will only find it vague and obscure, and be unable to understand it.
Jon had once read Frode’s thesis on the Dream Realm. After finishing, Jon made a summary, which compared to Frode’s paper was much easier to understand.
Jon likened the Dream Realm to a "platform."
This platform can be regarded as a third‑party platform, one with laws to follow and rules to keep.
The dreams of ordinary people are like individual design drafts uploaded to the platform, greatly enriching the platform’s resources. The platform then, through its coverage, integrates these resources into the Pan-Dimensional Plane, enriching the fantasies of even more dreamers.
Therefore, even dreams that arise from the heart are actually also connected to the Dream Realm.
You can think of your own dream as a key that leads to the Dream Realm—only, ordinary people find it very hard to wield this key.
Of course, Jon’s "platform" metaphor is rather superficial and has many imprecise points; because of that, Frode has never thought much of it.
But Angel still largely agrees with it. It isn’t because Jon was his Enlightenment Mentor that he agrees; it is purely because Angel has discovered that this "platform" mechanism seems to be very close to the rules of Special Worlds, and in contrast does not fit as well with independent real worlds.
For example, the Dream Realm can be treated as a platform, and by the same principle, this can also be applied to the Mirror World.
The fragmented memories and reflection spaces of the Mirror World, are they not each resources that have been uploaded to the "Mirror World" platform? It is just that the "resources" uploaded to the Mirror World are mostly unconsciously uploaded by surfaces of water, reflective surfaces, and mirrors in the outside world. This leads to a congestion of resources on the platform, and thus there is the Sea of Void Mirror, this enormous "garbage recycling bin."
And the tides of the Sea of Void Mirror are a one‑click cleanup of this garbage.
The Nightmare Realm can also be regarded as a platform, with Naraku City, Witch Town, the Mysterious Tower... and so on, being "resources" uploaded from reality onto the Nightmare Realm platform.
Precisely because of these commonalities among the Special Worlds, Angel acknowledges Jon’s "platform theory."
Back to the point, since the Dream Realm is only a platform, whether a lifeform dreams or not does not necessarily have to be affected by the Dream Realm.
So why then has such a clearly affected situation appeared in the Mirror World?
If this were only an isolated case, it wouldn’t be worth paying much attention to, because there exist many cases of lifeforms that can dream but just happen not to, as well as lifeforms that rarely dream—once in a thousand years is also possible.
But the current situation is different: the Mirror World has exhibited a widespread phenomenon of not dreaming.
Including the Little Tooth Fairy and Laplace—those who originally could dream no longer dream. What is the reason behind this?
Angel did have a hypothesis in his heart, but whether it was correct or not, he did not know.
"What are you thinking?" Laplace saw that Angel had been silent for a long time and asked in puzzlement.
Angel pondered for a moment, then voiced what he had in mind along with his doubts.
"Why has everyone stopped dreaming... You said you had a hypothesis, so what is your hypothesis?" Laplace paused for a moment. "If you don’t want to say it, I can understand."
Angel: "Since I’ve already spoken of these doubts, naturally I’m also hoping that Lady Laplace can give me some suggestions."
Laplace: "I have never been to any other Special World; I’m afraid I won’t be able to give you any advice."
Angel shrugged. "Even without advice it’s fine. Just take it as listening to some idle speculation of mine."
Laplace quietly watched Angel, and in the end nodded. "Alright."
Angel: "My hypothesis is that this might be some sort of gap between Special Worlds?"
"Using ’gap’ may be a bit too anthropomorphic, but for the moment I can’t find a better word. In my view, the reason the Mirror World is drawing farther and farther away from the Dream Realm might be due to the influence of the World Will behind the Mirror World."
"It’s like how one mountain peak can hardly tolerate two beast kings."
"The Dream Realm and the Mirror World are both Special Worlds, and the lifeforms in the Mirror World are affected by the Dream Realm, yet the mirrors in the Dream Realm are not illuminated by the Mirror World. If we regard the Mirror World as a person, wouldn’t this be rather unfair to it?"
Laplace: "So you think that the World Will behind the Mirror World has, whether intentionally or unintentionally, brought about the current situation."
Angel nodded. "Yes. To make life that could originally dream suddenly lose the ability to dream—such mighty power may only be within reach of the Mirror World’s World Will."
Laplace thought about it. "What you say is not without reason, but this is far too distant from my level; I can’t offer any suggestions."
Angel: "It was unrealistic speculation to begin with, so it doesn’t matter."
He paused, then continued, "If my idle speculation has even a tiny bit of possibility, I would guess that although the Mirror World is drifting farther and farther from the Dream Realm, they probably haven’t completely decoupled."