A letter addressed to "Miss Nun" detailing conversations between Claudia and her about the Dreamscape.
Letter to Be Sent
Dear Miss Nun,
I'm so happy to have received your letter.
First, I must say you surprised me. I may be somewhat famous, but my readers much prefer reading my Night Fever adventure series.
Yet you — not only did you enjoy my rather immature ghost stories, you were able to perfectly capture the hidden meanings and emotions I tried to convey. I'll be frank — nothing would bring me more joy than this!
It may be strange to open up to a stranger, but for some reason, I'm happy to speak freely when I write to you. It's just as you surmised: I'm obsessed with observing how terror and despair leave marks on the human psyche. I'm intoxicated by the breathtaking beauty of once-vibrant life withering away like a wilting flower. It's not a hobby I can speak of in regular company, but I have no intention of hiding it from you.
And you're right, I have been in Penacony for a while. I originally came here to resolve a personal matter. As a fellow loyal fan of Mr. Edgar, I'm sure you also understand my initial disdain for this "artificial dreamland" and its pale imitation of reality. Yet, when I finally arrived in Penacony, I found myself increasingly drawn to the Dreamscape's dazzling splendor, and thus I've remained here till now.
I've chatted with people on the streets and reaped a wealth of information beyond what my dozens of bookshelves at home offered me. I've learned of local customs from thousands of planets and numerous bizarre ghost stories from different corners of the universe... Of course, the most fascinating subject is still the Dreamscape itself. Here I'll share with you the results of my investigations:
The first thing that caught my attention were stories about a "memetic" monster. It's said that it can take away the souls of humans while they're dreaming. The bodies of its victims would then enter a state of dormancy in reality, unable to be awakened.
By the time I started my investigation, there were already many such cases in Penacony. According to a Dreamweaver, the victims who were suddenly abducted were taken from different Dreamscape moments, were of different races, and had different behavior patterns. However, I believe there's still a logic to the meme's behavior.
Another point worth noting is most of the witnesses have had their memories related to the cases erased by The Family. Thus, I have reason to believe that the monster is related to The Family. At the very least, The Family must know of its existence and may have already taken or are taking measures to deal with it.
Not long after that, I lost contact with that Dreamweaver. Then at some point, the cases suddenly happened a lot less frequently, and I couldn't gather any more useful information.
However, soon after that, two incidents would become a turning point for my investigation.
The first is the emergence of an urban legend involving a strange Dream Ticker and a corrupted tape. It describes a peculiar nightmare and a scribbled note that insists The Family's beautiful dream is nothing but a lie and conspiracy. I looked into this incident and finally found more information from an eyewitness.
The second is another Dreamweaver's analysis on the structure of the Dreamscape. According to him, the sweet dreams only take up a small portion of Penacony's Dreamscape. The rest of it is an undeveloped chaotic wasteland. He also said the process of constructing the "artificial dreamland" tends to give birth to "highly concentrated and extremely dangerous small-scale Nightmares." They tend to attach to the borders of the sweet dream and are used to collect and destroy negative emotions.
While The Family always insists that the sweet dream is safe, their insistence only ever applies to "the sweet dream." Once I combined these two clues, my conclusions — or rather, speculations — are as follows:
First, the urban legend about Tickers is likely related to these "artificial nightmares."
Second, the memes likely come from nightmares, or from a much deeper layer known as the Primordial Dreamscape. Personally, I think the latter is more likely to be true.
I will continue my investigation, but the clues I can now find are too scarce. I fear I won't be able to make much progress.
Regardless, I'm satisfied with my results so far. I've decided to use this as the theme of my next novel. Perhaps you can help provide me with some fascinating insights?
Looking forward to your reply — Yours truly, Claudia