Dr. Tsuchinoko's Arc

Chapter 4 of 5

Dr. Tsuchinoko returned to the Dream Exchange Pavilion the following week. They carried a small notebook and their woven bag. Inside, three other creatures sat in a circle, each sharing what they had seen in sleep. One spoke of water that moved backward. Another described a forest made of glass. Dr. Tsuchinoko listened and took notes. When their turn came, they described the calm state they had achieved—the floating feeling, the silence. An older creature with gray scales nodded slowly. "That is the doorway," they said. "You have found the threshold." Dr. Tsuchinoko felt warmth spread through their chest. The pavilion was teaching them what no book could. They were learning the language of dreams, one shared vision at a time. After the circle ended, the gray-scaled creature led Dr. Tsuchinoko to a corner of the pavilion. A large talisman hung on the wall, shimmering with colors that shifted and moved. The patterns swirled in blues, greens, and golds. Dr. Tsuchinoko stepped closer, drawn to its strange light. "This absorbs what creatures leave behind," the older creature explained. "Every emotion that passes through this space—the fear, the joy, the confusion—it gathers here." They tapped the talisman gently. "When you begin dream-walking with others, you must learn to sense these echoes. They will show you where the deepest wounds hide." Dr. Tsuchinoko stared at the object, watching the colors pulse and fade. They understood now that treating trauma meant more than calming the mind. It meant reading what was left unsaid, what lingered in the spaces between words. They touched their glasses and nodded. This was the next lesson they needed to learn.