Sound of rushing water woke Sunny up. The winds were strong, water was dropping aggressively on his skin, the waves were much more ferocious, and the already dark sky was covered with dark clouds, —it was a storm.
The strong winds were pushing him around and at this rate they would knock him off the platform into the water.
"Damnation!"
Frantically searching around for something to hold onto, Sunny, eventually found two holds in the platform where he could sink his hands into and remain safe.
Sunny held on with his dear life, refusing to let go, stubbornness was in his nature, like a fish swimming against the current, he would not let go.
After hours and hours of grueling agony of being pushed around by the winds, and holding on with all his might, the sun broke through the dark clouds bringing day with it once more. The warm rays of the sun drove away the storm and the dark sea went into hiding once more.
"I have to go fast! No time to waste."
As soon as the dark sea disappeared completely, Sunny, immediately started making his way onto the crimson labyrinth. The crab creatures went back to feast on the shark corpse, they were not going to pay any attention to him, if he wanted to get to his destination he would have to do it before they fully devoured the carcass.
Making his way onto the labyrinth, he started treading the path he had scouted, holding the spear in his hand and the shadow still scouting ahead to warn him of any danger.
Moving forward while paying a lot of attention to his surroundings, Sunny noticed something wrong with the patch of mud in front of him.
'Huh? Whats with this?'
The patch of mud felt weird, Sure, but that was not the only thing that put him at unease. He felt something …something alive in there. Deciding to call his shadow back, he commanded it to slip between the cracks, and sure enough, something was there, and it was indeed alive.
'The crab monster!' Sunny shuddered, 'But why is it not eating the carcass with the rest of his friends?'
Sunny soon realized why, that was because this one was injured, one of its giant pincers were missing, its armor was cracked and broken in many places and half of its legs were violently ripped off.
'So thats why its hiding waiting for unsuspecting prey. Unfortunately for that thing, trying to hide in the shadows, from the prince of shadows himself was not going to work.'
Raising his spear and aiming for the eye, Sunny commanded his shadow to flow onto him. Gathering all his strength he struck the bone spear, the strike was mighty, having Sunny's doubled strength behind it, producing a resounding boom.
Sunny was not naive though, strength was not everything, he knew that the spear was not good enough to fully sink into this monster, so at the last moment he commanded his invaluable helper to shift from him to the spear. The bone spear took on a darker tone, becoming grayish, its durability and sharpness almost doubled it drove deep into the monsters flesh.
The abomination let out a pained scream as it rose from its hiding spot, immediately it tried attacking Sunny, swinging its massive pincer at him, but it did not get the chance. Sunny moved his hands rotating the spear with it, sinking more and more into that things brain.
In the end the crab was not able to push trough the pain, all power being lost from its pincer, Sunny heard the voice of the spell announce his victory.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast, Carapace Scavenger.]
[You have received a memory: —Azure Blade.]
[Your Shadow Grows Stronger.]
Rush of newfound strength entered Sunny as he killed the Awakened Beast, his muscles stronger, his mind sharper, and his skin smoother, a lot of callouses caused by holding onto stone during the storm gone, like they were never even there.
'Just as I thought.'
[Shadow Fragments: 14/1000].
Of course, Sunny, knew that he would get stronger by slaying his enemies, gaining shadow fragments relative to their rank and class. Awakened beasts, or rather those one rank above him, would give him twice as much fragments for each of their cores. This was how progression of most Awakened worked, but with couple of key differences, while other Awakened needed to fish out soul shards from their prey and absorb them, Sunny did not, he absorbed the fragments from their shadow automatically, and despite absorbing fragments directly from the kill, the soul shards would not disappear, that meant that unlike other Awakened, he could get stronger without wasting soul shards.
soul shards were the default currency used in the dream realm, and they sold for a massive price in the waking world, of course he would need to become a master or get a storage space memory to carry them from the dream realm, but that did not stop him from feeling excited.
'I'm going to be RICH!'
Speaking of memories though, did he not receive a memory for his very first Carapace Scavenger? Sunny pulled up his runes to check his spoil.
Memories: [Silver Bell], [Puppeteers Shroud], [Azure Blade].
He focused on the line of runes detailing his new memory.
Memory: [Azure Blade].
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Type: Weapon.
'Seems like my makeshift bone spear, that I worked so hard to carve is getting replaced.'
Memory Description: [On this Forgotten Shore, only steel remembers].
'Interesting.'
The description was interesting, it did not provide much information other than the name of this region, —Forgotten Shore, but he had a feeling that the short description hid a deeper meaning.
Calling forth his memory, the Azure Blade, formed in his hands immediately. It was a meter long, including the handle, the blade was straight and single-edged and it ended in a curved tip.
'Its a tang dao.'
The sword was made primarily for cutting and slashing, rather than thrusting, or both, it was not Sunny's ideal weapon, but he still knew the way around using it.
The handle was big enough for both if his hands to hold on, letting him use most of his strength when swinging.
The blade was very pretty.
The steel had a blue shine, it was azure color, as the name suggested. Commanding his shadow to slide onto his new blade, the azure color darkened, taking on a deeper shade. The blade felt stronger, sharper and more durable …even more so than the spear.
It seemed like that his memories and his body would be boosted exactly twofold, as opposed to other stuff that did not get boosted as much, and as for other people, he could not boost them with his shadow at all.
Using his new weapon, Sunny cut off the things hard carapace, fishing out the radiant crystal inside and cutting off some strips of tender meat …the ones that looked most appetizing, he followed the tender meat with some of its fatty parts to be used during cooking.
Putting the meat and the soul shard into makeshift rucksacks he made with seaweed, Sunny started analyzing the corpse for its weaknesses. Realizing he did not have a lot of time left, Sunny started rushing towards his destination, which now showed itself as a massive cliff made from coral.
'Yeah, That looks large enough to not be covered entirely by the sea.'
Making his way closer and closer and closer to the massive cliff like coral, Sunny's Shadow noticed two girls tied by a golden rope moving together.
One of the girls, the shorter and more petite one, had golden hair and clear cerulean eyes, dressed in a simple tunic.
'Cassia!'
…and the other. She had short silver hair and striking gray eyes …and, she …what was she wearing? Skin, lots of skin, could be seen on her lithe slender body, she had nothing to wear except a crude undergarment made from seaweed.
'Nephis!'
Sunny's cheeks started becoming hotter.
'Damnation! Why is she wearing something like that? Gods did she not tell me that she had an armor memory? And why is she carrying around the blind girl with her?'
Stunned and not being able to move, Sunny sent his shadow in his stead, hoping that if he made his presence known, Nephis would not be startled by his arrival and wouldn't suddenly attack him.
Noticing the dark shadow sliding towards her, Changing star swung her blade, slicing air and getting ready for battle.
Startled the blind girl asked her companion.
"What …What is it?"
"a shadow …a human shadow …Sunny."
Confused, the blind girl took a minute to understand.
"Oh… is that the boy that sat next to you?"
"yes."
"Its okay Sunny. You can come out now …I wont hurt you."
Of course, Sunny knew that Nephis would never willingly hurt him, but that was not the reason why he was not coming out. The true reason was that he was embarrassed in his current state, what would she think if she saw him like this?
"Yeah I know."
Shaking his head to get rid of his stupor, Sunny walked out of the shadows, greeting the two girls. Looking at the rucksacks hanging on his belt, Nephis pointed and asked.
"Sunny. What's that?"
Sunny grinned, "Oh nothing much, just the meat of those carapace scavengers …and a soul shard."
"You killed a carapace scavenger?"
His grin widened, "Sure did, actually I did not get hit even once, all it took was a single strike, that thing is nothing special I say."
"Oh. Thats good."
"Actually, it was already injured, and I caught it off guard-."
"It doesn't matter, a kill is a kill."
Sunny chuckled, he already knew she would reply with something like that. After saying something only someone as stoic as her would say, Nephis fell silent. Feeling that the conversation was dying out and becoming awkward, Sunny asked.
"Ah, right. Before I encountered the scavenger I was going towards that massive coral hill, but now I think I might not have enough time, do you perhaps know the way?"
Nephis did not answer this question, actually the one who answered it was the blind girl —Cassia
"Actually, we came from that hill and were just deciding to go back."
Sunny's eyes lit up with understanding, "So the ones who lit the fire were you?"
'Nephis must have used her aspect', Sunny shuddered at the thought of Nephis suffering from her flaw.
"Yeah we did, but we realized soon after that it was a mistake."
Sunny got confused.
"What? Why?"
"Come, its getting late, I'll tell you on the way."
On the way, Sunny spoke with Cassia, Nephis did not seem to want to talk to him, or rather she wanted for Sunny to converse with the blind girl for some reason. Nephis was silently leading them to the cliff while Cassie, the nickname she insisted on.
Apparently she got sent close to Nephis on the cliff and she decided to keep her close, basically save her, and as to why Nephis would do that, Sunny knew the answer, it was quite simple actually, it was because she wanted to.
Yes, Nephis was the person to do stuff simply because she wanted to, she was going to kill the ghouls because she wanted to, and she wanted to kill them because she hated them.
According to Cassie, after lighting the fire, a Nightmare Creature had crawled out from the dark sea and almost killed them both, producing a fire at night was something they would not even think about anymore.
Arriving at the cliff, Sunny and Nephis climbed quickly, getting to the top, Nephis extended the length of the rope and dropping it down for Cassia to climb on.
Since it was still not dusk, they decided to cook the meat Sunny brought first. Sunny brought out his rucksacks, taking out the tender meat and the fat, along with one part of the carapace to use for cooking, Meanwhile Nephis lit the bonfire.
Finding some rocks to place the makeshift pan on, Sunny started waiting for it to get hot enough for cooking. Realizing that he was also thirsty he asked.
"So… I have the meat, but do you guys have any water? I am kind of thirsty."
Cassie smiled gently.
"Actually, I have a memory that produces endless water."
Stream of bright essence rushed out from the blind girls petite body, forming a beautiful bottle made from patterned blue glass.
Surprised by the usefulness of the memory he asked as he took the bottle.
"What? Is it actually endless?"
"Actually, its not actually endless, if you were to just drain it the supply would run out in about half a hour, but after that it fills up quickly again."
Finishing drinking his fill, Sunny placed his hand on the carapace to check if it was hot enough, as soon as his fingers touched the pan, Sunny flung his hand.
"Yeah thats hot enough."
Dropping the fat of the Carapace Scavenger on the pan, he waited until it completely melted, and only then did he put the tender meat on the pan. Using the water memory to wash the bone Sunny used to carve the spear he started basting the meat in its own fat, in the Dream Realm it was not common to find anything that could be used for seasoning, this was the best he could do.
In actuality Sunny had learned how to separate salt from water from teacher Julius, but he did not have any time to get salt from the dark sea, and he was wary about trying dark sea salt as well.
Using the sharp bone as a makeshift knife, Sunny plunged it into the massive cut of meat flipping it over, since he had not used any salt the meat did not have a good crust,
'What a sad cut of meat.'
After waiting long enough, Sunny cut the final product into three pieces. Giving each member their own share, the trio started digging into the food.
Tasting the bland meat Sunny immediately changed his mind. So what if the dark sea was a terrifying body of water that housed many high ranked nightmare creatures, and so what if it could block his magic sight? Surely the salt extracted from its waters would not be harmful. Right?
The meat had good texture, it was cooked at a good temperature for a good time, being close to medium rare, but without salt it would still not taste good.
Forcing down the mediocre tasting meat, Sunny, Nephis and Cassie quietly watched the sun descend into the horizon, as soon as the last ray of sunlight dissipated, the dark sea started rising, filling the crimson red labyrinth with its pure dark water, the dark sea rushed like a strong river, rising and rising until it hit its limit, covering almost the entire labyrinth, with the exception of the one they were on currently.
With their last source of light gone, they decided to finally go to sleep. Well Cassie decided to, Sunny was still wide awake. The blind girl gave off an aura of harmlessness, almost as if asking to be trusted, but he was still not willing to trust or burden her with their secrets, they had already discussed their abilities with each other, but that was about as far as he would go.
"Hey Neph! Are you awake?"
Knowing that Sunny could cut through the darkness she answered with a small nod. Hugging her own knees, Nephis's posture changed, almost imperceptible. However, She herself stayed silent, not saying a word. It looked like she wanted to say something, but could not bring herself to.
However, soon she gritted her teeth, sparks of white radiance dancing in her eyes.
"Sunny… do you think we'll be able to return from here alive?"
Nephis had asked the question that Sunny had been silently asking himself all this time. When he first entered this region, he saw a battle—if it could even be called that—between two creatures beyond him. If there were two creatures that were as strong as them… who said there wouldn't be more? According to Nephis and Cassie, they had encountered a harrowing being that rose from the sea after they lit a fire. Who said there couldn't be more? With enemies like those, it seemed like even Nephis had doubted herself.
Sunny, though, already found his answer. He had to, after all, he was forced to face the question, and he could not lie.
"Yes…" He said in a slightly uncertain tone… then he repeated himself, carrying more confidence in his words.
Nephis shifted her gaze towards him slowly.
"You think so…" Her question was not really a question. Instead, it was more like a statement, not carrying the correct tone.
Sunny nodded.
"Of course. If we don't survive and get out of here, how can we get rid of the ghouls? It is our will after all."
Hearing this, Nephis let the silence settle between them for a while before asking another question.
"Do you think we will both be able to survive?"
Sunny blinked.
'W-Why is she asking me this?'
"Why not? Is that not our will?"
Nephis frowned slightly.
"Sunny… I-I have lost everything… everyone. At first, I thought that everything would be fine. But now everyone is gone, you are the only one left. So what if you die, too?"
Sunny's eyes widened in shock. Was the unbreakable and aloof changing star really worrying about his life? But why wouldn't she? A lot would think Nephis did not feel emotion… or did not feel it like others at least. But Sunny knew that Nephis felt emotion. In fact, she felt it just as much as everyone else… No, even more.
She was just the best at hiding it. She decided to help Cassie because she wanted to. She wanted to destroy the spell because she wanted to; and she wanted to, because she hated it; and her hatred was stronger than any other. And now, she was worrying about him.
"Neph… don't you know me? Nothing here can kill me. I will not die until I leave this place, until I conquer the forgotten shore, the second nightmare after that, and the third after that, then the fourth right after; I will not die before the ghouls, I refuse to; and if I do, I will make sure to come back to life." Sunny tried to comfort his friend the best he could, anyway. The gods knew Sunny was not the best at comforting, and Nephis was not necessarily someone who would be comforted easily.
However, Nephis seemed to be almost convinced… almost.
"Promise?"
Sunny smiled slightly, closing his eyes for a moment.
"Promise."
Hearing this, Nephis seemed to calm down slightly, the dancing radiance behind her eyes dispersing shortly after. Sunny could not lie, so that was supposed to bring her peace. But she was still in pain; for that was the cruel price of her flaw. But was that all? No, Nephis was still worried. No matter what Sunny said, how could she not worry about him? What if she still lost him?
The thought of it was much more painful than her flaw could ever be. However, the result almost drove Sunny crazy.