(William POV)
Even though William was physically incapable of feeling exhaustion, the white-haired Sleeper still lay on his back while taking in deep rapid breaths to calm down his rapidly beating heart.
They had just escaped death by a hair's breadth. It was kind of ironic for him to fear death when he was technically immortal.
When he was in the nightmare, after a while of dying, he became numb to the whole process; he thought that he was numb to fear, too.
However, that was when he was desperate for a way to clear the nightmare, so the concept of future consequences didn't register much in his pseudo-fractured mind.
Now, he liked to think that his psyche had somewhat recovered through his ordeal, and with it came questions upon questions that made him skeptical about his condition.
What exactly did his immortality entail? Was he just going to rewind time back just as in the nightmare? If he rewound time, would he have to start from the beginning all over again, or were there specific points in time that he would return to?
Or was there a different method of rebirth provided by his Aspect? What was this method? How did it all connect to his flaw? What parts of himself was he going to lose?
Many such questions roamed inside his rattled mind, but there was one thing that he knew for sure: He wished to postpone having that particular experience as long as he could.
Besides him, he lay his other companions, all out of breath and shaken to their core by the harrowing experience they just had.
Nephis was by far the most composed out of all of them thanks to a lifetime of narrow escapes from assassination attempt and further dangers.
Even though Sunny himself had many life or death struggles while living in the outskirts, the threats he faced were particularly mundane in nature: fisticuffs at best and a gun at worst. Yet, just a few minutes ago him and his whole group were about to be squished like the insignificant bug they were by the merciless Dark Sea. Thus, he held a hand to his chest, where his heart beat like a war drum.
Cassie, by far, was in the worst situation out of all of them. After all, she was the most 'normal' out of all of them as she was not a fallen Legacy heiress, outskirts survivor, or someone who spent the better part of a month dying a couple of thousand times.
The poor girl was shivering and panting from fright as she rolled herself into a ball. Meanwhile, the merciless storm continued to pelt them with heavy rain, causing them to be drenched to the bone.
William soon recovered his bearings and sat up. Then, he stretched his hand and began gently patting the head of their resident oracle soothingly.
"It's alright, Cass. It's alright. We're safe now."
From what he was feeling through his hand, he could feel her getting more relaxed by the second.
By that time, both Sunny and Nephis also managed to gather their wits about them and sat up. Nothing was said between the Sleepers as they sat in silence under the rain.The only source of illumination for them was the occational lightning that brightened the world for a moment before fading away.
After a while, Cassie, too, got her wits about her and rose up to sit, causing William's hand to fall off her head.
Suddenly, William and Nephis heard the sound of movement coming from Sunny.
"What's the matter, Sunny?" asked William in concern.
"I don't know, but my shadow is trying to tell me something," replied the dark-haired kid in a groan, clearly not eager to start moving just yet.
William felt a silent feeling of dread trickle into his heart, 'Why do I feel like I forgot something important?'
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(Sunless POV)
Sunny followed his shadow's advice and started observing their surroundings.
Even with his dark vision, he couldn't discover anything particularly dangerous standing out.
The upper part of the cliff they were on was well above the level of the stormy sea that threatened to turn them into awakened paste, forming what looked like to be a small island. Its surface was rugged and uneven, with several protruding ridges that broke his line of sight. There was considerable distance between their group and the nearest ridge. That space looked to be littered, seemingly at random, with piles of dirt and tall boulders.
(Image)
Sunny glimpsed Nephis and William, rising to their feet and summoning their weapons. William's large sword gave off an eerie bluish glow that somehow managed to make the darkness it made contact with even darker.
The shadow master shook his head, 'My eyes must be playing tricks on me.'
Then, he turned his attention back to the area around them, 'What was my shadow trying to tell me?"
"See anything?" Nephis's low, cautious voice inquired from the side.
"Not ye-"
Sunny's mouth immediately shuts with a snap.
A big lightning bolt streaked through clouds and illuminated the all-encompassing darkness. It allowed him to clearly see the so-called tall boulders.
Segmented black chitin glistened under the heavy rain as its owners sat motionless all around them.
'Curses! One, two, three... seven, no, eight....'
All around them, eight scavengers silently lay on the ground.
From the sharp intake of breaths he heard, it seems that the others also discovered the death trap they were in.
"This...." The Changing Star was at loss of words as he saw her grip tighten on her longsword.
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(William POV)
"Don't speak. Don't move. Just..... stay where you are," the horror-striken voice of the dark-haired Sleeper warned.
Upon seeing the still scavengers, a figurative lightbulb lit up in William's head. He knew which one of fate's fucked up scenarios they were in.
Also, he felt a familiar feeling when he observed the scavengers - a very familiar feeling.
Thus, ignoring Sunless, William marched towards one of the still Carapace Scavengers with confident steps.
Nephis and Sunny bristled at that.
"William!" Sunny tried his best to whisper-shout to the madman. "Didn't you hear me? Get back!"
Cassie, on the other hand, was extremely confused about the whole situation - oh the woes of being blind.
William continued towards the nearest Carapace Scavenger with Frostmourne in hand and under the increasing panicked gaze of Sunny and the increasingly chilly gaze of the Changing Star, began rapping a 'shave and haircut' knock on the black carapace.
*Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat-Tat* *Tat-Tat*
"Hello? Anybody home?"
The only sounds he heard were the roaring wind and Sunny hyperventilating.
"Hmmm?" with a curious hum William observed the unresponsive nightmare creature as he circled around it.
"Aha," he muttered in triumph when he found what he was looking for. It was a wound - a deep one - stretching from the shoulder of the scavenger's humanoid torso to its segmented legs.
No wonder he felt a familiar feeling from these nightmare creatures.
They were all dead.
"William!" the Changing Star's threatening voice was carried over the howling winds and straight into his ear. "Get back this instant!"
"Oh, don't get your frilly panties in a twist princess. This scavenger is dead and I reckon that fate is shared by all of them," William retorted in a playful tone - much to the Legacy heiress's chagrin.
Sunny's ears picked up on the news, and he let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding, "Dead? Are you sure?"
"Yep," the taller male Sleeper said, popping the P, "there is some nasty slash wound on all of their bodies."
"Slash wounds?" the Changing Star asked in an impassive tone mixed with an unknowable emotion.
A lightning bolt flashed across the skies and revealed Nephis's embarrassed flushed face to the whole world to witness. Unfortunately, anyone who could actually do that was busy with other matteres.
"Yeah, deep one too," William replied as he returned to the group, "from the shoulder all the way to its segmented leg on the other side. It was opened like a tin can with guts and organs all squashed and leaking azure blood. It seemed like a fairly recent wound."
Another flash of lightning showed Nephis's thoughtful expression to the group, "What manner of creature did this?"
"Whatever it is, I hope it already left this place," muttered Sunny as a shiver ran up his spine.
"You think our luck is that good?" William commented dryly, which made Sunny wince as he really knew to hit where it hurt. "However, I have a conjecture about the identity of our mysterious attacker."
This caught the attention of all present Sleepers.
"How?" Nephis couldn't hide the slight hint of doubt mixed with her cold tone.
"Call it a hunch or a gut feeling really," William lied as smoothly as he could breathe. "Ok, remember the black and red carapace monsters we saw the day before?"
"You're not suggesting.....," Cassie uttered in equal amounts of fright and disbelief.
"I'm just saying that the slash wounds seem strangely similar to the ones they inflicted on the Carapace Scavengers when they took the Transcendent soul shards," William explained with a shrug before his voice suddenly turned deeper and more serious, "even if its not it, with the freshness of the wounds on the scavengers and with this storm raging, I would wager three of my memories on it being still here, somewhere - whatever it is."
Silence ensued between the Sleepers as what William told them slowly sinked in.
It continued for ten whole minutes before the white-haired Sleeper broke it.
"Sunny, how confident are you with your stealth abilities?"
William knew that Sunny immediately understood the underlying meaning behind his question, and yet, his flaw forced his to always answer truthfully.
"I'm the best stealth Sleeper in both worlds, especially in the dark!" Sunny proudly stated in a way that strangely resembled an unwilling grumble.
"That's great. What do you say about searching the area to see if we have any other unknown guests here?"
He heard Lost from Light gulp down saliva.
'Sorry Sunny, but you are the only one with the right set of skills for this,' William apologized for the dark-haired boy, 'plus, it is your fault - or rather you [Fated]'s fault - that we are in this situation.'
"S-Sure."
With that, Sunny melded naturally into the darkness and began his scouting.
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(Sunless POV)
Sunny's body was drenched from head to toe by the downpour coming down from the stormy cloud.
With gritted teeth, the short boy walked towards the ridges that hid the island beyond. If the creature were truly here, then it would be there.
As quietly as he could, the pale boy climbed up the ridge. Thankfully, they were not that high, so it didn't take much effort to do so.
When he was at the top, he kept his head low and observed the ground below. Then, he immediately wished he didn't as his heart threatened to jump out of his ribcage in horror.
'Curses!'
A few meters directly beneath him lay a creature larger than the normal scavengers. With vicious looking spikes poking out of a black and crimson carapace. Instead of pincers, the monster had bony scythes - scythes that looked like they could easily split a Carapace Scavenger into two.
'William was right! Why did he have to be right?'
He could already imagine the monster slaughtering their group without even expending that much effort.
'Get yourself together, Sunny? Let's go back now.'
Ever so careful as not to make any sound, the scout lowered himself from the ridge while his whole body shook. Then, he began walking back to his companions. With each step he took, he quickly whipped his head back to look at the ridge half-expecting the monstrous creature to break through it and severe him with its long, sharp scythes.
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(Nephis POV)
Nephis waited for the return of their scout with the rest of her 'companions' while blanketed by endless darkness, except for a few moments of illumination thanks to the lightning storm. The rain pelted them incessantly while the waves of the Dark Sea crashed against the cliff in an attempt to demolish it and add it to its territory.
None of them talked, which suited her just fine as it allowed her to organize her thoughts. Heh, one would find it foolish of her to do that while in such a precarious situation but it was exactly due to that fact that her mind was sharper than ever.
Firstly, there was the scout of their party, Sunless. Although, his introduction into the group was not the best, his ability to scout with his shadow was definitely useful for their journey up till now. Also, his willingness to learn and improve his skills were commendable, she supposed. It doesn't make him any less a creep for what he did at the academy. Thankfully, she had not used the communal female baths and stuck to her private one but the point still stands.
Second, was their resident oracle, Cassie. Regarding her, Nephis felt deeply conflicted. On one hand, her ability has proved more useful than any of group's in regards to finding a goal for them to reach. Yet, on the other hand, her blindness made her more of a deadweight than anything in the group. From what she had seen over the last few days, the blond girl was surviving thanks to charity alone and by sticking close to a particular member of their group. Regardless, she couldn't fault her for doing so, since she believed that she wouldn't have fared much better if she were in her shoes. After all, no one wants to die.
Finally, her mind was set on the most enigmatic member of their small group. She couldn't make heads or tails out of that guy.
From what she understood from Sunny, William was from the outskirts the same as him; yet, the manner in which he faced against nightmare creatures and his martial knowledge was something she had only seen in seasoned Legacy awakened who had been trained since childhood.
Also, he was extremely comfortable and cheery for someone who had been thrown into an uncharted part of the Dream Realm
At first, she thought that he was an assassin sent by the either Anvil, Song, or Asterion to hunt her down like they did during her childhood. As much as it annoys her to admit it, William had many opportunities to kill her off; however, he never did even though he obviously had enough strength and means to do so if he needed to.
Moreover, he never tried pandering to her whims or even treat her remotely with as much fear and respect as the other awakened at the Academy did. Hell, even Sunless was smart enough to not outright antagonize her. Yet, here was this guy that continued to tease and prod at her with his crass jokes and mocking nicknames.
Then, there was his rage-filled admonishment towards her. It was at that moment when she could observe what was behind the boy's friendly facade. She felt several emotion mixed in his voice: panic, anger, determination, and... concern.
William had really wanted to save all of them from the surging Dark Sea. Thus, when she had hesitated to do what he told her, he had yelled at her. It made her both embarrassed and confused.
This made her question whether her suspicions were misplaced or-
Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of footsteps on wet rock.
Sunless had returned from his scouting mission.
"It's me."
"Sunny, the correct grammatical term is 'It's I'. At any rate, did you find anything?" she heard William ask from next to her in the darkness.
Nephis could not see him but she could here the tone he used when he asked his question. His inquiry was more of a rhetoric than anything else; as if he already knew there was something here for certain.
A few moments went in silence before the other boy replied.
"Y-Yes," Sunless seemed to be shaken by something as indicated by his voice. "It is here!"
"What is here?" she asked the dark-haired boy, 'Gods, can't he be more specific?'
"The scythe monsters with the red patterns," he said in a low voice, "William was right!"
'This has become a really troublesome situation,' she thought as she recalled the memory of the two black and red carapace monsters. 'There is only one way to solve this situation.'
"So what do we do?" the dark-haired boy inquired more stably as he managed to calm his nerves.
"Kill it," both her and William replied simultaneously.
Sunless had gone silent for a few moments before she heard him take in a deep breath and exhale through his nose, "Are you two crazy?"
Well, she anticipated that response somewhat.
"It's not that we are crazy; we simply have no choice. We are stuck on this cliff until the sun rises and so is the monster. However, if the morning comes then the monster can easily see us and we will lose our element of surprise. As a result, it is better for us to initiate the fight first."
"Like she said," agreed William before adding in an amused tone, "we can do it. It's only an awakened monster, after all."
Heh, she liked the way he thought.
"Only an..... awakened monster you say? Do you hear yourself you crazy bastard?!" erupted shocked Sunless with fury. "We are all Sleepers here! Fighting Awakened Beasts was already a stretch; now you want to fight an Awakened Monster!?"
"Man, shout louder why don't you?" complained an annoyed William. "You are lucky the winds are already loud enough as it is or else the monster would've already heard you."
This managed to make the dark-haired youth promptly shut up.
"Anyways, it doesn't matter if we are just Sleepers; our foe is an awakened monster with limited intelligence that borders on animalistic insticts so it wouldn't be too hard to pull it into an appropriate trap," added the white-haired Sleeper before making some sort of football huddle to plan out what to do.
##################################
(William's POV)
The white-haired youth stood before the terrifying awakened monster with a baseball-sized ball of light conjured via his [Light] spell floating on top of its head. Yet, the giant monster was ignorant of the bright light due to the effect of the [Shroud of Death] he had casted on it before.
For the next few moments, the monster was effectively blind and deaf.
William job here was to make sure to permanently blind the monster and he had to do it fast lest the [Shroud of Death] wears off.
He summoned a simple but beautiful azure-colored spear in each of his hands.
(Image)
Then, he stared at the monster's face that was so ugly that not even its mother would've loved it.
With a huff, he lifted the two spears and immediately pushed them into its eyes with extreme prejudice - blinding the ugly fucker.
"SKRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The pain and anger from having its eyes mutilated made the monster screech so loudly that the sound would've made a normal human instantly deaf.
Thankfully, the perpetrator was far from normal.
Immediately, the monster retaliated by a horizontal swipe via its scythes but William had already anticipated such a reaction, so he had already moved out of the way of the attack and already climbing up the ridge.
Due to it becoming blind, the monster used its hearing to know which direction to attack. Yet, the black and crimson hulking crab-like monster was attacking nothing but empty air.
"Over here you bastardized crustacean!" William yelled just before jumping down the ridge to the other side and dismissing the light ball. There was no need to add more question to pile.
The scythe-wielding monster finally knew where to channel its mad rage. It charged right in the direction of the voice it heard. The rocky ridge that stood in its way broke down like wet tissue paper when the hulking creature charged through it.
William heard the ridge explode behind him but didn't look back and continued to run while taunting the monster.
"I'm here you overgrown critter!" he yelled at the top of his voice.
The recently blinded monster immediately charged in the direction of his voice with nothing but wrath clouding its thoughts.
William continued to run past the scavenger corpses until he passed by a certain point where he yelled, "Mark!"
Behind him, a golden rope that was loan to them by Cassie was pulled taught while being held by the two scavenger echoes.
The black and red monster charged through, its condition not allowing it to see the evident golden rope in front of its path; then, its legs got caught by the rope.
Nephis suggested that the rope be attached to rocks at first but William shut down that notion since mundane rocks were not durable enough to withstand the strength of the monster's charge.
Sunny counter suggested that him and Nephis hold the ends of the rope. That was also shut down by both Nephis and himself.
As Sleepers, it was more likely that they were going to be pulled by the monster than the other way around.
Thankfully, they had two scavenger echoes that had relatively enough strength to do the job.
With a mental command from both Sunny and Cassie, the two echoes held their ground and pulled their ends of the rope with all their strength.
The charging monster blindly charged at the rope and it's feet faltered causing it to fall forward face first into the ground.
The azure spears pierced deeper into the creature's cranium through its eye sockets and exited on the other side as its massive weight acted against it. The hulking creature twitched for a bit before it finally lay still - dead.
William couldn't believe what just happened until the spell's familiar voice whispered in his ear.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Carapace Centurion.] (Drop guaranteed by fate)
[Your soul grows stronger.]
[You have received a memory: Starlight Legion Armor.]
William was still slack jawed as both Sunny and Nephis came out of their ambush spots with confused expressions on their faces.
They both watch the unmoving Carapace Centurion before looking back at William who was even more confused.
"What happened?" Nephis asked, eyes slighly widened
A lightning bolt streaked through the sky before the rumbling of thunder came.
"That was.... too anticlimactic," said Sunny in astonishment while still observing the nightmare creature corpse. "I know that you said the plan was going to help us kill it but I can't believe an Awakened Monster died just like that."
"Trust me, neither do I," William shook his head, "but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth."
Then, he dismissed his [Azure Spears] causing the monster to immediately begin to spurt azure blood from its wounds.
"Yeah, you're right. At least, no one got hurt," replied Sunny with a relieved sigh before moving towards the corpse to extract its soul shards.
"Right, princess, can you come over here for a moment," William requested.
#############################
(Nephis POV)
Nephis tilted her head in confusion at the white-haired Sleeper's sudden request but still obliged his request.
As soon as she got near him, he clashed he clasped her hand with his before telling her in a whisper, "Consider this an apology for what happened before."
She immediately felt something enter her soul sea and reflexively swung at him with her fist which he managed to dodge out of the way from.
"Woah, princess," he said cautiously as he took several steps away from her, "do you hit everyone who gives you something? Geez! Anyways, whether you want it or not, it is yours. I'll go check up on Cassie."
With that, the boy moved away towards the place where they had sequestered their blind companion.
Nephis watched him disappear into the darkness before shifting her focus to her hands, 'Why did I do that?'
She pondered about the question for a few moments before she shook her head, 'It's not important right now.'
Then, she summoned her runes to see what did she receive.
Her eyes immediately went to a new memory that was added: [Starlight Legion Armor]
**********************************
Memory Name: Starlight Legion Armor
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Type: Armor
Memory Description: [Born in the all-consuming darkness, seven valiant heroes made an oath to return light to the cursed land. Time has erased their names and their faces, but the memory of the defiant oath still remains.]
*********************************
Her eyes widened before she looked at the direction William had gone to with conflicting emotions playing in her heart.
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(William POV)
'Well, can't say that I planned for it to end this way but I'm glad it did either way,' William thought as he walked through the darkness with the rain still pouring down due to the heavy storm. The occassional lightning flashes were all that kept him from accidentally stepping off the platform.
'At least Sunny didn't get hurt and Nephis didn't have to feel herself getting burned to heal him. I also gave the armor memory to Nephis - it was her's anyway. I don't want to deviate the events too much from their original course lest everything I know becomes useless. As long as everything goes the on the same course, I can plan ahead and not lose my memories of home.'
He smiled with the thought that he prevented two of his friends - could they be called friends? - excruciating pain and agony.
#################################
In a dark space where the concepts of time and space hold no meaning, several golden strings in the weave of fate separated from their original threads and joined with other threads.
The darkness grew even more agitated and the embryo growing in said darkness grew even more. It was half-way into completion.
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A.N: For anyone wondering why I gave the [Starlight Legion Armor] to Nephis; well, I kinda didn't know what enchantments to add to the armor. Also, it is kind of an iconic part of the Forgotten Shore arc for Nephis to wear it.
Moreover, in regards to the Carapace Centurion death being so lackluster, I will admit that I spent the better part of three hours decided what to do for this fight then I got an epiphany: Why not use the things William has acquired through the previous chapters to defeat the seemingly unsurmountable monster rather than have them gather dust.
Anyways, I hope this chapter was up to expectations and if not, well, all I can say is that I will try my best to improve.
P.S: I know I said Nephis was not going to be involved with the MC much, but..... uh.... I kinda got a change of heart after writing her POV's out. What do you guy's think? Write in the comment part provided below.
(Comment)
Anyways, happy reading and have a great day!