Sunny looked at Cassie with anticipation, eager to hear what she had seen. He tried not to get his hopes up, as just the thought of possibilities made him anxious. Did she see a citadel, or perhaps a nightmare creature that would gladly devour them?
"What did you see?"
Trying to keep his emotions from seeping into his voice, Sunny hurried to ask Cassie. Gathering her thoughts, she began to speak. Sunny listened carefully to each of her words, trying to decipher the possible meaning of this vision.
"When I was sleeping, I had a dream. I saw a bright sun devoid of any warmth shining in the sky, its uncanny light penetrated me right to the depths of my soul causing discomfort. When suddenly another bright star appeared next to the sun, reacting to its appearance the previously calm sea began to rage with waves that seemingly reached the sky itself."
'How confusing. Perhaps the first sun symbolized the one they saw during the day, while the Red Sea was a coral labyrinth.'
'But what did she mean by 'a star'? Was that just a figure of speech or perhaps something more?'
'One thing is more or less obvious, coral labyrinth didn't react very positively to its appearance. It's difficult to determine the exact role the star played.'
'Was it a new danger that would consume this place or the righteous owner of the region that was infected by the coral labyrinth?'
Returning from his thoughts, Sunny carefully inspected Cassie. She patiently waited for him to finish gathering his thoughts; nothing suspicious could be noticed. He doubted that she was hiding any details but still decided to ask for clarification.
"Is that everything that you saw?"
Hearing Sunny's words, Cassie lowered her head. Her vision only added more confusion to them and raised more questions. She couldn't help but doubt her usefulness once again. Since she couldn't see his actual reaction, Cassie easily misinterpreted Sunny's response, thinking he was dissatisfied with her answer.
Cassie shook her head, and they both stayed silent for a while.
'I'm so useless, can't even do one thing properly.'
"I believe I might understand what your vision meant. But before that, do you have any guesses?"
In an effort to help, she perked up and rushed to explain. Being one of the few things she could perceive, visions emerged as a crucial aspect of her life. While her understanding might not always be completely accurate, she was confident in her skill to interpret them and find out their basic meanings.
"I believe the star is a powerful nightmare creature or an awakened. I can't determine how, but I think this person will influence the entire region in one way or another."
'This is about what I thought. Now what remains is to find out whether this creature is good or bad news.'
If this is a nightmare creature capable of shaking the entire region, he certainly wouldn't want to encounter it. However, it could also potentially be a master or even a saint who somehow ended up in this place.
'Snap out of it! There's no way it will happen. Why would a saint even be here? They can leave the dream realm at any moment. If one had ever appeared here, then this region would be known.'
After replying, Cassie waited to hear Sunny's response. Half a minute had already passed. Had he suddenly decided to leave her again after realizing how useless she was? No, where could he even go? They were stuck here in the middle of the black ocean.
'Why has he been silent for so long? Is he angry?'
"I had such an idea as well. I think we should return to sleep, if you have another vision, don't hesitate to wake me up."
'Although I'd like to keep the conversation going, I doubt nightmare creatures will accept my excuse that I was sleepy from gossiping about Cassie's dream all night.'
Returning to his previous sleeping position Sunny closed his eyes after giving his shadow the same order as before. This time he couldn't feel Cassie's back against his. Shrugging it off, Sunny focused on falling asleep as fast as possible.
This time, he was awakened not by his shadow or his companion but by the sound of rushing water retreating somewhere in the depths of the corral labyrinth. Looking beside him, Sunny saw that Cassie was already awake.
'She doesn't look very well. Has she even slept?'
Hearing the rustling sound, Cassie turned to look in his direction and offered a faint smile.
"If you haven't slept well, you can take a nap; I'll stay on guard. Today, we won't leave the statue just yet."
'Sunny likely delayed everything because of me…'
"There's no need, I got plenty of sleep."
Sunny looked at her with skepticism, wondering what she was trying to do. Does she not trust me enough to sleep near me? There was no trouble when they fell asleep the first time, so there must be something else.
Sunny looked at her with a gaze full of suspicion, recalling her behavior from last night. It must be related to her vision; she might have hidden some details yesterday or refrained from fully expressing her theory when he asked.
'If I think back, I remember her mentioning that sunlight in a dream caused her discomfort. Could this be why she is so afraid?'
Sunny carefully gazed at the sky, feeling slightly wary of the sun. He tried to avoid looking directly at it as if to evade attracting its attention. After some time, he grew a bit bolder and looked straight at the sun. However, all he noticed was the mocking gaze of his own shadow.
'At least [Fated] was merciful enough, and the sun is not a nightmare creature, probably…'
He turned his attention back to Cassie and began to speak with confidence.
'The sun is likely not a nightmare creature; I've just confirmed it.'
After saying it he felt a pair of gazes directed at him. At least that's what they were supposed to be since one was blind and another was shadow. The first one was already familiar mocking one and another one was dumbfounded with obvious questions.
"What?"
In a similar state confused Sunny looked back at Cassie.
"I referred to your vision. You mentioned that the sunshine caused you discomfort in the dream. I initially thought the sun might be a nightmare creature, but fortunately, I was mistaken."
For some time, Cassie remained silent until he heard stifled giggles escaping her mouth. Glaring at her, Sunny moved toward the edge and continued collecting seaweed, while his gloomy shadow inspected the territory surrounding the statue.
'What's wrong with my assumption? Isn't she too careless for somebody in such a dangerous situation?'
Working with the materials Sunny prepared the sleeping place for himself. If he wants to survive in this place, he might try to avoid being killed by his back pain as well. Honestly, it wasn't even that bad, Sunny endured much worse in his first nightmare, yet right now with nothing else to do he decided to reward himself with a little luxury.
Feeling movement behind him, Sunny turned to see Cassie, who had summoned [Endless Spring].
"May I take a sip?"
Fortunately for him, she was willing to lend him a memory. As Sunny drank the water greedily, he appreciated the bottle that was their only source of hydration. Reflecting on the memories he had received during the first nightmare, Sunny couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy.
'It seems that this is the cost of having awakened memories of a tyrant class.'
With nothing to do, the day passed normally. Throughout the time, Sunny explored the nearby territory with his shadow but didn't encounter anything besides crab-like creatures and countless bones that were once their meals.
Once again, all the creatures began to hide as they heard the roar of the approaching torrents of water. This time, the waves in the sea seemed especially furious. It didn't take long before the entire sea was engulfed by a storm.
Powerful gusts of wind mercilessly hit the people on the statue. Combined with the slippery stone Sunny barely stayed on it. Cassie was faring much worse, disoriented she couldn't grasp any ledge in the stone and seemed to be about to slip off and fall into the sea.
Cursing under his breath, Sunny grabbed the girl and positioned her right next to him.
"Hold on to me tightly if you don't want to fall off the platform."
As she listened to him, Cassie tightly clung to his body. He wanted to complain that she could be gentler, but soon both of them were submerged underwater by one of the countless waves.
Coughing from the water, Sunny checked to see if Cassie hadn't fallen off the platform. After confirming that she was still safe, he braced himself to confront the storm's fury. Trying to avoid getting sprayed in the face by the rain, Sunny turned away, only to see that his makeshift bed was being carried away by the wind.
'Are you kidding? Who was I making this bed for? I didn't even have an opportunity to use it.'
'Dammit! If any abomination finds it, I hope it will choke on it and die.'
With sadness and regret visible in his eyes, Sunny said his last farewells to the bed. The storm continued the whole night, during this time both he and Cassie almost fell off several times. At one point annoyed by the fact that his companion was about to slip off and barely held at all, Sunny pinned Cassie underneath himself to secure her position better.
Usually, being in such a position with another girl, especially one as beautiful as Cassie, would have made him blush and sent his thoughts wandering in the wrong direction. But right now, the only thing he could think about was how he would manage to survive the next few minutes and when the sun would rise again in the sky.
'As long as the sea disappears, I don't care if the sun is a corrupted beast. At least then, I would have a chance to survive.'
As the wind gradually calmed, the waves ceased their threat to throw them into the sea. Gasping for air, Sunny collapsed onto the platform. Stacked on top of each other, neither Sunny nor Cassie could move.
With a grunt, Sunny rolled onto his back, allowing Cassie to catch her breath. His entire body ached, and his muscles felt as if they had been torn. Gazing up at the sky, Sunny let out a sigh of relief. The night had finally come to an end, and they had both survived. Reflecting on their recent experience, he prayed that nights like this were not the norm.
Sunny closed his eyes, giving a mental command to his shadow, and surrendered to fatigue. He immediately blacked out and fell into a dreamless sleep. Though he wasn't sure how long he slept, he was relieved to see that the sun still hung high in the sky when he awoke.
Sunny thought about trying to make the bed again but quickly dismissed the idea. His body felt sore from the exhausting night and from sleeping on a hard surface. Standing up, he stretched and began his late morning by observing the surroundings with Shadow.
Little by little nightmare creatures devoured the corpse of sea monster. The dead beast seemed to be mostly unaffected by the storm besides a few suspiciously big bites that didn't seem to belong to scavengers.
Sometime later, Cassie woke up. Her overall appearance seemed much worse than his. Fully drenched, she trembled from the cold. With wet, tangled hair and a pale face, she looked dangerously ill. The makeshift clothes created by inexperienced Sunny barely stayed together, forcing her to cover herself.
'I didn't endure the whole night just for her to die from a cold.'
'Remove wet clothing and put on the armor. I'll come up with another solution.'
Once again, without anything to cover himself, Sunny placed [Puppeter's Shroud] near Cassie. She appeared very reluctant to accept it and ultimately declined his offer.
"I can't do it, Sunny."
"You must be in no better condition than me, probably even worse, you shielded me the whole night. I can't just take your armor too."
As sincere as she was and as much as Cassie wanted to help, what she was doing right now was nothing but an inconvenience for Sunny. When it didn't come to fighting, he was sure that he'd manage to survive even without the armor but he was not so sure about her.
If Cassie becomes sick or unable to move on her own, she will become an even bigger burden for him. After contemplating his options, Sunny decided to be straightforward. Isn't it funny? As if he's capable of saying something other than the truth.
"Cassie, I hope you understand how precarious your position is?"
In reply she nodded, still trembling from the cold she didn't dare to touch the memory that lay next to her. Sunny looked at her with disapprovement, seems like he'd have to bring her back to reality.
"If you get sick or you're mobility decreases in any way, you'll die Cassie. I can help us to traverse through the labyrinth with relative safety, but lack of speed will be our biggest problem. If you understood, then make sure that you'll be in the best condition when we leave."
Sunny turned away and without any objections, Cassie did what she was told to. While both of them were in silence Sunny fixed Cassie's clothes and made a pair for something to cover himself temporarily too.
Tomorrow lack of food will take its effect and they'll start slowly growing weaker. That's why Sunny is planning to hunt one of those nightmare creatures. Going to the corpse of the sea beast would be suicide, that's why he'll try to hunt one of those who didn't have a chance to get food.
Hopefully, he'll manage to find a creature weakened enough that he could kill it without any complications. He was sure in the protective capabilities of [Puppeter's Shroud], those nightmare creatures themself didn't seem to be stronger than awakened ones.
The closest he assumes them to be is somewhere around Awakened Beast or Monster. The biggest problem is the total lack of any weapons, his only way to kill them right now is by augmenting himself with shadows.
After summing up all the preparations and current goals in his head Sunny broke the silence and spoke to Cassie successfully attracting her attention.
"Tomorrow we'll leave the statue, be sure to stay prepared."
"I understand…"
After a short reply, they stayed in silence until the evening. From time to time Cassie summoned [Endless Spring] and offered it to Sunny. But besides it, they had barely interacted at all preferring to remain quiet. Of course, both of them had very different reasons for it, while Cassie couldn't say anything because of guilt, Sunny didn't see any reason to speak so far.
Sunny carefully observed nightmare creatures, he noticed some injured individuals who were either missing some limbs or had huge cracks in their shells. If [Fated] was merciful enough, they had a chance to meet them tomorrow after the sea disappeared.
Unexpectedly he heard Cassie, looking at her, he didn't notice [Endless Spring] in her hand.
"Sunny, am I useless?"
'What a troublesome question.'
By no means did Sunny view Cassie as useless, she was troublesome for sure but her aspect was a very valuable instrument. It wasn't even Sunny's opinion that was a problem but rather how Cassie would react. Should he explain her worth or exploit her insecurities? The second option is much safer, he'll be able to use her memories and abilities as he wishes without any major drawbacks.
The first option is a little bit more risky. Would she start using it as leverage to order Sunny if he shows her value? It was hard to imagine something like it just looking at a fragile poor girl in front of him, but who if not Sunny knew that appearance might be deceitful?
'Even with this leverage, as long as she really wants to survive, she can't do anything.'
"You're not useless. Although your presence brings some inconveniences, I prefer it over being alone. I'm not sure what I would have done without your aspect and visions."
Everything he said was true of course. Surviving without Cassie might have been easier theoretically but surviving would be everything he could do. As long as he had Cassie around, Sunny had hope to escape this place.
He studied Cassie closely, taking note of her reaction. Although she had been tense, she now felt a sense of relief. She had braced herself for much harsher words, which she believed she deserved. However, despite all the problems she had caused, Cassie realized that she could at least help Sunny in some way.
'Even though my arrival in the dream realm was nothing short of terrifying, I was fortunate to meet Sunny.'
"Thank you, Sunny, I'll do my best to help us leave this place."
Was it a success? Perhaps the worst result was avoided, now that she at least knows her job Sunny can wait and see what her next vision will be. Another night arrived and the statue was again surrounded by water.
Lying back to back both of them went to sleep. Sunny studied his runes for some time before drifting to sleep. When he was awakened by his shadow, Sunny tensed and observed the surrounding territory for danger. But what he saw was even more unexpected.
Somewhere in a far Sunny saw glimpses of light. Was that a nightmare creature or did other people decide to light the campfire? He was not sure but if it was the latter one, they had to check it.
Should he wake up Cassie? He didn't know how exactly her aspect functioned but could she see the runes of the person at such distance? Was sleeping a required step to see a vision? Sunny decided not to risk in case he will interrupt something and after observing the light in a far for some time returned to sleeping.
This time his gloomy companion woke up Sunny just before the first ray of light would disperse the darkness of night. Today he planned to leave the statue when the majority of nightmare creatures would surround the corpse to feast on it.
With this, he would have a whole day to scout the surrounding area and find some food. At first Sunny thought about leaving Cassie at the statue and getting food on his own, but despite the complete lack of danger before, he couldn't be sure that nothing would kill her once he left.
With this appeared another problem. How would he help Cassie to get down or back on the statue? She was light for sure but climbing with her on his back would guarantee both of them falling to death.
His last hope remained on [Evertwine]. If it could become long enough he could tie it around the neck of the statue secure enough to help Cassie get down on his back. Although in this case Sunny would be forced to leave this memory hanging in place. Otherwise, they would be unable to get back.
'Nightmare creatures started already gathering around the corpse, I guess it's time to wake up Cassie.'
Moving to Cassie he tried to gently shake her until she woke up. After a few seconds, he succeeded and after he received [Puppeter's Shroud] back, Sunny started explaining his plan. Receiving [Evertwine] he did it as long as possible.
After tying the rope around the statue, Sunny helped Cassie climb onto his back. He felt her arms wrap tightly around him from behind, which made him cough from embarrassment.
'Well, isn't this lovely? Although I would have preferred it to be under more positive circumstances.'
"Are you holding on tight, Cassie?"
"Yes, you can go now."
After receiving confirmation Sunny carefully slid down the rope until he finally hit the ground. Underneath the ground consisted of wet mud. Sunny helped Cassie to get on the ground and she summoned the stuff.
"Give me your hand. I'll help you not to hit something."
"Thank you, Sunny."
Sunny let his shadow go further and followed it while carefully inspecting the surroundings. Sometimes he was forced to take turns back when he was met with dead ends. Luckily his ability helped him with it and amount of mistakes they made while traveling across this labyrinth was as little as possible.
Taking another turn Sunny was ready to take another step when Suddenly his hand was pulled by Cassie. With surprise, he turned to face her fully ready to see her being injured and a nightmare creature attacking both of them from behind.
Pale and with worry on her face Cassie was looking holding her hand.
"What's the matter, have you received the vision?"
Cassie shook her head before starting to speak.
"There's a nightmare creature ahead."
Sunny tensed up and calling back shadow looked at the closest turns in the labyrinth. He hadn't heard or seen anything but the mud a little bit further from them looked suspicious.
'This must be one of those scavengers, who decided to prepare a trap.'
With a whisper, Sunny asked Cassie about the creature ahead.
"Can you see its attributes?"
"There's not a lot of information about it besides its hard shell."
"Cassie, can you point out any weaknesses?"
"Sorry, I can't."
Carefully Sunny led Cassie back and helped her hind among the corrals while he returned to their previous position and grabbed a sharp bone as an improvised spear. He considered the idea of sending shadow to check whether Cassie was in danger but he doubted that he would manage to slay this creature without its help.
How should he do it? He can't just augment the bone and hit with it. Those creatures have a hard shell, so he can't just stub it anywhere and expect them to bleed. And throwing away the advantage of a sudden attack was not something he wanted to do.
Throwing away his reluctance, Sunny picked up the bone and threw it from a safe distance. Momentarily a single pincer shot out of the mud and hit the place where the bone fell. The tremors spread around the surface and Sunny was once again forced to reconsider his strength.
'Damnation, am I seriously supposed to fight this overgrown crab?'
Very soon creature in the mood fully showed itself in its full glory. In front of him was a standing beast that reached three meters in height and reminded terrifying mix between crab and centaur. Fortunately for Sunny, it was injured, with half of its legs being missing and one of the pincers completely missing it severely lacked mobility that Sunny had.
Despite this, it could reach much further than Sunny's range of attack and could snap him in half with one attack. Of course, in practice, it might be different since Sunny had the armor that he received from a much stronger enemy.
Seeing the glaring lack of one limb, Sunny stayed on the right side. He augmented his body with shadow and in one dash he quickly approached the creature and rushed behind it. Bending in the end Sunny barely avoided the fast attack feeling the gush of wind caressing his hair when the pincer hit the wall of corals.
Noticing the enemy behind its back beast started turning in his direction but fortunately due to its injured limbs, Sunny had some time to change his position again and climb on its back. He hurryingly tried to find any place that his weapon could potentially penetrate and settled on thin-looking plates on its back.
Before he managed to stab them scavenger slammed his body against the wall of the labyrinth forcing Sunny to fly off its back and fall on the ground. Upon landing he rolled on the ground and stood for a second disoriented.
'I was lying, from now on rolling is a significant part of my battle style.'
Luckily for him, his enemy suffered from this action as well. Several of his legs couldn't hold the weight of the body and gave up forcing the creature's body to hit the ground. Immediately Sunny ran towards the awakened beast. From an uncomfortable position beast tried to hit him with its pincer but by going to the side and brushing with his side against the wall Sunny managed to avoid it.
When he was close enough to the target Sunny switched the target of the augmentation from his body to the bone spear. He aimed it in one of the cracks in the body and plunged it deep into the creature's body.
Sliding through the shell he felt how it bisected its flesh and stuck while trying to leave the body through the back. After that Sunny abandoned his weapon and stepped out the distance on which he could be hit.
'Have I killed it?'
Soon he received the answer when the monster slowly stood up. With blood oozing out of its wounds nightmare creature approached Sunny who stood without any weapon. Sunny's shadow again augmented his body and he rushed to take the closest thing that could be used to damage the scavenger.
Avoiding the approaching beast Sunny dashed to the wall and took another bone. Without any time to watch what he picked up, Sunny was left with what he could call a short sword that was in length from his shoulder to forearm.
'Damnation, what did I do to pick the draw the short straw?'
With another roll, Sunny saved his head from being severed with a giant pincer. Landing way too close to the creature Sunny was bodyslammed the moment he stood up and had to roll on his side to avoid sharp legs.
Finally, he stood up face to face with the enemy. Its pincer was already approaching him coming closer back to the body but Sunny was way too close and augmenting the bone, pierced scavenger right in the eye. He stabbed it deep into the handle and left it inside.
[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavanger]
But before Sunny could hear the rest of what the spell was trying to say, he was slammed against the wall with a pincer which was still approaching him due to inertia.
"Damna…!"
Before Sunny could say it, the air left his lungs, while gasping for it he finally heard the rest of the announcements from the spell.
[You have received a Memory: Proof of Life.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
Luckily for Sunny, his memory protected him well enough not to be injured after this. With a few bruises here and there and a headache, Sunny stood up and saw Cassie stumbling and relying on her stuff in panic searching the area.
Covered in the blue blood of a dead creature Sunny approached a worried girl.
"Cassie, why are you here? You were supposed to stay hidden until I returned."
"Sunny, I heard you yelling, I thought you.. "
She bit her trembling lip trying to suppress her tears. Sunny gave her his hand but in return, she lunged at him and embraced not letting him go for a while. Great now both of them were covered in blood.
'As if somebody like me would die so easily.'
'I survived nightmare creatures worse than this, meeting an awakened beast is nothing in comparison.'
"Sunny, are you injured? You're covered by some liquid."
"Nothing serious, few bruises. And blood isn't mine too."
Cassie finally let Sunny escape her hug and he was going to return to the corpse. But before this, he had something to do. Opening runes he looked at the newfound memory.
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Type: Armor
Memory Description: [The dead do not get the privilege of breathing. Forgotten shore is a place where mortal forgot to breathe]
'Puppeter's Shroud is from tyrant rank awakened, I guess this will go to Cassie.'
"Cassie, give me your hand."
"We're already leaving?"
"No, I have something for you."
Taking her hand Sunny transported his memory from his soul sea to Cassie's. After receiving it, she looked at him with surprise. At least that's what she intended to do, she couldn't see anything.
"Summon the armor. I'll go collect some meat."
While leaving he glanced back at Cassie. For a few seconds, she was surrounded by a swirl of light before memory materialized on her. In some way, it reminded him of his armor. The first layer was made from black fabric or leather to which were attached plates of blue chitin.
Sunny moved to the defeated enemy and augmented his body with shadow. Using hands and bones he tore off the plates. Sunny collected the meat which he then put into makeshift bags. When Sunny gathered enough, he didn't forget to take its single soul core.
"I have finished, let's hurry. We have some time before returning."
Holding hands both of them moved deeper into the labyrinth until suddenly moving before them Sunny's shadow noticed someone. Contrary to his first thoughts, it was a human. Standing in the area free of bloody corrals was somebody he recognized.