The corpse of the Carapace Scavenger Nephis had killed lay motionless on the ground, its azure blood coloring the thick mud blue. The grotesque sight and putrid stench made Rain's stomach churn, the feeling of nausea rising— And she would have, if not for the horrors that she had already lived through, which had hardened her against sights like the one in front of her.
Rain watched as Nephis made her way towards the corpse of the Scavenger, her sword still tightly secured in her hand.
With precise movements, Nephis raised her silver blade high and drove it into the tough carapace of the scavenger. As the blade pierced through the armor, it reached the softer flesh below, making large quantities of blood spray onto Nephis' face. She didn't change her expression, nor did she seem to care, as she just continued tearing off the flesh of the Nightmare Creature.
Rain quickly understood what Nephis was trying to do, she had done it many times too after all, even if there was no use for her.
After a little while of Nephis' sword widening the hole inside of the Scavenger's chest, she finally dove her hand inside and pulled out something shiny.
It was an Awakened Soul Shard.
Without saying anything, Nephis simply threw the Soul Shard at Rain, who caught the valuable item with ease.
Rain raised her eye in confusion.
"Why ? You killed it alone, it should be yours."
Nephis tilted her head to the side and stayed silent. The azure blood smeared across her face and bare skin made her seem like a sore thumb in this crimson territory. Her answer sounded more like a statement than an explanation.
"I don't have pockets. You do though, at least something akin to them."
'Oh right..'
Even though the answer seemed to have been logical, doubts started to appear inside of Rain's head after a second of thought.
"Then why aren't you just absorbing it ? It's not like it takes a lot of time."
Nephis didn't respond immediately, like she had just been caught and was choosing her words carefully.
"We'll divide the spoils later."
***
The rest of the long and boring day passed without the small cohort having had another encounter with the gruesome Carapace Scavengers. The crimson labyrinth simply remained silent, except for the squelch of their feet sinking into the thick mud. Rain continued leading their way at the top of the lime. She had trained this navigation technique for the past two weeks, an yet it was still hard for her to split her consciousness for such a long amount of time.
Still, Rain stubbornly and cautiously continued walking, each second bringing her closer to the goal of reaching the statue she talked about.
Even though there was this much calmness— as much as there could be in the Dream Realm, her mind was still occupied with one question alone.
"What is the princess hiding ?"
The same conversation from before constantly replayed inside of her mind. It was just too suspicious to ignore. In total, there were three possible answers to that question.
Firstly: Nothing, simply nothing. Nephis wasn't hiding anything. Perhaps, she genuinely just wanted to divide the spoils later.
Secondly: She had a different use for the Soul Shards. Maybe she needed them for something related to a memory or an Aspect.
And the last option was one Rain saw as the most dangerous one. The chance of Nephis being just like herself. A Divine Aspect holder. If this was the truth, it meant that there was a chance of Nephis also having a different path of progression. But in the end, Rain wasn't sure.
Rain noticed how sunset was approaching. Thankfully, there was no need to worry, since they had just arrived in front of it. The large monument reached 200 meters into the sky, but that wasn't the thing that truly made it stand out. The special thing about the statue was its head, since there literally just wasn't one.
"It's missing a head.", Nephis murmured, her voice close to being fully silent. In contrast, Rain just simply stared at the stone figure, unfazed. This wasn't the first time she had seen it after all— It was actually the first solid thing she touched inside of the Dream Realm.
"Right, it has no head. That's why we can spend a night on it." Rain said while continuing to inspect the statue for any changes.
Cassie, who had remained silent in a few hours, holding the golden rope to follow Nephis, finally decided to speak up again, her voice melting the tension like butter.
"I'm happy we arrived without any real trouble, but I think we should start climbing, before something unforeseen happens down here."
Cassie's words shook off the hesitation of Rain and Nephis, and without waiting any second longer, they got to moving.
It wasn't that easy though. Rain had climbed this monstrous statue a few times before, but now also needing to help the blind girl ascend, made it even harder. Leaving her at the ground while they climbed up themselves was a no-go. It would've simply been too dangerous.
So Nephis and rain settled on taking turns pulling the rope every few meters or so. Each time Cassie was pulled to their level, she would cling onto the rocks and wait patiently while the others ascended the statue even higher. The process was exhausting and torturous, repeating this cycle feeling like a never-ending loop. By the end, Rain's and Nephis' bodies were fully sore, but it was the only method they could realistically pull off without putting the blind girl into real danger.
Fortunely, they managed to reach the top of the headless statue before the Black Sea reappeared and washed them away.
As night descended onto the crimson labyrinth, the small group of sleepers settled in the center of the circular stone platform.
Reating was the only thing they could do, since no one was in the mood to talk, nor did they have any materials to start a fire to eat with.
Rain leaned her head back untill it reached the cold stone floor of the Statue's neck. She gazed up into the starless sky, seeing nothing the dark abyss of the Dream Realm. The absence of light made her feel like a little and unimportant bug in an unexplored world. But that wasn't nearly enough to make her give up— she had lived through worse kinds of depressions after all.
Rain twisted to the side, using her hands as a makeshift pillow. Suddenly, a single thought popped up inside of her mind.
'I haven't looked at my runes for a while now.'
Rain remained motionless for a while before finally deciding to summon her runes and look at her progress. The shimmering runes slowly ignited in the air in front of her.
Name: Rain.
True Name: Final Wish.
Rank: Dreamer.
Dream Core: Dormant.
Dream Fragments: [38/1000]
Rain frowned.
'Only 38 Fragments in a whole month isn't a lot. Breaking the mind of Carapace Scavengers is painfully slow, and I only obtain two fragments for each. I need to find a more efficient way of gaining them.
Memories: [Hunter's Lure], [Azure Blade], [Prowling Night], [Crimson Cuirass.], [Loyal Fang.]
Echoes:—
Aspect: [Dream Walker].
Flaw: [Sleeper].
She had gotten 4 memories in that month she spent alone in the Crimson Labyrinth, now having 5 in total. It wasn't a lot, but all of them were pretty good. Rain studied all of the familiar runes of her memories— She had done that a lot in her free time.
Memory: [Azure Blade].
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Type: Weapon.
Memory Description: [On this forgotten shore, only steel remembers.]
The Azure Blade was the first Memory she had obtained in the Dream Realm. It was a sharp, light blue sword, the whole sword being around one meter long. It was straight and single-edged, ending in an angular tip. The crossguard was minimalistic and simple, offering almost no protection to the wielder's hands.
For someone like Rain, who had no professional training, it was hard to use a single-edged blade like that. But her natural talent and her reflexes, that had been forged in the outskirts, made her still able to kill Nightmare Creatures like a maniac.
Memory: [Prowling Night.]
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Type: Garment.
Memory Description: [In the dark night, a man moved silently through the world, no ears ever having heard him.]
This was a memory that had helped her a lot, although passively. It might've had another effect, but the only thing she knew about it was that it made her steps become silent, like the ones of an assassin. One time, shortly after she had obtained this garment, she had gotten into a very dangerous situation, in which she had been surrounded by multiple Scavengers. Thankfully, the garment made her able to escape without making any noise.
Memory: [Crimson Cuirass.]
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Type: Armor.
Memory Description: "A beautiful armor born in the depths of the crimson labyrinth."
Rain allowed herself to smile, as she looked over the runes of this particular memory. This was the armor she wore right now, a red cuirass that shielded most of her vital organs. It was the memory that had given her the final edge in surviving in a lot of situations. Rain couldn't even count how many times it had saved her, so she was very happy with her armor.
Memory: [Loyal Fang].
Rain's gaze lingered on the unfamiliar runes of the Memory. She had obtained it just a mere hour before having met Nephis and Cassie, and with everything that had happened till now, she hadn't had any time to look over it yet.
Rain, already being excited, read further.
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Type: Weapon.
'So another weapon. Was pretty easy to guess, because of the name of course.'
Memory Description: [A faithful dagger that never abandoned its Master, having gone through thin and thick with them.]
'Interesting. A dagger ? I've had a few experiences with knifes before, so I know how dangerous they can be.'
Rain suddenly had a bitter taste on her tongue, the thought of a dagger making a past memory appear inside of her mind. It had happened a few years ago, and it wasn't a memory she liked to look back onto.
'Sunny..'