I ended up misreading the SS wiki page with Cassie's abilities, so my portrayal of her dormant abilities is pretty off. She can't see anything except the attributes of other awakened, and all the other information she had on the forgotten shore was probably from visions.
Slight mistake, cuz I thought that Cassie had seen Sunny's true name through his runes, instead of seeing it in a vision.
I'm honestly a little tempted to keep it, just because it makes more sense in my own head canon, especially since she's got this whole "Burdened with Knowledge" thing goin on for most of the book, but if you guys think I should change it back, I don't really mind too much.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
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[Audun's POV]
It was currently nighttime.
Nephis, Cassia, and Sunny were all sound asleep, blissfully unaware of my inner turmoil.
Currently, I was outside, leaning against the walls of my house, lost in thought.
We had spent the majority of the day planning out the trip, assigning roles, and sharing information about our strengths and weaknesses.
After careful consideration, this is what we came up with:
Sunny was going to act as the scout, sending his shadow ahead to check for dangers along the path.
Nephis would be the vanguard, acting as insurance if combat was unavoidable.
And I would guide the group during our travels, to make sure that we got there in a reasonable amount of time.
Cassia hadn't been necessarily assigned a role, but she still held a great deal of importance if we factored in her prophetic visions.
It was a solid lineup, all things considered.
But...
I sighed wearily.
Ok.
Realistically, it was doable.
Sunny's aspect allowed him to scout ahead without any real danger, and Nephis, from what I could tell, was pretty strong, strong enough to be able to handle an awakened beast or two.
Not to mention, Cassia's ability to glean information from the future could also save us in the event that there was something terrible in store.
There was a pretty decent chance that we'd be able to arrive at the castle Cassia spoke of unharmed, as long as we played our cards right and nothing unexpected happened.
But there was a pretty big problem.
I had lied.
I had gotten caught up in the moment and done something completely irrational, grossly understating the danger to come.
Quite frankly, it was a betrayal of their trust, and it filled me with an indescribable guilt.
The smar- no... the rational thing to do would be to fess up and give them an accurate summary of the dangers ahead, but I just couldn't.
There were numerous times earlier when I had been on the verge of bringing it up,
it's just...
Hope
They looked so full of hope...
I subconsciously held back, afraid of robbing them of the solace brought by Cassia's vision.
It was cowardly, but I wasn't strong enough to do the right thing.
I had been afraid of telling them the truth, and now I was even more afraid of them finding out that I had lied.
Loneliness is all that I've known for the past year. Could you really blame me for being hypersensitive to their reactions and opinions?
I smiled bitterly, disgusted by my selfishness.
Either way, in order to keep them safe, in order to make sure the truth isn't exposed, I'd have to do something drastic.
I stepped back inside the house, staring at the sleeping forms of my new companions.
A soft, shimmering platinum light emanated from my form.
I invoked the power of the Star of Vocalization.
Clearing my throat carefully, I began to sing.
Melodious words filled the air, a sweet lullaby escaping my mouth.
I sang for their peace, the lyrics containing my sincere wish for their safety and pleasant dreams.
With each syllable, my companions sank further into sleep, their myriad expressions easing into contentment and serenity.
I had bought myself a couple of hours at most.
A couple hours to cut down the dangers ahead.
A couple hours to turn my lie into a truth.
I steeled myself, my footsteps quiet as I left.
Turning westward, I pumped my entire body with sword aura, my heart thumping loudly in my ears as I moved at inhuman speeds.
My steps were completely silent, my form hazy like that of a ghost.
Call it paranoia, but I was being extra careful not to leave any traces of my "late night walk", unwilling to underestimate the perceptiveness of Sunny or Nephis.
I streaked along the path, running along the cliffs as I located my targets.
The carapace scavengers made up the majority of the nightmare creatures in the labyrinth; the crab-like abominations populated nearly every facet of the red coral maze.
At night, they would retreat into hiding spots in order to brave the rising tides of the dark sea.
Not unlike real crabs, they hid within the sand/ground of the labyrinth to avoid being displaced by the currents.
They were awakened beasts that scavenged the remnants of creatures that had perished in the ocean and had been washed up by the receding tide.
They would also be my primary goal tonight.
Looking down, I could make out the red coral of the labyrinth's walls.
Dismissing the brown silken fabric of the [Bones of the Forest], I opted for something a bit stronger.
A patterned plate armor coiled around my form in a flurry of white sparks.
I took in a deep, harrowing breath.
After reaching the level of sword seeker, my body's lung capacity had increased exponentially to account for prolonged combat, and as long as I didn't overexert myself, I'd be able to hold my breath for about an hour.
The Carapace scavengers would currently be in their little burrows, defenseless, thinking they were protected by the dark sea.
The plan was simple: jump in, kill them quickly, and jump back out before I drown, rinse and repeat.
I guess this was the price I had to pay.
Fuck
Without another moment of hesitation, I leaped off the cliff, diving into the dark waters of the submerged labyrinth.
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[A few hours later]
My chest heaved as I took in deep, shaken breaths.
The dark sea was receding, the black tides rolling back as if retreating from the light of dawn.
I sat on the edge of the cliffs, basking in the sunlight and taking in that salty ocean smell.
My aura was exhausted, my stars dim with exertion.
Until sunrise, I had swum around in the dark waters covering the labyrinth, locating carapace scavengers in their burrows.
Piercing their heads, I pumped aura through my weapon of choice, detonating it and killing the titanic crabs instantly.
I had lost about 13 weapon memories so far, the spears, swords, and daggers shattering, unable to handle the repeated explosions.
It was well worth it, though.
I had eliminated a grand total of 87 of the ugly bastards, occasionally receiving a memory for my troubles.
What I was doing was less fighting and more arduous labor, the name of the game being pure efficiency.
I patted myself on the back mentally, satisfied with my efforts.
At the very least, I was confident that our group wouldn't be in absolute peril as we began our journey.
There wasn't a doubt in my mind that I had missed a few, but this would have to do for now.
Content yet tired, I continued to absorb the warmth of the artificial morning sun, drying off completely before I reequiped [Bones of the Forest], the soft silky robe replacing the slightly worn armor.
And with that, I made haste back to the house, hustling despite feeling a bit of fatigue.
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When I eventually made it back, Nephis, Sunny, and Cassia were still asleep.
It was still relatively early in the morning, but the effects of my song were beginning to wear off.
I'd say I had about an hour before they woke up.
Nephis had made it pretty clear that she wanted to leave early, to make the most of the limited daylight we had to travel.
In preparation, I began packing supplies, raiding every nock and cranny in my house.
Prioritizing preserved meats, seasonings, and the essentials (ie. toiletry's...), I tucked away everything that was useful.
I didn't know how long it'd be until I came back, or if I'd ever even come back to this humble stone abode; something that I was still coming to terms with.
I looked around the room, taking it all in.
This place had been my home for the past three months.
I had built it from the ground up.
Everything from the stone walls, to the fire pit, and even the furniture, had been constructed by me and me alone.
In a way, the time I had spent here was oddly reminiscent of my previous life.
It was my lonely shelter— my fortress of solitude if you will.
And yet, strangely, I didn't feel an inkling of sadness leaving it all behind.
In fact, it felt liberating.
Before I knew it, I had filled four bags with a few weeks worth of supplies, the shelves and baskets noticeably emptier.
I wandered back out into the yard, deconstructing racks and storing the various abomination materials I had lying around.
While going through the process, I felt a gnawing unease in my stomach, my flaw being triggered.
I turned around, and was greeted by Sunny, the boy yawning and stretching as he approached.
"You need any help?"
I shook my head, pulling the [Thought Quill] out of my soul.
Its fine. If you want you could start on breakfast though.
Sunny nodded.
"Sure, but should I wake up Neph and Cassie?"
There's no point. Just let them wake up naturally.
He shrugged, heading back inside the house.
I continued with what I was doing, my focus returning to my current task as the gnawing feeling faded.
Dusting off my hands, I stored the deconstructed racks and materials in a large sack, placing it besides the house.
I entered to the savory smell of cooking meat, the room full with conversation.
Nephis and Cassia had woken up, and currently, the little group of three were eating a rather simple breakfast as they chatted casually.
Sitting down between Cassia and Sunny, Nephis turned to me, her gray eyes locking onto my form.
"We'll be leaving after breakfast".
I nodded in acknowledgement, gesturing to the bags I had stocked earlier.
I packed enough to hold us over for a few weeks.
Sunny shot me an appreciative look while Nephis gave me a flat "thank you".
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Cassia "looking" at me with that same piercing gaze.
I chose not to dwell on it too much though.
I accepted a portion of food, surprised at Sunny's ability to cook.
We engaged in small talk, Nephis responded flatly to most of Sunny's dialogue which seemed to irk him a bit, Cassia though seemingly distracted, seemed happier, her tone lighter, meanwhile I wrote my responses in the air and on Cassia's open palm in mild amusment.
Even if I were to dig through the archive of the Star of Memory, I don't think I would've been able to recall a more satisfying Breakfast.
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(A/N: And now we begin the long trek to the dark city!
The chapter was a little shorter than I would've liked it to be, but I couldn't really think of a way to feasibly extend the word count without it getting boring, so I sacrified my glorious word count for a more cohesive chapter.
This one was entirely from Audun's perspective, but in the next few chapters, he's probably gonna take a bit more of a backseat so I can develop everyone elses characters.
Also,
Do you guys think the diving in the Dark sea thing is a bit too much?
It felt like a bit of an ass pull on my part, and I might change it depending on your opinions on it, I just needed a way to add a bit of a challenge for Audun, since he's pretty busted rn.
I was pretty tired while cooking this chapter up, so I might've made a few gramatical errors here or there, to which I apologize.
One more thing:
Like I mentioned earlier, would you guys be opposed to me juicing up Cassie's abilites a bit so she can at the very least see memories and attributes, or should I strive for accuracy instead?
ok ok, that's it for now
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you later!)