My fault guys
After I finished writing this chapter, I forgot to post it ;-;
It was just sitting in my drafts for a full day, while I was sitting here wondering why no one was commenting
I literally realized as I was checking my phone while on the way to the airport.
Once again, that's lwk my fault (⊙ˍ⊙).
Anyway, I've spent the last two days prepping and packing before my flight, fixing gear and quadruple-checking my bags, so I've been a bit busy
I feel like I haven't really been able to 100% focus on what I'm writing and in a way, I feel like the quality of my writing has been going down too, so I've ended up having to slow down a bit with the updates in a desperate bid to maintain some level of quality as the rest of my life speeds up.
I'm still motivated, and love writing, it's just that I have some other things I have to take care of before I can lock in (┬┬﹏┬┬).
Thanks for the continued support and I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!
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[Sunny's POV]
The sun beamed down on us with gray light as our group of four departed from the cozy stone house and into the endless crimson maze.
Nephis was walking in front, alert and ready, prepared to fight if things went south.
Audun was tasked with guiding us and defending Cassie, the two walking side by side just behind Nephis.
And I stood at the very end, trailing the rest of the group.
Audun's face was a mask of emotionlessness, though his body language conveyed the absolute ease with which he navigated the labyrinth.
At times, it felt like he had memorized the entire layout of the ominous coral maze, regal purple letters forming surprisingly detailed directions for Nephis and me to follow.
In a way, he was the one coordinating our advance.
Doing my part, I was using my shadow to actively scout ahead, checking for any potential danger, ensuring that we didn't walk straight into an encirclement of nightmare creatures.
Our teamwork was flawless, each member of our little exploration team doing their assigned parts flawlessly.
The muddy ground squelched as we proceeded through the labyrinth, a strong salty smell permeating the surrounding air.
So far, we hadn't encountered any danger, the path ahead being surprisingly safe.
But it was exactly because of this that I remained vigilant.
Something didn't feel right; it felt too peaceful, almost as if it was the calm before the storm.
And yet, a few hours later, I haven't caught even a glimpse of any nightmare creatures.
Weird
Pulling my attention away from my shadow for a second, I scanned the group.
The two blondes were walking somewhat at ease, connected by the rope I had originally seen Nephis use when we first met.
Audun walked freely, his steps relaxed and measured, though his eyes never stopped moving, the amethyst orbs scanning the surroundings at a disorienting speed.
Cassie, to her credit, seemed relatively at ease, though her shoulders betrayed a hint of tension as she prodded at the ground in front of her with her wooden cane.
Every once in a while, Cassie would shoot a contemplative expression in Audun's direction, pondering something unknown to the rest of us.
I looked ahead at Changing Star.
Nephis' expression was aloof, her eyes focused as she navigated the path, following Audun's directions.
She was wearing an armored vest and skirt, the armor made of interwoven small silver rectangular plates, almost resembling scales. Underneath the armor, she wore a rather snug-fitting padded bodysuit, the fabric conforming around her exposed arms and legs, emphasizing her slim yet athletic form.
The armor had been gifted to her by our very own navigator, along with a few other clothing Memories.
I sighed quietly, refocusing my attention on my shadow, though there still wasn't much to see.
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I never thought I'd be bored in the dream realm.
It was supposed to be this harrowing place, dangers lurking around every corner, a place where survival was earned and not guaranteed.
And yet, despite wandering around an ominous red coral maze, we had done nothing but walk.
It was almost nighttime, Audun guiding our little group to a tall hill, tall enough to house us safely during the rising tides of the dark sea.
We were currently enjoying a spread of dried meat and a seemingly endless supply of cool, clean water, courtesy of our two blondes.
Cassie and Audun sat side by side, Audun feeding her little nuggets of meat, while Cassie's expression was contorted in slight discomfort and embarrassment.
Nephis was off to the side, stone faced, and staring out at the rising black waters.
Away from the rest of the group, I was manipulating my shadow, in an attempt to improve my shadow control.
With the disturbing lack of nightmare creatures, I hadn't gotten the chance to obtain any shadow fragments, and thus I had to focus on other means of improving my strength.
One of the downsides of killing to gain strength, I guess.
Anyway, I was making pretty decent progress with shadow control, the scouting I had done while we were travelling helping a lot.
My shadow felt a lot easier to control, and I didn't have to concentrate as hard to use my abilities.
Which was good and all
But
I was inexperienced as they came.
Surviving my first nightmare had been a tall order, and the only real "fight" I've had thus far was with a carapace scavenger, a fight in which, If not for my aspect, I could've easily lost.
I glanced over at the still figure of Changing Star, her short silver hair rusting gently as a cool sea breeze swept over the hill.
If I was overreliant on my aspect, then she was the exact opposite.
She was able to dismantle Caster, the second-strongest sleeper in the academy, with skill with the blade alone, a feat in which I was still struggling to wrap my head around.
The absolute efficiency in her execution, the confidence and effortless grace she exuded when she wielded the blade, and the intelligence laced within her tactics, were all things that I admired deeply.
She was strong, far stronger than I was.
But there was also someone else.
I turned my attention away from her to the purple eyed Blondie taking care of Cassie.
I frowned slightly.
Audun was a bit of a mystery.
I knew little to nothing about him.
I knew that he had been dropped in the hollow mountains, an area that humanity had designated as a death zone because of the sheer danger of the place.
Audun had not only made it out of there alive, but judging from the pretty complete looking map he had drawn out with his quill, he had explored a vast area of the place we were in.
And yet, he still somehow had enough time to settle down and build a house in the dream realm, not just surviving, but truly living in a place where most would've perished.
He had to possess an extremely powerful aspect, or just he was just disgusting competent in combat.
If I were to fight either of them head on, there's a pretty good chance that I'd be obliterated before I got the chance to put up much of a struggle, though if I were to play my cards right, there's still a chance I could come out on top, or at the very least survive.
That's the most important thing, right?
Survival.
Sighing, I began to focus on manipulating my shadow.
Maybe eventually, I could ask one of them to teach me...
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[Cassie's POV]
I could feel my body protesting, begging for rest.
We'd spent nearly all of our daylight hours walking, and it had taken its toll on me.
Most sleepers had been enhanced to the peak of human capabilities by the spell, and I was no different.
I certainly wasn't that physically weak, but hours of wandering around, guided by little more than a bit of rope and a bit of nudging, feeling around for any obstacles with a wooden staff, had done wonders to exhaust my mind.
Not to mention, the embarrassment of having to be fed like I was some helpless hospital patient wasn't exactly energizing me.
I groaned a bit mentally, recalling the past couple days of struggles.
Anyway
It was probably late outside now, judging from the lack of light and the sound of the ocean.
Our little group had fallen into silence, this time it felt more like a comfortable silence, though.
We had formed a passable level of trust with one another, and with that bit of trust, the wariness of meeting a stranger began to fade.
Though, there was still someone here that I was especially on guard against.
Sunny's friend Audun.
With my lack of observational power, I lacked visual information, one of the key aspects in which we judge people.
Instead, I was reliant on my ability to see runes in order to draw conclusions about people.
In the same way that someone would judge someone as "Dangerous" or perhaps "shady", I judged them based off of the contents of their traits.
The censorship of his runes, to me, was akin to him wearing a mask over his face.
It's like if someone were to wear a sky mask out in public, you wouldn't be able to tell if they were actually about to go skiing or about to rob a bank, would you?
It was that uncertainty of his threat, the ambiguous nature of his identity, that made it hard to discern whether I could trust him.
Not to mention, early today, I caught the strong scent of the sea on him when he sat down next to me this morning, his fingertips ever so slightly wrinkly as he traced out his words on my palm.
It was strange, but his actions didn't exactly scream "Malicious" or "I'm going to murder you guys in cold blood".
Suddenly I heard some rustling around me, a familiar feminine voice echoing in the air.
"We should rest, it's getting late."
Another familiar voice, this time masculine, resounded from behind me.
"Fair enough."
I could hear and feel the footsteps of Neph and Sunny as they walked over to their bags.
The sound of fabric rustling filled the silent hill top as they dug through their belongings.
I felt someone apparoch me, laying something down besides me, a subtle fwop being the only indication of what it was.
A finger tip gingerly tapped my right shoulder, as a hand took hold of my own.
You should rest. I set up some bedding on your left hand side, and there should be a fuzzy blanket on top. If you need anything just call.
I frowned slightly mentally, though, I nodded appreciatively in thanks.
Feeling my way around, I settled into the soft processed nightmare pelts that Audun had so graciously packed for us.
The brief activity and subtle sounds of idle chatter faded into silence as we were embraced by sleep.
Though, I was having a hard time sleeping.
It felt like I was an insomniac with a full gram of caffiene in my system, my mind unusually active despite the exhaustion.
About half an hour passed, and I had tried practically everything, counting sheep, counting to 1000, counting only even numbers, etc.
Just as I was about to give up however, I heard noises coming from the corner of our little platform/camp..
I quickly feighned sleep, trying to figure out who or what could've made the sound.
My mind, unforutnately startled by the tiny noise, jostled to wake, my thoughts accelerating to a full sprint.
Well I wasn't going to be falling asleep any time soo-
Suddenly, I heard the sound of footsteps, the person or creature stopping in the middle of our little base.
What happened next, I wasn't too sure about.
There was this...
Beautiful melody...
A sweet voice beckoning me to sleep, an invitation I subconsciously accepted.
My mind drifted to sleep, deep deep sleep.
Unfortuantely though, In the blackness of rest, I began to drea- no, I began to "see"
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(A/N: I changed a couple things in this chapter, a couple of minor things but changes nonetheless.
Ima be honest, the route that Sunny and CO took to get to the dark city made absolutely no fucking sense to me.
Not to mention, the only map I found of the forgotten shore looked like it was drawn by a 2 year old with crayons they were just chewing on.
They had somehow traveled in a completely straight line west according to the map, and to me, it felt a bit odd.
I also just genuinley didn't understand a single fucking thing, but I digress.
Anyway
I ended up altering the route a bit, adding a few hills here or there and curving the path a little to fit my narrative better.
If you want to consider it an AU cuz of that be my guest.
Also, to address the reason why Sunny doesn't ask Neph to teach him how to fight yet, he hasn't really seen her fight outside of the academy yet and he has no leverage.
I felt like it would've been out of character for Sunny to just ask for something without giving anything in return, especially to someone like neph, who he just met, in the earlier parts of the story, so I'm saving his little tutoring sessions with Neph for a slightly later date.
I've been trying my best to give more character to Cassie in the earlier chapters so that any of you Cassie haters might look a bit more fondly on her in this fic, just so they don't immediately drop the moment they find out she's gonna be the FML, an endevour I'm not really sure I'm succeeding at.
I want her to be cunning yet a bit self loathing, smart, but not so much that she's some kind of uber super genius master mind.
Thanks for reading though!
It's been a blast so far rereading the earlier chapters of shadow slave and figuring out how to write my favorite characters, but unfortunately, I'll be gone for the next four days and will not be posting until wensday as I participate in a pretty important competition.
Ima miss you guys, and thanks for the support!
Drop me plenty of comments so I have some stuff to read while I'm there, and drop a review if you haven't, any feedback you guys have helps me improve!
See you this wensday, and sorry for the wait!)