As soon as his armor was gone, and the others took a look at his upper body, their eyes went wide.
"Wh-what is that on your body?" Kai stammered when he saw the many spots of oblivion. The others remained silent, still shocked, confused or even appalled by the strange and eerie sight.
Of course, not a single one of them, knew what those spots actually were, or if they were harmful in any way. After all, they only saw many of dark spots that appeared and disappeared all over Ray's body.
"Well, the only real thing I can say about them for sure, is; don't touch them… that could end badly…" This was all Ray could say about this for now. It wasn't really an explanation, but he still hoped that they would simply accept it as it is.
"Do they hurt you…?" Effie asked, more hesitant than any of the people present had ever heard from her.
"Nope." Ray just shook his head. "They are simply part of my body now. I can even subtly control them – okay, control is a big word, for now."
"Al-alright, guess we got that out of the way now, right?"
It was Sunny who broke the silence that had suddenly taken over the group.
Hearing this, Ray shrugged and simply waked away. After noticing the still lingering stares directed at him, he simply summoned his second skin again. He wasn't ashamed of it, but such direct stares would annoy anyone if they persisted.
Looking for a more or less comfortable spot to rest, and finding it shortly after, Ray simply lies down and summoned the all familiar tome of Oblivion.
The time at hand could just as well be spent continuing to read about the possible techniques applicable. Though, that might not bring too much results yet, as he hadn't even fully utilized the last technique he learned.
But, what could he do? It wasn't as if that would be useful against just any normal nightmare creature. Nearly every awakened nightmare creature that existed on the forgotten shore, could be killed without too much trouble by every single member of their cohort.
Exceptions to this rule, though, were definitely the stone saints. Especially Sunny's echo seemed very powerful. If possible, Ray really wanted to have a go with her once. Just to test its capabilities for real.
Putting these thoughts away, he simply put his nose back into the book and went to reading.
As for the others, they had also by now napped out of their prior dazes, and went about with their own stuff.
Barely a few minutes after that, Sunny went over to Kai and exchanged some words with their charming fairy tale prince. Sadly, Ray was too far to make out anything of it, not that he cared a lot.
Only when Caster suddenly exclaimed loudly, was it that his interest was actually picked. "How did you get an ascended memory? You?"
Ray looked up from his book, now listening in a bit.
A moment later, Sunny replied. Any sense of humor seemed to have vanished, and was instead replaced by a kind of coldness. "Well, if you have to know. I got it from killing a Fallen Beast. And before you ask… this time, I didn't have to shake my finger or spit. I just looked at it, and it died."
He then turned his head towards the young legacy, "I am very proficient in killing things, you know."
The tension that ensued after that, was beginning to get uninteresting again, so ray tuned out what was happening.
"...this one sounds an awfully lot like the next step to the last one… before, they seemed more or less random, or were they…? Also, with how they are described, do I seriously need a sword, if I want to use them proficiently?" Ray mumbled and grumbled to himself.
Storing and processing information had always been easier like that for him.
Shortly after getting engrossed again, his concentration was interrupted by a short tap on his shoulder. When he looked up, he surprisingly saw Cassie standing there, her cloak still wrapped around her body.
"Is something the matter?" Ray questioned, there weren't many times the two of them had talked with each other, beyond any meetings – in which their blind seer was often relatively quiet.
"...yes, we were just talking about what we would do if we make it out of here. Is there something you would want to do?" Cassie spoke softly, a little smile decorating her doll-like face.
"Hmm, haven't thought much about it, honestly. Ever since my first nightmare, I often just went with the flow. What were your thoughts about it, though? Maybe that could help."
"As for me, I would love to spend time with my mom and dad. It is what I wish most for, right now." Cassie responded first.
Caster went next, "My take is similar. When I come back, i would want to be able to stand proud before my father, help him relieve his worries and propel our clan's status to new heights."
"I would also want to visit my mom."
Ray looked at Neph in surprise, for a second. The other two, before, had been somewhat predictable, but hers had come as a surprise. He certainly had not taken her as a sentimental person.
Next came their giant huntress, "I'd go and get me some chicken wings. The real ones. After that, I would prepare myself for my second nightmare."
He gave her a short look, but did not question anything.
"Live comfortably, and maybe sell a memory from time to time. That sounds good to me." Sunny announced with false bravado.
Ray then directed his gaze towards the last person to speak, Kai.
His friend seemed to try and make himself a bit smaller than he was, before he eventually answered, "...avatar singer."
"Sorry, doesn't ring a bell."
Kai sighed, having expected that, as Sunny too, had just responded more or less like this as well.
"Avatar Singer is a music competition show. Popular singers compete with each other, but the twist is that they are all using the stock VR avatars to perform. So the judges can only evaluate their voices and skill. They only learn the singer's identity after."
"Are you suddenly ashamed of your pretty face?" Ray asked with a confused look on his face.
"Not really… I just think it would be nice, to be judged on my skill alone, with nothing else getting in the way. It would also serve as a perfect chance to announce my return…"
His friend nodded along, as he spoke about his dream. When he was finished, Ray showed him a genuine smile, "That dream sounds great. Why were you so hesitant, about something like this?"
"...huh?"
"...huh?"
Kai was totally caught off guard by the truly genuine tone, Ray had just used, and in turn, also confused him.
"Well, I think it is a good dream to have." Ray spoke again, before shifting his gaze to Sunny, "Yours surprisingly too. You are a very irritable bastard, but that dream sounds good. There's nothing wrong with wanting to live comfortably."
In response, Sunny barely looked awkwardly at him, and then turned away silently.
Ray just shrugged, put on a thoughtful expression, and began thinking aloud, "Hmm, a dream… well, living comfortably would indeed be nice… "
"How about dyeing your hair." This sentence brought his thought process to an abrupt halt, as he looked questioningly towards the person responsible.
Nephis.
"Why would I dye my hair?"
"Didn't yours also become like that, after your first Nightmare?"
He shook his head, "Nope. Its hereditary, actually. Meaning, I was born with it, and always had it. But, wait! That isn't your natural hair color?"
All the others also seemed utterly surprised by this revelation.
"Of course not. Its silver…" she trailed a bit off, as she looked at Ray's hair, which could be described as even less normal, "Well, it is not, and I can't really get used to it."
The atmosphere turned a bit awkward, afterwards, before their personal fairy tale prince came to the rescue, "Actually, I thought it's natural too. Ah… it suit you very well though, Lady Nephis."
She looked at him in surprise, before earning similar responses from Sunny and Effie as well.
To fully escape the atmosphere, Ray brought the topic back to what it was, "Hmm, I suppose if I could choose, I would also hope to live a comfortable life, and possibly expand my family.
For the longest time now, it had only been my aunt and I. I would want to show her that she doesn't need to worry about me anymore."
A moment later, he sighed wistfully once, and continued in a more subdued tone, "Sadly, I don't think, this is what Fate has in store for me…"
And... the mood was back down again.
This time it was Sunny who tried to change this. He suggested they could play some games, to pass the time better.
No one had anything against it, so everyone thought of games they could play here, with the limited resources and space, and soon found something.
Tug of War.