"God damn it, we need to get out of here quickly!"
"I get it, Melri, can you calm down for a damn second? I'm trying to focus on my music! I need to heal four people at once, do you need to heal four people at once?!"
"Melri, Aya, please calm down– There's nothing nearby at the moment, we have time!"
After the creature fell, chaos ensued, and the girls left standing began chatting incessantly.
Day and Caster met up and stood near each other moments after the fight ended. They exchanged a few kind words, but other than that, for the next few minutes, they did nothing but stare at the three girls, waiting to be acknowledged.
Unfortunately, they didn't seem to have a place for the two boys at the moment. After they brought the injured boy over to be healed, they had their hands full trying to figure out what to do next.
"Ugh… just– just heal them as much as you can, and then we can… We can carry them back. I'll take two, and then each of you can carry one."
Day, with a sharp, but relaxed tone, interrupted their conversation abruptly.
"Umm… Sorry to interject, but we can help, you know?"
The girl named Melri who spoke moments before turned around quickly, and her messy, red hair flipped around and covered her face. When she pushed it out of the way, Day finally got his first chance to actually look at the girl. She had a sharp chin, with a similarly sharp nose, and she was wearing a rubber-like set of armor that hugged her body tightly.
The armor itself didn't seem particularly sturdy, but Day was certain that it was extremely flexible.
She studied Day for a few moments, but then her gaze slowly moved away from Day and landed on Caster, who was standing tall with his sword in hand.
"If you want to help, then you, with the brown armor, come help. The other one… What's your name?"
Day smiled and responded. Caster said nothing, but he did give a small nod
"Day."
"Day… weird ass name. Anyway, you just follow, since you are injured. Don't be a nuisance and fall behind. My companion is busy healing our allies, but she can help you later."
The girl that Day didn't know the name of coughed. Her eyes were striking brown color, and there were nearly tangible gears of the same color seemingly imbued into them, which contrasted her soft, plump face greatly. She was tall, and her brown hair ran down to her waist. It was extremely messy, but the length was as unmistakable as the fact that she was wearing a flexible, steel plated set of armor, not unlike Day and Caster's in the fact that it only covered the important parts.
The difference, however, was that the parts that weren't steel plated didn't seem to be half as sturdy as Day and Caster's fabric.
"Sorry about my companion over here, I'm Remi. She has no ill-will when she says… anything… just so you know."
"I do." Melri said abruptly.
Remi frowned, but didn't retaliate.
Day forced himself to hold back a snicker. He didn't mind very much at all, in fact, he found Melri quite amusing. It was odd, but her antics actually calmed him down and gave him a semblance of peace after the scare of seeing that Fallen Nightmare creature, and the chaos of the fight against that stone-skinned beast…
Or maybe, it was just the fact that they found more people that didn't seem to want any problems.
Either way… Day felt relieved.
"Anyway," Remi started, looking over at Caster, and then back at Day, "Thank you two for what you did back there. Even if my companion isn't willing to be civilized, I am under no such spell– so once again, thank you. If you two didn't appear, we may have all died. When we tried to ambush it… Ah, I won't get into it, I'm going in circles…"
Remi sighed.
"If you two wish to help us return to the castle, we would be grateful to accept. Either way, though, you two are more than welcome to come along."
Day nodded in acknowledgement, and then smiled widely with joy and relief.
'So the castle does have people, that must mean there's a gate, too.'
At the same time. Melri clicked her tongue and then turned around and walked over to the girl named Aya playing the violin. Melri got on her knee next to the boy that was injured in the battle and grabbed his hand tightly.
Immediately after Day nodded, Caster took a step forward, and absconded any response that could have come out of Day's mouth.
"I think this is probably a good time to interject," Caster said, "You are quite welcome, Remi. From what I've been getting so far, you," Caster looked over at Melri, who was too busy whispering to her sleeping companion to acknowledge him, "seem to be in quite the rush, so I'll make this quick."
After noticing that Melri wasn't willing to converse with him, he focused his attention fully on Remi and dismissed his weapon.
"I'd be delighted to help out, friend– But you see, we are actually new to this… place, and we, as embarrassing as it is to say it so bluntly, have not a clue where we are. If we head back to this castle, will we reach the gate as well? We wish to return back to the waking world, so, if I may ask, we would like the necessary directions to reach the gate."
With Caster's words, the mood became infinitely more solemn. Melri gripped her companion's hand, the girl named Aya stopped playing for just a moment and looked away, while Remi…
"Ah, um…" Remi started, her voice trailing off.
Remi looked down, and then closed her eyes tightly.
"I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news for you boys, truly– but…"
Remi stopped for a few moments, and a stroke of palpable tension filled Day's heart with dread.
"There is no gate."
After that, there was only silence.
At the exact same time, both Caster and Day said:
"What?"
But when they both spoke again, it was only a dissonant mumble. They both fell into despair almost immediately. Both of them, as much as they hated to admit it, had a small, creeping feeling in their heart at the complete, utter lack of information that told them that maybe there was a reason that nobody had ever mentioned a place like this.
And for Day, that feeling was even more prominent, because he had already learned the ominous name of this place…
The Forgotten Shore.
"No… That can't be right." Caster said quietly.
"Lying… You have to be lying, right? But why would you-"
"Shut up," Melri interjected, standing up with her fists clenched, "you are wasting time questioning the facts. It's true, and it will be true no matter what, so shut up and follow us to safety, and then if you really don't believe her by then, be my guest and ask each and every one of the hundreds of people at the castle if there's an exit."
Caster clenched his fists and bit his lip, but seconds later, he took a long, drawn out deep breath and looked back up.
"I- I apologize for my outburst. That was uncharacteristic of me… It makes sense that there would be other people at the castle, so… For now, I'll bear with the idea."
During this entire exchange, Day was silently thinking. He was so deep in thought that he didn't catch even a moment of the conversation following the reveal of their grim situation.
'That Fallen creature… The two Awakened creatures… The lack of an exit.'
Day closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I want to say it all makes sense, after what I've witnessed so far…"
The group put their attention on Day, and Remi raised an eyebrow at him.
"But why? If there's no gate at the castle… There has to be a gate somewhere, right?! I don't believe that there isn't… What's outside of these walls? Surely, somewhere out there, there has to be a gate, right?"
Remi shook her head.
"Even if there is one out there somewhere, there's only Sleepers in the castle, and…"
Day's heart sank.
"There's a vast, dark sea that appears during the night. We don't know why it leaves during the day, but even with that knowledge, it's just too risky. We can't just hope that we will somehow find somewhere to take refuge when the sea appears, and even when it's gone, from what I've heard… There are Awakened creatures, Fallen creatures… and even Transcendent ones, lurking all around in a crimson labyrinth that stretches as far as the eye can see. "
Remi paused for a few moments to let the two boys take in the maelstrom of new information. They both stayed completely silent, mostly due to shock, and Remi took that as a sign to continue.
"Simply going out there for a day would be suicide… and to tell you the truth, even this ruined city is far from safe. A single turn could lead you straight into the jaws of a multitude of Fallen creatures. Without a pathfinder, you are doomed, but even the best pathfinders don't dare to leave the embrace of the walls… and that includes me. You two are truly lucky to have survived long enough to meet us, even if it was only a couple hours. Whether it is necessary to say this or not… Please trust us and simply come to the castle. Don't do anything rash. We simply do not have the luxury of wasting time to stop you, so just trust us and follow along."
Day laughed softly, while Caster tensed up to the utmost at the mention of Fallen creatures.
"This has to be one big, cruel joke… Multiple Fallen creatures? An Awakened creature at what feels like every damned turn? A Dark Sea that leaves during the day? A Crimson Labyrinth, or whatever, with Nightmare Creatures up to the Transcendent rank?"
Day stopped speaking, bit his lip until it bled, and then looked over at Caster slowly, his hands trembling.
"Al- Alright then," Day said, his voice cracking, "Shall we just go with them? Caster, we…"
Day stopped for a second. He wasn't quite sure if he wanted to say this in front of these three girls for some reason, partially because it felt embarrassing to say, but mostly because of how sudden it was. They wouldn't understand the implications, but Day did.
Day took a step closer to Caster and spoke quietly in his ear.
"We should stick together," Day whispered, "if what they are saying is really true… We shouldn't split up."
Day remembered that conversation they had a while after they first met. They talked about splitting up and never talking again when they reached safety, but to Day, that didn't seem plausible anymore. Day was certainly lacking a lot of information, but his intuition was telling him they would be better off together.
There were many other words that Day could utter, but he wanted to save it. There was no guarantee that Day would be the only one Caster could trust or anything like that. Even if they had gone through a day or two of a tumultuous journey together, there was no telling how things would go when they got there… So these were the only words Day could bring himself to say, even if he wanted to secure Caster as a companion, for…
'Forever, I guess…?'
Those words… They hurt to even think.
Because they held a near infinitely heavy weight that Day would never be able to shake– a weight created by what he would be leaving behind.
'I… don't know if I can accept that.'
But what could he do? If hundreds of Sleepers couldn't do it, how could he?
He wasn't sure, and if the revelation would ever come… That was just as uncertain.
So at the moment, all Day could do was move. It was the same as always, and now, Day knew what he had to do…
What he could, because in the world he lived in, the Spell took away the right of choice from even the mighty, and thus, he had to ride the undulating waves… and beat against them when he can, but simply move when he can not
Caster stared at him intently, his gaze sharp and piercing.
But when he spoke, the words that came out of his mouth were the farthest thing from what Day could have ever expected the Legacy boy to say.
"Of course we'll stick together. I have debts to pay."
Day's eyes widened in an instant, and then his face went back to normal just as quickly. He scrambled to find the words to say.
"Alright then…. I get it, uh, you don't need to feel like that, but-"
"Look, lovebirds…" Melri said venomously, "if you two want to chat, do it later. We are ready to get going. Brown armor boy, come pick up one of them, silver armor boy… I don't know, do whatever, just remember what I said."
At that point, Day snapped out of it and focused back on his surroundings.
'Lovebirds?'
Day frowned deeply, and then, when his annoyance faded, his face contorted into a look of pure, genuine confusion, which washed away even his despair, at least for the moment.
However, while Day was slowly spiraling into a stupor, Caster was already walking towards the group.
Apparently, he didn't care at all, but Day…
"What do I even say to that?"
He was dumbfounded.
Remi chuckled, and then walked up to Day and grabbed his shoulder.
"Nothing… Don't react, and she won't use that insult ever again."
With a pat on the back, she left the now silent Day and walked back over to her companions. Day was struggling to comprehend. He went from calm, to hopeless, to surprised, and now… He didn't even know how to describe his feelings right now.
And at that point, it was time to move.
So Day pushed all of the thoughts out of his mind, and did exactly that.