As the sun rose, the monstrous low tide continued. Soon, Sunny found himself standing on the edge of a high cliff, with a hundred-meter drop separating him from the churning waters. Below him, the rock formation widened and changed shape. However, from his vantage point, it was difficult to determine exactly what that shape was.
"Sunny?" I turned, noticing Cassie awake and searching for me with her hand.
"It's okay, I'm here, stay there, something is happening." I looked back at the tide one last time before carefully dragging myself, making sure not to graze my injured leg on anything.
I approached Cassie and instinctively took her hand when I was close enough to let her know I was here.
Her worried expression eased, and they both sat together without knowing what to say. The previous day had been too much for both of them; the shock would not be forgotten easily, but now having rested, they both had cooler heads.
Sunny had a suspicion about something: yesterday the Spell spoke to him as if he had killed a nightmare creature, but before that, it said other things he couldn't hear due to the commotion of the moment.
So, checking his runes, he saw it.
[Shadow Fragments: 20/1000].
Previously, he only had twelve of the mysterious shadow fragments, not knowing how to acquire more. Now it seemed the process was automatic: he just had to kill an enemy to absorb a part of its shadow and enhance his own core, having almost doubled his amount.
But Sunny didn't kill any creature, unless the death of the creature that almost devoured his leg was attributed to him by the Spell; he only gave a few kicks to that horrifying creature. Was that enough for it to count as his kill when it died?
It wasn't the time to dwell on that when he had something more important in his runes.
A new Memory.
Sunny opened his runes, expectant about the Memory that could be crucial.
[Memory: Staff of the Drowned Bones].
Category: Tool, Rank: Ascended.
Description: Carved from the remains of a creature that perished beneath the waves, this staff illuminates your path. But its cold whispers promises of an eternal rest.]
Sunny brought his hand to his face, massaging his temple, sighing and holding back a cry of rage as he cursed.
"Damn it, are you serious?"
Cassie looked at him and asked, somewhat tense: "What's wrong now?"
"I got a Memory from the creature that chased us and almost took my leg."
"Sunny, th-that's great!" She squeezed his hand, which was still holding hers, with excitement.
He invoked the Memory, and a few seconds later, a stone staff with a white jewel at its end appeared.
Instinctively grabbing the staff, he somehow ordered it to manifest its ability.
A strong light coming from the jewel appeared, making him look away.
He squeezed his hands tightly, holding back his rage.
Of all the things they could give me, they give me a flashlight? To the guy who can see in the dark and a blind person? This is bullshit.
"Ouch!" Cassie whined.
I realized I was crushing Cassie's hand without noticing, releasing it a second later.
A wave of worry and guilt hit me as a result: "I'm sorry, Cassie! I didn't mean to hurt you."
She massaged her hand with her other hand and replied with her gaze lowered: "Y-yeah... it's okay."
The guilt made his chest feel like it was sinking. He started to feel very nervous, realizing that he might have scared her with his behavior.
He wanted to keep apologizing, but they had more important topics to discuss right now.
He looked at the staff, causing him to sigh in defeat.
"My Memory is a staff that illuminates, too much if you ask me."
Cassie raised her head and put on an expression of disappointment upon realizing the uselessness of the Memory. She thought before speaking.
"Can I have it for a moment?"
I agreed, giving her the smooth, straight staff in her hands.
She inspected it, running her hands over the entire surface.
The display inexplicably made him a little nervous and made him swallow.
The girl's face lit up.
"I have an idea!" she smiled.
"We can use it as a splint for your leg!"
Sunny liked the idea. They agreed to make the splint after touching on the last topic he wanted to discuss.
"So... let's talk about our abilities."
They had never talked about their Aspects or what they were capable of before. This was information that they didn't really have an interest in, or rather, they were curious, but other than that, there hadn't been a need until now.
Cassie, sitting across from him, nodded, then opened her mouth.
"Well... I can see people's Attributes. Sometimes I also get visions. They can be about the future or the past. I mean, that's what I think... it only happened a couple of times, and about my Flaw... well, I think you already know." She commented on the last part with a small laugh.
Sunny was surprised but then relaxed.
She's some kind of oracle. Fortunately, her vision is limited to Attributes... otherwise, he'd be in real trouble...
Would he be in trouble if she knew about his real name?
He clung to keeping his secret no matter the cost, nothing would change that, he didn't want to be anyone's slave.
But of all people, if she, if only he could trust her more...
Would she keep the secret?
No... there's no need to tell anyone for now.
Shifting his thoughts elsewhere, he realized why the girl knew about his birthday. The question was whether she had seen it in a vision of the future or a vision of the past. If it was the former, was it safe to assume that he would surely get to celebrate at least one more birthday?
Or did knowing the future actually affect and change it? For example, after learning that he was definitely going to survive, Sunny might have naturally relaxed and let his guard down. Then he would die as a result of it. It certainly seemed possible, right? That assumes the future could change. But maybe it can't?
Feeling his head ache, Sunny decided to avoid this line of thought for now.
Appreciating that the girl seemed to have said everything about her abilities, he spoke:
"My shadow can move independently and explore. It can't affect the material world, but we share sight and hearing. That way, I can detect danger before I encounter it. The shadow is fast and stealthy: it can go anywhere, and it's almost impossible to notice. Oh, I can also see in the dark."
He hesitated whether to confess his Flaw, it wasn't really necessary, it had no relevance right now, yet... he was tempted to tell her, she already knew so much about him, more than anyone in the world... two worlds in fact.
He sighed, looked her in the eyes and said:
"My Flaw is that I can't lie."
The girl didn't react as Sunny had imagined. She didn't seem so surprised, but more... shy?
"Did you... use your shadow in the academy?"
Sunny blinked.
What a strange question!
"Uh... of course I did, yes."
As he said that, her face turned red while her hands gripped the fabric of the Puppeteer's Shroud Memory.
"Did you ever use it to spy on someone?" Her face was serious but with red cheeks, she was very cute in his eyes.
Sunny cursed, clenching his jaw, and reluctantly confessed.
"J-just once..."
The girl's expression became much more serious, the red color disappearing from her face, leaving only a cold stare directed at Sunny.
"Who?"
His pulse quickened, now it was his turn to blush, he cursed himself and his past course of action.
He was forced to say: "You."
It was true, he once spied on the girl, but not for morbid reasons! His shadow, without asking him first, went into her room where she was, he just took a look... a somewhat long one... but when he realized what was happening he ordered it to leave. But it was just that!
My breathing was a mess due to nerves, I could feel my pulse in my neck, I lowered my head looking at the ground.
"What d-did you see?"
I swallowed before telling her:
"N-nothing inappropriate, I just saw you sleep... for a few minutes."
I thought a big blow would come, or a big reprimand for my behavior, however, the seconds passed in silence, nothing came.
I looked up and saw her face red again, this time completely red, I swore I saw her tremble.
She moved her mouth to say something but closed it, she repeated this a couple of times until she finally asked:
"What were you thinking about?"
"That you were beautiful."
He wished the creature that bit his leg had killed him, he would have liked to be able to disappear from the world, to hide and not come out of there, the shame was killing him like a poison.
An awkward silence lingered for a few minutes that seemed like hours.
"We'll talk about that another time," Cassie said, looking away.
"Yes..." he was defeated.
Both of them took a breath before resuming the previous conversation.
They shared information about their Memories. She had the golden rope that was tied to his leg, a staff that shot gusts of wind, and most importantly, water. She had a Memory of unlimited water, which was one less problem at least. Even so...
They had no offensive Memories, in retrospect, two cripples without weapons in an unknown area... could the situation be worse? He doubted it.
They still had to try, by the time they finished talking Sunny checked the sea, which had dropped very significantly.
The circular stone formation where he had taken refuge barely rose above the waves, but now there were meters and meters of wet rock between him and the restless surface of the sea.
As the sun rose, the monstrous low tide continued. Soon, Sunny found himself at the edge of a high cliff, with a hundred-meter drop separating him from the churning waters. Below him, the rock formation widened and changed shape. However, from his vantage point, it was difficult to determine exactly what that shape was.
At that time, the dark surface of the water began to be pierced here and there by sharp crimson blades. As it fell even more, it was as if a crimson forest was slowly rising from the black depths. The "trees" were made of something coral-like, growing chaotically intertwined and reaching for the sky.
They were colossal in size, with irregular protuberances entwined and fused together, looking monumental and spooky in the black and red reality of the sun-lit void. The labyrinth formed by this strange reef stretched as far as Sunny could see, broken here and there by protruding cliffs, sudden abysses, and distant natural features.
His small circular island had become the summit of a strange, imposing, and irregularly shaped cliff. Looking down, he felt his head spin.
By then, the night had completely receded, leaving the morning to finally take its place.
'I'm not seeing things, am I?' Sunny thought, pinching himself.
XXX
Sunny sat up and ordered his shadow to separate from his body. Then, taking control, he went to the edge of the platform and slid nimbly down, he of course told Cassie about it.
Habitually moving from one shadow to another, he began the descent. At that moment, Sunny was glad that shadows had no weight and were not affected by gravity.
The shadow had already reached the bottom of the cliff. The range of [Shadow Control] was not unlimited, but it was barely enough to explore his immediate surroundings.
Upon entering the labyrinth, Sunny found it extremely disorienting and complicated. The paths between the coral pillars were sometimes wide, sometimes narrow. They twisted and turned without any logic, often leading to dead ends or even back to the starting point. More than that, some paths went inside the "coral" mounds, turning into dark tunnels.
The labyrinth was vast and had several layers, which made Sunny's head ache after multiple unsuccessful attempts to memorize the layout of the nearest paths. In the end, he sent the shadow up, forcing it to climb to the top of the crimson forest and start jumping from one sharp coral leaf to another — knowing full well that he himself could not do the same.
Soon, he went around the strange cliff and froze, scared to see what was happening to his shadow.
There, the corpse of the giant shark-like creature that had briefly chased him the night before lay on the ground, the coral pillars around it shattered and broken.
More precisely, half of it was there, with grotesque entrails spilling from the terrible wound and stretching into the distance. The other half was gone, as if it had never existed.
Around the corpse, hundreds of smaller monsters ran, tearing and devouring its flesh bit by bit. Each of them was about two and a half meters tall and looked like a strange mix of a demonic crab, a centaur, and a nightmare.
They had four pairs of long, segmented legs ending in scythe-shaped protrusions. In the front, a human-like torso protruded from the carapace, also clad in thick chitinous armor. The head, if that was the appropriate word, was located directly above the torso, with no neck in between. It had two narrow eye slits and a viscous-looking mouth with several slimy mandibles. Instead of hands, the monsters had two enormous claws.
Currently, they were all using those claws to tear chunks of flesh from the desiccated corpse and stuff them into their mouths. From time to time, a fight would break out over a particularly juicy piece of meat, ending with a few monsters being torn apart and quickly devoured by the victors.
Sunny swallowed.
Both because seeing powerful, heavily armored monsters made him nervous and because looking at them feasting, he suddenly felt very hungry.
Each of them looks like a problem. And there are hundreds of them.
His luck, as always, was terrible.
At least I don't have to wonder why the labyrinth feels so empty. All the inhabitants are feasting!
Feeling a little exhausted about turning his shadow's back to the monsters, Sunny ordered it to look back and study the cliff he was taking refuge on. Something about it made him feel uncomfortable.
The shadow turned and looked up, contemplating the strangely shaped cliff. It took Sunny a few minutes to change his perspective and recognize it for what it was.
That's... a finger. That's a hand. That's... a sword?
He blinked.
It's a statue.
What the hell is this place?
Without any clues to find the answer, he guided his shadow back to the giant's neck and settled on the western edge of it, studying the feasting monsters.
He talked it over with Cassie, they agreed to spend another day on top of the statue, taking advantage of the time to splint Sunny's leg.
They discussed the information they received from his shadow; he informed Cassie about everything he saw.
They both waited for it to get dark to test the theory they discussed.
As they expected, as soon as the sun touched the horizon, a deafening rumble was heard from somewhere below. The monsters instantly stopped their banquet and scurried away, some hiding inside the coral pillars, others simply burying themselves in the soft ground.
A few minutes later, the first jets of black water appeared in the labyrinth. Their volume grew rapidly, and soon an apocalyptic flood devoured everything around them. The sea was returning as night approached.
Sunny stared at this unimaginable process, with thoughts swirling in his head.
In an hour, the circular platform was once again the only thing above the dark waters.
With an empty stomach and a head full of thoughts, Sunny returned to the center of the platform and sat down next to his companion.
They didn't have much more to talk about at this moment, so they were in silence.
Due to the tranquility and his mind slowing down, he began to focus on the pain in his leg, of course it hadn't disappeared, it had been present all day, but complaining about it wouldn't improve his situation.
But once still, his mind focused on the pain of his leg, which was tightened and straightened by the stone staff.
Until a growl sounded, startled, she turned to where the noise came from.
"I-I'm sorry, it was my stomach." she said, embarrassed with a slight blush.
Oh right, she was hungry too, he was used to it in reality, going hungry was common for him, but she...
Sunny laughed.
"Hey!" she protested, more embarrassed.
Sunny said understandingly:
"Get out your water Memory, Cassie."
She complied, still a little annoyed at him for laughing at her. After a moment, a glass jar with water appeared in her hand.
"Let me tell you something, a long time ago I learned a couple of tricks to get over hunger, before I barely ate one meal a day, so I had no choice but to learn to manage hunger." his tone became more and more serious.
She looked at him attentively, waiting for him to continue.
"So what I would do was fill myself up to the top with water and while swallowing I would chew the water, making it feel like food, and at the end of the day when that wasn't enough, I would force myself to sleep."
Cassie looked at me as if I had just told her that I had to eat boiled worms with leftovers from a dumpster... but that only happened once and it won't happen again.
"So you could do the same this time, I promise it works!"
Cassie was surprised about Sunny's Flaw at the time but the embarrassment of the moment overcame it.
What he confessed to her was true, a deep sorrow took hold of her, she felt worried about how he had lived until today, he never went into more detail about his life in the outskirts after their first talk nor did she want to pressure him to tell her about his past.
But what he was telling her... was a reality that many lived that until she met Sunny she ignored.
With a voice between sorrow and guilt she said: "I'm sorry..."
Sunny blinked.
Then he realized his mistake and cursed mentally, he didn't want to depress her! He just thought it would be good advice.
"It's okay, I didn't mean to discourage you with that, just to help you with the hunger."
"I understand... I, I'll take your advice." she finished saying that and brought the jar to her lips.
Swallowing the water in several sips until she felt her body wouldn't accept any more water.
She groaned and breathed, with a full stomach.
"I feel nauseous now, Sunny."
"It's part of it." he said understandingly. "You'll get used to it."
After a while, Cassie recovered, the hunger was partially calmed but threatened to return, so she took Sunny's second piece of advice.
"You're cold, right?" Cassie was aware that he wasn't covered, since they arrived at this cursed place he offered even his clothes to protect her.
"Yes." he replied, he was sitting with one leg stretched out and the other bent.
She wasn't far from the boy so she approached, fumbling her way with her hand, until she found him. When she did, just like yesterday, she hugged him from behind.
"I want to sleep" she said in a shy whisper in his ear.
Sunny visibly tensed, of course she didn't see it, but she felt it.
He wanted to protest but was interrupted by her who laid him against the cold stone.
Shocked he didn't know what to say or do, her treatment was the maternal type like yesterday, but different, it was as if your mother ordered you to go to bed, he didn't have those kinds of memories but he could imagine them.
Cassie's arms wrapped around his chest, holding him like a stuffed animal, it was warm.
"Good night." was the last thing she said while she rested her head on his bare shoulder.
He stayed tense until his mind went back to work, assimilating reality.
He sighed before falling asleep and thought:
What did I get myself into?