Before Sunny could even orient himself, he was dropped.
The sensation of freefall lasted only a heartbeat, air screaming past his face—before icy water swallowed him whole.
'Damnation!'
Sunny twisted instinctively, forcing his body to move as he kicked and pulled through the water. Panic threatened to seize his chest, but he crushed it down. He had learned this lesson long ago. When submerged without warning, flail and you die. Stay calm, find direction, move.
'Thank the dead gods for that particular lesson.'
His lungs burned as he angled upward, counting his strokes, pushing past the weight pressing in from all sides. Then finally his head broke the surface.
Sunny gasped, sucking in air so hard his chest ached. He coughed, blinking away the sting as he tried to understand where the Spell had thrown him.
Darkness.
Not ordinary darkness—but something heavier. Thicker.
The sea stretched endlessly in every direction, a vast black expanse rising and falling beneath him as gentle waves lifted his body and let it sink again. He kicked lightly to stay afloat, heart hammering as he scanned his surroundings.
There was nothing.
No shoreline. No islands. No landmarks.
Sunny tilted his head upward.
Nothing there either.
No moon. No stars. No sky—just an empty, lightless void above him.
"What...?" he whispered.
Confusion crept in, sharp and unsettling. He had studied the Dream Realm. Every known region, every recorded death zone, every nightmare environment survivors had crawled back from.
And yet, this place rang no bells.
'The Storm Sea?' Sunny wondered.
But even that didn't fit. The Storm Sea had stars. Dim ones, fractured ones, but stars nonetheless.
He pushed the thought aside. Whatever this place was, figuring it out could wait. What mattered now was survival.
Then... A sound.
Soft. Subtle. Not the lazy movement of waves.
Sunny froze.
Slowly, he turned.
A fin cut through the water in the distance.
At first glance, it looked normal. Almost mundane. But it was far away, hundreds of meters at least.
And yet... Sunny's blood ran cold.
'Why can I see it?'
The answer hit him like a truck.
Whatever that thing was... it was big.
Big enough that distance meant nothing.
Sunny swallowed.
"Damnation... just my luck."
He spun, panic flaring as his eyes darted across the sea. Then—something broke the monotony of black.
A dark mass rose from the water not far away. Solid.
Hope flared.
Sunny didn't hesitate.
He summoned Gloomy, his shadow wrapped tightly around his body, and then... he surged forward. The water roared in his ears as his speed exploded, arms cutting through the sea with desperate force.
Behind him, the fin shifted.
It was moving faster.
Sunny pushed harder, muscles screaming as he closed the distance. The black mass loomed closer—close enough to touch.
His fingers struck wet stone.
He grabbed on desperately, hauling himself upward as the water churned below. His body rolled onto the slick surface, chest heaving as he dragged himself fully out of the sea.
For a moment, he could do nothing but lie there, gasping.
This... this felt safe.
Or at least safer than the water.
As he rose unsteadily to his feet, pain flared in his leg where it had slammed against the stone on his way up. Sunny winced, flexing it slightly. Whether it would bruise or not, he couldn't tell—not when his shadow was reinforcing his body.
He turned.
The fin towered over the rock.
The water bulged—and then split.
A monstrous head emerged, jaws yawning open to reveal rows upon rows of massive teeth. Each one was as long as Sunny was tall.
His breath caught.
The rock wasn't tall enough.
'Damnation!' His thoughts spiraled. 'Out of all the places you could have dropped me! damn you, Spell!'
This was it.
Then Sunny's fear hardened.
No.
If he was going to die, he wasn't going to do it quietly.
His eyes narrowed as resolve set in. At the very least, he would leave a scar. A reminder.
Just as he was about to summon the Crymych—
The sea exploded.
A colossal tentacle erupted from the depths, wrapping around the shark-like abomination with crushing force. The creature thrashed violently, water spraying as it struggled, but it was useless.
The tentacle dragged it downward.
In seconds, both vanished beneath the surface.
Silence returned.
Sunny stood frozen on the stone, staring at the disturbed water.
Minutes passed before he finally moved.
"That thing..." he murmured. "It didn't stand a chance..."
His hands clenched into fists, nails biting into skin until blood welled up. His knuckles turned white from the strain.
That could have been me.
Just as easily.
Sunny exhaled slowly, forcing his trembling body to move. He walked toward the center of the rocky stone, his temporary safe space, and lowered himself into a seated position.
Only then did he realise,
He was naked.
"..."
Sunny immediately summoned the Puppeteer's Shroud, small light flowing over him to form familiar clothing. Once covered, he leaned back slightly and stared up into the lightless sky.
Hopefully, after that... interaction, every beast in the surrounding area decided to flee.
Sunny stared out at the dark sea, his expression grim. Two massive abominations revealing themselves in such quick succession was not something most creatures, Nightmare or otherwise, would ignore.
If he were a lesser beast lurking beneath those waters, he certainly wouldn't stick around to find out what else might surface.
Sunny exhaled slowly, forcing his racing thoughts to settle.
'If I'm lucky,' he thought, 'that display scared off anything nearby.'
He desperately needed the time.
Time to reorient himself.
Time to understand where the Spell had thrown him.
Time to prepare—before this place decided to remind him that luck in the Dream Realm was always temporary.
⸻
Sleep didn't come.
Time passed, how much, he couldn't tell. The darkness never changed. It could have been minutes... or more.
His thoughts drifted.
'This reminds me of that place...'
The dollhouse.
Or whatever it truly was.
The memories were fractured, dulled by trauma, but the feeling lingered. The same oppressive stillness. The same sense of being watched.
Sunny sighed.
That was the past. There was no point reopening old wounds.
But just as he pushed the thought away—
The horizon lit up.
Sunny's eyes widened.