New Companion

The moment Sunny found himself in Dream Realm, he was surrounded by vast expanses of darkness with nothing but wet coldness enveloping his body. Disoriented and unable to breathe, Sunny found himself drowning in water.

'Damnation, is Spell trying to kill me? Where is the fairness everybody is talking about?'

Using shadow sense, he managed to get a grasp on directions. Moments later he emerged from the water only to be greeted by a black sky devoid of stars.

'Could I be in the storm sea?'

'Perhaps [Fated] decided to give me some luck this time.'

Unfortunately, his thoughts were quickly interrupted by a triangular fin rising from the water. Swaying his arms and legs, Sunny swam in the opposite direction, where he saw a black shape reminiscent of the platform.

Sunny moved across the water with considerable speed, but the fin was following him and coming closer with each moment. Soon enough, he noticed that the visible part of the creature was already bigger than him.

'Aren't you a little bit too big to be satiated with me? Why are you following?! Dammit!'

The platform seemed so close, just a few more seconds and he would be able to grasp it, but the monster, or whatever nightmare creature it was, was much faster than him.

Suddenly a gargantuan tower rose from the water, while it hovered for several moments over the surface, Sunny recognized it as a tentacle that belonged to an abomination in the depths of those murky waters. Carried by the waves of water caused by a giant appendage, Sunny hit the platform made of rock.

He immediately made an effort to climb the platform. Lying with his body on the hard surface, he inwardly thanked the professor for taking the time to teach him how to swim.

'When I get back, I'll visit him first.'

Sunny was gasping for air, his muscles aching and burning from his recent swim. Only now he had some time to look at himself and remember that he was still naked. Sunny summoned [Puppeteer's Shroud] and felt his body being wrapped in comfortable fabric and he felt pleasant warmth.

Sunny long ago noticed the creature's shadow being dragged into depths, so now he was completely alone.

'As alone as it is possible to be while being surrounded by waters teeming with various nightmare creatures. Isn't he lucky?'

Looking at the sky, grim thoughts emerged in his mind. Is this a storm sea?

'Surely webtoons and media might romanticize and exaggerate Dream Realm but it doesn't match with the description that professor told me.'

Total absence of stars and relatively calm waters instead of countless storms. Sunny wanted to blame it on an especially calm and cloudy night, but that's not how it works. Preparing for the worst, he decided to wait for the morning and see the results.

'If that's not a storm sea, as far as I know, I might be in a completely unknown region.'

While laminating over what role his attribute played in this, Sunny caught with side vision a tiny figure somewhere in the water.

'Is that a human?!'

Should he help this person? Sunny carefully looked at the water surrounding his relatively safe island and shivered while imagining another meeting with the owner of those tentacles.

That creature must be fallen rank at the very least. It could be even worse, there's no way for him to survive the direct meeting. It would be much better just to wait and see, perhaps another person will notice a platform and swim on their own.

Sunny waited, the movements of the figure in the water were more desperate with each second, slowly growing weaker and weaker. Have they not noticed the platform?

'They can't see in the dark, perhaps it's better to signal them.'

But what can he do? He didn't have a way to produce light and even if he had, he definitely wouldn't use it. The solemn source of light would be akin to a beacon or a star attracting countless creatures.

On the other side, he had [Silver Bell], but this might be even worse. It would be heard not only by humans but also by countless abominations in a range of several kilometers.

'Should I save them? All choices put my life in danger, even if I simply shout.'

If he remains silent in this situation, he might have a chance to survive right now, even if not guaranteed, he'll be sure that no creature will notice him here. On this platform above the water, covered in shadows, his presence will be hidden thanks to the [Child of Shadows] attribute.

But what about tomorrow? What will he do after that? If it isn't a storm sea and an unknown region, Sunny will be completely on his own, facing unknown dangers. As Master Jet said, nobody can survive in the dream realm on their own.

If not at the moment, saving a stranger will be the best decision to guarantee his chances of survival in the long term.

'Damn it, perhaps I have gone crazy if I'm doing it.'

"Swim here, there's some land!"

Sunny shouted while carefully monitoring his surroundings with shadow sense. It's clear, he couldn't sense anything approaching the platform with clear intentions to devour him and tear him apart. Sighing with relief, he looked at the figure, and it seemed like he was heard.

The person shifted in the water and turned in his direction. Yet much to his confusion and annoyance they didn't swim toward the platform.

'Who is this moron? Is he deaf, why is he remaining in place?'

'...no way. He can't swim?!'

Is this some kind of joke? It's not like he expected the legacy or Changing Star herself to appear, just somebody with a relatively useful aspect would do a job. But somebody who couldn't even swim?! How are they going to survive?

'No, it's not my problem. I already did more than enough.'

Somebody like this would be just a deadweight that will lower his chances of survival. Sunny continued gazing at the figure which aimlessly hit the water with its limbs trying to stay afloat.

Yes, it's important to have allies in the dream realm, but you shall choose them carefully... What a waste, a potential person who he could become allies with, just dying because of lack of ability to swim. All those memories and aspect not being put into use...

Sunny carefully lowered into the water and swam quickly in the direction of the figure.

'I won't carry the deadweight, but the memories and abilities they have could help me survive. Yes, lack of ability to swim is a flaw, especially in this place, but advantages could outweigh all of this.'

If they were proven to be worthless, Sunny would simply get rid of them. Finally, he found the figure in the water. Sunny recognized them or to be more precise, he recognized her. It was Cassie, the girl who was almost a walking corpse back then in academia.

With her flaw, she was doomed to die the moment she was transported to the dream realm. After all, she was in the last place on the list not without a reason.

'Damnation... out of all people why it had to be her.'

Should he abandon her and return? She has already noticed him but what will she do? If he simply turns back, she will just eventually drown. All previous arguments for the possible usefulness of an unknown person were thrown into the trash.

No matter what aspect she has or what memories she owns, her flaw simply overweights everything. The best outcome will take her memories and leave her to die, but he doubts that she will willingly give all her memories to him.

'Screw it, I'll bring her back to the platform and then I'll decide.'

Grabbing her with one hand and swimming with another, Sunny moved toward the direction of his temporary base. On his way, Sunny prayed to dead deities that no nightmare creatures noticed them.

Upon arrival, he pushed her to the surface and lay next to her. Both of them were motionless, Sunny was breathing ruggedly while trying to get over the fatigue. Cassie started coughing water and breathed like she was on the verge of suffocating.

Still lying on the floor, Sunny threw her a glance. The panicked girl started rapidly exploring the floor with her hands, when she finally stood, the girl staggered and was about to fall into the water. Groaning from displeasure, Sunny caught her hand and helped her sit down.

Still deeply shocked by the recent experience, she couldn't mutter the word. All that came out of her mouth were countless sobs and muttering that he couldn't understand. In the end, the crying girl clinged towards Sunny, not letting him move.

Slightly awkward, Sunny just remained stuck in the place.

'What should I do? I saved her, now what?'

Embarrassed and lost, he let the blind girl continue embracing him, eventually crying disappeared and only rare sobs remained.

Finally, the fatigue took its toll and Cassie fell asleep. Carefully he slipped out of her embrace and moved a little bit away from her. Staring at her, Sunny contemplated what he should do, now that Sunny saved her, it was time to decide what her fate would be.

Will she die or survive another day? Will he burden himself with helping her or simply leave her alone? In the end, Sunny decided to wait until morning to make the final decision. He should at least discover her memories and aspect.

Only now that he made some basic decisions, did Sunny notice that Cassie was naked. He noticed such glaring detail much earlier, but only now he was able to react properly. While sleeping peacefully she looked indistinguishable from a delicate and fragile doll with an exquisite face.

Taken aback by such a picture in front of him, Sunny turned away and ordered his gloomy shadow to do the same. The latter one only glared at him as if disgusted and offended that Sunny dared to assume that it was as perverted as its owner.

'This guy got some nerves to think so about me. I'm not a pervert!'

Unwillingly, Sunny took off [Puppeteer's Shroud] and covered the sleeping girl with a coat.

She can't see me naked, but her appearance disturbs me. For a moment this will be the optimal solution.

'I hope she has some protective Memory, I'm not planning on giving away my only armor.'

Hours passed and morning arrived. The sun appears far in the sky while the water rushes away in a violent stream revealing the ocean made of bloody crimson corrals that together create a complicated maze, the boundaries of which can not be seen.

Sunny sighed while looking at expanses of corals, some seaweed remained hanging on them, proving that the sea was not an illusion conjured by his mind.

'We're not in a storm sea, that means an unknown region is where we are.'

'Of course, how else could it be? [Fated] attribute will never let me have something good.'

The morning arrived, now it was time to wake her up. Sunny put his hand atop Cassie covered by his protective memory and started shaking her.

"Wake up."

A few minutes later he saw her eyelids flutter and she immediately sat up looking at him. Sunny shuddered as she noticed that the clothes covering her body had slipped off.

"Where am I?"

Sunny awkwardly looked away.

"Please, before talking, cover yourself a bit."

Understanding the situation, Cassie put on the clothes properly. Forgetting the previous question, she hurried to speak.

"Thank you for saving me. Thank you..."

She remained silent for a moment until a sob escaped her mouth.

"I was.. so scared., I didn't know what to do... I don't want to die, not yet... please don't leave me...I'm sorry."

Barely containing herself, she remained on the verge of tears.

Cassie was fully prepared to hear that he'd be leaving her behind. That's what everybody would do, that's what everybody should do. She's utterly useless, there's no way for her to survive without clinging to somebody as a leech. And yet, she didn't want to die, she wanted to meet her family again, Cassie had so much to live for even with her newfound flaw.

'I don't want to die.'

"Answering your previous question. We're still in the dream realm or was that the location you wanted to hear from me? In that case, I'll have to disappoint you, we're in a completely unknown place."

Hearing this her heart stopped for a moment, if earlier she could at least have some hopes that a kind fellow dreamer could help her on her way to the citadel, now her fate was sealed.

Nevertheless what she heard next was not a cruel yet fair refusal she expected to hear but a question.

"What is your aspect, what memories do you have?"

It was too early to celebrate, yet she couldn't help but be infected with hope.

Right now depending on her answers, Sunny would know what to do with his potential ally. If her flaw is that horrible then her aspect must be powerful enough to negate it. Perhaps in its twisted way but the Spell was just.

"My aspect allows me to see attributes of others, both nightmare creatures and others awakened. Sometimes I also receive visions of the future, they might be clear or their true meaning can be hidden by symbolism."

Sunny didn't expect her to have battle-related aspect, those were some interesting abilities.

'Is this how she discovered my birthday? She must have recognized me already.'

"Do you know who I am?"

Sunny had a pretty nasty reputation in academia, after all, that was his goal. To make him look as pathetic as possible for people not to recognize him as a threat. Now this reputation may cause some problems, although he doubts that Cassie has any other choice in this situation. Her life right now is in his hands.

"Yes, I recognized you. We ate together in the cafeteria."

Sunny carefully observed her and asked the next question.

"I was only one place ahead of you based on our chances of survival. You trust me with your life?"

Cassie looked surprised, had she not heard about it?

"Trusting is the only thing I can do. I'll do my best to help despite my flaw. I'll try not to burden you."

Her aspect right now is the only way out that Sunny can see. They have no information about their location, dangers around them, or anything else. Knowledge received from her vision might be the only way to escape the current predicament.

Thanks to [Shadow Control] Sunny can scout the territory, with the help of Cassie they can determine their destinations but her blindness makes their mobility severely limited. As long as they proceeded slowly, Sunny was sure that he could help them avoid any encounters and remain hidden. But if every night black sea appears, even seconds might decide whether they'll survive before another flood.

In the end, they'll have to fight their way to make it in time. From one island above the water to another. The question is whether there are any other places like this at all. Still, not enough information to decide.

"What memories do you have?"

In front of Cassie appeared three objects. She tried to put them in order but it resulted in an even bigger mess. Touching the golden rope she began explaining.

"These memories I received from my first nightmare. [Evertwine] is an extremely durable rope that can shrink or become longer, [Endless Spring] is a bottle with unlimited capacity of water. And the Wooden Staff can produce wind."

Looking at memories Sunny was grinning, some might overlook these memories due to them being not battle-oriented but Sunny knew perfectly that their biggest goal here is not to defeat nightmare creatures but to survive. And [Endless Spring] is a perfect solution to one of the biggest necessities to keep them alive.

'We have water, a place to sleep and now the last thing we need is food.'

This might not be the best equipment and ally to have but it was already far from being hopeless. Sunny noticed that his newfound companion still waited for his reply with very visible unease and decided to reply.

"Right now we're on top of a statue without a head. We're surrounded by a labyrinth of red corrals. If I'm right at night this place is completely flooded by water. Inside the sea, there are powerful nightmare creatures."

Cassie paled while listening to Sunny, fear and uncertainness visible in her expression.

"What will we do?"

Now that she at least knew that her companion wouldn't abandon her, it was time to worry about other things. And right now things didn't seem very bright.

"For a few days, we'll remain on this statue and I'll scout the territory and try to find the food. After that, we'll figure out what we will do next."

'Yes, it's a solid plan, hopefully, during this time we'll manage to find something out about the region.

"Are you crazy? Didn't you say that your chances of survival are as bad as mine? You can't just go down there!"

Much to his disdain, Sunny had a very worried partner sitting nearby. As if trying to prevent him from jumping off the statue, Cassie held his hand.

"I'll be staying on a statue, the one going there will be my shadow."

Sunny gestured with his hand towards his shadow only to remember that Cassie was blind. Looking at the gloomy figure, he felt a mocking gaze directed at him.

"My dormant ability allows me to control my shadow and share its senses."

Embarrassed, Cassie retracted her hands. Leaving her alone, he moved towards the edge of the statue's neck and started collecting seaweed.

'Just because seeing her without clothes is embarrassing, doesn't mean that I'll be giving up my armor so easily.'

Based on lessons he received from Professor Julius, Sunny started creating some basic clothing that could cover Cassie when he took [Puppeter's Shroud] back. Hours passed and Sunny finally managed to finish the top part when he heard Cassie.

"What are you doing?"

Throwing a glance in her direction, Sunny shortly replied.

"Making clothes from seaweed."

"Oh, sorry. You must have given me your only clothing, I'll return it right now."

Hearing her Sunny almost choked, and he quickly stopped her.

"Not yet, I haven't finished the clothes!"

While gloomy shadow still explored the nearby territory, both of them remained in awkward silence.

'This is way too awkward.'

"When we were in academia, you knew my birthday thanks to the vision, what else did you see?"

Previously silent Cassie turned yet again in his direction, for a few seconds she tried to recall the vision.

"That time I saw a solar eclipse, a small shadow crawled from the crack in the earth. After that everything became very confusing, I couldn't catch the details besides mountains and white fog, but at some point among them, I saw a human. When I met you another day in the cafeteria, somehow I knew that it was you."

'Shadow being born during a solar eclipse? Ha, how fitting, then crawling from the earth references to slums? Who knows. But what do mountains and fog mean?'

Sunny couldn't help but wonder about their meaning, when else he could get a prophecy picturing him?

"Sunless, how did you appear in the dream realm? Have you been directly dropped at the statue?"

'Sunless? Why so official?'

Hearing his full name from people who were supposed to be his classmates felt awkward. It was fundamentally different from when a government official said his status.

"Just call me Sunny, nobody calls me by my full name."

While carefully continuing to work on the lower part of Cassie's future clothes, he threw glances at her side. Considering her appearance, even in these tasteless makeshift clothes, she would look beautifully distracting.

'So what, should I make a full-blown costume for her?'

Sunny scoffed at such thoughts, imagining her dressed up like a humanoid creature made of seaweed. Although perhaps even in such a way, she'll look equally attractive. Looking at himself, Sunny lamented over the injustice of the world.

"When I just got into the dream realm, I found myself in the water just like you. After that, I escaped from the nightmare creature, and hurried towards the platform which appeared to be the neck of the statue."

Stunned and pale, open-mouthed Cassie looked in his side. Was she surprised that there were creatures in the water? No, Sunny already mentioned it to her. Perhaps she took a completely new view on how she survived at all.

"Sunny, are you crazy?! You jumped after me when there was a nightmare creature nearby?"

Sunny looked at her as if she was crazy. What did she even think of him? Of course, he wouldn't jump if he wasn't sure that the already mentioned creature was dragged into depths by another as he estimated the fallen creature. Being forced by his flaw Sunny didn't take much time to reply.

"Of course not, it was killed by another nightmare creature. It turned out that it was not only me who tried to escape."

His reply contrary to his expectations didn't calm Cassie. It had quite the opposite effect on an already stressed girl who looked like she was ready to faint any moment. Seeing her change the position, Sunny noticed that she moved way too close to the edge for his liking.

"Come closer, if you continue moving in that direction, you'll fall."

Sunny gave her a hand and helped position herself somewhere in the center of the platform closer to him. With a complicated expression, Cassie looked at Sunny, or at least that's what seemed from his point of view. After all, she was blind.

"I'm sorry for causing so much trouble. You risked your life so much, only to be stuck here with me."

Visibly upset and guilty Cassie lowered her head. With her eyes closed, she continued staring into nothingness with her empty blue eyes. It was easy to understand what was on her mind right now even for someone with barely any social experience like Sunny.

"Take off the armor."

Still, a bit spaced out, it took her several seconds to digest what she just heard. With a rapid motion, she turned her head in his direction with an expression of strong disbelief. A deep blush was visible on her pale face, while Cassie was holding her hands crossed on her chest.

Met with a mocking gaze of his shadow, Sunny harried to explain himself. With his already damaged reputation, it was obvious that Sunny's intention would be misunderstood. Although it would be hard not to misunderstand somebody's intentions in such a situation.

"I meant that I have already finished clothes. I'd like to receive my memory back."

He heard a sigh of relief coming from Cassie. Although she still seemed a little bit tense, now at the very list wasn't that wary of him. Sunny put the clothes he made near Cassie and guided her hand towards it.

"Sorry, I might have misunderstood."

"I already turned away. Say when you're ready and I'll retract the memory into my soul sea."

"You can do it now."

Unsummoning [Puppeter's Shroud] Sunny focused more on his shadow, ignoring Cassie behind him, looking through his gloomy companion, Sunny watched with great interest how nightmare creatures that looked like a mix of crab and scavenger were devouring the large creature from which Sunny tried to escape when he just appeared here.

There are hundreds of them greedily devouring the creature, trying to get its soul cores. When they finish with their current meal, what will they do then? Will they start devouring each other or by that time there will be another meal prepared for them? He could be sure only of one thing, if they were given a chance, the nightmare creature wouldn't hesitate to eat him and Cassie.

"I have finished."

Sunny heard Cassie's voice behind him, she was sitting in the center of the platform trying to cover more of her body. Just as he thought, even such crude clothes from seaweed couldn't tone down her attractiveness. Although it was still distracting, but much better than seeing her walking around naked.

After that Sunny finally summoned Puppeter's Shroud. Even in such a short period, he managed to start missing his memory. Just wearing it provided him with a small feeling of safety.

'Ah, nothing can beat wearing the armor of awakened rank.'

The sun had already started approaching the horizon, and very soon after it touched the line that separated the coral labyrinth from the sky, a rumbling could be heard somewhere in the distance. Immediately, creatures that surrounded the corpse started running away and hiding.

Some of them entered the labyrinth and hid there, while others simply buried themself in the soil. The sound of rumbling water intensified and when the sun fully disappeared from the sky, the platform from stone was again surrounded by black sea.

Sunny avoided looking into the depths of the water and focused instead on another person on this platform. Not so far from him was standing anxious Cassie who despite remaining silent had some questions.

With her unable to see, Cassie's only reliable source of information about what's happening around her was Sunny.

'What an inconvenience.'

"Just as I guessed, the moment the sun started going behind the horizon waters appeared."

Cassie nodded and the tiny island among dangerous sea was submerged into silence. Time from time small waves hit its borders sending splashes of water into sleepers. Staying in the center of the island, both of them tried to avoid dangers hidden in the depths.

Looking at his ally, Sunny decided to speak. The next day they should be as recovered as possible, who knows what happened. Lack of food will already weaken them to a certain extent, they don't need to face the lack of sleep too.

"We can go to sleep Cassie, my shadow will keep the watch in case something happens."

He lay down on the floor trying to get into a position that wouldn't cause his whole body to ache in the morning. Sometime after Sunny finally succeeded, he felt Cassie lying down, she leaned her back against him which he assumed to keep warmth.

'Although the climate here is not as bad as in my first nightmare, it's chill enough at night.'

It's not like he can make a campfire, even if he could, it was pointlessly dangerous. With grim thoughts about his close future, Sunny drifted to a dreamless sleep. What he certainly didn't expect, was to be awakened in the middle of the night by Cassie.

Annoyed and dissatisfied with such a sudden interruption of his priceless sleep, Sunny looked at Cassie.

'Gloomy shadow didn't wake me up, that means no danger. Why did Cassie wake me up? Damnation, this should better be something important.'

Hearing the next words Sunny immediately sobered up and all traces of his recent sleep disappeared leaving him staring at Cassie.

"Sunny, I had a vision."