It had been two days.
Aelon was drained. Drained and dehydrated.
The lack of hydration had taken it's toll on him. Headaches and brain fog shrouded his mind, and expectedly, he only peed once.
As far as Aelon knew, for a healthy individual urine was supposed to take on a light yellow, or clear color.
His was... brown.
The black haired boy ate much, at least more compared to his outskirts days. Still his stool rarely came, the lack of water had slowed down his digestion.
The proof was right before him, his previously flat stomach was puffed up like a balloon. If it were fat, it would at least subject itself to gravity, or be soft, but when he pressed against his stomach with his finger, he could feel that the bloat came from his stomach. It was solid, unlike what one might expect from fat.
Nobody expects a Mussel's innards to be comfortable, but oddly they were.
Aelon shifted. His eyelids fluttered open.
Probing to see if the mussel would sway under the current of water, he remained still, letting his sense of touch take over what little thought his depleted mind could sustain.
After determining that his surroundings did not stir, he listened for movements around the shell. Luckily, nothing seemed to be big enough to crawl around him, and make sounds doing it.
Sending a command to the shell with his mind, it groaned open, debris of what seemed to be salt falling down from it.
'The saltwater probably dried under the sun... did I sleep for that long?'
It was quite curious. The boy's exhaustion was making it harder and harder for him to stay conscious, but he didn't expect his sleep to last this long. He went to sleep at noon of the previous day.
He stepped out of the mussel, and dispelled it into his soul sea.
When he gazed at his surroundings, immediately the black haired boy was hit by disappointment.
The same coral forest. Nonending.
As deteriorated his body was, he recognized that the most wounded thing seemed to be his mind.
'I wonder is it really worth it? I can just- No! Shut the fuck up Aelon! Come on!'
Aelon had tried crying these past few days, tried to let it out.
The tears wouldn't come. His body didn't have water to spare for something as mundane as bawling his eyes out.
As if on low battery, Aelon searched through the muddy ground for stones. After a while, he found one that was small enough, then sawed off a piece of coral, that resembled a stick.
Positioning himself under the shadow, and placing the stick and stone next to each other, the stick upright, in the mud, and the stone in it's shadow, he waited.
The next fifteen minutes felt like an eternity. Resting next to the construct, and trying to stay awake at the same time was torture for his drained body.
Slowly but surely the shadow of the stick shifted away from it.
Grabbing a second stone after an eternity of waiting, he placed it on the new shadow, and determined the cardinal directions.
'Alright. West is in that direction. West we go.'
As far as Aelon knew, the humans explored the dream realm all through the west. If he walked for long enough he would probably encounter a human settlement.
'I don't remember such a region in the map of the dream realm's region's at all though.'
Trying to stay quiet, Aelon avoided most Nightmare Creatures he encountered, and used his [Concentrated Existence] to elude attention.
Not after long, something entered his gaze. A tree to be specific.
It was huge, taller than even the statue he had seen.
'I think this is the biggest thing I've ever seen in my life...'
Since the tree was in the correct direction, Aelon decided to stop by it. Going west, and passing by the tree were synonymous.
'I wonder if it has sap or fruit. If it actually does, my hydration problem is temporarily solved. Especially since you can carry fruit.'
Dragging his weakened body through the mud, the black haired boy spent the rest of his day walking towards the tree.
It had a sort of pull to it.
After a while, Aelon finally exhausted his stamina. He wasn't hungry, due to his stomach being filled to the brim already.
The sun was setting already anyways, and Aelon was sure he already covered a considerable distance for his condition. He lay down on the Mussel Bed, and felt the darkness of sleep embrace him very quickly.
When he woke up, he found his surroundings to be still.
But still didn't mean safe.
Doing his usual ritual of listening, and feeling if his surroundings underwent something, Aelon made sure everything was fine.
When he opened the shell... he didn't see the usual mud of the crimson forest's ground. He saw... bark.
'No way.'
The distance from the spot he ended up placing his mussel bed in, to the tree, was quite considerable. At the very least a day of travels.
Relief washed over him.
He was on one of the branches of the tree.
Aelon climbed out of the memory, and let it retreat to his soul sea, taking in the warm gaze of the sun. It was warm.
Making sense of his surroundings, he saw a fruit dangling from one of the smaller branches.
It looked perfect.
Too perfect.
Way too perfect.
He had to eat it.
The texture of it promised juice. Important juice. Hydrating juice.
As if in a trance, he took it and bit into it.
The skin of these fruits was smooth and black as onyx, while the succulent insides were red as ruby.
The air was filled with an alluring, sweet aroma.
[Your soul grows stronger.]
Taking Aelon out his daze, the Spell's message cut through the bliss he was experiencing.
'The fruits... they act like soul shards! I need to eat more!'
Just like expected, the fruits were sweet, but also hydrating. After eating two, Aelon felt oddly saturated, and the prior all consuming thirst was cleansed.
What a perfect tree.
He had to stay.