Time within the dark sea seemed to slow down, stretching until it ground to a halt.
The water surged upward. The biting cold and the pitch-black darkness became absolute. All Sunny could see were two terrifying rows of gigantic, razor-sharp teeth framing a monstrous, bottomless gullet. Even the light itself seemed to be violently devoured by those abyssal maws, utterly unable to escape.
His body paralyzed.
His mind froze.
Even his heart stopped beating in his chest.
His fingers, already heavily numbed by the freezing water, completely lost all sensation.
A deafening, high-pitched ringing bombarded his ears as frigid seawater flooded them.
All of this transpired in the mere blink of an eye.
A single, agonizing, unending microsecond that literally froze in time, as if the horrifying image had been painted on a canvas.
'Ah... it's over,' It was the only coherent thought Sunny could muster in that moment.
He saw his entire life flash before his eyes. His one, singular consolation was that Cassie—held tightly to his chest, likely still dazed by the freezing temperatures and lack of oxygen—would pass away without ever even realizing it.
Sunny watched the gigantic jaws of the Corrupted Devil inexorably snap shut over him and Cassie.
A sudden, terrifying realization struck him at that precise moment.
The aberration wasn't even actively hunting them.
It was simply fleeing from something far larger and more terrifying than itself.
It had only opened its mouth to blindly swallow the tiny obstacle blocking its frantic escape path.
Them.
There was no escape.
It was over.
Sunny remained completely rigid, utterly paralyzed as he stared into the face of his own demise.
Until... a woman clad in dark clothes —with hair as radiant as a waterfall of black ink, and pale skin as smooth and delicate as the evening itself—burst forth from his shadow, rising to his defense.
What followed was a chaotic blur of muted images and shapeless sounds, all blending together amidst the frigid night and the freezing sea.
A veil of pure darkness erupted, shielding both him and Cassie.
Sunny felt a massive, violent tremor launch him blindly through the air.
A crushing wave of dizziness made his head spin wildly.
The sudden absence of water.
The sickening sensation of tumbling through empty space.
A violent gust of wind that viciously reignited the cold receptors across his wet skin.
His heart skipping a frantic beat.
The blood rushing violently to his head, disorienting him even further.
A brutal impact.
A secondary shockwave, like a catastrophic crash landing upon an unforgiving solid surface.
The dome of darkness shattered open.
Sunny felt his body violently tumbling across cold, jagged terrain.
Through it all, he kept Cassie locked securely against his chest, one hand desperately cradling the back of her head, the other tightly bracing her spine to protect her from the rocks.
The ragged sound of his own breathing slowly returned to him as the deafening ring finally faded from his ears.
Then, a sharp, blinding agony erupted from his shoulder, carving its merciless way down his entire spine, radiating outward to crown his skull and shatter against his tailbone.
"Gaaagh!" Sunny cried out, forcing a muffled, choked scream that caught agonizingly in his throat as his crushed lungs desperately fought for air.
Time finally began to move forward again. A wave of fresh air whistled in his ears.
"Aah... ah... ah..."
His body screamed for mercy. His muscles were terribly sore, and his bones, though miraculously unbroken, protested violently with every slight movement.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.
His mind, having narrowly escaped the jaws of death, forced him to catch his breath between the choked groans brought on by the agonizing, piercing pain. The blissful, numb daze was gone, and the flow of his thoughts returned to a normal, albeit chaotic, pace.
Sunny opened his eyes. Lying flat on his back atop the jagged, rocky reef, he was greeted once more by the bleak panorama of the starless black sky.
'I'm still alive,' he told himself, a faint, weary half-smile staining his face at the thought.
Then, the breathtaking face of a young woman—with eyes like two precious obsidian gems and long, silky black hair resembling a brilliant cascade of ink—leaned over him.
His shadow.
Thene.
"Thank you," Sunny rasped with a profoundly grateful smile, still fighting to catch his breath as he kept Cassie held securely in his arms.
Myriad Shade offered him a soft smile in return. They had truly been through hell, even if in real time barely five minutes had passed. She, of course, was completely unharmed. The cocoon of shadows she had erected for their protection had absorbed the entirety of the damage before shattering upon impact with the unforgiving rock.
Fortunately, the Corrupted Devil—the shark-like monster—had fled elsewhere. The path it was taking to escape its own predator didn't align with the direction Sunny had taken to drag them to safety.
Thene knelt beside him, her exquisite, shadowy dress elegantly hugging her curves. She gently placed a hand on his head, stroking his hair—a tender, silent gesture that seemed to say: you did well.
Sunny closed his eyes, surrendering to the soothing sensation.
Then, the delicate girl held tightly in his arms began to stir. Recovering from the sheer terror, she gravitated blindly toward the comforting warmth enveloping her and the ragged, heavy breathing of her savior.
"Sunny?" Cassie called out weakly. She lifted her head just enough for him to see her stunning, blind blue eyes swimming with tears.
"I—is it really you?" The question slipped past her lips in a barely audible whisper.
Sunny opened his eyes again, looking down just enough to take in her sweet face, heavily streaked with tears, her beautiful eyes red and swollen from sheer terror.
He let out a breath. Slowly. "Yeah, Cas. It's me." His tone was incredibly soft and gentle.
Sunny tenderly brushed a hand through her gorgeous golden hair, sweeping a wet strand away from her face, treating her not merely as a person, but as a fragile porcelain doll he had caught a split second before she shattered.
Cassie's lips trembled violently. Her hands desperately bunched the wet, dark-gray fabric of the [Puppeteer's Shroud], and hot, salty tears poured from her sightless eyes once again.
"Sunny!" Without a second of hesitation, the blind seer threw herself at him.
Cassie buried her face deep in his chest, desperately seeking out his warmth in the freezing night. She threw her arms tight around his waist, inadvertently drawing a pained grunt from him due to the sheer force of her grip.
Cassie openly wept. Lost in the darkness of the night, her tears soaked his chest.
"Sunny! Sunny! Sunny! Sunny! Sunny!"
Cassie frantically nuzzled her face against him, chanting his name over and over as if terrified he might suddenly vanish into thin air. She was so happy.
Seeing her, a genuinely tender smile crept onto Sunny's lips. He brought a hand up to rest on the back of her head, affectionately petting a soft spot just as he used to do during their days at the Academy, while keeping his other arm securely wrapped around her back.
A suffocating grip seemed to finally lift from his racing heart. Cassie was here with him. For the moment, at least, the two of them were safe.
***
A little while later...
Sunny and Cassie lay side by side, huddled together against the biting chill of the night. The blind seer was wrapped in a crimson-red cloak that completely engulfed her delicate frame. Once the storm of tears and overwhelming emotions had finally passed, Sunny had summoned the [Crimson Cloak] to cover her bare skin.
Meanwhile, Myriad Shade stood silently at the very edge of the rocky reef, her gaze sweeping the dark horizon for any unexpected guests. Sunny had formally introduced his Shadow to Cassie shortly after they caught their breath. Surprisingly, the blind girl had immediately taken a liking to Thene. As for the exact nature of his relationship with her... well, Sunny preferred to shelf that particular conversation for another time.
"Sunny?" Cassie called out, tilting her head slightly toward him from the affectionate sanctuary of his arms. Her voice was thin and laced with a timid hesitation.
The blind seer was still struggling to process the lingering embarrassment of having thrown her completely naked body at the boy, pressing her bare chest so intimately against him.
"Yeah, Cas? What is it?" Sunny replied, looking down into her shimmering, sapphire-blue eyes, feeling her shift slightly beneath the heavy cloak within his embrace.
The howling of the wind and the shared warmth enveloping them were punctuated only by the rhythmic, indifferent crashing of the dark waves against the jagged edges of the reef.
"Thank you," was all she said.
Sunny raised a skeptical eyebrow. "For what?"
"For everything," Cassie murmured. "For talking to me back at the Academy. For always keeping me company. For holding my hand everywhere I went. Just... for everything."
She lowered her gaze for a moment, her forehead gently brushing against his chin as her sightless eyes seemed to grow distant.
"And it's not just that," she continued, lifting her head to 'look' at him again. "Thank you for helping me find confidence in myself. For saving my life just a moment ago. There are so many things I owe you for, I don't even know how I could ever possibly repay the favor. And... and because of that... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry you're stuck dragging around a dead weight like me."
Her eyes suddenly welled up, heavy with an unwarranted, crushing sense of guilt.
Seeing her spiral, Sunny cautiously took her face between his warm hands. "Hey! Hey, hey," he cooed softly, his thumbs gently wiping her cheeks as his palms cradled her face.
"You have nothing to apologize for, Cas. And you are not dead weight!"
He glanced around for a moment before continuing, taking in the desolate horizon governed by nothing but a vast, boundless dark sea.
"Well..." Sunny chuckled lightly. "I'll admit, our current situation isn't exactly the best environment to prove my theory. Then again, my Aspect isn't proving to be all that useful out here in the middle of the ocean either. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, I mean... you're never going to get anywhere."
<
'Could you just shut up for once?!' Sunny furrowed his brows in annoyance.
Cassie fell completely silent, letting his words wash over her. Slowly, letting his hands slip from her face, she rested her right cheek against his chest and tightened her arms around his waist. She hugged him fiercely, just as she used to do back at the Academy, pressing her soft body closely against his own.
"Thank you, Sunny," she whispered once more.
Sunny looked down at her, watching a tender, melancholic smile finally bloom on her delicate lips. A suffocating weight lifted from his own heart.
"Don't mention it," he replied softly, gently petting her head. He pulled her a little closer, keeping her safely wrapped in his protective embrace.
For the moment, the abyssal horrors of the Forgotten Shore felt miles away, and their hearts close.
"Sunny?" Cassie called out again, looking up slightly while keeping her cheek firmly planted against his chest.
"Yeah?" Sunny, who had already closed his eyes, lazily blinked them open to answer her.
"Could you tell me that story again? The one where you fight and defeat a Master using just a dagger?"
She asked, nothing more than a thinly veiled excuse to listen to the comforting cadence of his voice.
"Sure," Sunny replied, his lips curling into a gentle, fond smile as he began his tale.
"Well, picture this. On one side, there's me—cunning, quick, slipping through the shadows armed with nothing but a tiny dagger. On the other side, an entire army of Nightmare Creatures, Awakened, and..."
Lulled by the soothing rhythm of his voice and the tender embrace of his shadow, Cassie drifted off, falling into a blissful, dreamless sleep. Sunny followed her into the dark void shortly after. Thene, as much as she desperately wanted to join the warm embrace, remained diligently on guard duty, sporting a deeply offended pout.
And so, for this one night, the two of them rested peacefully and safely, side by side.
***
When morning broke, the solitary sun of the Forgotten Shore awoke on the horizon. It flooded the bleak panorama with its pale, sickly light, forcing the abyssal waters of the dark sea to retreat, as if terrified of the dawn.
Sunny slowly blinked his eyes open. A deeply pleasant sensation of warmth and softness enveloped his body.
"Yawn..." Bringing a hand to his mouth, he let out a long, heavy yawn.
The very first thing his gaze landed on was Cassie's sweet, sleeping face. The blind seer was resting peacefully against him, her breathing steady. Their lips were so close that even the slightest movement would have caused them to brush against each other.
He smiled softly. Then, he shifted his gaze to his left, noticing a second pair of arms wrapped securely around him in a warm, fiercely affectionate embrace.
'Thene,' Sunny sighed mentally, furrowing his brows as he stared at their supposed 'guardian,' who was currently dozing peacefully by his side.
'If we were attacked right now, we would be fucked,' he mused, staring up at the lightening sky.
Listening to the steady, rhythmic breathing of his two companions, Sunny decided to take advantage of the early dawn and send his shadow out to scout.
Gloomy detached from his body, moving with silent caution as it slithered down the steep reef.
'If I remember correctly, the novel stated that I was supposed to spawn at the very top of a headless knight statue, right between its hands resting on the hilt of a massive sword planted firmly in the ground,' he reasoned.
His shadow continued its descent, gliding effortlessly down the jagged rocks without looking back, the downward journey vastly expedited by the lack of a physical body to weigh it down. A couple of minutes later, Gloomy reached the bottom, sliding onto a murky, muddy seabed right in the middle of an intricate labyrinth of crimson coral.
'There should be the statue,' Sunny told himself.
His physical body remained securely sandwiched between Cassie and Thene's warm embrace, while his consciousness shifted entirely to his shadow's perspective.
Gloomy turned around, expecting to gaze upon the towering, headless knight in all its ancient, ruined magnificence.
But when it looked... there was no handiwork to be found. Everlasting Gloom stiffened.
'What?!'
His eyes flew wide open, his lips twisting into a grimace of pure bewilderment.
Instead of the headless knight statue, he and Cassie had spent the entire night huddled atop a standard, jagged sea stack. As he scrambled to process the possibilities, a metaphorical lightbulb went off in his brain, reminding him of a crucial detail. In the original timeline, Nephis and Cassie were the ones who had spent their first night stranded on an isolated reef, only meeting him the following day.
'Oh, hell no! Are you telling me that—'
Cassie hadn't spawned in the wrong location. In fact, she was exactly where she was always meant to be. The anomaly... the one completely out of place... was him.
Sunny and Nephis had swapped spawn points. While he was stuck on this miserable rock with Cassie, Nephis had almost certainly been dropped right on top of the headless statue.
"MOTHERF—"
***
Clang.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Carapace Scavenger.]
[Your soul shines brighter.]
[You have received a Memory.]
---
Memory: [Azure Blade].
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Type: Weapon.
Memory Description: [On this forgotten shore, only steel remembers.]
---
"The coast is clear. You can come out," Nephis called out softly to her companions after dispatching the creature.
She was currently wearing nothing but a makeshift outfit fashioned from dark seaweed, barely enough to cover her chest and lower body.
"Is it really safe? Can we come out now?" asked a clear, highly hesitant voice belonging to a shy girl around her age, peering nervously from behind a jagged coral wall.
The girl had ocean-blue hair and striking eyes the color of lapis lazuli. She was dressed in a simple white tunic paired with leather sandals and a sea-colored cloak. Every single detail about her screamed water.
She was the Dreamer, Luna—one of the Sleepers from this year's bunch in the Academy, arriving in the Dream Realm alongside her, Sunny, and Cassie.
"Yes. Don't worry, it's safe to come out," Nephis reassured her, offering a faint nod and a comforting smile.
"About damn time," chimed in a deeply bored and overtly arrogant male voice.
Stepping out from the same hiding spot as Luna was a young man with pale blonde hair and amber eyes. His facial features were smooth and undeniably handsome, but a subtle, unsettling glint in his gaze suggested he was bad news. He was clad in a heavy suit of iron armor that, while offering excellent protection, severely hindered his mobility.
It was Sleeper Jayden.