Darkness.
That was all Ray was able to see, the moment he was plunged back into the depths of the dark sea, still held tight by the dark tentacle.
There were merely three other sensations he was feeling at all; the hold the monster had on him, his quickly fleeting oxygen, and lastly, and most importantly, his sword, which was pulled out, along with him.
It was caused by nothing conscious, but instead his previously trained, and honed instincts.
'Is 'that' the only thing that could work…' Ray thought, about using the newest technique, but using it would bring some bad repercussions with it, mainly, complete essence exhaustion, which most definitely, would be followed by falling unconscious.
He only had one chance, and he wasn't sure, if that was the best option he had.
This hesitation persisted for merely a second, though, before his face, hidden by the darkness of the sea, hardened, 'I'll either succeed, or die trying!'
In the next moment, he used all of his remaining strength, to lift his sword arm as high as he could, before plunging the sword, tip first down, directly onto the tentacle of the abomination.
'Darkness!'
His special memory, the one who had accompanied him, ever since the very start of his first nightmare, managed to miraculously pierce through the skin of the creature, and activate the intended effect.
Ray was able to feel the effect rather quickly. The tentacle's began growing weaker, and also thinner, as if its very essence was being devoured, or… erased.
Nevertheless, this was the only positive thing about it. Nearly as soon, as the sword plunged into it, the tentacle moved, and threw him. By chance, destiny, fate, or whatever other powers were in play, the direction of his throw was the left leg of the stone colossus, causing him to violently crash into it.
Not being able to stop his body, his mouth opened in pain, wanting to scream, and gasp for breath, where there was nothing but water.
On top of the water, which now had a direct entry point, into his body, the small remainder of air he had left in his lungs left him, and his vision began blurring.
It had been a while, since he felt real pain, due to the unique nature of his aspect, therefore he wasn't entirely sure, if he was falling unconscious, due to the pain, the lack of oxygen, or the essence exhaustion.
The very last conscious thought of his was to dismiss [Oblivion's Thread], in the hope of regaining just enough essence, to not fall unconscious, but it was helpless.
His consciousness had nearly left his body, by now. He was sinking, and who knew how many nightmare creatures were already approaching his position, hoping to devour this boy, touched by divinity.
As his eyes were about to close for the very last time, a white appeared in the midst of the darkness, but Ray was unable to make out what it was, and failed in keeping his eyes open, long enough to understand what it could be.
---
*cough**cough*
Ray coughed up nearly liters of water, before being able to finally open his eyes again.
When he did so, he noticed the other members of the cohort standing around him, while Nephis knelt next to him.
While most of the people present looked at him with clear concern evident, even if Cassie, technically did not look at him, there were two young men who were looking at him, with not entirely concealed killing intent.
Caster, was more or less expected, since the legacy was probably still looking for a chance to get back at him.
But, the other person, Sunny, was a surprise.
With his mind still in shambles, it took Ray a moment before he was able to somewhat put the pieces together.
"So, the white thing… was you?" he mumbled, not yet fully back under the living.
She merely nodded.
Then, next was the position they were in. Ray was sure that he must've been gone for a few minutes, therefore… there needed to have been CPR… and Nephis was kneeling besides him…
His mind simply stopped working in that moment. Partly, due to the still ongoing essence exhaustion.
Thankfully, there was at least a small hope of being wrong about the result he had reached.
"What… happened?"
"Well, handsome, after you were so unceremoniously kidnapped, our little princess quickly tied her golden rope around her waist, threw the other end over, and jumped into the dark sea…" Effie began.
"After that, we waited for a signal of any kind, since Lady Nephis had not provided us with any instructions. We only began pulling the two of you out when the same white incandescence suddenly appeared in the midst of the dark sea." Kai continued.
"Yeah, and when you two were finally out of the water, you already had no pulse, so we needed to revive you…" Effie finished, while looking over to the still kneeling Nephis.
"...how long was I out?" Ray asked again, while still swaying lightly from exhaustion.
"You were gone for about two minutes."
'...aright, so no real damage should have been caused. A slight relieve…' his mind became a bit lighter, knowing this.
"Thanks for pulling me out, but I really need some rest now. My essence… is… used up…"
As the young man was talking, his words were getting lighter, and more quiet by the second, a clear sign of his exhaustion. When the last word was spoken, his tired body laid down on the still wet stone again.
The others stood around for a moment, before they also finally began relaxing themselves. They were already out of the storm, so resting was the only thing on their minds. Well, besides eating, of course.
---
Ray only woke up, when the sound of the dark sea retreating reached his ears.
Around him, most were still asleep. The only exception to this, was his charming friend, sitting with his bow next to him.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, the still somehow tired young man, walked over to Kai, keeping watch, and sat back down next to him.
Kai had noticed him before, but hadn't said anything yet, most likely, because he was tired too.
"Hey buddy, do you, by chance, know how long I slept, this time?"
His handsome friend took his gaze from the landscape of the forgotten shore, and looked at him, with a hint of amusement on his face, "Ah, not that long. Just short of a day…"
Ray didn't even looked shocked by this. His mind, body, and soul were still exhausted. The technique seemed to have taken more out of him, than he had expected.
'Seems like I shouldn't use it that often. For now. Well, not that I actually wanted to use it already…'
"With the night over, you could probably wake the others now. Oh, and just so you know, we should be reaching our goal today."
Ray nodded a bit absentmindedly, before getting up from the ground. While still thinking about everything that had happened and would happen these next few days, he went over to the others, and woke them up, one after the other.
Nephis, and Effie immediately took care of the food situation for the cohort, and after they all ate together, Kai went and took a short nap, since there was still some time.
Looking South, one could already see their goal.
Towering mountains, that looked covered in a layer of something, something which was undefinable from this distance. It was nothing lesser than one of the most dangerous regions in the dream realm, a designated death zone.
The so-called, 'hollow mountains'.
These mountains, while normally only meaning despair among any other human, helped the cohort to find out where in the dream realm they actually were. Or, at least, allowed them to make a rough estimate.
Though, if this was something positive, was questionable.
Everyone seemed tense, probably awaiting the inevitable moment, in which they would need to leave the stone colossus and venture into this dreadful region, which only very few ever returned alive from.
Nevertheless, with multiple hours until they would actually need to do this, Ray wanted to make finally take a look at his runes, something he hadn't been able to do yesterday.
Name: Raphael
True Name: [Lost Witness]
Rank: Dreamer
Class: Monster
Demon Cores: [2/7]
Demon Core: Dormant
Demon Fragments: 1444/2000
Memories: [Oblivion's Thread], [Guardian's Shackles], [Sentinel's Embrace], [Stormpiercer], [Stalker's Spine], [Reaper's Whispers], [Veil of the forsaken], [Drifting Ember], [Second Skin], [Spinner's Weight], [Embrace of the sunken horror]
Echoes: [Puppet]
Attributes: [Traceless], [Nullborn], [Spark of Divinity], [Heir of the demons], [Descender], [Touched by Oblivion]
Aspect: [Herald of -unknown-]
Aspect Rank: Divine/Unholy
Aspect Abilities: [Oblivion]
Aspect Legacy: [Demon Diaries]
Innate Ability: [Coming of Oblivion]
"…"
Why had his name changed? What did that mean? How was this even possible?
These and many more questions raced through Ray's mind, when he took in the entirety of his runes. He had already gotten used to the unreadable name of his aspect, but his own Name…?
Had the spell made a mistake?
But, that was entirely unheard of.
Well, so where divine, or even unholy aspects…
Ray was so focused on this change that he didn't even notice a small addition to his arsenal, and most likely wouldn't do so, for the day.