Sunny had felt some relief at finding a fellow sleeper in the same area as him, this particular one was not really desired but whatever finding a fellow sleeper lifted some weight off his chest and added some more
aeric and sunny sat on top of, well whatever it was, each at opposite edges staring at each other with doubt and wariness, well sunny was, aeric could not see anything in the dark but he still felt the piercing gaze
"why dont we introduce ourselves?" aeric asked trying to less the tension between them, he had to hide his grin at his luck, he could have woken up near the bright castle or worse but he woke at the exact place sunny was bound to meet him
Fate really was a twisted thing.
Sunny looked at him strangely for a minute maybe even awkwardly then spoke
"im Sunless. But you can call me Sunny"
Aeric's voice was unusually excited, maybe because it hit him again that he was, infact in this hell and with one of his favorite characters in fiction no less.
" name's Aeric, its nice to see you again sunless"
Sunny and aeric continued their conversation through the night, sunny was slowly letting his guard waver while talking but still kept in mind to bend his truth's here and there
Aeric was amused, in the novel, there were a lot of internal monologues and hence a lot longer gaps between each sentence sunny took, seeing it like this made even him sigh, cant the guy speak like a normal person, i mean he wasnt even asking anything too personal
"Since we're going to be depending on each other, should we share what abilities and Memories we have at our disposal?"
Finally Aeric was presented with this question, he sighed
"you got first'
' i mean its not like i have any attribute or anything of that sort, im probably even weaker that cassie for now'
"My attributes give me an affinity to shadows. I also have a slight affiliation to divinity. Lastly, I am prone to finding myself in unlikely situations"
"oh so the shadows moving story was true after all, gotta say even i had some doubts on that one"
Sunny grimaced but spoke nothing. the cold stone sent shivers down aeric's hand but the grin still remained
" well as for me you can say im useless, no i do have a attribute but its of the dormant rank and even worse the ability just gives me a clearer vision than normal, completely useless. i have a memory its called stone blade dormant rank, no enchantments"
' i mean seriously, i could have been reincarnated into some rich family but no!! here you go one slum dweller coming up, enjoy your reincarnation with no memories no abilities and no family!'
Sunny looked defeated, why was he stuck with such a person, with his attribute being of the divine rank he could only compare, and plus even in the dormant rank that attribute has got to be of the lowest, what was this guy's trial? killing a baby spider?
" atleast.... you have a memory, who knows what kind of creatures are here right?"
Aeric could not see sunny but he could bet what he was thinking
'why the hell am i stuck with this guy, he is deadweight'
" The sun is about to rise soon sunless we should plan what to do in the morning, you keep first watch"
"He what did i say about calling me sunl-"
"good night sunless"
Aeric turned around facing the dark ocean and dozed off, his body was shivering but somehow managed to fall asleep
Sunny stared at his back in disbelief, he then sighed and shouted to nothing
"and put some damn clothes on!!"
-------------------------------------------------------
As the sun begin to rose and the dark starless sky begin to brighten the black, opaque water suddenly surged and seethed, as though a living creature desperately trying to avoid the pale light of the coming dawn.
Sunny slowly rose and, after some thought, carefully approached the edge of the stone platform.
Looking down, he blinked and then kneeled to make sure that what he saw wasn't an illusion.
The sea seemed to be receding.
He turned towards the still sleeping aeric, he had not bothered to wake him up simply sue to the fact that he did not trust him, and aeric knew that.
Slowly at first, and then faster and faster, the water level was dropping. The circular stone formation he had been taking shelter on used to barely protrude out of the waves, but now there were meters and meters of wet rock between him and the restless surface of the sea.
As the sun climbed up, the monstrous ebb tide continued. Soon, Sunny found himself standing on the edge of a tall cliff, with a hundred-meter drop separating him from the churning waters. Beneath him, the rock formation broadened and changed shape. However, from his vantage point, it was hard to determine what that shape was, exactly.
At that time, the dark surface of the water began to be punctured here and there by sharp crimson blades. As it dropped even further, it was as though a crimson forest was slowly rising from the black depths. The "trees" were made of something resembling coral, growing chaotically into each other and stretching toward the sky.
They were colossal in size, with irregular protrusions entwining and merging together, looking monumental and eerie in the black and red reality of the sunlit void. The labyrinth formed by this strange reef stretched as far as Sunny could see, broken here and there by protruding cliffs, sudden chasms, and distant natural features.
Half an hour later, utterly shocked, Sunny stared down and realized that the sea was completely gone. If not for the black seaweed left hanging on wet rocks and scarlet pillars of coral, he would even doubt if it was ever there.
His small circular island had turned into the peak of a strange, towering, irregularly shaped cliff. Looking down, he felt his head spinning.
By then, the night had already fully retreated, letting morning finally take its place.
'I'm not seeing things, am I?' Sunny thought, pinching himself.
What the Spell was that?
A yawn came from behind him breaking him from his momentarily stupor, aeric rose and stretched his body seemingly unbothered by what had just transpired or simply unaware. he looked towards sunny and waked
"morning sunless"
Despite the sudden disappearance of the dark sea and its hidden monsters, Sunny was in no rush to climb down from his circular stone platform. Firstly, he felt that if the sea was able to disappear, it was surely able to come back, perhaps at any moment.
Secondly, he did not know what dangers the coral labyrinth was hiding. Perhaps there was something even scarier than the owner of the giant tentacle down there.
But that did not stop aeric from exploring
from the opposite side of the statue, he started climbing down while sunny was still in his thoughts and soon reached the surface of the coral labyrinth
'now now, where can i find some seaweed'
Unaware of the disappearance sunny had sent his shadow in the labyrinth, though its range was not much it was enough to look around here and there
Sunny froze, scared by the sight of what was happening in its shadow.
around a cliff not far away, the corpse of the giant shark-like creature that had briefly pursued him the previous night was laying on the ground, the pillars of coral around it shattered and broken.
More precisely, half of it was there, with grotesque innards spilling out of the terrible wound and stretching far away into the distance. The other half was gone, as though it had never existed.
Around the corpse, hundreds of smaller monsters were scurrying, tearing away and devouring its flesh bit by bit. Each of them was about two and a half meters tall, looking like a weird mix of a demonic crab, a centaur, and a nightmare.
They had four pairs of long, segmented legs that ended in scythe-like protrusions. At the front, a human-like torso was protruding from the carapace, also clad in thick chitinous armor. The head, if it was even the appropriate word, was situated directly on top of the torso, with no neck in between. It had two narrow eye slits and a viscous-looking mouth with several slimy mandibles. Instead of hands, the monsters had two enormous pincers.
Currently, they were all using those pincers to tear off chunks of meat off the desiccated corpse and stuff them into their mouths. From time to time, a fight for an especially juicy piece of meat would break out, ending up in a few monsters being torn apart and quickly devoured by the victors.
Sunny swallowed.
Both because the sight of heavily armored, powerful monsters made him nervous and because looking at them feasting, he suddenly felt very hungry.
'Each of them seems like trouble. And there are hundreds of them.'
His luck, like always, was awful.
'At least I don't have to wonder why the labyrinth feels so empty. All the inhabitants are having a party!'
"hey i found something"
Sunny waited for the reply but none came
"hey aeric!! are you listening!?"
This time too, sunny was met with silence, he returned to his normal vision and turned around, 'what the hell? where did he go?' aeric was gone, most probably out in the labyrinth alone, ' crazy bastard!' he commanded his shadow to look around but found no traces of him
sunny searched around the labyrinth until the sun was about to set, yet he found no traces of the guy, ' did he just run off?' pondering in his though sunny failed to notice the figure that had sneaked up behind him
" Im back, sunless"
Sunny shrieked and turned around quickly making distance between the the figure and him but stopped. it was aeric, now he had a pair of makeshift clothes made out of sea weed on him and also some small scratches here and there, not too severe but also not minor
"What the hell are you doing you bastard!!? you trying to scare me to death? and where were you!!"
Aeric gave sunny a small smile, his eyes looking at him but also not, his expression seemed strange to sunny. Aeric sat on the ledge of the giant statue just beside sunny and looked at the setting sun
"the sea is about to return isnt it sunless?"