No Return (Shadow Slave Fan-Fic)

Levi was expecting to first look at the place where his arrival to the Dream Realm was going to take place from above, just like it had happened at the beginning of the First Nightmare. Back then, time had magically moved in reverse, giving him an opportunity to see hints of what he was going to face.

Instead, immediately after hearing the greetings of the Spell, Levi found himself blind and drowning. He immediately noticed that he was currently under the sea. He immediately swung his arms and legs around to see if there was anything to hold onto , and luckily , his arm crashed against something that felt like dirt. He immediately pulled himself against there and swam upwards with hurried swings of his legs. 

As he got his head out the water , he immediately took a deep breath. He didn't waste any time on observing his surroundings , all he knew that it was pitch dark , there was one thing he knew about water.. the things under the water are dangerous! He didn't know if there was anything in the sea , and hell he did NOT want to know. 

He looked at the dirt he had swung his arm against , it was a small slope that was slightly higher the sea-level. Feeling exhausted and drained because of the sudden happening of everything , he immediately climbed onto the slope and slumped down onto the ground , laying on his back breathing heavily.. He was naked.. but he didn't have the strength to worry about that. 

As he stared upwards... there was no moon , no starts.. no anything.. the sky looked like the void itself. There was no signs of light.

It was dark anyways.. he was going to wait until the sun rose. He also felt a bit panicked.. Because he hadn't studied this region.. But he was certain.. he had learned all of them by heart.. which meant.. this was either a death zone or an unexplored region.

Levi let out a sigh.

"Damn you Spell.."

He used his hands as a pillow. Not thinking about much, he stared into the black sky and waited. The sound of the undulating waves was, actually, quite relaxing.

After a while, he closed his eyes and listened. Minutes merged together, growing into hours.

..Suddenly, Levi caught a slight change in the sound of the sea. It was as though something was shifting. He opened his eyes and noticed that one corner of the sky was slowly turning grey. Soon, a glimpse of a pale sun could be seen rising above the horizon.

A new day had come to the starless void.

And with it, the dark sea suddenly surged

***

The black, opaque water suddenly surged and seethed, as though a living creature desperately trying to avoid the pale light of the coming dawn. Levi slowly rose and, after some thought, carefully approached the edge of the slope.

Looking down, he blinked and then kneeled to make sure that what he saw wasn't an illusion.

The sea seemed to be receding.

Slowly at first, and then faster and faster, the water level was dropping. The slope-like thing he had been standing on seemed like a 100 meters tall. If he were ever to climb down , he would not have any hardship , or even climb up.

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 Levi could see, broken here and there by protruding cliffs, sudden chasms, and distant natural features.

Half an hour later, utterly shocked, Levi stared down and realized that the sea was completely gone. If not for the black seaweed left hanging on wet dirt and scarlet pillars of coral, he would even doubt if it was ever there.

Levi did not really want to venture down and explore.. not because of the beasts that might be around.. but because of the dark sea.. if the water could disappear , that would also mean that it could appear whenever it wanted.

But Levi didn't really have many choices. He didn't want to wait here for rescue forever , which he even doubted he would get any. Still he hoped that at least there were some people around so he wasn't completely alone. 

***

With that , Levi decided to climb down the slope. Fortunately he had been thought climbing in the Wilderness Survival classes , he thanked Teacher Julius in his heart as he descended carefully. As he had guessed , the slope was not very hard to climb down.

Soon his feet touched the ground.

The black mud was deep enough to slow him down, but not to the extent he had been afraid of. With some practice, Levi was soon able to walk at an acceptable speed. Unfortunately ever step he took made squelching noises , but luckily there was no Creatures around.. that was surprising since the Dream Realm is filled with them..

He headed into one of the random paths he chose while he was looking around from the top of the slope. He had seen a distant hill in the distance a few kilometers away and he had seen a path that 'seemed' like it was leading to there.. Of course he wasn't sure.. he was not well-versed in scouting.. it was one thing he had forgotten to focus on.. and now he was suffering the consequences. 

He headed for one of the paths that were supposed to lead him to the distant hill and entered the cool shade of the crimson labyrinth.

Immediately, a strange feeling enveloped his mind. It was as though the world beyond the labyrinth did not exist anymore, and all that was left were its twisting, dark paths.

'How depressing..'

It seemed he wouldn't be fond of red , like he was before. When he thought of red.. certain someone's eyes came to his mind.. It was Shashi of course.. Her eyes had a very deep color of red and they looked quiet enchan-

'Why am I thinking about this..?'

He immediately let go of the thought and focused on the environment that was around him. He traversed through the mud , he was traveling at a careful speed since he didn't want to make any unnecessary noises. And the dark sea.. he was kind of worried the bastard would suddenly come back.. He just hoped that it wouldn't come out during the daytime.

***

He had been walking in the direction of the distant hill for about a few hours now. He did not know how long a day lasted in this region. So he had made the decision to turn back. 

He turned back.. suddenly heard walking noises from the corner. Unfortunately.. that was his way back.. and he didn't know any other uphill that he can hide from the dark sea. So he had only one option... hope that the creature heading his way was weak.. and kill it.