No Return (Shadow Slave Fan-Fic)

With pretty much every muscle in his body sore, Sunny walked over to the girls and fell on the ground. After catching his breath, he looked at Cassia.

"Cassie? Do you feel better?"

Several seconds later, the blind girl slowly nodded.

Levi took a seat next to Sunny , giving him a pat on the back.

"Good work." He muttered.

Sunny nodded at him with a smile and turned back his gaze to Cassie.

"Can I have some water?"

Cassie turned to him and scowled, as though confused by the question. Then, she suddenly gasped and opened her eyes wide.

"Oh! Oh, sorry. Yes, of course ... "

She summoned the limitless water bottle and offered it to Sunny. He took it with a grateful smile and greedily drank a few gulps before giving the bottle to Nephis. Eventually, it returned to Cassie.

"You drink some too."

After she did, he awkwardly patted the blind girl on the shoulder.

"Everything seems to be fine now. Uh ... did you dream of another vision? You can tell us. If you want."

Cassie hesitated for a bit before saying:

"I ... don't know. Maybe it was just a nightmare."

Sunny and Nephis exchanged glances.

'Leaving me out are you?'

Levi gave Sunny a nasty side eye , then turned to the conversation.

They doubted that what Cassie saw was a simple nightmare. After all, people usually did not dream in the Dream Realm. The blind girl, meanwhile, continued:

"I don't really remember. It's all in fragments."

Sunny carefully considered his words, not wanting to pressure Cassie too much.

"You can just tell us what you remember. Maybe we'll be able to make sense of it together."

Cassia sighed and tentatively nodded. After a long pause, she finally found the courage to speak:

"At first, I saw a ... a boundless darkness locked behind seven seals. Something vast was churning in the darkness. I felt like if I directly saw it, I would lose my mind. As I watched, terrified, the seals broke one after another, until only one remained. And then that seal broke, too."

She trembled a little.

"After that ... I don't know. It was as though my mind shattered into a thousand shards, each shard reflecting its own image. Most of them were dark and scary. Some I have already forgotten. The other..."

Cassie fell silent, remembering.

 "I saw the human castle again. Only this time, it was at night. There was a lonely star burning in the black skies, and under its light, the castle was suddenly consumed by fire, there was a woman.. standing on ground , with rivers of blood flowing down where she stood. I saw a corpse in a golden corroded armor sitting on a throne... there was a scary looking Demon standing behind the throne.. ; a woman with a bronze spear drowning in a tide of monsters; an archer trying to pierce the falling sky with his arrows."

'A demon huh..?'

The Spell usually used the word 'demon' when it came to describing him.. 

Finally, she looked up, her face full of horror.

"In the end, I saw a colossal, terrifying crimson spire. At its base, seven severed heads were guarding seven locks. And at the top, a ... a dying angel was being consumed by hungry shadows. When I saw the angel bleed, I suddenly felt as though ... as though something so precious that it can't be described with words was taken from me."

Her voice became quieter.

"Then, I felt so much sorrow, pain and rage that what little remained of my sanity seemed to disappear. That was when I woke up ... I think."

'Shadows..'

His mind drifted to Sunny , after all Sunny had an affinity to shadows.. He didn't look at him , not wanting to give away any information that he understood some things.. and he did not want to give away he did.

He stared at the ground.. as if lost in thought.

Finally, he sighed.

"Maybe it actually was just a nightmare. Your previous visions weren't like this, right?"

Cassie silently shook her head.

Sunny scratched the back of his head.

"Well ... people don't usually dream in the Dream Realm, but you do. Perhaps seeing a random nightmare once in a while is a side effect of your ability."

The blind girl turned to him, a faint relief written on her face.

"You really think so?"

He hesitated, trying to find the right words.

"Why not? It's a possibility."

Levi looked at Sunny and Sunny stared back at him..

Levi cleared his throat awkwardly and looked away.

With that they welcomed a new day.

***

Some time later, they were sitting on the western edge of the stone platform, looking at the scavengers below , Levi was standing behind Nephis and Sunny with his arms crossed. It also seemed that Nephis was wearing the clothes he had made for her now. Sunny's shadow was busy scouting a path to the next high landmark.

"Were there always that many?"

Sunny glanced at Nephis and shook his head.

"No, there were much more. They seem to be almost done with the carcass. I doubt it will last until nightfall."

Which meant that, by tomorrow, all these beasts would be roaming the labyrinth, making it hard for the three Sleepers to make any progress. It would be best to leave today and put some distance between themselves and the horde before the scavengers were done with their feast.

However, without scouting a path in advance, there was a chance of not making it to safety in time. Both options were risky.

Nephis frowned, seemingly thinking the same.

After a while, she said:

"I don't want Cassie to spend another night near this statue. Let's leave now."

Levi was about to say that he agreed , but a sudden commotion below prevented him from speaking.

Down at the bottom of the disappearing sea, amidst mounds of broken coral, the carcass of the giant shark-like monster - the remaining half of it, to be precise - was almost stripped of meat. And between its white bones, something was shimmering in the mud.

Two extremely large, luminescent crystals.

Sunny's eyes widened.

"Are those ... "

"Yes. Shards of two transcendent soul cores."

Levi looked at the shards with a surprised expression on his face. Those were extremely rare.. 

"Should we ... "

"Wait and listen."

Sunny stared at Nephis and then obediently listened to the distant, barely audible clamor of the scavengers.

Levi smiled a bit at Sunny's obedience towards Nephis.. 

After a while, they noticed some disharmony in the clamor of scavengers.

Nephis suddenly tensed up.

"There."

"There."

She pointed in the direction of the labyrinth. After concentrating on it, Sunny was finally able to notice two massive shadows stepping out of a particularly wide passage.

A second later, the creatures casting those shadows appeared in sight. Levi heard Sunny gulp. Levi himself had a calm expression..

The monsters looked like the scavengers, but not quite. To start with, they were much larger, towering above the surroundings at more than three meters of height. Their carapace seemed to be thicker. It was colored in deep black and scarlet, like an ancient armor drenched in blood. Here and there, vicious-looking spikes were growing out of the carapace, making their every move much more dangerous.

Additionally, instead of heavy pincers, their upper arms ended with long, curved, terrifying bone scythes.

"What the hell are those things..?" Sunny spoke up.

'Most likely monsters..' Levi thought..

Nephis tilted her head.

"Monsters, I guess."

Nightmare Creatures with one soul core were called "beasts". They were dangerous and strong, but mindless. If they were able to develop or were created with a second core, they became "monsters". Monsters were much more devastating and possessed some rudimentary, warped form of intelligence. They were the next step in a Nightmare Beast's evolution.

Sunny and Nephis watched as the two monsters approached the carcass. The scavengers were visibly afraid of them, rushing to get out of the way. Those who were two slow were mercilessly thrown to the side or cut apart by the bone scythes. Rivers of azure blood were flowing into the mud.

Finally, the monsters reached the carcass. Each of them took one of the shards. However, instead of absorbing them, they simply turned around and carried the precious crystals away. The scavengers made way, following the shards with their little, hungry eyes.

Sunny blinked and looked at Nephis.

"Do we still leave now?"

Changing Star frowned and hesitated. A few moments later, she shook her head.

"No. We'll go tomorrow."

"Good decision." Levi replied to her.

Then, she turned west and observed the retreating monsters.

"...Get your shadow to follow these two back."