Shadow Slave alternate paths: The sun of song

Sunny half hoped he would get a bird's eye view like he did in the first Nightmare.

Instead, as soon as the Spell finished speaking, all he heard was:

Fwooosh!

Sunny found himself blind, drowning, cold and naked.

He couldn't even see through the darkness, even though he had the [Child of Shadows].

Half expecting this, Sunny didn't panic. He blew some bubbles and felt which direction they were going.

A trick that Professor Julius taught him.

He followed them toward the surface.

His head broke through the surface of the water. Sunny was finally able to draw in a deep breath.

Wasting no time, he composed himself and scanned his surroundings.

No land.

And no ships.

He definitely wasn't in the Storm Sea. There was no endless storm; neither was there an outline of the Night Garden, the giant boat citadel that was visible from nearly anywhere in the Storm Sea.

Not to mention, this place... had no stars, no moon, and not even a visible source of light.

He was in the middle of the ocean in an unexplored area of the Dream Realm.

As he was gripped by a momentary panic, a remote sound suddenly drew his attention. Sunny turned around and saw a triangular dorsal fin moving in his direction. Luckily, it was still hundreds and hundreds of meters away.

'Wait… if it's so far away… then how come I can see it so clearly?'

And it was getting bigger by the second...

He looked around in a panic, looking for anything at all he could climb up on to save him.

And there, a short distance away, he finally noticed a black mass protruding slightly above the water.

Ordering his shadow to wrap around him, he sent himself into a desperate freestyle swim, swinging his legs and arms with all his might.

However, no matter how fast he swam, the giant shadow of the unknown creature was closing the distance between them much faster.

Sunny reached the black mass, stretched out his hands, and pulled himself out of the water. He stared at the colossus that was rapidly approaching.

He had maybe 10 seconds until it reached him.

Summoning his Memories and his Echo, he prepared himself for the confrontation that was to come.

The whole surface underneath him shuddered, as though something massive had collided with it.

Massive jaws appeared from the water, with rows and rows of giant teeth, each one as long as he was tall. He opened his eyes wide, understanding that he had no chance against the creature and that the rock platform was too small to protect him.

'Ah, there's just no way... all that work just to die like this?'

However, before the monster had a chance to attack, a colossal tentacle suddenly broke through the water, towering over everything like a skyscraper.

It wrapped around the owner of the terrifying jaws and dragged it down, the creature thrashing desperately as it was pulled below the waves.

Sunny lost the feeling in his legs and plopped on the ground, his mouth opened. His whole body was shaking.

Seconds later, the water was still and calm, like nothing ever happened.

'It wasn't trying to eat me,' Sunny realized. 'It was trying to run.'

After taking a few minutes to compose himself, he began to explore his surroundings.

He was on a circular stone platform, maybe 12 feet in diameter, mostly dry and looked... man-made?

Well, it was better to think it was, as opposed to...

Yeah, better not finish that thought.

It wasn't connected to anything else, like a dot in an endless expanse of darkness.

For now, he couldn't do anything except sit, wait, and find out more about his surroundings.

***

After spending two days on this godforsaken platform, he could deduce many things and plan his next steps.

The Dark Sea, or so he calls it, only appears at night and disappears by day. It can and will crush anything that is not somewhere safe by nightfall.

Storms do happen here; they are quite violent and happen at random intervals, and they provide good drinking water.

He had to move this morning, while the monstrous crabs were still busy feasting on that colossus from the first day—or whatever remained of it—so he didn't slowly die from thirst or hunger.

Lastly, those things were most likely all Awakened beasts. They were too numerous to be Fallen and too stupid to be Demons or stronger, so that means he could probably take on one or two with the help of his Echo.

His destination? The light he saw two nights before. He had hope that it could be fellow Sleepers, or at least a source of fire.

It was morning. His muscles were still sore from last night's storm.

But there was no time to waste.

As soon as the monsters came back to the carcass, with a few stragglers quickly following behind, he slid over the edge of the platform and began to nimbly climb down.

Sunny silently gave thanks to Silent Stalker and Professor Julius, both of whom insisted on teaching him all forms of traversal. Additionally, Sunny had already scouted the optimal way down and memorized the best holds and indentations to grab onto with the help of his shadow.

Soon, his feet finally touched the ground.

Despite the fact that leaving the safety of the headless statue was going to put him in considerable danger, Sunny instantly felt his mood improving. Remaining passive for the last couple of days did not suit his character well. Now, even if his plan were to end in failure, at least he was going to go down doing something that he had decided to do.

Trying and failing was better than not trying at all.

The ground was muddy; it didn't slow him down as much as he thought. He could move with acceptable speed, but he had a better idea.

Summoning his Echo, he climbed on top of it and ordered it to move.

Surprisingly, it could move quite well in the mud, more akin to a snake. Sunny had asked Eubin several questions about it and found that it originally came from a swamp-like environment.

It did make some sound as it moved, but not enough to attract attention.

So, sending his shadow as a scout and riding the Drownscale as a mount, he advanced toward the hill.

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.

'This thing almost seems endless.'

His life now depended on whether or not he would reach the distant hill before the sun began to set.

Despite everything going smoothly, he didn't allow himself to drop his guard. It was the one point that Silent stressed over and over again.

'If you allow yourself to lose focus in the Dream Realm, you might as well dig a grave.'

So, that's why he easily noticed something wrong with the ground ahead through his shadow. There was a very vague circular outline in the mud.

But it wasn't an unfamiliar one.

It was the same shape that the crabs had when they dug into the ground to escape the incoming Dark Sea.

'Bastard, why aren't you with the rest of your brethren eating that damn corpse?'

He dismounted off the Echo and hid into the shadows.

Circling around the outline, he ordered the Echo to attack.

The Drownscale let out a low hiss as it slithered toward the edge of the shallow pit, its heavy bulk surprisingly agile, tail swaying behind it with silent menace.

Sunny crouched low in the shadows of coral, waiting.

There was a beat of silence.

Then the earth exploded.

A monstrous crab-centaur thing burst from beneath the ground, sending mud and debris flying in all directions. It rose on jagged legs, its massive claws snapping toward the Drownscale with terrifying speed.

The creature itself was worse for wear, only having half of its legs intact and several visible cracks along its carapace.

It had been clearly hoping for easy prey.

Its claws clamped around the Echo's side around the same time it slammed its body into the crab's side.

Sunny smiled while remembering the Echo's description.

[Dwelling in shadows unknown, its corrosive touch whispered in fear—By the time you see it, it would be already too late.]

Sure enough, the claw that had grabbed the Echo's side was slowly corroding under the touch of the Echo's scales.

Sunny jumped from the shadows, and using the leverage of the coral, he landed on top of the creature.

He raised [Burrower's Claw] and began hurriedly looking for any hint of a possible weak point.

It didn't take long to find it—a slightly concave, discolored cavity in its armor.

The creature tried to reach him, but with one claw semi-corroded and the other now firmly in the grasp of his Echo's mouth, it could do nothing but struggle as it helplessly felt something dig into the back of its head.

And then...

The creature collapsed instantly as soon as he managed to pierce the chitin.

[You have slain an Awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[You have received a Memory: Azure Blade.]

[…Your shadow grows stronger.]

***

A/N

Day 3 of the tomato chapter-thon!

And so it begins...The forgotten shore...

Will I drop it midway like so many authors?

No, i dont think so.

All of you lovely people once again destroyed the last goal

But nothing has changed since last time, i am shameless.

Goal: 75 Power stones and 10 opinions on this chapter (read below what i mean)

As you guys have seen, i glossed over some parts.

would you rather i gloss over the UNIMPORTANT parts? (I will not gloss over things like character interaction, i glossed over sunny's two days on the platform and just summerized his discoveries)

Or would you rather than I write it down with more detail? (Like you would rather have those two days)