Roots

Sunny climbed up the jagged coral. If it wasn't for the sharp claws he had, his hands would have been torn to shreds.

Luckily for him, even if they were, he could always get new hands.

When he arrived at the top of the coral forest, the landscape was more harrowing than he remembered it.

It was almost completely devoid of nightmare creatures, but what he failed to notice before in their previous journey was that the coral had roots.

Although they couldn't really be called roots, the dried husks of nightmare creatures were trapped underneath them.

So that meant the corals had sucked every drop of blood and moisture from anything which got stuck in their labyrinth. That explained the dark red color at least...

As he went back to observing the place, the thing he was desperately looking for stood there, only a stump left with a strange object resting on top of it.

What he was looking for was the soul-devouring tree. His plan to find Cassie was pretty simple: retrace all of their steps until he got to the spire.

And then guess where she would have gone. A pretty solid plan if you asked him.

With all that said, his mind was hyper-focused on whatever was on that stump.

It looked to be an egg. He didn't know nightmare creatures laid eggs. He supposed they had to build their numbers in some way, but this was the first time he had ever seen something like it.

After mapping out a mental path to walk, he slid down one of the corals and began to head that way. For some reason, an odd premonition overtook his body.

When he got there, that feeling only grew. The egg was much bigger than he thought it was. In fact, it was bigger than him.

If the egg was this big, then how big was its mother? That thought was what truly made him nervous.

Before he investigated it further, he observed the surroundings. Practically all of the land was scorched, the blood, guts, and bodies from the gruesome battle that took place there burned into the ground as well.

Looking back on it, the things they did truly didn't make any sense.

But what about them made sense in general?

A deep pang settled in his chest. He missed them.

It was a sappy feeling that was embarrassing to realize, but it was the truth. He missed them, and that's why he couldn't waste any more time.

Walking back over to the egg, he stuck his hand out toward it before beginning to let his essence flow.

"I never got a chance to see what becoming an Awakened did for me. I think now is the perfect time to check, wouldn't you agree?"

He stood still for a while.

Did he really just talk to himself? He was never truly all there, but that was a different level.

It wasn't the first time it had happened, though, so he shouldn't have been shocked.

Activating his awakened ability on the egg, he felt something change inside of him. No physical change happened, but one much deeper and more profound did.

And once it finally settled, he screamed.

Everything all at once began to flow into his mind. Things the egg had witnessed, things it had heard, and the lineage that it held. All at once, these things bore themselves into him, burning and engraving into his very mind and soul.

And then, he heard a crack.

His soul core was cracking, unable to withstand the burden of everything.

He looked at the stump of the dead tree before putting his hand on it. Using every last bit of his essence, he called out to something, to anything.

No response came.

That was until he felt it.

Under the very dead roots, a lone dying seed answered his call. He didn't know what exactly its effects would be on him. He didn't know if it would even work.

But the result was the same if it didn't work and he didn't use it: he would die.

So, using the last bit of mental strength he had, he activated his awakened ability once more, pulling the very being itself into him.

A rumbling echoed deep in his soul, but the cracking stopped.

Instead, something bloomed in his very soul core, its roots filling up the cracks, turning it from a jade-white pearl to a myriad of colors.

Black, pink, red, orange, purple. They all glistened from it at different angles.

It was as if beings were waging a war over who got to claim his soul, but his soul didn't belong to him alone.

There was an unencompassable duty he had sworn to fulfill, and until it was done, he couldn't allow himself to be taken like this.

And so he did something he wasn't sure was possible, something that posed possibly more risk than letting the beings consume his soul.

He activated his ability on his very soul core.

---

Cassie found herself in some sort of cave, a cave made out of bones, but a cave nonetheless.

It was truly terrifying how big nightmare creatures could get. What terrified her even more, though, was that something had killed this thing.

And judging by how intact its body was for the bones to be suitable for shelter, whatever had killed it hadn't dragged out the fight.

She sighed before dismissing Weaver's Mask, summoning it back shortly after. She just needed to get some fresh air on her face.

Even with the quiet surroundings, she couldn't relax at all, so in order to ease her nerves, she pulled up Sunny's runes.

But... they wouldn't come up? She felt the connection, but the spell simply wouldn't show them to her.

A panic began to settle deep down in her heart. She tried everything. She called out to the spell, used her essence, and despite the risks, she even went into her soul sea to check.

But no response came.

Eventually, though, something popped up.

Name: Sunless.

True Name: - Lost From Light

Rank: ???, Master

Memories: [Knight's Sword], [Graveyard Skull], [Ordinary Rock], ...

Soul Core: ???, Ascended

Attributes: [Fated], [Mark of Divinity], [Poacher]

Aspect: [Pearl Diver]

Flaw: [Three-Eyed], [Clear Consciousness]

[Aspect Name: Pearl Diver.]

Aspect: [Pearl Diver]

Aspect Rank: Divine

Aspect Description: [What is happiness to you? Well, for me...]

Innate Ability: [Bonded]

Master: [Cassia]

All around the runes were things the spell couldn't list out.

But she knew something.

He was alive.

That caused a deep sigh of relief to spread through her.

Though she knew it might put her in danger, and she knew the anguish it might put her through, she needed to use anything in her toolkit to see if she could figure out what was going on with his current state.

And so, activating the [Where Is My Eye?] enchantment on Weaver's Mask, she saw a string of fate shoot out from her heart, intertwining with another string.

Blood gushed out of her mouth, nose, and eyes, but she refused to dismiss it despite her soul creaking in pain.

And then she saw something that finally made her dismiss it.

Currently, Sunny was located back in the Dream Realm.

Most importantly, he was located back in the Forgotten Shore.