When Ray came to, he looked around. Everything around was shrouded in complete darkness, nowhere in sight was any source of light. Realizing this, he used a different approach, he listened closely.
What he heard was water. Calming waves and the water crashing against something.
Then he started feeling below him, Ray crouched down and touched the ground, trying to understand a bit, about his current location.
From what he felt, it was some kind of stone, what kind was irrelevant. Feeling it mostly dry, he estimated that it was above the water surface, at least high enough that most waves wouldn't reach it.
Understanding this, he relaxed a bit again, before feeling the wind on his body. The next moment, Ray realized, he was actually stark naked.
'Guess, the mundane clothes were not transferred over. Now, I'm really glad that Anne got me the armor memory,' thinking so, he immediately reached in himself to summon his [Sentinel's Embrace].
A few seconds later, Ray stood there in a armor reminding of some kind of knight in dark steel, but even though the material seemed very tough, he was able to move around quite freely and it wasn't even that heavy. This really surprised Ray, he hadn't summoned most of his Memories in the academy, because there were just too many cameras at all times. Sure, in the rooms there were none, but he was cautious.
'But where am I here? With so much water around, could I be close to, or maybe in the region of the House of Night?' Ray tried to reason where he was. His history lesson helping him pierce together some information, resulting in some theories.
'Now the question is, is this really where I think it is, or could be somewhere entirely? No. I don't think so, most of the maps available in the archives only ever showed one big area of Water, which could be close to the amount that seems to be around me right now.'
Still missing many information, he decided to wait. They had to enter at midnight, meaning, right now would still be complete night for a few more hours. When morning came, the water should have receded a bit, and most importantly, he would be able to see something.
Figuring this out, Ray decided to wait, but because he couldn't be careful enough, he also summoned two other memories. [Guardian's Shackles] and [Stormpiercer], the area he stood on, seemed big enough to fight better with his halberd.
With them out, Ray sat down, and waited. Constantly listening to the sound of the water, and whenever possible, whatever was inside.
He remained on alert the whole night, but nothing happened. Still, without the Shackles, Ray would probably have been quite exhausted, not too badly, but still tired.
When finally the first beams of light could be seen on the horizon, something happened that Ray did not expect. Still listening to the changes in the water and the smooth waves. Now, there was something else, something that reminded him of a sink. The water receded, but it was way more than he could've imagined. It barely took a few minutes, before most of it was completely gone, and with it, the creatures living inside.
This perplexed him greatly. In no documents, or reports, that Ray had read over the month, was a phenomenon like this ever mentioned.
This at least proved one thing.
This was definitely not, the territory of the House of Night.
'But then, where could this be?'
Back at the starting line, for figuring out where he was, Ray waited till the sun was high enough, so that he could properly see his surroundings.
There were two things he immediately noticed, one being a gigantic wall crafted of stone, towering high above even his current position. The other one, a huge mass of strange red constructs were all around him. In the distance, Ray could also make out a vague shape of a giant figure, probably a statue, but he focused on the things close, the red constructs.
They reminded him of corals, but at the same time, they were different. The feeling they gave was strange to him. Ray didn't know if that was because it was in the Dream Realm, or if there was something peculiar about these things.
Ray continued scanning the eerie landscape, his sharp eyes moving over the expanse of dried seabed. The strange red coral-like structures surrounded him, stretching out like a ruined forest of twisted growths. They looked fragile, yet something about them felt unnatural. He had no idea if they were just remnants of the vanished tide or something worse.
He exhaled, gripping [Stormpiercer] tightly as he moved cautiously down the rocky slope, stepping onto the cracked seabed below. His goal was clear - reach the towering city wall in the distance. If he could make it there, perhaps he could find signs of civilization or at least a better vantage point to assess his situation.
The terrain was treacherous. The dried seabed was uneven, with deep crevices and jagged rock formations jutting out like the bones of some long-forgotten beast. Pools of water remained in some areas, their surfaces disturbingly still. Every step he took was calculated. He wasn't afraid, but he had learned long ago to never underestimate the unknown.
Then, he heard it.
A faint clicking sound, irregular but deliberate.
Ray froze. He turned his head slightly, listening. The noise was coming from his right, just beyond a cluster of the red coral growths. He shifted his stance, lowering his center of gravity, eyes narrowing as he studied the area.
Silence.
He exhaled slowly, loosening his grip on his halberd slightly - but the moment he did, something moved. A shape detached itself from the coral, a writhing, shifting mass that blended too well with its surroundings.
Then it lunged.
Ray barely had time to react as the Abyssal Stalker shot toward him with terrifying speed. He threw himself to the side as the creature's bladed forelimbs slashed through the air where he had just stood, narrowly missing his torso. Rolling onto his feet, he spun, bringing [Stormpiercer] up just as the nightmare beast landed with a sickening crunch against the stone.
Now that it was fully visible, Ray got a good look at the creature - and it was worse than he expected. Its grotesque, segmented body slithered unnaturally as it turned to face him, multiple glowing eyes locking onto his form. Its whip-like tail flicked, and its hooked claws twitched in anticipation.
Ray smirked despite himself. "Alright. Guess I don't get a peaceful first day after all."
He adjusted his stance, feeling the loose, uneven ground beneath his feet shift slightly. The Abyssal Stalker lunged again, its bladed forelimbs gleaming under the pale light. This time, he didn't bother sidestepping.
The moment the creature's claws slashed toward him, [Sentinel's Embrace] flared with a dull, eerie light. The heavy armor absorbed the impact effortlessly, the reinforced plating deflecting the blow without so much as a scratch. The Stalker recoiled slightly, clearly not expecting its attack to be rendered useless.
Ray took full advantage of its hesitation. Before it could retreat, he pushed forward. His grip on [Stormpiercer] tightened as he brought the halberd down in a brutal diagonal slash. The curved blade met resistance against the Stalker's natural armor, but Ray shifted his weight, driving the weapon deeper. The edge finally bit through, carving a long, jagged wound across the creature's torso. A thick, briny ichor spilled onto the rock, hissing as it made contact with the dry surface.
The Stalker screeched and twisted its body violently, attempting to escape, but Ray didn't give it the chance. As it tried to scuttle backward, he rotated [Stormpiercer] in his hands and lunged, thrusting the halberd forward like a spear. The weapon struck true, piercing straight through the creature's chest.
The monster convulsed, its many luminescent eyes flickering wildly. It let out one last, distorted screech before slumping to the ground, lifeless.
[You have slain an awakened monster, Abyss Stalker]
[…your existence becomes firmer]
Ray exhaled, pulling his weapon free with a sharp jerk. A few droplets of ichor clung to the blade before he flicked them away with a casual motion.
Now, for the shards.
Instead of using his halberd, Ray reached into his storage and summoned [Oblivion's Thread]. The eerie black thread manifested as a knife in his grip, its edge gleaming faintly in the dim light. He crouched beside the corpse and, with precise, practiced movements, cut into the monster's flesh. The first soul shard came free easily, smooth and faintly glowing. The second was lodged deeper within, but a few additional cuts had it extracted in no time.
He stored the shards and stood, rolling his shoulders slightly. Now that the immediate threat was gone, he turned his attention back to the landscape.
The city wall in the distance loomed over everything, an imposing, ancient structure that stretched high into the sky. The terrain leading up to it was rough - massive coral-like formations, jagged stone ridges, and remnants of what might have once been ruins. Navigating it wouldn't be easy, but he had already mapped out a rough path in his mind.
With one last glance at the dead Stalker, Ray turned and scouted a bit further. If possible he would have wanted to reach the walls today, but they were too far, if he still had to scout a path. Whatever rules governed this place, he didn't fully understand them yet. And the last thing he wanted was to find out the hard way what happened when night fell. So, for the next few hours, more or less till shortly after noon, for this Ray oriented himself with the Sun, he went around the seabed and tried to find the truly best way.
While doing so, he had to face another two examples of that weird thing that attacked him directly, when he climbed down. The Spell called them, Abyss Stalkers. As well as some other crab-like creatures. These Carapace Scavenger, were lured out of the ground by the smell of blood.
Ray had forgotten to properly clean his halberd before his scouting, luring out quite a few of them in the process.
A few hours later, he made his way back to his prior vantage point. Ray, now had a more or less firm grasp on his current situation, and if everything went as planned, he should be able to reach the wall the following day.
His return was by no means rushed, Ray estimated that he still had some time, and he was right.
The first thing he did upon his return was unsummoning all his current memories besides his [Stormpiercer], and then summon them again. This resulted in a moment of coldness for him, but also cleaned both memories up again. The armor and his shackles were full of blood before, because of the multitude of fights that day.
The fights weren't too difficult for him, the only time it became hard was when he was surrounded and attacked by three of such Carapace Scavengers. That fight took a bit out of him, but with his Aspect and the trusted Halberd, it was doable.
One of the abilities of the Halberd also showed it's worth in the fight. The enchantment [Gathering Storm] was perfect for such an scenario. He had to constantly stay in motion and in turn, swing his weapon without pause. This caused a large amount of energy to be built up in it, which then was released through the blade side.
Now safe and back, Ray couldn't help but think about one of the notifications he heard multiple times today,
[Your presence becomes firmer]
That's what it said whenever Ray killed an nightmare creature. He had a small guess to what it could lead, but wanted to make sure. Before looking though, he pulled out his Soul Shards, the ones he harvested from his hunted monsters today.
In front of him were now 13 shimmering shards. Ray had also noticed in his hunt, that somehow, not a single Dormant creature was living here, or if, then he hadn't encountered any.
He took each of the shards, and absorbed them till he was done. Afterwards, summoning his runes again. And there he concentrated on a specific part of it, his so called, Faded Core, and the corresponding Fading Fragments.
Faded Core: Dormant
Fading Fragments: 92/1000
Seeing the progress, Ray knew it was as he expected. The count would continue to increase the more nightmare creatures he killed. He had no clue of what that may bring him, but he didn't think it would be something bad, as otherwise the message from the Spell should be different.
Lamenting his bad luck, to not find anything to start a fire with, Ray had to deal with another without a proper meal. He tried some of the flesh, he harvested from the Carapace Scavengers he roasted with the Halberd's ability, but frankly it tasted horrible.
Because of this, he only ate a few slices, just so much that he could get by for the day, without being hindered by hunger.
Now, it was time to wait. Ray didn't have much more to do, and he couldn't do anything anyway. The sun was starting to set, meaning the sea would probably return soon.
He had to stay awake at night, for most of the time, so he took a quick nap. To ensure his safety, he tried something. He summoned his [Oblivion's Thread], and because of its useful enchantment, shaped it into a net, connecting it to his arm.
If anything came close, he would be directly alerted and could act immediately. Having made this preparation, Ray closed his eyes and drifted of to sleep soon after, still in his armor.