Chapter 9: SS AU - Chapter 3 - Under the Hollow Mountains
*Sunny POV
[You have slain a…]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
I had made my way back to the mouth of the tunnel in the Hollow Mountains where Neph and the rest of us had found the first expedition. I stared at it glumly not wanting to enter, but knowing I was running out of time. The mist was descending, and death waited for those who touched the mist. I glanced at both of my shadows who both shook their heads in agreement. They didn't want to enter any more than I did. I sighed and gripped my new sword, Doomed Falls. It had come from one of my latest kills, a Nightmare Creature called the Doomed Eaglet. I made it inside the tunnel just as the mist obscured the mouth completely.
"Come one, you two. Let's go," I called to my shadows. 'Great now I'm talking to them. Out loud. 'Damnation.'
I summoned my luminous Memory and shivered as I walked further down the tunnel. This place did not hold any fond memories for me. The last time I had been here it had been with Neph and the others as part of but also not quite part of her cohort. At first, I followed the original path, but at some point, my intuition was screaming at me that I needed to diverge from that path. I was still following a path that led me deeper underground and deeper into the darkness, but the path that I was on felt right. I couldn't explain it, but then my [Fated] Attribute was a fickle thing indeed. I came to an unground river. It didn't quite feel like the same river, but I decided to make my camp and check my runes before continuing any further.
Name: Sunless.
True Name: Lost from Light.
Rank: Dreamer.
Class: Monster.
Shadow Cores: [2/7].
Shadow Fragments: [1538/2000].
'Huh. I've worked hard to get where I am since I left the Dark city,' I thought seeing the number of shadow fragments I had collected. But of course, the journey to get back to the Hollow Mountains hadn't been easy either. I made a fire as I contemplated my next move and dismissed my runes. I didn't want to think about the Shadow Bond and Nephis. That was a dangerous road. I could feel what little sanity I had slipping even further and being reminded of Nephis and the others would only make things worse. I used my roll of monster hide that I had made to make my bed and curled up to sleep. Saint, Serpent, and both shadows would guard me if anything got too close.
I woke with a start. Something wasn't right. I glanced at my shadows, but neither of them had alerted to anything wrong, and neither of my Shadows were on guard either. Yet, the air felt heavy and wrong. I dismissed the Memory that could produce light since my fire had long gone out and sat in utter silence. Listening. Waiting. Then I heard it. The gentle lap of something in the water. Every instinct in my body screamed at me to remain absolutely still. I heard the Thing crawl out of the water and willed my heart to slow and held my breath. I gave a silent command to both of my Shadows to not attack. I knew that I was no match for whatever was prowling around my makeshift camp. I held my eyes tightly shut, not even daring to extend my shadow sense.
It felt like hours but was probably closer to a few minutes before whatever it was shuffled back to the water. I slowly let out the breath that I had been holding and wiped the cold sweat that had formed from my brow. I decided to break camp. I was NOT going to stay where I was for any longer. Not daring to summon my light Memory, I carefully extended my shadow sense to get my bearings to figure out which direction I needed to head in. I found the right one, and as noiselessly as possible, began the next leg of my journey.
"Damnation!" I exclaimed. I had come to a point where I was now forced to enter the river. "No way in hell am I actually getting in that water."
I sat my pack down on the narrow embankment and began scrounging to see if I could find something to build a raft with. Bones littered the ground in abundant supply so I started by gathering the biggest of them and laying them down in neat rows. I was thankful that I had scrounged lots of seaweed before leaving the dying labyrinth because I could use that to tie the largest of the pieces of bones together. It took me several hours before I had what I could consider a water-worthy craft. It wasn't as sturdy as the boat Nephis had built to escape the Soul Devouring Tree, but it would have to do. I wrapped both shadows around me and pushed the clunky monstrosity into the water. It was an ugly thing, to be sure, but it floated.
[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Vicious Salamander Toad.]
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
[You have received a Memory.]
I breathed a sigh of relief. That had been a nasty fight and although Blood Weave made it incredibly hard for me to bleed out, it didn't mean that the cuts I received didn't hurt. But at least I received a Memory out of the fight. It was about time. It had been a while since I had last received a decent Memory. My raft continued to float with the current, so I checked the runes for my newest memory.
Memory: [Vicious Tongue].
Memory Rank: Ascended.
Memory Type: Weapon.
Memory Description: [The salamander toad uses it tongue as both a means to both pierce and poison its targets.]
'Huh', I thought. I summoned the weapon Memory to see a long dagger. It had a dark, red hue running along the blade, and I could feel the danger oozing off the blade. This would be useful on the raft. Using the Midnight Shard had gotten awkward because it was so unstable. But this shorter blade would allow me to keeps my movements to a minimum while also being to both stab and poison any monsters trying to attack me.
I had run out of food some time ago, and down here in the dark, my lantern did little to drive away the true elemental darkness. I let the raft continue to carry me. Sometimes, I saw lights swirling in the water, but when that happened, I would quickly dismiss my Memory and lay as still as I could on my raft hoping that whatever was in the water wouldn't notice me. I dreamt that Nephis was standing next to me calling me a 'Noble Cockroach', and I found myself smiling. I was drifting away, in more than one sense.
I jolted awake. The raft had come to a stop against an embankment. I let my shadow sense flow out. Not sensing any danger, I summoned my lantern and stepped off the raft. I thought about it for a moment, and then had Saint destroy it. I watched as the bones sank into the water and turned. There was only one way forward. I felt my skin crawl. The elemental darkness felt thicker in this part of the tunnel. I was beginning to really hate tunnels.
'What. The. Hell.' The tunnel had opened into spacious and open area. There seemed to be some kind of soft glow coming from the walls. But otherwise everything was made from a dark obsidian stone. In front of stood what looked like a…It was a bloody damned castle. A whole ass castle. I wanted to nope right out of there. I wanted to turn around, but I was frozen. I glanced over at my Shadows, and I swear to the dead gods, I saw Saint almost smile. But there was something more on her stoic face. Something like reverence. It was almost as if she knew this place.
I slowly made my up to the obsidian steps. The material was like I had ever seen before, but a niggling thought invaded my mind. I had seen something like this material before, or at least, something close to it…Weaver's Mask. It was eerily similar to the material of the castle. The steps were smooth and well worn. They were also huge. They were, by far, the largest thing I had ever seen. It was almost as if they hadn't been made for humans. As if they had been made by something for something.
"Nether," the word slipped out unbidden, unprompted, uncontrolled. Saint turned to me and nodded. My eyes widened in shock. This was Nether's stronghold. Oh dear and holy dead gods! Or should I say Demons. Or rather Daemons. My brain shut down. I could feel myself spluttering, like my brain had finally stopped working or the madness that had been threatening since my days alone in the Dark City had finally and completely taken over. I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Saint had laid her hand on my shoulder in an uncommon display of comfort and solidarity. I felt my mind still and calm itself. It was like her presence was a balm to my disturbed mind. I took a deep breath and resumed climbing the very big steps.
The door to the castle opened, almost as if they were expecting me. That thought sent shivers down my spine, but it didn't stop me from entering. The moment I crossed the threshold a bunch of lanterns with a ghostly blue flame lit up. They reminded me of the torches that had been outside of the door where I had found Weaver's Mask. And just like that time, I ordered my shadows to avoid the flames. I did my best to not walk into their light. I had had enough soul damage, and I wasn't keen to experience any more if it could be helped.
My stomach growled in the deafening silence reminding yet again that it had been sometime since I had last eaten. I stumbled as my vision began swimming. And then I was attacked. But of course, I was. I barely had enough time to swing my sword and block the attack. Saint swung into action next to me, and Serpent coiled around the monster. The three of us attacked in near synchronicity, but the fog in my head was making me slower than usual. Fortunately, Saint was able to make up for my addled brain. It took us far longer than it should have otherwise, but we were able to kill the damn thing. Saint bore a few fine cracks in her armor, but none of them seemed life threatening, and Serpent was missing a few scales. I looked at the monster as thought I just been given a gift from the dead gods. Meat on a platter. I quickly dressed the monster, made a small, normal fire, and ate as slow as I could. I knew not to eat too fast otherwise that would lead to whole new set of problems. I was dead tired. I could barely keep my eyes open. I figured that I could use some rest. I gave Saint and Serpent the command to guard me and gave both my shadows to guard me but also to keep close. I didn't want them going anywhere close to those creepy blue torches. I think I was out before I could fully stretch out. I didn't even bother to unpack my hides. I would leave exploring the rest of the castle for another day.
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