Nearly an hour passed by in a heartbeat, and Day, more than ever before, could see the hill bearing the castle they were journeying in an attempt to reach. The scene was reminiscent of his first Nightmare in a very striking way. He was weaving through what felt like a maze while frequently looking up to see how close they were to their obvious destination.
This time, however, it wasn't pitch black dark, Day wasn't going to be climbing… and there wasn't a looming threat trying to kill them, that he knew of. All of those were good things, and subsequently, Day would have probably been willing to say this situation was better…
If the first creature he fought wasn't an Awakened Monster.
'How dangerous is this section of the Dream Realm…?'
To be in a never before charted portion, where not even a Legacy seemed to have even an ounce of the necessary information needed to brave it effectively… It was rather scary, and that wasn't even mentioning that the first creature they saw was one only two classes under the one that had brutalized him without a hitch in his first Nightmare. Sure, the creature they fought obtained the short end of the stick in multiple ways, and didn't have any abilities, but Day had a sinking feeling that this Monster was only one of the many possibly stronger creatures they were going to encounter– which wasn't a good thing at all.
Day was willing to happily acknowledge that there was a colossal difference between the mundane Day and the Sleeper Day that was nearly insurmountable and completely, utterly unbelievable, but still, it wasn't going to be possible for Day to best anything of a higher rank, even with Caster's help.
The nature of their situation had many proposable possibilities– and many of them would likely result in certain doom if they were true.
It seemed, however, that they didn't need to worry about those issues just yet. Maybe the castle, if it had people, would grace them with the exit.
'It could be useless, but yeah, uh… I need to stay optimistic.'
"..."
Finally, after a grueling journey that was infinitely longer and more tumultuous than it should have been, they arrived at the hill they had been chasing after since the moment they met up.
As they expected, there was no way up for the both of them from where they stood. After his less than extensive testing, Day realized that he could quite possibly climb up by using his claws of light, but the truth was: he was far too battered at this point for that possibility to come to fruition. And that wasn't even mentioning the fact that he wasn't willing to leave his companion behind in any capacity and journey into not yet charted territory that they couldn't gauge the danger of effectively.
So it was time to make a decision.
"Caster, should we go left, or right? I'm leaving it up to you."
From where Day stood, it did look like the back of the Castle was right up there, but there was no guarantee that the way up the hill was on the opposite side. That could be anywhere, and the actual entrance itself could be anywhere up on the hill, there was no way to know.
"You said you didn't have a good view of either side, right?"
Day nodded.
"Yep, that's what I said."
Unfortunate as it was, it was true. Day was not able to pierce much of the darkness with his eyes, and could only vaguely see straight down enough to notice that building that stood out among the rest in structure. Of course, he was also able to see the colossal castle and the hill it was on, but Day didn't think Caster would have any inclination to distrust what he saw based on the fact that he could see the thing that stood out the most in the entire city.
"Right then," Caster said calmly, "I guess it's unnecessary to ponder. I say we just go right."
Day giggled.
"Because right is always right, right?"
Caster frowned deeply.
"What are you even saying anymore?"
"Tch… Caster, you have no sense of humor."
"Honestly, friend– If I had to choose between having your sense of humor or having none, I would rather-"
Day flushed his voice out completely, looked around wearily, and then interrupted him unknowingly by saying:
"Hey, umm… I didn't want to do this, but can you give me like, say, thirty seconds? I obtained a Memory, and I want to check it out before we depart. I'll be quick."
Caster nodded, seeming unperturbed by Day's interruption, "Go ahead."
"Thanks. I'll make it quick."
"You said that already, Day."
Day rolled his eyes, took a step closer to the hill, placed his palm against the rocky wall so he could rest his body, and then took a deep breath.
His runes shimmered into existence, and he focused on the section with his new weapon, the Blade of Black Chitin.
Then, a new set of runes for his weapon appeared.
Memory: [Blade of Black Chitin]
Memory Rank: [Awakened]
Memory Type: [Weapon]
Memory Description: [On this Forgotten Shore, only the mighty survive, but even the most powerful of these aren't guaranteed the right of life. The now Lost Queen was one such creature, and behind her she left a handful of her many children– soldiers, that were nothing without their queen, but unfortunate enough to have been disgraced with a ruler that wasn't capable of bearing the weight of what lay within the cities walls after its cursed civilization crumbed.]
'Forgotten Shore… is that the name of this place?'
Day ran his eyes down to the bottom of the description and squinted.
'So this city once had a civilization… What happened to it? Why was it cursed? There's so many questions… I'm shocked. I can't believe a single weapon's runes are giving me this much information about where I am.'
Day continued down, and eventually his gaze focused on the weapon's one singular enchantment.
Enchantments: [Instinct]
Enchantment Description: [No matter what they did, no matter how they fought, the soldiers' efforts were all in vain. Unable to evolve after the loss of their queen, they had no choice but to fight conservatively and prevent their feeble minds from falling apart by dashing where their instincts told them. The wielder of this sword has medium protection against mental attacks, but when they fight, the mind will slowly empty as they bend to their instincts.]
'It's still all so obscure…'
Day sighed.
'Well, on the bright side, getting a weapon that gives me mental protection is nice, even if it's sort of weird for a weapon to do that… I just need to be careful, falling to my instincts… whatever that may mean, in a dangerous, uncharted section of the Dream Realm could lead to my demise quickly. I wonder if there's any way to fight it? I might need to consider continuing to learn how to conjure weapons in case the downside of the enchantment is too much for me to handle in dire battles.'
With that, Day summoned the weapon in a whirlwind of white sparks that slowly merged and formed into something pitch black. The weapon itself was beautiful. It was rather rugged and there were very small chips long broken off from the edges, but it was still glimmering under the light, like the blade was coated in a thin layer of glaze.
The grip was nearly perfect, and the weight was the same. For a moment, Day almost considered swinging it around to test out what he had learned at the Academy, but he didn't. His body was too messed up. Still, he kept the sword out. It felt reassuring to have a weapon in hand.
Caster studied Day's new weapon intently from the side. He seemed, more than before, intrigued by it.
Just as Day was about to begin speculating why Caster had a change of heart, he said:
"I find it quite surprising that the first creature that I met in the Dream Realm produced a Memory. I didn't even kill it, yet it feels oddly… liberating. To see the Memory of a creature so much more powerful than me right in your hands. Is it terrible to say that it gives me hope? "
Day chuckled.
"Very profound words. I can't say I disagree with the hope part, honestly.The truth is, I'm more surprised that I don't feel overjoyed."
Caster shrugged, "If I were in the state you currently are, I probably wouldn't feel very happy about anything either."
"Who's to say I'm not happy about anything? I'm happy about… Uh…" Day stopped for a moment, and then scoffed.
"Fair enough. Admittedly, I am in a bit of a sour mood."
There were a few moments of pause, and then Caster spoke.
"Now that I think about it… despite your state, your mood isn't 'sour' enough for you to hold back your terrible jokes?"
Day smirked.
"You caught me. Nope, I'm not even close."
Caster put his hands over his eyes, sighed, and then changed the topic.
"I give up. We should get going. I say you lead, just like before."
"Fine by me. Just remember, I'm not going to be very fast…"
Caster raised an eyebrow.
"I'm getting deja vu. Didn't you say this already? Remind me, Day, what did I say before?"
"Okay, I get it, I'll stop…"
With that, the duo went silent and continued their journey.