I yawned as my opened eyes met the gray sky. Gray sky, no sun. I felt elevated that the guaranteed walk today wouldn't have the sun baking us alive.
I made a note of the fact that the others had let me sleep the entire night without waking me up to take a shift. It was likely because of the low stamina I displayed the day before, caused by my flaw, but their generosity made me feel frustrated. In my eyes, I was so useless that I couldn't even be tasked with being a lookout at night.
I got up on my elbows and stretched my neck, straining to see my surroundings. To my left, Ford and Eternity were standing and talking to each other with a serious expression, pointing at certain places in the distance. The only thing I could see no matter where they pointed was gray sky, protruding hairs of grass, and mud underneath. I sighed, knowing that their navigational aptitude and education were higher than mine; navigation was something best left for the experienced.
Speaking of experience, I sat up to try to find the last member of our group.
Lorelei was to my right sitting with long blades of grass, each the length of her forearms, knotting them together into a criss-crossing pattern. Her gaze was set on her hands which were flying about the grass knots with mesmerizing speed and efficiency. Like I expected, The Sleeper from a legacy clan was well-versed with being in the wild. Next to her, a pile of pink flesh from the frog we killed yesterday sat limp.
I wondered whether this was Lorelei's first time in the dream realm. Saints had the ability to bring others to the dream realm, and there were only a few dozen of them. So depending on which clan Lorelei came from—she could've been more important than I first imagined.
Lorelei notices my stare and looks up at me. The Legacy girl was still breathtaking, especially from this close of a distance, but I could tell spending time in the Great Plateau had taken an effect on her. A tired expression, hazy eyes, and dry and wet mud coating every part of her. I imagined if I put a mirror up to my face, I'd likely look similar to her current state. Loreli seemed to deem my silence as a question to what she was doing, she explained, "I'm making a bag for the meat."
"Ah, ok." I said, my gaze still stuck on the grass knots, "What about the soul shards?" I remember getting two soul shards from the frog, and I remember it exactly because I was told by Eternity to harvest them. I complied because I deemed it to be fair.
"…I've already absorbed them." Lorelei said after a silence. She went back to staring at her work.
…Absorbed? Did she just hoard all of the soul shards to herself?
Sure, Lorelai did deal the finishing blow to the frog nightmare creature from yesterday but that was a collective effort from her and Ford. Awakened from legacy clans were known to be selfish, but for some reason Lorelei never showed that trait—until now. I suppose the dream realm made people display parts of themselves which they generally hide, similarly my rising anger made me get and leave Lorelei to her own devices.
I understood if she didn't give it to me or Eternity, we weren't the fighting force of the group. Ford, on the other hand, definitely deserved it. Maybe it was because of the heat, my exhaustion, or the very real chance of death, but I never truly felt this angry at a person before.
***
The following hours consisted of more hellish walking. The clouds had parted like gray curtains, unveiling the midday sun overhead. The return of the damned heat caused a fog to form in my mind, clouding my feelings. I couldn't think straight, walk straight, or even breathe straight. Breathing felt suffocating--the air that was supposed to keep us alive was hurting me.
Ironic.
Currently, I was depleting [Energy] humor, the humor which affected my ability to move my body—and with it decreasing by every hour, I felt the trek became that much more painful. The walk was already difficult enough without me needing to watch every step so I didn't fall over.
I almost felt tempted to lower the [Mind] humor instead which would dull my senses, at least then I wouldn't be aware of the exhaustion and pain, but the other group members were even more tired than I was, not having had a full night's sleep like me. Despite my pathetic state, I was actually the most observant among everyone present, which unspokenly meant I was the one who was supposed to warn when danger made an appearance.
There were a number of nightmare creatures that came upon our path, all of them dormant rank and either a beast or monster, but we actually killed very few. I could probably count the number of nightmare creatures we killed on one hand. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely a feat for new sleepers to kill multiple nightmare creatures, but it was a hindrance for our current situation. Fighting meant we lost more stamina, and the more we fought while exhausted, the higher the chance we would be killed. Thus, we avoided the nightmare creatures, often having to take a longer path around than going straight through. We were to conserve our energy and essence, but having to take one step after the other with no end in sight was too demoralizing.
The only hope we had was the chance to come across the citadel that was located near the eastern side of the Great Plateau. It was easier said than done. Everytime we had to take a circle around the nightmare creature, there was a rising fear in our chests that we might have diverted from the original route, ever so slightly—that we might never reach the citadel. There was also the added terror of having a Great Devil awakening at night, one so powerful that it had even the Great Clans be wary.
I couldn't complain, at least out loud, or else I might just collapse. There was a slim chance we'd make it out of this.
A hopeless journey filled with exhaustion and danger, to a destination which we might never reach.
Is this how the Forgotten Shore sleepers felt?
***
The sun had made ¾'s of the way through the rich blue sky. I remember that this was around the time when Ford and Lorelei killed the frog monster from yesterday. Could there be another encounter like that?
I spent my time daydreaming about certain topics that were as unassociated as possible from walking.
Where were the other sleepers in our batch teleported to? There were countless places in the dream realm where sleepers could be sent to, but there were common hotspots. Bastion and Ravenheart, Valor's and Song's citadels respectively, always had many sleepers appear in their lands, likely because they encompassed a great deal of the territory in the known parts of the dream realm.
The chained isles didn't have the same rate of sleepers appearing as the great clan's territory but it was still pretty often that clans associated with Valor had to make patrols. Anywhere else was either a death zone that meant certain demise, unreachable places like the Forgotten Shore, or unmapped areas which humans hadn't reached yet.
The intriguing part of being summoned into the dream realm by the Spell was that most Sleepers went to the same place. Though I suspected the chances of meeting other sleepers was low, I didn't mind. I had the best team I could possibly ask for.
My thoughts shifted to Lorelei on the topic of team.
I still felt sour that she absorbed all of the soul shards, but that anger had dissipated as the fatigue crept up my body into my mind. I became more complicit, but I also gained a bit of understanding.
Absorbing soul shards meant her physicality, senses, intelligence, and essence had all increased. This resulted in making the walk a little less tiring. A simple reasoning that anyone could think of--it was just that Lorelei was the first to take action on it.
I hadn't said anything about--neither did the other two. Either because they were ignorant of it or some other reason that made them silent.
Though anger was now gone, another feeling still persisted-betrayal. Anyone would feel the same way, but for me it stung deep. I've seen so many interviews, so many articles, and blogs about going into the dream realm as a sleeper. I hear the stories of joy, glory, tragedy, and especially of camaraderie. Facing death forced people together, and the common goal to survive created bonds that lasted for the rest of their lives.
Really, it was my fault for being so naive. The stories that got traction were only the best. For every sleeper in a fantastical journey with their cohort that survived, there were the corpses of hundreds of sleepers who couldn't make it. Sleepers who were thrown into the dream realm alone with no one to help them, sleepers who were betrayed, and probably sleepers who were murdered by 'friends.'
The last thought made me shiver even in this boiling heat.
I looked at the backs of the three people in front of me, then at my feet.
One step at a time…
***
The sun was starting to make its way to the horizon again, a relief that only lasted seconds. Though the viscous heat was now gone, the chance to meet the Great Devil, Moonlight Surge, had now risen drastically.
Before the thoughts of the Moonlight Surge could plague my mind, a shape in the distance caught my eyes. It looked like a horse with a long neck.
"To the right!" I shouted as loud as I could, though it came out more like a shriek. My entire body hurt, but I still had the job of looking after the others. Everyone's heads turned to the right to look at the approaching horse creature. Though its body looked normal, the stallion's neck looked more lengthier and thicker than it should have been. As it got closer, the elongated neck started to resemble a human torso.
"Weapons up! Ford on my command!"Lorelei shouted, summoning a long sword. Everyone followed Lorelei, summoning their own weapon memories. Ford summoned the [Lunging Harpoon], the green and blue harpoon he got from Lorelei after she killed the frog nightmare creature. The harpoon was attached to a green elastic rope which could pull the harpoon back after he threw it. Ford raised the harpoon behind his shoulder, ready to pierce the approaching creature at Lorelei's command.
My heartbeat kept on ramping up as the creature approached us. It had the physique of a horse, which meant that we couldn't outrun it. We had to fight, and this time, me and Eternity could actually have to fight for once.
As the horse came closer, it stopped galloping and slowed down to a walk. It reared its upper half back, as if preparing to roar but then-
"Please! I'm a friend!" The figure had both its arms raised, calling out a phrase in human language. Despite making itself vulnerable by showing off its bare arms, none of the members in our group let your guard down. What if it was a nightmare creature that could mimic human speech? It certainly was a possibility. It was only when the figure got closer did we let ourselves relax and fall into shock.
The horse half of the figure was an almond brown with strong legs and a large chest with powerful muscles rippled underneath, the sleek coat of the horse half seemed to have no flaws. The other half was a human, wearing a bronze chestplate with gray vambraces. The most shocking part about the half human-half horse thing was that…it was Itri.
"Itri?!" Ford shouted, dismissing the [Lunging Harpoon] into lingering sparks. His face twisted into astonishment as he came closer to Itri.
Though he still had his arms raised, Itri wore the easy-going smile he always had at the academy. He only dropped his arms when the rest of the group slowly dismissed our weapon memories. "So, how you guys doing?" He sounded quite..normal. All sleepers arrived in the dream realm at the same time, so like us, he must have spent two days in the Great Plateau like us.
"Not bad, we've killed a few nightmare creatures and also stored up some meat to eat if we ever come across fire." Ford scratched the back of his head, still looking at Itri with a perplexed expression.
Itri grinned, placing his hands on hips, where his human half and horse half joined. "I think I could help with that."