"Guh! Just how many times will I have to tell you this over and over?"
'Phoo…'
Sunny sighed looking at the boy, who was sitting before him with a really troubled look on his face.
"I will tell you once more. So, this is a nightmare. The First Nightmare."
The boy aimed towards him a hollow smile.
"Obviously, this is a nightmare."
The way that they boy looked at him was terrifying. He looked at Sunny with that hollow smile and near-dead eyes.
Sunny was certain that any time soon the boy was ready to lunge towards him, and this was going to turn into a brawl.
"So, …nightmare, dream realm, nightmare creatures, and citadel."
He looked at the boy as kept on drawling out those words out of his mouth.
Even Sunny felt pity for the boy. He did not even know the basics of the world.
'Just how could one not know about the nightmare spell?'
The very thought was astounding.
Had it been any place else, the boy would have been made the butt of the jokes for decades and decades to come.
Sunny had a great intuition. And, with that he could at least tell that the boy was not lying about not knowing the world.
And other than that, his trembling hands, and the way that boy took labored breaths like he was hyperventilating was even more clearer of an indication.
Only after an entire hour could the boy start saying anything without stumbling over his words.
"…So, if I get to a Citadel or a gateway, I can go back?"
"Yes."
The boy stood up abruptly.
"Good then. Lets find a citadel."
'The hell…'
The boy was dragging him towards the edge of the land. The same place from where he had landed first.
"I will find another whale to ride on. We will get to whatever place that is that you want to go to. Citadel, gateway, whatever it is, lets just find it."
'The boy, he has gone crazy…'
'Just what non-sense was he spouting? Going where?'
"Wait, wait, wait. It is still night. How about we stay here for the night? Tomorrow morning, we find a way out of here."
The boy looked at him strangely for a few seconds, and then shook his head in agreement.
"Yes. Yes. Tomorrow…"
Even after saying that. The boy kept on standing near the edge of the sea. He looked in the darkness, and then at the blank sky, and into nothing.
"Sunless. My name is Sunless. You can call me Sunny."
"I am Percy Jackson."
Even with a stranger near him, Sunny slept for a few hours. Besides, if there was anything wrong, his shadow would have warned him.
Besides, he did not particularly feel any unease when looking at the boy.
This Percy was still looking at the edge of the sea.
But something unusual was happening at the same time.
First thing that Sunny noticed was that the sea was indeed dark. He was certain that it was not water that made up this sea.
The second thing that he paid heed to was that the dark sea was retreating. The water level was decreasing slowly.
Well, it was slow only from the perspective of a viewer. But, seeing that by the first ray of light, essentially within two hours, the sea was nowhere in sight, was a terrifying comparison to make.
The sea-bed was a long way below him. The land that seemed to be level with the sea was hundreds of meters in height alone. Yet, Sunny was thankful that this platform had saved his life.
And, it was like the sea was never there. If he did not see the seaweed hanging around the protrusions of the platform that he was standing on, and the clearly wet rocks, he would have believed that the sea was only fragment of his imagination, or his nightmare.
He was just contemplating over his next moves, when he was interrupted.
"Should we get going now?"
'This boy. Is he blind, or is he a fool?'
The water receded and the sea disappeared. It was more like that the water of the dark sea was a living creature in itself.
"No."
The way the boy looked at him when he refused was unnerving. He perceived the boy, Percy as called himself, was strange in itself.
He was not afraid of the boy in any way. However, he was afraid of what the boy might end up doing.
Not to him, but in general.
Since when they met, the boy had barely spoken. He did not attack him or anything. Neither was there any indication that he would attack Sunny in the future as well.
But knowing that to reach the platform, the boy had ridden on the back of a nightmare creature, Sunny did not want to tempt his fate.
The boy kept on staring blankly at him. Like he was trying to make Sunny back down. But Sunny did not need to.
"My shadow will scout out for us. And, we will strategize a way to get out of here."
The boy did not reply back and nodded his head only once.
Sunny commanded his Shadow to get down the platform and look around. The Shadow complied.
"By the way, do you happen to have any weapon Memory?" Sunny could not help but ask Percy.
"I have one."
Saying that Percy reached for his pocket and brought out a pen.
Sunny looked at him strangely. When Percy agreed, Sunny was excited. The possibility that at least one of them would have a functional weapon. Yet…
"Not a pen, a weap-"
Percy uncapped the pen, and it elongated into a sword.
Leaf-shaped, about the length of his arm, and glowing.
"…Good. You know how to use it?"
"Yes."
With that, Sunny turned to focus on his Shadow, which had moved quite far from the platform. And, strangely enough the Shadow met the sight of the nightmare creature that was dragged down in the dark sea by the he tentacle.
Or, whatever was left of the creature. The lower half of the creature was missing. The insides of the creature were spilling out, and dozens of smaller nightmare creatures were devouring the fallen creature.
It was truly an ugly sight to see.
Sunny's shadow steered away from the sight and started looking for the passage ways that would lead them safely away from the hoard of creatures. And in turn, the shadow looked at the platform that Sunny was currently on.
The platform was not a platform at all. It was a statue. The statue was of a knight, and the head of the knight was severed. More like, it had ben ripped off with brute force.
Sunny refused to even think of the nightmare creature that could have done that to this colossal statue.
For hours, Sunny kept on scouting the pathways around the colossal statue. There were dozens of dead-ends. Many ways that led to the place where nightmare creatures were eating another of their own. Some were too narrow for a human to go through. And, some branched in so many ways that it was impossible to keep sight of the straight path.
Also, he had to take into consideration the range in which he could use the Shadow. The range and abilities of his Shadow were by no means infinite.
After many hours, Sunny called his Shadow back. There were some ways that they could be taken to get as far away from the platform as possible. Yet, in which direction were they supposed to move?
By the time the scouting had been completed, it was already getting late. Means, there was no going away from the platform for the day.
Sunny looked at Percy from the corner of his eyes. The boy was looking balefully at him.
The mood was made even more sombre by the fact that since the first exchange that took place between them, no one had said a word at all.
He understood that he had to be the one to start the conversation this once. No matter how much he did not want to.
'Gods, this company is even worse than being alone.'
"All the nightmare creatures are gathered around a nightmare creature down that way, and feasting on it. I have found a way, and we will start moving tomorrow with the first ray of light."
Percy nodded. This time even more subtle than before.
'That guy is creepy as hell.'
This was all that Sunny could think of.
The sky kept on growing the darker shade of grey. And, just as the sun disappeared past the horizon, it was as if the world stood tantalized against a fearsome roar. There was a loud rumbling sound, and when Sunny looked sown the platform, he could make out nightmare creatures running away. They were hiding.
And, with that came the first stream of dark water. Within only a span of few minutes, the dark sea was just as it was the last night.
Reaching the height of the statue that they were on, and just as deadly as before.
Even worse than the sea were the nightmare creatures that made home within those cursed waters.
It was a dark night once more.
The starless night fell once more, and Sunny went to sleep, or at least tried. Obviously, after telling his Shadow to watch over him.
He knew of the dangers of the nightmare world. And even more in the last two days. Also, he was now even more wary of Percy, who just looked at the edge of the dark sea like the previous night. It was unnerving.
*Shake…
Someone shook him awake. He was Percy. He could smell the guy with how cloze the boy was near his face.
His first thought was to look at his shadow.
That little rascal was sprawled over a rock laying down. He Sunny started pointing at Percy with is eyes, the Shadow shrugged.
'Now, I can't trust even my own shadow. The world is truly cursed.'
Percy shook him once more to draw his attention, and pointed in a direction far over the in the dark sea.
Sunny could sea it. There was light making ripples over the waves of the sea. Someone had lit a fire in the night.
However, within seconds it was snuffed out.
Who could it have been? Other Sleepers? Nightmare Creatures? Or something even worse?
One thing that was for certain was that the fire was about five or six kilometers away from the platform.
Sunny turned towards Percy and nodded.
Percy went back to the edge of the platform only this time in the direction where the light previously was.
'No sleep tonight it seems.'
Sunny was feeling rather optimistic.
Now he had a direction to move in, and possibility of getting some much-needed aid.
Also…
'I won't mind getting rid of this child either.'