The climb was steep but manageable. The stone was rough and offered plenty of handholds. About halfway up, my boot slipped on a loose fragment, sending a shower of tiny pebbles skittering down the face. I grunted, re-establishing my grip.
"This is taking too long," Sasrir stated flatly. Before I could reply, his form dissolved into a patch of living darkness that flowed onto the statue's surface. I felt a strange solidity wherever I placed my hands and feet next; the stone itself seemed to grip me, offering perfect purchase. It was like climbing a ladder instead of a cliff face.
"Show-off," I muttered, but I didn't complain. With his help, I scaled the remaining distance quickly and hauled myself over the edge onto the flat top of the plateau just as the last sliver of sun vanished. True darkness fell, deep and absolute, but we were safe atop our stone sentinel. I looked down across the Coral Labyrinth is in all its' horrific glory, and watched the last rays of the sun drip away, hiding behind the horizon. Then came the black waves, the churning darkness born from the death of an unholy angel. "Wonder if such a thing will be born if Nephis ever dies" I spoke idly, watching the process of the land being swallowed once again.
"I believe it would be closer to a Godgrave situation, where blazing heat will randomly descend from the heavens" remarked Sasrir.
"Huh. Wonder if that Nephilim served the Goddess of Stormy Seas then."
"I believe the Dark Sea is more "Dark" than "Sea" denied Sasrir. "The water is merely how it presents itself: the true nature of this thing should align with the True Darkness spilt from the Unholy Titan during the Age of Heroes. Maybe the Shadow God or Nether have a connection with it, with both of them controlling the Underworld."
Before long, the water had reached only twenty meters below us, swishing against the rock with choppy waves. Sasrir enveloped us both in a covering of shadows, and we lay down to sleep. "First real night in the Dream Realm," I muttered.
"With monster meat for breakfast in the morning" Sasrir added.
Despite everything, I felt like maybe things wouldn't be so bad. …Hell, the feeling that had been bugging me hours earlier was finally gone as well.
Ever the late sleeper, I awoke to the smell of smoke and cooking meat. It was a bizarre, almost surreal sensation in the middle of the Crimson Labyrinth.
Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I saw Sasrir crouched over a small, contained fire he'd made from some dried, brittle coral. Skewers of tough-looking Scavenger meat were propped over the flames, sizzling faintly. "Morning," I grunted, pushing myself up. The shadow-cloth clothes were still perfectly comfortable. "Since when do you cook?"
"Since I acquired taste buds and a functional digestive system," he replied, not looking up from his work. "Just because I don't need to eat to survive doesn't mean I want to miss out on the... local cuisine." He turned one of the skewers. "It's a new flavour. I'm curious."
I couldn't help but laugh. "You're a weirdo, you know that?"
The scene was almost peaceful. The sky above was a soft, hazy orange, the constant whisper of the Labyrinth a low background hum. "Kind of tranquil, in a messed-up way."
"Don't get used to it," he said, but there was no real edge to it. He handed me a skewer. The meat was charred on the outside and surprisingly palatable, if a bit gamey. We ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes, just watching the strange sun climb in the sky. Once I'd finished, curiosity got the better of me. I walked over to the edge of the plateau where the statue's head should have been.
It ended in a jagged, brutal stump of stone—decapitated. A post-mortem act of vengeance from the Crimson Terror, according to the lore. "Alright, let's see which unlucky hero we're bunking with," I mused, leaning carefully over the edge to peer down the statue's broad back, looking for any identifying marks on the stonework below. "My money is on the Knight," Sasrir called from behind me, still tending his fire. "Sunny found him first, and we seem to be carving the path he would walk. Statistically, it's probable." "Maybe," I said, squinting. "Or it could be the Slayer. That would be fitting, considering my company."
I leaned a little further, trying to make out the details carved into the stone shoulders. "Come on, give me a clue... a symbol, a weapon hilt, anything..."
It couldn't be the Knight of course, because that would mean we were near the Ashen Barrow, with the Soul Devourer Tree, but that thing couldn't be seen for miles. It wasn't the one where the First Lord vanished to either, that was near the Hollow Mountains. So...the Priestess? The Builder? Which Statue was the one wandering around the Crater again? Damn, my brain was too fuzzy to remember.
"Loose robes, a dagger held close to the chest, the other hand on its hip. The robes look like they're made of flowing shadow," I summarized for Sasrir. "No other markings."
Sasrir studied the statue for a moment. "The hidden blade and the posture suggest a single purpose. This is the Slayer."
"An assassin," I said, the name making our lofty perch feel a little colder. "Charming."
"His choice of statue implies a high vantage point was a professional necessity," Sasrir noted. "It remains a sound tactical decision for us."
"Right. Tactics." I walked back to the fire. "Let's just hope our luck is better than his targets'."
I had just sat down when Sasrir looked at me and asked, "Well? Are you going to go after the Moonlight Shard?"
The thought made me freeze-of course! Each Statue wasn't just decoration, it marked the location of an Oath Key: and the terrible monster that guarded it. "Merely a Fallen one" Sasrir reminded me. "With the Unshadowed Crucifix and myself, we might just be able to kill it. The Slayer was guarded by living weapons, yes? At least that's the impression I got from Quiet Dancer. The Sun Pathway is excellent at dispelling poltergeists and wayward souls."
"You actually want to hunt down a Shard Lord?" I asked with a short laugh, tempted and half terrified at the thought. "Alright, so you can kill an Awakened monster easily enough, but you yourself said your Shadow Curse won't work on anything above that Rank."
"I can still slow and delay it," he said, "plus all my weapons deal soul damage, even if small. It might be driven into a shock-induced coma long before we actually kill it."
"I don't know..." I hesitated, teetering between greed, desire and mortal fear.
"Adam"
Sasrir looked me dead in the eyes and spoke, his voice calm as a lake. "We must take risks to survive. What reason would Gunlaug have to take us in otherwise, to allow us to climb his ranks until we can influence the stage that is this land? When Nephis arrives, do you intend to be just another corpse she steps across on her self-righteous crusade against the Spell? Who do you hope will save you?" He leaned in closer now.
"No one will. Only me, and only yourself."
I stilled, my mind wheeling as it tried to deny his words. 'I don't need to take this risk!' I argued.
'Yes you do. Gunlaug won't place any importance on you otherwise. How else will you impress him, show the Unshadowed Crucifix? That tyrant won't allow the existence of another Transcendent Memory, not after his own made him king. We can't use that, what other cards do we have to play?'
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