The pain was inconceivable.
His soul burned in the most literal sense of the word, using pieces of his own life as kindling, feeding a ravenous flame.
Fragments broke away from the golden sun, vanishing without a trace, carving wounds that would never heal.
This was the price Giovanni had to pay to survive and ensure the safety of the companions who fought at his side.
Tears streamed down a face twisted in agony, yet his legs kept moving, no matter how much they begged to give out.
The ocean wall loomed just ahead, and with it, the only way to escape the dangers on the surface.
Behind him, the earthen waves raised as a defense against the horde collapsed, sinking and unraveling at an alarming pace. Giovanni extended his aspect into the rocks of the wall and forced them to stretch, transmuted into a platform.
Gaius laid Eric safely atop it, and Giovanni did the same with Shelly.
The platform began to change in real time, rising at an accelerating pace toward the top. From above, the young man watched the possessed aberrations pile up below, struggling to reach them.
They had escaped the worst of it, for now, but things were nowhere near resolved.
'How do I wake them up…?'
Nothing seemed to work, and he feared what would happen if he left them in that state for too long. Even the thought of his companions turning into creatures like those before his eyes haunted him.
Together, they continued raising the platform as high as possible until they stopped a little above its midpoint. There, they carved an improvised cavern into the ocean wall and shaped a temporary shelter to hide from the terror outside.
Giovanni sealed the entrance and leaned against the wall, collapsing on the brink of unconsciousness. His mind sank, slipping back into his Soul once more.
The sun had returned to normal, but the consequences were ugly. Its once flawless surface was now marred by several areas where fragments were missing, filled with golden dust that crumbled away into the air.
The damage was severe.
Keeping the miracle burning throughout the long journey to the wall had nearly killed him… it should have killed him. And unlike wounds caused by blades or blunt force, this was not something that could be healed with a simple night's sleep.
It would take weeks, months… and even then, the sun might never be perfectly restored.
And the pain… it would not stop. Though far less intense than when he had been actively consuming his own soul, Giovanni still felt his existence wrapped in open wounds.
'What happened… to Sofia?'
The realization that somewhere, his friend might be just like them, asleep and surrounded by beasts, struck him like lightning. Ignoring the pain, he focused on summoning the [Dusty Diary] and writing his message.
"A-R-E, Y-O-U, O-K-A-Y?"
He let the diary dissipate into the air and stared at the runes in silence, waiting for a reply.
'Please… be alright.'
---
Sofia watched in real time as an entire region of the Dream Realm was consumed by an ancient terror. The experience was shocking, far too profound for her mind to fully comprehend.
Even so, she understood what was about to happen. The melody before her eyes was far more than music… it was darkness incarnate, empty of any purpose beyond consumption.
Realizing her mind was on the verge of being captured by the cursed symphony, she acted on instinct, fleeing to the only place that seemed safe, distant enough from that reality.
Closing her eyes, her consciousness was carried into a vast field, covered in flowers of every color and shape.
A golden sun floated peacefully above, radiating a familiar, comforting warmth.
Then the darkness came.
It invaded from the skies and the land alike, threatening to completely erase that refuge, to destroy a kingdom that had barely been given a chance to be born.
It seemed that even there, there was no escape from the insidious influence of the melody. The blood in her veins ran cold as she waited for the shadows to engulf her.
But the light did not allow it.
The warmth swept across the fields, not burning, but purifying whatever tried to steal the vegetation of its colors.
The illusion that everything would be alright, fleeting as it was, comforted her for a few brief moments before something just as dangerous began.
'What is he doing?!'
The star did not stop heating up. On the contrary, its light intensified, swelling as though on the verge of combustion.
The Soul Sea trembled.
Not just Giovanni's, but her own as well.
Fragments tore themselves from the Soul Core, dissolving into drifting particles before they could fall.
Sofia did not need her aspect to understand the nature of what she was witnessing.
Giovanni was killing himself.
The question that had lingered before returned with renewed force.
What would happen to her if he died?
She refused to remain still long enough to learn the answer.
Her own Soul Core, orbiting the blazing sun, responded. A pale, almost bluish light spread across its surface.
Pain followed instantly.
A raw, tearing agony forced a cry from her throat, echoing across the endless field of flowers. By sharing the burden, her own soul ignited, feeding the same merciless flame.
Time lost meaning as she endured it, clinging to consciousness while the heat gnawed at her existence.
At last, the radiant warmth receded.
The sun settled once more into stillness, no longer raging, though scarred by fresh wounds that had not been there before.
The star that embodied Sofia's soul fared little better, its surface damaged, though spared the worst of the destruction.
'It hurts… it hurts!'
She groaned through clenched teeth, biting down hard enough to keep the rest of her thoughts from escaping as curses.
What had that crazy boy done to cause something like this? Was he alright? He had to be. His soul was still there, still shining.
Her concern now lay with the others who were with him.
She needed to talk to him as soon as possible…
Her consciousness returned to the physical world as she prepared to summon the [Dusty Diary].
Whoosh!
A gust of wind, accompanied by a shadow, made Sofia's hair rise into the air.
Above her, a black creature with a long, vaguely humanoid body flew using membranous wings connected directly to its torso.
Its legs were a single sharpened tail, and its face, devoid of eyes, ears, or nose, held only a massive mouth filled with long, jagged teeth.
'Shit!'
Sofia had been exposed on the balcony and had been spotted by an aberration. The thing twisted in midair and propelled itself straight toward the human.
Instinct and training made her react before thought could catch up, diving back into the room and escaping the creature's trajectory.
The winged monstrosity smashed through the interior furniture, wreaking destruction as it thrashed about.
One of the far walls came into view as Sofia moved, her hand closing around the long sword she had stolen from one of the guards who had died in the corridors.
The weapon was larger and heavier than the ones she had trained with at the academy. Normally, it would have been unwieldy.
But the Soul Shards she had consumed compensated for the difference.
"Get out of here, you hideous thing!"
The creature recovered its balance and crossed the room in less than a second, leaving no space for hesitation.
The walls splintered under the impacts, scars left behind by blows that would have torn Sofia apart.
Blocking head-on was impossible. Each strike had to be redirected, steel ringing as she bled force away from her still-human frame.
The tail rose and snapped toward her, close enough that even contact would have meant death.
She twisted aside toward the bed, already shattered by the monster's landing, only to feel the wall press close behind her.
The room was spacious for someone resting, but suffocating in a fight against a giant abomination.
If there was any salvation in that situation, it was that the creature was not made to fight on land. Its wide, legless body, combined with oversized wings, made it clumsy, collapsing in on itself.
Luminous particles started gathering near Sofia's free hand at the same time she activated her aspect, forcing herself to focus despite the pressure crushing her chest.
The world shifted.
Reality fractured into layers of raw information, stripped of shape and meaning, flooding her senses faster than thought could follow.
She perceived the minerals that formed the walls and furniture, their densities, tensions, and hidden weaknesses. The atmosphere itself revealed an unnatural composition, distorted by the lingering influence of the melody.
But none of it mattered.
Her attention was dragged inexorably toward the winged terror.
Its form resisted definition. There were no clear organs, no stable internal structure. The creature was composed almost entirely of a uniform, viscous darkness, music given corrupted physical substance.
There was nothing to pierce. Nothing to sever.
No true weakness.
Almost.
One region stood apart from the rest.
The head had been preserved, if only partially. Beneath the distorted exterior, organic tissue remained. Neural matter still pulsed within, sustaining a functioning brain, even if the thing it belonged to no longer possessed true consciousness.
Sofia's jaw tightened.
'It'll have to do!'
Slash!
The aberration writhed, regaining just enough stability to snake across the room toward Sofia. One claw swept from side to side, covering a wide area in a horizontal strike.
Unable to dodge, the girl blocked with her sword and was violently hurled against the wall beside the balcony.
Air burst from her lungs, and throbbing pain surged through her back. One more hit in that position would be enough to finish her.
But two new items were now in her possession.
In haste, she pressed the [Vermin Head], forcing its flame into the [Wondrous Incense].
Colors exploded from the thurible, filling the room with intoxicating smoke that held an ascended memory within it.
The possessed beast lost clarity in its movements, partially resisting the forced ecstasy repelled by the melody. Its erratic, rapid rhythm became predictable.
Sofia herself was nearly consumed by the sea of colors, but she resisted firmly, keeping her aspect continuously active, anchoring herself to reality.
'Now or never!'
She clenched her teeth, forcing her muscles to obey despite their screams of pain.
With effort, Sofia pushed herself to her feet and charged into the enemy's embrace.
Claws descended from both sides, attempting to crush her in a lethal hug, but the motion was slow, hesitant.
That hesitation allowed the young woman to slide beneath the wings, stopping directly beneath the monster.
The sword rose in a single, clean motion, carrying all of Sofia's strength as it impaled the head from the neck straight through to the top of the skull.
She won.
[You have slain an awakened Monster, Abyssal Winged-Song]
[You have received a memory: Membranous Glider]
***
'She killed the creature!'
Giovanni silently followed his own runes, waiting for some sign from his friend.
When he saw two memories being invoked, he assumed she was in some kind of battle and quietly rooted for her success.
And it seemed that Sofia had triumphed. More than that, she had acquired a new memory for the team's arsenal.
There would be time to test it later. For now, his focus was on finding a way to wake Eric and Shelly.
Sounds or physical stimuli hadn't worked before, so he didn't even bother trying them again.
'There has to be something.'
He rummaged through his memories, considering different possibilities. Among them, putting the [Grafter's Tunic] on his companions wasn't out of the question.
But first, he decided to go with the simplest alternative.
"It'd better be that I cover my nose properly…"
From his Soul Sea, a thurible and a slimy head were summoned. He had already been warned about how dangerous it was to inhale the substance, but that cursed song seemed just as horrifying.
When you're facing a problem that's too big, just throw an even bigger one on top of it!
"Wake up already, you idiots!"
The flame touched the tools, and the environment exploded into colors.
Giovanni made the memory vanish a few moments after activating it, wanting only a small amount to be released.
His nose was covered, and his mouth tightly shut, trying to prevent the substance from entering his body.
He succeeded with moderate effectiveness, reducing the effects on himself to something manageable, even though he was clearly feeling altered.
The same could not be said for the two sleepers.
Their inert bodies began to convulse violently. The peaceful drowsiness twisted into ear-to-ear smiles, forming deeply unsettling expressions.
And amid that chaos, signs of consciousness began to surface.
Eric clenched his fist and groaned, straining to return to the world.
Shelly followed, writhing in agony, trying to free herself from something that held her down.
"WAKE UP!"
Two pairs of eyes snapped open, frightened and disoriented.
Just seconds ago, they had been facing the entrance of the crater, and now they lay inside a closed, dark cave, where only a small flame coming from the head of an insect cast any light.
Giovanni paid no mind to that at the moment.
Filled with relief, the delicate young man hugged the giant and the girl, one with each arm.
They were safe.