Act I
"Hmm~ What smells so good?" I asked, my side hurting as I sat up. It was still night, but now a small campfire was lit, and on it roasted four chunks of meat that smelled of native pork.
"Eclipsa, you would make a great wife if you cook this well." I remarked as I saw the girl in question ignoring me, before pushing a steaming chunk of meat on top of a few large leaves infront of me.
"You're weak, eat your fill and then we can talk." Her words stunned me, she sounded mature at least more than what I expected compared to the few times I've interacted with her and saw her make a mad fool of herself.
"Of course, thank you for the meal Eclipsa." I took the meat and then saw a cup fashioned from leaves holding milky white water. I've been drinking the sap of the vines and squeezed water from the moss since I got here, good thing Eclipsa knew how to do this instead of heading to one of the ponds at our west.
"Oh slumbering patrons of the dreaming, I thank you all for this meal and water and for letting this weak soul live and rest upon your world." I gave a short prayer before eating, and as I did I noticed Eclipsa giving me an odd look.
"Do you not know of the Patrons?" I looked at her a bit puzzled.
"I do know some." Eclipsa said harshly as if she struggled not to speak, it made me shrug and continue.
"Well I don't know what you know, but from my research I found out that the patrons are the gods of the dreaming, most of them are dead or slumbering now for some reason. But even so, people can still pray to them and they would still give a bit of their blessings." I explained as I finished the chunk of meat Eclipsa gave me.
I still felt hungry but seeing the rest of the meat was yet to finish roasting, I sat in a more relaxed stance as I took a sip. Ehh* I mouthed as the bitterness of the sap water irked me, but still it was better than thirsting to death.
"So. . ." Before I could ask something, Eclipsa held her hand, making me pause. She had finished her own meal and was now sipping on her own bitter drink. I let her be, the poor girl was probably extremely shy and introverted from what I've seen in the academy.
I nodded, and then laid down looking up at the stars, they weren't that clear as we still had a campfire but still. I can see enough to be truly impressed at how naturally beautiful the dreaming was compared to the waking world.
"I'll stop bothering you Eclipsa, I'll wait for you to speak first." That was my last words, as quiet drowned our little camp, the sound of fire was the only thing I could hear as I closed my eyes.
Well maybe that's a little lie as from time to time I can hear random sounds below or above us, I suspect them cautious animals and Horrors hunting during the night. Maybe they would fear the random light rather be so curious to check on it, then I felt the heat on my side weakening. I turned to my side and saw the fire was put out with only embers remaining.
It wasn't freezing but I felt a little chilled as the fire was gone, then I felt a hand on my mouth. It was covered in leather with fingers wrapped in thick soft cloth, why would Eclipsa cover my mouth?
"Be quiet, I can see in the dark and I just saw a giant thing in the sky, it just passed us but I'm not sure if it would come back." She whispered into my ear, her breath was hot as I noticed a shake in her voice. The thing she saw must have been a terrifying sight, if she's this scared.
I did not answer but held her hand and gently removed it from my lips and then nodded. Hopefully she was looking my way and I didn't look too foolish, fortunately she did not comment as I felt her leather covered back on my chest as she laid down on top of me.
I was only stunned for a few moments, before I realized she was trying to keep me warm. I guess it was better than nothing, I thought as I closed my eyes and tried to be as comfortable as I could, which wasn't hard as I was still very tired.
"Daniel. . . You can call me Sunshine if you want, I always hated people I know calling me Eclipsa." Those were her last words, as the night turned quiet once again.
Act II
"Sunshine, do you know of my virtue?" I asked as I worked on the rope ladder, while she scouted around us using her Arcana ability of being able to see through shadows.
"No, I don't. But from what the rumors say it's something stupid like being friendly with everyone." She spoke as her eyes were closed, her posture relaxed as she sat down on a bundle of vines.
"That's good, I've been keeping it a secret for a reason. But now that we are in a situation like this one, I should tell you mine. . . But that doesn't mean you need to tell me yours." Her relaxed posture stiffened at the mention of her virtue, it was probably a crippling one like Chara's but not as overly obvious.
"Breath* haaa. . . I have the virtue of Mercy, I can't kill anything. I tried crushing an ant after receiving my virtue, but every time I tried my body would freeze, until the intent of killing was gone." After I spoke a bout of silence came between us.
The silence almost made me chuckle, I was getting used to it, as I busied myself with the rope ladder. She wasn't much for idle talk, which was sad because I love doing it to pass the time. Especially with a cute girl like her, I wonder if I can date her after we become Bronze rankers.
After my idle thoughts my mind turned to more serious matters. Right now we had enough food for a day or so, but it was unfortunate that we didn't get more. As most of the leftovers of the Heavy tusks were scavenged during the night, the only thing left were pieces of bones with some flesh. But even those were being cleaned off by vermin the size of small dogs and insects as big as them.
It was lucky not many carrion birds appeared, or else I would have needed to fight off more of them with the ladder I made using it as a kind of whip. If I just found a good enough stick I can make a bow. . .
"Hey Sunshine, can you find me a big branch? With the bones you collected I can make a rough bow and then with that I can use my Dream essence Arrow." Eclipsa was quiet for a moment and then she stood up.
"I saw a few ones that way, near that big tree and from my scouting the way didn't have that many Horrors. . . I'll guide you there, and you can find your sticks." She didn't say no, she even offered to help. I was a little shocked but not enough to not start moving, as I started bringing down the rope ladder of vines, it held Eclipsa easily while it struggled with me as I climbed down.
"Daniel, do you have a plan?" Eclipsa asked as she moved out of the way as I dropped the rest of the way down, luckily I fashioned some rough slippers to help me avoid the cutting edge of the grass on my feet. . . Unfortunately I was still barely decent. I can feel the long grass try to cut into my legs and hips whenever I pass them by.
"Not much of a plan really, more a guideline. Find a shelter, get water, find food, arm myself and then look for other people." I was honest, I really didn't plan much. It was a lucky thing I found Eclipsa, or more like she found me, as it would have been a much harder thing if I did those things alone.
"Right. . . I expected more, aren't you among the top of our batch Daniel?" I shrugged as I looked towards the large tree.
"I can make a more complicated plan, but it wouldn't work. From my experience the more simple the plan the more likely it would work. Now let's arm ourselves." I said picking up a large thigh bone, it was heavy but from its shape it could be one heck of a deadly club, plus it wasn't sticky or smelled.
She took a small tusk, it was the size of her forearm and longer than her arm. It looked like an arming sword in her hands, and a rapier in my own. She looked at me as I observed her and then she nodded before taking point as I followed her.
Act III
The grasslands was a painful place, especially while barely dressed. I can feel my flesh turn raw from the constant scratching cuts of the tall grass as we made our way towards the large tree.
It took an hour or so as we took rounding paths avoiding the herds and predatory beast type horrors. Now that I think about it, we were lucky, waking up in the eastern grasslands, as there exists far more dangerous lands in the Dawn Valley with this place being only among the top ten rather than the worst of the lot at the top 3.
"There's no horrors around us Daniel, but we do have a problem." Eclipsa spoke as she stopped me, making me lay down in the grass with her.
"There is a Horror sleeping around that big tree, I think it's sleeping." I looked towards her finger and saw it, a large copper scaled snake with three horns at its head. Its large thick powerful body was completely wrapped around the tree that I now notice bare nuts as its fruits.
"It has three horns. . . It should be a silver ranked Copper Fang, it's sensitive to heat and mostly sleeps during the day, while hunts bronze rank horrors during the night." I explained what I knew, as I tried to recall more details of the besterias and journals I've read.
"We should be safe if we come near it during the day while covered. . ." I didn't finish voicing my thoughts as I looked around, that was when I saw a rare muddy puddle. It may have rained before our entry into the dreaming or some other effect I did not know about but occasionally I've seen small puddles of mud.
I moved closer and started mudding my arms, legs and then chest. Even wetting parts of my face, with that done I turned to Eclipsa with a handful of mud. But from the way she looked at me, I can tell she would not appreciate my gift.
"Are you insane? You, a giant, plans to sneak into that monster's nest, for a bundle of sticks!?" She ended up yelling quietly as she shook in repressed shock.
"Yes, I trust the journals and think this is the best thing I can do at the moment. Now help me with your shadow, I will focus on gathering the sticks I would need, while you watch my back. If you see it stirring awake, make a loud clapping sound and I'll start running." I told her my plan as I smiled, of course I was scared and hid the shake in my legs but I can't look cowardly infront of such a young girl.
I need to appear as the older brother or uncle as even though I was 16 in body, I should be in my 30s if I didn't reincarnate. . . I need to make her rely on me or else I would feel useless, that is one regret I would not want repeated.
"Also after you give me the signal, run towards the base, if I live I'll be back, if I don't come back after a night then consider me dead." She stood there silent, her eyes looking into mine and then with a bite of her lips she nodded.
"You're an insane idiot. . . I'll watch your back, and don't you dare die." That was Eclipsa's words, it almost made me laugh at how cute she was, and with that I summoned a necklace placing it on my neck.
It was the [Wolf Fang], I felt my body ripple, as new strength came to me. My senses tripled as I can now smell the odors around me as clear as if I was a wolf in his prime. I crouched as I made my way towards the large tree.
It took me moments to reach the very edge of where the tree was able to use its canopy shade to cover the land, I did not dare come closer as I started collecting the sticks around the boundary as I felt my new wolfic instincts yelling at me that if I crossed the invisible threshold I would be trespassing on the territory of something dangerous.
I don't know how long it took but I collected as much as I could carry. After that I started backing away, still walking in a silent crouch. Then I started running, as I reached Eclipsa I saw her mouth agape, I did not share a word as I motioned for us to follow my run, or else we would lose the reason we exposed ourselves to danger.
I looked back at the tree and saw the snake watching us, its yellow eyes following us as we ran even faster. I don't know why but I felt it watching over me the whole time, the mud did not help at all and now I wonder how much bullshit was there inside all the journals I've read.