Sunny found himself falling before hitting a pond of cold water face-first. Instantly he tried to swim up but found his body betraying him as he could barely hold himself together in panic from drowning. He tried to move his arms, but he saw that he now had an extra two pairs of arms, and not only that but his skin that had been deathly pale in color was now a shade of gray like wet clay - almost obsidian like. He was trying to get control of his new foreign body, but it felt like someone had forcefully swapped his small, agile body for a large, unfamiliar brute when facing a crisis.
'This is the second time!' Sunny thought as he felt his lungs start to burn from the lack of oxygen.
He then had a stark realization: since he was foreign to the body, his instincts in his new body should've stayed, so he decided to stop trying to command his body and let instinct take over. It worked as his four arms started moving in unison upward and after a minute that felt like eternity, he surfaced above the water and took huge painful breaths while his body ached. He also found out he had a tail as his instincts used it to swim faster. After washing ashore Sunny laid on the ground as he looked upon the sunny clear grey sky to see it the same as when they had entered the Nightmare which was high noon.
Sunny quickly looked around and sent out his shadows to scout as he summoned Serpent in tattoo form in case, he needed essence or a weapon. Trees surrounded the clearing that made seeing any oncoming threats easy to spot as he adjusted to his new body. The ground was soft like fabric as grass filled the area with a few bushes here and there and rocks littered around the lake. The trees looked different from the ones he saw before in the jungle as they were much smaller and resembled more like the waking realms trees than the dream realms, and they weren't completely covering the sky under them which meant less covering if any flying creatures tried to get him.
He had grown quite a bit from his original body as his new one was a whole two feet higher putting him at seven feet, with his body size doubling as a whole. His skin also felt... tougher, like it could withstand weapons with more resistance like how his blood didn't spill when he got cut. His body also made managing essence easier as he guessed it was because he was inside an awakened creature and although he still couldn't use essence without a crutch it was made easier and faster.
'I guess this is a trait of mine now how useful.' Sunny thought with a happy smile plastered on his face from the free upgrade.
However, he was also at a disadvantage since being in a new body meant he had to relearn everything including how to walk. Taking everything into account the small advantages were heavily outweighed by the downsides, but every margin of power was important if he wanted to survive the Second Nightmare. After making sure there were no monsters nearby, he tried getting up but kept falling like a newborn baby who couldn't walk yet as he cursed silently.
He also took a look at himself in the reflection of the lake water and was surprised by his appearance. His face looked fearsome in addition to his four protruding curved horns - two on his forehead and two on top of his head - and a mouth full of sharp fangs. He had two pairs of unwieldy arms that were longer than those of a regular human and he used them to catch himself before hitting the ground while he tried walking which caused him to be in an almost galloping position. His eyes were iris-less but instead were two black furious pupils that burned with the intensity of pain from almost drowning. His fangs, spiked tail, and claws were all deadly sharp like Bitey's but to a lesser degree considering he was only a Dormant Devil.
His posture was almost exactly that of a human which he considered a win for him. He felt two heartbeats which weirded him out and confused him before realizing that he had two hearts instead of one, and four lungs instead of the regular two humans had which was why he had lasted a minute underwater despite not taking a deep breath beforehand. Sunny tried out moving his tail and with some practice, he could wield it like a club that could come in handy if he was ever surrounded or attacked from behind. His whole body was like a weapon he could wield as his claws weren't inferior to that of an awakened-tier weapon and his horns could be used to pierce through armor with ease. Sunny was satisfied with this result as he looked himself over and over again, getting used to his new terrifying look that would've scared even himself if he hadn't already faced unimaginable horrors daily.
Eventually, he got the gist of walking in his new body as he took careful steps to balance himself to get adjusted to the new center of gravity of his new body. After getting used to that part he used the irregular free time he didn't plan on having to test out his new pair of arms and let his thoughts wander. His sense of smell and sight were changed as well with him seeing everything as black, white, and everything in between which was different shades of gray. That had been the reason why the sky had looked gray for him when he surfaced and why everything had a gray look to it.
'I knew Nephis said awakened would be put in new bodies, but I didn't think I would be put inside a creature's body. Is that normal for a nightmare? No, it can't be since the spell would look for a body similar to mine... so why did I get put inside this body instead of a regular human?'
Sunny pondered this question until realization washed over him.
'Wait is this because I have more cores than a regular human? That would make sense then since most Awakened aside from me and her only have one core.'
After realizing this Sunny came to the conclusion that Nephis must also be in a creature's body as well which would make finding each other difficult if it wasn't already. Sunny summoned his ring and luckily it morphed to fit perfectly in his new fingers as he called out mentally to Nephis but received no reply. Sighing, he called back his shadows as he walked carefully into the forest with a shadow augmenting him, one acting as a regular shadow, and two shadows scouted around him in a circle to search for any threats.
It was humid and his new dark hair which was as dark as his eyes - which were as black as it can get - didn't help as he started to sweat a little.
'Such a... pedestrian thing to get annoyed at,' Sunny thought as he summoned the onyx armor [Mantle of the Underworld] and [Stalwart] passively activated as the mundane heat dissipated almost instantly as it became cooler. The armor - just like the ring - adjusted to his new form, fitting into him rather nicely around his monstrous build.
The forest was less domineering than before which made him think if there were any nightmare creatures even around considering he hadn't even found any tracks of one. Eventually one of his shadows saw a cliff and from it a town that stood below. It was a primitive town compared to human standards since there were wooden or stone houses populating the town for residents. Commercial buildings were also spread around the town as a variety of shops like grocery stores, pubs, blacksmiths, and training arenas open to the public, etc as Sunny scouted the town. Streetlamps were posted in each street, and the roads were simply dirt roads with the occasional wagon coming in from outside the town with supplies.
There was a huge building at the center that he guessed was some sort of government building and people were walking about the rather clean streets, vendors were stationed at their posts selling food or produce, and children were playing in the streets. What caught his eye was the empty spot on top of the hill at the edge of the village, and no one seemed to come anywhere near it.
After reaching the cliff himself he stood there for minutes debating as to whether to go down and try his luck of befriending the humans or leave, but he quickly shut down the former.
'Who's ever heard of a passive nightmare creature anyway? It'll be a death sentence going down.'
Sunny took some steps back and decided to simply visit the town later during the night to see if there were any problems or conflicts happening within the town like corruption in the government. After all, Nephis had explained that the goal of a Second Nightmare was to resolve a conflict one way or any, with no definitive set way he had to do so. If worst comes to worst he would need to resolve the conflict himself and get them both out.
'Nephis...' Sunny would be lying to himself he said he wasn't worried for her wellbeing, after all he had no idea where she was and although it was a bit irrational to think she couldn't take care of herself she would have a harder time surviving considering she didn't have as many tools for survival as him.
Sunny was reminded of the talk he had with Jet regarding what posed the most danger for outskirt rats, with both of them agreeing that weather - nature, the wilderness, and the elements to be precise - posed the most danger which was the sole reason why he took only the wilderness Survival class. Sunny had the privilege of having a refrigerator stocked with food, an almost limitless supply of water, and a powerful armor with an enchantment against the weather that was proving itself to be essential if only for convenience for now.
For now, his priority was to set up camp at a secluded part of the forest and come up with a plan as he wandered about the forest in search of such a place.
***
He walked for hours during the daylight until it became night where he set up camp deep inside the retrospectively small forest after getting a size of it from above thanks to his shadows as he sat on a log from a cut tree while putting more logs to burn. It must've been funny seeing a devilish creature huddled up near a campfire while cooking up dinner as he pondered his next move. He could've gone exploring away from the forest and onto new land but if Nephis was nearby he risked not meeting her while staying meant less exploration considering the land he was on wasn't that incredible in helping the goal since he was essentially unable to ask the villagers for any useful information.
The forest enveloped the town that was similar in size to the Forgotten City, but the town clearly had outside communication since there were roads leading outside the city and there were post offices here and there. Tomorrow, he decided he would send his shadows into town to go explore and gather information while staying a safe distance away from detection since the forest more than perfectly covered his position from the watchful eyes of the guards.
Suddenly he heard a noise nearby and sent his shadows to check it out while summoning [Midnight Shard] onto his upper right hand and having his twin daggers on the bottom pair. His shadows soon reached the noise, and he saw that it was a lone wolf approaching what seemed like the stereotypical camper with a backpack that well exceeded his height and wearing a loose gray outfit that included a tunic, pants, and a large sun hat. His face was slightly rugged with light brown eyes and a short unkept beard. He had a charm to him that Sunny couldn't quite tell as it was different from Kai's or even Cassie's, it was like the man brought out a sort of longing within Sunny.
He had a dagger on his side and a sword out and he held it slightly trembling as he slowly backed up.
"A-Away you beast!" The man said as the wolf tried to move for the kill.
The wolf bit on the sword and threw it away as it lunged at the man who put the backpack between them as a shield. However, a dagger soared through the air before piercing deep into the wolf's head as it howled before falling and dying quickly. The spell spoke in Sunny's ear but he ignored it as the man looked in the direction where the dagger had come from with a grateful expression on his face as he stood up and staggered to meet the person who had just saved him as a tall figure came out of the trees.
Under the stark moonlight, the man immediately staggered back and almost fell as a fearful expression took its place again. A creature that stood well above him slowly walked towards him with a sword and an identical dagger in its two pairs of arms. It had horrid features that made him feel nauseous just looking at the creature as it slowly crept up towards him as he accepted his fate that he would die right here and now.
It growled at him but stopped after a few seconds and something unexpected happened when the man saw the creature bend down and drag one of its fingers into the dirt. All that growling had been Sunny trying to speak, but all that came out were beastly growls, so he decided to try and communicate via a different route.
After a minute - in which he tried to calm his racing heart and not make any sudden moves that would frighten the monster - the creature looked back up and moved back allowing him to see what he had drawn.
'Th-Their runes!'
The man knew a thing or two about reading runes, but it had been a long time since he had practiced so he dug into his backpack - while also spying on the creature who seemed to be impatiently waiting on him which sent a shiver up his spine - as he took out his rune book for language. He flipped through the pages while trying to look for an identical match for the three runes the creature had carved with shaky hands before finding what he was looking for.
"Who are you, is that what you're trying to say?" The man said while looking at the creature who had confirmed his translation with a nod.
The man stared at the creature and took deep breaths before saying, "M-My name is Alexander, but my friends call me Alex." He was still frightened by the creature and judging by how it looked it could easily tear into him and kill him in a heartbeat, so he tried to be as friendly as possible. However, the creature seemed not to have any murderous intent aside from the stench of death that surrounded him.
The creature rubbed away the runes before writing two new ones, and the man curiously searched inside the book for their meaning.
"That's sun... and that's lost... lost sun? No Sunless right, is that your name?" The creature nodded once more which unexpectedly caused the man to feel a little pride as he hadn't completely lost his ability to read or write runes. He also felt a little less scared of the terrifying creature as he started to relax a little and trust the creature a little more since it definitely wasn't corrupted - perhaps it had been a person once and simply turned into a terrible nightmare by the well-known heretics that roamed the land or had been cursed.
Sunny wrote some more runes into the ground, and the man once again deciphered them without the help of the book as they started talking.
"Why the hell are you alone?" Sunny wrote.
"W-Well, this is the first time I've been alone for a long time, before now I've traveled in a caravan for safety and shelter. However, no caravans were traveling from the town south of here to the town nearby, so I had to venture alone. You can see I'm not a great fighter; in truth, I've always struggled in combat which was why I traveled with groups of people. I thought that since these woods have mostly been cleared of the corrupted, I would be able to travel on my own... but if you hadn't arrived as you had I would've been dinner for the wolf."
Sunny noted that there was another town nearby and also now knew why he hadn't been attacked yet by any nightmare creatures - or corrupted which was what people of this era apparently called them. He also decided that he would try to milk the man for as much information as possible which was why he had saved the man in the first place.
Eventually, he convinced the man to come back to his camp, and in the morning, he would lead the man to the town he had scouted earlier. He hesitated but after Sunny promised on the Gods - which must've been serious - the man reluctantly agreed to go with him as they arrived at his makeshift camp. Sunny added an extra stick of meat to the fire and soon they ate with Sunny giving water to the man who seemed fascinated by the amount of water it held but held back questioning him.
"I must say," Alexander started as he pulled out a sleeping bag made out of treated creature wool, "you are a mysterious yet unique existence Sunless, being in a corrupted body and yet not being corrupted yourself."
Sunny growled in response before writing in the ground as he sat on a log, surprisingly not feeling tired despite the long day.
"I was put in this body by an equally mysterious existence." Sunny wrote out
It was true since the spell - to his knowledge - was still a mysterious existence despite all the theories and research humanity had come up with or done during the following years since it appeared. Alex nodded and silently did a prayer to the Gods wishing never to be in his position.
"Well then Sunless I must get some rest before we head out tomorrow, good night," Alex said but before he could put his head down Sunny growled to get his attention and wrote:
"Wait, before you rest tell me, what is the name of this area?"
The man had an amused smile before chuckling, "Well, the town I'm traveling to currently is called Wolf Pine, but the forest we're in also has a name..."
Alex paused dramatically before continuing.
"It's called, "The Forest of Blood"."