Shadow Slave

With an empty stomach and a head full of thoughts, Sunny returned to the center of the platform and sat down. After a while, he beckoned to his shadow and said:

"Wake me up if anything happens."

Then, he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. His consciousness quickly slid into the sweet embrace of darkness, giving Sunny some well-needed rest.

In the middle of the night, however, a sudden impulse stirred him awake. Sunny jumped to his feet, his groggy mind full of tense apprehension. He was afraid that the owner of the giant tentacle had come back to finish the job.

Or maybe some other horror from the depths had sensed him and decided to snack on human meat.

However, the sea was quiet and calm. He didn't hear any abnormalities around the knight's statue.

"What is it?" Sunny whispered, addressing the shadow.

The shadow silently pointed him in a particular direction.

Turning his head, Sunny squinted. He quickly understood why it was a good idea to wake up. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to see…

Out there in the distance, a few kilometers away, a small orange light was shimmering in the darkness. Its reflections were rising and falling with the movement of waves.

It was too far away to make out any details, so Sunny just stared at it for a while. Pretty soon, the light disappeared.

"Other Sleepers? Natural phenomenon? Or some monster laying a trap?"

Memories of nightmarish deepwater creatures immediately came to his mind.

Shaking his head, Sunny lay back down and attempted to return to his slumber. However, this time sleep was escaping him. Pangs of hunger were still not unbearable, but slowly becoming more and more intense. The thirst, however, was worse.

up until the sun rose again, sending the dark sea in

***

back from their hiding spots and rushed to the giant

and then walked to the opposite side of the platform to take a look in the direction where

rose naturally and formed something akin to a hill. On top of that hill, an especially massive coral pillar rose to the

just high enough to stay above water in the

Sunny's head, but at the end of it, only two questions were really

to find the way through the labyrinth and cover that distance during the day? And more importantly, should he even attempt to

far into the labyrinth as the

statue as he probably could be in this strange place. The only problem was, he was going to die soon

problems were solvable if he were to venture down. He could desalinate the seawater in a number of ways taught to him by Teacher Julius, with materials that were present pretty much everywhere in the Dream Realm. He could also prepare traps and hunt a pincer monster to eat. With their massive size, just one of them would be enough to feed

a routine: hunting by day, returning to the statue at

had no way of giving him hope. If he was destined to spend the rest of his life in

rather just jump down and end it right

light. And if Sunny was really trying to attempt it, he had to do it before the

segment of the labyrinth was going to

in his choice, Sunny decided to leave the headless statue the next morning. He

eyes and concentrated his

***

dark sea. Sunny was stirred awake by the shadow in time to prepare himself for the crushing winds and

mood. But this time he was too thirsty to think about anything except for freshwater. Staying low so as to not be blown over the edge of the platform, Sunny cupped his hands and waited until they became filled with rainwater. Then he raised them to his mouth

sea. If anyone were to see Sunny now, they

in the middle of the platform, enduring its rage. More than once, a tall wave would crash into the headless knight's neck, threatening to wash him away. But Sunny held tight

dissipated, all of his

there was no time to

few stragglers quickly following

course in all possible forms of traversal. Additionally, Sunny had already