Sunny and Nephis both agreed that climbing down the wall was too dangerous. If they happened to stumble across one of those creatures without a way to retreat it wouldn't end up too great for them.
Sunny could feel the subtle influence of corruption in their souls through their shadow. Some, far more maddening than any he had felt.
'Encountering fallen creatures is definitely not something I expected from my first visit to the dream realm.'
They followed the curved wall north, finding a suitable tower to climb down from.
Looking down at the dark figures moving through the city, along with the massive spire piercing the heavens, Sunny almost felt compelled to shudder.
The only thing keeping him from falling into fear and running back to the labyrinth was knowing about the human castle.
Soon they approached one of the mighty towers built into the wall. It was circular in shape, its towering figure standing taller than the impenetrable wall by a dozen meters. The entrance was supposed to be a wooden door. However, at some unknown time, it had been reduced to splinters.
Beyond the door was darkness.
It felt strangely ominous. Sunny could peer through darkness like it was nothing — as long as it was mundane, that is.
He shouldn't have felt hesitation, but yet…
Cassie tapped on his shoulder lightly. Both he and Nephis turned to her, gripping their weapons, the midnight shard and the dream blade, respectively.
"What is it, Cassie?" Nephis asked before Sunny could.
Cassie pointed beyond the doorway leading to darkness and whispered.
"Listen." After losing her sense of vision, her other senses, like hearing and smelling, seemed to get stronger to compensate. As a result, there would be times when she noticed danger before both of them.
Sunny nodded and commanded his shadow to sneak inside the tower, using its sense of hearing.
Inside the tower…
Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.
Sounds of something being devoured escaped from the tower, flesh and bone ground by sharp teeth. The sound of flesh being torn apart gave way to his imagination. There had to be some sort of dangerous nightmare creature inside. However, Sunny felt no maddening corruption from the living shadow he could feel. It was as pristine as any of their souls.
Sunny's shadow slid deeper into the tower and expanded its sight. Inside the tower, countless corpses of many abominable creatures of corruption lay on the stone, in puddles of their own blood.
Then, he saw the pile of gnawed bones scattered on the stone floor. The next thing he saw was a fire burning inside a circle of stone shards.
Next to the fire sat the creature that had caused the mess, tearing into a well-roasted rib.
It was a human. A young woman, in fact, not much older than the three of them.
Sunny watched as she bit straight through the body of a nightmare creature, tearing flesh from bone and gushing meat down like water.
"What did you see?" Nephis asked in a whisper.
"It's either a very human-like gluttonous demon, or a human girl."
Nephis stared at him for a few seconds, then turned to Cassie and told her to follow.
They cautiously approached the entrance of the tower, unsure what to do next.
There were two outcomes.
Either they had encountered another human in this hellish place, or they had come across a nightmare creature so horrifying and powerful that it could hide the scent of its corruption from Sunny's shadow sense.
In that case, they were toast either way.
They had to risk it.
Sunny followed Nephis inside the darkness. Immediately, the appetizing scent of roasting meat hit his nostrils.
His stomach growled.
Sunny took a quick step to the side, getting out of the way of the bone that had been hurled toward him.
"Is someone hiding in the shadows? Come out to play," she said.
Beyond the darkness, she was still sitting in a relaxed pose. However, the subtle tension in her muscles was hard to miss.
Sunny glanced at Neph and followed her example. Dismissing their weapons, the three of them walked slowly into the light of the campfire, their clear human visages revealed to the stranger.
The stranger looked at them in surprise.
"Humans? Huh… how unexpected."
Sunny was still staring at her athletic body, her muscles rolling under her olive skin. She was tall, incredibly so, even taller than Neph was. Her hazel hair was tied in a simple braid. And uh… There was a lot of skin on display, since she only wore a provocatively short tunic with a couple of added pieces of armor, which consisted of bronze greaves and vambraces.
Sunny could confidently say in his heart that she was attractive, her figure radiating immense vitality.
Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his neck. Looking back, he could see Neph pinching him stealthily.
He coughed inside his mind. 'Objectively speaking, of course.' He thought.
Sunny let his gaze drift over to the meat roasting over the fire — which prompted Nephis to let go of his nape, though some of the pain still remained.
The girl smiled and shook her head.
"Excuse my lack of manners…"
She stood up from her seat, the fabric of her tunic shifting slightly to reveal her toned quads and thighs.
Sunny didn't let his gaze linger, lest he be caught again. Not that he wanted to stare at her massive legs. However, the host was very tall, forcing Sunny to crane his neck to look at her.
She gestured towards the fire.
"Here, why don't you take a seat?"
They hesitated for a moment, until Nephis stepped forward and asked the question plaguing all three of their minds.
"Are you human?"
The young woman raised her eyebrow and responded.
"What else would I be? A shadow horse that can take the form of a human?"
Hearing the strange description, Sunny was compelled to imagine what a shadow horse who could take the form of a human would look like. -
He imagined a tall and graceful stallion with a dark mantle as dark as the night itself.
Then he stopped.
The crimson light in the dark steed was truly something of nightmares.
Realizing that none of them responded, she spoke again.
"Of course I'm human. I'm offended you even had to ask. Come sit down; I can't look down on you guys forever."