Chapter 18: Stranded
It was cold. Very cold. The winter wind bit into him like a ferocious animal, the expanse of snow stretching endlessly before him. Dolin shivered violently, his teeth chattering so hard he feared they might crack.
A whole month.
He had hidden the boons he gained from his nightmare. His true name. His aspect. His memories.
He hadn't been able to summon a single Memory during that time. To manifest the [Traitorous Edge] or the [Bonefiend's Embrace] would have crumbled his facade. He couldn't even check the Awakened Memory of the 6th tier he had gotten from the Puppeteer, the [Crown of Quiet Resolve].
He quickly reached from within, tugging on one of the memories residing in his soul sea.
A sudden whirl of sparks manifested in the air. He had been completely naked before, unprotected and helpless against the cold of the winter.
From the sparks came an eruption of oily black tentacles. They wrapped around his naked body, covering him completely.
Dolin gasped as the tendrils began to circle his thighs, waist, and chest, covering every inch of exposed skin. Following the tentacles, jagged plates of bone began to manifest in place over the tentacles. They snapped into place, forming a cage of bone plating over the armor of tentacles.
It was a grotesque sight, a suit of armor that looked as if it was consuming him rather than protecting him.
At least I am warm.
He flexed his fingers, covered in clawed bone gauntlets that moved in sync with his own hands, the black tentacles twitching in the gaps of the joints.
"I'm still not going to be able to get used to this," he muttered, his voice echoing hollowly inside the bone armor.
[Bonefiend's Embrace] was only a Dormant Memory of the second tier, an armor he had obtained from the Grasping Bonefiend in his first nightmare. In this moment though, it was more valuable than anything in his arsenal, as it protected him from the cold.
"Now for the rest," he whispered.
He tugged on another memory from within his soul sea.
A sudden whirl of sparks ignited in the wintery air, spinning around his head. As the sparks grew stronger, they began to solidify into a dark and heavy weight upon his head.
The [Crown of Quiet Resolve].
It was regal and terrifying, a band of black metal beset with shining onyx gemstones that glowed with a dark light.
He looked at the runes of the [Crown of Quiet Resolve.]
Memory: [Crown of Quiet Resolve]
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Type: Tool
Memory Description: [A Puppeteer once schemed against a righteous king, bringing upon the end of his kingdom. Many fell to its influence, becoming prey to their own doubts. Only through quiet resolve was this Puppeteer vanquished.]
As the crown fully formed around his head, he could feel the effects.
His thinking was clearer than ever, his focus amplified. The howling wind, the blinding snow, everything. He could focus on it all, without interruption. It was definitely a memory that enhanced his mental faculties.
Finally, he summoned his final memory. The [Traitorous Edge], an awakened sword of the first tier that he had obtained from killing a sealed awakened prisoner at the start of his nightmare.
Dolin finally began to move. Staying in one place was dangerous, especially in the Dream Realm. The dark shapes moving in the distance didn't make him feel any better. Those Wilderness Survival lessons were really kicking in right now.
He moved quickly, making ground. What surrounded him was a world of desolate white. Huge jagged formations rose from the ground. Even ruins of a group of some type of motorized vehicle could be seen. He could see dark shapes moving in the distance, casting long shadows against the wintery expanse. He made sure to avoid those, straying away from them.
After about an hour of moving, he could not find a citadel. This confirmed his concerns. While in the Academy, he had studied a map of the Dream Realm given to him by his instructor. This area.
It has to be.
It was Antartica, the region that was entirely lost to the dream realm. Apparently, there had been a gate crisis in Antarctica years ago. Although not as intensive as the current calamity in the Dream Realm settlements, it had been horrifying.
And currently, Dolin was in it.
Just had to be this damned place. My chances of getting to a citadel are nonexistent. Damnit.
He had learned that there were no known citadels in the Antarctica region, and the information on it was minimal, as it hadn't been explored as much as the other regions of the dream realm.
Of all places, Dolin landed in this one.
Dolin was stranded.
He knew he was in Antarctica, but he didn't know exactly where.
Even though this region was mostly unexplored, with there being less chance of finding a citadel, Dolin still had to move. Staying in one place without shelter would be dangerous.
After traversing the stretch of white for about an hour, Dolin saw a flicker of movement in the distance.
Two creatures were trekking the wintery expanse, feasting on what seemed to be the corpse of another beast. They looked like emaciated, hairless wolves with translucent skin that glowed with a faint light.
Easy enough.
They were small, even a Dreamer like himself could take them out. Now that he had all of his memories out, they wouldn't be a problem.
He closed the distance in a blur. All of his sparring with Jaren and the combat training classes paid off.
The first one didn't even have a chance. He slashed its throat, causing a burst of liquid to shoot out of its neck before its corpse fell to the ground.
[You have slain a dormant beast, Glacier Scavenger.]
The other one lunged, its bony claws scraping against the bone plates of his armor. The tentacles beneath the armor rippled, absorbing the impact.
Dolin spun, his sword carving an arc through the air, decapitating the beast with a single motion.
[You have slain a dormant beast, Glacier Scavenger.]
What weaklings.
The dormant beast he had first faced in his first nightmare had caused him way more trouble. But now, he felt that he could handle them.
"Ah right. The soul shards!"
Dolin quickly carved up the corpses of the two beasts he had just killed.
Eventually, he came upon two glowing crystals from within the beasts. He crushed them with his armored fist. He felt the soul fragments enter him, a small trickle of power.
[... Your soul grows stronger.]
He checked his runes, and sure enough, the counter had changed.
***
Name: Dolin
True Name: Blight of Conviction
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Core: Dormant
Soul Fragments: [2/1000], [117/5000].
Memories: [Traitorous Edge], [Bonefiend's Embrace], [Crown of Quiet Resolve].
Echoes:—
Attributes: [Mark of Divinity], [Puppeteer].
Aspect: [Doubt Weaver].
Aspect Rank: Divine.
Aspect Abilities: [Doubt Manifestation].
Flaw: [Lost Embrace].
It was only two, but the fight hadn't been that hard. With time, his soul core would slowly fill up.
He spent the next few hours navigating the frozen expanse. He found three more of the wolves with translucent skin, adding to his soul fragment counter.
But as the sun, or at least he thought it was the sun as the snow was shrouding the light, began to leave, he realized something.
"I need to find shelter," he whispered, his breath sending out a thick plume of white mist.
He pushed forward, legs burning. He found himself a jagged ridge of black rock that sliced through the snow like a fin.
Halfway up, he saw it.
There was a dark maw on the side of the cliff.
A cave.
Dolin scrambled toward it, his bone-clad fingers gripping the frozen stone. He tumbled into the mouth of the cave, the sudden absence of wind making his ears ring.
The interior was vast and separated into multiple caverns.
But he did not relax, his focus becoming sharpened.
He froze.
In the silence of the cave, he heard a sound, a low growl.
Nestled in the back of the cave lay the frozen remains of dozens of creatures, surrounded by bones and half-eaten corpses.
Huge-multifaceted eyes, eight of them, opened one by one, glowing with a sickly green light. The creature had six huge legs and was covered by an obsidian carapace. It stared at Dolin with a ferocious gaze before letting out a shrilling shriek.
He wasn't alone in this cave.