Kade's consciousness rustled from the tiredness, his sense of being emerging into his soul. His mind racing to take in his surroundings. And soon after the spell whispered its welcome, the world formed around him.
Or rather, he formed in the world.
His sensations emerged, gathering intel about the new environment.
Cold, weightless, and wet.
'Did it send me into a bloody river!' Kade concluded, opening his eyes to the dream realm around him.
The blacker only came less lustrous. Vision evaded him completely in the low light.
The tide around him pulled faster and faster; it had only calmed for a second, but soon Kade found himself being carried against its whims. The powerful tides were strong beyond belief, and despite clawing himself in the directionless hellscape, Kade could not find freedom.
His struggle was fruitless, as a significant problem hindered his intentions.
'I CAN'T SWIM! WHY ON THE DEAD GODS' DESECRATED LANDS WOULD THE SPELL DO THIS!'
Maybe he should have taken more classes than combat; he could worry about that later. Right now, he needed fresh air and a knowledge of up, down, and left to right.
Suddenly [Vigilance] sparked, his body strengthening for the upcoming danger.
Kade was left clueless as to what threatened him until—
SLAM
Pushed by the tide, Kade brutally smashed against something hard, solid, and sharp; the force took the air out of him. The cold, eerie water now entered his lungs, desperate to drown him.
Kade clawed at his throat, yet no air came.
He was lost; time would only tell when he would finally sink.
In the dazed confusion, Kade's control of [Battle Lust] loosened, and the alien fury surged, gnawing at his mind.
'I haven't fought, haven't brawled! I need to crush them! Tear the lifeblood out of my foes and BATHE in it!'
In the chaos, his instincts rose to the occasion, and he fought against the waves. Whether he was winning or losing in freeing himself from its grasp was indecisive, but fighting against the fate either way is what mattered.
The only thing that called to him in the rushing of the waves was [Vigilance]. The strength that came back and forth like the ocean drowning him was the only order he could attach to.
The tide smashed him again and again into hard, sharp spires that surged the sea. Kade could only understand it being similar to the hard, polish-like stone of the mountain in his first nightmare; instead, the surface was messy and filled with jagged outcrops.
If Kade was in any sense of mind, he would describe it like being in a washing machine, blindfolded and accompanied by pebbles and broken glass, left stuck to roll with the debris. Kade felt the warmth of blood drift away as the sharp stone cut into his skin.
[Scarred] saved him from the worst of it.
Weakness clawed at him, and his lungs screamed for air. Kade gritted his teeth, [Unyielding Asura] filling his body with a pulse of energy that brought it from despair, his mind being forced to function against the pressure.
'I have to get out of here. I HAVE TO!'
[Vigilance] sparked once again, and the Asura was ready for it.
The [Rings of the Ravaged] formed onto his hands, forming the mystical blood-red gauntlets, and feeling the call of his attribute, Kade readied himself.
And plunged his hands into the rock.
The sharpened gauntlets tearing into the spire, Kade felt the broken rock be carried off into the tide. Yet now he was latched onto the solid, the current now only shifting his hair and coat; it still pushed against him.
He was safe...
Kade just had to breathe now.
He pulled out one of the gauntlets and plunged it back into the stone, only about thirty centimeters above the first, and then again and again. Kade climbed the spire like a gremlin climbing a giant, one knife in, out, in, out. Stabbing away at higher ground.
Kade did this and continued his climb, despite the uncomfortable feeling of drowning that muddied his thoughts, yet [Battle Lust] gave a madness to the reason.
'Climb, I've got to climb!'
Who knew insatiable violence would be solid ground for hope?
Any other sleeper would have drowned long ago, yet Kade kept his brain functioning with his aspect. Supplementing the lack of oxygen coming to his body. The vast well of [Unyielding Asura]
He ascended further and further, and finally, he breached the surface. Freezing winds tore at his soaked skin, stinging bruises and fresh scars alike.
He coughed violently, expelling a gallon of seawater from his lungs.
Wheezing, he finally drew a gasp of pure, precious air.
His sight finally received more than just empty blackness, the world revealing itself to him.
A pitch void for a sky, with scattered light of millions of stars that peppered its boundaries, their combined effort shining down the luminescent that penetrated the black murky waters of the vast sea.
The wonder hitting his mind like clarity, letting itself regain control of [Battle Lust]
'.... --This isn't anything like I expected.' Kade had always thought he would be thrown into a vast forest, terrific tundra, or perhaps a haunted ruin of an ancient castle. That seemed like what the media had portrayed the dream realm as.
But it felt alarmingly empty, apart from the black sea that stretched to the horizon, ominous as to what creatures littered its depths.
Kade could think once he was out of water and less likely to be snacked on by an unknown horror.
Either way, the scariest thing he should expect was an awakened creature; the spell wouldn't send them off to die against the more disgraced ranks of nightmare creatures, even though awakened could still be a terror of their own. He could most likely run.
'Let's just get on and climb already.' Kade was already sick of the Blackwater despite just visiting.
Climbing more like an acrobat than an ice climber, Kade scaled the stone rather quickly. He pulled himself over the top, facing up to the scary night, sighing a breath of relief.
Kade let himself enjoy the moment, fresh air, and lack of water. It should have been somewhat of a rest, but it felt wrong.
His attribute was telling him something else.
'Now that I think about it, why is [Vigilance] still activated?'
The rush of the waves, loud as ever, began to shift. A new sound broke through the tidal chaos.
Ear-piercing scratching against the stone, getting closer and closer.
'Finally, I was waiting for some combat!' He could finally somewhat halt the progression of Battle Lust. Ridding the curse of the flaw temporarily.
Kade rocketed from the ground with new energy, his stance ready for the poor monster that was destined to fight him. His muscles share his statement and will, ready to burst into action.
The monstrosity arrived. A giant, lanky, aquatic arm emerged from the side of the spire, its webbed talons crashing into the stone, easily grinding away at the rocks.
...
The monstrous limb pushed the nightmare creature over the ledge, the head of the beast shooting up, a yellow-green creature that seemed like a combination of an armed eel, leech, and razor blade. Its wide, still eyes stare into Kade's soul.
Clearly beyond his limits.
It was a fallen nightmare creature. A foe two ranks above him.
'You've got to be shitting me.' Kade mused, its dreadful shadow darkening Kade's surroundings further.
Its wide maw opened to a cluster of shredded teeth, a maw of pure ivory death. Its long tongue opens up to drip down to the stone.
The Beast raised its arm, the talons dauntingly raising above Kade.
His muscles tensed on instinct. His body didn't need to be told it was about to die. He readied himself to dodge the strike, but it didn't land.
The fallen monster suddenly halted. Its toothy maw slackened, the grin faltering as it turned its head downward.
'Wha-'
Suddenly a giant black tentacle rose and coiled around the monster like a colossal serpent.
Kade watched in shock. The spiked claws of the tentacle slicing into the monster, it cackled with its tongue drooping, laughing at its doom. The appendage crushed the delusional beast in its vice.
The creature hit its limit, and its bulging eyeballs exploded out of its head, dropping down to the ground with a splat. The ferocity dying with the monster, its corpse now lacking the strength that threatened to slaughter Kade moments ago.
Its corpse crashed into the stone, being dragged back, sliding off the stone spire, leaving a trail of blood, before its remains crashed into the Black Sea.
The tentacle, now having slaughtered the monster, slithered back into the sea without a sound, leaving only silence...
Kade didn't dare to break it.
...
He wanted to laugh about how absurd the situation was or scream and tear his hair out. Either way, he had found himself in a place beyond sense.
One where a fallen monster was slaughtered easily in front of him.
A place where he could achieve nothing.
'Sent from one hell into the other...' Kade didn't know if he would relive that or take another sucker punch from Caster, and honestly, he was considering the latter.
And the worst part? The sea was quiet again like nothing had ever happened.
The spell taunted him with the tension, and he refused to let it go.
'Fuck you, spell. If you want me to not sleep, I'll just do that,' Kade cursed. All sense of safety and sense left after the encounter.
Who knew if the tentacle or other creature would rise from the depths, eager to consume his soul?
He couldn't rest, not with the ocean watching.
So Kade refused to sleep, standing still, ready for anything.
He stood still, watching the waves for hours on end. The Black Sea retained peace above the waters, while Kade was unaware of its treacherous depths.
Eventually, in the distant sky, its edges turned a subtle grey. A pale sun blooming from the horizon.
And so, Kade watched the first sunrise of his winter solstice.