Day scrambled to his feet, and Caster shot up from his sleeping position with a gasp. The creature that was peering into the building from outside screeched, sending chills up Day's spine.
His eyes shot over to the hole in the wall, and without a second thought, he started to dash over to it.
When he reached it, Caster was already in motion as well, and rising off of the floor quickly. Day had to pull him up, and he even shook him a bit to wake him up fully.
They didn't exchange any words. Even if he had just woken up, there was no way Caster hadn't heard that dastardly screech– and Day knew he didn't have the luxury to explain a single thing.
So they started to climb out of the small hole. Only one of them could fit in at a time, but Day didn't even think about it. He just started to shove Caster forward, as if to tell him to hurry up.
Just when Caster was about to exit the building and jump, the right side of the wall holding the front entrance was torn off. Rubble flew away and a cacophony of shattering noises permeated the air with a stroke of palpable dread.
However, the two boys weren't there to see it. Nor were they there to see when the entire wall crumbled and befell the same fate.
The duo dropped to the floor between two buildings and then collected themselves.
Caster yelled in question. There was fear lacing his voice, but also cold confidence and authority– It seemed that waking up to Day yelling had startled him, but he was quickly composing himself.
"What is it?!"
"I don't know!"
The duo heard more terrible noises of rocks being thrown around and shattering on impact with the floor. The creature, whatever it was, was sifting through the pile of rubble to get to the other side instead of going around.
'Why is it doing that?'
Day didn't know, but it was a blessing in disguise. The duo started a mad dash. They weaved through the buildings effortlessly and energetically. Caster didn't seem like he had been sleeping for nearly two hours, and Day, who had been bored up until that moment, had not a trace of that on his intense face.
After not even a dozen seconds, the creature had broken through. There was another screech, followed by dissonant cracking sounds that began to come closer and closer.
Whatever it was, it was fast– and it was gaining on them quickly. Too quickly for them to realistically escape it and hide. It knew where they were, and it obviously wasn't going to give up the chase.
When Caster noticed this, he grimaced, cursed under his breath, and then yelled out to Day urgently.
"I didn't want to do this, but… Split up! I don't know if we can fight that thing, whatever it is… There's no way it's a Dormant Creature. I'll distract it… and try to lose it. Just go towards the wall and we can find each other later. It's fast, but my Aspect Ability… it's fast too."
Day nodded.
"Got it!"
The two split off in different directions. And Day soon heard the sound of Caster's booming voice. It seemed that Caster wasn't going to leave it up to chance, and had decided to purposefully make the creature run towards him. Day wanted to feel reassured, but he didn't.
The two certainly weren't far from each other, but when Day noticed the sounds going in the direction Caster supposedly went… He felt a pain in his chest. He wasn't hoping it chased him or anything, rather, it was different.
It was a sudden thought, but it felt so terribly wrong to simply hope that Caster was able to escape. Day had gained a Divine Aspect… A True Name. Day was never prideful, but he knew how versatile his ability was from his time testing it… There had to be something he could do.
'I can't leave it up to chance… I have to do something! I can do something! '
Day looked up above him to the tops of the buildings around him, and suddenly, he got an idea.
'I'll gain leverage from above, try to stay on top and chase after them… Maybe if I-'
'No, I don't have the time to think. Move, and then make a reason for your movements."
Day shook away his thoughts and covered his remaining hand and both of his feet in light. Within the next few seconds, his body parts grew two-fold, and his five fingers and ten toes gained long nails.
He used the cracks in the weathered stone wall as leverage to climb, and, using his enhanced strength, very quickly reached the top. When he pulled himself over, he realized something worrisome.
Some of the gaps in the distance were too large for him to clear easily. If he wanted to catch up, he would need to move fast, and that wouldn't be plausible if he had to measure his jumps carefully. If he missed and had to take a detour, his effort would either be for naught, or worst case scenario Caster would die before he got there.
He needed to find a solution fast, but he didn't have time to ponder.
He jumped once to a new building, jumped again to clear a gap in that building's roof, and then jumped a third time to reach the next. Some buildings' roofs were more intact than others, so he didn't need to do this for all of them, but he could see it… Soon, there would be no path towards where he needed to go but one with a jump he couldn't quite clear.
'This isn't fast enough… What can I do? What can I do?! Come on, Day, think…'
Day gasped, and then focused his attention on his legs. What if he covered his leg in light? Wouldn't that make his jumps more powerful? It was only a theory, but he had to try.
'Even if it's only one leg, it's fine. If covering myself in my light really does give me three fourths of my usual strength… The extra jumping power will be useful.'
His light faded away from his arm, and then all of the claws faded away. The sparks rose into the sky as they were left behind by Day's speeding figure and fizzled out of existence.
Seconds later, his light started to form around his leg. It started from his right foot and covered it completely, but Day felt something peculiar when it finished. His light… Hadn't run out like it had at the Academy. Not yet, at least. He could feel it coming up, that same sensation he felt before when he brought about too much light, but right now; he knew he could do more.
So he did.
His left leg was also slowly enveloped by his warm, luminous light. Soon enough, both of his legs had grown twofold and were covered by a pure, white radiant shine.
With that, his journey had nearly doubled in speed. He jumped from building to building effortlessly, like he was jumping on clouds. His legs weren't burdened by the long jumps, by the influence of his light's protective layer, so he didn't even need to worry about being careful not to injure himself.
By moving like this for the next few minutes, he was finally, despite the speed at which the two were moving and making noise, catching up. His choice to move from above was paying off.
He landed on another building, and then the monster came into sight. Caster, luckily, was nowhere to be seen. It seemed that he was a fair distance away, but the creature was terribly fast.
Even though it was slowed down by the many turns it was taking, it didn't matter how fast Caster was. If the creature knew where he was, eventually, Caster would run out of essence, and then he would die.
Caster's observation that it wasn't dormant… It had to be correct. The pitch black, ant-like creature was quite large, and emanated beastly, ravenous power.
It was struggling to fit in between the narrow passageways, and was destroying parts of the building as it bulldozed through in an attempt to reach Caster. The creature, however, apparently wasn't quite strong enough to simply ram through the buildings entirely. That meant that it, even if it wasn't dormant, likely couldn't be more than Awakened.
Loud clicking sounds were coming from its mouth incessantly as it ran. Not only that, but its mandibles were clacking together. That noise was much quieter, and was being drowned out by the sound of the clicking, but it was there– and it was terrifying.
Day was keeping up with the creature, but he was also staying away. Who knew if the creature would be willing to give up the chase on Caster to go after Day if it noticed him? He didn't want to risk it. Not until he actualized a plan.
The main problem Day was faced with was that he had no idea whether his light, in any form, would be able to pierce the creature's skin. It was a bug-like creature, and from what he remembered from his many Dream Realm lessons, they were usually prone to having tough skin. How would a Sleeper like him ever possibly manage to impale what was probably an Awakened Nightmare Creatures skin? Even if he snuck up on it, there was no way he would be able to get a deciding blow just by being behind it. If he didn't kill it in one hit, or do something different, that would get him killed.
But he was running out of time.
The creature was increasing its effort at each passing moment. Day wasn't entirely certain, but he felt like maybe it knew it was getting close to Caster– Even if it couldn't see the Legacy boy.
'I can't have this… I need to do something quickly. It's back… It's back is wide, isn't it?! What if I try to jump on and tear through?! Even if I have one arm, it doesn't matter. I can do it. I have to do it!'
Day started to move faster, and promptly caught up to the creature. Even when he neared it, it didn't seem to notice him. It was too tunnel visioned on its pesky target to take its attention away from the effervescent chase.
'Damn it all, I don't want to make jumping on creatures' backs to kill them a habit…'
'But as Caster's one and only companion, it's my duty to do everything in my power to keep not just myself, but also him safe.'
'Once again, it doesn't matter if I'm unqualified to do it. I have to do this. Even if it's difficult, I have to do it!' '
Day pushed his Aspect Abilities capabilities to their utmost and covered his remaining hand in light. Then, he created claws on his fingers and toes. His mind was pulsing, and he was nearing his limit– but it was just enough. He was able to create just enough light for his plan to come to fruition.
With a vivaciously beating heart and a mind empowered by his conviction– he neared the creature's scurrying figure by pathing himself in a way that would allow him to catch the creature at a turn…
And leaped onto the creature's back.