The ocean carried them off to random places, the waves crashed into their makeshift raft, slowly breaking it down. In fact, the only reason it wasn't broken is Nephis shot her flames at the waves, but they couldn't do that forever. Not only because some were far too big but also because Nephis was already low on essence.
The ocean wasn't the only problem though. Nightmare creatures lunged at them without pause, trying to rip them apart. Cassie was tending to the injured Sunny by ripping a part of her cloak off and using it as a rag with the cold ocean water. Still, she wasn't safe from defending the boat either. The times Nephis missed a creature, it lunged at her, or more so Sunny, leaving her no choice but to slash in the direction of the noise and hope it worked.
So far, it had, but the way things were progressing, both of them knew how things were going to go soon.
And then Cassie heard a gasp. Nephis instantly started using her flames to propel the raft in a direction, her essence being burnt through by the second.
"Hold onto Sunny for me… and whatever you do, don't let go."
Cassie took ahold of Sunny, but she didn't trust her strength enough, so like a koala, she wrapped her entire body around him in a grasp like a giant hand. Nephis picked her up and started to blast up using the last of her flames. Cassie didn't know what she was planning or what she might have seen, but she could feel the flames getting progressively weaker and slower. That's why she was surprised when Nephis threw her and Sunny.
The sounds of projecting stopped as the change in wind happened once more. Sunny and Cassie were on an unknown surface, but Nephis was falling. Before she could fall though, Cassie jumped out and grabbed her by the hand, luckily not missing it.
"Let go, Cassie! I'll be fine, if you—!"
"Can you just shut up already!"
Cassie gritted her teeth, the veins in her frail arms starting to come up as she pulled. Nephis couldn't tell if she was crying due to the waves already wetting their faces, but by her quivering lips and her eyes, she could tell.
The slippery surface of the stone statue Nephis saw and brought them to was slowly making her lose her position on it, slowly sliding off it instead.
"Please… don't throw your life away."
Nephis scoffed from underneath, her face tensing as she began to use her strength to pull up.
"Throw my life away..? I could never do that! Who do you think I am!"
Both of them gritted their teeth, but sadly, it was to no avail. Eventually, the slippery surface caused Cassie to slip off, still holding Nephis. Both made a steady path shooting down into the abysmal ocean.
Then Cassie felt something grab onto her leg. She was yanked up along with Nephis, slamming onto the stone surface. It was something slimy and rubbery. She prepared for the worst, rushing to where she left Sunny. Grabbing his arm, she rushed back to Nephis, only to realize she only grabbed his arm. By that, she means there was nothing else attached to it.
"This makes it the fourth time, right..? Or maybe the fifth. Well, it doesn't matter anyways. You saved me that one time, so let's just say it's even now."
A hoarse voice came out. It sounded almost like nails scratching on a chalkboard, but Cassie recognized it nonetheless.
Waving his now tentacle arm around and leaning back on a dead mutated octopus-like creature, Sunny once more had awakened at the best time possible.
---
"Damnation!"
Nephis shot flames at his tentacle arm, causing the corruption to burn away, giving him a human arm once more.
With a forced smile and his voice still hoarse, he let out a sigh.
"I really liked that arm, y'know? It was a first for me!"
Surprisingly, Nephis smiled before walking up and helping him sit up.
"Knowing you, it would probably be used for something not very appropriate, would it?"
A grin spread across his face as he painfully stood up, limping as he walked to look over the edge of the statue.
"Even I didn't think of that… you have such a dirty mind, Changing Star."
Nephis joined him, seeing if she could spot any sort of land.
"You must have rubbed off on me… actually, you were right, that wording does sound quite wrong."
Cassie yanked them back, a forced smile on her face, obviously angry for some reason. He could almost see an anger bulge on her face like one would see in comics.
"You just got up from what we thought was a coma… we almost slipped off and fell to death… we're practically out of essence… nightmare creatures are everywhere… there's no land nearby… and you think now is the time for jokes?"
….
"Yeah..?"