Swimming casually over the top of the army of crabs, Ergen was pleasantly surprised to find that he had a symbiotic relationship with the creatures. They were so numerous that many of the ocean's inhabitants came to feed on them, which ended up with most would-be predators being killed and eaten by Ergen. Once he was finished eating, the remains would slowly drift down into the army of crabs where they would eat whatever was left of the body. This process would repeat again and again for many hours, making Ergen wonder just why he was beginning to feel hungry all of the time. With that thought on his mind, fought off the crab's predators and gave the crabs his leftovers. And in return, the crabs would lead Ergen on their path through the ocean while drawing in monsters for him to eat, though there were a few unfortunate times when the monsters were to large for him to defeat and a massive amount of crabs were eaten.
Everything was almost pitch black now as either Ergen was to deep in the ocean for the sun's light to travel or the sun had fallen and it was nighttime, though he guessed that it was the latter thanks to his feeling of being exhausted. He'd been travelling and fighting for what felt like a long time now, and he wanted to find an area where he could rest and recover. The only problem had been that there was simply to place that he could hide himself so that he could sleep. He'd passed the end of the coral a while ago, and now there was nothing but dark-grey sand for as far as his eyes could see into the dark waters. Thankfully, his eyes seemed to have been made for this type of environment though, as he could almost see as clearly in the water as he could have while on dry land.
With his movements beginning to feel sluggish, Ergen continued to follow the army of crabs until they eventually reached something that seemed like it could be considered 'safe'. Seeing as he didn't know all of the dangers that the ocean held, Ergen wasn't foolish enough to think that he would be completely protected even if he hid inside of a giant abandoned shell or something. Though, with how weary he was, he figured that one of the many small caves inside of the giant ravine that they were entering would have have to work. It was better than being out in the open at least, and he needed to rest.
Swimming over towards one of the caves on the upper ledges of the ravine, Ergen quickly made sure that the space was vacant and that the cave didn't go very far into the rock before squeezing himself inside. It was a tight fit, but it suited his purposes greatly as he didn't think that he would feel secure in the vast openness of the ocean otherwise. And after he squirmed around inside so that he could make sure that his head was pointing towards the entrance, Ergen closed his eyes, only to be disturbed by something that he hadn't expected to hear at all.
"Ergen..." A woman's voice called out as if beckoning him from a distance, though as he opened his eyes, Ergen found that he was no longer inside of the cave that he'd fallen asleep in. Instead, he now seemed to be in some type of void with nothing but darkness around him as if he was in the middle of a lake of oil. However, he had a feeling of weightlessness while at the same time feeling as if he were floating, so he knew that it couldn't have been oil as he guessed that the liquid would feel the same as water. And as Ergen thought about his surroundings, he suddenly started to panic as he thought that he'd possibly died.
He'd thought for sure that the cave he'd rested in would protect him, but had it actually been the mouth of a monster and he'd climbed into it's throat? He'd thought that it'd looked like part of the rock, but not that he thought about it, he should have been more careful as he thought that the creature that had eaten him had most likely simply camouflaged itself with the same color as the rock.
"Ergen." The woman's voice said more sternly, seemingly in an attempt to attract his attention, and it worked as Ergen turned his body now so that he could the source of the voice that had called out to him. However, when he'd turned, he hadn't expected to find a human woman floating in the oil just as he was. Her light-grey skin seemed to be illuminated against the darkness of the world surrounding them, and hair seemed to stand out as well, which was odd given that it was the same color as the world that they found themselves in.
"What's the matter, Ergen? Surely you still remember how to speak, or have you given into your new role as a dragon entirely?" The woman asked, and Ergen looked curiously at her as he had no idea what she was talking about.
"Who are you?" Ergen asked before stopping immediately, suddenly shocked as his thoughts seemed to boom throughout the world as his words echoed back at him. It was almost as if he were in the middle of a large drum of some kind, and that someone was beating the outside of it while using his words as the sound.
"My name is Echo, the Goddess of Darkness." The woman answered with a sweet smile that showed several of her sharpened canines. "And you, Ergen, are my avatar."
"Your avatar?" Ergen asked, confused by the woman's words seeing as they'd just met. Was he really supposed to believe that she was a god? And what connection did she have with him?
"You are confused, as expected." Echo laughed slightly before floating through the air towards Ergen, and he could do nothing but wait in a paralyzed state as she drew close and hugged his neck. And only now did he realize just how giant the woman was as she stood at least twice his height. Though, her touch felt gentle... yet cold...
"I suppose..." Echo whispered after some time of hugging Ergen. "I must first apologize."
"For what?" Ergen asked, slightly regretting the fact that she was letting go of him as she slowly floated away. "Dream or not, this was one of the first beings that hadn't attempted to kill him thus far in his travels.
"For what I have involved you in." Echo replied in a sad tone.
"Huh?" Ergen asked, unsure of what she ment before his claws reached up to hold his head and his mind started hurting fiercely. "What-?!"
"What you are feeling right now are your memories that are being returned to you, though not all of them will return due to the rules. Unless you win the game, as only then will I be able to return everything that you have lost." Echo explained, though Ergen could barely hear her as his mind flashed with images of things that he'd never seen before. Or at least, things that he'd thought that he never seen before. Buildings and towers the size of mountains, vehicles that moved from electricity and an ocean of crafted stone known as concrete... Humans were everywhere, speaking to themselves and speaking to him... what were they saying? No matter how hard Ergen attempted to make sense of what he was feeling. He couldn't even come close to grasping all of the information that was rushing into his head before the image of an old man and woman appeared in his mind. They looked so happy... yet as Ergen saw them, he felt an incredible feeling of loss that he couldn't even begin to understand. Just what were those people to him? And why... he was... human?
"I'm afraid that this is where the process must end for now, else your mind will be damaged." Echo announced, and the stream of images in Ergen's head stopped instantly.
"Wait, what was that?! Who were those people?!" Ergen asked desperately, not knowing why he so desperately wanted to know. "What game were you talking about before?!"
"Continue to survive, Ergen, and we will meet again." Echo said softly as the world around them started to shatter like glass with light pouring in through the cracks.
"Please, wait!" Ergen pleaded, though Echo was already gone and he found that his dream had ended. He opened his eyes to see the inside of the cave that he'd crawled into the night before, and while he wanted to stay and think about what his dream had meant, he knew that his first priority was leaving the cave so that he could investigate any nearby dangers. Leaving his cave, Ergen discovered that the water was considerably brighter as he guessed that he'd slept until the next day, though that thought was lost when he climbed outside to notice that something was missing. The army of crabs that had been leading his way thus far had disappeared, and with them, his sense of direction disappeared as well. Other than the ravine, there were absolutely no features around him that he could identify, reminding Ergen of the sand dunes that he'd had to climb over when he'd crossed the desert.
With the only clue in which direction to travel in being the other side of the ravine, Ergen sighed to himself before he started swimming. Pushing his nervousness to the side of his mind, Ergen attempted to block the thought of how easy it would be to swim in circles in the area that he was in. Though thankfully that was simple to do as he had many other things to think about, such as his strange life as a human, the future in which he was headed and most curiously, the game in which the goddess spoke of. Just what was it, and was it really the key to unlocking whichever memories that were still locked within his mind? Was it even worth attempting to unlock them? All of these thoughts stormed through Ergen's head as he continued to swim over the barren sea-floor, heading towards the unknown once again yet not knowing that he was quickly approaching his goal... and it's guardian...