Shadow Slave

Grasping the coin in his fist, Sunny took a step forward, then cautiously walked around a thick vine sprawled across the floor of the small cabin.

Or was it a wall?

Since the ancient ship was laying on its side and at an angle, it was hard to differentiate the floor from the ceiling. The surface beneath Sunny's feet was skewed, forcing him to bend to be able to keep balance. The piles of debris and the vines weren't making things any easier for him.

By now, Sunny was almost sure that the vines were a part of a larger creature. His suspicion only grew when he climbed through the narrow doorway and left the cabin. Finding himself in a wide corridor, Sunny felt that the sweet smell permeating the murky air became much stronger.

Here, everything was covered by a thick layer of reddish moss, with twisted vines growing through it as they stretched in every direction. Sunny could help but feel as though he was now inside some giant being, with the wooden carcass of the ancient ship serving as its bones, the moss representing its flesh, and the vines being its veins.

The warm breeze that blew through the wreck at rhythmic intervals reminded him of slow breathing of a slumbering giant. It came from somewhere deeper in the ship, bringing with it the sickeningly sweet smell, and then disappeared for a dozen seconds, only to appear again.

'Let's, uh… not do anything to awaken that thing, then.'

Sunny thought for a few moments, and then decided to keep both shadows wrapped around his body instead of sending them to explore the ship. In situations where a confrontation with an unknown enemy could happen at any moment, having them close by was of paramount importance... at least that approach had saved his life many times in the past.

Taking a step forward, he felt the moss spring under his foot, and then swayed. His vision blurred slightly…

'Argh…'

His worse expectations did not come true. Unlike the Blood Blossom, the tiny grains of pollen — or spores, or whatever it was that he had breathed in — had not tried to take root in his lungs and grow through his flesh. Instead, they simply poisoned him.

the ground, his body

wasn't

poison entered his bloodstream, Blood Weave went into a frenzy. It seemed to really dislike anything alien invading its territory. Slowly but surely,

just had to endure the

balance and waited for his vision to become clear again. After a minute or two, Sunny slowly exhaled and

picked up a second coin from the moss and

forehead smiled at him with a carefree expression. Sunny

are you so happy about,

he noticed another coin gleaming in the moss a couple of meters further down

left these coins here like breadcrumbs to lead

'...Very convenient.'

other to the third coin, picked it up, hid it in his pack, and then cautiously moved

approched a wall with a massive gate barring it. The wooden surface of the wall had cracked and was bent outward, as if something was pressing heavily on it from the other side. The vines out here were especially thick and vernicose, shining in the beams of sunlight that fell through a wide hole in the

a grim expression on his face. Although he could not see through

the main cargo hold of the ancient ship. And in

time to time came simultaneously with the

trying to open the door, he jumped up, grabbed the edges

was reasonably sure that a treasure such as miraculous coins would not have been stored in the main hold with the rest of the mundane cargo, anyway. Unless he was absolutely certain that he had no other choice, he was not

opinion about his abilities, but not so high as to forget all fear. That thing inside was not for him to fight, at least