Shadow Slave

Bringing the ketch to the towering side of the battered ship... the Chain Breaker... Sunny and Nephis lingered for a while, looking up. Both felt more than a little bit of apprehension, but at the same time, they were relieved.

Traveling across the perilous expanse of the Great River on a mighty ship would be much more reassuring than on a small, damaged sailboat.

Eventually, Nephis summoned the familiar golden rope and glanced at Sunny.

He nodded, then hesitated for a moment.

Bending down, Sunny picked up Ananke's black mantle and looked at it with a forlorn expression. It was the only thing she had left behind... the last reminder of her existence, if one didn't count the ketch itself.

It was also the vestment of the priests of the Nightmare Spell.

He remained motionless for a while, then silently wrapped the mantle around his shoulders.

As soon as his body became shrouded by the dark folds of the nebulous fabric, Sunny felt a strange shiver run down his spine. He had donned the black mantle in honor of Ananke, to have something to remember her by, but the act suddenly seemed deeply symbolic.

It was as though he was devoting himself to Weaver... which Sunny had no intention of doing.

And there was another, far more chilling detail.

'This mantle...'

Was he just imagining things, or was it eerily similar to the tattered rags the Mad Prince wore in the nightmare? It was hard to tell due to how faded and sunburnt the rags were, but if he just pictured what they might have looked like decades, or even hundreds of years ago...

the end, he chose to

will not define

thrown the rope up, tightening the loop at its end around the broken railing of the ghost ship. She gave it a couple of tugs,

Sunny followed.

jumped down on the deck of

feeling gripped

was very similar to the one he had spent so much time on

slightly different. However, it was hard to

in soot, with deep grooves cutting into its surface - as if some enormous beast, or a legion of them, had torn through the ancient

jagged edges hinted that something dreadfully powerful had either broken into the cargo hold, or

not a soul in

Then, without saying anything, he

discovered anything except

out

empty. There's no one

soon as they climbed aboard. She looked around, seemingly more relaxed, and then said

"Let's explore properly."

they went, they were met with signs of dreadful devastation. Sunny knew for a fact how enduring the enchanted wooden walls of the Chain Breaker were... he shuddered when imagining what kind of forces could have brought

and rammed an immortal Saint

was nothing left to tell them where and when the ghost ship

vessel to such a degree, nor did he know what kind of defenders could have resisted their assault. Whoever they were, the aftermath of their

there was good

deck and rested in the shade