Shadow Slave

There was a lot of work to be done, and not enough time. The night was already approaching. Sunny and Nephis hastily cleared one of the compartments - the one that corresponded to the captain's cabin on the actual Chain Breaker - intending to use it as shelter.

Too tired to cook, they ate a cold supper and went to sleep. Sunny did not forget to summon Saint and Fiend to guard them, while Nightmare protected their dreams.

In the morning, both felt more refreshed. Their bodies had mostly recovered from the terrible strain put on them by the storm. Most Ascended would have been rendered weak and helpless by the savage cataclysm for weeks, but Sunny and Nephis each possessed astonishing vitality - he because of Blood Weave, she due to the restorative power of her Aspect.

They got to work as the seven suns slowly rose from the gleaming waters.

On the first day, they planned to clear the main deck of debris. With Sunny, Nephis, Saint, Fiend, and Nightmare all working together, the arduous task of moving terribly heavy pieces of wreckage was not too hard. It took longer to sift through them, separating the things that had to be disposed of from those that could be of use later.

Even though neither Sunny nor Nephis knew how to repair the siege engines, there was a weak hope that someone in Fallen Grace would.

The pieces of splintered wood seemed useless at first glance, but it was still the mystical wood that the Chain Breaker had been built of... simply tossing something like that into the water did not sit right with either of them, not even mentioning how precious of a resource wood was in the Tomb of Ariel.

There were bent and torn pieces of a strange, supremely durable metal as well. Those were also worth keeping.

In the end, they abandoned the upper deck and started clearing the main cargo hold instead. By the time they were done, it was night again, and both were tired.

...That night, they made a fire under the branches of the sacred tree, and Nephis cooked them food. Her cooking was as delicious as ever, and the quiet rustling of leaves made for a tranquil atmosphere.

was the first time since the dark island that they shared a proper meal with just the two of

strange... Ananke had not been with them for long, but her absence felt like a gaping hole. Perhaps it was because Sunny and Nephis had witnessed her as a frail old woman, a vigorous matron, a charming young lady, and an innocent

now behind them, and new hardships awaited ahead. Time was relentless,

of debris, they could neatly store everything that was valuable enough to hold on

of the sacred tree and sipping on

of the two mess halls. After that, however, Sunny and Nephis stopped - they decided to leave the rest of the inner compartments alone, at least until reaching Fallen Grace. They briefly considered cleaning one

nights in close proximity to each other, anyway. Plus, it was safer - neither of them knew when a sudden attack could come,

And more familiar.

fourth day, they started to work on the

was much more arduous of a task than Sunny had imagined... but, unexpectedly, he turned out to be excellent at it. Who would have

thing Sunny had expected when starting to learn the mysterious sorcery of the Demon of Fate, but that was exactly the side

the Chain Breaker were. Not to mention that they had

was accomplished by Nephis with the help of the materials they had brought from Weave

done with everything

burn marks and scars on its hull, and the main deck still gaped with wide

hands, serving as their vanguard. Nightmare was hiding in the shadows nearby, while Fiend

runic circle at the stern of the ancient vessel - the circle itself was inactive, but it was still the natural position to take if one wanted to hold the two steering oars of the flying ship. Granted, one of those oars would be useless for now, since

standing

hard not to feel after

"Are you ready?"