Shadow Slave

A small wooden vessel was resting on the sparkling water. The seven suns were rising from the distant depths, and the world was painted in the lilac hues of early dawn. Illuminated by that beautiful light, the vessel seemed like an illusion.

"What... is this?"

His hoarse voice was full of disbelief. It was just too improbable, to find an empty boat swaying gently on the waves just when his essence had run out, and despair had taken hold of his heart. The Great River was inconceivably vast, and yet, they had just happened to find themselves a mere hundred meters away from a boat at that exact moment? Even when [Fated] was involved, the coincidence seemed too convenient. It was to such a degree that Sunny even considered that he was hallucinating... wouldn't be the first time, anyway. Maybe the Sin of Solace had learned a new trick.

However, Nephis saw the boat, too.

She hesitated for a moment, then said numbly:

"...It's a ketch."

Sunny was about to ask what the word ketch meant, but he was too tired for unnecessary questions. It was probably a type of boat, regardless... Nephis knew about these things, considering that she had even built one for them, back on the Forgotten Shore. It was probably also a part of her Legacy training.

The two of them remained still for a few seconds, then swam toward the... ketch. Well, Nephis was the only one swimming while supporting Sunny - he just weakly moved his legs to help her a little.

Soon, they reached it. Sunny placed his palm on the hull of the sailboat, still unsure if it was real. However, the dark wood felt smooth and solid to his touch. He traced his hand across it, both stunned and relieved.

'It might be a trap...'

Even if it was, they had no choice but to climb into the ketch. It was too small to protect them from great abominations like the Azure Serpent, but anything was better than nothing. More than that... the ketch couldn't be as simple as it looked. It was drifting in the harrowing waters of the Great River without a scratch on its hull, after all. A mundane boat would have been destroyed in a matter of hours here. Even the piece of flotsam that Sunny had once used as a raft, which was tough enough to withstand the nails of a Master, was turned into tiny splinters. It had to have been a part of a large vessel before turning into flotsam, too, and that mysterious vessel had ended up being destroyed.

Plus... the ketch was not really drifting. It was staying in place, unaffected by the current of time. So, it was certainly special in some way.

A tentative spark of hope ignited in Sunny's heart.

Despite the modest size of the wooden sailboat, its sides were too tall for them to simply climb over them, especially in their weakened state. However, a rope ladder was conveniently lowered into the water near the bow of the ketch, as if inviting them in.

Sunny and Nephis glanced at each other. His paranoia was acting up - not without a reason - and from the looks of it, she felt the same way. But there was no decision to make.

Since salvation miraculously presented itself, they would be fools not to accept the unexpected gift.

Nephis pushed Sunny toward the ladder, and then helped him climb up.

Falling over the side of the ketch, Sunny sprawled on the wooden floor. The feeling of something solid under him was both unfamiliar and heavenly. The gentle swaying of the boat was like a lullaby.

'Ah...'

A moment later, Nephis awkwardly climbed over the rim and tumbled down, landing squarely on top of him. Sunny let out a weak groan.

"Ow..."

They remained motionless for a few moments, catching their breaths, then slowly extricated themselves from each other and took a cautious look around.

The ketch was not too big, about seven meters long. Its layout was very simple. There was only a single deck, with no roofed interior or cabins. The deck was completely open, with two masts - a longer one and a shorter one - rising into the air like slender, dark pillars.

Everything was made with a mundane, but exquisite level of craftsmanship. The wooden surfaces were tastefully engraved, showing all sorts of flowing images, now smoothed out by the wind, water, and passage of time. The ketch seemed like the loving creation of a supremely skilled artisan, even if it had seen better days.

One look was enough to tell that the wooden boat was very old. However, it had been maintained with the utmost care, remaining in near-perfect condition.

Sunny was musing about who could have taken care of the ketch when his gaze finally reached the stern, where the steering oar was supposed to be. Unlike the Chain Breaker, there was no runic circle for the helmsman. Instead, there was only a very mundane wooden bench...

And there, on that bench, a corpse was sitting with its head hung low.

His body suddenly grew stiff.

'W-what...'

Sunny was momentarily paralyzed by shock.

Because that corpse... it looked eerily familiar.

It was shrouded in a dark mantle, which made it hard to determine whether the body belonged to a man or a woman. All that he could see was that the person was of small stature, and terribly thin. Their long white hair moved slightly in the wind, and their face...

The face was obscured by a mask of black lacquered wood. The mask was carved to resemble the face of a ferocious demon. Its teeth were bared, with four fangs protruding from its mouth, and there were three twisted horns rising from it like a crown. Inside the black chasms of its eyes, there was nothing but pure darkness.

It was Weaver's Mask.

And the corpse was just like the one he had found beneath the ruined cathedral of the Dark City, all those years ago.