Shadow Slave

It seemed strangely wrong for something as immense as the Night Garden to move. And yet, it did — slowly at first, and then faster and faster, the titanic ship began to glide across the undulating waves. The oceanic waves themselves seemed impossibly small as they broke against its living hull, merging into a flat aquamarine plane while stretching toward the distant horizon.

It was as if an entire island suddenly decided to move on, complete with a city full of millions of people. The groves were moving, the meadows were moving, and the lakes were moving as well... Sunny knew that there was nothing odd about it, logically, and yet his mind was failing to reconcile the inconceivable scale of it all with what was happening.

”This world... it truly knows how to make one feel small, does it not?”

And that was coming from someone who could turn into a hundred-meter-tall colossus whenever he wished.

A loud cheer reached the runic hall from the upper decks of the Night Garden, where people had poured onto the promenades along the edges of the titanic ship to watch it depart from the Eastern Quadrant. The atmosphere, despite the dangerous journey that awaited them, felt bright and festive. For some of them, this was just another journey. For some — those who had boarded the Great Citadel in the Eastern Quadrant as refugees — it was the first voyage. Their continent was liberated from the clutches of the Skinwalker now, but their cities and homes were already gone, so the newcomers were eager to experience the seas and build a new home for themselves on the Night Garden.

Sunny had only spent one morning on the titanic ship, but he could already tell that life here was one of starkly opposing extremes.

The Great Citadel itself was idyllic and beautiful beyond belief, while the storms assaulting its impregnable hull and the Nightmare Creatures besetting it were furious and chillingly horrifying. Somehow, though, the dread of the dark and tumultuous seas only made the vibrant beauty of the Night Garden more comforting.

Plus, it belonged to Soul Reaper Jet. She had come far from the days when people who knew of her — mostly Awakened — treated her with distaste and aversion due to the ruthless cruelty of her murderous ways. Now, there was no person in the world who did not know the Soul Reaper, and her reputation, while not as loud as that of the other great champions of humanity, was stellar.

People treated her with the respect and esteem reserved only for those who had earned it. Jet had always been a professional, and her profession was serving humanity — she had a spotless track record of being good at her job, as well, so being under Soul Reaper’s wing meant being safe. That was why refugees were happy to settle on the Night Garden and become a part of the community here.

”What is this feeling?”

Hiding in Jet’s shadow and watching her steer the titanic Citadel while giving her subordinates commands, Sunny felt his heart swell a little. He felt like a proud parent... proud child? Proud student or a comrade, perhaps.

In any case, Sunny had to get down to business. He was reasonably sure that the sixth fragment of Weaver’s lineage was hidden somewhere on the Night Garden, or at least somewhere where the Night Garden could help him reach. At the moment, Sunny was being suppressed by the War Realm, so he could not search too actively... but that did not mean that he could not do anything. As the Night Garden slowly moved along the coast of Australia, Sunny extended his shadow sense in all directions — or at least tried to. The hull of the ancient vessel was interfering with his perception, so he could not cast a wide net. He could still explore the ancient vessel bit by bit, though, finding paths where the living wood did not block his senses.

The Night Garden had countless decks and cavernous holds, with bustling activity of a thriving city. It was also full of strange and wondrous things, so finding one well-hidden anomaly here was going to be much harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

Sunny could sense the entirety of a haystack in a split second, find the needle, and count each individual strand of hay on top of that... actually, he already had a needle — Weaver’s Needle — so he would not need to do something so senseless, to begin with. However, finding the fragment of Weaver’s lineage was going to take a lot of effort and meticulous work.

Sadly, an annoying distraction kept invading his senses when he tried to focus.

At first, there was the sound of wings.

Then, there was the sound of small talons click-clacking on the wooden floor.

Then, someone aimed a persistent stare at him.

’It’s alright... I am hidden in Jet’s shadow. No one can see me.’

But then, someone jumped onto the shadow, walked this way and that across its surface, and even pecked at it with a sharp beak a few times.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Sunny focused on his immediate surroundings.

A black bird was standing on top of him, looking down with unreadable round eyes. Its inky feathers glistened in the morning light.

Crow Crow pecked Jet’s shadow one more time, then spread its wings and cawed loudly:

”Sah-nee! Sah-nee!”

Sunny gritted his teeth — metaphorically speaking — and produced a quiet whisper: ”Get off me, stupid bird. Go away!”

Crow Crow stared at him some more, then waved its wings a couple of times.

”Bird! Bird!”

Sunny sighed.

”Yes, you are a bird. I don’t even know how you noticed me, but please, stop blowing my cover and go annoy Jet, instead.”

Crow Crow tilted its head, then hopped up and down the shadow a few times and flew up to perch on Jet’s shoulder.

Giving Sunny a smug look from his perch, it then cawed again:

”Bird! Jet!”

Sunny suppressed a groan.

Something was telling him that concentrating on the search was not going to be easy.