Shadow Slave

'Well… at least they have good voices… yeah…'

The young women sang beautifully. Their voices flowed and resonated with each other, creating harmonies that made him feel tingly. The song was neither sad nor happy — instead, it made Sunny feel a deep, poignant longing. A wistful sigh escaped from his lips.

'Maybe… maybe I should go introduce myself?'

Since these beauties were having a party, surely they wouldn't mind some company?

Sunny lingered for a few moments, then frowned. Slowly, he looked down and studied his shadows, which were silently trembling. His face darkened.

'There is just this one problem…'

How the hell was he able to hear the singing so clearly? His cabin was separated from other neighboring compartments by thick alloy bulkheads. The entrance hatch was securely fastened, isolating him from the rest of the battleship. No sound should have been able to penetrate inside so easily.

Suddenly, an old memory surfaced from the depths of his mind. For some reason, Sunny remembered how the members of the cohort had sealed their eyes with wax before traversing the dark river below the Hollow Mountains.

'Odysseus…'

His frown turned into a deep scowl. Sunny hesitated for a moment, then summoned the Undying Chain. As the lusterless, bleak steel of the slender armor weaved itself from light and encased his body, his thoughts seemed to have turned a little clearer.

The [Chains of Longing] enchantment provided the wearer with a high amount of protection against mind attacks.

However, contrary to his expectation, the beautiful singing was not affected at all. Sunny could still hear it clearly. He still felt moved by the alluring voices.

'Wait… what language are they singing in?'

Strangely, Sunny found himself unable to understand the words of the melodious song.

Even stranger, he had somehow failed to notice that fact earlier.

The words of the unknown language seemed to seep straight into his mind, unobstructed. They echoed and resonated with each other there, making him feel a bit weird. However, their influence was not invasive or harmful. Instead, it was rather… pleasant.

Sunny blinked.

'I'm hearing voices.'

Then, he tilted his head a little.

'...Does hearing voices constitute an auditory hallucination?'

Wasn't there a rule concerning exactly these circumstances in the safety manual? Right… he was supposed to immediately inform the nearest navy officer in case something like that happened.

Sunny sighed, then stood up. No matter how much his heart desired to meet the beautiful singers, there was no way he was going to follow the call of their soothing song.

There was already someone who was aggravatingly adept at tugging on his heartstrings. His heart was all but overcrowded.

Sunny left the cabin and went to find an officer to report his hallucinations to. After a few steps, his foot suddenly made a splash, as if it landed into a shallow puddle. Looking down, Sunny saw a thin layer of clear water covering the floor of the passage ahead of him.

His scowl deepened.

It was still night, so the passageways of the colossal battleship were mostly empty. Of course, activity never ceased on a vessel of this size. The crew slept in shifts to make sure that a complete complement of sailors and specialists always tended to its internal systems and manned the posts.

One such post was right ahead, behind a corner. There was not a soul around, and the thin layer of water made Sunny feel uneasy. After hesitating for a moment, he sent one of his shadows to take a look.

To his relief, the security checkpoint seemed in perfect order. A junior officer in a blue uniform was standing near the wall, studying the panel mounted on it, or maybe simply staring at the wall in boredom.

'Does he not see all that water?'

Or… was the water a hallucination, as well?

Sunny gritted his teeth, then walked forward and approached the security checkpoint.

"Excuse me."

The officer turned around and looked at him without any particular expression.

"Yes?"

The man was seemingly in his early thirties, with pale skin and dark, slicked back hair. There was nothing particularly memorable about him, except for how still his face seemed to be.

Sunny sighed, and then said awkwardly:

"That, uh… the safety manual says to inform the nearest officer if I hear voices. Well, I do. Hear them. So…"

The impassive man suddenly became more lively. A strange gleam appeared in his eyes.

"Oh? What do you hear?"

Sunny rubbed his face.

"...Singing. I hear beautiful singing."

The officer stared at him for a few moments, then nodded.

"I see. In that case, please follow me to the upper deck."

Sunny shifted his weight to take a step forward, but then lingered for a moment and leaned slightly to the side instead. Glancing behind the naval officer, he took a short glance at the man's shadow.

The shadow appeared exactly how it was supposed to appear. It swayed slightly on the surface of the water, staring at Sunny as shadows often did.

Nevertheless, he felt very disturbed, for some reason. His intuition was not exactly ringing an alarm, but it had become strangely alert.

Sunny looked back to the officer.

"Why the upper deck?"

The man smiled.

"Please, follow me to the upper deck."

'Something is… wrong.'

Sunny frowned, trying to understand what was making him uncomfortable. Was it the navy officer's unblinking stare?

Unblinking… yes. The man wearing the uniform of a junior officer had not blinked once since they started talking.

Sunny stared at him for a few moments, and then took a tentative step back.

"...I'd rather not."

The polite smile slowly disappeared from the officer's pale face. His dark eyes turned a little hollow.

"Oh."

As Sunny backed away under the man's glossy stare, his communicator suddenly vibrated and let out a sharp sound.

The navy officer did not seem to react to it at all.

Sunny, on the other hand, recognized the sound immediately.

'Crap…'

In the next moment, the lights in the passageway blinked in a specific pattern and simultaneously went out, submerging it in utter darkness. The battleship vibrated intensely for a split second, and then went still as its reactors were shut down.

Absolute silence enveloped the mighty vessel.

Condition Black had gone into effect.