After about thirty minutes of shifting from one side of the bed to the other, Alaric finally stood up. For some unknown reason, he couldn’t fall asleep, even though his body was begging for it.

  He let go of his drowsiness and walked to the table. From a drawer, he pulled out a book that looked rather old. Its cover was a reddish-brown color, scratched and worn. The pages inside were made of parchment, many of them yellowed and frayed at the edges. Half the book was filled with writing; the other half remained empty.

  Alaric placed the book on the table and was about to sit down when he realized he needed ink and a quill. He retrieved them from the same drawer.

  After making sure he had everything he needed, Alaric finally sat down.

  With a sigh, he opened the book and flipped to the last page that had writing on it. It read:

  “27 March 1357”

  “Things are not looking good. I don’t even know what I’m looking for anymore. I thought I might find help for the resistance, and that led me on a wild ride across the seas. But nothing of real value came of it.

  “I don’t even remember when I first heard of that mysterious land to the south or when I started to believe it might be what I was looking for. My foolishness has brought me here, in the middle of nowhere. But I’ve come too far to return empty-handed. I’ll have to make the journey into the southern sea and find that place—if it even exists—where help might still be found.

  “It’s said to be at the southernmost point of the southern continent. If people live there—and that’s a big if—they might be able to help.

  “29 March 1357”

  “I think I have no choice but to put my faith in Gail and venture into uncharted waters. He is the best navigator I’ve ever met. If he believes the voyage will be safe and without issue, then I must trust his skill.

  “If I survive this, I’ll be sure to say Gail is the smartest person aboard the Black Crown.”

  These were the last words written in the book. Alaric read them and reminisced over a past that felt like it had happened just yesterday.

  With some effort, he brought his mind back to the present and focused on the task at hand. He opened the ink flask, which had dried out inside. Holding it over a flickering yellow candle, he noticed something odd—he couldn’t feel any heat on his fingers. He pondered this briefly before letting the thought go.

  When the ink had warmed into a jelly-like consistency, he set it down and picked up the quill with his right hand.

  He dipped the quill into the ink, waited for it to fill, then brought it to the book. He paused, uncertain of the date. Eventually, he wrote:

  “March 1367”

  “Ever since I woke up, it feels like I’m still in a nightmare. Yesterday, the Black Crown was caught in a terrible storm. We weren’t prepared for a storm of that magnitude—and the ship sank.”

  He paused, then scratched out the last sentence and rewrote it:

  “The ship sank, but not because of the storm. It was a colossal, whale-like monster that emerged from the depths. Maybe we were so distracted by the chaos in the sky that we didn’t notice the waters below. Whatever it was, we had no chance. The ship went under, taking my crew and me with it. As I sank into the depths, I saw the flag of the Black Crown—the symbol of everything I had built—sinking alongside me. I thought my life had been for nothing, that I would die in this godforsaken place where no one would ever find my body.”

  “But that’s not what happened. Of course, I wouldn’t be writing this if I had died, would I?

  “Somehow, I came back. My body lost all its flesh and organs—only bones remain—but I’m still alive. I don’t know how to explain it, but that’s the truth. And my crew met similar, if not worse, fates.

  “I don’t know whether to be thankful I’m alive or terrified by what I’ve become.

  “Well, I’m too tired to talk about that now. Let’s move on. A lot has happened. My sunken ship surfaced again, as if nothing had happened. My crew survived—if you can call being skeletons, rotting corpses, or fog-like creatures 'alive'. A thick, unnatural fog covered the area, one I could somehow sense through. When another ship entered the fog’s vicinity, I could feel it with a strange sort of premonition.

  “More bizarre than all that—the ship, just wood, rope, and metal—came alive.

  “How? I just want to know… how?

  “How can a ship grow flesh and organs and live like a creature?”

  Alaric placed his left hand on his forehead as if trying to massage non-existent muscles. After a moment of thought, he continued writing:

  “I don’t have the knowledge or understanding to figure these questions out on my own. I’ll have to wait until I find someone who can help me—or figure it out myself.

  “But I have more urgent matters to deal with. From the captives, I learned that Kabul is dead, the resistance is nearly destroyed, and Abu may die any day now.

  “It’s a lot to take in. But the most important thing now is to return to the Storm Isles, where everything is happening. If I take the safe sea route and the winds are favorable, I might make it in just over three months.

  “Abu likely won’t survive that long… but I have to believe he will. After everything I’ve seen, believing I can still save my old friend isn’t so far-fetched.”

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Clearing his mind and focusing on what mattered most, Alaric finally had a clear sense of direction. He wrote one final line:

  “I have a theory. The fog around the ship, the ship itself, and the living flesh deep within the Black Crown—they’re all connected somehow. And it’s related to me. When that unknown ship entered the fog, I felt it. When I stood before the flesh on the sixth floor, I felt the same sensation. And when I willed the ropes to trap the invaders, they came alive and obeyed me. The cannons fired at my command when intruders tried to board.

  “It’s all connected—to the Black Crown and to me.”

  With that, he finished his journaling session and returned everything to its place.

  Still unable to sleep, Alaric sat down in the captain’s grand and ornate seat.

  It was a throne made of the finest black wood, intricately carved and adorned with lustrous white material that contrasted beautifully with the dark frame.

  As Alaric settled into the seat, gazing up at the ceiling, something began to happen.

  The throne began to vibrate. Cracks formed in the wood, and fleshy tendrils emerged from within. Slowly, they reached toward Alaric and wrapped around his bones. He showed no reaction. When the tendrils latched on, he felt a profound relief, as if all his pain had been washed away. The sensation was calming, and Alaric wanted to stay like that forever.

  All across the ship, the skeletal figures felt the same warmth. Some sat quietly together, others leaned against the walls or lay on the floor. A few even curled up inside empty barrels. The tendrils emerged from every surface, reaching for and latching onto anyone nearby.

  Even the corpse-like crew members on the fifth floor, and the fog-like creatures drifting above, merged with the ship once more.

  A deep silence fell over the Black Crown. No sound could be heard—almost as if the ship had been abandoned, devoid of any living soul.

  The moonlight pierced the thick fog, illuminating the ship floating on a calm, quiet sea. The light reflected off the water, casting a picturesque, haunting scene.

  Three days have passed since then,

  Alaric thought to himself as he looked out toward the endless sea. The sun was shining in the sky almost at the top of his head.

  The sunlight was bright and under it many skeleton figures were working hard, their bony arms and legs pulled as hard as they could.

  They were pulling a large net which was filled with hundreds of fishies. As the skeletal figures were pulling hard and the greyish figures pushed the net from below everyone gave it their all.

  With the continuous hard work of everyone fishes poured out on the deck one after the another, their bodies flapping from one place to another. In the middle of the deck where were large hatches that were used to bring large stuff from above deck to the lower floors and vice versa opened up one after another.Then the hatched in the middle where most of the fishes were struggling to survive opened up from the below, giving way for the fishes to fell below. On the floor below the same thing repeated itself, and it kept repeating itself till the fishes reached the third floor which was the last floor with hatches.

  Then, the floor below the fishes opened as the wood bend itself to reveal a gaping mouth with sharp edged wood planks as its teeths. The same kind mouth then appeared at the fourth floor and the fifth floor. Finally the fishes reached the last floor. As they started falling into the wide open, fleshing mouth below that had sharp teeths, each made out of bone spike that could kill a great black shark with one stab munching sounds started to rang across the ship.

  As the figures standing on the main deck and many more standing near the opened hatches and mouths below deck looked down at the fate of those poor fishes they didn't know what to make out of it. They didn't knew if they should be glad that they weren't the ones being eaten or they should be afraid that if they couldn't keep this monster full they might really be sharing the same fate as those fishes soon.

  Two skeleton figures standing on the main deck starred below and say they looked down while one of them spoke,

  "Should that be enough?"

  The other figure reply, "It should be enough, for today" after saying this he add with a low voice, "Hopefully"

  "This nightmare is going ever since i woke up, and it's continuously keep going. How do he suppose to live like this the only time i felt some relief is when that strange fleshy things came out the ship and latch on to me, that's the only time when i feel safe and calm."

  The other figure didn't say anything but agreed in silence.

  Alaric stood at the bow of the ship and looked over the horizon, he still wasn't sure where he is and how are he needs to travel exactly to reach is destination.

  As his thought wonder into the countless times he felt lost in the open sea in his past he thought he haven't changed much, still clueless about the bigger world, not much better than that young man who thought of exploring the world all those years ago.

  After some time Demono came up from the stairs, after moving forward towards his captain and standing by his side he waited for the captain to acknowledge his presence.

  Alaric gave a glance and said nothing, after which Demono gave a report over the current situation,

  "Sir, this is all I have managed to discovered in these last couple of days."

  "According to my investigation into the ship's abnormal nature we have discover it is likely as you said. Black Crown is Alive, and it's presence could be felt across all floors, cabins and any inconspicuous places on this ship. The tandrill like flesh indeed have made their way into every nook and cranny of the ship. And they seems to be the source of the ship's control over itself they acted like muscles and nerves that allow the central body at the bottom to exert control over the whole structure. We have been very careful at not to agitate the ship in any way," After this he added, "According to the investigation it is likely we can't live without this ship." Demone stopped to look at the captain to make sure he was following. After confirming that the captain was listening attentively he continued,

  "The crew, no matter if they are the skeleton, fog creatures or the half rotten corpses. They all lacked the ability to eat and to sleep. And this is something we can confirm to be relevant to our survival. We can't eat but he do get weak, we can't sleep but we do face exhaustion. Which means if we let ourselves be like this be will eventually go mad or too weak to lift even a finger. The only solution to this right problem rightnow is the ability he have to connect with the ship that allow us to regain our vitality and sanity."

  "So you are saying the Black Crown is the only thing that is keeping us alive?"

  "Yes, through the act of connecting our bodies with the fleshy tandrill we can gain the energy we need to live through the Black Crown. That's likely why Black Crown needs to eat so much, It's also filling up the energy demand of the crew."

  "That means we have to keep feeding it thousand of fishes everyday and we also can't leave it as it will caused us to grow weak and loss control?"

  With a slight node Demone replied "Yes, that's likely how it is for now."

  "Hmm, well for now let's keep moving toward the storm isles. There should be enough fishes on the way to catch."

  Alaric looked toward the north and looked worried, he doesn't have to time to care about this stuff. He have a someone who might be waiting for him about to be killed at anypoint.

  This thought ran through Alaric as something had struck him. But it didn't just felt by him alone, the flesh beneath the wood floor he standing on also seems to felt that same thought, rapidly it flowed through the whole ship-like a shock wave-landing at a specific location in the sixth floor.

  After some time the sail automatically change direction, the ship the was moving toward north-west changed it's trajectory to south-west.

  Before anyone could make sense out the this change of direction, Black Crown had choose to go it's own way.