[Captain John Blake]

Some lonely rays of sunlight penetrated inside the little storeroom where Nameless were sleeping. But they weren't capable to illuminate anything. The shadows surrounding the boy became only darker and deeper.

*CRRRAW*

Suddenly Nameless opened his eyes and stood up. *Clack* *Clack*

He looked around but still couldn't find the source of the noise.

*Clack* *Clack*

Finally, his eyes, until now a bit cloudy and sleepy, regained some focus and he looked up on the entrance to his temporal dwelling. He saw a pair of sharp, bird's claws. The bird was hitting slightly the trap door with its claws and beak.

"Sho! Go away!" – For some unknown reason Nameless shouted loudly. 'What am I doing? Shouting towards a bird…'

Suddenly the bird stopped, and a black pearl-like eye appeared in the fissures of the trap door. It was scrutinizing the boy. 'What a hell…?'

It wasn't a gaze that a normal beast was capable of. It was full of intelligence and understanding.

*CRRAW*

With another caw the bird disappeared. The boy remained immobile for some moments and then directly exited the room recalling the instruction that James told him yesterday. The little incident with the craw was immediately left on the back of his mind.

The deck was lonely and empty like the day before. Nameless sat down bellow the central mast and waited for someone to arrive.

"Yo, already up, Boy?" – A cheerful voice averted him about the new arrival. A moment after a huge belly appeared in his field of vision, and only after that James grinning face also made its appearance.

"Now we only have to wait for other hundred and something people."

Nameless hadn't any specific reaction, so James just sat down nearby and waited like the boy. – "Is it always so lonely? The ship I mean…"

'This boy is strange. Well I've seen a lot of homeless kids with all sort of brutal and bloody experiences, but they are still different from this…' – "Ah…? ...What…? No, no, the rest of the crew is in another city, so here there are only three people on without counting you: me, Doc, and Captain. Normally it's livelier here."

"Doc?" – Asked the boy.

"Exactly. And he is right behind you." – Said James without even looking.

Nameless jumped up like on a mole. There were only the wooden must behind him. 'Like expected.'

"He is still behind you, Boy."

Instinctively Nameless wanted to look behind another time but suddenly something attired his attention.

'What is…?' – There was no-one behind him but then he looked down he saw the problem. 'My shadow.' It was denser than normal, and one couldn't see the flour under it. It was like if some sort of substance was covering the shape of his shadow.

"Pretty smart." – Commented James from his position. – "Come on, Doc, just stop toying with the recruit."

The shadow suddenly became normal again and a fresh gust of wind caressed his neck from behind. – "This time I'm really behind you, Boy."

"AAAAh!" – With a short scream Nameless fell, hitting painfully his face against the floor.

James pointed his finger in the direction of the new arrival. *Bzzz*

A small lightning shoot from his finger and was followed by a wave of insults.

"Damn it, you f*cker, I will murder you, you and all of you family, your friends…" – But James just shot another small lightning. – "In that case you will have to kill all the members of the crew, after that, you will have to survive through the battle against the Captain, and in the end of this heroic feats you will still have to kill yourself, since you are one of my close friends, sh*thead."

The young man didn't answer.

Meanwhile Nameless stood up. He looked back and saw a young man talking to James. 'He is Doc.'

Suddenly the young man looked in his direction and appeared in front of him. – "Nice to meet you, I'm the doctor on this ship. You can call me "Doc", and the one who shots lightnings…just call him "Pig" for convenience."

*Bzzz* And another wave of curses submerged the deck.

"Well, I hope you can survive this our small trip this time…" – And with this creepy remark, he completely disappeared like if he never existed in the first place.

'Will he try to kill me? I didn't do anything to…' But the James's voice interrupted his thoughts. – "He won't try to do anything to you. It's only that the trip itself will be…very dangerous for all of you."

James closed his eyes and waited. Some people started arriving on the ship. Some of them still had many problems after the yesterday's beating, but still brought their hurting bodies here.

The appearance of people was accompanied by the noise but is was calmed down by a nearly unnoticed rumbling of thunder.

Once the deck was somehow full, and someone started to inquire of what were they waiting for, James stood up.

"Silence!" *BROOOM*

"Hereby I officially welcome you on the Sorrow of the Black Sea. Before I show you where, from now on, you will be living, our Captain wants to tell you something."

*CRRAW* Already familiar to Nameless sound captured everybody's attention.

The door of the captain's cabin slowly opened. A tall and well build mand appeared. He had black hear, but from the distance Nameless couldn't distinguish the details of his appearance. On his shoulder stood a crow. Strictly speaking the crow was far more menacing than the captain himself.

*CRRRRRRAWWWW*

Suddenly the gloomy atmosphere of the ship disappeared at once, and every single person on the deck sensed an invisible pressure on them. It was if the sky itself was pressing on their backs, and someone was forced on the kneels. Others resisted.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

…

Seven seconds.

…

Ten seconds!

The pressure was suddenly lifted. The sweat was covering Nameless. His legs trembling and some small blood vessels broke in his left eye.

'They just like kicking us here!' He thought, then he saw a pear-like eye looking at him.

The man also turned in his direction. The he smiled evilly. 'Can he read my thoughts or something?'

The man's smile became even larger.

'Fuck, he really can…' Slightly desperate, Nameless couldn't do anything now, so he could only sigh and try to stop thinking.

"Hi everyone on my ship. It's not like I have something very important to say to you, but I wanted to…" *Kough* "…test you…" *Kough*.

This time one didn't have to read thoughts to understand the grim and beaten expressions on everyone faces.

'You're just a sadist, Cap.' Thought "loudly" James.

Some black lines appeared on the man's face.

"My name is John Samael Blake, the seventh captain of the Sorrow of the Black Sea. The trip will be dangerous for all of you, and everyone could die."

He paused.

"But, everyone who survive, could become a regular crew member of my ship."

Suddenly the crowd exploded in complete excitement. - "Did I hear wrong?! A regular crew member?!" -

"This a dream! You! Punch me in the face, I don't believe in it."

Nameless was somehow confused and asked someone. – "Aren't we already crew members?"

The man he asked looked at him if he was speaking with an idiot but considering the relatively young age of the boy still answered. – "No, now we are only a temporal crew-members. Didn't you read it on the recruitment papers?"

"I don't know how to read."

"Ah, that's explains a lot. Well temporal and regular crew members world's apart. We're trash with nothing apart our lives and they are nobles with power and wealth."

"Well I'm sure there are a lot of benefits."

After saying this he turned around and ignored Nameless.

'Wealth and power…I presume that it's something good.'

*BRRUM* James attired the attention with his most effective method.

"Now, everybody, follow me. I will show you where your lodgings are." – The mass of people, and Nameless, followed the large man inside the insides of the ship. One would assume that everything would be cold and, moist but it absolutely wasn't the case. Everything was dark but still gave a comfortable vibe.

Rows of hammocks silently greeted everyone, but since people here were used to sleep under the sky and along some small streets in the city, no one complained and were even happy.

"You will sleep here. Our first stop will be the Blackwater City, and the next stop will be the Seven Star Archipelago."

"Until we arrive to the Archipelago you don't have any specific mansions." – He turned around and was about to leave but stopped. – "One last thing! Be wary careful at Blackwater and try not to die."

With that he exited these improvised "living quarters".

After a moment of silence, everyone started to choose their beds. Nameless also found a few sacks in the corner and stayed there.

'Seven Stars Archipelago…Blackwater City…Danger…Well I suppose that it's still better that dying on the streets of Lamar-Tir. Maybe I will become powerful and wealthy…' He yawned and slowly fell asleep.