She was in pain. The rope that had so effectively kept her from falling had still badly cut into her flesh."Ah!" Sassa exclaimed as she tightened her turban around her waist; she was trying to ease the pain, but there was nothing she could do about the redness. Once she had put her shirt and coat back on, the young woman looked up to examine the hole through which she had come, ending up at the bottom of—what she guessed was—a ship.
What is this place? she wondered once again as she observed the beam of blue light passing through the opening. Aren't we supposed to be underwater? How am I still breathing?
No answer came to her, except for a dull sound. She heard scraping noises in the darkness—the blue light wasn't enough to push it back.
The noises were getting closer. Scratch! Scratch! Scratch!Distressed, Sassa backed away, retreating into the darkness to flee from those eerie sounds.Soon, she clearly heard the scraping—like tiny claws rasping against wooden surfaces—on the walls to her left, her right, above her, and finally at her feet."What the hell is that?!" she cried out, frightened.
The distance between Sassa and the opening grew; and then, as they emerged into the azure glow, the creatures behind the sounds were revealed.Small crabs, their large pincers gleaming like diamonds, threatened her with the stingers on their tails—tails that resembled those of scorpions.
"No way—monsters like that can't be real!" she shouted.
The crabs rushed at her. The young woman, turning her back to them, plunged into the darkness. Step by step, Sassa weaved her way through the cluttered debris, but unfortunately, she tripped. She crashed to the ground. The crabs leapt onto her. Sassa rolled to the side and managed to avoid the attack, which instead shattered the rotting floorboards. More crabs rained down on her, and the thief performed a backward roll, only to end her escape against a wall.
"This can't be happening!" she gasped in despair.But in her panic, her hands searched blindly in the dark—looking for a way out—and they landed on the hilt of a sword, she realized.About a dozen crabs were descending like a downpour; without hesitation, Sassa slashed into the fray, fierce and determined. A sharp horizontal strike. A diagonal one. And finally, a vertical blow.The crabs hit the ground, twitching. The remaining crustaceans, startled by the young woman's boldness, paused.
"What's the matter!? Come on then, you filthy beasts!" she shouted.Fueled by a newfound courage, the thief used it to hack down the rest.
Soon, the sword's blade became caked with the tender flesh of the crabs, who then chose to retreat. They lined up in a single file and moved toward the opening where the blue light streamed in.
"That's right!" cried Sassa, euphoric. "That's right! Get out of here! Get lost! You're nothing against me! Because I can't die!..."
Then, the young woman fell silent. I can't die here... not now. I have to get rich. I made a promise, she told herself.
The crustaceans completed their retreat into the halo of light; at that moment, Sassa noticed the glittering of their pincers intensify, and then she felt the surrounding temperature begin to rise. She sensed that something was happening, and furrowed her brow.
"What the...?"
Before her eyes, she watched the flesh of the gathered crabs liquefy, merging into a mass of flesh. Then, the heap began to reshape itself, stretching toward the hole.
What the...?! What is that thing?!
The flesh extended like a pillar but stopped just short of the opening; then spasms followed, sending the column of flesh into a frenzied dance. This grotesque dance stripped away the excess—until it revealed the silhouette of what now became unmistakably clear: a powerfully built man.
Sassa was left speechless.
The man's face emerged beneath the crab flesh, which slid off his skin. His closed eyes opened to reveal their vivid, deep green intensity. A gaze brimming with undeniable power matched the greenish hair and eyebrows that rippled gently. And what added even more to the man's imposing presence was his height: nine feet tall. Sassa suddenly felt very small.
When the last of the flesh dripped down onto the rotting floor, the thief was able to admire the scale armor that adorned him. A belt fashioned from an arrangement of seashells held at his waist what appeared to be the shaft of a mace forged from a pale stone. The mace matched the hues of his shoulder guards and boots—those boots, notably, reached up to his knees. If I try to run, he'll catch me easily, she admitted to herself.
With a sharp tilt of his head, the man cracked his neck."Ah, what a relief," he said with a wide smile. Then, he turned his gaze on the young woman.As soon as she met his green eyes, Sassa was struck by a chilling certainty: He can kill me!
But he remained silent for a moment. A moment that felt far too long for Sassa, as her plans and hopes began to crumble in the presence of this armored man. His stare seemed to pierce through her, as if he could see everything inside. Like a mouse under the hypnotic gaze of a cat, Sassa began to lose her composure… She even let the sword slip from her hand.
"Well then," the man began, in a voice surprisingly warm and friendly. "I believe you understand, young lady. You're right to be afraid of me. I am a warrior, and the exercise of strength has been my daily life since early childhood."
He grabbed the shaft of his mace and raised it above his head."I know you're a trespasser. But I have a proposal for you..."
"What?" Sassa gasped, stunned.
"You will have all the riches you desire—if you serve my ambition."
"I... I don't get it..."
"The choice is simple: serve me, or die."