Sunless Sea Adventures: The Life of Barefoot Benjamin

by theandrews9603

Orphaned by the zee and disease, Benjamin joins an urchin gang, where he gains the nickname 'Barefoot Benjamin'. He rises to the top of the gang, but he longs to zail the zee like his father did. What new adventures lay ahead, beyond the light of Fallen London?

PROLOGUE: A BREATH OF EMBERS

Benjamin's father promised he would return with a cure for Mother's illness, but he never did.

"We'll see the lamp of his ship again," Mother said. She could scarcely breathe, and when she did, embers of her soul escaped her nose: a symptom of her illness, animescence. It slowly burned the internal organs. She had faith that her husband would return in time even when her veins began to glow under her skin. And at the end of her life, as Benjamin watched the glow completely fade away, she turned to ash in his arms. In that moment, in that final release of his mother's pain, Benjamin knew he was an orphan. He could do nothing but weep in the crushing knowledge that he was alone.

Embers floated in the lamplight, the remnants of her soul. Benjamin hadn't believed her when she promised she would always be there. But with each breath of embers he took, her soul became a part of his. Her promise was kept.