Shadow Slave

Three months later, Sunny was back at the castle.

Well, to be precise, he had returned here once before, to buy a few items that were hard to come by in the ruins. However, back then, Nephis and her cohort had been away on a hunt.

No such luck today. The moment he had been dreading for so long was finally here.

Hearing Changing Stat's voice, Sunny slowly turned around, glanced at her, and forced out a smile:

"Hey, Neph. Long time no see."

He tried to sound casual, but a slight tremble betrayed the storm of emotions raging in his heart.

Why did she have to be here?!

The turmoil of their sudden meeting was exasperated by the fact of how different they looked. The past months only made Nephis appear more radiant and splendid. Her white armor was pristine and graceful, her silver hair clean and combed. Sunny, on the other hand, looked like a pile of dirt that had somehow come to life. Both he and the Puppeteer's Shroud had seen better days.

He didn't want to see her, but even more than that, he didn't want her to see him in this sorry state. What if Neph gets the ridiculous idea that he was somehow miserable after falling out with her?

Nonsense! He was doing better than ever. He lived in a palace, ate delicious food every day, and had even become incredibly wealthy. If anyone should be miserable, it would be her…

"You do realize that you said that out loud, do you?"

Sunny blinked, remembered where he was, and stared at Changing Star in shock:

"Huh… what?"

She smiled with a corner of her mouth.

"You just zoned out and mumbled "why did she have to be here" under your breath. That was not very polite."

Sunny hid his embarrassment behind a grin and said.

"Yeah, well… I meant it."

Neph sighed.

"I'm glad to see you too, Sunny. It's good that you're alive."

his

you didn't expect me to

looked at him for a

I knew that

a moment and added in a flat

all, a cockroach like you is not easy

Sunny scoffed.

"Now who's being impolite?"

stared at him in confusion for a couple of moments,

I meant it as

***

Sunny wanted to deny it, he had desperately missed her calm presence. Somewhere along

her was

though the intensity of it all diminished, the future that Cassie had foretold

into Changing Star

he was gone, but it seemed like it was a

as well. The months he had spent hunting monsters in the absolute darkness of the cursed ruins turned him stronger, smarter,

a little bit

human on the Forgotten Shore had killed as many powerful Nightmare Creatures as he had in the same

go on a tangent and forget where you are

flinch, Sunny realized that he had been silent for a long

say something. Like… how have you been? No, that's

before he could speak,

to the Bright Castle?

of his head and scrambled to find an

you know. Just… doing

She blinked.

"Shopping?"

did that

Sunny's eyes widened.

say that out loud

and looked at Changing

knew that a habit of talking to myself would be so

next to him, the shadow was having a swell time basking in his anguish. It was shaking

Sunny was

have some soul shards to spare, so I