Shadow Slave

A beautiful smile illuminated Neph's face, making her look much softer and younger than she usually seemed. In all the time they knew each other, Sunny had only seen her smile a few times, and every time he did, a hint of regret brushed against his heart. It was a shame, for such a brilliant smile to appear so seldom…

Maybe in her dreams, Changing Star allowed herself to show it more often.

Looking at the reception desk serving as her cover, he tried to make his voice sound calm and asked:

"What are you doing here?"

Nephis lingered for a moment, and then looked down.

"...Hiding."

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"From what?"

Her voice grew quiet as she answered, still looking at the ground:

"Bad people."

He sighed.

It seemed that the memory this nightmare had spawned from belonged to a much younger Nephis. Something similar must have happened to her when she was a kid… and so, although Changing Star looked like her adult self, she was simultaneously a child. That meant that she was not supposed to have any memory of meeting and getting to know Sunny, and yet, she did.

Dreams were strange that way. All kinds of contradictions could exist within them, merging things that could not coexist in reality.

Sunny lowered himself to the ground and sat next to Neph, leaning on the surface of the desk beside her. He remained silent for a while, and then said with a reassuring smile:

"Well… don't be afraid. I'll hide here with you. I am very good at hiding, you know. If bad people come, they will never see us."

Nephis slowly shook her head.

"I don't know…"

Sunny crossed his arms.

with them. I am very good at

move for a long time, and then suddenly

a dream, isn't

tried very hard to suppress a curse. That question was… extremely

This was Nephis, after all. Even the Awakened Terror of her First Nightmare had

composure, Sunny simply nodded. Nephis

to be real. Strange… I haven't dreamt in a long,

different. The darkness was dispelled by the radiance of an incandescent sun. The cold waters receded, making way for pristine white sand.

they were surrounded by

pristine sand, and

the tree, hanging from it like prisoners. One of them was a man with black hair, dressed in dark clothes. The

that was

mouth, but then froze, realizing that he did not know what

with their future, the great clans, the Sovereigns. There were matters they had to discuss

were his emotions, as well. His resentment, his

were her emotions,

though only three years passed, those years contained lifetimes of bitter lessons he had learned. He had

was he

a while. Then, finally, he looked at her and said the only thing

The most truthful one.

"I missed you."

and looked at him as

"...I missed you, too."

sigh, and slumped a little, full

his

glared at her and

me… then why the hell had you