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 dealing with things,

move for a long time, and then

is a dream,

flinched, and then tried very hard to suppress a curse.

after all. Even the Awakened Terror of her

Sunny simply nodded. Nephis

Strange… I haven't dreamt

was dispelled by the radiance of an incandescent sun. The cold waters receded, making way for pristine white sand. Above them, there was now a boundless azure sky. Sunny felt an

were surrounded by a vast,

of a tall tree. Its bark was as white as the pristine sand, and its leaves were scarlet. Tens of thousands of skulls hung from the beautiful branches, fastened to

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

was for

but then froze, realizing that he did

to tell her, too much he wanted to ask her. There were matters they had to discuss that had to do with their future, the great clans, the Sovereigns. There were matters they had to discuss that had to do with their past, the decisions they had made, the mistakes that had been

emotions, as well. His resentment, his

her

those years contained lifetimes of bitter lessons he had learned. He had

he supposed to

looked at her and said

The most truthful one.

"I missed you."

and looked at him as

"...I missed you, too."

and slumped a little, full of

his face turned dark

he glared at her

then why