Shadow Slave

Projected onto the wall, a languid jade beauty with a slim waist and long eyelashes was traversing a labyrinth of crimson coral, her voluptuous figure barely covered by a flimsy seaweed attire. A teenage boy of about thirteen years of age was scurrying along as he shouted:

"...Are you crazy?!"

Sitting on the sofa near the real Changing Star, Rain felt like sinking into the earth. As the movie went by, her cheeks slowly turned bright red. The daughter of the Immortal Flame clan, on the contrary, became increasingly more deadpan and devoid of emotion. By now, her face was so still that it seemed paralyzed.

Rain awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Uh… come to think of it, the actress they chose does not look like you at all. You are much prettier!"

Nephis shifted and briefly glanced down. Then, she said evenly:

"Thank you."

After a while, she added:

"Why would they cast a child to play Sunny? What a strange decision. Only a complete fool could mistake him for a young boy."

Rain let out a nervous laugh.

"Yeah! Yeah… definitely…"

She looked away in utter embarrassment, and then forced out:

"And what is up with that stupid catchphrase? That does not sound like something Sunny would say at all!"

Changing Star moved, suddenly becoming a little more lively.

"Oh, no. That actually happened. A lot!"

three Sleepers braved the wilderness of the Forgotten Shore and eventually reached the Dark City. The brief moment of liveliness passed, and

idiot directed that

a noble bearing appeared on the screen. Rain glanced at Lady Nephis curiously, wondering how much

her apparent relationship with

had been an actual love triangle

Changing Star's stoic face. The movie progressed, slowly reaching

Holding the grief-stricken

for me, my lady. My life does not matter… but yours does! Immortal Flame must never be extinguished! As long as it burns, humanity still has hope! The

Rain shifted uncomfortably.

me, or is

single muscle moved on Changing Star's face. She

projection, however,

Rain frowned.

'Huh?'

she smelled smoke. Turning around, the teenage girl

'That's strange...'

her mouth to say something, but before

The projector suddenly exploded.

***

Star clean up the debris of the malfunctioned projector. Then, she found an excuse, grabbed her

knew what was going

house. She lingered for a bit, then went back into the guest bedroom and rummaged through Effie's closet. She had no clothes apart from the tracksuit that the Academy had issued to her, which was soaked with sweat after the night she had spent

she had worn armor for the better part

match it. Sadly, other articles of Effie's clothing did not fit her

matters again felt very

with nothing to do. She simply sat in silence for a while, trying to deal with the disturbing oddity of not being in danger. Then, she shifted uncomfortably,

it for some time, then