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!"

braved the wilderness of the Forgotten Shore and eventually reached the Dark City. The brief moment of liveliness passed, and instead, Changing Star seemed to grow more rigid and cold with each scene. Rain

idiot directed

glanced at Lady Nephis curiously, wondering how much of what

how her apparent relationship with

been an actual

glimpse anything from Changing Star's stoic face. The

Caster radiated courage and passion. Holding the grief-stricken jade beauty by the hand, he looked her

My life does not matter… but yours does! Immortal Flame must never be extinguished! As long as it burns, humanity still has hope! The Dreamers of the Dark City have hope!

Rain shifted uncomfortably.

it me, or is it getting hot

Star's face. She looked at the projection with

however, suddenly

Rain frowned.

'Huh?'

smoke. Turning around, the teenage girl

'That's strange...'

to say something, but before she

The projector suddenly exploded.

***

stayed for long enough to help Changing Star clean up the debris of the malfunctioned projector. Then, she found an

knew what was going to

in the empty 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 better part of the last three years. Putting on something

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

matters again felt

found herself back in the living room with nothing to do. She simply sat in silence for a while, trying to deal with the disturbing oddity of not being in danger.

stared at it for some time, then tentatively