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!"

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

idiot

handsome young man with broad shoulders and a noble bearing appeared on the screen. Rain glanced at Lady Nephis curiously, wondering

apparent relationship with

had been an actual

glimpse anything from Changing Star's stoic face.

passion. Holding the grief-stricken jade beauty by the hand, he looked her in the eyes and said

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! As long as you live, I can face a thousand deaths with

Rain shifted uncomfortably.

it me, or is it getting hot

face. She looked at the projection with a deadpan

however,

Rain frowned.

'Huh?'

she smelled smoke. Turning around, the teenage girl noticed a thin stream of it

'That's strange...'

to say

The projector suddenly exploded.

***

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

what was

the guest bedroom and rummaged through Effie's closet. She had no clothes apart from the tracksuit that the Academy had issued

better part of

it. Sadly, other articles of Effie's clothing did

again felt

while, trying to deal with the disturbing oddity of not being in danger. Then, she shifted uncomfortably, looked around, and took

at it for some time,