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!"

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

of idiot directed

with broad shoulders and a noble bearing appeared on the screen. Rain glanced at Lady Nephis

apparent relationship with Sunny fit

there had been an actual love triangle

from Changing Star's stoic face. The movie

the masculine face of the actor playing Sir Caster radiated courage and passion. Holding the grief-stricken jade beauty by the hand, he looked her in the eyes

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!

Rain shifted uncomfortably.

me, or is

Star's face. She looked at the projection with a

projection, however, suddenly

Rain frowned.

'Huh?'

around, the teenage girl noticed a thin stream of it rising from

'That's strange...'

mouth to say something,

The projector suddenly exploded.

***

Rain only stayed for long enough to help Changing Star clean up the debris of

was

girl was gone, Nephis was once again left alone 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 tracksuit that the Academy had issued to her, which was soaked with sweat after the

course… but she had worn armor for the better part of

of Effie's clothing did not fit her too well. She was going

matters again felt

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

some time, then