Shadow Slave

Rain had recently turned sixteen.

For every teenager, that was a special date. It signified more than words could describe, because from that point forward, for about two or three years, they would be vulnerable to the infection of the Spell.

She had expected to feel a large change within herself, but to Rain's surprise, everything about her seemed more or less the same.

...The world around her, however, had changed a lot.

Her daily routine was exactly as it had been before, but beneath the surface, everyone was acting differently. Her parents tried to hide their fear, but she knew how worried they really were. Her classmates were putting on a brave face, but none of them could act nearly as well as they thought they could. Even the teachers seemed much more subdued.

The mood on the streets of the city was subtly different, too.

Of course, Rain was not the center of the universe. Most of these changes had nothing to do with her, and were instead caused by the event that had everyone glued to the news portals - the grand evacuation of the Southern Quadrant. It was a historic event, after all.

Granted, none of it had truly affected NQSC. The refugees were yet to arrive, and the danger they were running from was so far away that it did not feel real. It was just that everyone seemed to have an opinion about what was happening, and there were military vehicles on the roads sometimes.

There were numerous recruitment posters all around the city, too, encouraging people to enlist in the Second Evacuation Army. The First one was already achieving victory after victory in Antarctica, pushing back the abominable Nightmare Creatures each day. Anyone who wanted to win glory and help the victorious heroes defend humanity was invited to join the war effort.

Or at least that was what the news told them. Most people just took the propaganda at face value, believing that the Antarctica campaign was going well, but Rain had a slight advantage over them when it came to such things. Her father worked for the government, after all, and although he rarely talked about his job at home, she had learned a few things over the years.

These days, her dad looked very stressed. He looked more stressed with each passing day.

...And Sunny was gone.

Rain had grown accustomed to her eccentric neighbor coming and going as he pleased, sometimes disappearing for long stretches of time. At least she knew where he was, on this occasion... if anything, the idea of Sunny ordering soldiers around was more comical than frightening.

'Those poor people...'

She knew, of course, that her impish teacher was an actual Master. Despite Sunny's ridiculous attitude and strange antics, he was an Ascended of considerable power... not just anyone could have been a member of Changing Star's cohort.

But still, still...

Lady Nephis, Effie, Night... all of them were exalted warriors. But Sunny was a scout. Even if he was a splendid swordsman and a cunning tactician, his Aspect was not suited for battle, let alone the kind of battles that must be happening in Antarctica.

What the hell was that fool doing in the middle of a war?

hell was he not

'Damn it, Sunny!1

to concentrate on the lesson - it was just a perfunctory summer course, anyway, and everyone was sleepy after an intense combat drill - Rain was staring

everything went wrong. When Sunny stopped answering,

two months now, though, and there was still no sign of

knowing what else to do, contacted Aiko. But Aiko simply told her to relax, and that Sunny was definitely doing great somewhere out there. The petite young woman seemed to

yet, Rain was ill at

been worried sick about being chosen by the Spell,

of

have been embarrassing, if things weren't

did you get my

"Rain to Sunny, hello?"

"Stop ignoring me."

"Why aren't you answering?"

"Sunny?"

just say so and

not even an 'okay'? Come

though, are you

"Did something happen?"

forgot to read my messages, you are a

really

"Ha-ha, just joking."

the hell, you did not even congratulate me

"Sunny, are you okay?"

"Answer me dammit."

"Sunny, answer me."

worried, so... please send me a message when you have

"Please answer me."

and put the communicator away. She tried listening to the lecture, although it was hard to hear anything with how

class, the gossip, it all seemed so...

Somewhere out there, millions of people were being displaced or dying. The loss of one of the four Quadrants could have long-term and catastrophic consequences

if nothing out of the ordinary was going on. They just went about their lives, acting unconcerned. Did they not understand what was happening? Did they

were dying,