Shadow Slave

Grey sky above, black mud below, an endless sea of crimson in between. On this dreamlike backdrop, two beautiful girls were walking across the labyrinth.

One was delicate and fragile, with blond hair and cerulean, aimless eyes. She was dressed in a simple tunic, with leather sandals on her feet and a cloak the color of sea waves draped around her shoulders.

The other was tall and lithe. She had silky silver hair and clear, grey eyes. Her revealing clothes were crudely made out of black seaweed, leaving her fair skin and athletic build exposed. She was poised, alert, and barefoot.

A golden rope connected two girls together.

‘Wow. What a sight…’ Sunny thought.

He suddenly regretted that he was not an artist. The picture just begged to be made into a painting.

‘Wait… why am I thinking about that? People! I found people!’

His heart skipped a bit. If Nephis and Cassia were here, then the orange light from before, most likely, had something to do with them. Which meant that they knew how to get to the tall hill.

Which meant that Sunny didn’t have to be crushed to death by the high tide!

‘Uh… so what do I do now?’

He wasn’t the best at ingratiating himself to other people. In fact, he was the polar opposite — people usually instinctively avoided him. And that was in normal circumstances. This time, however, he had spent a whole of four weeks making sure that everyone in the Academy hated his guts…

‘Good job, Sunny!’

Still, he was at least useful. In this situation, an additional body was already a great boon when facing hungry monsters. And he wasn’t just anyone: his ability to scout ahead alone was worth a lot. Surely they’ll understand that… right?

With a heavy sigh, Sunny stepped into shadows and hurried to the clearing. He reached it in a minute or so, hiding and observing the two girls before making a final decision.

Helping herself with the wooden staff, blind Cassia slowly approached the middle of the clearing and extended her hand, finding Nephis and touching her on the shoulder.

“Why did you stop?”

Nephis supported the blind girl and glanced at the sky.

“It’s getting late.”

An awkward pause hung between two girls. After some time, Cassia asked:

“So you think we should turn back?”

Nephis blinked and cleared her throat.

“Yes.”

Sunny was a bit amused by their exchange.

‘What is she, a strong silent type?’

Then he returned to his dilemma and grimaced.

‘How do I approach them? Damn, why is this so hard! It’s not like I’m trying to ask them out on a date. I mean, one of them… both of them? What am I thinking about?! Just go and say hi!’

But then, if he suddenly appeared out of the shadows… not at all like a creep… how high was the probability of them getting spooked and attacking him before noticing that he was not a monster?

Wait, why would they… argh, to hell with this!

Deciding on the safest approach, Sunny commanded his shadow to abandon its hiding place and move to a spot where Nephis could clearly see it. He could clearly sense the shadow rolling its eyes as it obeyed the order.

long sword appeared in it, cutting the air as it

It

took a step

“Neph? What is it?”

observing the shadow. Then she simply

“There’s a shadow.”

Cassia’s doll-like face paled.

“A shadow? Scavengers?”

tall girl tilted her head

a

to hear. With an expression of surprise,

shadow? What… what is

After a while, she answered in a flat

“…It’s waving at us.”

***

a whole minute of silence, Cassia finally found the words to

“What?”

“I said: it’s waving…”

I mean…

her mouth, then closed it

it’s a distraction to lure us into

Sunny decided that it was time to talk. He inhaled deeply, then said in a

I just sent it ahead to make sure that you don’t stab me with that sword before

in a blotch of shadows. Her

human, why are hiding in the shadows

I’m not

merciless: he had to provide an answer, and a truthful one

you’re Changing Star Nephis. To

Because of her hard-to-read face, it was almost impossible to determine whether she believed him or not. However, he included her True Name in his answer for a reason: if he was some monster pretending to be human, he wouldn’t have

Cassia was more

who sat with

Nephis glanced at

“Do you know him?”

Cassia nodded.

name is Sunless. He was in second-to-last place

tall girl frowned, as if

“The pervert?”

from Sunny’s face, replaced

‘Oh, come on!’

and didn’t

really a pervert, you know! I just… uhm… said a few things. To a few girls. It was all

was silent for a few seconds,

You can

limped out of the shadows, summoning his own back. It flowed to his feet and reattached itself, visibly shaking.

from Nephis, he raised his hands, showing that he didn’t mean

“What happened to you?”

to his limp, bruises, and overall banged-up look. Sunny

“Carapace Scavenger.”

Nephis raised an eyebrow:

managed to get away

‘You bet I did!’