Chapter 8 — The Girl Without a Shadow

The flames consuming her body possessed a strange, hollow quality; they could ignite nothing else, capable only of reducing her own essence into thin, swirling air. I raised my hand, swaying it rhythmically beneath the harsh, relentless glare of the sun. My shadow mirrored the motion, dancing against the ground in a fractured, rhythmic mimicry of my own limb.

"This time, surely the shadow has vanished entirely, has it not?" Ho Tuyet Huong asked, her voice hovering in the space between us like a question waiting for a grave.

I blinked slowly, the sunlight stinging my retinas. Had it truly disappeared? Could anyone ever be certain of such things? Everything had reached its conclusion. Nothing remained but the fading warmth of the light and the lingering void where a reflection once stood.