A Song of Light and Darkness

Kai gave Sunny and Effie the invitation to the premier of the movie based on their Forgotten Shore experience. He was arranged by his agency to attend and give a short speech.^[1]

The movie started by showing a young Nephis. She had silver hair playing on the carpet. Her father was studying a map. Before Nephis reached for the broken sword, the man picked up the sword, preventing her from being cut by it. Then, they had a talk about the Awakened and humanity.^[2]

Some time passed, and Nephis grew up. She was portrayed as a jade beauty, entering the Academy followed by a training montage that showed her beating everyone. The only one she wasn't able to defeat was Caster, who was portrayed as a handsome young man with noble bearings. There had been some hints of nascent romantic feelings between the characters of Nephis and Caster.^[2]

Sunny was introduced, played by an actual thirteen-year-old child, clumsy, naive, and with a punchable face. The next scenes showed Nephis' journey to the Dark City and that Sunny and Cassie were a burden to her. Despite the tense suffocating atmosphere, there are moments when Sunny's character became comic relief. He also developed a catchphrase, "Are you crazy?!"^[2]

Eventually, they made it to the ancient city and met Effie. She was introduced as a tall, attractive, and athletic actress. She was all brawn and no brain.^[2]

The second act took place in the outer settlement dedicated to Nephis' heroic deeds, expeditions into the Dark City, and altercations with Gunlaug's forces. For the most part of the movie, it was dedicated to the genuine respect and camaraderie that blossomed between Nephis and Caster. With the handsome male lead as her right hand, Changing Star successfully united the people of the outer settlement, reminded them what it meant to be humans, and challenged Gunlaug to save boisterous Effie from unjust imprisonment.^[3]

The third act showed the Siege of the Crimson Spire, the heroic stand of the warriors of the first line and Effie, Kai's battle in the skies with the Spire Messengers, and Neph and Caster fighting back to back, slaying dozens and dozens of Nightmare Creatures together.^[3]

Eventually, the sea suddenly receded and the sun attacked both nightmare creatures and humans. Salvation came from Sunny and his loud bell. The remaining awakened arrived at the Crimson Spire and Nephis decided to stall the fallen terror while Sunny led the rest to the gateway. Sunny called Nephis crazy for trusting him but she encouraged him. Nephis battled the terror and Caster sacrificed himself to protect her. The last shot was Nephis walking out of the tower with a tear encouraging herself that humanity must never give up.^[3]

• Nephis' hair should have been initially black, it only turned silver after her First Nightmare.^[4]
• Despite Caster's powerful Aspect, he barely managed to clutch a victory against Nephis.^[5]
• In reality Caster, didn't sacrifice himself to protect Nephis, he was actually tasked to make sure Nephis dies.^[6][7]
• Despite her often boorish demeanor and the way she was portrayed in the movie, Effie was actually extremely intelligent, cool-headed, and cunning. Otherwise, she would have never survived for three long years alone on the streets of the Dark City.^[8]

• The audience loved the mad chemistry between the actors that played Nephis and Caster.^[2]
• The movie was able to recreate the coral labyrinth and the dark sea with great detail.^[2]
• Sunny's shadows were both laughing at him when his character was introduced. He wasn't amused that the audience was laughing at him. He also promised to exact revenge on Kai and Effie for making him endure watching a bad movie.^[2]
• Effie wanted to send the director flowers after Sunny's character was introduced. But when her character was introduced she was mortified, to which Sunny gave the same reaction of giving the director flowers.^[2]
• Sunny commented about how Griffin really knows how to make a tune.^[3]
• The writer who wrote the screenplay for A Song of Light and Darkness was a huge fan of Sunny due to his Exploration Report on the Forgotten Shore, which he emphasized to be a brilliant piece of academic work.^[8]