Shadow Slave

Sunny shuddered.

The voice he heard… was not his own. It sounded pleasant and calm, and seemed to have come from the darkness of the Sky Below itself.

'...Have I finally lost it?'

His first thought was that he had gone crazy again and was now hearing things.

His second thought was much less comforting…

'Damnation!'

Had he summoned some unholy titan from the depths of the Sky Below, after all?!

Sunny outstretched one hand, ready to manifest the Cruel Sight, but then hesitated.

If the owner of the voice was not a figment of his imagination, but some harrowing being of the void, was it really wise to agitate it? Would the silver blade even do anything against it?

'Calm down. Calm down. Maybe you just imagined the whole thing…'

As if to answer his thoughts, the void laughed softly.

"Ah, my apologies. I seem to have startled you."

Sunny gulped.

The pleasant voice seemed to belong to a young man, but no matter how hard he looked into the darkness, he couldn't see anyone… or anything… nearby.

He was reminded of his first meeting with Kai, only this time... this time, things were much more frightening.

"N—no worries. I just… didn't expect to hear another human's voice here. You, uh… you are a human… right?"

The void was silent for a while, then answered in a neutral tone:

I used to be

from which the voice was coming. It was

then

to? Then what are you

voice disappeared for a few moments, then sighed. Finally,

"...Lost."

Sunny blinked.

the hell

in lost in

darkness let out a sad

Not in the Sky

shivers run

I am one of the Lost. My body in the waking world was destroyed, but my soul continues to exist here, in the Dream Realm. I hope that explanation is more

One of the Lost…

— people whose souls were destroyed, leaving an empty body behind — there were also the Lost. People whose bodies had

was one of these lost souls made Sunny relax a little… not that he had any reason to believe that the stranger was telling him the truth. He could have been a Nightmare

Or something worse...

were able to converse. The Lost, from what Sunny knew, were just like any other Awakened in the Dream Realm. It was

certainly were not were disembodied voices coming

shifted his weight slightly, ready to… do something to protect himself, if need be, and

is it that I am able to hear your

some time, that

is a good

to expand on that answer, but that seemed to be it. A bit

Aren't you going

the voice suddenly

descending into the Sky Below? This is a

couple

I got stuck on an island because of the Crushing, and

Then, he frowned.

I haven't seen anything dangerous anywhere

for a