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:

human? I used to be a human

that he couldn't even pinpoint the direction from which the voice was coming. It was just…

tensed, then

what

disappeared for a few moments,

"...Lost."

Sunny blinked.

the hell does he

As in lost in the Sky

darkness let out a

in the Sky

shivers run down his spine, it

to anyone in a long, long time. Instead of lost, It would be more proper to say that I am one of the Lost. My body in the waking world was destroyed, but my soul continues to exist here, in

One of the Lost…

although he had never met one in person. Just like there were Hollow — people whose souls were destroyed, leaving an empty body behind — there were also the Lost. People whose bodies had somehow died in the real world, leaving their souls stranded in the Dream Realm. There wasn't a lot of them,

these lost souls made Sunny relax a little… not that he had any reason to believe that the stranger was telling him the truth.

Or something worse...

able to converse. The Lost, from what Sunny knew, were just like any other Awakened in the Dream Realm. It was just that they couldn't return to the real

were disembodied voices coming

to… do something to protect himself, if need be,

that I am

some time, that

is a good

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

you going

voice suddenly

are you descending into the Sky Below? This is

couple of times,

I got stuck on an island because of the Crushing, and sadly, that island broke off its chain. So, I had to jump off. And here I

Then, he frowned.

it dangerous? I haven't seen anything dangerous

lingered for a while, then sighed