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

he couldn't even pinpoint the direction from which the voice

tensed, then asked

Then what

a few moments, then sighed. Finally,

"...Lost."

Sunny blinked.

hell

As in lost in

out a

in the Sky

felt cold shivers run down

lost, It would be more proper to say that I am one of the Lost. My body in the waking world

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, since most of the time the

the owner of the voice 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

Or something worse...

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

were not were disembodied voices coming

something to protect himself, if need be, and

is it that I am able to hear your voice, but can't see

voice lingered for some time, that

is a

that answer, but that seemed

you going

the voice suddenly

you descending into the Sky Below? This is a very dangerous

couple of times,

stuck on an island because of the Crushing, and sadly, that island broke off its chain. So, I

Then, he frowned.

it dangerous? I haven't seen anything dangerous anywhere in

for a while, then sighed