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:

be

direction from which the voice was coming.

then asked

what are you

for a few moments, then sighed.

"...Lost."

Sunny blinked.

hell does

As in lost in the

darkness let out a

Not in

Sunny felt cold shivers run down his spine,

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

One of the Lost…

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

a little… not that he had any reason to believe that the stranger was

Or something worse...

that didn't explain how they were able to converse. The Lost, from what Sunny knew, were just like any other Awakened in the Dream Realm.

were not were disembodied

to… do something to protect himself, if need

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

for some time, that

a

waited patiently for him to expand on that answer, but that seemed to be it. A bit irritated, he

you going to

the voice suddenly

you descending into the Sky Below? This is a

couple

see… I am not so much descending into the Sky Below as I am falling into it. I got stuck on an island because of the Crushing, and sadly, that island broke off its

Then, he frowned.

dangerous? I haven't seen anything dangerous

lingered for a while, then sighed with