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:

used to be

direction from which the voice was coming. It

tensed, then asked

to? Then what are

a few moments, then sighed. Finally,

"...Lost."

Sunny blinked.

hell does he

in lost

darkness let out a sad

Not in the

run down his

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 the Dream Realm. I hope that explanation

One of the Lost…

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 soul

owner of the voice was one of these lost souls made Sunny relax a little… not that he had any reason to believe that

Or something worse...

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

they certainly were not were

ready to… do something to

to hear that. But how is it that I am

lingered for some time, that answered with a

a good

to expand on that answer, but

you going to

the voice suddenly

the Sky Below? This is

blinked a couple of times, then

am falling into it. I got stuck on an island because of the Crushing, and sadly,

Then, he frowned.

is it dangerous? I haven't seen

lingered for a while,