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

then asked

Then what are you

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

"...Lost."

Sunny blinked.

hell

As in lost in the Sky

let out a

Not in

cold shivers run down his

say that I am one of the Lost. My body in the waking world was destroyed, but my soul continues to

One of the Lost…

body behind — there were also the Lost. People whose bodies had somehow died in the real world, leaving their souls stranded in the

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...

Lost, from what Sunny knew, were just like any other Awakened in

were disembodied voices coming from the

do something to protect himself,

hear that. But how is it that I am

voice lingered for some time, that answered with a bit

a good

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

Aren't you going to

voice suddenly

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

a couple of times, then

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 chain. So, I had to jump off.

Then, he frowned.

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

lingered for a