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 a human once,

he couldn't even pinpoint the direction from which the

then asked

to? Then what are

a few moments, then sighed. Finally,

"...Lost."

Sunny blinked.

the hell

As in lost

let out a sad

Not in

felt cold shivers run

more proper to say that I am one of the Lost. My body in the waking

One of the Lost…

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

Sunny relax a little… not that he had any reason to believe that the stranger was telling him the truth. He could

Or something worse...

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

they certainly were not were disembodied voices

do something

I am able to hear your voice, but can't

voice lingered for some time, that answered

is a

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

Aren't you

the voice

the Sky Below? This is a very dangerous

a couple of

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

Then, he frowned.

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

a