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 once,

pinpoint the direction from which the voice was coming. It was just… there, somehow. Everywhere. Around

tensed, then asked

Then what are

for a few moments, then sighed.

"...Lost."

Sunny blinked.

hell does

in lost

darkness let out a

in

run down his spine, it hesitantly

haven't spoken to anyone in a long, long time. Instead of lost, It would be more proper 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

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 perished

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.

Or something worse...

what Sunny knew, were just like any other Awakened in the Dream

certainly were not were

weight slightly, ready to… do something to protect

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

time, that answered with a bit of

a

for him to expand on that answer, but that seemed to be

you going

voice

the Sky Below? This is a very

couple of times,

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

Then, he frowned.

dangerous? I haven't seen anything dangerous anywhere

voice lingered for a while, then sighed with