Shadow Slave

Sunny stared into the void suspiciously.

"Yeah? And how come you are so concerned about my well-being?"

The voice remained silent for a bit, then answered wistfully:

"I haven't really spoken to anyone in a long, long time. It would be a shame to finally find someone to talk to, only for them to die soon. Don't you think?"

'That guy is definitely not just a simple Lost… what is his deal, really? Is he actually a human or only pretends to be one?'

Sunny thought for a bit, then said:

"I guess. And since we're on the topic… how is it exactly that we are able to talk?"

He expected the voice to change the subject or ignore the question, but to his surprise, it actually answered:

"I am not really sure. This has never happened to me before, either."

After a while, it added hesitantly:

"Have you… have you perhaps found a piece of a broken mirror somewhere?"

Something clicked in Sunny's mind.

"Broken mirror… Mirror Beast… Beastie…"

The Ascended Reflection! The shard of a mirror that the strange creature had left behind was still inside the Covetous Coffer… smeared with his blood…

'Crap!'

So the owner of the voice was the creator of the murderous Reflection Sunny had encountered on the Reckoning. That… that gave him as many questions as it had given him answers.

He couldn't really think about it right now, though, because the pressure of the Flaw was already building in his mind, forcing him to speak.

"Now that you mention it, I did, indeed, recently find a piece of a broken mirror. With the word "Beastie" written on it in a child's handwriting."

The voice remained silent for a while, then asked quietly:

"Oh? How exactly did you find it?"

long as he could, then

left behind by a powerful creature I killed. I took it with me, thinking that it might

of anguish in it. The owner of the voice tried very hard to suppress it, but

it's dead.

fell silent

a while, he asked

uh… you're not going to be angry with me for killing

resounded from

you? Why would I be angry with you?

the Mirror Beast becoming separated from its creator — and eventually dying by his hand —

Then, he asked cautiously:

exactly was it, though? I have

seemed more in control of itself when it

created him when I was

his head, then

mean, a kid? A kid

The voice laughed bitterly.

was twelve. It's rare, but does happen sometimes. Few children survive the

Sunny blinked.

sent into the Nightmare at twelve… of

the Spell were outside of the usual age range. The entire first generation of the Awakened had

that I was

cleared his throat,

for your loss. If it makes you feel any better, the creature tried

all of his soul essence… or whatever it was that allowed him to communicate with Sunny… and was

Sunny sighed.

even have time to ask

strategic with how he

***

be falling. The darkness seemed to be eternal and everpresent, as though he had always been here, in its

'Maybe it was?'

it wasn't. He was

were the distant shimmering lights now closer and brighter, but it also felt as if

better control the flow of shadow

"...You practice archery?"

his eyes and glanced into the darkness, then