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?"

did not answer for as long as

shard was left behind by a powerful creature I killed. I took it with me, thinking that it might turn out to

in it. The owner of the voice tried very hard to suppress it, but his pain seemed

it's dead.

it fell

a while,

angry with me for killing

resounded from the

you? Why would I be angry with you? You

shivered, suspecting that whoever or whatever it was that had been responsible for the Mirror Beast becoming separated from its creator — and eventually dying by his

Then, he asked cautiously:

though? I have never

seemed more in control of itself when

can say. I… I created him when I was just a lonely kid. We were together for a long time, before… before we weren't

his head,

you mean, a kid? A kid with

The voice laughed bitterly.

when I was twelve. It's rare, but does happen sometimes.

Sunny blinked.

at twelve…

usual age range. The entire first generation of the Awakened had been, for example. And there were cases of this anomaly to this day, even though it usually happened to someone older than the norm,

that I

throat, then

If it makes you feel any better, the creature tried to say something before it died. Uh… we never stopped searching. Something like

all of his soul essence… or whatever it was

Sunny sighed.

I didn't even have time to ask him

how he

***

not be falling. The darkness seemed to be eternal and everpresent, as though he had always been here, in its empty embrace,

'Maybe it was?'

no, it wasn't.

the distant shimmering lights now closer

in the center of the treasure chest and training to better control the flow of shadow essence. On the surface of the lid near him was a dark longbow and a quiver of black

"...You practice archery?"

opened his eyes and glanced into the