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?"

not answer for as long as

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

of time. When it finally spoke, there was a hint of anguish in it. The owner of the voice

dead.

it fell silent

a while,

not going to be angry with me for killing your

deep sigh resounded

be angry with you? You are not

separated from its creator — and eventually dying

Then, he asked cautiously:

it, though? I have never seen a creature

seemed more in control of itself when

my Aspect Ability. A kind of an Echo, you can say. I… I created him when I was just a lonely kid. We were together for a long

his head, then

do you mean, a kid? A

The voice laughed bitterly.

had my First Nightmare when I was twelve. It's rare, but

Sunny blinked.

at twelve… of course

outside of the 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,

I thought that

cleared his throat, then

If it makes you feel any better, the creature

once again spent all of his soul essence… or whatever it was that allowed him to

Sunny sighed.

have time to ask him how to survive

how he chose his words, damn

***

darkness seemed to be eternal

'Maybe it was?'

no, it wasn't. He

had changed slightly. Not only were the distant shimmering

flow of shadow

"...You practice archery?"

glanced into the darkness,