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?"

answer for as long as he could, then reluctantly

a powerful creature I killed. I took

especially long amount of time. When it finally spoke, there was a hint of anguish in it. The owner of the voice tried very hard to suppress it, but his pain seemed to be too deep to not seep

dead. I

fell silent once

tensed. After a

be angry with

sigh resounded

with you? You

had been responsible for the Mirror Beast becoming separated from its creator — and eventually dying by his hand — was extremely lucky that the owner of the

Then, he asked cautiously:

was it, though? I have never seen

seemed more in control of itself when it

can say. I… I created him when I was just a lonely kid. We were together for a long time, before… before

head, then

do you mean, a kid? A kid with an Aspect

The voice laughed bitterly.

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

Sunny blinked.

into the Nightmare at twelve… of course very few

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

that I

his throat, then said

feel any better, the creature

seemed that its owner had once again spent all of his soul essence… or

Sunny sighed.

to ask him

he chose his

***

days plummeting into the void. By now, he was having trouble remembering what it even felt like, to not be falling. The darkness seemed to be eternal and everpresent, as though

'Maybe it was?'

it wasn't. He was

slightly. Not only were the distant shimmering lights now closer and brighter,

the treasure chest and training to better control the flow of shadow essence.

"...You practice archery?"

his eyes and glanced into the darkness,