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

by a powerful creature I killed. I took it with me,

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

dead. I

it fell silent

After a while, he asked

to be angry with me for killing your pet,

deep sigh resounded from the

with you? Why would I be angry with you? You are not to blame for

becoming separated from its creator —

Then, he asked cautiously:

exactly was it, though? I have never seen

in control of itself when it

you can say. I… I created him when I was just a lonely

his head, then frowned

do you mean, a kid? A kid

The voice laughed bitterly.

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

Sunny blinked.

sent into the Nightmare at twelve…

extremely rare cases, the people infected by the Spell were 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

that I was

his throat,

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

soul essence… or whatever it was that allowed him to communicate with Sunny…

Sunny sighed.

have time to ask him how to

with how he chose his words,

***

not be falling. The darkness seemed to be eternal and everpresent, as though he had always been here, in its empty embrace, and all of his actual life was just

'Maybe it was?'

no, it wasn't. He

had changed slightly. Not only were the distant shimmering lights now closer and brighter, but it also felt as if

better control the flow of shadow essence. On

"...You practice archery?"

opened his eyes and glanced into