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 he could, then

by a powerful creature I killed. I took it with

The owner of the voice tried very hard to suppress it, but his pain seemed to be too deep to not seep into his words even

it's dead. I

fell silent

a while,

to be angry with me for killing your pet, are

sigh resounded from the

be angry with you? You are not to blame for what happened to

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 hand — was

Then, he asked cautiously:

what exactly was it, though? I have never seen

in control of itself when it answered after

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

tilted his head,

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 happen sometimes. Few

Sunny blinked.

Nightmare at twelve… of course

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

I thought that

cleared his throat,

you feel any better, the creature tried to

soul essence… or whatever it was

Sunny sighed.

even have time to

he chose his words, damn

***

he was having trouble remembering what it even felt like, to not be falling. The darkness seemed to be eternal and everpresent, as though he had

'Maybe it was?'

it wasn't.

the void had changed slightly. Not only were the distant shimmering lights now closer and brighter, but it

the center of the treasure chest and training to better control the flow

"...You practice archery?"

his eyes and glanced into the