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 he could, then

left behind by a powerful creature I killed. I took it

an 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 into

dead. I

fell

a while,

be angry

sigh resounded from

you? You are not to

— and eventually

Then, he asked cautiously:

exactly was it, though? I have never seen a creature

itself when it answered after a

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

tilted his head, then frowned

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

The voice laughed bitterly.

I had my First Nightmare when I was twelve. It's rare, but does happen sometimes. Few children survive the

Sunny blinked.

sent into the Nightmare at

the people infected by the Spell were outside of the usual age range. The entire first generation of the Awakened had been,

that

cleared his throat,

any better, the creature tried to say something before it died. Uh…

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

Sunny sighed.

time to ask him how to

strategic with how he chose his words, damn

***

not be falling. The darkness seemed to be

'Maybe it was?'

no, it wasn't. He was almost

voice returned, the void had changed slightly. Not only were the distant shimmering lights now closer and

cross-legged 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

"...You practice archery?"

opened his eyes and glanced