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

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 tried very hard to suppress it, but his pain seemed

dead. I

fell silent once

a

uh… you're not going to be angry with me for killing your pet,

resounded

you? You are not

from its creator —

Then, he asked cautiously:

was it, though? I have

seemed more in control of itself when it answered after a

I created him when I was just a

tilted his head, then

you mean, a kid? A

The voice laughed bitterly.

when I was twelve. It's rare, but

Sunny blinked.

the Nightmare at twelve… of course very few

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 it usually happened to

that

his throat, then said

your loss. If it makes you feel any better, the creature tried to say something before it died. Uh… we

soul essence… or

Sunny sighed.

even have time to ask

how he chose his

***

to not be falling. The darkness seemed to

'Maybe it was?'

no, it wasn't.

were the distant shimmering lights

cross-legged in the center of the treasure chest and training to better control the flow

"...You practice archery?"

glanced into the darkness, then