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

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

it finally spoke, there was a hint of anguish in it. The owner of the voice tried very hard to suppress it,

dead. I

it fell

tensed. After a while, he

going to be angry

sigh resounded from

with you? You are not to blame for what

—

Then, he asked cautiously:

I have never seen a

control of itself

I… I created him when I was

head, then frowned

a kid?

The voice laughed bitterly.

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

Sunny blinked.

at twelve… of

generation of the Awakened had been, for example. And there were cases of this anomaly to this day, even though it

that

cleared his throat, then

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

owner had once again spent all of his soul essence… or whatever it was that allowed him to communicate with Sunny… and was now gone

Sunny sighed.

didn't even have time to ask him how to survive

strategic with how he

***

The darkness seemed to be eternal and

'Maybe it was?'

no, it wasn't. He was

only were the distant shimmering lights now closer

and training to better control the flow of

"...You practice archery?"

glanced