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

shard was left behind by a powerful creature I killed. I took it with

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

dead.

it fell silent

After a

angry

resounded from

you? You are not to blame for

creator — and eventually dying by his hand — was extremely lucky that the owner

Then, he asked cautiously:

it, though? I have never seen

voice seemed more in control of itself when it answered

of an Echo, you can say. I… I created him when I was just a lonely kid. We were

his head, then

you mean, a kid? A kid with an Aspect

The voice laughed bitterly.

It's rare, but does happen

Sunny blinked.

the Nightmare at twelve… of course

the Spell were outside of the usual age range. The entire first generation of the Awakened had been, for example. And

that

his throat, then said

for your loss. If it makes you feel any better, the creature tried to say something

once again spent all of his soul essence… or whatever it was that allowed him to communicate

Sunny sighed.

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

how he chose his words, damn

***

the void. By now, 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 always been here, in its empty

'Maybe it was?'

no, it wasn't. He

the distant shimmering

training to better control the flow of shadow essence.

"...You practice archery?"

and glanced into