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

by a powerful creature I killed. I took

of anguish in it. The owner of the voice tried

it's dead.

it fell silent once

a while, he

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

deep sigh resounded

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

been responsible for the Mirror Beast becoming separated from its creator — and eventually dying by his hand — was extremely lucky that the owner

Then, he asked cautiously:

I

itself when it answered after a few

of my Aspect Ability. A kind of an Echo, you can say. I… I created him when I was just a lonely kid. We were together for a long time, before… before we weren't

his head, then

mean, a kid? A kid with an

The voice laughed bitterly.

was twelve. It's rare, but does happen sometimes. Few children survive

Sunny blinked.

at twelve… of course very

of the usual age range. The entire first generation of the Awakened had been,

that

his throat,

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

spent all of his soul essence… or whatever it

Sunny sighed.

I didn't even have time to ask him how

strategic with how he chose his words,

***

he was having trouble remembering what it even felt like, to not be falling. The darkness

'Maybe it was?'

it wasn't. He was

the distant shimmering lights now closer and

and training to better control the flow of shadow

"...You practice archery?"

his eyes and glanced