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?"

as long as he could,

powerful creature I killed. I

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

it's dead. I

it fell

tensed. After a

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

deep sigh resounded from the

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

that whoever or whatever it was that had been responsible for the Mirror Beast becoming separated from its creator — and eventually dying by his hand — was extremely lucky

Then, he asked cautiously:

was it, though? I

more in control of itself when it answered after a few long

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

tilted his head, then frowned

a kid?

The voice laughed bitterly.

I was twelve. It's rare, but

Sunny blinked.

the Nightmare at twelve…

did know that, in 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

I thought that

his throat,

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

all of his soul essence… or whatever it was that allowed him to communicate with Sunny… and was now gone for

Sunny sighed.

didn't even have time to ask him how to

how he chose his

***

few more days plummeting into the void. By now, he was having trouble remembering what it even felt like, to not be falling. The darkness seemed

'Maybe it was?'

it wasn't. He

returned, the void had changed slightly. Not only were the distant shimmering lights now closer and brighter, but it also felt as

sitting 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 a

"...You practice archery?"

his eyes and glanced into