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

a powerful creature I killed. I took it with me,

an especially 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 seemed to be too

it's dead. I

it fell

tensed. After a

not going to be angry with me for killing your pet, are

resounded from the

you? You are not to blame for what

for the Mirror Beast becoming separated from its creator — and eventually

Then, he asked cautiously:

exactly was it, though? I

in control of itself when it answered after

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

his head, then

kid? A

The voice laughed bitterly.

I was twelve. It's

Sunny blinked.

at twelve… of course

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

thought that

throat, then said

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

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

Sunny sighed.

it! I didn't even have time to ask him how to survive the

with how he chose

***

felt like, to not be falling. The darkness seemed to be eternal and everpresent, as though he had always been

'Maybe it was?'

wasn't. He was

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

the flow of shadow essence. On the surface

"...You practice archery?"

his eyes and glanced into the darkness,