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,

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

in it. The owner of the voice tried very hard to

dead.

fell

tensed. After a while,

be angry with me for killing

deep sigh resounded

Why would I be angry with you? You are not

Mirror Beast becoming separated from its creator — and eventually dying

Then, he asked cautiously:

though? I have never

control of itself when it

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

his head,

a kid?

The voice laughed bitterly.

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

Sunny blinked.

into the Nightmare at

range. The entire first generation of the Awakened had been, for example. And there were cases of this anomaly to this day, even though it usually happened to someone older than the norm,

I thought that I

his throat, then

better, the creature tried to say something

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 for another few

Sunny sighed.

I didn't even have time to ask him how

how he chose

***

a 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 to be eternal and everpresent,

'Maybe it was?'

no, it wasn't. He was almost

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

to better control the flow of shadow essence. On the surface of the lid near him was

"...You practice archery?"

opened his eyes and glanced into