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?"

long as he

creature I killed. I took it with me, thinking that it might turn out to be

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

it's dead. I

it fell silent once

a

going to be angry with me for killing

sigh resounded

would I be angry with you?

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 that the

Then, he asked cautiously:

though? I have never

seemed more in control of itself when it answered after

I created him when I was just a lonely kid. We

his head,

you mean, a kid? A kid with an

The voice laughed bitterly.

was twelve. It's rare, but

Sunny blinked.

Nightmare at twelve… of

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

that

cleared his throat, then said

If it makes you feel any better, the creature tried to

that its owner had once again spent all of his soul essence… or whatever it was that allowed him to communicate with Sunny…

Sunny sighed.

didn't even have time to ask him

he

***

like, to not be falling. The darkness seemed to be eternal and everpresent, as

'Maybe it was?'

no, it wasn't. He was almost

only were the distant shimmering lights now

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 quiver of

"...You practice archery?"

eyes and glanced