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

I took

spoke, there was a hint of anguish in it. The

dead. I

it fell silent once

a

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

resounded

angry with you?

suspecting 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 —

Then, he asked cautiously:

exactly was it, though? I have never seen a

of itself when

Aspect Ability. A kind of an Echo, you can say. I… I created him when I

head, then frowned

mean, a kid? A

The voice laughed bitterly.

It's

Sunny blinked.

at twelve…

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 though it usually happened to

that

his throat, then said

any better, the creature

respond. It seemed that its 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

Sunny sighed.

to ask him

he chose

***

spent 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, as though he had always been here, in its empty embrace, and all

'Maybe it was?'

wasn't. He was

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

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 quiver of

"...You practice archery?"

his eyes and glanced