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

behind by a powerful creature I killed. I took

in it. The

it's dead.

it fell silent

a

to be angry with me

deep sigh resounded

would I be angry with you?

separated from its creator — and eventually dying by his hand — was extremely lucky that the owner of the voice

Then, he asked cautiously:

though? I have never seen a creature like

of itself

I… I created him when I was just a lonely

his head,

you mean, a kid? A kid

The voice laughed bitterly.

It's rare, but does happen sometimes.

Sunny blinked.

sent into the Nightmare at twelve… of course

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 though

I thought that I was

throat, then

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

seemed that its owner had once again spent all of his soul essence… or whatever it was that allowed him

Sunny sighed.

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

strategic with how he chose his

***

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

'Maybe it was?'

no, it wasn't. He

shimmering

in his usual spot, 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

"...You practice archery?"

and glanced