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?"

not answer for as long as he could, then reluctantly

by a powerful creature I killed. I took it with

for 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

dead.

it fell

tensed. After a while, he

to be angry with me for

resounded

with you? Why would I be angry with you?

that had been responsible for the Mirror Beast becoming separated from its creator — and eventually dying by his hand — was extremely lucky that the owner of the

Then, he asked cautiously:

it, though? I have never

voice seemed more in control of itself when it answered

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

tilted his head, then frowned

you mean, a kid? A

The voice laughed bitterly.

had my First Nightmare when I was twelve. It's rare, but

Sunny blinked.

at twelve… of course very few

entire first generation of the Awakened had been, for example.

I thought that

his throat, then said

any better, the creature tried to say something before it died. Uh… we never stopped searching. Something like

soul essence… or whatever it was that allowed him to communicate with Sunny… and was now

Sunny sighed.

to ask him how to

with how he

***

not be falling. The darkness

'Maybe it was?'

it wasn't.

the time the voice returned, the void had changed slightly. Not only were the distant shimmering lights

of the treasure chest and training to better control the flow of shadow essence. On the surface of the lid near him was a

"...You practice archery?"

his eyes and glanced into the