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?"

for as long as

was left behind by a powerful creature I killed. I took it with

was a hint of anguish in it. The owner of the voice tried very hard to suppress it, but

it's dead.

fell

After a while,

to be angry with me for killing

resounded from the

would I be angry with you? You are not to

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 — was extremely lucky that the owner of the voice had

Then, he asked cautiously:

exactly was it, though? I

voice seemed more in control of itself when it answered after

created him when I was

tilted his head, then

do you mean, a kid? A kid

The voice laughed bitterly.

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

Sunny blinked.

Nightmare at

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 someone older than

thought that I was

cleared his throat, then said

your loss. If it makes you feel any better, the creature tried to say something before it died. Uh… we never

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

Sunny sighed.

I didn't even have time to ask him how

he chose his words,

***

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.

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

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 near him was a dark

"...You practice archery?"

eyes and glanced into