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

by a powerful creature I killed. I

the voice was quiet 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. I

it fell

tensed. After a while, he

going to be angry with

resounded from the

be angry with you? You are not to blame for what happened to

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:

I

in control of itself when it

I… I created him when I was just a lonely kid. We were together for a long time,

head, then

mean, a kid? A kid with an Aspect

The voice laughed bitterly.

twelve. It's rare, but does happen sometimes.

Sunny blinked.

Nightmare at twelve… of

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

thought that I was

his throat, then

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

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

Sunny sighed.

it! I didn't even have time to

strategic with how he chose

***

darkness seemed to be eternal and everpresent, as though he had always been here, in its empty embrace, and all of his actual life

'Maybe it was?'

no, it wasn't. He

slightly. Not only were the distant shimmering lights now

spot, sitting cross-legged in the center of the treasure chest and training to better control the flow

"...You practice archery?"

and glanced into the darkness, then