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?"

answer for as long as he

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

hint of anguish in it. The owner of the voice tried very

it's dead.

fell silent once

tensed. After a

not going to be angry with me for

sigh resounded

Why would I be angry with you?

had been responsible for the Mirror Beast becoming separated from its creator — and

Then, he asked cautiously:

exactly was it, though? I have

control of itself when it answered after a

my Aspect Ability. A kind of an Echo, you can say. I… I created him when I was just a lonely kid. We were together for a long time, before… before

tilted his head, then frowned

kid? A kid with an Aspect

The voice laughed bitterly.

my First Nightmare when I was twelve. It's rare, but does happen sometimes.

Sunny blinked.

the Nightmare at twelve… of course

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 the norm, not someone

I thought that I

throat, then said

the creature tried to say something before it died.

again spent all of his soul essence… or whatever it was

Sunny sighed.

to ask him how to survive the

he chose

***

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,

'Maybe it was?'

wasn't.

the distant shimmering lights now closer

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 into