Shadow Slave - After the Third Nightmare - A different Story

Sunny watched as his stash of Memories has grown during the last few days. Every few hours Aiko returned with some items, and those had to be returned. Not every single one helped with recovery. Some were charms adding some resistances, others could be considered armors or garments. In a group of thousands of Awakened it was inevitable that some had some accessories related to fatigue.

New trick with avatar led him to accelerate the rate at which he could figure out the purpose of the Memory. In a few minutes per Memory he determined if the Memory was supposed to achieve any positive effect on the user. A bit more, and Sunny knew already what kind of recovery it provided.

His partner did a decent job for him, finding approximately twenty different Memories that had matching qualities. There were several others that won't do for varying reasons. Some were simply wrongly identified. The Spell doesn't have a habit of explaining the functions of its own creations, and yet it's exuberant when it comes to writing down vague descriptions. Sunny could probably make a business on examining the Memories alone.

It wasn't the first time he realised how wasteful Weaver could be, but thinking about some descriptions he felt like Weaver could be his good friend in crime of weaving cursed descriptions. Sadly they never met.

How one was supposed to check if a Memory is able to speed up recovery without the ability to see the enchantments? Only by blind empiricism and vague feeling provided by the Memory. Otherwise they could try to find some oracle that could see or divine the purpose. Cassie's powers were bordering on that realm, the reason behind how Nephis knew about Dreamblade providing the protection against soul attacks. 

The amount of soul shards he allowed Aiko to use was also significant. It could be compared with the amount he possessed at the Forgotten Shore.

Currently laughable. One hunt could bring him much more, and – in conclusion – it's also another example of how his business model doesn't even make much sense anymore. At least on the surface.

Enchanting the Covetous Coffer was quite a task. It required him to somehow turn it into an Echo despite already possessed enchantments. Nonetheless it turned out that the enchantments put much less pressure on anchors than one should expect. The most basic ones could be maintained by any Memory.

But things became quite complicated when Aiko suggested he should enchant it more as a Memory. The idea was good, and the girl was definitely smart, in her ignorance, but the implementation demanded much more than just the idea. Sunny had to think of the function it's meant to serve in the future.

Sunny wanted it to serve as a house. A mimic that could perfectly pretend to be a chest and then eat you alive could probably also pretend pretty well it's a cottage, and not eat you alive, but assuming the enchantments would prevail the cottage would turn out to be much greater inside than outside he would probably end up using it as a magazine, workshop, study, training place for Rain… the list doesn't seem to end.

But there are some general things he wanted from his Shadow. He wanted the Covetous Coffer to be sturdy enough to withstand a bit of his power. He wanted it to aid him in his sorcery, and training. It should also be able to protect its contents. By that logic he started changing the weave to his needs.

So he isolated, and strapped the enchantments related to eating the intruders, and walking on its own! They were unnecessary. After turning into a Shadow the Covetous Coffer would still be able to do that by the virtue of having a mind compelled by all his commands.

Following by relieving the pressure caused by unnecessary enchantments Sunny could start the tricky process of tampering with the design. Four avatars appeared next to him. Each summoned a set of hands, while the original supported his mind with his white brigantine he unleashed one of the best enchantments for armors he knew, [Stalwart].

By using several armors as comparison in conjunction with his new trick he managed to uncover how it was supposed to work. The enchantment would add to already ridiculous physical sturdiness typical for the Mimic, and cover the lack of resistance against soul, and mind attacks that got it killed last time. New Mimic would be much better in this regard.

Next Sunny concentrated on adding particular utility. For this goal he recreated another enchantment. At many occasions he had to be vary of the essence consumption during weaving the most complicated enchantments. He was relieved a bit from that burden thanks to [Shroud of Graceless Dusk], and [Crown of Twilight]. Later [Prolonged Rest] helped him a little, but when it comes to weaving or even using more avatars, there's never enough essence. Thanks to various items, however, he managed to finally recreate [Blessing of Soul].

After applying it to Covetous Coffer, whoever was inside would experience the increased rate of essence replenishment.

At this point a sorcerer like him could already stop. Those boons were very significant, and had the potential to stack up with the scale of stuff taking place inside.

Yet there was a sense of insufficiency hanging in his mind. Something was off with the theme of these enchantments. All of them seemed to serve purposes so different it felt vaguely unnatural to think they were contained by one Memory.

Sunny remembered that the enchantments of complicated Memories tend to complete each other to create a greater mechanism. Sometimes they complete in a very unobvious way. It's not a coincidence that Ananke's Mantle is enchanted to both conceal identity, and be black. But at first glance it might seem to be a pure nonsense. Why would Sin of Solace have to curse, and deprive its Master of sanity? Without it that sword wouldn't work so well as a whole. Perhaps, he should even consider introducing a flaw as well. Not that he could just create a flaw, and build the power on that base. Making a fragile sword doesn't make it stronger in other regards. He had to use something more… conventional.

Such things were still far beyond him.

The Mimic will possess its own reservoir of essence, and therefore it should have a way to channel it. That led Sunny to add to the Memory a minor ability to heal as an active enchantment, the one was inspired by Nephis Memory, but Aiko provided some examples that could make the idea more pronounced. It should play well along with already good healing factor that Mimic presented during their confrontation.

At this point Sunny had to add another ascendent shard as an anchor to allow further modifications. It was also another experiment he wanted to conduct. What would happen to that anchor during the transformation?

As the finishing touch he chose to weave an element with the potential to make the puzzle complete. The piece was going to be [Unbroken] or rather its modified version. It seemed to work well with different enchantments, in peculiar ways. Studying its different functions Sunny could tell it was an intricate mechanism in, and of itself. Several boons were related to the fact the enchantment provided to the Memory either enhanced the vitality of the Master at certain conditions, greatly added to the durability, and was capable of storing essence produced by soul shards.

After weaving it Sunny did something he had never considered before. Instead of isolating enchantments, which normally could enable him to operate specific segments with greater certainty, preventing from messing up the thing he didn't understand, he did otherwise. Subtle net of essence threads encompassed every part making [Capacious Chest] and [Unbroken], [Unbroken] and [Blessing of Spirit], and even barely related enchantments like [Stalwart], and [Mendacious Coffer] into a series of transitive relations. The enchantment from shard series was going to constitute the framework of how enchantments are supposed to relate.

The tapestry gave an illusion the thing was a breathing, living being, almost. Probably soon it's going to really be one.

Exhausting the last thing to do he fell on the Shadow Chair lazily, not without the strength to still stand, he could stand easily, but with lack of will to do so it made no difference. The avatars melted into shadows leaving him alone.

Few minutes or so passed before he shook off from his mind the intensity of what he just did. Pondering on the significance of his little breakthrough in Spellweave, and the boost it provided to understanding normally incomprehensible patterns he summoned [Eternal Spring], and started to drink slowly as if afraid of choking on it.

Boosted by his already abnormal ability to remember things, and the talent provided by the forbidden lineage, his little divine sorcery was going to grow some wings.

At this rate of progress he was sure he would soon start weaving even his own enchantments possessing qualities matching his needs, and wants better. Of course, only to the extent in which he is able to design, and weave the enchantments. There's simply no way he's going to derive something entirely new out of his current knowledge. His new knowledge lets him imagine new things, but that imagination will take some time to adapt.

'Meanwhile Covetous Coffer will be the testament to my copycat sorcery. Congratulations. You stole the ideas from Daemons themselves.'

Finally he got up from his chair. He opened the window once again to bring some fresh air, which means air not coming from his [Quintessence Pearl], but from outdoors in the district instead. He walked upstairs taking even steps, and found Aiko selling another just-Memory made by his disciples. The quality was – no one was arguing – subpar, but at least they could be stored in Soul Sea, and depending on material it was very possible to still make it a decent, and above all affordable weapon. …or a furniture, if preferred.

As soon as the client left, and the doors behind him closed, Sunny straightened his long hair, which lately were in apparent disarray, and called her out.

"Hey, Aiko."

"Nice to see you, boss. Did the upgrade go well? Those Memories, were they helpful?"

"I finished. I'm going to start the transformation soon, and yes, they were incredibly helpful. Is it going well?"

"I'm running short on some products again. Also I had to apologize to a couple of clients for not hurrying up with upgrades. It causes some pain, but it's mostly people being impatient."

"My little vacation is coming to the end, huh?"

"That doesn't sound like a vacation at all. With all respect, but you spent it all in a basement, studying magic more intensely than usual. Where was the last time you took a vacation?"

"I was trapped on top of the shell of a monstrous dead turtle that was bigger than a small island for more than a month. Does that count?"

He was mentioning the experience from the Tomb of Ariel.

"No."

"What you're given is what you get, and it's no good whining. Give me half an hour, maybe an hour, and we should begin. And close the shop. It's very unobvious if the Spell wasn't necessary for the process. Prepare that even that will be a long, and boring session."

After exchanging pleasantries with the business partner, and providing the invitation he took a quick trip to his home. That short time turned out to be a session of catching up with his physiological needs, and getting rid of dirt, blood, and sweat that accumulated over time.

Several days spent on exploring the breakthrough in sorcery plus barely eating anything had to take a toll on his body. He was even considering using his avatars to take a good sleep in his stead after all of this being finally done.

But for now he left just one avatar to prepare the most important part.

Someone had to enter the Soul Sea, and prepare the soul of the Mimic to be infused into the faux Echo. That would be him, but it was somewhat funny to think he forced his frivolous shadow helpers to do some work for him. To be honest he wasn't sure it would go so well. The process of entering the Soul Sea was still a time-consuming one. He had to spend an hour entering it, and then guide the soul towards the body.

After taking a fast shower, and consuming two sandwiches, and taking a few moments to relax he appeared back at the Memory boutique. Aiko meanwhile warned whoever she could, and turned the sign on the entry doors to show 'closed'. She sighed at the moment her lack of professionalism manifested. She muttered a silent complaint, and they both went downstairs where an avatar already managed to enter the Soul Sea causing Sunny a split in the vision.

He brushed it off like nothing.

'These days it is hard to not experience many different points of view all at once.'

The Capacious Coffer was waiting there for them.

Sunny summoned another chair for Aiko, and started the explanation.

"According to your suggestions I added several things to the vessel. Now it should be sturdier, more resilient, be able to store greater amounts of essence, enhance essence regeneration of those being inside, and even use them to do some healing, and you know that these days healers are precious."

"It was only a light suggestion. I only suggested doing something."

"But I decided to make it serious. I want to keep it, and that little gamble is really worth the risk. Forgive me this part, but at this point I don't know what we should do next. It's something I never did before, and remember there's no reliable textbooks on how to use aspects."

"Just start the demonstration. I won't complain."

Subby nodded, and started figuring out.

How to do such a thing? Partially the soul of the Mimic was already a part of his soul as a shadow fragment so the thing he had to do was just to move it like his shadow essence. Not only that. He has to move 100 shadow fragments in total.

Unfortunately he doesn't possess such profound control over his own soul, a thing he should definitely fix one day. Therefore he had to do the thing in a cheaty way. His black tattoo slithered off his skin, turned into a Serpent form, and then entered him in some unperceptive way.

"My Serpent has the ability to enter my Soul Sea. I will use that so it can move shadow fragments towards the vessel."

"Can mine do that too?"

"No, but I can't really know. The abilities of the current Soul Serpent are a mystery to me. You can test that by yourself. I will be happy to hear about the results."

Soul Serpent will do some of the work for him. That Shadow has an exceptional ability to manipulate strange energies in different configurations, even after being turned into a flame, or even before becoming plain essence.

So it was like that. Sunny had to command the serpent to move the soul of Mordant Mimic along with countless different souls that would be sacrificed to fuel the completion of that one soul.

Sunny explained his plan to that point, and only to that point. It was the only thing he could come up with during last months, and he knew long it's going to be a problem so considered some scenarios, especially the scenario in which he won't be able to move the shadow fragments with his own willpower which seemed very probable.

Thankfully he didn't start figuring out just the moment he got there. Otherwise how many weeks would he spend before knowing what to do?

The process was also very slow. It was like trying to fill a glass drop by drop. The serpent had to move the shadow fragments one by one, and transport them towards Capacious Coffer. Sunny was standing still with his hands on the Coffer.

Because of how utterly boring commenting on the flow of shadow fragments would be, the session turned into chatting.

"You're basically telling me that Cassie, that blind woman, obtained some terrifying power of seeing through the senses of others."

Sunny nodded.

"Is she watching us right now? She might be seeing me in the bathroom, and when I wear my pyjama."

"Do you expect someone like her to not be interested? On the surface she might seem soft or even timid, but the one taken by Nephis as her right hand doesn't deserve to be looked down. Actually she is one of the most treacherous people I know. And it's even no use to be vary of her. And long years have passed since she's been like this. There was even a time when I used to believe that when something strange happened, it was a part of her plan."

At this point he really suspected that Cassie was listening. Aiko sighed in regret.

"Now I won't be able to sleep properly. Great. Let's change the topic. Did you think about the name for your creation?"

"Honestly I wanted to see the effect first."

"What about Homie or Homer? For it being meant to be a sweet home."

Sunny furrowed his eyebrows.

"Too straightforward, and candish. I wanted to call it a Brilliant Mimic."

"That would be the mascot of our shop."

"Or the shop itself. It's not a pet so you can call it 'Chester'."

"..."

"You wanted to call it 'Chester'. Really. Shame on you."

Then Aiko bursted in panic.

"Don't blame me, boss! I didn't say that! You might want to at least name it after the most fearsome woman you have met."

"Like Morgan?"

Aiko nodded vigorously.

"Exactly. You could tell a tale about how you made Morgan into a toy. And you mentioned her Ascended ability. Isn't your project quite similar? If someone asked you could tell something along the lines 'I wanted my phenomenal, magnificent minion to have the greatest name, and there's no greater name than 'Morgan'. Therefore it suited the best as a superlative."

"Spiteful… I like it. But I won't approve of that. If Morgan stepped inside it would probably kill her. Morgan Mimic eating Morgan of Valor. Do you hear that? Thought it would add to its marvelousness."

Soon it turned out that the basement had a blackboard. By using it, and some chalk, Aiko has written down many names.

At the black surface there were various names. Cassie, Nephis Junior, Ersat, Faker, Bikie, Shadie, Chairyl, Homelander, Mimi, Mr. Mime, Clerk… There were also multiple tries on replacing the word 'Mimic' with something else like hut, house, cottage, simulacrum, palace, vault, treasury, luggage, or even box. She even nearly said 'Asterion', something Sunny had to stop, because it would cause him yo know where she is. After running out of the piece of chalk she shouted in frustration.

"Then I give up! Please, call it Marvelous Mimic before it becomes Brilliant like this Emporium! Do that and prove that this name was fated for it from the beginning!"

"What are you talking about? 'Marvelous Mimic' is a great name!"

"Just knew it! JUST KNEW IT! Why do I even try?"

Soon after this little quarrel Sunny gathered enough fragments to start the transformation. And then something just clicked. He didn't know how, but before he realised what was happening the infusion started without him being warned. 

"What's happening?"

"I don't know. I don't even do that much."

The chest was growing bigger in an uncontrollable manner threatening to push them back or pin them. The room started shaking