Shadow Slave - After the Third Nightmare - A different Story

Sunny blew the air into the flute.

*autistic screeching*

*cacophony*

*torturing poor animals*

"Wow, Sunless, it's really… something. Excuse me, but I don't recognize the melody. I mean I didn't even know that a flute can make such sounds. What is it?"

"Rush E. Simplified. I think that was in the description."

"Never heard of it. But it sounds really ambitious. Did you know something else?"

Sunny took a deep breath, and about to blow into the flute, but Kai stopped him with a hand gesture, hardly holding himself from punching him from above.

"You know what? Let's pass on that. Try something simpler at the beginning. And consider taking lessons with some teacher. Playing instruments isn't a light thing. It takes years to master it, and won't serve you well if you don't follow any order. For coherence."

"Saint Kai, you don't have to be polite. I know it's nothing much. I never had the opportunity to practice it properly enough. Actually I rather hoped to present you with the instrument itself hoping it would serve you better than me."

"Oh, how nice. I hope I won't disappoint your expectations. I'm primarily a singer so I'm not well-versed with flutes. Well, let me see that."

Kai blowed lightly into it a few times as if checking that it plays actual sounds. Then he looked at it from a few sides. But he certainly didn't even need to do that, taking into account he can just see through things. Then he stroked it a few times like it's his lovely pet. Only then he started playing.

The melody wasn't even simple. It looked very composed, metrical, and precise. Sunny felt embarrassed, and he reddened even more the longer Kai was playing.

'What a fucker. Not well-versed with flutes? Not like my feelings are seriously hurt.'

The music quickly turned into a sonate, and for a moment Sunny had an illusion he was at a warm meadow. Which was strange, because he was never at a meadow, and didn't even know what it looked like, while the place they're standing is definitely a snowy mountain.

Then Kai switched to a more aggressive melody. He had a feeling that if the flute was [Bone Singer], Kai could easily raise an army of corpses to attack a single target.

Then the music stopped. The silence took its reign again.

"Nice flute."

"That's not all. Insert your essence. Something cool will happen."

Then the flute disappeared into starlight.

"I've got a Memory."

"That's how it works with me. It's without any additional enchantments, but at least you won't need to carry it around."

"Can you get me a guitar or a microphone? I'll pay if necessary."

A microphone. Normally a microphone is considered a piece of tech. Pretty primitive considering how old it is, but considering the situation is very understandable why Kai would want a microphone. After all, he's a singer. Unfortunately here in Dream Realm, technology doesn't work as it's supposed to, and no enchanter would take his time to satisfy someone's whims to have a microphone.

Only the one having such a whim is a singer who can literally utilize his voice to kill.

"Sure… the microphone part is harder, but it's very possible."

"Really? That would be awesome! I can't return to being a musician, but there are days I miss it. Times when – you know – things were simple."

Sunny really wanted to tell him all political stuff that goes behind his head, but now it seemed even more inappropriate to say such things to such an honest man. Instead of talking about the meaning of this flute they went into Kai's past. What's more out of place, Kai feels about the days he was a star, very similar to what Nephis feels about having hundreds of Nightmare Creatures to slay. This contrast was unbearable. If only Nephis could be this lovely…

"Saint Kai, before we jump into conclusion, I think I should talk about the reason I'm giving you the flute. You think about it as an instrument. For me… it's a potential weapon to slay, and murder your enemies."

At the last words his expression cracked.

"How can a flute be a weapon? Is that a Memory?"

"I used to have a flute that can turn corpses into puppets thanks to its enchantments. It worked, but the issue lays in my skills. I wasn't able to raise an army of undead, because of my music…"

"You used to?"

"Oh, right. I should tell that part. It's funny. I lost it."

Like many other Memories, Bone Singer was lost due to being cut off from the Spell. Till now he managed to copy three of its enchantments, but the last one, [Sepulcher Song], posed much of a problem. And he can't be even surprised. After all two first voices have something to do with the sound itself, making it louder, quieter or just simply blocking it. But making it raise dead is something way more complicated. Still Sunny wanted to recreate it. He's in need of potent Memories, and the cheapest way he can get them is to craft them. No one would sell him such things anyway.

"Then are you going to even get it?"

"I'll find a way… somehow. The way is a bit complicated. That's one of the reasons I wanted you. I figured out some parts already, but in this case it's not that easy. Command me to remember that Memory the clearest possible so that can speed up the process of getting it back. If I get it back, I'll give it to you."

Kai looked into the sky, to feed his eyes with breathtaking view. He paused for a bit to wonder about the proposal.

"I feel like there's something for me, and something for you here."

"There is. Is that a problem?"

"No, it's refreshing! I like to do the right things, but I don't enjoy people using it to impress me. And let me tell you that sadly they do that quite a lot. Even you to some extent. I mean you called the Sovereigns bastards. Wasn't it to impress me? And yet here we are. You want to buy my hard-earned voice. So where's the catch?"

Sunny shook his head.

"Saint Kai, if I wanted to impress you I would directly tell you your secrets."

"And what secrets?"

Kai demanded.

"About you, and Nephis still hanging around or your secret meetings with Cassie. I know."

"That…"

"It's quite obvious you're still hanging around. You couldn't abandon each other just because you're from the Government."

"We're not dating. We never did."

"Oh, sure, sure. I'm convinced you're not dating. It was just basking together in the very warm sun, then running together from everyone in fear of what they would do if they found you out, then being saved from a cursed castle, my handsome noble knight, and then being illuminated by her charming tricks, and unparalleled beauty… Should I tell more?"

"IT'S NOT TRUE! Well, technically it is, everything, but there wasn't even a pound of romance in any of that."

"Sure… but that doesn't even take into account the plan to slay her bad father who wants to be in control of her feelings so you can finally spend time together without him threatening you."

"..."

"You're still not impressed?"

'GO, AND REMEMBER THAT MEMORY AS CLEAR AS POSSIBLE! THEN DO SOMETHING SMART WITH YOUR SKILLS THAT DOESN'T INCLUDE ANNOYING ME!"

"Thank you. Goodbye, Saint Kai. See you later."

"And before you go: You definitely shouldn't give up on flute."

Then Sunless disappeared.

"Does he know?"'

…

Sunny deactivated his avatar, and in the Brilliant Emporium he started scribing. Kai's command worked very well, and his mind for a moment was overwhelmed with sudden clarity, when recalling the flute was as easy as telling that 2+2=4 even if he doesn't know why it is. At this point writing it down seems really pointless, but Sunny knew better than that.

Kai's compulsion is going to run out at some point, and if he doesn't do of it as much as possible, the progress will be lost so it's important to do it fast before the 'inspiration' fleets.

He even summoned his shadow hands so they can help with drawing. It didn't stop there. He summoned one of his avatars, Crazy, to start drawing different sections. After two hours he stopped upon realization there's nothing more left to draw.

At first Sunny was reluctant to the idea of replacing his mind with paper, and pencil. Depending on such things doesn't seem right for someone who can learn an entire map just by watching it for a while. Also not that he has the access to paper or pencils in the Dream Realm. But as time goes on he had to admit that some of his ideas… he doesn't remember them that well. Some ideas, especially nuanced, and complicated ideas seem to be much beyond what his mind can grasp, and without being able to grasp them memorising is a daunting task of recalling meaningless lines. Very possible, but also several times harder than organized information.

What Kai did spared him what could be days of work. Just like that Sunny recalled every idea, every impression, and every his guess about the nature of the flute. This included ideas that were too unclear at the moment to realize if they're true or important.

'Dude is more powerful than he realizes.'

It doesn't mean he deciphered the flute in its entirety, he never did that much so he couldn't remember it, but surely he was closer than ever.

'But now's time to do something smart.'

Sunny ordered Crazy to turn into a shadow by using Shadow Step, and then he ordered it to wrap around himself.

'I never test out the possibility of using his powers so simultaneously. It's weird.'

Sunny came to feel like there's two of him. One him was him by the virtue of being him, but second… It was too weird.At that moment Crazy felt he almost wasn't Crazy anymore. What's more weird is that Crazy wasn't experiencing the world from it's point of view. It was more like he was his master, feeling, and hearing what his master was. For Sunny that was trying to get a sense of his avatar's senses it was like he was sensing things two times at once.

Feeling himself two times was already very strange, but what if… what if wrapped his avatar around something else?

Crazy then jumped from to his brigandine. The white-purplish Memory turned into darker shade of gray while purple patterns turned into darker shades of violet. That look was familiar to him. At many times he used his shadows to do something about the strain that continuous request put on him. Thanks to that, the [Blessing of Spirit] he woven into this brigandine several times, he could push himself further in the process of studying Memories.

He still had sometimes to stop, and take rest, but the rate of getting tired was slightly slower than before. It was one of the main reasons behind his incredible rate of advancement in weaving.

But nothing of this could prepare him for a new feeling. His avatar merged with the brigandine, providing him a new feeling. It wasn't a sense. Memories are non-living by nature, so they can't have any senses. And yet it was a feeling of being something. Sunny was experiencing being non-living, and existing by being made, but unable to do anything on it's own. With this feeling came a very narrow, and straightforward understanding of how it was to be a Memory, and series of little purposes determined by the flow of soul essence.

The feeling was so immersive that Crazy had a problem to believe he's not the Memory itself. Sunny was used to resisting the notion of being someone else, because he was often using Shadow Dance, which required him to do so. Nonetheless it was hard. Soon Sunny panicked, and commanded Crazy to unwrap.

'That was dangerous.'

Sunny gasped for air checking if didn't forget to breath.

Shadow Dance was a battle art tailored to him while he still had a True Name. The True Name allowed him to regain his sense of self in the blink of the eye allowing him to avoid paying the heaviest price for disregarding his own identity. Without it Sunny had to be cautious while miming his enemies. Just now he turned himself into something so dramatically different from himself that the danger of losing it was breathing on his back.

But the gain was not less promising. By that moment of unity between him, and the brigandine, his understanding of it increased several times. He was gaining not only the understanding of what his enchantments did, but also why they did something like this, which is the much more valuable than just copying enchantments. Sunny always suffered from the lack of understanding the enchantments.

Yes, he could decipher them just right enough for them to work. He was proud of his work, and it was really dependable, but his weaving lacked proper understanding of what's going on. He's weaving therefore resembled rather a work of a beginner. Someone has told to do this, and that without even being mentioned how his actions are supposed to achieve the goal, while he didn't protest nor deviate from doing the task.

'Maybe that could speed-up my efforts to turn Covetous Coffer into an Echo?'

The Spell through his entire career as an Awakened granted him only five, and out of these five one was three were destroyed soon after obtaining. His luck was really that terrible. The only hope to have more Shadows is to craft his own Echoes.

Sunny summoned an Echo he borrowed from Cassie. She didn't have many of them, but as a seneschal she could request to have at least one. This one was also a tall mannequin made of blessed steel. Nothing too incredible, by their standards rather a cheap toy offered to have an excuse they gave her something.

His avatar merged with the Echo, and he felt… surprisingly lifeless. There was an autonomy in his actions, but also the connection to the will of the master, which was a very direct connection. The feeling was also very narrow. He could sense moving his limbs, yet not much touch. Most of it was still dictated by the flow of essence.

Echoes operate with their own sets of enchantments. Up to this point Sunny determined long ago it's mostly the same type of weave composed of the strings made of essence which he can find in almost all Memories. Some things overlapped, like the name, connection to the master's soul, ability to be stored, and restored in the Soul Sea. But there's also a unique set of enchantments that imitate life in known, and often in some vague ways, and make it more responsive to master's commands, sensing, and reacting to the outside world in a determined way. On top of everything there's the false spark of life, something that exists outside of the weave.

Deconstructing the functions of Echoes comes with some guesses, but the most problematic part refers to that Echoes are a bit like Memories. Memories share many enchantments, but there are even more enchantments that they don't share at all, which complicates everything. The same goes about Echoes. Many enchantments aren't even required for an Echo to be an Echo.

Only in case of Memories Sunny had tens of them, while currently he doesn't possess any Echo excluding the one borrowed from Cassie. Luckily Sunny already memorized the patterns enough. He just lacks some understanding of what they do, and which ones exactly are responsible for the thing being Echo. With new application of his powers he felt he could solve the problem within a few days.

'That's what you get for goofing around Kai.'Sunny called Kim, and Luster to be sure if they moved everything from the Covetous Coffer to Purple-Eyed Boulder. They confirmed it's ready so left the Brilliant Emporium, and used Shadow Step to appear in the park in the outskirts as quickly as possible. He retrieved the Covetous Coffer, and replaced it with Purple-Eyed Boulder. Tomorrow all apprentices, and disciples would have to deal with a surprise, but he couldn't really care about that anymore.

Then he returned to Brilliant Emporium, and summoned the Covetous Coffer to his dark basement. He called Aiko to ask her if she can handle the boutique alone for a few days. He rubbed his hands, and started his work. He summoned all Memories he possessed, excluding the divine ones, because he had a bad feeling that experimenting with them could too easily damn him for good, and he loves to live with a bit of sanity that still clings to him.

'I'll explore the trick more thoroughly later. Now let's do that.'