Shadow Slave

…When morning came, Sunny was sitting on the floor with a wild look on his bestial face, his black coarse hair in a mess. There was a glowing golden needly in one of his hands and a small silver bell in the other. The other two held a flute that seemed to be either cut from jade or made out of polished emerald bone.

That was probably the best Memory he had received in the Red Colosseum… but right now, Sunny couldn't care about the flute any less.

Instead, all his attention was concentrated on the small bell.

Holding his breath, Sunny raised and shook it. However, instead of the clear ringing that would be heard from kilometers away, all he heard was a barely audible, melodious whisper.

I wild grin slowly appeared on his face, illuminating his face.

"I've... I've done it. I really did!"

Barely containing his excitement, Sunny summoned the runes and read the description of the bell:

Memory: Silver Bell.

Memory Rank: Dormant.

Memory Tier: II.

Memory Description: [A small memento of a long-lost home, which once brought its owner comfort and joy. Its clear ringing can be heard from miles away].

Memory Enchantments: [Silver Song], [Sonorous].

[Silver Song] Enchantment Description: "The ringing of this bell is not overly loud, but can be heard across a vast distance."

[Sonorous] Enchantment Description: "The owner can decide how loud this bell will ring."

Sunny's eyes glistened with joy.

Of course, these two enchantments were not that powerful. However, that did not matter… what mattered was the fact that there were now two of them, despite that there had only been one before.

He had finally managed to successfully copy and transplant an enchantment, albeit a simple one. He had studied the emerald bone flute, painstakingly recreated the weave of the [Sonorous] Enchantment, and integrated it into the weave of the Silver Bell… without destroying it. He had done it! He added a new enchantment to a Memory!

Failing to wipe the wide grin from his face, Sunny looked beneath the surface of the small bell. Now, its spellweave looked… very different.

Where there had once only been strings of ethereal light, now there were black strings made of shadows, as well. The two types of strings were intricately intertwined to create a complicated, and yet harmonious pattern.

More than that, the pattern of the Silver Bell used to have only one glowing ember that served as a nexus for the ethereal threads... but now, there were two — knowing that an additional enchantment would require a more powerful foundation, Sunny had used one of the soul shards in his possession to create a new anchor.

All of this had only been possible because of his new insight into the structure of weaves. Knowing that the name of a Memory was integral to its spellweave allowed Sunny to see the pattern as a whole, and so, he was finally able to change it without destroying the thing entirely.

Of course, he was still unable to even think about creating an enchantment of his own… but taking an already existing enchantment pattern and transplanting it into a different Memory was not outside of the realm of possibility for him anymore. Granted, it was not an easy process… just the simple [Sonorous] enchantment took a whole night and an ocean of shadow essence to create.

And that was after he had spent months staring at the Silver Bell and studying its spellweave.

But, still…

'Gods!'

The possibilities… were almost infinite. The ability to modify and change his Memories could open countless doors for him, in time… and that was only scratching the surface of his recent breakthrough.

Just the fact that he had been able to raise the Tier of the Silver Bell by adding an additional anchor was already promising enough.

Yes, it would take a lot of time and effort to solidify this success and learn how to copy enchantments faster and more reliably. There would be plenty of failures along the way…

But the more Sunny practiced, the more he would come to know about the logic and essence of weaving. One day in the future, he would gain enough knowledge and experience to take the next step and learn how to modify and change the enchantments themselves, altering their function.

And one day after that, far in the future, he just might learn enough to try creating an enchantment — and a Memory — of his own.

On the day he succeeded in that daunting endeavor…

On that day, Sunny would earn the right to call himself a true sorcerer.

...On that day, he would become a weaver.

***

Much later, Sunny emerged from his room, stared at the bright sun with a dissatisfied expression, yawned, and walked toward the spot where he and Kai usually practiced archery.

His friend was already there, wearing his charred wooden mask. There was a bow in his hands, and a quiver of arrows by his feet.

Noticing the four-armed demon, Kai turned his head and waved, greeting him.

"Good morning!"

Sunny rubbed his face, then revealed his sharp fangs in a frightening smile.

"...What's good about it? Ah, doesn't matter. Shall we start?"

The young man looked at him for a bit, then shrugged.

"Sure. But where have you been these last few days?"

Sunny blinked a couple of times.

"In my room? Wait, a few days passed? Huh… I must have lost the track of time…"

Kai tilted his head, then suddenly glanced at Sunny's hands:

"Oh… wait. Where is that emerald amulet Noctis gave you?"

Sunny glanced down with a guilty look, lingered for a bit, and answered reluctantly:

"Oh… that thing… I, uh, sort of broke it."

The young man's eyes widened.

"You broke… wait, then how am I hearing you?!"

At that moment, Sunny grinned and produced a simple-looking rock from the folds of his black kimono, then proudly presented it to Kai.

The archer stared at it with confusion:

"Is it… the Ordinary Rock?"

Continuing to grin, Sunny shook his head. Then, the rock suddenly spoke in his voice:

"It was. But now… it is the Extraordinary Rock! I… improved it, I guess. Now, it can do the same thing as the amulet, but as an active enchantment. So, no more blurting random thoughts for me! What a relief… I can curse out anyone I want in peace again… uh, I mean, can have some mental privacy again. It can also be really, really loud. So, its name changed as well."

Kai stared at him in bewilderment for a bit, then shook his head.

"Well… this is great! But, sadly, we don't have time to discuss it in detail… or practice archery, for that matter."

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Why?"

The young man sighed, then stood up and picked up his quiver.

"It's Noctis… he wants to see us."