Shadow Slave

For a moment, Sunny froze. However, a second later he continued to behave just like before, as if nothing had happened.

The first rule of haggling — never let the enemy see that you're interested in buying something. And Sunny was dead set on haggling until Stev's ears started to bleed today.

Pretending as though he had not noticed the dusty armor, he walked around a bit more, slowly approaching the corner where it was displayed. Judging by the neglect with which the armor was kept, the master of the Memory Market did not know its true value.

Sunny really wanted to keep it that way. Because, if he was right… that armor was much more valuable than anything else here.

He didn't know for sure, but suspected that it was nothing short of a true treasure.

Because he recognized it.

The suit of ancient plate armor was jet black in color, its design intricate and solemn. It radiated a feeling of dark resolve and stalwart, adamantine grace. All parts of it were perfectly fitted to one another, creating an almost seamless barrier of impenetrable steel.

…Or rather, stone.

Because the dusty armor was almost exactly the same as the one the Stone Saint was wearing.

Of course, there were some differences. For starters, this one was somehow more… impressive. It felt as though it had once belonged to a creature of higher status than the steadfast Shadow. While Shadow's armor was made out of dark granite, this one was cut out of pure black onyx. Its glossy surface seemed to absorb and devour any light that fell on it.

And that was just in its dormant state. Once it was animated like that of the Stone Saint… who knew how fearsome it would become?

Why was this treasure gathering dust in a badly lit corner of the Memory Market?

Sunny frowned. Yes, he was most likely the only person in the Dark City who had seen the formidable living statues up close. But still, everything about the onyx armor screamed of how incredible of a Memory it was. What was it doing here, neglected and seemingly forgotten?

He had a lot of questions.

Finally, he managed to reach the armor without showing how interested in it he was. With a false expression of boredom on his face, Sunny raised a hand and absentmindedly put it on the jet black breastplate.

A moment later, his mask of boredom almost cracked. His pupils widened.

What he saw beneath the surface of the armor shocked him to the core. The weave of ethereal diamond strings inside it was… was on a completely another level from anything he had ever seen.

It was much more complex and vast than even that of the Puppeteer's Shroud. Which was not surprising, considering that there were no less than six glowing embers connecting it all together.

And those embers were much larger and brighter than those inside his current Memories.

Sunny gulped.

In front of him, covered in dust, was an Ascended Memory of the sixth tier. Something that only a Fallen Terror could leave behind.

'Jackpot.'

***

His glee, however, did not last long. Almost instantly, Sunny noticed that there was something wrong with the weave of the onyx armor. It was… damaged.

Thousands of strings were torn apart, leaving the whole pattern broken and full of disharmony. Instead of flowing seamlessly, they floated in the darkness, untethered from each other and the nexuses. The whole thing was a mess.

That's why he couldn't feel any logic or purpose in the weave. It was simply not there anymore.

Sunny frowned.

How could a Memory stay damaged beyond repair? That didn't make any sense. Memories were supposed to repair themselves inside the Soul Sea as long as they were not completely destroyed. This rule was pretty much universal. It couldn't be broken.

Unless…

A seed of understanding appeared in his mind.

However, before Sunny could elaborate on his idea, Stev chuckled and put a giant hand on his shoulder.

"What an awesome armor, right, my dear friend Sunny?"

Saying that, he leaned forward and laughed.

Throughout Sunny's exploration of the Memory Market, Stev had approached him several times to describe the most alluring qualities of his wares or simply to chat. He was obviously bored out of his mind in this windowless hall.

Sunny stared at him and blinked a couple of times.

'If you only knew what kind of a priceless treasure this is, fool!'

"Of all the pieces of crap in this market of yours, this one is by far the most outrageous. I can hardly believe that you had the audacity to show it to people."

By which he meant that it was genuinely the best Memory in this whole room, if not in the whole castle — except for Gunlaug's golden armor, of course.

However, if it sounded as though he was blaming Stev for being shameless and trying to sell people an utter piece of crap… well, he couldn't do anything about that, right?

Stev sighed.

"Usually, I would get into an argument and try to defend my inventory, but I can't really disagree this time. This armor, no matter how awesome it looks, is indeed absolutely useless. It has been here from long before I was put in charge of the market, actually. I even consider it to be a sort of mascot."

Sunny scratched the back of his head.

"How come no one ever bought it?"

He was pretty sure that he knew, but needed to hear what was Stev's explanation to glean how much the giant man understood.

Stev shrugged.

"Why would anyone buy it? Have you not noticed that it's made of stone? Like, actual stone? It's so heavy that not even Tessai can move under all the weight. Maybe an Awakened would be able to, but to us Sleepers, wearing this armor is pretty much like trying to walk around dressed in a mountain. And that stone is not that hard to break, too."

He looked at the onyx armor and sighed.

"Actually, this armor has quite a story. It once belonged to a member of the legendary cohort that conquered this Castle. Some even say that it belonged to the first Lord himself. Supposedly, it had an enchantment that made it much lighter back then."

He looked at the armor with doubt.

"But when they were fighting some ancient terror, maybe the Spire Messenger who lived here, the armor was seriously damaged. Something went very wrong, the enchantment was broken, and it turned into a piece of stone. It's so damaged that even the Spell can't make sense of it, simply describing it as unknown that, unknown this... "

Sunny had to force himself to not hold his breath.

The Stone Saint was, supposedly, created by one of the Unknown. It made sense that the armaments of her kind were, too.

Regardless, it didn't matter that much. He was now pretty sure that he knew why the onyx armor was remaining in its dormant form and couldn't repair itself.

It had to do with the difference between the Sleepers and the Awakened.

Once a Sleeper finished his trial by walking through a Gateway, they would take the final step to becoming a true Awakened. Their way of entering the Dream Realm would change, their Aspect would unlock a second Ability, and their core would evolve to the next rank.

There was a quantitative jump in power, but most of the difference came from the qualitative one...