One woman gave to her little child a bottle with milk. Or rather it would be, but it was a food industry product called synthmilk.
Unlike some unholy miracles with similar names synthmilk was designed for babies to be highly nutritious, and tasty for their likes. For adults it was awful just a bit less than synthpaste. Or so the adults thought.
The woman feeding the baby the shady white liquid was met by another woman who shouted.
"Let's go shopping!"
A few moments later a few similar women were in a rush. Some were running while pushing baby carriages, strangely that didn't provoke the babies' cries.
Marut was watching the scene from the Brilliant Emporium in feelings swinging between honest wonder, and contempt for consumerism.
Recently his boss decided to move him to the inner districts. It came with some formal problems. In the age when everybody was in need of having a job, the Government was actively trying to stop the people of outskirts from taking a job in the inner districts. Usually it happened under the pretext of not having official records of existence, and therefore being a 'potential safety issue'. With the lack of vital record documents for many men it created a vicious cycle of misery, and rejection.
Ironically it didn't prevent Outskirts from being employed in underground factories, only made it even harder to seek compensation in case in which the employer didn't want to pay. And what if the official records were in the fallen Siege Capital, and the authorities had no way to extract them?
But with money and the status of a Master, Sunless could do, and skip on many issues. That guy didn't share with him the same opinions on consumptionism, but well, he's not in position to complain. Being able to enter inner districts. The fact that he used to have official parents also helped him a bit.
He was sent to be looking after the Memory boutique. The reason was simply that among the apprentices his knowledge on Memories was the most vast one, and he was always struggling to not fall behind Kim.
During that time the quality of Sunless' teachings changed quite a lot. If before there were mostly graphs, and explanations on what particular parts do in the picture, now there were ideas on how the enchantments were achieving its effects. That opened more room for simplification to the point when simple luminous Memories were very possible.
He weaved a few, and they were still being sold for tens of shards. Marut didn't like wasting money for cosmetics, but that doesn't mean he's not enjoying the idea of earning money.
However despite his contribution his standards of living didn't increase that much. Having no pay in money he couldn't consider finding himself a better living place, and he could afford himself a snack only sometimes on rare occasions. If he decided to sell his air maker, blue shell that according to Sunless, and his own experience, produces air that breathed in eased the mind, he couldn't.
Because he's not an Awakened, he can't bind a Memory to someone else, which is normally required to sell such a thing. Not to mention that the shell was the most valuable item in his possession, and its value easily exceeded things he could craft.
It wasn't a straight up payment, rather an investment in his future in hopes that it would eventually pay off. He hoped it did, but such things were never simple.
His time of weaving the tapestries shortened by a lot thanks to the conch shell reducing the time his mind needed to rest from the strain. His own mind capacity also improved a lot over time. The pattern that before could take a few weeks to apply now took him a week.
Since those weren't his working hours he spent them weaving.
He was even about to finish enchanting another sword in the next two days. The weapon itself was incredibly heavy, so heavy that he could barely even raise it. It wasn't something a mortal should wield. Over time Sunless developed different ways of applying the patterns that don't involve depending on epoxy resins. Awakened Memories require at least awakened materials, and awakened materials require patience to process, and apply, when in hands of a mere mortal. In this case it was his patience that was tested.
While not everyone was doing well in weaving, actually no one did, but at least everyone picked some experience with processing carapaces. His brother even supported him at many times in this regard to see earlier if he can extract more rewards from Sunless.
Meanwhile there were new batches of apprentices. Those people went through a more strict process of selection while enduring the harsh reality of Outskirts, and therefore had better disposition to brave the teachings of the eccentric Master. They picked up faster than almost everyone. Almost, because it seems that will, and talent, doesn't come from suffering. Up to this point no one managed to catch up to him, though many earned themselves a nice gadget from the Master like a cutting knife enchanted to be both sharp, and light, or another air maker, or a very flexible, comfortable piece of clothing that could nullify the smell, and clean themselves over time. He had one as well.
Every such reward bound them to him even more, because in the end there were Memories that he allowed them to keep around, and rarely dismissed. What if they fell from his grace?
He still had in mind a strange picture from months before. Suddenly one day Sunless came, and started calling out four of his colleagues for seriously lying during the recruitment. Two were kicked out, and the next two were given the least desirable, and exhausting tasks for the next few weeks like working around the abominations trapped in special cells. Some monsters were sleeping, and some pretty alive, and kicking, albeit connected to some devices meant to slowly drain them from blood, while keeping them alive, making more blood. No one knew nor asked how he was able to know. Those four… they weren't provided with any Memories, but he could guess already, they would lose them as well.
The conclusion was that in the long term those things weren't exactly safe to pursue, because neither truly belonged to him. All that apprenticeship had potential to earn him something, but he had to find a way himself. Otherwise it would be something like 'Air that is good to breathe. Water that is good to drink. Food that is good to eat.'.
During past months he also picked quite a bit of the language of the Nightmare Spell, enough so he could now design a name for the Memory. He had no illusions that he still was a beginner in the field, and it would take him even years to master it sufficiently, but it also revealed to him how many things could true names mean. The Spell likes to make one name mean multiple things, at once. It didn't matter that much. There weren't many restrictions coming from the naming. As long as he put some effort he could make practically any name, even one that cannot be translated into Spell's language.
Despite being distracted by the thought he quickly returned to what he was doing. Trained hands have grown used to maneuvering diamond threads. These days manual mistakes were a rare issue. Clumsy movements were also much now full of certainty, and finesse . He rarely
It was supposed to be another Memory, but this time he decided to craft it for himself, and by himself.
Master Sunless was surprised to hear he requested materials. Unfortunately nothing's free. Miss Aiko charged him with two knife Memories so he could eventually get access to his own supply of diamond threads. He also turned a few leather armors into just-Memories for the hunting crew, getting access to some soul shards.
Fortunately his brother was on the idea as well, very supportive of it. While enchantments were a wonderful field his bro was rather interested in processing materials. During usual butchering he picked some strange substances, and little by little figured out a way to extract, produce, and polish some strange crystals from the corpse of an abomination. According to him those were made of eyes. He wasn't sure what kind of mystical qualities those were, but they were working nicely with luminous Memories. With some other materials meant to bond everything together, including wires made of metals extracted from different parts of the bodies.
While not as complicated it was also very laborious work that required finesse, and physical capacity to turn the unwilling materials into proper shape.
Someone would ask why he's so much into crafting a lamp. After all it's going to be exactly that, a lamp that can't be turned off. While many Awakened possess such Memories, and often their utility is crucial, Marut isn't such a man.
Making an enchantment that generates light is only a means to achieve something else. What then?
He's seen already a Memory that generates water that combat exhaustion, and a seashell that exhales air, which eases mind. According to master, these enchantments were transplanted from a garment. A garment! So if the effects can be transferred to elements like air, and water, it should be also possible to apply something to light. So like the effect of mind-easing was applied to air.
Of course, there is no way he's going to make a big enchantment by himself. No, such a thing was beyond his reach. He had to simplify enchantment, at the cost of efficiency, and lower the bar. How can he do that? The key was to redesign the weave according to his understanding. Instead of copying the enchantment he had to come up with a pattern based on the principles.
It shouldn't also surprise anyone that it was something going well beyond his mind capacity. He had to spend two months teaching himself little by little while still making tapestries for Sunless. Slowly he adapted his mind to the task. And by saying that he meant that one task. All his free time fuelled that one idea.
He was drowning in a dreadful cycle of mental exhaustion, and recovery, and his irritation has grew into being unable to enjoy a good meal. Sometimes he fell into an illusion that the beautiful pattern is going to eat him alive. In a sense it did. At many times his mind rejected the knowledge, not being able to hold onto it, and he found himself surprised he doesn't know it anymore, and has to learn it again.
He leaned against the chair again because he felt again something's wrong. When he reached again to get a grasp on his ideas, he realised they slipped away again. He sighed in silent frustration.
It was very frustrating. Marut prepared himself many times to weaving this, and every time he had to stop upon realization he forgot.
He looked at the ceiling to gather his sluggish thoughts in disbelief what's happening. Fog clouded his mind with barely anything his mind could hold on to.
'What kind of demon invented this sorcery?'
Changing one's fate ain't easy. It's a very viable theory that it requires one to not differ well between tasty stew, and muddy syntpaste.
One thing he knew for sure. The day his relatives will learn what he was doing will also be the day their worst regret will come to live. Regret they decided to forget him. That will be really a show to watch.
Or initially he held onto that spite hoping it would help him in his little goal. But the more he was drowning himself in the pursuit the less sure he was that he really cared about it. In the end he let go. Not really, but decided for it to not cloud his judgement, like he steeled his mind against fantasy, and dreams that dwelled in him, money, and whatever ideology Sunless has sold to him about sustainability.
He still cared, but it didn't matter. For some corner of his mind it didn't matter, and as long as it didn't matter, his mind could keep going, and keep the knowledge of the weave.
Marut didn't know, but he thought that as long as he grasped the essence, and knew exactly what he wanted to keep his distractions away from, he would get something. Truth that his master could never teach him, and the only way to have it it's to engrave its purpose deep into his mind.
He glanced at his notes, a communicator with program showing his project, and every step he took in making the lamp. General theory behind the real deal, the list of all concepts he had to address, some ideas were bordering on real ontology, and the project itself. They were there because it was very probable he would eventually forget again, and there had to be something that could lead him back to his tracks. He hoped to find something there, the last fragment he forgot.
In the fog, guided by desire to crack the weave, he had a concept, something that resembled more an axiom of his practice than a statement. Being urged by barely being able to gather his thoughts he 'wrapped' his consciousness around it. Then something strange happened. His mind, instead of breaking, reassembled itself. Suddenly he found the fog thinning out, and the weave appeared in his mind with new clarity.
'Truth sets free, but how does truth do such a thing? By changing the way the mind is working, of course.'
In that state he returned to his work, he worked for the next few hours, and to his surprise, he finished. Then, before he could admire his work, the axiom constituting his practice stopped existing as the practice also ceased. Marut looked in surprise, and his mind fell apart, barely held by the power of a conch shell.
Sitting on the chair his body almost lost the balance, and the snoring spreaded through the mind-easing air.
Some time later Sunless appeared to check on Marut, only to find him sleeping on the chair. Then Aiko went in going behind Sunny
"That lazy bastard. He's sleeping! What does he think? I'll deduct that from his… Wait, we don't even pay him! How should I discipline him?"
"Damnation… We can't make good profit by charging our employees! By the way it's Marut. And if that doesn't make things obvious, we can point out that he's working at his free time. Look at this torch… lamp. Whatever."
"You're getting soft. And over what? Luminous Memories aren't that pricey."
"We call it flexibility. And it was your job to look after the shop in the first place. Shouldn't I deduct it from your pay?"
"*cough* Boss, now I see. Flexibility is very important. But we shouldn't leave him here."
"Give me a minute. I'll carry him to his home."
Sunny took the lamp in one hand, and touched him w the other, and he dived into the shadows, taking Marut with him. In a few moments they were in the outskirts, and their little living place.
He looked around a little, contemplating the living conditions in nostalgia. He put him in bed. As for Marut's little lamp he left it on an alloy table. He infused a bit of his essence for initial ignition, and looked in curiosity at the wave. He furrowed his eyebrows in consternation, and sighed in dejection.
The lamp started giving constant light. It seemed it wasn't even a Memory since Sunny couldn't claim it. He could easily fix this, but decided against modifications.it. The lamp was really complicated, powerful even, way too powerful for a lamp. In Weaver's vision it was revealed to be an Awakened Memory of Third Tier.
"I don't know what you want to achieve with this, but it's nice, have it. We can have a talk about babysitting you at a different time."
He put the conch shell near the bed, and left the same way he appeared, through the shadows.