"The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." - The Catcher in the Rye rp and ask blog of Umbralian pixel by salekichi
Umbra followed the winged girl, walking through the city of Emain Macha. She hadn't visited it in a while, as she had little to no business there these several years anyway.
“I’ve never really invited people over to my place for a long time.”
When Breezy said that, Umbra remembered her own home. A place she doesn't stay in often. It was more of a place to stay at when she had nothing else to do and she happened to be at Tir Chonaill.
The girl continued to talk as they walked, indicating that they were close to their destination.
"I live in the middle of nowhere, but it’s nice."
A secluded place sounded nice, no one to bother her.
Umbra's own home was located in a decently populated area, but not many people bothered her.
She did receive a pamphlet on Lymilark once, and she promptly burned it, not being a very religious person. She never did figure out who had sent it to her, but she didn't care anymore. [haha it was judas]
Speaking of Lymilark...
She looked over at Judas, remember that he was a priest in... Emain Macha? Maybe? She had forgotten.
"How did someone like him get to be a priest? He looks suspicious as fuck!" she thought to herself.
Umbra followed Breezy and Judas, a little bit behind, just to guard the rear since she could fend for herself. Maybe.
She looked around, noticing the forest had gone a bit quieter, with a lot less of the ruckus from earlier. The luminous Aos Si still looked upon them from between the trees, but they didn't try to attack the trio.
"Maybe it's cause there's three of us this time..." she mused to herself.
She looked at several of them in the eye, while maintaining her pace to keep up with the group. The number of blinking eyes dissipated as they kept on moving, until she couldn't see them anymore. Now she kept watch for anything else, like Carnivorous Plants or Sprites.
“Ah..there it is!”
Breezy's voice stopped Umbra in her tracks, and she looked forward, glancing at the Goddess Statue. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at Morrighan's effigy, remembering her dissatisfaction of the gods.
She looked over at her partners, watching Breezy exit the dungeon and Judas feeding his ego. The priest then left the dungeon as well, looking over at Umbra as if he was expecting her to follow them.
"No point in me staying here. Of course I'm going," she said into the silence to no one in particular.
She sighed as she stepped up to the altar and touched the statue, exiting the dungeon.
When Umbra reappeared on the other side, she looked at Breezy and Judas, who were probably waiting for her.
"Let's go then," she announced, not bothering to apologize for any delay. Wasn't like it inconvenienced them, anyway.
The girl held a beam sword in her hands, a bit hesitant.
"Hm?
The man accompanying her turned to her, and inspected the object.
"Oh, this is pretty nice. Where'd you get this, Umbra?"
"A trade..."
"Well, that's a pretty nice trade, dear."
He smiled, wielding the sword for a bit before handing it back to her.
"It's a nice sword, not bad for an elf to use," he commented.
They kept walking for a bit before he spoke up again.
"Say, do you want to try dueling me with that?"
"Huh?"
The girl was a bit surprised at the proposal. The young Milletian elf had never used a sword like this before, using mainly her bow and arrows, and a a scimitar.
"I'm not sure if I'd be good, though."
"Haha, don't worry! I'll try to go a bit easy. It's your first time dueling someone higher than your level, isn't it?"
"Yeah..."
"It's fine. I'm your husband. Trust me."
He unsheathed his own swords, one in each hand, and she her beam sword and a shield.
He jumped at her, and she lifted up her shield in response before his swords could reach her, the impact knocking her back a little bit. Pushing him back with the shield, she waited for him to attack her again. He ran towards her again and she feinted a defense, watching as he prepared to smash through her defense. At the last moment, she stepped to the side and sliced her sword into his shoulder.
As the beam sword buried into his flesh, a bloodthirst awoke in the elf girl.
He laughed a little, commenting, "Not bad! You're pretty good at this." He grasped his shoulder before standing back up.
"Hey, that elf's pretty good at the sword."
Umbra looked up to see several people crowding around to watch their duel. Some of them were whispering and pointing at her.
"Don't get distracted, Umbra."
Her husband's voice snapped her back to the duel, and he slashed at her abdomen. It wasn't a very deep cut, but it hurt quite a bit.
"I'm warning you, I'll be going all out now, and I expect that you do the same," he shouted, urging her on.
She nodded, preparing herself for the real fight.
-------
Stabbing her beam sword into his chest, she stomped on his abdomen to release her sword, ending the battle.
He coughed for a bit, and got up, terribly wounded, but smiling.
"You're pretty cut out for dueling... Why didn't we do this before?"
She shrugged, sheathing her beam sword. Although she had many lacerations over her body, she still felt exhilarated from the fight.
"I want... I want to fight more... More... more..."
Her bloodthirst continued even after the fight had ended.
"Can... can you..."
"Hm?"
"Can you teach me how to fight with knuckles...?"
He looked confused for a bit, then laughed.
"You're getting ahead of yourself. Practice with your archery first, then we can talk."
He walked up to her and tousled her pale lavender hair.
"Let's go get healed first. You should probably practice this kind of stuff with my friends at Tir Chonaill."
Ah, her husband's friends. She had met them a couple times before, but she never involved herself in their conversations or activities, never having an interest in recreational dueling until now.
She looked over at her husband, and wondered, "Did I ever truly love you? Or was I secretly in love with the spirit of fighting all this time?"
"I’ll try not to get in your way," the priest said, glancing at Umbra for a moment.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she huffed, crossing her arms and smirking a little. She still held a grudge against him after their first confrontation. The air was stagnant for a while until the third person spoke up.
"It’ll be no problem right? I hope. If you think I’m gonna do anything to you at my house, think again. I don’t do that sort of stuff."
The uneasy feeling in Umbra didn't dispel when Breezy said that, but she was a little bit less hesitant to go to her house.
"Anyway, that’s besides the point. Let’s get out of here."
Umbra nodded, drawing an arrow from her quiver as she watched Breezy summon her staff, realizing she had never seen the druid fight yet.
"You lead the way?" Umbra suggested since Breezy was the one who offered to let them rest at her home. Besides, she didn't want to have Judas mocking her in case she got them into any trouble.
“If you change your minds, I’ll be around,” Nekyu announced to her and Judas, walking off.
Umbra let out a loud "Pfffftttt" as if to mock him, laughing a little. After watching Breezy get hit in the head that hard, she definitely did not want to lose her memories that way.
“Do you two want to leave? I don’t want to be here anymore. Maybe go to my place to rest? It’s….not far from here.”
Umbra looked over at Breezy, who had just spoke to the two of them.
... Huh? Go to her place?
Umbra narrowed her eyes at the thought of that, a bit suspicious.
"Is she planning something? Can't be too careful," she deliberated. "... But, she just lost her memory. And she never seemed to be a threat to me."
She looked over at Judas a bit, remembering how Breezy invited both of them.
"I don't feel like dealing with him right now, but what can he do with a weak spirit sword in a confused girl's house?"
She hated to intrude on someone's home, since she rarely had guests at her own home, even if she was not home often.
"Yeah, guess we should leave now. I could use a place to rest for a night if it's not too much trouble..." Umbra answered, trailing the end of her sentence, still a bit hesitant to go to an acquaintance's home.
“I am the host and you are the guest, it was your decision to come as it is their decisions to take what is offered to them. If you hate this party so, then you’d best leave, or I will make you leave," Nekyu snarled at Umbra as he whipped the arrow out of her hand with his tail.
She stepped back slightly from the impact, dropping her left arm to her side, still in an aggressive stance.
"Isn't the host supposed to treat the guests well?" she retorted. She bit her tongue after that objection slipped, silently cursing herself.
"I thought your kind were more ‘brains’ than ‘brawn’, yet there you are, mindlessly attacking this innocent host. Close range with a bow no less~! Ha!"
An unfamiliar voice diverted her attention, and she turned to the source of it, to see a short girl with cat(?) ears grinning at her as she waved a dreamcatcher.
"Show some basic manners, elf," the girl warned, giggling a little bit at the end of her sentence.
"What the fuck is wrong with this person," Umbra thought, as if she was in any position to think that.
With a scowl, she replied, "Not all elves have to be smart or anything, and I just happen to be one of those elves. Got a problem with that?"
She was ready to fight the girl, but decided not to, after her slight commotion with Nekyu.
A loud crash unlike the sound of shattering dishes drew Umbra's attention again, and she looked back at Nekyu, to see him hit his forehead against Breezy's.
"Breezy!" she cried out.
Nekyu's wings and tail were raised up, not unlike a bird of prey getting ready to capture its meal, but Umbra ignored him.
She watched as Breezy fell back into her chair and rub her neck.
"Why her neck? Doesn't her forehead hurt?" she wondered.
Suddenly, the mauve-haired girl fell back to the ground as she leaned on the back of her chair.
"Breezy, what are you doing?" Umbra asked.
[what the fuck umbra you usually say "are you okay?" not "what are you doing?"]
“U-Umbra….J-Judas…” Breezy croaked.
Umbra tried to help Breezy and the chair back up, and she looked at Breezy's face to see if the other girl was okay. Breezy's eyes seemed dazed and confused.
"Something's not right. Did the deal already happen?" she wondered, thinking back to Nekyu colliding his head against Breezy's. "Did he seriously just hit her head to make her lose memories? That's so fucking stupid and dangerous."
Umbra watched in disgust as Nekyu bit down on the blade. It seemed like he made no attempt to break the blade, curiously enough.
She watched Nekyu savor his recent meal, still waiting for Breezy to respond to her suggestion of running away. She turned to her left to look at Breezy, wondering what took her so long.
The mauve colored eyes seemed distant and unfocused, as if Breezy wasn't there.
"Breezy. Snap out of it!"
Breezy didn't seem to hear her, but a tear fell from her eye, which was quickly wiped away.
"Breezy!"
Umbra shook the girl's shoulder a bit.
“I-I’ll..do it. T-The second option.”
"You--you're not serious right, Breezy?"
Of all people, Breezy was the person who seemed least likely to sacrifice part of her soul to the incubus. Or, Umbra had thought she was.
A surge of anger welled up inside her, along with the pent-up frustration at the dungeon. She was frivolous at the host of this feast, for making her face the memories she wanted to forget throughout the journey to this... meal. Although it was the witches to put her under the curse, Umbra believed Nekyu had set this whole thing up.
And now people she knew were willing to sacrifice part of their soul for the deals he could set up. She now realized she was hesitant to give up her memories because she hated running away. Hiding her memories and running away from them were two different things to her.
"I hate this whole party," she mumbled, fueling her anger.
Her anger clouded her judgement, forgetting that Nekyu was able to consume souls, so she unsheathed her bow and an arrow, and notched the arrow to the string, taking aim straight at Nekyu.
Umbra felt a gentle touch on her left arm and almost jumped at the sudden contact.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Umbra looked over on her left, and nodded to Breezy and tried her best to smile her usual prideful smile.
"I'm fine."
“Umbra, it’s okay!”
"Yeah, that's what I should be thinking right now. 'It's okay'."
Just when she thought she would not concern herself with the matter anymore, a tall and looming figure strode to the table the trio were seated at, a nasty sneer on his face.
"Is this Nekyu?", she thought to herself, remembering what everyone else had said about him. When he leaned over to them, Umbra contorted her face into a scowl, sharpening her gaze.
Her eyes widened slightly as she watched Nekyu shift his gaze over to her.
"If you’d prefer, I could take a bite of your actual flesh instead of your soul.”
She held her breath. The offer was tempting, and she had always wanted to forget what she had done, hadn't she?
Umbra parted her lips, almost ready to accept the offer, but she couldn't say anything. A part of her didn't want to let go of the memories she had.
"I thought I wanted to forget that he died. I thought I wanted to forget that they left. I thought I wanted to forget my old life."
In a quandary, she gritted her teeth, waiting for one of the other two to possibly request Nekyu for something before she made her decision.
"If I let go of these memories, I could become stronger, and I can go back to being a bounty hunter. I wouldn't have to rely on the people I know so much.
But if I forget them...
'But' ?
Why am I hesita--"
A loud crash of silverware and fine china interrupted her thoughts, and she jerked her head up, to see Judas stabbing at the food haphazardly.
"Are you crazy?" she shouted at him. Her eyes followed the sword, and when she glanced up at Judas' face, his eyes were widened in a state of panic. An expression she never thought she'd see on his smug face.
Having still not made a decision, Umbra was a bit glad that Judas and his spirit sword provided a bit of a distraction.
"We can run right now, can't we?" Umbra whispered to Breezy.
She hated running away from an enemy. But she felt like she had no choice, since she couldn't make a decision.
"It's better I keep my flesh and soul safe than have him eat my flesh or soul," she thought, watching Judas and Nekyu.
-- "I couldn't save him I couldn't convince him I had lost another person I trusted It was my fault ItwasmyfaultIt'sasifImurderedhim" --
"Uhm..I’m over here! Come join me?"
Breezy's voice snapped Umbra out of her thoughts. When she looked up, she realized Breezy had already seated herself, and Judas was approaching the table. She looked down at her hands, noticing her hands were trembling. Her knees felt weak, and her face felt cold. She took a step forward, and tried to smile a little, in an attempt to mask her insecurity again.
"Just need to stop being able to love people. Hide the past again. Don't let my guard down. Make everything seem right. I'll be okay," she chanted in her head, as if it was a dogma she was to strictly follow.
"Bastard," she cursed under her breath, directed at Judas, although she wasn't sure if he would ever hear it. She wouldn't care if he did, anyway.
As she came closer to the table, she debated whether to sit next to Breezy, or next to Judas. Or rather, which was the lesser of the two evils: having to see Judas' face, or having to sit next to him? She decided on the former.
"I'll just talk to Breezy. Don't want to be alone in these kind of things."
When she sat down, a voice echoed again in her head.
"You have to eat it.
That is, if you want the deal."
Deal?
When she mentally questioned that word, she reached out to try a small piece of something that wouldn't look unappetizing. As she swallowed the bite-sized portion, a list of offers was recited in her mind.
"A memory you’d do anything to forget."
She tensed up a bit, forgetting that she was around two people.
"Should you take any of these deals, in exchange, you must give me a nice juicy bite of your soul."
A part of her soul in exchange for any of the offers.
"No," she whispered, trembling slightly again. Although Nekyu had said that the effects wouldn't be too major, she was still hesitant about losing her soul, the only thing that had allowed her to evade ageing in the world she came from.
"Mm? Yes, I’m aware of that. He’ll be fine, I’m sure. Though…I don’t suppose you have anything as simple as a small gem for him? I've been ill-prepared," Judas replied, eyeing Umbra carefully.
"No, why would I carry something as worthless as a small gem? And don't you ever feed him more expensive gems?" she replied, narrowing her eyes.
"I knew it he's a terrible person. He even starves a spirit and feeds it crap. Why get a spirit weapon when you can't even feed it properly?"
“I’m sure you need energy too. Not sure what kind of food will be at this feast. I fear things I would never even think of eating.”
Umbra looked over at Breezy, seeing the mauve-haired girl handing her a health potion. She already drank one earlier, but she took it anyway, just in case.
"Thanks," Umbra muttered, drinking a sip. She corked the bottle and stored it in a small bag she had brought.
"Come on, the flames made a pathway for us to pass through. Let’s see where this leads us?" Breezy noted, walking through the opening of the flames.
Unsheathing her bow and arrow, Umbra nodded and followed Breezy, and headed past the fiery wall, as if entering the gates of Hell.
Umbra watched as the priest walked back to where she and Breezy were, and acknowledged her presence. She merely smirked, avoiding having to look at his unnerving eyes.
When he walked past her, she glanced at his hand to see what kind of weapon he used.
"A spirit sword..."
Spirit weapons fascinated Umbra slightly. The idea of using someone's soul to implement into a weapon sounded brutal, yet interesting. The potential a spirit weapon could grow to allured many, but Umbra wasn't interested in having to take care of a weapon as if it was an actual person.
Upon closer thought, Umbra felt like she recognized the spirit in his sword, sensing a familiar presence.
"... A mage. What's a former mage doing as a sword?" she pondered as she stared at the sword.
"Wel…I guess we should go see what the host is serving."
Judas's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and she remembered how she was curious about the host earlier. To be honest, she wasn't really hungry, but she could do with some food -- if she could even trust the food, considering what the orange headed elf said earlier.
"Yeah, it might lead us to an exit too."
She looked over at Breezy for her response, and then remembered something.
"Hey, your mage spirit sword seems a bit hungry," she commented, noticing the faint glow. As much as she tried, she couldn't remember the mage's name, probably because they only met once, and the meeting didn't last long.
"…Don’t tell you got a letter, and came here too, right? I assume that’s the story for everyone," Breezy asked, keeping her voice down.
"Yeah, I actually did," Umbra replied curtly.
"Huh, so everyone here was invited, and this host is some insane guy."
Umbra was intensely curious about what went on in the backstage of this feast, but she figured she would probably risk her life if she investigated. And not just a mere life that she would later regain, being a Milletian, but probably something far worse. She remembered the orange haired elf's warning.
“Judas! Get away from the flames. It’s a bit dangerous to be over there!”
Umbra narrowed her eyes when Breezy called the priest's name, and she looked to the side to see Breezy standing a bit farther from her. She made no move to narrow the distance between them.
"I wonder what's got him so pissed off," Umbra mused, looking at the flames and making out a blurry shadow among them.
She herself was irritated at Feina for causing her hallucinations and stealing her bracelet, but she was content hearing her screaming rather than giving her the satisfaction of a quick death.
"I probably shouldn't provoke him or I'm going to get my ass kicked, especially with my weak new arm."
"…I just wanna go home," the other person lamented.
Umbra looked over at her partner, who seemed tired out from the whole ordeal of a dungeon.
"I don't think anyone here wants to be here anymore, but we've burned the witches, so that's over. I hope," Umbra replied in an attempt to make the atmosphere less depressing.
She looked at her right palm again, suddenly remembering the mark that she got from the beginning.
It was gone.
"And our curses are gone I think. My mark's gone," she added.
She heard some footsteps headed their way, and she looked up at the direction it was from.
“Don’t bother with this mess anymore, the host is a lunatic,” an orange haired male said in what seemed to be a warning.
"Ehh, a lunatic?" Umbra repeated his description, smirking a bit. She didn't seem to remember who was the host. (good job umbra youre a really smart elf)
"I'm kinda curious about this 'host'."
Umbra mused about who the host could be, despite the stranger's warning, until she heard a cry.
"THAT’S FOR CURSING AND MAKING ME THROW UP SO MUCH, YOU IMBECILES!"
"I think I know that voice," Umbra thought, contemplating on who it could be from.
"Hey, I'll be going over there for a bit," she said to her partner, heading in the direction of the voice. "I don't think it'd hurt to know who else was also in here."
When she got closer to the other side of the scaffold, she heard another scream.
"You…bloody monsters…die…all of you…fucking die! Go to hell!"
"...I know this voice too well," she groaned, remembering the person who indirectly insulted her height about half a year ago. "What the fuck is he doing here, and what does he think he's doing?"
She looked up at the platform to try to see what he was doing, but the flames blocked her view, so instead, she approached the girl who yelled earlier.
"You're that one pervert incubus's niece, aren't you? Breezy?"
Although Umbra had gone ahead, the other person caught up to Umbra, and kept a lookout on their surroundings.
When her partner stopped, Umbra paused as well, gripping the dagger she was handed, and watched as the other person summoned a fireball and launched it at a group of plants.
"...Are you seri--" Umbra started to say, wondering why they were focusing on that particular group, until the plants converged into a person and dodged the bolt.
“I’m going to assume that’s Feina!” the blonde said, summoning more fire magic.
Because of her hallucinations, Umbra saw not a blue-skinned witch, but her missing daughter.
"It's not real it's not real," Umbra chanted softly, reassuring herself to not cloud herself when the time came to kill the witch.
As her partner was summoning magic, the witch summoned several vines, shooting them towards the pair.
"Watch out!" Umbra yelled, summoning a fairly weak mana shield to absorb some of the damage.. A couple whizzed past her head.
"I'll try to distract her while you cast magic," she said. "Move over to one side a bit, I'll get her from the other side."
She ran towards the witch, heading forward in a slightly right direction to distract Feina's attention from the mage.
"I can't confront her in this state," Umbra decided. "Why can't the damn arm hurry up and grow back already."
The witch shot several leaves and rocks at her, but being an elf, Umbra's agility allowed her to dodge most of them. She sustained some injury, being slightly imbalanced from her missing arm.
The lack of confrontation made Feina bored, and she changed focus onto the mage.
"Shit!"
Umbra ran towards the witch, dagger brandished, as she spotted her bangle on the witch's wrist.
“Like I said, I already caught mine, but sure, I’ll help find yours. Plants, huh…?” the person replied, agreeing to Umbra's request.
"It'd be nice if you have a knife or something that I can borrow. I can't really use a lot of magic, so wands are gonna be useless," Umbra said, looking at the other person's wand. "Otherwise, I'll just have to use an arrow as much weapon until the other arm grows back."
She slowly pushed herself up off the ground and started to head in the direction she was headed before she took a nap, not even bothering to wait for the other person.
"I owe you something for the potion and the help," she said, a bit grateful.
"Gray hair" didn't seem to ring a bell, so Umbra shook her head.
"I don't remember what mines looks like. I don't even know if I know it. Whoever's telling me this stuff in my head said something about plants and jewelry."
Jewelry.
Umbra remembered that she had a bangle on earlier. She rarely took it off her right wrist, keeping it as one of the first few material things she earned on her own. She glanced at her wrist to make sure it was still there, out of habit, and discovered that it was missing.
"I think she likes jewelry too much. I bet she’s just waiting to rob you when you’re dead," the voice echoed.
" ... This fucking bitch took my bracelet," Umbra hissed, her face contorting into a murderous look. "You're gonna help me find this Feina, and I can help you find your gray-haired hag."
