Delilah and Ulima: The corrupted lights. Chapter 1: Why does it matter?
A little story I have written about my OC Ulima and an OC of my friend @odie1441 Delilah, whose basic information can be found here.
It's a complete OC centric story, but it has some lore references. Hope any reader may enjoy it 🫡
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Ulima was already used to being alone, in complete silence, unable to hear anything but her own thoughts. It hadn’t been something that bothered her, usually. She just wasn’t one to speak with others, not out of hatred towards those around her, but out of personal disinterest. She felt comfortable being alone, thinking and reflecting about any matter she wished at peace.
It was different that day, however. And not just for her, but for her entire realm.
It had been just a few months since Edenia managed to repel the first invasion from Outworld’s forces, leadered by that feared tyrant of Shao Kahn. To those from other realms who had heard the news, it was somewhat relieving, knowing that the dangerous Empire of Shao Kahn was not unbeatable. For Edenians themselves, as much as they rejoiced that their realm was still free, things weren’t that simple. Not when they still had to face the consequences of war. The destroyed homes, the lives lost, the fear of the survivors of it ever happening again…
Ulima had her own losses to deal with at that moment. She was walking through a hall of a ruined building, one that had been among the most gorgeous and best decorated of Edenia before Shao Kahn’s soldiers pillaged it. The Royal Academy of Sorcery, the place where some of the most celebrated magicians of the realm, even Lady Delia herself, had taken their first steps. But for Ulima it had been even more than that. It had been her home.
No one could be sure where she came from. Who her parents were. Why she had been left at the doors of the academy when she was just a baby. Ulima herself hadn’t questioned it much, she didn’t even think whatever answers she could get would be anything special. The most likely scenario in her mind was that whoever her birth family had been, they couldn’t take care of her for whatever reason and decided to leave her at the doors of an important place in hopes she would have a proper life there. What actually mattered to her is that she did get that proper life.
The instructors in charge of the academy took her in and gave her a home. She was given the best education an Edenian could wish for, with access to all kinds of knowledge, especially related to magic. It was only natural that she would become a skilled sorceress raised in such an environment.
Ulima hadn’t just been resourceful, but also hardworking. She studied, researched and practiced all kinds of magic day and night since she was a little child. Her efforts allowed her to grow up to become so powerful and knowledgeable that she not only became an instructor in the academy she was raised in, but also earned a position as a respected royal mage of Queen Sindel and King Jerrod. That had made her instructors feel wholeheartedly proud of her.
Her social life wasn’t as outstanding as her achievements, however. Again, she had never been one to speak, especially in her youth. All other students of the academy felt so different from her. She was glad when it came to exchanging knowledge with them, but when it came to talking about anything else, about their lives outside of the academy, she just didn’t feel she had anything to say or add to the conversation. She didn’t have a life outside of the academy, after all. She just felt apart from all of them. Her instructors, her family, were the only ones she felt comfortable speaking with.
That aspect of her hardly improved in her adulthood. While she inevitably had to speak with other people outside of the academy since she became a royal mage, she never took it beyond the professional aspect. She kept simply exchanging knowledge or fulfilling any duty she was given. She was certainly appreciated as a worker or colleague, even by the likes of Queen Sindel or Lady Delia, but she doubted anyone would call her a friend. And she didn’t mind it. Again, she felt comfortable alone, with her thoughts. Although the thoughts she had at that moment weren’t so comfortable, to say the least.
As the powerful sorceress she was, Ulima had been part of the defense forces of the Royal Academy during Shao Kahn’s invasion, but even she hadn’t been able to protect it, not against thousands of soldiers of such a dangerous Empire. She had no option but to retreat, leaving her home to be pillaged. The other instructors of the academy hadn’t even been that lucky…
Ulima wasn’t one to show her emotions to most people, and the few that she would show them to were gone. She mourned the loss of her family deep down, nonetheless. She kept visiting that ruined building which had been the academy each day for some time. It was likely to be demolished soon, since it had been deemed irreparable. She wished to see it as much as she could before it was gone.
She found a door at the end of the hall she was walking through, one which led to one of her favourite places at the academy, the vast library of the first floor. She entered through the door and was able to see its current state.
Once filled with shelves full of books which had knowledge of all realms, some written by Ulima herself during her time as an instructor. Now it was an almost empty room, only decorated by the burned furniture and the ashes of the books that Shao Kahn’s soldiers chose to destroy instead of stealing. Ulima had been able to help Edenian scholars find copies of most of the books or recover some lost knowledge thanks to her memory, but it wasn’t the only thing that had been lost with that place.
As she stood in the middle of the ruined library, Ulima remembered her time there, especially with the librarian. He had been working there for as long as Ulima could remember, and had always been a cheerful person who enjoyed his work. Every time Ulima needed help to find a book or discuss its content, he was there to try to help and give her some company in her long study hours. Ulima considered him one of her instructors even if he was just a worker, and was one of the few people she would ever enjoy speaking with.
Now he was gone. And probably had died quite a painful death, given the reputation of Shao Kahn’s soldiers. Ulima knew that if he were there, he would try to relieve her. Tell her that, thanks to the fact that the invasion failed and Shao Kahn couldn’t claim the souls of all the dead, he was resting at peace at the Heavens for all eternity. That last thought, however, only made Ulima’s mind turn to another subject, one she hadn’t been able to take out of her head for years, and was especially invading her thoughts after everything she had gone through thanks to Shao Kahn’s invasion.
The afterlife. Eternity. The way souls work. Those subjects had interested her for a long time, they had been one of her main areas of study and research for thousands of years, and some of the books she considered to be the best she had ever written were about it. Though for all her interest in the details, it wasn’t like the basics around those subjects had any difficulty, almost everyone across the realms, at least those with civilizations close to magic and the gods, knew how it worked.
Those virtuous, those with clean souls would enjoy an eternity of joy in the Heavens, the home of the Elder Gods. Those unvirtuous, those with souls tainted with darkness, would suffer an eternity of suffering in the Netherrealm, the current domain of the Fallen Elder God Shinnok. Those were simple facts, ones that made Ulima wonder how much did every mortal first life matter.
What lasting effect would any action performed in this first life ever have? Whatever happened, it shall all fall into place, sooner or later.
What would matter if an innocent was hurt or killed? Said innocent wouldn’t keep suffering, no matter what they went through. They would eventually enjoy the Heavens, countless years of joy that would turn any amount of time they could have suffered into nothing, not even a memory.
What would it matter if someone wronged others and went with no consequences in their first life? Their victory would be ephemeral in comparison to what they would suffer when their time to die came. No matter how many people they could wrong, that number would be nothing in comparison to the infinite, the eternity, one they would spend suffering, countless years of pain that would turn what they did into nothing, not even a memory.
Ulima especially couldn’t avoid asking herself those questions especially at that moment. After all, she was mourning the suffering of an innocent, the librarian of the academy, who had suffered thanks to the actions of an evil man who hadn’t paid proper consequences yet, Shao Kahn. She knew that whatever she thought, emotionally she would still care, deep down. But logically, she couldn’t help but ask herself: ‘Why does it matter?’.
…
…
…
As usual, she found no real answer. She just stood there in the ruined library, perhaps for minutes or perhaps for hours, but nothing came to her head other than the same question without answer, over and over again.
Perhaps it was better not to question it at all, just go on with her way. She still had duties to perform as a royal mage, reunions with scholars, with other colleagues or their majesties to address the recovery from the recent crisis, ones she would have to prepare in advance. She thought she would need to focus on that and not on her doubts.
Ulima proceeded to walk out of the ruins of the academy and started walking to her new home, one she had been generously given by some of her fellow royal mages after the academy was destroyed. She walked through the nearby streets, which were hardly in a better condition than the academy itself. She didn’t expect to find anyone who would notice her, given that the few people who still lived in the area were more worried about trying to rebuild their houses.
That made it more surprising when she heard her.
“Lady Ulima.” Ulima couldn’t help but instinctively turn to the direction of that voice with some nervousness.
She found another Edenian woman, only a few years younger than Ulima for Edenian standards, with long black hair and dressed mostly with elegant white clothes that made it known she had a high status. Said woman couldn’t help but laugh at Ulima’s reaction at her presence, finding it amusing.
“Oh, my most sincere apologies. It may not have been the correct moment to approach you.” she walked until meeting face to face with Ulima. “Delilah, proud soldier of our realm under their majesties’ command…”
“I have heard of you.” interrupted Ulima, with a mostly apathetic voice usual of her, yet it expressed a little amount of curiosity this time around. “Lieutenant Delilah. Their majesties, their Knights, and Generals Daegon and Taven have praised your efforts at defending the royal palace from Shao Kahn’s forces ever since the invasion ended. It would have been difficult not to hear some of it.”
Delilah’s smile widened for a moment after hearing that. “I am honored to be recognized.” she made an effort to reduce her smile. “But I do not wish to waste your precious time speaking about me right now. I just wished to have a meeting with you, there’s important subjects we must discuss. I had wanted to meet you at your home, but it was a convenient coincidence to find you on the way.” her explanation made Ulima raise an eyebrow, which didn’t go unnoticed by Delilah. “I can give you more details about what I wish to discuss now, if it wouldn’t bother you. Although not here, it’s far from a comfortable place to speak, and I hope you will agree. I know of a better place, if you wouldn’t mind accompanying me.”
Ulima wasn’t precisely pleased by her presence so far, but she couldn’t deny she was way too curious about what she had to say to refuse. “I would not.”
Delilah took Ulima to another part of the capital city of Edenia, far from the areas most affected by the invasion. There was a humble food establishment there, where Delilah invited Ulima to share some food while discussing the important subjects she had commented to her at peace. They both sat at a table outside the establishment, where they soon received their plates. Pure Blessing, a traditional Edenian pie, and Ulima’s favourite food.
After the server of their plates was gone, they were completely alone, so no one would hear their conversation.
“So delicious, isn’t it?” said Delilah just before taking another piece of the cake to her mouth using her fork.
Ulima’s answer only came after she had taken her time to eat a piece of pie she had in her mouth. She looked at Delilah straight to the face, with her usual unfeeling expression.
“You have brought me to a place in which I feel comfortable. A tactic sometimes used to try to make another person more likely to accept an offer.” she said all of the sudden, making Delilah stop eating immediately. “And I assume that, since you know I enjoy Pure Blessing, you must have been researching information about me, or spying on me. Perhaps you have been preparing for this ‘coincidental’ meeting for some days?”
Ulima expressed no anger in her voice, not even annoyance. She was serious, straight to the point.
Delilah was used to people being relatively easy to fool, at least to a point. When she wanted something from someone, she always knew to do what they wanted her to do and to say what they wanted to hear. It had been one of her main skills for years, alongside her talent for kombat.
But it was then clear that that situation wasn’t anything she was used to. She had already expected Ulima to be more intelligent than most given how knowledgeable she had been told she was, but honestly, she was quite impressed. She smirked a little bit, left her fork and knife on the table before looking at Ulima to speak to her. Since it seemed she couldn’t fool her, she would have to talk to her with honesty, as an equal.
“I have been investigating you before this meeting, indeed. There’s no point in denying that now.” she admitted. “The meeting has been improvised, however, the reason why it’s been so sudden. You were returning from visiting quite an important place for you, I had hoped that would also have left you in an emotional state which made you easier to convince. I see that I quite underestimated you. My most sincere apologies.” she meant it this time, kinda.
Ulima decided to go straight to the point instead of wasting more time speaking. “You can tell me whatever you wish now.”
“Of course.” said Delilah. “You see, Lady Ulima, you were right when you said my role in the protection of the royal palace has made me quite popular, even to Queen Sindel and King Jerrod.” she showed the same wide smile she had shown when they first met for a moment, again. Ulima could already tell she couldn’t help it. “Enough to put more trust upon me when it comes to important matters regarding the protection of our realm. I have been able to convince their majesties to give me an important role outside the one I have in our army. I am currently in charge of some of our best units of espionage, and as such, it will be my duty to defend Edenia from the shadows while our rulers and protectors do it at plain sight.” she explained. “To fulfill this new role of mine, I would highly benefit from having an associate with magic talent and knowledge as vast as yours. I had thought of perhaps contacting Lady Delia or another royal mage, but in all honesty, I don’t think any of them would be able to handle the… complications a job like this implies.” she paused, studying Ulima’s reaction for some seconds. She seemed to have understood everything she had said, quite quickly. “I can give you more details about the kind of activities we would be performing if you wish, Lady Ulima, but I can already assure you, each and every single one would be dedicated to a single objective: protecting Edenia at all cost.” she paused again, Ulima seemed to be considering it. “I think it’s a good moment to ask if you are interested enough to hear more.”
Ulima considered it for a long minute.
‘Protecting Edenia at all cost’. Ulima didn’t need more details to know that would imply getting her hands dirty, especially since she knew a thing or two about what a work such as espionage implied.
She started to consider the variables that could make her accept or reject the offer Delilah had for her. In the process, her mind couldn’t help but go to the same old question. Why does it matter? Why does it matter if she protects Edenia or not? Ironically, this time the answer came quite quickly for her, even if she was aware it was an emotional rather than logical one.
She had just gone out of a place dear to her which had been destroyed, and where everyone she could call family had died, all because she and the other people in charge of protecting her realm hadn’t done the best job they could. They still had the menace of Shao Kahn out there, and if he wasn’t dealt with properly, catastrophic events like that could repeat…
Even if a good part of her still wondered why she cared if she knew her and everyone’s first life was likely to be ultimately meaningless, she couldn’t lie to herself. Whatever the reason was, she cared about protecting her realm, her home, deep down.
Ulima finally gave an answer.
“I am interested in listening more.”
Delilah smiled widely for a third time. “I am pleased to hear that.”
A partnership would start that day, one born to protect a realm, but that would wrong more people than anyone could have ever imagined.