6 Umbra
<~*Chapter 4*~>
Umbra, also known as shadows, are spiritual beings who don't have inner essence. They are transparent and mist-like. Most do not have enough essence to be part of the mortal realm, and they live below the Underworld, in the nether.
Over hundreds of years ago, umbra tried to overthrow the rule of the Demon King but they failed and were forced to stay in the lower underworld, never being able to leave.
The upper underworld inhabits the citizens while the lower is more of a prison and where the ancient beings reside, including Afreet, the current and oldest Demon King.
The point is, the shadows should still be in the lower underworld where the Demon King can watch them. If they're not in the underworld, what is the demon king doing that's more important than watching them?
Scott hopes his question can be answered in time, but at the moment his head is still fuzzy.
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"Dad..? Do you really have to go?" A tiny boy asks quietly. He looks up at his father hoping for a good answer.
"Scott, you know I can't stay now. Don't tell your mom or your sister about this talk, okay?" Scott's father says hesitantly looking around.
"Now," Scott's dad starts talking about the outside world but Scott can't seem to concentrate on his father's words, "in the future you'll be able to leave the walls, but only when the time comes okay? Always remember...-"
With his view distorting, Scott forgets about his dad and sees his best friends, Lucas, Hannah, and Leon, all running over to him as he laughs and waves them over.
"Guys! Check out this book I found yesterday." Scott exclaims while handing Lucas his new book. The title read 'Creatures of the Aurora' and the cover was colored with a gigantic tree in the center. "I've never heard of these essences before! They must be from beyond the walls."
"Woah! What's an elf?" Hannah shouts excitedly, the kids opened the book and saw a whole new species.
"I wonder what abilities they have!" Leon says quietly, he was newer to their friend group and a few years older but he fit right in.
"Read it! This book explains so much.. Although it was really hard to find, so don't hurt it! Or else.." Scott says with a glare to each of his friends.
"Scott, don't worry," Lucas says with a laugh. "How could we bare to hurt this book?"
"Okay." Scott eyes them all skeptically, "anyways, I hope I can find more like this."
"I hope so too," Lucas laughs as he flips through the pages with Hannah and Leon.
Scott's mind is taken to another memory, and again, he feels as if he's living right through it. But this time, he was taken to someone else's memory.
How could this have happened? A voice questions in their mind.
"You have failed, Oscar. Why should I give you a second chance?" A stony and cold voice asks, it's voice deep and distorted by something blocking it, maybe a mask? But the person's memories are dark, as if they had a blindfold on and couldn't see anything, maybe they also had a mask on?
"Sir, I have no excuse for my failure, I can only hope that you will hear about the plan once more." The person's body says, most likely the same Oscar mentioned before.
"..." There is silence for a long while, as if the other person was debating something by themself. "Go on." The deep voice said at last.
"Sir, although the plan was to kill both of the kids, killing one can still prohibit the other from acting recklessly. Maybe even follow my orders if he's scared enough, especially considering that they were very close." The body explains calmly, as if he wasn't talking about murder and manipulation.
"If this new plan of yours backfires, you can count yourself and that boy you're fond of to be killed instantly." The deep voice says sternly.
The body clenches it's teeth tightly while giving a quick reply, "Yes, sir."
And just like the previous times, Scott started shifting to a new memory but instead he heard faint voices calling to him, making him forget all the other memories.
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"Scott! Wake up!" Someone shouts, the voice sounds as if it were a mile away.
"Scott! .... Scott..?" Scott's body is being rocked carefully.
"Wha..?" Scott can barely open his eyes. The blurry faces slowly become clearer as he tries to sit up.
He looked up and saw a boy looking down at him, starring closely with a worried face.
"Ugh.." Scott suddenly felt his head pounding and touched it as if that would help the pain go away.
"Where is the nurse?" He heard someone ask. He realized he was in the nurse's office with a few others around him.
"They're not here today.." Someone else responded, with more questions that made Scott's head hurt more.
"Scott.. Scott.. Scott! Don't go back to sleep. What happened?" The boy asked.
"I don't know." Scott says while straining his eyes, the blurriness is coming back.
"Did you get enough sleep last night?" The boy asked, getting less blurry by the second now.
"No.." Scott responds without thinking then changes his response, "I mean yeah."
"Okay.." Scott barely saw the boys confusion, "have you been eating well?"
"Yes, I've been eating and sleeping fine. What happened?" Scott can finally make out the face he's seeing. It's none other than Grayson Kane, one of the popular kids that every school has, and the son of the renowned Elliot Kane and brother of one of Scott's old friends, Leon Kane. He's sitting in a chair right next to the small bed Scott's laying on and his bright green eyes stare expectantly at Scott. A few strands of his curly brown hair fall into his face and he brushes them away. Scott sees the school's logo on the shirt Grayson's wearing, he's always promoting school spirit somehow.
He also sees his siblings observing him and Hannah starring worriedly. Now that Scott's mind is clearer, he can see that Hannah isn't looking her best. Her curly, light brown hair was up in a messy bun, unlike her normal preppy ponytail. She appears to have small eyebags under her hazel colored eyes and her face wasn't shining like usual. Her clothes were especially different, more loose and very unlike her bright and skintight shirts and jeans.
Even his siblings seem on edge and worried, did he miss something?
"You don't remember? We were eating then you got up, and you held your head while walking to the center of the room then you passed out." Melanie explains quickly.
"Oh.. Sorry." Scott says awkwardly, he kind of understands the worry now.
"Why are you apologizing? We should apologize for not seeing you in poor health." Matt says, he looks down in shame.
"But I'm very healthy, maybe stressed but I'm fine. So don't worry." Scott says kindly, he goes to stand up but Grayson stops him.
"Even if you're healthy, that doesn't exclude the fact that you passed out. So get more rest, okay?" Grayson says holding Scott's arm and preventing him from getting up.
After a few grumbles from Scott, he finally agrees, "Fine."
"Good. Now we'll leave you to sleep." Matt says nodding, he walks out with Melanie and Hannah while Grayson gets up.
"Uhm, Grayson. Can you actually stay?" Scott asks fiddling with his shirt. That was embarrassing to ask but he's worried he might freak out alone because of his dream, the memories of his weird dream hit him just then.
"Sure.. But why?" Grayson asks sitting back down.
"I don't know.. Nevermind, you can leave." Scott says quickly, his face heats up and he turns away.
"It's okay, I'll stay. I can use this as an excuse to skip class." Grayson says with a small chuckle.
Scott laughs quietly, "okay then."
They sit in silence for a while until Grayson decides to speak up.
"Has something been worrying you?" Grayson asks, "Uh, you don't have to share if you don't want to. Forget I asked."
"No, it's okay. There is one thing that's been on my mind.. that may be the cause of today. The stress finally got to me." Scott strains a laugh looking at his hands.
"You can tell me if you want." Grayson says quietly.
"Maybe another time.. Thanks though." Scott smiles softly.
"Okay." Grayson says, "then I guess I'll stay 'till you fall asleep."
"Alright." Scott says lying down on his back. "Thanks for keeping me company."
"No problem, get some rest now." Grayson replies.
Scott closes his eyes, he won't really sleep though. As soon as he hears those stomping feet, he'll race out of this room and head straight home. Scott realizes he should've just let Grayson leave if he was just going to skip school.
And speaking of, Scott hears Grayson leave after ten minutes. Scott opens one eye to peek through.
The coast is clear.
Scott slowly gets out of the bed, making sure not to make a sound. Grayson's essence is a werewolf, meaning he has super senses. If Scott makes one wrong move, Grayson could hear him.
Scott makes it to the door and peeks outside, no person in sight. He then looks at the room's wall clock, five minutes until sixth period is over.
Scott no longer cares about being caught by Grayson, if he stays longer his siblings will come and he'll be stuck with them! Scott definitely doesn't want that.
Scott speed walks down the hallways, making sure to avoid classroom doors or someone might see him.
Why does Scott want to hide from everyone? He himself doesn't know, he just wants to get out of school at all costs.
Scott peers down the hallway, seeing the front doors to the school.. And a teacher. Seeing her, Scott books it down the hall running towards the back of the school before the bell rings.
Counting the seconds, Scott makes it to the back door and opens it only to find another teacher outside.
He wasn't looking at the doors so Scott sneakily moves to the side of the building before he crosses a road heading for a secluded area.
Finally reaching his destination, Scott can teleport away with no worries of someone catching him. He lets out a deep breath and takes himself right to his perfectly soft bed.
Now that he's alone, Scott realizes the strange voices haven't been talking, what's going on?
Well, he's not complaining, peace and quiet means peaceful sleep so Scott takes the opportunity to get some shut-eye.
