Now fully awake, I sit up straight. Rigid as a pole, I begin to summon Inventory C, a bit hesitant to unveil its contents. Even after it appears, I wait for several minutes, just staring at the box as if I can see through it without actually having to open it. As fruitless as that may seem, I continue to do so until Delilah interrupts my stupor, her internal voice laced with concern.

  “Human… are you okay…? You’ve been sitting there for a while now. I’m starting to worry about your mental state…”

  “Huh? Oh… yeah… I’m fine. I think… It’s just… it’ll probably be easier to show you…”

  I slowly open the light brown receptacle, unbelieving of its contents. I’m still feeling quite a bit of hesitance toward what lies inside, so it takes me much longer to actually reach inside after the flaps are moved out of the way. I remove the Heart Scroll that I… harvested… with great care. Immediately, I hear a gasp through my connection to the cat.

  “What… how? That shouldn’t be possible…”

  The scroll in question is dark gray with black letters. I stare at it dumbly, not even hearing Delilah’s comment as if my ears are filled with cotton, even my internal ones. Slowly, I angle it so that the fading light of the setting sun catches it in such a way that I can read it.

  Name: Carl

  Age: 35 (Deceased)

  Race: Human

  Skill: Umbral Embrace - Shadows are your home, flowing through your veins and intertwined within your heart and soul. This comes with many benefits, the first in the long list being the ability to escape notice, causing prying eyes to drift away from you.

  Affinity: Shadow

  Skill Aether: 0%

  Skill Credits: 0

  Credit Level: Level 12 (151 SC allocated)

  [Skill Tree] -Locked-

  Absorb Carl’s Heart Scroll?

  Effect: Doubles the potency of Skill Credits used for any upgrades aligned with the ‘Umbral Embrace’ skill tree. This will halve the cost of the available options while still counting as the full amount in regards to Credit Level.

  The skill description is way more descriptive than mine…

  “Um… this… this is pretty good, actually. Really… weird… but definitely worth my time. I don’t understand how it happened, but… it will definitely come in handy. If not now, then in the future.”

  My tone is laced with trepidation, though it’s soon replaced with a bit of excitement.

  “What on Gaio are you talking about, Human?! What is going on?!”

  “Father’s going to absorb the scroll thingy and it will let him get similar stuff cheaper!”

  “What?! Absorb—”

  I mentally assent to the prompt, watching as the scroll turns into a plume of shadows that swirls around my body, causing me to lose sight of everything around me for a moment. As it all flows into my chest, where my Heart Scroll is after I had dropped it in shock when I saw what was in my inventory, I’m inundated with a chill that permeates my entire being. Delilah’s feeling of incredulity and confusion are soon replaced with a strange sense of duty.

  “You know I’ll have to report this, Human. This is something unprecedented. I’ve been around a very long time, and I’ve never heard of anything even remotely similar to what you’ve just done.”

  “I figured you would, yeah. That’s okay. I have a feeling the Etheri are already well aware of what just happened, so not much will change in that regard. I’m going to absorb the Resonance I received before I’ll take a short nap. This excitement can only keep me going for so long…”

  I reach into my box, pulling out a Resonance that is strikingly similar to the ones Hadrix had me retrieve for him, although rather than absorbing the light into a void-like darkness, it has varying shades from a light gray to a black nearly as dark as the aforementioned Death & Tenebrae attuned orbs. I hold it to my chest, letting it absorb into my heart before pulling out my heart scroll.

  Notice! Resonance absorbed!

  Hidden ability ‘Umbral Guide’ unlocked from your [???].

  There are those question marks again… I wonder what that’s all about…

  After I finish that thought, I notice that it appears to have gotten brighter outside, though the sun has definitely fully set by now. It’s only when I look around that I realize that it hasn’t gotten brighter, I can just see better in the dark.

  Well that was a bit anticlimactic. After that Heart Scroll, and with a name like ‘Umbral Guide,’ I was hoping for something… better. Well, I guess not everything goes how I want it to. Honestly… most things usually don’t.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  I reach into my box to pull out the last thing remaining, only to jerk my hand back out as pain lances through my arm. I feel a buzzing from my scroll, but I choose to ignore it for now, so it stops after only a few seconds.

  I guess I’ll have to figure that out another time…

  “Alright, ladies. Watch my back while I rest for a while?”

  My question is unnecessary, as I already know that I’ll be kept safe with them around.

  “Of course, Father.”

  “I’ve already said as much, Human. Are you deaf on top of being unintelligent?”

  I barely hear them as I’m already drifting off to sleep, Koa clutched in front of me as I lean back against the wall.

  …

  I find myself in a pure white expanse. Standing before me is a shadowy silhouette. It offers a small bow before it’s suddenly wielding a dagger made of the same umbral substance. It enters a combat stance, readying its weapon before it. It stays in that position as I stand there, staring blankly. I reach up to scratch my head, but I find that I also have a dagger in my hand.

  “Koa?”

  No response.

  It looks just like her… why isn’t she responding?

  “Um… hello? Can you tell me what’s going on?”

  The being in front of me simply moves its position to match my own, followed by resuming the stance it had been in before, with its dagger held back, poised to pierce into some unseen enemy, its left arm up in some form of what I assume is meant to be a guard. It takes me a moment for me to catch on, but when I realize that the silhouette looks just like me, even going so far as to be holding the umbral version of Koa in its right hand, I mimic its pose.

  As soon as I’ve managed to get into almost the exact position it seems to be demonstrating, it nods its head once, then makes one fluid jab in front of it, returning to the previous stance naturally. It keeps repeating this motion, twisting its body while keeping its left arm up in the protective position, so I start to copy its movements.

  For the record, I’ll clearly state now that I’m nowhere near proficient at any form of combat, so my attempts are… clumsy, to say the least. Even my best attempts fall far short of what the entity before me seems to want me to do. After what seems like days of practicing without needing rest, something changes.

  Sadly, it’s not my fighting capabilities. The form before me stands up, clasping its hands before its chest, the shadowy version of Koa having vanished. It offers another small bow before it begins to dissipate.

  “Wait! Can you tell me wha—”

  …

  “Human! You must wake up! There are things coming this way. It appears to be a pack of wolfhawks!”

  I spring to my feet, rested enough to be ready for a fight, but not so rested that my sudden movement doesn’t cause me to stumble. Because it does. Yeah, the stumble wasn’t very graceful, but I’m standing. That’s all that matters. I notice that it’s still nighttime, with apparently only about three hours having passed.

  Does that mean that for each hour I sleep, I’ll get a day in that training space? That doesn’t really help me right now, though…

  I gaze into the distance, seeing red outlines around six creatures, with shadows wreathing what appear to be weak points. The monsters are leaping into the air and gliding back down at incredible speeds on large wings. They have four legs, a long, curved tail, and undersides that greatly resemble large dogs, but that’s where the similarities end. Their heads are that of a predatory bird, with feathers covering their backs, wings, and tails. All together as a pack, I’m one noise away from pissing myself.

  Holy fuck! I’m not ready after just that little bit of practice!

  I look around, attempting to find anything to hide behind, but the only saving grace of my location is that I’ve got my back to the city’s wall. It’s then that I notice the umbral guide, as that’s what I assume the entity is, standing within me, only crouched in that same low stance that we had been repeating over and over again.

  Now acclimatized to following the shadow’s lead, I assume the position that I’ve grown accustomed to in the last several… days? Hours? I’m not really sure what measurement I should be using, but I recognize that my thoughts are straying from what’s important.

  This much I have a good handle on… The only thing I’m worried about is literally everything else… I’m not ready…

  My umbral twin does something completely unexpected as it takes a step backward, standing completely. I am momentarily confused until the being reassuringly rubs my back before resuming the readiness it had been in before. I can’t feel the touch, but my resolve hardens either way.

  If he thinks I can do it, then I can do it. I need to do this. For Delilah, for myself, for Brick…

  I try to match the pose as best I can as the wolfhawks close in on us. They all land no more than ten yards in front of us, pacing in the half-circle that the wall allows. A terrifying screech emanates from the largest one, only to be taken up by the rest of the beasts.

  Yep… definitely just peed my pants…

  Most likely smelling the fear that is probably rolling off of me in waves, and definitely the urine, two of the monsters begin to close in. I flinch when a shadow comes hurtling out of each of the two, one stopping short while the other continues toward me. My guide launches into the incoming illusory beast, stabbing it in the throat in that same jab that I’d been practicing before leaping to the immobile one, piercing straight through its temple, with a move that I had not practiced, before the creature has any chance to retaliate.

  All three umbral projections fade as the real beasts make their moves. Delilah must be using mind spike, as the scene is playing out exactly as the shadows had indicated. I have no time to register that, however, as I leap into action, trying my hardest to replicate the moves demonstrated by my guide.

  I make it to the first monster, successfully stabbing into its throat, but rather than die, it latches its sharp beak onto my arm that I’m using as a temporary guard. I grit my teeth as I wrack my brain.

  What am I missing?! I did it the same— no… I didn’t.

  Realization dawns on me as I rip the dagger out of the side of the beast’s neck, severing its jugular. The creature falls to the ground, kicking its paws in a futile attempt to continue its charge.

  ‘Die, fowl beast! No pun intended! HEHEHEHE! I’m just like you, Father! Now let’s fucking kill them all! GWAHAHA!”

  “Oh, great… see what you’ve done, Human? You’ve created a monster! Now I have to deal with two morons making bad jokes while pretending it happens accidentally…”

  Ignoring both of my companions for now, I try to finish the moves that the umbral guide showed me, but I’d been delayed for too long, and before I even reach the second beast, it’s shaken off the effects of Delilah’s mind spike. Before I have a chance to complete the motion, my guide appears once again, a step in front of me. It leaps back into the safe position by the wall, so I follow suit.

  Now back beside Delilah, I watch as one more of the creatures joins into the fray.

  I’m not really sure why they’re only attacking two at a time, but I’ll take any blessings the Etheri throw my way.

  As I think this, the shadows of the wolfhawks appear again as my umbral instructor lunges toward the one on the right, the one that I couldn’t get the first time. A straight jab into the eye is all it takes for the two forms to dissipate once more, and I immediately leap into action, knowing delilah would occupy the other animal’s attention for at least a minute.

  That will be much more than the necessary time it’ll take to kill this one.

  Lunging into my attack, I thrust with my legs and waist more than my arms, turning into the motion to reach maximum effect. Surprisingly, my attempt is a success! I let go of Koa as I jump through the air toward the remaining active assailant, summoning her as I reach the apex of my jump, which is admittedly not very high, and fall into the stab on the one paralyzed by Delilah’s stasis stun skill.

  After letting out an enraged war cry, I lodge Koa into the back of the beast’s neck, twisting with all my might, severing its spinal cord at the base of its skull. It stays frozen there for almost a minute before falling limply to the ground as the effect of Delilah’s ability comes to an end.

  I turn my head, panting as I ready myself once again. I stare down the alpha and his two remaining lackeys. I release a bellowing, primal scream toward them with Koa echoing the sound through our bond. The leading creature stands there for only an instant before letting out a shriek of its own…

  reading the chapter, lol.