The Umbra by absoluteschizo, on Flickr
Arianna felt a pull at her gut. At first she thought it had been her innards falling out because of how she sat up, but as the nightmare scene of Asbjorn's empty bloodied hands faded she realized it was almost as if there were arms wrapped around her.
"LET GO!" she growled and struggled managing to break free with a rather startling ease. She looked around her spinning, confused and found her eyes settling on a ghostly, yet solid image of Vetis. Her eyes widened and a chill bit down through her soul.
"I'm sorry Arianna... I had to do it. We need your help. If I hadn't, they would have gotten you first." There was a moment of pure shock as she stared at the fallen pack mate. So many things she wanted to say running through her mind. 'I'm sorry. I should have looked for you. I should have been there. I should have stopped them from harming you.' was just among the few. To top it off, he was clearly a spirit yet she could hear him as if she were atop spirit rise under Vida's guidance.
"They? They who?" She had not quite grasped what had happened. "Did they take my son? Did they take Folkvarðr?" Questions started to shoot out rapidly. "What have you done? How can 'I' help?" Vetis did not seem to be phased by this at all. Nearly as quick as she was asking he would answer.
"Dark spirits that have started a war in the spirit realm. The gods themselves have been battling against them as well. No, your son was taken by something else. The only way they could have taken him is if he was near death like you. I... I took you. I beat them to it. I had to, or they would have tainted you..." then there was a pause in the answers. His head turned as he looked off in the distance, nose twitching slightly. Arianna noticed this and looked off in the same direction. This new world was full of pastel nothingness colors. It all seemed to blend together into one annoying mist. She moved her hand to brush off her chest only to realize.. fur. Her chest had fur upon it.
Her eyes shot down to her hands.. claws. She used those claws to rub against her flat furred belly. There was no wound. As if to help the pieces start to be put together, her ears flattened. Not only was she in her war form, but she was in her shifted form and could speak.
"Vetis... What have you done to me?" Her eyes turned to him. She knew where she was now. She had been here once before with Leiv long ago. It was one of the most frightening things she had ever been through. Leiv had explained to her, once she had gotten there.. in her 'living' state, she could not shift into her war form or any other form rather than human. Dead however... He called it the Umbra. Dangerous to visit when in human form. More so in spirit form. He had explained a lot about the umbra. Information she was now trying desperately to remember. Time moved differently here... as did the realm itself. Doors would open and close, but you had to know how to control them in order to move through the massive spirit realm.
"I am sorry. I am so sorry. We will figure out how to fix this. The elders...." again he paused.. This time Arianna heard something too. What sounded like a bestial roar that shook the realm. It almost sounded familiar for a moment. Before Arianna knew it, Vetis had shifted to his war form without much trouble at all. Towering over her, though she would not focus on this. Her nose twitching, she caught a faint distant familiar scent. "How?!" Vetis growled. "They took Vida... that... that can't be possible!" That was all Arianna needed to set her into a fast run.
Even though most of the details of the realm were a blur to start with, it was worse running through it. Pure white as any colors at all seemed to blend together into nothingness. The only thing she had to go on was that faint scent and the sight of the slightly darker blue of Vetis' form running beside her.
After what very well could have been hours, Arianna came to a stop. She wasn't even panting... she supposed that was due to being dead. Her eyes scanned the nothingness desperately. Eventually Vetis came to a stop just a few feet away. Both had their noses in the air pointing every which direction. Both were lost and there was no longer a scent to follow. Arianna would come to this realization before Vetis, and she watched him a moment as he continued to desperately sniff around for some sort of trail that their eyes would not see.
"Vetis..." there was a moment longer. "Vetis we have to keep our wits about us. You said something about the elders?" It took a few more desperate sniffs before Vetis seemed to sink down to the ground. Apparently he had no issue with taking Arianna's life.. but Vida's on the other hand. 'No.' Arianna thought in a moment of frustration. 'Do not let your mind wander in this place.'
"There are three... They can help you get started.. I am just not sure how to get back to them now. We shouldn't have ran like that. This place is easy to get lost and stay lost in." He covered his beastly face with his hands and rubbed at it for a moment. Then slowly he settled back into his human form. No popping of joints or pained grunts, just a soft wavering of his image and there he was.
Without knowing it, Arianna had shifted along into her human form beside him. As she watched him, she could tell his mind was running through a million things at once. This was not good. It was hard for her to keep focused even. Her mind shifting from her son to her death to the possibility of seeing her dead pack mates again. Her thoughts shifted to her father, guidance. She could really use his guidance in all of this. Her brother, yes. He would be a great help. She would put Gunnar at her right and Aric at her left. Her father at her back.. and the others would just be overpowering. 'No, Focus.' she heard Leiv's voice in her head.. mind.. whatever it was now. He was right.
“You need to focus Vetis. That is the only way we will get where we need to go. That is the only way we will save her. Take me to the Elders and then we can build our own army. Gods took enough of my pack, the dark souls and whatever is leading them have no chance against us.” She spoke with conviction and confidence. Perhaps there was a bit of bitter sweet in her tone as well. With a soft nod Vetis stood up and looked around the area. He had forgotten until now just how much he admired Arianna for her strength. Here she stood, shortly after giving birth and seeing her own child disappear... Unafraid of her own demise.. almost unfazed.
“This might take me a moment...” he paused and looked to her with the respect and admiration he still carried even after death. It slowly turned to surprise to see her spirit form. He blinked and looked her over, not meaning to seem like a creep. What he saw before him was unlike the rest of the spirits of his kind or pack.
Her soft nearly white blond hair fell down just enough to cover her breasts and hide the scar upon her back. She stood nude yet nothing showed but the dark fade upon her hands feet arms and legs. Her body pale and nearly transparent. Glowing blue eyes searching around her area in deep thought. Her expression unreadable. They finally turned down upon him and he shook himself from the trans. He then continued.
“The spirit realm is misleading and easy to get lost in. What only seemed like moments of running could turn into years of traveling just trying to get back to where we started.” He rubbed his hand against his soft stubble. If it made a noise at all it would go unnoticed save for the realm of the living. To them it would be passed off as the wind shuffling dry hay or a mouse scurrying through the grass.
“Concentrate on whom you need to speak too.” She said. “You would know better than I, what elder it is. If what I remember from Leiv is right, a door should appear and make it easier for us to travel back to them." She hoped. Vetis nodded. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes trying to focus on just the one Elder they needed to speak to. Arianna stepped closer, her eyes kept upon him as if somehow she would be able to help him focus. She was surprised, with how much she was thinking of speaking to her father she would have thought a door would have opened for her right away. After a few moments a soft whispering seemed to surround them. Arianna, on guard, turned and watched around them, not taking even a step away from Vetis.
A wavering image seemed to start to appear in front of him and when she turned to look at his face she could tell he was struggling to think. As she looked through the wavering image she could see what seemed to be a more detailed place, and upon the ground someone in dark furs huddled over. Quickly she took Vetis' arm, assuming this was the elder and pulling them both through the wavering image as quick as possible.
As they stepped through the image stopped wavering and there sat a dark figure. It seemed to bob its head slightly then raised an arm and gestured for them to come and join it. Vetis had opened his eyes and looked to Arianna surprised that it had worked. He saw the figure and when motion happened he obeyed and went sitting down next to the figure and looking directly at them. Arianna followed and slowly sank down, not sure what to expect. What she saw, made her pause.
The figure was not wearing furs exactly. They were part of it. Its face was that of a beast and it turned to her with bandaged eyes. When it smiled part of her felt as if she needed to growl at it. Then her eyes dropped down to the gaping wound that was it's neck. Something was familiar about this being, but she was unsure what.
"Child of the moon. Tear of joy and sorrow. Ah, how good it is to see you." It spoke facing her. "Many warnings and messages failed. Sorry for this, we are." She tilted her head, and it started to dawn on her that this might have been the spirit Vida had told her about. The one that warned them of the blood clan and the frost giants.
"What is it you would have me do?" She asked, but before he spoke she felt a hand upon her shoulder. When she looked up she saw the dark eyes first. A elderly woman with silver hair that seemed to wash down to her feet. Slowly the old woman dropped to her knees, with the wavering image of her eyes that could be mistaken for tears. Arianna blinked and then something hit her and her jaw dropped. "no.." she barely whispered.
"Yes, little one." The Spiral elder said. "She should not have been punished. It was fate."
"M-mother?" The elderly woman nodded softly. Unsure of what to do or say, Arianna just stared for a long moment. Her hand went to her own neck in search of the long forgotten and probably now lost necklace that her father given her.
"You need to listen carefully, daughter." the elderly woman said as she knelt down and wrapped an arm around Arianna. A soft warmth seemed to envelope Arianna from this. She turned her eyes back to the elder and waited.. So much did she want to speak to her mother alone but for now she knew there were more dire things at hand. One, was getting Vida freed from whatever hell she might be in. Second would be Fozz. The rest would be details for later.
Arianna felt a pull at her gut. At first she thought it had been her innards falling out because of how she sat up, but as the nightmare scene of Asbjorn's empty bloodied hands faded she realized it was almost as if there were arms wrapped around her.
"LET GO!" she growled and struggled managing to break free with a rather startling ease. She looked around her spinning, confused and found her eyes settling on a ghostly, yet solid image of Vetis. Her eyes widened and a chill bit down through her soul.
"I'm sorry Arianna... I had to do it. We need your help. If I hadn't, they would have gotten you first." There was a moment of pure shock as she stared at the fallen pack mate. So many things she wanted to say running through her mind. 'I'm sorry. I should have looked for you. I should have been there. I should have stopped them from harming you.' was just among the few. To top it off, he was clearly a spirit yet she could hear him as if she were atop spirit rise under Vida's guidance.
"They? They who?" She had not quite grasped what had happened. "Did they take my son? Did they take Folkvarðr?" Questions started to shoot out rapidly. "What have you done? How can 'I' help?" Vetis did not seem to be phased by this at all. Nearly as quick as she was asking he would answer.
"Dark spirits that have started a war in the spirit realm. The gods themselves have been battling against them as well. No, your son was taken by something else. The only way they could have taken him is if he was near death like you. I... I took you. I beat them to it. I had to, or they would have tainted you..." then there was a pause in the answers. His head turned as he looked off in the distance, nose twitching slightly. Arianna noticed this and looked off in the same direction. This new world was full of pastel nothingness colors. It all seemed to blend together into one annoying mist. She moved her hand to brush off her chest only to realize.. fur. Her chest had fur upon it.
Her eyes shot down to her hands.. claws. She used those claws to rub against her flat furred belly. There was no wound. As if to help the pieces start to be put together, her ears flattened. Not only was she in her war form, but she was in her shifted form and could speak.
"Vetis... What have you done to me?" Her eyes turned to him. She knew where she was now. She had been here once before with Leiv long ago. It was one of the most frightening things she had ever been through. Leiv had explained to her, once she had gotten there.. in her 'living' state, she could not shift into her war form or any other form rather than human. Dead however... He called it the Umbra. Dangerous to visit when in human form. More so in spirit form. He had explained a lot about the umbra. Information she was now trying desperately to remember. Time moved differently here... as did the realm itself. Doors would open and close, but you had to know how to control them in order to move through the massive spirit realm.
"I am sorry. I am so sorry. We will figure out how to fix this. The elders...." again he paused.. This time Arianna heard something too. What sounded like a bestial roar that shook the realm. It almost sounded familiar for a moment. Before Arianna knew it, Vetis had shifted to his war form without much trouble at all. Towering over her, though she would not focus on this. Her nose twitching, she caught a faint distant familiar scent. "How?!" Vetis growled. "They took Vida... that... that can't be possible!" That was all Arianna needed to set her into a fast run.
Even though most of the details of the realm were a blur to start with, it was worse running through it. Pure white as any colors at all seemed to blend together into nothingness. The only thing she had to go on was that faint scent and the sight of the slightly darker blue of Vetis' form running beside her.
After what very well could have been hours, Arianna came to a stop. She wasn't even panting... she supposed that was due to being dead. Her eyes scanned the nothingness desperately. Eventually Vetis came to a stop just a few feet away. Both had their noses in the air pointing every which direction. Both were lost and there was no longer a scent to follow. Arianna would come to this realization before Vetis, and she watched him a moment as he continued to desperately sniff around for some sort of trail that their eyes would not see.
"Vetis..." there was a moment longer. "Vetis we have to keep our wits about us. You said something about the elders?" It took a few more desperate sniffs before Vetis seemed to sink down to the ground. Apparently he had no issue with taking Arianna's life.. but Vida's on the other hand. 'No.' Arianna thought in a moment of frustration. 'Do not let your mind wander in this place.'
"There are three... They can help you get started.. I am just not sure how to get back to them now. We shouldn't have ran like that. This place is easy to get lost and stay lost in." He covered his beastly face with his hands and rubbed at it for a moment. Then slowly he settled back into his human form. No popping of joints or pained grunts, just a soft wavering of his image and there he was.
Without knowing it, Arianna had shifted along into her human form beside him. As she watched him, she could tell his mind was running through a million things at once. This was not good. It was hard for her to keep focused even. Her mind shifting from her son to her death to the possibility of seeing her dead pack mates again. Her thoughts shifted to her father, guidance. She could really use his guidance in all of this. Her brother, yes. He would be a great help. She would put Gunnar at her right and Aric at her left. Her father at her back.. and the others would just be overpowering. 'No, Focus.' she heard Leiv's voice in her head.. mind.. whatever it was now. He was right.
“You need to focus Vetis. That is the only way we will get where we need to go. That is the only way we will save her. Take me to the Elders and then we can build our own army. Gods took enough of my pack, the dark souls and whatever is leading them have no chance against us.” She spoke with conviction and confidence. Perhaps there was a bit of bitter sweet in her tone as well. With a soft nod Vetis stood up and looked around the area. He had forgotten until now just how much he admired Arianna for her strength. Here she stood, shortly after giving birth and seeing her own child disappear... Unafraid of her own demise.. almost unfazed.
“This might take me a moment...” he paused and looked to her with the respect and admiration he still carried even after death. It slowly turned to surprise to see her spirit form. He blinked and looked her over, not meaning to seem like a creep. What he saw before him was unlike the rest of the spirits of his kind or pack.
Her soft nearly white blond hair fell down just enough to cover her breasts and hide the scar upon her back. She stood nude yet nothing showed but the dark fade upon her hands feet arms and legs. Her body pale and nearly transparent. Glowing blue eyes searching around her area in deep thought. Her expression unreadable. They finally turned down upon him and he shook himself from the trans. He then continued.
“The spirit realm is misleading and easy to get lost in. What only seemed like moments of running could turn into years of traveling just trying to get back to where we started.” He rubbed his hand against his soft stubble. If it made a noise at all it would go unnoticed save for the realm of the living. To them it would be passed off as the wind shuffling dry hay or a mouse scurrying through the grass.
“Concentrate on whom you need to speak too.” She said. “You would know better than I, what elder it is. If what I remember from Leiv is right, a door should appear and make it easier for us to travel back to them." She hoped. Vetis nodded. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes trying to focus on just the one Elder they needed to speak to. Arianna stepped closer, her eyes kept upon him as if somehow she would be able to help him focus. She was surprised, with how much she was thinking of speaking to her father she would have thought a door would have opened for her right away. After a few moments a soft whispering seemed to surround them. Arianna, on guard, turned and watched around them, not taking even a step away from Vetis.
A wavering image seemed to start to appear in front of him and when she turned to look at his face she could tell he was struggling to think. As she looked through the wavering image she could see what seemed to be a more detailed place, and upon the ground someone in dark furs huddled over. Quickly she took Vetis' arm, assuming this was the elder and pulling them both through the wavering image as quick as possible.
As they stepped through the image stopped wavering and there sat a dark figure. It seemed to bob its head slightly then raised an arm and gestured for them to come and join it. Vetis had opened his eyes and looked to Arianna surprised that it had worked. He saw the figure and when motion happened he obeyed and went sitting down next to the figure and looking directly at them. Arianna followed and slowly sank down, not sure what to expect. What she saw, made her pause.
The figure was not wearing furs exactly. They were part of it. Its face was that of a beast and it turned to her with bandaged eyes. When it smiled part of her felt as if she needed to growl at it. Then her eyes dropped down to the gaping wound that was it's neck. Something was familiar about this being, but she was unsure what.
"Child of the moon. Tear of joy and sorrow. Ah, how good it is to see you." It spoke facing her. "Many warnings and messages failed. Sorry for this, we are." She tilted her head, and it started to dawn on her that this might have been the spirit Vida had told her about. The one that warned them of the blood clan and the frost giants.
"What is it you would have me do?" She asked, but before he spoke she felt a hand upon her shoulder. When she looked up she saw the dark eyes first. A elderly woman with silver hair that seemed to wash down to her feet. Slowly the old woman dropped to her knees, with the wavering image of her eyes that could be mistaken for tears. Arianna blinked and then something hit her and her jaw dropped. "no.." she barely whispered.
"Yes, little one." The Spiral elder said. "She should not have been punished. It was fate."
"M-mother?" The elderly woman nodded softly. Unsure of what to do or say, Arianna just stared for a long moment. Her hand went to her own neck in search of the long forgotten and probably now lost necklace that her father given her.
"You need to listen carefully, daughter." the elderly woman said as she knelt down and wrapped an arm around Arianna. A soft warmth seemed to envelope Arianna from this. She turned her eyes back to the elder and waited.. So much did she want to speak to her mother alone but for now she knew there were more dire things at hand. One, was getting Vida freed from whatever hell she might be in. Second would be Fozz. The rest would be details for later.
Last edited by Silvy Dean on Wed Jan 06, 2016 12:37 am; edited 6 times in total