When Umbren awoke he felt like he had slept for a whole week. Frankly speaking it was the best sleep he had ever had. There wasn't that normal grogginess or the attachment to the place where one slept that usually accompanied one's awakening.
Umbren went to sit up, but shortly regretted it. He remembered what happened last time and braced for a severe pain, but none came.
Umbren sat still for a moment to confirm that no pain would come, and none ever did. He felt his side, his legs, his arms, his shoulders, and really any other place one could think of but no pain ever greeted him.
He went to get out of his bed, but still in a state of disbelief he did it slowly to make sure that there weren't any surprises, and there were none.
He stood there and blinked a few times, as if to give his body time to get used to this drastic change. Once he regained his senses, he looked around the storeroom once more, and what time it was, or even what day it was for that matter.
However, a chill ran through his whole body as if he had just realized he was naked. Almost all his possessions, other than his clothes, were gone, but he really could care less about the majority of them.
"The sword!"
His body moved by itself running through the door. He didn't know where he was going; all he knew was that he had to find that sword.
He ran down a hall and shortly began to hear a conversation between a man and a young woman. As he burst into the main room of the house he was greeted with drastically differing reactions.
The two sat at a large table eating breakfast. Upon his arrival, a muscular man went for a hammer a short distance from him. Not that anyone could blame him, for the scene that he was greeted with was an enemy soldier running around the house with a look of fear on his face. Even though he had allowed him to stay it still didn't quell his fear or suspicion.
On the other side of the coin the girl's reaction was much calmer. Almost as fast as the man went for his hammer, the girl went to stop him.
As she did this, she spoke to Umbren in a natural tone as if nothing else was going on, "Oh, you're awake. You must be hungry."
Still trying to keep the man from grabbing the hammer, she motioned to the food on the table with her other hand.
However, Umbren didn't really care about any of this, "Where is it."
The girl looked at him with a confused look on her face, "you're going to have to be a little more specific."
Umbren's voice rose in frustration, "The sword! Where's the sword."
The girl still struggling with her father answered the question flatly, "Oh, that. Ya, it wasn't in too good of shape, none of your weapons were really, so he is fixing them up for you."
Umbren's eyebrow twitched in disbelief as he looked towards the man in the room. Upon noticing this the man quickly hid the hammer he was trying to grab, and in the process ending the struggle between him and the girl.
Umbren clenched his fist and tried to remain calm, "I humbly ask you to not do such a thing. It is an heirloom of sorts and I wouldn't want anything to happen to it."
Umbren hated that he lied about the origin of the weapon, but he didn't want to go into the story of how it came to his possession, and that was the easiest way to express its importance to him.
The man raised one of his eyebrows at Umbren's request, and then shook his head, "Sorry boy, but that was the first thing I went to work on. It seemed to be the most finely crafted and the easiest to fix."
Umbren took two steps towards the man and the girl, but the man raised his hand, "It is done however, and I can promise you it is better than it once was."
Before Umbren could do anything else the man got up from his chair at the table and turned towards the door to the forge, where a trunk sat next to it.
He kneeled and opened the trunk, quickly so as to not make Umbren any more anxious. He then gingerly raised an item wrapped in red cloth.
He unwrapped the cloth to reveal a black sheath. Almost as if holding a baby, he walked slowly and carefully around the table and offered it to Umbren as if performing some type of ritual.
However, in sharp contrast, Umbren eagerly grabbed the weapon from the smith and held it for a minute worried about what he might find inside.
Umbren took a deep breath and pulled Cronai from its sheath.
His eyes widened. It looked as if it was newly forged. Its black metal shined showing no hint of damage at all. After examining the weapon, Umbren put it carefully back into its sheath.
"Thank you, smithy, I'm sorry for my sudden behavior."
The girl gave a playful smile, "If you want us to accept your apology, then you're gonna have to sit down and eat with us."
Umbren nodded slowly and pulled a chair out from the table on the other side of the girl. The smith also went back to his seat next to the girl.
As he sat back down, he spoke some more words as if to reassure Umbren of the sword, "I didn't do much, I just sharpened it and other things like that. Though I saw that it didn't have a sheath, and that's just no good. It's made of ebony wood, strong as steel, and I thought the color would suit a Nocturnal nicely."
Umbren looked at the weapon in his lap as the smith gave the description of what he did, "Again, I cannot thank you enough."
The smith waved his hand in the air, "Think nothing of it. It was one of the only reasons that I let you stay anyway."
Umbren tilted his head in confusion. Seeing this the girl spoke up, "Don't worry about it Umbren, he really just wanted to look at your stuff. He's never seen Nocturnal equipment up close, so I guess he was curious."
The answer only left Umbren with more questions, "I'm sorry, but how do you know my name."
"You don't remember? You told it to me right before you fell asleep after taking the elixir."
Umbren shook his head to communicate that he had no memory of the event, but as he was thinking about it his eyes widened, "I cannot thank you enough for that...but...um...it must have been very expensive, especially if what you said about it being from a healer was true."
The man grunted, "Sure was, and I went through hell to get it too."
The girl kicked the man under the table, "You'll have to forgive his rudeness, we really had no other use for it. If you hadn't shown up it would probably have gone to waste."
The girl chuckled as if to ease Umbren's worries, but it didn't work very well, "But still miss..."
"Alyze, Alyze Eapev"
She then slapped the man next to her on the back causing him to almost lose the eggs in his mouth, "And this right here is my dad Jarvus"
Jarvus looked to Alyze with a look that said, "was that really necessary," but she seemed to ignore it.
She then pointed to Umbren, "I could call you Umbren or I could use your last name, which would you prefer."
Umbren was even more confused than he was earlier, "Last name?"
The girl smiled in amusement, "Ya know, a family name. The one name that comes after your other ones. Like mine's Eapev."
Umbren shook his head, "Although you have received the honor of getting a family name, no one in mine has done anything to earn one."
The two across from him let out a, "Huh"
Alyze sat back in her chair, "Do you tenebrage really need to go through all that trouble to get one. Everyone I know has one, and if what you're saying is true, I probably wouldn't have one."
Jarvus looked towards her with a suspicious glance, "What exactly do you mean by that."
Alyze didn't even look at him, "Exactly what I said."
Jarvus pointed a fork he was holding at his daughter, "Don't be like that, your mother..."
He paused mid-sentence, and his head hung low. There was also a notable jolt in Alyze.
Umbren noticed all this, but let his curiosity get the better of him, "Mother? where is she now."
Alyze tried to cover up the moment that had just passed, "Yep, my mom. I was actually named after her, you know, but dad here didn't want me to have her name because he thought it would cover up my own life, so they both settled on Alyze."
As she rambled with her hands waving in the air, Umbren's eyebrows raised in surprise at the sudden words flooding out of her mouth, but also from his rising curiosity.
Noticing this, Alyze's voice died down, and she started to chuckle uncomfortably, "Well let's just say that elixir was originally meant for her, around thirteen years ago."
Umbren realized his mistake, bowed his head and apologized.
Alyze waved her hands as if swatting away his words. She then got up and pushed in her chair, "I need to go to the market to buy some things, so I'm going to be gone for a while. Be free to make yourself feel at home."
She went into the kitchen and grabbed the same basket he had seen before. She then went to the door across from the one to the forge, where she grabbed a hat.
Before she left turned back to Umbren, "When I get back, we can maybe go see your friend."
With that she walked out the door.
"Friend?"
Jarvus was still focused on the assortment of eggs, bacon, and fruit in front of him, "That attoka that you rode here on. It was a real pain hiding him though. He just wouldn't calm down. Though we ended up finding a place outside of town where he just passed out. Hopefully he doesn't make any noise."
At Jarvus's explanation, Umbren remembered the attoka he had ridden on before he had fainted. He remembered its strong, but defiant features, but also how it caused him to hit his head, which caused this whole situation.
Umbren grinded his teeth, "Oh, really I just can't wait to see him."
Jarvus gave a sigh, "Don't be like that. Ya really should be more thankful ya know. That thing showed up on our doorstep covered in burn marks, with you hanging from the saddle bloodied. Honestly, I thought you just went and died, but here you are. With no lack of trying on our part."
Umbren looked up in surprise
Jarvus pointed his fork at him, "Where did you guys even come from? I doubt it was too far."
"We were attacked in Euma."
Jarvus choked on the piece of bacon in his mouth. "Euma! Why, that's nearly eighty miles from here. Sure, you could make the journey in a day, but in the condition that beast was in, and carrying you no less, you should spoil that thing rotten."
Umbren's mouth fell open. He would have never thought that the feline beast would have done anything for him, especially something like that. Now he really did want to see him, but for different reasons than before.
Umbren paused, "Hey, Jarvus, how long have I been here."
Jarvus laid down his utensils and folded his arms, "Well you slept for a whole day before you woke up, and then Alyze gave you that healer's elixir, I'm sure she would have done it before, but you had to be awake when you took it for the effects to work. Though back to your question, this is your second day being here."
Umbren's stomach dropped, "Lord Mortis is going to kill me."