High noon. Exousia Mansion.
Vesba stood at the highest point of the opulent mansion, his tall and burly figure obscured by the shadow of a nearby chimney.
Squinting his eyes, he ignited Manavision, then switched gears and focused his mind on the nearby shadows, using his unique mana to sense the surroundings.
A flood of information invaded his mind at that moment, and he suddenly sucked in a breath.
"Calm down. You're too agitated. Need to clear my mind." He whispered to nobody in particular, calming his nerves.
After a while, his mind started to stabilize.
And the world of shadows came into view.
Shadows were, by nature, mercurial. They writhed and changed shapes depending on what casted it, remodeling itself to match its original source.
It was high noon right now—the time when the sun's rays were at its strongest. Right here, right now, the shadows were at its peak. Not the best. No. But was it was at the near top.
Times passed as he stood there, bathed in shadows.
There was nothing amiss.
"That person isn't here again. Odd… she usually comes here around this time…" He muttered in the wind, stroking his chin with one muscular hand.
It was, truly, odd.
The intruder who he had almost caught—a woman of relatively youth—one who can tap into the same mystical powers as he, was nowhere to be seen… or felt, for that matter.
Usually, when the shadows were most active, the intruder would use the surrounding shadows cast by the mansion and other static objects to hide and creep like a prowling predator. She would move around unseen to anybody but him and the blind monk.
Feng Xing Liu wasn't bound by mundane visual obfuscations, instead relying on her unique form of vision and sight.
And yet, the intruder had never once been caught… or seen, for that matter. The shadows usually hid her figure and finer features—a concealment that even Vesba with his superior affinity towards shadows could pierce.
Other than her gender, Vesba had no clues to her identity. And even that point was debatable at times.
And now, the intruder was nowhere to be found.
It was as if she had disappeared entirely; as though a mere figment of one's mind.
In fact, it had been two days since the intruder's apparent absence.
What's more dire was the fact that some relatively important documents were missing. And that the documents stolen seemingly had no relation to each other.
This point baffled Mysta and Selen to no ends, causing more than one or two fierce outbursts.
"Ugh, why did I have to remember that? Happy thoughts, happy thoughts…" Vesba winced seemingly in pain as he remembered the furious scolding the two well-read ladies threw at him.
Deactivating Manavision, he let go of the shadows and relied on his own two eyes.
Jumping down from the high rooftop of the Exousia mansion, an idle thought flew by Vesba's mind:
'I wonder how the kid's faring. Hopefully he's doing well.'
◇◆◇◆◇
In the dark, shadowed cell.
Lieren had a face full confusion and exasperation.
"Hey, I know you're there. I can feel your shadow." The voice exclaimed. It seemed to be from a relatively young girl.
'My shadow?'
What could she have meant by that?
Lieren lingered for a while, then said with curiosity:
"Um… uh… hey. Who are you?" He stammered to say.
He was suspicious of the voice.
"…Huh? Oh, damn. There's actually somebody else still sane here? Shocker."
Lieren eyes squinted as he looked at the wall beside him. He exclaimed:
"Yes. I am still sane… I think so, anyways. Anyways…
"You still haven't answered my question."
The voice scoffed. "Right, right. I've got it.
"The name's Umbra. Been here for since the day before yesterday. How about you?
"When did you get here?"
Lieren lingered for a moment, ruminating the thought. He was a little apprehensive to do so from anxiety.
'H—how long have I been here? If I assume that the number of times I've been tortured and passed out is one day… then three—no. Four days? Or is it five?'
'…No, that's too generous. Judging with my internal clock, I doubt it could have taken that long for me to wake up. Even when I was knocked out cold multiply times, it only took an hour, at best…'
He clenched his teeth in frustration as the thought slipped past desperate grasp. Lieren couldn't quite piece it together.
'Agh! I don't know. My memory is becoming too hazy. It's hard to remember anything; every single day is the same here… huh?'
Grinding his teeth in frustration, Lieren grimaced and grumbled to himself, when a thought suddenly invaded his mind.
'Wait a minute…'
"Shouldn't you know that? I'm right beside you in terms of space… You should have been able to hear my screams, or something…" He trailed off, embarrassed to say the rest.
Despite everything, Lieren was still a kid. There were some things he'd rather not say due to simple and naïve embarrassment. Screams of terror and agony were one of those things, it seemed.
Umbra lingered for a long while before answering.
"…Yeah, I did. Gotta be honest though; I didn't think a kid like you could scream that loud. It just felt… I dunno… odd, or something. It wasn't right." Umbra sounded genuinely distraught, and Lieren didn't feel like she was lying, either.
"…Is that so. Thanks, I guess. Thanks for caring."
And then, it hit him.
"You still haven't answered my question!"
"Hahaha!" Umbra laughed with bravado, her was rough and parched. As if she hadn't eaten or drank anything in days.
Lieren hadn't either… assuming that a day had, indeed, passed. He still wasn't sure about that part.
The cell he was trapped had no windows, and thus light could not seep in, making the scene he woke up to bland and unfailingly monotonous.
It was a very drab visage to gaze upon first.
Cough! Cough! Umbra fell into a fit, her coughs echoing in the drab and shadowed hallway. "You've got me there, I guess.
"True, I did hear your screams. But every time the torture master would leave and you'd go quiet, it was kinda hard to keep my hopes up, y'know? I mean, from my perspective, you'd just gone up and die all of a sudden."
Lieren grimaced. "Yeah, that's true. I guess that makes sense."
Umbra chuckled hoarsely.
"At least you finally get it… But, hey, you know what? I get you.
"Anybody would be suspicious if a voice suddenly talked to them from such a dark and depressing place. Heck, me specially."
*Tump**Tump**Huff**Huff*
Footsteps echoed across the halls, accompanied by heavy breaths seemingly through a mask.
"…Well, good luck, kid. You're gonna need it."
Lieren clenched his small fists.
"Yeah, I think so, too."
His torturer had returned for another bout pain.
Soon afterwards, incoherent tortured screams filled the drab and turbid cell like the cries of a wailing specter.
*Creak*
…Lieren gasped for air as the cell door cried. His breathing was hoarse and his body was riddled with bouts of immolating pain.
He was in pain once again. Lots of it.
But, this time, he hadn't fallen unconscious. Whether that was fortunate or not remains to be seen.
After what felt like an eternity of hoarse breathing and monotonous silence, Umbra's voice resounded from beyond the walls on his left once again:
"…Hey, guy, are ya' living still? The torture master has left. We can chitchat for a while, until he comes back with some wicked new tool to use on ya'."
"Ha!" Lieren scoffed, his voice hoarse and exhausted.
It felt like he could fall over Death's Edge any time, down that ending cliff.
*Cough!**Cough!*
"You sure give some great words of encouragement, Umbra." He said after a bout of dry coughing, barely eking out a pale smile.
She couldn't see it; it wasn't for her. Its purpose was to trick himself into thinking that he was fine. To fool himself into believing that the pain would subside soon.
"You remembered my name." She sounded warmer, for some reason, less dark and eminent than usual.
Lieren desperately tried to keep his smile from fading. "Of course I did. Who do you think I am?"
She chuckled.
"Yes. Who 'are' you?" She emphasized.
Then, it finally struck him. 'I never told her my name!'
Deliberating the following thought for a long minute, Lieren soon came to a decision.
"…Name's Lieren. Like yourself, I also have no last name… at least, I don't think so."
"You don't think so? That's odd. What happened?"
'…Well, I guess I better start getting comfortable. It doesn't seem like my rescue's coming anytime soon, either. So I better get comfy, I guess.'
"I was suppose to be meeting with a foster family willing to adopt me. But some stuff happened—the latest one being this accursed competition—and I couldn't meet with them anymore."
Umbra whined.
"Oh, no. That sounds terrible! Well, don't worry. At least you've got me."
Lieren laughed briefly, bending over as it turned into a litany of coughs and winces.
"What's that supposed to mean? Are you feeling pity for a complete stranger now? How Samaritan of you."
She scoffed. "...A Samaritan? Like one of those saints from the church? Ew! Don't lump me in with 'those' people."
Lieren mused for a moment.
"There's a church in New Mireton?" He questioned.
To his knowledge, there was no such thing.
But, apparently, Umbra knew different.
"Yes." She began. "Yes, there are.
"Though they've mostly been abolished due to the majority's lack of faith, there are a couple who had survived. Though, most of then remain in the shadows, scared and cowering.
"The locals don't like talking about god."
'So… there are some. According to Bian, most of the orthodox churches were abolished following the Purple Night—just after King's Oblivion.'
'It was during the first year or so after the alleged Night. Most of the locals's faith to gods and angels rapidly declined from the despair they felt when none of them provided aid of any kind, and soon, they revolted, causing pandemonium.'
'Two years later, all religions had been cleansed from the city's records, with only word-of-mouth keeping them alive… But, according to Umbra, a couple did survive, and her tone suggests that they're still in active operation. Though, not as much as before. That pretty much sums it up, I guess. The only thing left is…'
"Which ones are still active?"
She chuckled. "Oh, I don't know. I just heard they're still out there. Though, I have seen a couple of suspected gatherings. Nothing conclusive, though. Didn't wanna get in 'too' much trouble."
Lieren laughed weakly, his voice hoarse and rough from screaming.
"And yet, you're here. Really speaks a lot for your caution. What brought you here, anyways? Did you kill someone?"
"Yes." She answered deliberately.
There was no lie in that voice whatsoever.
Each second felt like an eternity as the monotonous silence descended on the two once more.
"...I see." Lieren said finally when he felt the cold seeping in.
"Do you?" Umbra, without any change of tone or pitch at all, said. "Because I don't think you do."
He frowned.
"I do understand."
"Then what's with your hesitation earlier? That's not the reaction of someone who 'understands' at all."
'...'
"You don't know that."
"Do I?"
"That's what I would like to know."
"…Well, I guess I don't, apparently. Though I can tell you this: death—and killing by proxy—isn't what you think it is. It's not bad nor good, it's something else.
"Something ambiguous."
He raised a brow. "Ambiguous?
"…That doesn't explain much. Actually, it explains nothing at all!" Livid, Lieren raised his voice.
"Ha-ha-ha!" Umbra merely laughed at his reaction, entertained, somehow.
"What's so funny?" He pursed his lips.
Taking deep breaths, she said. "Your reactions. Your reactions' what's funny.
"They just crack me up!"
'…What?' He frowned, concerned. 'Is she hit in the head? What a weird girl.'
Laughter resounded in the dark halls, echoing.
And soon, Lieren's eyelids dropped down and his consciousness faded away.
"Did you just fall asleep on me? Rude!"