Elijah's face turned bright red with hints of purple, his vision darkening at the edges as Verayth's unrelenting grip tightened around his neck. Every breath was a struggle, his chest heaving as he finally yelled out in desperation.
"WAIT, wait… I will talk".
Verayth's icy glare didn't waver, but her grip eased just enough for him to gasp for air.
"Then get to it".
Elijah coughed and inhaled deeply, his throat burning as he rasped.
"I don't know where I'm from Okay, but WAIT wait… Umm, I was abandoned by my asshole parents immediately after I was born, even had to name myself Elijah…
Her gaze narrowed, but she didn't interrupt.
Elijah is all I am, I don't have any other identity apart from it, and I already told it to you the first time we met… For people like me. The world is our home, not that you could ever understand what that feels like…
So for now just let me go, you can ask your men to look into me if you still don't believe me".
For a moment, silence hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. Elijah closed his eyes, bracing himself for the worst, ready to accept his fate. But to his surprise, Verayth gently released him, dropping him unceremoniously onto the ground.
"There's no need, I can tell when a person is lying or not".
"Good, then you know that I absolutely have no intention of hurting you or anyone here, and that I'm not a bloody spy".
There was a short moment of silence before Verayth nodded begrudgingly.
"You still haven't told me why you were snooping outside of the Majors tent".
"Well I was lost, and I didn't have a place to sleep, so I just slumped down on the warmest hard ground I could find".
Verayth's blue eyes were completely focused on Elijah as he spoke, she didn't even blink as Elijah was enhancing his storytelling with hand waves and gestures that could confuse anyone.
"Why did you lie about being human?".
"Well it's probably because I am human".
Verayths eyes lit up with a slight glow before dimming down once again.
"You're lying… So Ovarth was right, you must be sick in the head".
Elijah raised an eyebrow, calling himself insane was one thing, but he definitely wasn't about to have someone else call him that.
"What, fuck no Lieutenant… I'm perfectly sane, what do you want me to say, that I'm one of you Umbral kin, I obviously don't even resemble the part, You know at some point you people have to accept the fact that I'm not an Umbral kin".
Verayth frowned lightly, her eyes never once leaving Elijah's.
"Verywell, Come with me, I will find a tent for you, it's already getting late, you should get some rest… but don't leave the encampment without my express permission, Or I will hunt you down and feed you to the hounds".
Elijah nodded, seeing as he had no other choice, he might have well stick around till the narrative change for the better.
"A little gruesome, but thanks for the trust Lieutenant".
The two of them began to walk back towards the military encampment, Verayth was in front while Elijah tailed her from behind, his mind wandering back to their heated conversion.
"Hey system, tell me. How is she able to tell if I'm lying or not, she seemed awfully sure about herself back there".
[NOTICE: The Umbral Kin known as Verayth possesses a bloodline ability unique to one of the Seven Great Clans. This ability grants her the power to peer into the principles of truth and falsehood, allowing her to discern lies from truth]
"I see, so that's it huh… the umbral kin posses some latent talent each of their own specific race".
[NOTICE: Bloodline talent can only be found and displayed by decendents of the Seven Great Clans]
"which race is she from?".
[NOTICE: The Umbral kin known as Verayth is a descendent of the vampire elf race, The vampire elf race is a race that rose to prominence…]
"Alright that's enough, I don't need a history lesson on the day I died and got Isekaied into another world".
Elijah raised his head and burned his eyes into Verayth's back until she couldn't take it anymore, she said with her face red and her backside tight.
"Is there something you wish to ask me Elijah?".
"No, nothing in particular… It's just that, why won't you believe me?".
"Believe what?".
"That I'm human, I mean, can't your abilities fail you every once in a while".
First Lieutenant Verayth halted her steps, she turned to face Elijah and said, without a doubt in her mind.
"No, my ability doesn't just fail me, even if it did, I wouldn't really know now would I".
"Hmm, you make a great point".
Verayth shrugged.
"Good, and besides… you don't really look like humans do, heck… even some Umbral kins from the north can pass as humans more than you can".
Elijah's expression froze.
"What do you mean?". Elijah whispered lightly.
There was a small puddle on the side, so he walked over to it and looked down at his own reflection.
He still resembled his previous self, the only thing that changed was his hair, it was now silky and bright green, his green eyes seem to have got brighter, almost like there was a hidden light trapped within, his skin was still dark, but not too explicitly… overall, he still resembled a human, unless.
"There are no dark skinned people in this world, are there?".
Hmm
Verayth was slightly confused, but she still answered him.
"Not that I have ever seen".
"Not even beyond the sea?".
"The history books would have said so if they were any".
Elijah silently contemplated.
"So this is why the system didn't drop me off on the side of the humans, if it did, I would have been dead by now, so I guess I really am an Umbral, although... not one of their kin… I'm all alone".