Omen: 5, 18

Lord Biggu carried the group back to the main island. Umbra lay on her back casually, tossing branches into the air every so often, before shooting up bolts of lightning from her fingertips.

Every time the farmers heard the lightning bolts, they winced, recalling their fight from the previous day. Rick could feel that he was different, but he wasn’t sure if he was different because he had died, or if he felt different because he was over thinking about feeling different.

“You think too much,” Jurot said from beside the farmer.

“Sorry?”

“Do not apologise.”

“No, I mean… right.” Rick cleared his throat.

“You were alive, then you were dead, now you are alive,” Jurot said, as though life was really that simple.

“Right…”

The main island welcomed them in the evening, where the Goofs, Agi, and Drakon scrambled when they saw Umbra return, those out of sight going off to find weapons, while the leaders of each race came to meet them at the dock.

“Storm Lord! You have returned!” Shaka Ti called out, holding up her hands towards the sky.

The other two were not quite so eager, with Zambria swiftly taking his position as the Father of Drakons, in front of the others.

“Shaka Ti,” Umbra said, before reaching down to rub her head. “Did you miss me?”

“We all missed you.”

“I’m certain,” Umbra replied, dryly, glancing across the other faces. “You can all relax, since you’ll live another day.”

“Storm Lord, you killed many of our Goofs…” Shaka Ti frowned up towards Umbra.

“I did?” Umbra asked. “I’m sorry, Shaka Ti. I must have lost my mind during the time.”

Shaka Ti sighed, nodding her head slowly, though she continued to mourn her people within her heart.

“I will not lose my mind any longer, at least, not for a while,” Umbra said. “I will be leaving tomorrow morning with the rest of the outsiders. I will return to my original world.”

Gasps filled the city, with each member whispering emphatically to one another.

“So it’s true?” Zambria asked.

“It is.” Umbra reached up a hand onto his head, like that of a mother. ‘How many years have passed? How many times did I reincarnate?’ She sighed, before walking past them. “Come with me, I’ll explain things to you and leave you with my parting gifts.” ‘I’m sure father would do the same.’

“Damn, she’s so cool,” Adam whispered. “Jurot, you think I’ll ever be as cool as her?”

Jurot closed his eyes, allowing a thought to pass through his mind. “Cringe.”

“Et tu, Jurot?” Adam chuckled.

“Who is that?” Sir Vonda asked as the group returned to the fire.

“Strom’s daughter,” Adam said, sitting with the others.

The trio of Iyrmen beside the priest leaned in, throwing their eyes towards Nirot, who nodded her head.

“Strom’s… daughter?” Vonda watched as the woman disappeared out of sight. ‘Emperor Hadda’s daughter?’

“We managed to find her pretty quickly,” Adam said, exchanging a look with Jurot, before he stared down at the crackling fire. ‘I don’t like this one bit.’

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“I am glad you have managed to keep your promise,” Vonda said, noting the look on his face.

Adam sighed, letting the tension escape through his body, before he smiled. “Yeah.”

One of the Awakened Wolves approached Adam, tentatively placing their head beside him. Adam reached down and brushed the wolf’s fur gently. ‘I really should have treated Sky better.’ “Now that I think about it, I haven’t given you each names yet.”

“We have names.”

“What are they?”

“First Tooth, Second Tooth, Third Tooth.”

“Jurot, I think I found someone worse at naming things,” Adam said, gasping.

“They are good names.”

“Okay, maybe I’ve found two people worse at naming things.”

“Cringe.”

“You can’t use that word twice in one day!”

Meanwhile, Umbra informed the leaders of the different people about how the world was formed, and when she originally arrived, countless generations ago.

“It was difficult enough to deal with the Drakons, considering they were my own children, but every time they acted up, I made sure to beat them up,” Umbra said, recalling the first few generations of Drakons who had tried to conquer the nearby people and lands. “Eventually, I had to set them up with all the different races, from your ancestors, to those who had long died out.”

Zambria stared at her in shock as she spewed out such nonsense. She was the Mother of All Drakons? Not just by title, but by the fact that she was their ancestor?

“Now that I’m going, it’s going to be difficult to keep you Drakons in check,” Umbra said, her eyes piercing through Zambria. “I’m sure that, once I leave, you’ll go around wreaking havoc all across the lands, bringing the Agi and Goofs under you. So I’ll say this right now…”

Umbra cracked her neck, smiling towards Zambria. “If I have to return to kill every last one of you, I’ll do it. I’ve long severed my emotional attachment to any of you fools who have bothered me so much, and have stabbed me in the back dozens of times. If you think I’ll show you any mercy, even to your children, you’ll find none. Even if I could take you to another realm and let you live there, I’d rather end the entire line with my own two talons.”

“…” Zambria began to sweat even heavier.

‘What a bunch of lucky rat bastards,’ she thought. ‘I haven’t reached the heights of my father in any of my lifetimes, so you’ll at least have a chance to wound me while I slaughter you all.’

Zambria was certain she was thinking something scary, so kept his mouth shut.

“You really must leave?” Shaka Ti asked, pouting up at Umbra.

“I must,” Umbra said, embracing the tiny Shaka. Out of all the peoples in this world, even those long dead, none had endeared themselves to her like the Goofs. She brushed the Shaka’s hair. “Don’t worry, I’ve left contingencies in place in case they act up, but don’t say that Umbra, Mother of All Drakons, had left nothing behind to the three peoples she adored most.”

Lightning crackled between her fingers as she summoned items from a small demi dimension, a crack which could store items unaffected by time. She held up the blade forged out of a Dragon’s Heart, her own. She would spent the last days of her lives forging such great items, and this was her very first. She handed the gem blade to Zambria.

“Take this, my first weapon, since you are still my descendant,” Umbra said.

Zambria took it tentatively, thinking it was all a trick, before he gasped, feeling the great magic within it. It was definitely greater than any weapon they currently had in their possession, even Dragon’s Tooth, which was, as Adam would say, a Legendary Enhanced blade. This blade was similar in its might, but its additional effects were greater than Dragon’s Tooth.

“Then, for the Agi, who have done their duty as the warrior class of our alliance,” Umbra said, summoning out a pair of claws, each made from a separate Dragon’s Heart. “The Champion must possess one, and the other shall be given to any Agi that the alliance chooses, save the Champion.”

“Thank you, Umbra,” Champion said, bowing her head deeply as she accepted the weapons.

“And finally, to my Shaka Ti,” Umbra began, before summoning out two items. One, an armour made of her scales, and the other was a spear, made of a Dragon Heart. “Hold out your hand.”

Shaka Ti did so.

Umbra picked Shaka Ti’s finger, and allowed the drops of blood to spill against the armour and the spear, the spear being the item she had created last. Had she been given the time, she would have created another item for the Goofs, but she had come across the Iyrmen.

“Each of these weapons are tied to Goofs, and their true potential is tied to them. These items are handed down to the Shaka, and will only be used by the Goof Shakas of the future.” Umbra picked Shaka Ti up and held her close in her arms. She whispered, not quietly in the slightest, into her ear. “If any of them do anything to your Goofs, you may kill them as you please. This armour and the spear are my greatest treasures.”

“No,” Shaka Ti said, reaching up to hold her face. “You are the greatest treasure.”

Umbra kissed Shaka Ti’s forehead. “This is why I adore you Goofs the most.”

Shaka Ti’s eyes began to burn with tears, but she did not cry.

As night fell, Adam stared up at the darkening sky, seeing meteors fall down onto the world, two or three just that night. The sparkling colours of broken stars and moons covered the sky.

‘How the hell are we meant to leave this place?’

“Adam?” Jurot called.

“Yeah?”

“When we return, may I tell the story?”

“Of course,” Adam replied. “I’m no good at that sort of thing.”

“I would like to hold Lanarot as I tell the story.”

“…” Adam looked over to Jurot, who was staring at the sky, his eyes glued to the various stars. “I can’t believe you’d steal my own sister from me.”

“She is my sister too.”

Adam smiled, returning back to stare at the stars. “Yeah. She is.”