CHAPTER 18 – HOME, HEARTH, AND COSMIC SECRETS

Umbra Mortem – Gideon Sho – Erebus

***

They’d moved themselves to the lounge area of their suite and left Unra to get on with running the Settlement and her workers including her Comm Experts and Gun-Chair Operators getting back to it. Their lounge area/living room had a big couch and a couple recliner type seats with an ornate table in the middle with some of the beautiful black and silver flowers in a large pot from the Shadowmoon. The tension was still extremely high and Gideon stretched out on the couch with L’Sana leaning into him wiping tears from her eyes. Ari lay cuddled on her shoulders and neck as usual already having cried herself to sleep. He did his best to stay stoic. Everyone had counted him out on his seven week sabbatical and he would not do the same. It was a harsh challenge to anyone, the Proving followed by the Tutorial but if anyone could do it it would be that little girl especially when she had Freddie with her. He wasn’t called the best AI Assistant in the Multi-Verse for nothing, granted he gave himself the title but it didn’t diminish his capabilities. Gideon smiled. Freddie got nowhere near enough credit. His quick thinking meant Shira had a shot and was not alone.

The AI was very very fond of her and Gideon knew he would do his best to look out for her. The chances of her getting past the Proving were harsh but doable. Killing a Level 1 Goblin was within her ability to do especially with Freddie at her side.

The Tutorial on the other hand by herself was the harsher reality. That part at first had slipped his mind his thoughts focused on the Proving especially with his own recent experiences but as his mind cleared he realized after the Proving if it followed the same pattern as everyone else when they entered she would be taken to the Tutorial and a five year old in a Tutorial even if it wasn’t an Elite version caused far more threat to her survival than a single Level 1 Goblin.

His big hope there was that she got a really good Class that would help her survive. If he remembered correctly someone’s first Main Class was based off one’s choices and actions along with their Affinity.

He had a feeling her Affinity would be high and as far as her life choices? How many choices did the System have to work with from a five year old? That truth hopefully meant what Freddie called the Leap of Umbra Mortem would weigh heavily in her favor and she could at least pull a Rare option. He attempted to envision the Umbral realm with what he knew of her and what possibilities she would be offered. As far as he knew Shador were offered the Umbral almost exclusively so his mind focused on that. He didn’t know any Shador that wasn’t of the Umbral Soul-Pillar. He expanded his mind as he felt L’Sana cuddle into him having fallen half asleep, her tears all dried up at least for now.

He hadn’t brought up the possibility of Shira being thrown into a Tutorial but L’Sana was smart and he knew she would have followed the same memories as he himself had. He put his hand on both Ari and L’Sana and gave them a light rub/hug but not too hard so as to wake them.

He didn’t see a tank Class even though that would be the biggest boon to face a Tutorial with. One, he didn’t think it would be something that would interest her personality and two, he’d seen very few besides Dori with Classes along those lines. Umbral was oriented towards the dark, speed, magic, subterfuge and other things along that line. Even Dori he felt she got that Class choice based on her desire to protect everyone and her endurance and determination to hold off choosing a class for a long time jeopardizing her life while fighting with limited Attributes.

Thinking and attempting to categorize Shira made his first take quickly jump to clever, extremely clever for her age and had a frame that would be closer to his own rather than L’Sana, lithe, built for speed so his guess would be either an Intellectual Class or a mixed Martial/Intellectual with a bend towards a speed/agile Martial side. Then his mind stopped. All the Shador were extremely religious for the most part with the whole Lady of Secrets bullshit. His natural disposition about Religion and Gods aside it was what had provided them as a race to hold to hope even in the face of monsters killing them and the Sanctum enslaving and abusing them.

He would never discount anything that provided that even if he personally felt their Goddess hadn’t earned it. The Multi-Verse wasn’t like Earth where religion was based off imaginary Gods that didn’t exist. Gods were all too real in this reality so them actually pulling power from people’s prayers yet not lifting a fucking hand to help them stuck in his craw. He did give little Miss Holder of Secrets a recheck as her promise to change seemed to be something she was actually rolling along if Oklahoma was any example. As he’d told himself several times he needed to maybe give her a new shot and try to extricate his own prejudice from the equation.

He took a deep breath and let all the analytical bullshit go. He knew all of it he was going through in his head was just to keep his mind off what Shira was going through and the real possibility of her imminent death. He couldn’t quite understand the fears L’Sana and Ari and Unra and the others that held her close to them were going through but he could understand sorrow. He’d waded through many mud soaked roads rimed with sadness. It weighed on your soul and his answer had always been to keep his mind active and focused and give himself mental problems to work through, missions to accomplish, goals to attain.

He shifted himself a bit as his arm was becoming dead weight with L’Sana in full armor on top of him. They had learned quickly in this new world that a part of it’s reality demanded one never to be unarmored except when going to bed possibly and always have some type of weapon on them at all times or within reach. As they moved closer to the World Council and the Second Challenge it became even more imperative.

The three breaths it took to pull either out of a storage device could be the difference between life and death. He’d also gotten a run down on how many of the Issian Video drones were being seen all around the Settlement. The volume had almost tripled since he’d been gone. They were shielded and for the most part camouflaged so even if you did catch sight of them they weren’t worth destroying. He hadn’t heard of any kind of mystical television on this new Network/Internet that had been put together but he was sure the footage went somewhere.

He shifted his arm again when the message made him leap up jerking both ladies awake, Freddie.

Everyone, were back and Shira’s alive but shes going crazy mumbling she has to get to the Forest over and over again and she is currently tearing down the stairs from her room like a crazy girl with me around her neck. Hurry.

L’Sana shook sleep faster than a kid on Christmas morning as she slammed the door open and was already in the midst of morphing to her beast form with Ari zipping past her on wing and Gideon with his Perception caught the sound of tiny leg ripping down the stairs already a few steps from the ground floor. He ran to the balcony as the lighter gray slate of late afternoon hit him while he activated [Nocturnal Embrace of the Shade] and stepped into the Umbral to arrive on the ground to cut off his little girl but instead found himself once more a captive audience, literally.

***

The Umbral Realm

***

Gideon skidded to a stop as his senses found another presence as soon as he’d stepped within the realm of shadows. He also noticed he wasn’t slipping in and out as had been the case lately when he used the Ability, everything slowed and stretched in a way he was unfortunately becoming used to. An enveloping encroachment of darkness rolled above and around him radiating the power of a Primordial as he found his knees buckling, his soul being battered by the strength pf it.

He was getting pretty damn tired of this shtick though in reality he’d had a bone to pick for a while and just as that thought entered his mind lo and behold the man or God of the hour revealed himself. He stood only slightly bigger than Gideon this time, well if he could get off his knees.

The Lone Wolf, the great Shadowborn had his normal leather armor and his scimitars as usual just shoved in a sash. He didn’t have his mask this time so Gideon could see the man’s crystal colored eyes. The God threw a smirk but then his eyes flashed with an energy in a mix of purple and gray and dark as night. Gideon felt the immense pressure let up enough for him to stand but not enough for him to feel comfortable by any means and he caught a level of stress on the Shadowborn himself. Gideon with some effort took a step forward and let his voice carry.

“Please tell me you are at least doing the time fuckery you Gods and the System seem to love as I have a little girl who needs me and I don’t think you’d like what happens when shit gets between me and those I care about.”

The laughter of a God was not a fun event for any mortals in the area. He clasped his hands to his head and once again fell to his knees blood trickling from his nose, eyes and ears. He wasn’t here in Spirit this time but in reality. He growled and his Bloodline roared. He did something he’d never attempted before, well for a good reason as the ability to do so was recent.

The real new part to his maniacal from the hip reaction was he did it without utilizing [Rune – Mastery – Umbral/Moon]. With Insight, Will and Perception alone he shoved his mind into his own soul and instinctively reached, and reached some more till he felt something, actually two somethings, and he pulled, attempting to remember what he did when he’d attacked the Alpha Elite Behir except instead of threading the braid he mentally wove into Skald he shaped it with everything he had as a sphere around himself or at least that was the goal, the getting there a different story as blood continued to seep and the pressure from the darkness above and the residual echoes from a God’s laugh pummeled him.

To say he struggled heavily was an understatement. It would have probably been easier to do if he’d activated his ability, possibly but he was irritated at the moment, a long growing irritation of being pushed around by things more powerful than he was. Shira needed him and once again he was at the whims of something stronger than he was that brought him here and there whenever they felt like it.

He knew the Shadowborn wasn’t the System and he wasn’t doing it intentionally but it had all started piling up in his mind and heart and add into that his Bloodline and Class bucking against anything that wished to dominate him and it was the last step and drop to instinctive fury grabbing the reigns.

He flexed his Will harder than he’d ever done before and again his instinct was the blade that carved the path, an instinct that seemed to originate within his Bloodline, the Nocturne shredding his own omniscience into backwater caves as it stepped to the fore. It threaded his Perception with his Insight into one entity and it was like his inner vision opened in clarity rolling from a blind man to a TV Preacher Hallelujah movie moment.

He could see it in his mind, his Will holding two threads of runic energy tied to the two pillars residing in his Soul-Space, one tall and dark as night, the other only a third of the size and shining a deep dark silver shadowed by it’s larger brother. His newfound tool of Insight and Perception bound together while not making it easy certainly made it profoundly easier as he flexed and threaded the two streams of runic energy, black and silver, into one stream of merged identity as he pushed it out and around him.

His Nocturne Blood kicked in again as it took over once more, pushing him to activate his Aura [Night of the Ecliptic Horror] and finally something clicked, a Notification popping into existence that he ignored.

All the pressure he’d felt from the God’s laughter and the Primordial presence while not going away was muted and he could stand unimpeded. The drain on his Spirit and Stamina was heavy in the doing and Spirit was continually draining to maintain it so this would have to be a short conversation. He opened his eyes and couldn’t keep a smile off his face at the slack jawed shocked look on the face of one of the most powerful Gods in the Multi-Verse who also happened to be his Patron.

“You like my trick I take it?”

The Shadowborn pushed the shock off his face and reasserted the arrogant confident Alpha God of the Multi-Verse. When he spoke for the first time Gideon’s head didn’t ring like a church bell. There was still a pressure but not painful. He wasn’t quite sure what it was he’d done instinctively or his Bloodline had done but he knew deep inside himself it was only possible because he had something that shouldn’t be possible, two Soul-Pillars from two different Foundations within his Soul-Space.

“Even with your special gifts you shouldn’t have been able to do what you just did until at least Bronze. At a guess your new Soul-Pillar would have to be at 100% Affinity to even have a chance to pull that off which even in the beginning, in the time of the first children, of which I was one, would put you in a group of one.”

Though it was nice to not be buckled by the God talking he felt he was missing a ton on contextual history that was leaving him in a gaping hole of ignorance.

“Are you going to finally stop with the mysterious bullshit and clue me in on everything?”

The pressure intensified and he realized his Spirit was trickling down quickly already in Mid-Yellow. The Shadowborn’s’ voice held its own urgency.

“You are not the only one on a time limit Champion and Scion. Both my parents are currently holding a shroud over us as well as my own. The cost is too heavy even for them and we are forced by your rapid climb and inability to stay out of the System’s eye to have this conversation far sooner than is prudent but the information I am bout to share with you would have the System come down on us like a boot heel to a bug and even I would be pressed to survive so listen up. Everything you have been experiencing, the new Soul-Pillar, why Erebus is drawing so much attention?”

Gideon growled as the God paused and he misconstrued it as the Shadowborn once playing whack a mole with hints and secrets but instead the Shadowborn just smiled at his facial expressions then turned his back upon his Champion as words drifted out.

“Don’t ever change Gideon. I am attempting to figure out how much I have time to share within the short window we have. No questions please. This story and the birth of the System started so far back in time the years would be beyond your ability to fathom. Before the System, before all of this, Integrations and such, before even the Primordial War, there was another great conflict, one between the Primordials and the first few generations of their progeny and another Race led by their own version of Primordials. My parents and other Primordials like to push the thought that they are the beginning and the end but that is patently false as I was there leading that war against their enemies. And those were enemies that had the Primordials proverbially shaking in their boots as Earthlings would say, the Xict.

The problem started when we, their children showed that like you we could form other Soul-Pillars, even from disparate Foundations, three in fact for those that were highly skilled and it allowed us to do things not even the Primordials in all their power could accomplish. And yes all of that existed before the System was even a thought. We at an extremely young age developed our Soul-Pillar based on our parentage which originated with the Primordial Pair who created us in whatever fashion they did so either physically mating which was rare or utilizing their Divinity to create us. You have to understand a Primordial is tied to their concept and their concept only. They define and are defined by it.

Within that realm they are absolute but are limited by the boundaries of that Concept. Now they had no issues at first with our newly vaunted strength when we were in the midst of that great war killing their enemies but as those enemies started dwindling and the war was winding its way to victory many of the Primordials started fearing their own children and the potential of what they could become. For them to watch their own children reach out and form connections to others of their siblings power and be ably to combine them in a variety of ways only limited by the strength of their Will and Spirit and Intellect began to cause tremors of unrest as they extrapolated where it would lead.

The Foundationals and the Soul-Pillars existed from the beginning and the Primordials were the origin, the birth of that magic if you will though even in that I have my doubts. Many ancient variations of that eternal power were lost when Primordials died in the early and subsequent wars and yes, a Primordial can die. Nothing is truly immortal if something has enough strength and focus and willingness to murder.

These gifts, the ability their children had to form other Soul-Pillars and combine them into something new, something powerful, was referred to as Cultivation. A word that began being used as a curse from their lips. Before even the great war which had been called the Wars of Primacy, ended, many of the Primordials came to the decision that their progeny should be destroyed. Their own children were considered too great of a threat to the future of the Primordial’s supremacy.

And thus, the Primordial War began and battle was being fought on two fronts as the ancient enemy still had not been finished. At least a third of the Primordials rebelled at the decision as they loved their children and refused to destroy them nor let any other do so.

The entire universe shook as the Primordials went to war with each other. I wasn’t even aware of it at the time as I was leading our forces at the front in the midst of the final battles to end the Wars of Primacy and our hated enemy, the Xict.

The Primordial War lasted thousands upon thousands of years and many of the children died within the conflict as did Primordials and with them vast swathes of magics, of Foundational Pillars, disappeared back to the void, to never be seen again. As time stretched and the Alpha Prime generation returned and joined in the conflict the loss of life and entire galaxies was beyond anything that had even been seen in the prior war.

After such heavy losses even those wanting to save their children realized it could not be sustained so they came to a compromise. The children that had reached their own Divinity would be left alone but the rest would be terminated. It was harsh and not all of them capitulated but enough.

Together the Primordials that had made the deal which was most, pooled all their power together for the first time in their entire history and created the System. It was designed to keep any further generations from ever developing the ability to Cultivate. It carved out definitive boundaries and boxes to put everyone within, to limit them in the same way the Primordials were limited, tied to one concept, one portion of magic’s vast tapestry.

Many of those that had fought to save their children stepped aside as a great purge was sent forth across the Multi-Verse, annihilating all of the first few generations down to the last child but still the few Primordials, including my Parents, who’d refused to bow, even as their allies left them, vastly outnumbered, put themselves between the power of the System and the other Primordials to prevent them from killing off their children.

Here’s a key point. My Parent’s first and favorite child had fallen in a love with a young Goddess barely into Divinity and together they had created children, a new race, one of the first within the System’s boundaries, and against all that power defining them, against ever truth that said they should be limited, that race ascended beyond those rules, beyond the power of the System created by the power of almost the entire Primordial Race, not only showing a natural aptitude for Cultivation but more natural Affinity for such than even the first of the Primordial’s children.

The newly created System alerted the Primordials of the new race and the blasphemy of their existence. The Primordials once again united and even the few allies left to my Parents abandoned them in the face of the existential threat this new race represented.

My parents attempted to still protect their child but were so outmatched they were forced back and locked into the Umbral Realm and prevented from interfering. Their favorite child refused to stand down and in his fury he did something that had never been done and was the catalyst to everything that would follow.

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The Shadowborn once more turned directly to Gideon his eyes once more flashing in that strange mix of purple gray and black energy and his lips were pulled back in an angry rictus and Gideon could swear he saw the shadow of a huge Dragon overlaying the God, a Dragon that radiated lethal threat to anything that would come after that which was his and Gideon more so than anytime in the past connected to the Man, not the God, and understood they were far more similar than different.

By himself, this God, killed two Primordials and in that act showed how valid the fear, the threat, truly was, how needed the System and the Purging had been.

Sorely wounded from his battle with two Primordials, the God was captured and imprisoned by overwhelming force and was made to watch as his children were killed to the last. The only thing he could think of in that moment was the contentment he felt in his decision to entrap his Wife in a bubble of time to keep her out of the entire affair. It had been one of the only intelligent things he’d done.

He wallowed in that prison for close to a hundred years and he didn’t understand why he was kept alive but than the truth reached him as his Parents showed up before his prison and had him released. They had acquiesced to their sibling’s and became the final still living Primordials to join their own might and Soul-Pillars to the System, adding their magic to the power of the creation in exchange for their child’s life and that of his Wife.

Those that were already Divine from the earlier generations were allowed to live as there were so few left by that time it was considered inconsequential for with the added power of my Parents and their few remaining allies the power of the Multi-Versal System was absolute. Vows enforced by it’s strength were enacted, Cultivation and knowledge of Cultivation removed and eternally silenced, all subsequent generations of sentient beings stripped forever of even the potential to Cultivate.

Gideon could swear he saw tears in the eyes of the Shadowborn as he turned away from Gideon as he’d continued to speak but the last few words he’d tilted his head back towards his Champion. The story, the knowledge had opened up so many truths to Gideon he didn’t know where to start. It didn’t take a nuclear physicist to figure out the Shadowborn and Liestra and the Nocturne were the subjects of the story. It also told him his Parents were probably the only two non-asshole Primordials in existence.

“If all that is true than how the hell am I here and how the hell was I given the option to become one of your long murdered children, one of the Nocturne?!!!”

A long sigh escaped the God’s lips which had Gideon perplexed as he was pretty sure he didn’t need to actually breathe.

“I don’t know the answer to that Scion though at a guess I would say one or both of my Parents have been putting a claw on the scales. They always carried a lot of guilt for not being at my side back then, to help me save my children. And to be honest I held them to blame for a millennia before I found out how they’d been boxed in by overwhelming force and prevented from coming to my aid.

That is neither here or there and are time is almost up. Do not and I mean do not do stupid things my Champion like create extremely powerful Soul-Bound items and hand them to a five year old uninitiated child. Luckily my Mother has become fond of the little girl and interceded.

The System was about to summon a beast to put her down as it considered her an anomaly and not worth allowing her into the System. She also intervened again and tricked the System into thinking she’d already completed her Tutorial successfully. So you can thank her for making sure your new child is alive and breathing but please do not put her in that position. Be more careful Champion. It is not yet time for everything you are and will be to be exposed to the Multi-Verse and the System and more importantly the large swathe of Primordials that are its staunchest supporters. And you aren’t the only one.

The hubris of the System has incrementally increased over the eons and the price of that has been the fine tuned hard fast rules and prohibitions it was created with are fraying and deteriorating at the edges. It is an opening, an opportunity to right a wrong that seems as if it has existed for eternity. The key will be timing it, to strike at exactly at the right spot and the right moment to shatter it. No one, not me, not my Parents, and eventually not even the System itself can predict where it all leads but I and Liestra have committed ourselves to supporting you and L’Sana and Umbra Mortem no matter where it leads. And I believe that my Parents have committed to the same though not even I know their actual thoughts on the matter.”

The Shadowborn threw another lopsided grin and a wink.

“It is time for you to get back to your child and family Scion and let L’Sana know my Wife apologizes greatly for her lack of communication. She is expending a great amount of her Divinity fixing another of my mistakes but it will in the end help you and yours greatly, have faith in that if nothing else. Keep being who you are Gideon and love your woman as she deserves and be smarter in your actions and choices. The wrong mistake at the wrong place and time could mean the end of the game for us all.”

With a wave of his hand Gideon’s Aura shattered and he was tossed through the door finding himself on his ass on the ground of Umbra Mortem in time to watch Shira running her little legs off towards the Main Gate miles away as Ari zipped out of the gate after her and a spectral panther in a blue nimbus of energy followed on her heels. Was it him or was Shira looking like an eight or nine year old instead of a five year old? And he could immediately tell she had a Class now as she was tearing over the ground as only someone with elevated Agility could. His feet started moving him to join the chase. He couldn’t tell what was wrong with her and why she needed to get to the forest?

As he ate up ground L’Sana had caught up to Shira transforming back to her normal form and holding a squirming screaming little girl. As he moved up he could see she had on the mask he made her and he threw an [Identify] to make sure his mask wasn’t the culprit.

Lunar Mask of the Umbral Night – Legendary – True Sight – Vision of the Universal Fabric (Copper) (Growth Item) (Soul-Bound)

Gideon didn’t even know where to start with that. Since it wasn’t Soul-Bound to him he wouldn’t be able to delve into what those two abilities were unless Shira shared the information but none of what he saw should be causing what he was seeing. As he came up the last few feet to where L’Sana was barely holding onto a wild and rabid Shira who kept attempting to squirm her way free while whispering over and over ‘Have to get to Forest.”

He didn’t understand it but he would do what she needed them to do.

“L’Sana quit fighting her. We don’t know what’s going on. Lets take our girl to the Shadowmoon Forest.”

She nodded and put her down where she promptly took off towards the main gate. The Forest literally surrounded the entire Settlement though he hadn’t in fact been to it since coming back from his Proving. He knew he had a Notification waiting for whatever he’d done with his Aura in the Umbral Realm and was still digesting the story the Shadowborn had spun him but it was a mystery that would need to wait.

He was the Champion of a God who’d killed two Primordials, no wonder the whispers from Freddie had said people were scared shitless of the Lone Wolf and he was a boogie man to most of the Divine and why him reappearing after so long being where ever the fuck he’d been was causing a stir. Still Shira and what she was going through far outweighed everything else and being told it was him and the damn mask that had almost ended her? He owed the Shadowborn’s Momma Primordial big time for saving her and his Pops for constantly covering his ass as well.

Shira looked as if she was tiring but at least Freddie had sent them all a party chat with his thoughts on what was happening.

Her Class requires a Bonded Animal Companion to function and should have been the first thing to happen as we entered the Tutorial with the System offering her a few choices based on the biome of where ever the Tutorial took us but someone interfered, at a guess based on the emanations of power I registered at the moment we passed through the portal, a Primordial. Her completion rewards, two loot boxes, a bunch of coins, and I am assuming she received a good amount of experience as well arrived when we were transported back in our room. So as far as the System is concerned she completed the Tutorial but yet she has no animal companion so it is causing an error in her own System and at a guess the Multi-Versal System is punishing her for it.

As soon as the words entered his head he looked at Shira, past the frantic energy and realized she was experiencing pain, her face ticking, limbs shaking as she trotted towards the Forest. L’Sana noticed the same thing at the same time and with zero communication she activated [The Beast Within] changing back to her spectral-panther form and fluid as liquid Gideon already had an already stumbling Shira up on L’Sana’s back as she took off much faster than Shira would have ever managed. Gideon while trepedatious about using it activated [Nocturnal Embrace of the Shade] his Spirit hitting Middle-Red after everything and Stamina at Mid-Yellow but it was what it was and with a push of Will he transported himself to just outside the Main Gate which was the furthest he could visually see.

This time nothing big happened. He slipped into the Umbral and was out within a breath. Another Notification popped which was nice, hopefully his Ability Level going up and pulling him one step closer to Iron. He wanted to arrive at the Forest beforehand in case there was any danger. He’d already heard stories about some kind of snakes and a few other beasts within its folds. He ramped up [Nocturnal Embrace of the Shade] one more time and zipped to right in front of the Forest as he turned back and saw L’Sana just emerging from the gate with Ari slowly circling them. [Apex Predator] activated and brought both resources back to Mid-Yellow. Ari was agitated and pent up just circling. She was far faster than her Mistress even in her Panther form, her wings able to send her as quick as a bullet and she was even faster than Gideon remembered now that she was in Iron yet she wouldn’t be able to support Shira’s new boosted size. He still hadn’t heard anything about what they all got with their Rank-ups but he knew he would get an earful sooner rather than later.

He took a breath and focused and within a few quick moments Skald was in hand. He was a bit over ten feet from the nearest Sylvan tree and he had to admit seeing them full grown, some of them upwards of fifty feet or more, they were beautiful. L’Sana was almost here as he spread his Perception out and also focused on [Combat Awareness] yet didn’t really sense anything.

As soon as he took a step closer and as L’Sana had gotten within fifty or so yards a stream of energy shot literally straight out of the Forest and hit him, hard. He was lifted off his feet and a Notification shoved its way into his vision.

Welcome Citizen and Owner of Umbra Mortem. The Shadowmoon Forest would like to connect and synchronize with its Master. Do you Accept? Y/N

Gideon felt L’Sana arrive but his senses were overwhelmed with what was happening. He couldn’t focus on anything other than the prompt and the crap ton of energy riveting through his body. He hit yes and the energy doubled. Within a hot breath his senses seem to merge with some form of consciousness within the Forest that spread mile upon mile through every tree, beast, flower, every single creation that was a part of the Shadowmoon. Within a few moments of the connection he realized he could command the forest and ergo, the beasts to attack or not attack. He could filter it to not go after anyone that was a citizen of the settlement, it itself baing a part of and also realized this connection wasn’t costing him any resources, Spirit or Stamina but it was costing the Settlement itself, BP being drained the longer the connection continued. He’d heard some of his people were coming in here to level. He would need to put a stop to that. They were eroding their own defenses.

He couldn’t quite tell how but the Forest was absorbing ambient energy from the saturation the System rolled over the entire planet or at least that’s what he believed when he somehow sensed through the Forest’s perception and saw a huge blanket of turbulent energy coming from Umbra Mortem itself but a more diffused but steady trickle of energy from the atmosphere itself. The Forest was pulling from both but much more steadily from the moons up in the sky and the deep dark shadows of the ambient sources in the area. Made sense since it was called the Shadowmoon and all the flora and fauna were of those flavors. Another Notification hit.

Permission request – A Citizen of Umbra Mortem would like to form a permanent connection to a denizen of the Forest as an integral part of her Class. She is in critical condition with an unstable Class overlay, matrix. It is currently being arrested while the System decides her fate. Permission is required from the Owner of the Settlement when it is tied to a unique sub-structure of a Prime Settlement such as the Shadowmoon Forest. Do you grant permission? Y/N?

Holy fuck!!! She was in critical condition? And the fucking System deciding her fate?!!! He knew shed’ been in some kind of pain but not that she was about to die!!! Calm, focus. It said the System had moved her into stasis waiting on his decision. His constant anger about the fuckery of the System was starting to become a hindrance instead of a motivation.

Once he’d actually connected to the Forest and experience the semi-consciousness of the entity he’d expected something along these lines but not the severity. Think. This was a once in a life opportunity to influence and help Shira in this. A beast companion would help her, protect her but would also influence her growth, her direction. He imagined the constant smile and jokes and cheer of the old Shira before the jaded bitterness and sadness that had marked her since the Leap and the permanent scarring. He preferred the original her over the other but he knew scars and pain were a part of life and she would need the strength and caution they provided to survive, doubly so in their new reality.

He didn’t want to just say yes so he went back to his instincts though Unra was going to be upset. This time he activated [Rune-Mastery – Umbral/Moon] and turned it to his runic sight as he filtered and threaded his Perception and Insight into a single braid of energy backed by his Will like he vaguely remembered doing beforehand. It took a few seconds but quicker than the first time he’d done it. Still rough as fuck and not easy by any measure but after a few fumbles he was able to do it. He manipulated it until he was able to splice it to just the fringes of the Notification. The Warning from the Shadowborn of keeping a low profile rang loud bells in his head and the ramifications of ignoring it right behind him, Shira, who without the intercession of the God’s Primordial Mother, would be dead.

It did make him heavily curious as to why a Primordial would find interest in the survival of a five year old but the end result he would never bitch about. So with the God’s words in mind and knowing at least at the moment, Shira was in some kind of stasis, he as gently as he could shimmied up on the edges of the System energy then mentally hit Yes. He felt the burst and thrum of power as it shot towards the consciousness he was still merged with and he hitched a ride using the Perception/Insight construct to clamp on as he pushed his Will and intent along the river of energy.

Whatever the System was doing was so far beyond him in complexity he could study it for a thousand years and have no clue but he trusted his gut and instincts and his connection to the Forest to shovel his own desires into it. He wanted the best companion she could get as he pushed his images and feeling of her personality and outlook and loneliness and insecurities and her fear. She need a protector and a friend, a creature that was loyal and filled those slots. He really had no clue how many different options the Forest had to choose from but he hoped it had something that fit the bill. He also pushed his presence as the Master of Umbra Mortem and this was his child to the simple Consciousness of the woods and if it could understand anything, it understood progeny, it understood having children.

He felt something click between the System and the Shadowmoon and his senses saw the two threads of energy it sent out deep within it’s environs and smiled. Far better then even he could have imagined. He couldn’t wait to see her face and that was his last thought as something in him drained, bottoming out and he fell to the ground. A normal interaction would utilize the Settlement’s resources but it looks like whatever he did plummeted his own. Everything went to black but even that couldn’t peel the smile from his lips.

Connection between the owner of Umbra Mortem – Prime and the Shadowmoon Forest complete. It can now be controlled to a limited extent by a confirmed Administrator at the Settlement Stone while anything more advanced still must be communed between the Scion Gideon Sho and the conscious Will of the Shadowmoon.

***

Shira Sho M’Ras – Umbra Mortem

***

Shira landed out of the magic door on her knees and quickly pulled her new dagger out and held what was left of her broken knife up as well expecting angry baddies to attack her but than as her eyes reoriented she realized she was in her room back at home. Happiness and tears exploded from her at the same time as she couldn’t stop herself from letting it all out. She was home!!! She was home!!!! Before she could even stand though a heat started burning in her chest than another of the flashy word things appeared in her face.

Error!!! Error!!! Integral Aspect to Citizen’s Class absent after completion of Tutorial. Illogical...Error. Area Scanning taking place. Two suitable locations found. Closer destination selected. The Citizen has Fifteen minutes to fix integrated inherent missing structure to Class. You must transport yourself to the location entitled the Shadowmoon Forest and choose a beast companion within that time frame or the unstable matrix of your Class will detonate. Good luck Citizen. Succeed and continue your murderous climb to power or fail and become nothing but fuel to others ascension.

The burning inside her started escalating and it hurt, the pain so much she almost fell again to her face. She copied her angry Sana face and imagined Giddy. She would not make it this far and quit. She pushed herself to her feet. Her mind started getting clouded. Uncle was attempting to speak to her.

“I am so happy for you Lady Shira. I believe you have numerous Notifications waiting for your perusal. I bet a dime to a dollar you have a Title or two in there as well as Levels and yes, here it comes.”

The strange coins of the System started falling to the ground around her along with two silver lined boxes but the heat in her chest was starting to crumble her will to move. It was also spreading to her legs and arms and head. She dropped her new dagger as she couldn’t think well enough to hold it but she refused, refused to let go of her broken knife, ever! She started stumbling towards the greety room and then the door, the pain climbing, the heat now flames. She was dying. She didn’t want to die. She couldn’t think. One little leg after the next and she pushed herself somehow making herself run through the pain, through the flames.

“The Forest. Got to get to the Forest.”

“What is happening Shira? I sense unstable fluctuations of energy within your body that do not look good. Shira. Shira!”

She could barely register that Uncle was talking, just an outside noise. Sweat dripped down her face and the pain was like the green juice again. Pain kept finding her over and over, never ending. She stumbled but gritted her teeth. Sana wouldn’t give up. Giddy wouldn’t give up, not Big Sis either. She pushed herself harder and bit her lip and unconsciously gripped her broken knife like iron, her knuckles and fingers fat as sausages once more, swollen and bruised. She kept moving one leg after the other down the stairs then across the main floor past the statues and pool out the main Fortress doors. Everything was a blur of pain abut she refused to stop moving. She wasn’t even aware of repeating the word ‘Forest’ over and over.

She wasn’t going to make it, her body failing then something was there, picking her up and holding her, stopping her from saving herself. Time was running out, pain and fire causing her limbs to shake. She growled, said something, anything. Then fur was beneath her and she was moving much faster now to where she needed to go a big light in her mask eye lighting it up. She felt herself growing weaker as the spikes of heat and pain were almost so much she almost passed out but she growled again and again, screamed. She would not fail. Her family needed her. She blinked and then was in someone’s arms but she had arrived. There was still time. Whatever held her put her on the ground.

She stumbled closer and then everything lit up and she felt herself being pulled up into the air. A few feet in front of her as the pain lowered she saw Giddy doing the same thing. Her mask picked up a multitude of energies, silver and black thrumming from the forest to him. She knew everything would be okay. Giddy was here and now that her thoughts became a bit clearer she realized the fur had been Sana. All of that went out of her mind as another picture with words shoved itself in front of her eyes.

Congratulations Citizen. You have made it to the Shadowmoon Forest. The System is analyzing the denizens of the area to find a compatible Beast for your Class. This area is also the Unique Creation of a Prime Settlement so requires permission from the Settlement Owner. This is being queried. The instability of your incomplete Class is currently being stabilized and sustained by the Multi-Versal System. Its Mercy and Generosity is Eternal.

She was stuck in the air waiting but at least the pain and flames had stopped and she could at least think about stuff. It was also nice to be stuck looking at Giddy glowing just like her. Then Giddy fell the glow fading as he landed on the ground and didn’t get back up. Her fear started climbing again but then Ari buzzed in front of her. Whatever was happening her Big Sis couldn’t touch her but she gave Shira a claw thumbs up that had Shira smiling in her thoughts but she was frozen so couldn’t actually smile.

Sana went to look after Giddy with a smirk on her face and she remembered Sana making fun of Giddy saying he was always passing out. She smiled again. He was just sleeping. Another wordy thing popped. Though she wanted to complain about how mean it was. The System to her was the biggest of the big baddies.

Congratulations Citizen. Permission has been granted. Searching for appropriate beast. Searching…. searching...found...error….error...Shadowmoon Forest interfering….acceptance. Analyzing Affinity threshold of Citizen to accommodate. Prerequisites met. Accommodation approved. 95% Affinity of Scion Level sufficient. Will below required assessment. Solution – Pending Levels and Free Attribute Points allocated for Citizen to accommodate paradigm.

Shira once again felt an influx of energy shooting through her body and soul and once again she was thrown into the racks of torture and pain. Silent screams echoed through her mind as her body, frozen, couldn’t release the pain, mind shaking, more than any little girl should have to go through. After a moment, two, three, it relented and two streams of energy infiltrated her mind as she entered theirs, young, playful but serious, curious as they moved closer and closer to her. The pain ended and she floated to the ground. She buckled to her knees, exhausted.

She heard Ari scream in excitement so she looked up and saw her looking at the forest. Shira moved her tired eyes to follow where her Big Sis was looking than a shiver of excitement hit her soul and heart. Two black and silver furred puppies were stumbling their way towards her, well maybe not puppies but not grown ups either. They would each come up past her waist and were thick with muscle. Looked like a cross between a shadow and a moon and a doggie and a wolf. She’d seen doggies and wolves in some of the movies they’d watched from Earth. She picked herself up off the ground and ran stumbling towards her new best buddies in the world. She could feel their minds and their hearts. They loved her, wanted to protect her and be around her forever and ever. Freddie whispered in her ear.

“Use your new [Identify] Ability.”

She instinctively could tell what he was talking about and mentally did what he asked and the two puppies began picking up speed as they thundered towards her yipping and yapping, tongues out. She threw it on the closer one who was a bit bigger and beefier while the other one was lighter and faster and more playful as it kept circling its bigger sibling.

Shadowmoon Hound (Elite)(Bound Companion)

Name -- ????

Type – Umbral/Lunar Beast (Epic)

Level – 4

They bowled her over, both of them, and kept leaping back and forth and licking her face. Her laughter peeled out into the night. Gideon, regaining consciousness, had a smile ear to ear and L’Sana helped him to his feet with Ari already curled around her shoulders laughing as she watched Shira and her two new besties frolic and bond. L’Sana arched a brow towards Gideon, fangs slipping out in a vicious smile.

“Two of them Gideon?’

She implied he had something to do with that and all he could do was laugh and shrug his shoulders. It was just beautiful to see Shira laughing once more. He threw his arm around his woman petting Ari’s head while he was at it. It was just good for a moment to see his family happy. It wouldn’t last in the shit fest that was Erebus but take the moments when they came.