The 3rd and most recent great war of the Fabric was special it was the first time in recorded history that an unfavoured had ruled tens of thousands of worlds more than half of the explored Fabric. He was the first dovian. People flocked to him and he said he would bring unity to the fabric.

The favoured did not take kindly to his possession of their worlds, and for the first and probably last time they came together, and wiped away the dovian King’s armies of millions, before crushing his fortress world Vesting. The dovian King did not die easily, he took the shape of a dragon and fought against the combined strength of the favoured, killing hundreds and wounding even more before finally dying.

Excerpt from A Short History of the Fabric by Nrimm'lunu'saerce

Umbra’s inability to channel was killing her she could feel it, and she was most definitely not being dramatic. In pure desperation she had gone into the forest looking for something to kill, she managed to get a deer. She couldn’t channel though, so she stood there looking at the deer’s glassy eyes and the death that surrounded it. Nothing could begin to describe the frustration that roiled within Umbra, she was so close to the magic, yet it was unattainable, Umbra couldn’t help but feel resentment at Master Otaro for blocking her channel. As she desperately tried to channel the magic, only to have it get stuck every time, Umbra screamed in frustration, her magic burst uncontrollably from her and everything around Umbra died, Umbra could feel their deaths and they only frustrated her more. And Umbra’s magic surged again, this time darkness pored from her and the radius of death increased. It noticeably depleted her magic, and suddenly she was tired, for the first time in months.

After coming back from the forest Umbra locked herself in her room and slept, when she woke she felt a lot better and turned her attention to trying to learn how to control her magic. She spent weeks in her room, not eating, or sleeping and only leaving to shower. The cravings did start to stem, allowing her to fully concentrate on controlling her magic. Umbra wasn’t really having that much success, she thought she had gotten close once, but her being tore and magic swamped her. Turning the already dark room pitch black as darkness pored off her, thankfully there was nothing alive here. Why is my being so damn fragile?

Taking a well-deserved break Umbra flipped through the useless books on controlling magic on her writing desk, they didn’t really help at all, and Umbra threw them aside instead picking up the book on Deities gifts.

Umbra still didn’t really understand what Nyx’s gift was supposed to do, surely it was meant for more than just making herself shadowy, admittedly it was quite fun to fidget with, but it must have some other uses, wouldn’t be much of a gift anyway.

Of course, Nyx wasn’t mentioned in this book, Umbra was starting to get used to that. There were probably hundreds of forgotten deities.

There were some seriously ridiculous gifts, one of Ennedi’s were a bow and arrow. If someone was shot by an arrow from the bow, they would fall in love with the first person they met. Or from the trickster god Jangnan, a wooden staff that turned into a snake, that could kill a full grown man, human or demi-human. There were songs that forced people into dance when they heard it. There were countless weapons with insane properties. Including a literal lightning bolt.

All these gifts and Umbra could only find one that was similar. It was a circlet, that was gifted to a favoured by Selemene deity of the moon and the hunt. The circlet provided the ability to turn invisible, track anything over any distance and when the moon was at its highest point the user could borrow its power. Honestly, it isn’t even that similar, it is a circlet though! I’m sure that is helpful. Umbra threw the book aside, who am I kidding this is a waste of time.

Umbra didn’t want to go back to trying to pull strands from her being, it was impossible. But she had to, she did want control over her magic, but most of all she wanted to channel again. Resentment for Master Otaro flashed through her, she knew her punishment had been far less severe than it could’ve been. But why did he have to block her channels anything else but the channels and it would’ve been fine.

Umbra could only do as he asked. It wasn’t like she could remove the block herself. The differences in their power were so vast he might as well be a deity.

Her being didn’t have strands or any small amount of magic that she could tug out, to control, and there was no way she was going to be able to develop spells if she didn’t have basic control over her magic.

She kicked the writing desk in frustration, and pain arched through her big toe “ow, ow.” Sitting down she cradled her toe, there is no way that is wood. A soft feminine laugh echoed in her room. Umbra stood up, pain forgotten. “Who is there.” Umbra was sure there wasn’t anyone in her room, it wasn’t that big she would have definitely noticed if there was someone here. She stood statue still listening for another sound, but it was dead silent. Huh, maybe I’m hearing things.

She was uncomfortable though, making it even harder than before to concentrate on finding that stupid strand that Master Otaro had said was present. She was really starting to think that Master Otaro didn’t know what he was talking about, he had been wrong about almost everything regarding her.

She had been at it for a while before she gave up and just let the magic explode outward, darkness came pouring out of her and a wave of death followed. It was a good catharsis. And really the only way Umbra had of relaxing herself at the moment.

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After her outburst, the shadows in Umbra’s room drew together into a shape almost exactly like they had in the shrine a few months ago. “Nyx,” Umbra breathed. The shape took form much faster this time, her obsidian black figure stepping out of the shadows, and her presence of terror filled the room. Umbra gulped a short breath, she hadn’t remembered it being this bad, but there were other feelings in Nyx's presence that Umbra hadn’t noticed before, mischief, inevitability, and of something so ancient that Umbra could feel it. “What are you doing here,” Umbra asked pushing through the tension of fear.

“I go where I wish,” Nyx said nonchalantly. “But if you must know I was watching you.”

“You were watching me?” Umbra asked crossing her arms self-consciously

“You are quite entertaining to watch.”

“Don’t you have something godly to do,” Umbra asked offended. Nyx just waved her hand.

“Hardly. Now, what do you think of my gift, impressive is it not.” Nyx said with a self-satisfied smile.

“Yeah, it is great, super powerful,” Umbra said, better to keep the primordial deity of night and death happy.

“I assure you a greater gift has not been given,” Nyx said seriously. Umbra didn’t know what to say, and Nyx stared at her intently seeming to look into her. “Your control seems to be going great.” Her lips curved into a sarcastic smile.

“I can’t control my magic at all,” Umbra replied, frustration seeping into her voice.

“That is because you are going about it all wrong,” Nyx replied completely unfazed by Umbra’s impolite tone.

“What do you mean, this is how Master Otaro told me to do it.”

“That man is not old enough to know of any other way to control magic,” Nyx said walking closer to Umbra. “You cannot pick your magic to pieces, you are a battlemage. I had thought them all dead even before I slept until I saw you.”

“Is that what you were referring to when you said it was fitting that I woke you,” Umbra asked.

“No that was something else entirely, do not worry about that,” Nyx said an annoyed look flickering across her features.

“Sorry,” Umbra said in attempting to smooth things over. Nyx seemed mollified. She is temperamental, about some odd things. Umbra noted to herself

“Now, would you like help with this or not?” Nyx asked

“Yes please.”

“Then allow me to explain, your magic cannot be split and can only be wielded as a whole.”

“That sounds like a pretty big disadvantage,” Umbra said, a little annoyed. Of course, she was born with a deficiency that had died off so long ago no one even remembered it except for the Gods.

“It is a boon and a curse, normal mages cannot use the entirety of their magic simultaneously, only being able to pull exactly enough magic for their spells from their being, making fights between mages a war of attrition. Battlemages, however, are able to use all of their magic simultaneously which means you can instil spells with far more power at an increased cost, unfortunately, it also means you have to control all of your magic, not just a tiny bit, which can become a real problem when you actually have some magical power," Nyx said drawing her cold shadowy finger down Umbra’s cheek, Umbra shivered. "But, for now, it should not be an issue." Nyx drew back and Umbra stifled a sigh of relief, her presence was unbearable when she was that close.

“So, how do I control it?” Umbra asked eagerly.

“I believe you already have, during your fight with that arrogant little ice queen,” Nyx said a look of distaste crossing her features.

“How do you know about that.” Definitely temperamental.

“I may not always be watching you, but I know what happens to someone with your potential. You gave her a good kicking, unfortunate your teacher stopped you killing her.”

“Thanks, I guess," Umbra smiled awkwardly it was weird to be praised for almost killing someone. "Can we talk about controlling my magic?”

“Oh yes,” Nyx said, and her body reformed sitting on Umbra’s bed obsidian legs dangling off the side. She was smaller almost childlike now, her legs barely reaching the floor. “As I was saying, you’ve already done it. When you were beating that ice girls face in.” Her voice was childlike as well, higher and playful. “You open yourself to it slowly, you have to control all of it, make sure you do not release it like you have been doing, you can not shape it into spells if you do that. Try it now.” Umbra did slowly letting the magic suffuse her, making her body tingle with the power. “Hmm you have to be extra careful about the amount of magic you use for spells, you can drain your entire reserves with one cast,” Nyx said kicking the air with her feet that dangled off the bed. “Now that you are open to it maybe try to create something pretty with your magic.”

Flowers are kind of pretty, I’ll try that. Umbra envisioned a small delicate flower like the one’s Jeeani wore woven through her hair. and released the smallest amount of the magic that was straining against her attempting to release itself in an explosion of magic. It came out as a wisp of darkness from her fingertips, “You will need more than that,” Nyx said letting out a childish giggle. Umbra complied and let out more and tried to manipulate it into the shape of a flower, it was a difficult task, she had to split her concentration between trying to keep the magic that was straining to be released in an explosion of power and trying to shape the magic she had released. Finally, after quite a few failures and Nyx waiting patiently, Umbra managed to create a black flower made of darkness, although calling it a flower was a stretch of the imagination. “What is that supposed to be?” Nyx asked sceptically.

“A flower,” Umbra said embarrassed. And Nyx let out a childlike giggle.

“Well, you might have to work on that a bit.”

“Thanks, Nyx, I owe you,” Umbra said sincerely.

“You do, now I have godly matters to attend to,” And Nyx disappeared into the darkness whence she came, taking with her the terrifying presence that Umbra had been doing her best to ignore.

Umbra couldn’t help but let out a little shout of joy she could control her magic now; it wasn’t easy but she could do it. She just had to develop a spell and Master Otaro would return her channelling to her. It can’t be too hard.

Umbra kept at it using her magic to try to shape all kinds of objects. It didn’t take long for her magic to be depleted though. Turns out that she did need to sleep, but only when she had no magic reserves.

When Umbra woke she was ravenous, seems like she did need both sleep and food but only after she had exhausted herself.

Dovrag was in the dining room reading, Umbra was pretty sure that it was around the same time that she had first met him in the dining room. Seems he has a routine. “Hey Dovrag,” Umbra called, her voice was happy, she felt a lot better after finally being able to control her magic. Dovrag looked up and smiled at her gesturing to the seat next to him.

Umbra piled her plate with food and sat beside him eating in companionable silence.

“I saw Apithe after you fought with her,” He said, no trace of judgment in his voice, Umbra froze a leg of meat halfway to her mouth.

“Ahhh, yeah she pushed me,” Umbra said putting down the leg of meat. Dovrag laughed it was a nice deep rolling sound, and it was the first time Umbra had heard it.

“That is what you do to someone who pushed you, she was near death, remind me not to get on your bad side,” Dovrag said still with a smile on his face.

“You aren’t horrified?” Umbra asked surprised.

“My people believe in fights to determine one’s status, and you placed yourself far above her,” Dovrag said putting down his book. “That is something you should be proud of.”

“That is an odd system.”

“It is our way,” Dovrag said simply. There were a few minutes of silence and Umbra continued eating. “Would you still like to learn my language, you took to it quite quickly,” Dovrag said breaking the silence.

“Oh, I totally forgot, sorry,” Umbra said sad that she had, she enjoyed spending time with Dovrag. “Yeah I would love to continue learning,” He smiled, and immediately started showing her the greetings he had months ago refreshing her memory, they continued like this for the next few hours. Dovrag showing her more words and the correct subtleties to express with her body.

They parted with the promise of more lessons at the same time tomorrow night and this time Umbra would keep it.