DISCLAIMER- this is a work of fiction, it has Graphic violence and profanity. character names and places are mere coincidences. have a good read
Her blue eyes shone as the clouds cleared. She looked at the shadows that flickered like they were communicating her mixed feelings. “What should I do? People won’t trust Umbra…”
She shook her head and walked away from the crime scene, tearing up “fuck I’m so useless.” she sighed as she continued to walk. “I hate this power I have.” She teared up and gripped Her shopping bag more tightly, as it was filled to the brim with meat, vegetables, and milk. “Why did I even buy this much milk? My body won’t like it…”
Skyler chuckled softly as she reached her dormitory. She looked at it, with its old seven-story high cracked walls, with moss growing and cloudy windows. “Why is the only university in the Terra sector crap?”
She took out her keycard and swiped it. The machine declared loudly “Welcome back Skyler Amberlight” and she pushed the doors open.
When she entered it the smell was abysmal. Her eyes were burning from the stench of dung and faeces. Skyler couldn’t breathe, she felt like her lungs were roasting. She ran down the corridor as fast as she could to her room, opened it and slammed the door. The dust from the slam created a cloud that spread across her room, and the particulates landed on her furniture.
Skyler turned the light on. It flickered with a buzz. The floor was covered in old clothes and food. She groaned as she tried not to trip. “Why don’t I ever clean up?” She placed the bags down on the table and unloaded the items onto it. “Why is food so expensive nowadays? I have little credit left!”
She sighed exhaustedly from the incident prior. “I wish I could have done something…but.” She walked to the closet mirror and put her palm on it.” I'm weak, I might have gotten myself killed!” she clenched her shirt “But…” she looked at herself “if I want to be a protector I need to be brave and protect people even though I'm weak”
She took off her shirt and looked at the scar on her stomach. “So why? Did you put this scar on my body, Mum? Why did you stab me!” She muttered to herself “Was I? something that you regretted.” She started to choke up as tears began to flow down onto her chest as she continued to wonder. “and tried to end me when I was seven!” She shouted as she punched the mirror, cracking it into shards.
She felt a strong sense of pain. It coursed through her arm. She grumbled “Well done Skyler” as she saw that her fist was bleeding. dripping onto the floor “Great” she moaned. She quickly went to the bathroom and started to grab tweezers from the first aid kit that she had in the cabinet behind the bathroom mirror
***
A few minutes after Skyler departed from the alley the cloaked figure was walking to a dirty van. He placed the cores on a railing, keeping them balanced on it, then went to the van and opened the door. He took off his hood and tossed it inside.
The man looked at the reflection of a box that was facing him. His face was covered with burns, his fingertips were black. His hair was a charcoal blonde with a hint of dark brown and He grinned. “No one will stop me from achieving my goals!’
He laughed slightly and looked deeply into the van, then grabbed a box. It was a chest with wires on either side. It shimmered with different colours. Lucas placed it on the ground with a thud and opened it to reveal four different coloured cores.
“Time to collect my precious treasures...” He walked to the railing and put the cores into the chest. “Finally all the cores that I need for my master,” he said while closing the lid.
His watch buzzed, startling him. “Wha, why?” He clicked a button on it and a hologram appeared with a tank and a floating mask with nothing holding the mask. As a deep voice could be heard “Lucas, did you get the items I asked for?” Bubbles rose from the mask. “Yes,” Lucas responded, and then said, “The imaginary cores are secured and ready to travel.”
The bubbles rose from the mask. The same voice could be heard. “ Lucas, did you send the fragment to the possible user of the blade?”
Lucas groaned as he put the chest in the van, “Your grace, that blade is only in your stories.” And the mask hissed, “Stories, no! I saw it with my own eyes!” Lucas whispered under his breath “Yeah, right. How can weapons get spirits sealed within them?”
The bubbles rose again as they spoke “Because Lucas,” they sighed as more bubbles rose. “Of humans, I saw my people being sealed into different weapons. That we gave them 200 years ago for an act of kindness!”
He pressed the same button on the watch and the hologram disappeared. Lucas went to the driver's seat and took off. “Time to get these to the grace” he hummed. “Good luck!” He laughed mercilessly.
***
The next morning, Skyler woke up to the sun shining through the cracks of the blinds. “Ugh!” she muttered as she got up. Her hair was a mess. She stretched and heard pops and cracks coming from her body. “Ah,” she moaned in bliss. “That’s good” She walked towards the bathroom but tripped over some of her things and slammed her face into the floor. “Ow!”
Skyler groaned as she got up, and brushed herself off. “Damm I need to clean” she was frustrated. She carefully tip-toed around the trash to the bathroom. She got to the sink and cleaned her teeth. The toothbrush glided across her teeth like it was surfing.
After that, she went to the wardrobe and looked at the clothing hanging on the hangers. She saw that she only had a few clothes. That she didn’t want to wear. She sighed as she grabbed them
Skyler put on her black crop top and purple diamond-patterned grey jeans. She groaned and went to open the front door She thought with a frown “Have I forgotten anything? Wait!” She dashed towards her desk and opened her laptop “fuck I completely forgot my assessment is due today!”
Skyler bounced to her note app on the laptop and opened the document for her assessment. “Damm, Damm, Damm!” She worriedly shouted under her breath. She was sweating, “Come on Skyler, just a few more words.”
She quickly put down words about the history of the campus of Francis University. “I hate archaeology, but it’s the best way to find out why my mother did what she did.” She sighed as she finished the paper and sent it off.
“What’s the time?” It was nine o'clock, and her eyes widened with dread. Skyler grabbed her bag, keys, wallet, and watch from her desk and ran out of her room, down the hallway, and then out of the dormitory.
She stopped briefly to look at the paint-like sky, with clouds moving across it. She smiled and carried on her way with speed as the ground under her feet and the cathedral’s shadows enveloped the path forward.
Skyler ran and ran until she hit another person. She yelled as she was flung into the ground with great impact. Her vision was blurry, and she gradually sat up.
“What the hell did you fucking do?” A voice said from behind her. She turned to see a silver-haired, purple-eyed boy. Skyler got up and brushed herself off with such significant force that the dirt which was on her made a cloud.
After it cleared, she went over to the boy and got his glasses from the ground next to him. "Is it yours?" The boy nodded and took them from her hand. “Thank you for this, Skyler”
“How do you know my name?” She smiled as the boy put on his glasses and looked at her oceanic eyes. He got up and brushed himself off.
“Everyone knows your name, Skyler because you’re the weakest umbra in the university.” He bent down and got his scattered books from the ground. Skyler hummed with disdain. “Yeah, I know, don’t remind me…” The boy reached out his hand and told her “My name is Robert.”
She took the hand and nodded “I see thank you, Robert. And nice to meet you. You already know my name so I don’t need to introduce myself…” She took a deep breath “But I will anyway. My name is Skyler Amberlight”
He grinned menacingly. His grip tightened around Skyler's hand. She grunted in pain “What the hell are you doing? Let go!” Robert shook his head. His grin grew even wider, “What do you expect from me? Not to take this chance to get rid of a devil?”
Her eyes widened. She was enraged. “What do you think I am? I’m just a human being, not a devil!” He shook his head and retorted “Every Umbra user is a devil in my book because they use the shadows!”
Skyler’s eyes changed from blue to purple as shadows gathered around her. Robert said, “Really now? Using your magic?” Robert’s grin grew more menacing, he let go and went towards the sewage pipe. “This is for real power!” He placed his hand on the drainage. The water rose and covered his hands.
Robert walked towards her, faster and faster, until he threw his fist towards her gut and shouted “Trident Pierce!” Skyler flew and collided with a tree. Her back arched, and she fell to her knees. She groaned in pain. She yelled, “Why?!” Her eyes grew brighter as shadows drew even closer.
“Are you going to use your shadows to face water? How laughable!” He bent down and whispered in her ear, “Aqua users can control the flow of water!”
She groaned and retorted “Elements have strengths and weaknesses!” Skyler stood up, head-butting him. She punched his face, her hand colliding with his nose, making it bleed.
The blood stained the floor he was still grinning “That’s true, but you’re still weak!” He put his hands down on the floor with force. A ring circled Skyler. “Get ready for the geyser!”
Water erupted from underneath her. Her body bent and she screamed in agony. He laughed “How was the view?!” After a few seconds, the water evaporated and Skyler fell onto the ground hard a crater formed underneath her.
She grimaced “fuck you!” She stood up, her legs wobbling. She yelled. “I’m not done yet!”. The shadows climbed onto her like plants embedding their roots. She focused on her hand. Tiny pins appeared in between her fingers. She smirked as she pinged them off her hand with great speed at Robert.
She whispered under her breath “Shadow manipulation”. The pins pierced his shirt and pinned him to the tree behind him. “What was that about being the weakest?” Skyler teased. “That’s all you can do? Create pins?” She rolled her eyes and spoke with a hint of anger “Yeah well I don’t have time for this. I have a lesson to get to a full-blown battle!”
She scoffed and walked off, leaving Robert like that. The bell echoed through the campus. She looked up and saw the time. Her eyes widened in shock. “11 o’clock already! That bastard. I’m gonna be late, fuck sake!
Skyler skated across the shadows like ice, going faster and faster. She was going so fast that the wind pressure from her movement blew papers on the billboard of the walls of the cathedral “fuck I can’t stop!” she shouted at the top of her lungs.
The speed that she was going was immense. When she crashed into the door it blew off its hinges, onto the the floor. The glass from it shattered everywhere around the door. The students in the class were still studying, not noticing the tremendous commotion that Skyler caused. “How the hell are they still studying?” Skyler wondered.
She took a deep breath, and her eyes regained their natural colour. She quietly went to her desk put down her bag, took out the needed equipment, and got to work.
Skyler hoped her tutor didn’t see that. She looked down the lecture hall and saw a man who was in his late 40s. He had a scar across his green eyes and his hair was brown with a hint of ginger.
The man’s voice was deep and enthusiastic. “Skyler Amberlight. Can you explain to me why the door is smashed?” he glared into Skyler’s eyes. She gulped and quickly glanced away, quivering. “U-um Mr. Richardson it was by accident, I was trying to get here on time.”
Mr. Richardson shook his head and groaned, “Skyler, how many times have I said don’t use your magic to speed up your momentum?” He sighed and tapped on the board. “Come down here and explain to the class what the elements of this world are.”
Skyler wandered down to the front of the lecture hall and turned to face the class. She whispered into Mr. Richardson’s ear.” You're enjoying this, aren’t you? You know this is child abuse right!” She crossed her arms “Because you’re my foster father.”
Mr. Richardson rolled his eyes and whispered back, “Well, it’s called punishment because I’m a lecturer!” He tapped on his watch “We don’t have time.”
She gulped with dread as she saw her classmates looking straight at her like lions fawning over their prey. They started shouting “Come on, umbra user, tell us about this elemental magic we have.”
Skyler took a deep breath. She was standing in front of a microphone. “The elemental magics are umbra, lux, vita, necromancy, inferno and aqua respectively. Each elemental magic has strengths and weaknesses, like the mind for instance. My elemental magic is umbra. I can use the shadows but I need to see them to use them, and if I do I have to keep in mind that I have a time limit before I go blind.”
They took down notes as they listened. Mr. Richardson smiled and clapped. He spoke vigorously “Well done Skyler, this is correct.” He turned to face her “And don’t worry, I will pay for the damages” he winked at her.
Skyler smiled, thanking him profusely, and walked back to her seat. She sat down, looked back out to her books, and groaned “I hate history.”
Suddenly a banging headache hit her head like a truck. She grabbed her head with her hands and winced in pain. “What the hell is this?!”.
A voice boomed into her head, “Get the blade! ” She groaned and looked around, trying to see if any of her classmates were messing with her. The voice boomed again.”I’m not your classmate. Find the Eclipse Blade before anything happens that you can’t control!”
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