'Umbra'

It was an exceptionally cold night in Hell.

To be fair, every night in the so-called Hell was cold. Things like that tended to come with the territory of being buried miles upon miles beneath the surface, without a trace of light from any sort of sun. Despite that unfortunate feature of their homeland, the inhabitants of the miserable, shadowy world managed in their own peculiar- if not slightly gory- ways. In a world that was quite literally dog-eat-dog, life still managed to survive- mostly by fighting the world tooth and claw, but it was still survival.

A serpent of no particular importance was slithering through darkened halls, her steps lighter than the holy feathers of seraphim. Much to the dismay and displeasure of those unfortunate enough to share a fortress with her, this particular serpent had a habit of doing what serpents did best: constructing identities only to shed them like scaled skins, discreetly snooping around places she wasn’t permitted to enter, and using both of those skills to figure out knowledge she hadn’t been technically entrusted with. She knew nearly every word that was spoken in the Bastion, from things as innocent as tidbits of gossip and personal secrets- of both the mundane and scandalous varieties- to closet-dwelling skeletons, and even classified information that her master would probably skin every face from her body for knowing. 

For weeks upon weeks, every crumb and fragment of interest she had gathered had led her back to one single place: the mysterious Room Where Things Were Kept. It was better known as the Imperial guest suite, though- very rarely- it was more of a spontaneous holding cell for political prisoners of indefinite but certainly major importance. Fortunately for her, it just so happened to be at the end of the corridor.

She hesitantly made her way down the hall.

Of course, nobody was there. No guards, no watching eyes, not even any servants rushing through the halls in the same reddish-black coat she now wore. She’d arranged the whole thing quite precisely, but her work was still worth double-checking. Not even she could alter the world itself. Though, if the rumors were true, the Emperor’s most recent secret was capable of that... and more.

Despite her better judgment, the serpent pried open the door.

Inside, the room was as lavish as she’d expected. No expense was spared, and every bit and piece of it decked in the finest of imperial riches. The high ceiling was painted with his astral patterns, and candlelight flickered from a hundred little alcoves. Everything was tucked perfectly into place, quietly arranged by the hands of a swarm of black-clothed servants, waiting at polite attention for the moment it would be called upon and used. 

Perched upon the bed, entirely out of place, a child sat with her back to the door. 

The child.

Her wings, tucked in close but still enough to obscure her face, were as thick and luscious as a seraph’s. Though the majority of the feathers were the same deep gray hue as mist in early bright, the little girl’s left wing was threaded with streaks of eerie-bone white; a ghostly hue that trailed up into her hair, and- as was revealed as she turned her face to squint at the serpent- onto her warm brown face as well. Her eyes shone from within her face, one the same dark chocolate as her hair. The other eye was a dark, pure black. So dark, in fact, that she assumed the socket was empty- until she caught a glimpse of a little red ring, burning like an ember. Both of her eyes glinting with the feral panic of a cornered animal, she turned to examine the intruder.

“Who’re you?” She asked warily, gripping the bedspread tighter with shaking hands.

The serpent silently pressed a claw to her lips, lifting her other hand to show it was empty.

“Nobody important,” she said, coming to sit on the bed beside the girl. “You don’t know me yet, but I’m going to get you out of here.”

“...what?” The girl said, confused. “I’m- I’m not- …can I say no?”

“Nope,” the serpent replied. She took the girl’s brown hand in her own black and red one, which was finely dusted with snakelike scales, and gently pulled her to her feet.  “Can you shift?”

“Um… no. Why would I be able to?” She squinted, fixing the serpent with a two-colored gaze.

“Alright, then,” she huffed. “That just made this a whole lot harder.” 

The serpent tilted her head, looking curiously at her new acquaintance/kidnappee. “Anything here you want to take?”

The girl’s fingers ghosted over something that hung around her neck. “No. Maybe. I… I don’t remember.”

“If you don’t remember, then it doesn’t matter,” she said, tugging the girl towards the door. “Come on. We’ve gotta be fast.”

“...why do we have to be fast?”

“So we don’t get caught.” 

“Yeah, I know that, but- why-”

“Quiet.”

She didn’t even bother glancing back at the girl. Instead, she simply slipped out of the room unnoticed, wincing at the loud sound of the ornate door falling shut behind them.

“Excellent work so far, miss…” the girl commented wryly. Her voice trailed off, and she scrunched up her eyebrows. “Wait a second, who even-”

“Later,” the serpent hissed, flicking her tail dismissively. “Shut up and stay focused.”

The girl huffed in annoyance, but followed after the serpent as quietly as her clumsy human shoes would allow.

They kept to the shadows for most of their trek, slithering through the dark with the precise, practiced grace required to appear as utterly normal as the serpent and her acquaintance/kidnappee did. No words were spoken aloud between them, though plenty was communicated. An eyebrow raised higher and higher every time the serpent’s features shifted into the face of someone new. The rustle of a long, lashing tail dusting lightly over the black stone floor. The steady whisper of sharp breaths. 

The monotony of their walk was unchanging as they navigated the twisting passages. Up and down, left and right, forwards and backwards, and doubling back on their own trail plenty of times. Whenever they paused so the girl could catch her breath, the serpent would tell bits and pieces about the layout’s intentional design. A confusing nest and web of passageways built by an ancient, paranoid king, designed specifically to muddle the minds of outsiders and make it difficult for strangers to breach sensitive areas. Luckily enough for both of them, the serpent was a clever thing. She’d survived mazes more terrible than this. Though there was no easy way out, her web of knowledge was more than enough to navigate through the bastion’s obsidian entrails.

Eventually, the passage came to an end. All of the hallways coalesced into a single courtyard, large and open, surrounded by a fence and a few patrolling guards in jagged gray armor. The shadow-swathed cave ceiling hung above, its mere looming presence a silent promise to crush them all someday. A few lights glimmered around the courtyard’s perimeter, faint bursts of hazy golden fire blooming from strange stones, but otherwise it was dark and bare.

Except, of course, for the reason they’d come.

Swirling in the ground like a whirlpool- if whirlpools were formed from the nebulous, messy substance that made up the barriers between worlds- was a churning, rumbling, blazing portal. Its light shone over the entire courtyard, illuminating the palace’s high, dark walls with an otherworldly glow.

“What is that?” The girl said, voice an awed whisper.

“A breach,” the serpent said. “And our way out of here.”

“So do we just-”

“Theoretically.” The serpent slipped forwards, out of the shadows of ambiguity, beckoning the girl to follow. “Let’s get out of-”

Unfortunately for them, it was already too late.

The alarm had been raised. A horrid, cacophonous shriek filled the previous silence. Rushing feet and clamoring metal were all that could be heard over the scream of the warning- and, more ominously, the beating of massive leathery wings.

“Oh no,” the serpent hissed. “No no no no no. She’s coming.”

“Who?”

“The Dragon,” she snapped, shoving the girl closer to the portal with her shoulder. “We have to leave. Now.”

“Otherwise…?”

“This was all for nothing, and she’ll wreck us both.”

As they spoke, though, their hunter closed in. Ducking slightly to fit through the archway was the shape of a winged figure in armor, gray-skinned and covered in more scars than one could reasonably count. In one hand, she gripped a sword. It quickly burst into sapphire-blue flames, and the child yelped.

She snarled and headed towards them, her rust-red wings spread wide. “What are you doing?” she demanded, glaring at the duo of escapees.

“Leaving!” The serpent shouted back. 

As if to emphasize the point of her purpose, she took a step towards the Breach’s edge.

The Dragon’s coppery eyes sparked with recognition, and she lowered her blade just slightly. “You’re not supposed to be here,” she said slowly. “Does he know what you’re doing?”

The serpent cursed under her breath and took off running, still holding tightly to the girl’s hand. 

“Come on, kid,” she hissed, yanking the girl’s hand and dragging her closer. One of the girl’s feathers nicked on the fencing and she let out a yelp, then clapped her bone-white hand over her mouth.

 Coral eyes squinted against the glare of the portal’s pure light, the serpent shushed the girl. She slithered forward through the gaps in the fence, until the tips of her black leather boots were nearly touching the swirling breach. Just before she jumped, the little girl grabbed her hand and pulled her back. She glared at the serpent, accusation in her eyes- accusation that bowed to confusion and wariness just a moment after its birth.

“So, before we go, I’m going to ask again, and you are going to answer: who are you?”

The serpent looked her up and down, letting the question hang in the air, before she responded. “I’m… to be known as Rhea. You’re the Nihili, right?”

Nihili nodded, then gave Rhea a look. “Is that your actual name, or did you just make it up?”

“Yes.” Rhea grinned a fang-filled smile. “Now come on. Let’s get the hell out of… uh. Hell.”

“Sounds good to me,” Nihili said. 

Promptly, she unfurled her vast gray wings and leaped into the swirling blue vortex of the breach, lurching forwards to let the void claim her.

~

In the rift, there is nearly nothing.

There is no speech and no sound, no past and no future. 

There is no direction, and no safe passage other than one’s own mind.

There is only the blank, empty expanse of the void.

It stretches on endlessly through the abyss named nothingness.

It is the past and it is the future.

It is everything that ever was and ever will be.

Fortunately for them, the girl knew it as if it were a part of her.

And she knew, better than anything, how to find her way home.

~

Nihili emerged from the rift with a flash of light and a crack of air, with Rhea close behind her. The serpent, gasping like she’d just come up for air, half-collapsed upon the ground. “Ssson of a- now I remember why I stopped doing that,” she wheezed, carefully picking herself off the asphalt and shaking her scarlet palms free of the black dust.

Nihili helped her to her feet, then squinted at her with a little frown. “Where are we?”

“No idea,” Rhea said with a shrug. “That breach leads to Terra. I don’t know where exactly- it’s probably moved itself since I was last here. Either that, or you screwed up the landing somehow, and we’re off by who knows how many, uh…”

“Miles,” Nihili supplied, still focused on looking around. “And if you’re right, then, well… that’s awfully fun.”

The place they’d been dropped into was utterly alien in many ways. It was gray, dull, and dark, its air thick with the lingering scent of pollution and skies clogged with clouds. A faint light shone down from above, silvery and serene, piercing the gaps in the clouds and illuminating the parts of the city that the amber streetlights could not reach. Over the persistent buzz of the urban sprawl, the faint rhythm of waves could just barely make itself clear. Short buildings lined the wide street, settled at the back edge of small squares of grass. A few scattered trees and plants dotted them, granting a little bit of a natural touch to the dark concrete maze. Half-hidden by a haze, the silhouettes of taller structures loomed, like the stark, jutting bones of a fallen beast.

“What are those for?” Rhea asked, gesturing to the rows of buildings.

“They’re houses,” Nihili answered, dropping the serpent’s hand. “Don’t know which ones are empty, and which ones have people sleeping in them. My guess is that more are abandoned than occupied, but I don’t want to take my chances. We’ll have to be careful.”

“Cool. Okay. So we just break into one and stay there, right?”

“Um, I guess? Just for tonight.” The little girl’s wings twitched as she glanced around. “Actually, wait. You can’t go around looking like that,” Nihili said, putting her hands on her hips with a little pout.

“Sure I can, kid,” Rhea said, letting loose her mane of straight, ink-black hair. “Like I said, I have before. I’m not the only black-and-red ophidite here, I promise. If anything, we’re kind of the default,” she muttered, eyes squinting in thought.

“Well, even if that’s true,” Nihili said, “You still look too, um… demonic to plausibly be someone from here.”

“Fine, fine, you’re probably right,” she sighed, rolling her shoulders and shaking her head. “Give me a minute. This won’t take long.”

Nihili nodded, then watched with awe as Rhea’s face- one she barely knew, but already found just the littlest bit familiar- shifted and changed before her. Bone and cartilage bent and twisted, and skin rippled into new colors. Suddenly, eerily, a very distinctly human face now stared back at her from a demon’s body.

The demon’s face was rounder, and cheekbones softer and lower-set. Her eyes were darker, and tilted at a less dramatic angle; though they were still of a similar almond shape, and still retained her previous slit pupils. Skin that had previously been a distinctively inhuman hue had shifted to a warmer beige, and stood out starkly against her otherwise out-of-place form.

“Um. Rhea. Sorry to be rude, but… the rest of you.”

“Ah. Right.”

Rhea flicked her tail, and it vanished into nothing. She reached up and back, and her deft fingers swiftly pushed her long ears down into a more believable size. The demon dusted her hands off on her uniform coat, and the black scales studding her knuckles sunk beneath her skin. She raised a hand to dismiss her ram-like horns, then shrugged and decided they were worth keeping.

“Is this good, or should I go a little more?”

“I think you’ll be okay. Whose identity are you taking now?” Nihili asked, scrutinizing Rhea with her eerie eyes. “You look a bit too normal to have just made that face up on the spot.”

“No clue. I just saw a picture of a woman once, so I copied it. Then, I just tweaked some things until it was to my liking.” She ran her fingers through her hair, and half of it bleached to white under her touch. She slowly shook out her head, and the pale streaks spread downwards. “I think I called her Hailey.”

“Who?”

“This face. I give all of mine different names.”

“...is that, um… normal for-...for things like you?”

“Skinchangers? No idea. Maybe it’s common practice and nobody bothered to tell me, or maybe my mentor was right, and I am just crazy.”

“Mentor?”

Having finished changing faces, Rhea didn’t bother to respond. Instead, the demon wandered over to the little rip in reality that they’d jumped through. She stuck an arm in through the gap and felt around for a while, the tip of her forked tongue sticking out of her mouth. Suddenly, she grabbed a hold on something and yanked it out, only to drop it unceremoniously on the ground beside her. The catch-and-pull continued for a few minutes, until her feet were surrounded by a pile of random, albeit theoretically useful, objects.

“Um, what’s all that for?” Nihili asked, a brow raised.

“You’ll see,” she muttered, kneeling down to sort through her possessions. Most of the pile consisted of food and various small tools, though a few items stood out from the rest- namely, several scattered blades, and a necklace with pulsing pinkish-red crystals dangling from it. “Got a bag or something?”

“There’s one on your right.”

“Thanks.” She grabbed the bag, and started haphazardly shoving in various items from the ‘useful’ pile. Once the backpack was fully packed, she gathered up everything she’d judged to be useless and threw it back through the glowing gap in space. Her offering accepted, the breach snapped shut with a ‘pop’. With its departure, they were left alone on the darkened street.

“I’ll fit everything in better later,” Rhea promised.

“Mm-hmm. Sure you will.” Nihili remarked sarcastically. “So… question. Can you just, um, do that? Pull junk out of the void?”

Rhea rolled her eyes and slung the backpack onto her shoulders. “Yep. I’ll explain later- for now, let’s just focus on finding somewhere to stay.”

“Sounds good to me,” Nihili said, trotting over to follow the serpent. “Here’s to hoping either of us can even sleep through the night.”