Umbrastyx

History

Far into the tunnels, in the darkest recesses, rushing water flows. It is an underground river, as discovered by those who carved the lair. They say if you fall into this river, the current is so strong you will surely be swept away, into the veins and arteries of the earth where the water and darkness will drown you. No one knows quite how far down it goes, only that a small stretch is visible.

His damp hollow is home, though, as is the violent shushing of the flow beside him. Dark crystals glow magenta, sapphire, and crimson in the darkness, while stalagmites and stalactites jut from the worn, slippery stone. Were his claws not so well to grip them, he would surely trip into the river himself and meet his demise. He probably will, some day. But not today.

As the sound of small feet break the constant roar of the river, he lifts his great skull to peer down at a tiny skydancer, a trail of bright red eyes dotting all down her sides. They blink independently, the hatchling seeming distraught, lost. But no one came down here, not without a reason.

It seems the youngling did not notice his hulking form pressed into the mildew covered walls, and his twin embers followed her as she slowly tottered towards the river. She smelled of the Speaker, and the necromancer, and others he did not know, so she was one of theirs, surely. She was growing closer to the edge of the river. Too close.

"Why are you here?" He asked suddenly, and the hatchling squeaked, losing her footing and immediately toppling towards the edge. He moved like lightning, enclosing his great paw around her before she could reach the unrelenting waters. "Careful," he warned, "once the river takes you, there is no getting out."

"Then let it," the tiny hatchling muttered, and he could feel her little heartbeat racing in her chest. "You shouldn’t have caught me. I'm either ‘unnatural’ or something to be used."

"Those are heavy words for someone so young," he replied, getting comfortable and letting the shivering child warm herself against him, "why do you say such things?"

"Are you blind? Just look at me! These eyes... the other hatchlings hate me. None of the other hatchlings have this, and they run when I try to talk to them. They're so scared of me." She was shaking, hiccuping as tears wet her feathers further than the fine mist from the river already had.

"They're all a bunch of hypocrites." He stated flatly, and the child laughed humorlessly.

"That's what Saskia said, too, but I didn't believe her and I don't believe you, either."

Umbrastyx sighed, staring up at the shards of gleaming mineral in the ceiling. How cruel children could be, to push her this far. Not a single one of them was normal, but then, neither were they kind. They simply weren’t raised to be here. This child was impressionable, and much softer hearted than what he knew, so he knew he had to pick his words carefully.

"Do you know why we say that, though?" He asked, and she looked at him warily. "This clan, if you can even call it that- is filled with outcasts. The worst of the worst. Monsters. Like me, like your father, your mother, and Saskia. And all the others who told you that you were the monster. You don't join a clan ruled by Death himself just because you're looking for a place to settle down. No, you join because it's the last place you're welcome. I will not lie- your eyes terrify others because they are not something anyone has ever seen before. A new mutation. People fear the unknown, but whether you are truly a monster or not, that depends on what's inside of you. Do you think you are a monster? Do you do monstrous things?"

"N-no. I've never hurt anyone, or said anything mean." She replied, and looked up at him. "Are you really a monster, too?"

He smiled bitterly.

"Yes. I'm a monster in the sense that I see death every day. This Pit is full of it. I make no effort to change things, to make this place less of a cesspool of violence and slaughter." He hesitated. "But I could not stand to watch someone so young, with so much ahead of them, fall to despair. In this moment, I do not think I'm a monster, but other times, I know I am."

"Why? Why don't you try?" She asked, and he stared at her, feeling almost guilty before his resolve hardened.

"I would probably die to them, too, if I tried to interfere."

A long silence stretched between them, and he sighed at her sorrowful look.

"You have a long life ahead of you, child. If you want, you can do what I have failed to do so many times. You can choose to help- save, even- those you think you can save."

"...Really?"

"Of course."

"What's your name?" She asked, looking less sad, more hopeful. The imp felt his heart warm at the sight. He couldn't remember the last time someone had looked at him like that.

"Umbrastyx, or Styx for short." He chuckled to himself, but there was no humor to it. "Like the river in old folklore, the one that carries the souls of the damned into the Underworld."

"I'm Cauchemar." She said, and he blinked at her in surprise.

"Nightmare." He said, and when she looked confused, he just shook his head. "It is a lovely name, little dreamcatcher. Unfitting, but clever in its own way. Do you feel better now?"

"Yeah," she said, and nodded with a small smile. "I do. Thank you, Styx."

And the imp coiled his massive body around the two of them, talking for hours. It was the happiest he'd been in years, because for once, he had made a difference.