Umbra

Umbra

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“You’re not seriously going to bring her along, are you?”

Umbra didn’t bristle only out of habit. It wasn’t the first time a dragon had caught sight of her, lurking in the shadow of Crystal or one of the other Warriors of Aegis, and curled their lip. She was used to outsiders watching her with distrust and suspicion. They took one look at her, saw her Shadow eyes, dark scales, and the way that she moved so silently, and decided she was just like every Shadow dragon stereotype they’d ever heard - a sneaky trickster who lied and hid and cheated her way through life. Someone who couldn’t be trusted.

While she could have tried to defend herself, she also knew that there was no point. This dragon had already dismissed her, and nothing she said would change that. She resigned herself to just staying out of the outsider’s way as they helped her and her family relocate their lair after a flash flood had destroyed their previous home.

However, Crystal seemed to be of a different mind.

“Of course I am,” Crystal told the grumpy Bogsneak with a frown, absently grabbing another bundle of the clan’s belongings and tossing on her already over-burdened back. Behind them Blossom and Glacier were working together to create a dam out of ice and twisting tree roots to hold back the flood waters so that the rest of them could quickly help the Bogsneak family evacuate. Up ahead, Spike was scouting for danger along the path towards the family’s new home, while the rest of the warriors were preparing the new cave that the family would be moving into.

The Bogsneak wilted a little at Crystal’s matter-of-fact tone, but then rallied herself and spoke again. “Are you sure that’s wise? Shadow dragons aren’t the most…dependable folk.”

Again, Crystal dismissed the Bogsneak’s concern without thought. “Umbra is loyal and true. I trust her with my life.”

“You might trust her with your life,” the Bogsneak grumbled. “But I’m not sure if I trust her with my belongings.”

Umbra already knew that kind of comment was coming, and she told herself that she didn’t care about what these outsiders thought of her, she would do her job and help them regardless. But it still stung a little.

If it stung her, though, that was nothing on Crystal’s reaction. The Guardian stopped dead in her tracks and turned her full, intimidating attention on the Bogsneak. Immediately she flinched and shrank back, clearly sensing that she’d overstepped a line.

“Umbra is a Warrior of Aegis, and a good friend. She fights to protect others, and is always willing to help those in need. Her talents may be less flashy than some others of my clan, but she is just as valued a member, and she deserves just as much respect.”

“You’re right, of course,” the Bogsneak choked out, pale. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You should apologize to her.”

Umbra’s insides squirmed as the Bogsneak hastily stumbled through her apology. As soon as she was finished, Umbra nodded her acceptance, and the Bogsneak scurried away, her head-crest folded down in shame and embarrassment.

“You didn’t need to do that,” Umbra told Crystal quietly as soon as they were alone.

“Of course I did,” Crystal shot right back, scoffing. “You don’t deserve that kind of treatment.”

Umbra just shrugged. “I really don’t mind. Sometimes it even helps, letting people believe the worst of me. It makes them underestimate me, which is useful in a fight. And I am a spy, when needed.”

Crystal just shook her head. “Regardless, I mind. I don’t like hearing others speak about any of my clan in that way.”

“Of course,” Umbra agreed, deciding it wasn’t worth the argument. Besides, hearing Crystal speak so highly of her left her feeling warm inside. She didn’t need respect from others, but having it from Crystal? That meant a lot.

There was a reason her loyalty was to the Warriors of Aegis.

“Now, you’re free to go back to the lair if you want,” Crystal continued. “You shouldn’t have to stay and help if that’s the kind of treatment you’d be receiving.”

“No, like I said, I’m fine.”

Crystal gave her a sheepish grin. “Good. Because I might need you to do something.”

Umbra laughed quietly. “Anything. What can I do for you?”

As she slipped away from Crystal’s side, Umbra cast a spell over her scales that rendered her just another shadow along the path, and invisible, she slipped into the forest. She made a wide circle around the clearing where the warriors and the Bogsneak family were working to load up the last of the family’s supplies for their trip to their new home, and slipped into the cave that they’d been forced to abandon when it had flooded.

The water had been diverted thanks to Glacier and Blossom’s efforts, but there were still puddles here and there left over from the floods. They barely rippled as she passed, as silent as a shade, searching deeper and deeper into the cave. She reached out with all of her senses, sight, smell, sound, even her magic, searching for any hint of her prey.

And then, in the family’s old hoard chamber, she found it. A wisp of darkness that curled along the floor like a forgotten piece of fabric drifting in the wind. She watched it for a moment, assessing the risk, and then when she saw her opening she dropped her invisibility spell and pounced.

The wisp of darkness immediately turned into a massive ball of razor-sharp spikes, but this was not Umbra’s first encounter with the remains of The Shade. She deftly smashed the wisp’s defenses aside with her magic, snapping the spikes with her own shadow-wreathed claws before catching it up in her jaws and biting down. There was a terrible shriek, the taste of iron and ichor spilling across her fangs and tongue, and then the Shade remnant vanished like smoke on the breeze. The chamber went silent.

Just as she’d expected. Flow had mentioned how unusual it was to get flash flooding in this area, and that she suspected foul play. Sure enough, Crystal said she had caught the scent of Shade when she’d been helping the Bogsneak family earlier. At least now that the wisp of Shade was gone, it couldn’t follow the family to their new lair to cause trouble again.

They’d never know what had been lurking in their midst - better not to scare them now that the Shade was gone. Of course, that also meant that they’d never really know what Umbra had done for them, but that was alright. She didn’t do this for the recognition. She helped people because she wanted to, because it was the right thing to do.

She was a Warrior of Aegis, no matter what anyone thought of her. And that was all that mattered.

Lore by CupcakeNova

Bio Template by TrickyLai

Art by 6969