Afraid Of My Shadow

by Deyeaz

XIII - Umbra (Jace)

Afraid Of My Shadow

Written by CraimerX and ShadowWeaver

Proofreaded by the onlyoneofmeisyou

XIII - Umbra (Jace)

“Black eyes... Black eyes... Where the fuck have I heard that?!” I was sitting down on a bench in a part of the castle that guests were not allowed, though I was. I was part of the council, as well as Praxis, so I was allowed pretty much anywhere.

I rubbed my face a bit and let out a groan, rubbing my tired eyes. “I know I’ve heard this before, but what the fuck is it?! This shit is going to annoy me to no end all day..” I said aloud, resting my head in my hands. “Nnng... I need a stiff drink after this.”

I stood and took a deep breath before walking out of the room and going into the main area. The main ceremony was to start in about three minutes... Don’t wanna be late for my own wedding.

I made my way through the waves of ponies, getting into the main hall with some difficulty. I saw Celestia standing on the highest step leading up to her throne and I saw her smile at me as I approached. “Jason, I’d just like to say, congratulations.”

“Thank you Celestia... Thank you for doing this for us. Me and Vinyl wouldn’t have anypony else be the one to wed us...” Hold up. Why am I thinking that I’m forgetting something... I have my whole suit, my corsage... Wait... “Oh... Shit.”

Celestia reared back a little. “Something wrong, Jason?”

“I forgot my vows. Sweet Lord, I am so fucked.” I ran a hand through my slicked back hair and looked around at the ponies in the room, quickly turning back to Celestia. “This is really not good... I didn’t even do them! I was so caught up with my studies and my magic I completely forgot...”

Celestia raised her head, and looked around at the ponies. “Excuse me, everypony. I had forgotten about something... I’ll be back in just a second!” Celestia trotted off of the steps to the throne and went through a series of doors to get to her tower.

I was a wreck. I was starting to sweat and I was getting a bit fidgety just standing there. I turned a little so my side was facing the crowd, and I turned my head slowly, trying to keep the best poker face on me as I could muster. ‘What was Celestia planning?’ I thought to myself, standing up straight, my hands folded in front of me. ‘Hopefully she does it fast...’ I made my way to a door in the throne room and opened it, going inside, away from the crowd.

Once inside, I picked up a quill, dragged the parchment towards me, and tried to find something that would serve as inspiration. Sadly, with the room being such a lackluster, listless area, creativity was extremely limited. Books lined the shelves, each tome holding all knowledge of magic in their pages. But what of the knowledge of love? Where does that come in?

Hang on...

Ah, I think I’ve got something.

With a sudden spark for the fire of a great idea, I began writing as legibly and quickly as my hands would allow me. Minutes were spent creating the correct words to be spoken on a occasion such as this wedding. Sweat and tears were practically lost in the making, but at last, I had the right vows to say to my wife-to-be.

“Jace?” Praxis’s voice called from on the other side of the door to the room I was in.

“Yeah?”

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah.” The door opened, and the satyr walked in. However, there was no usual carefree look about him: the expression he had made him look like he was just slapped across the face.

“My friend, we have a problem,” he said.

“What? How?!” I shouted, both angrily and nervously. He then begins to tell me of this weird entity he saw in the shadows of the castle, how it was all black, tri-horned, four-armed, and terrifying.

“...Even worse, it said ‘Soon’, in this really cold voice,” continued Praxis. “Like it was planning on doing something to us all. This obviously correlates to the weird future magic I’m assaulted by.”

I sat down again, my head in my hands. God damnit... now? Of all times, it had to be now?! “Damn it!” I slammed my fist into the table in agitation and fury. “What can we do?”

“It’s a shadowy figure, innit?” Praxis began.

“Yeah? And?” I moved my hand in a circular motion to make him keep talking.

“Shadows hate the light: we just need to ward off this thing with a light source or something.”

"...Obviously you know nothing of shadow creatures. They don't hate light. They DISAPPEAR in the light. Take your shadow for example. Where does it go when light hits it?"

“It disappears...” he deadpanned. “Regardless, if it can keep this... thing away, then let’s tell the Princesses or somepony with a high amount of power; maybe they can handle the situation?”

"If we tell the Princesses, then everypony out there will be panicked. We don't want that. We want to have this played stealthily." I paced around the room a bit and then met Praxis' eyes. "Tell the guards to keep a close eye on things. Don't let them say anything to Celestia or Luna. Or if you wanna go after it with a candlestick and pretend it's a sword, be my guest.."

“No thanks on that latter idea. I’m in no mood to make a fool of myself on an important day. I’ll warn the guards, but this shadow monster just sounds like too much for them to handle. So unless I order them to carry lanterns around like freaks of nature to ward off this thing, I only have one more suggestion: just have it take place outside, while it’s still light out.”

"Too bad we're already setup for the entire ceremony on the inside."

“Damn...” He sighed heavily. “Fine, I’ll go warn the guards... but I wasn’t serious about that lantern business.” He left the room and closed the door, leaving me to my own devices.

"Black eyes...Shadowy figure... Future magic.. No. It can't be." I ran for a bookcase in the room, and tore through it, trying to find the book that was hopefully there. "C'mon. Please have it..." After a while of tearing through the books, I found it. ‘Creatures of Tartarus: Book 1’

With voracious fervor, I opened the book, skimming through the pages. “Page... three-hundred ninety-four.” Once I stopped at the aforementioned page, I read as much as I could of it, devouring the knowledge it help.

‘The eyes of the Shadow Demon, also referred to as Black Stare is a sign of things to come. The Black Demon takes its form as a shadow in the overworld, and can manifest shadow creatures ten times more powerful than their real counterpart. It is said that the Black Demon was once a powerful Order Reaper and was banished when he went mad with power. In the old days, they used to call him..’

"...Umbra." I breathed, my eyes leaving the page. I looked up at the door and saw it was charred and burned. “Not. Good.”

I jumped to my feet and kicked open the door, only for it to resist my kick. I rebound off of it like a basketball was tossed at it, my leg feeling like jelly suddenly. I tried again, this time with a magical surge in my foot. This time the magical charge blasted the pathetic slab of wood off its hinges and down the stairs.

“Don’t worry, guys, I’ll save-”

Wait... why is nothing burning? All the ponies are looking at me weirdly... well, the ponies that weren’t bludgeoned by that rogue door. Those ones were staring daggers at me.

Oh, shit.

“Ah... Save you from... The... Uhh... Shortage of celery sticks!” I smiled at them all. “Heh, waiter, more celery please!” I let out a nervous chuckle and wiped my suit off, walking down the steps. ‘Celery... Smoooooth.’ I thought to myself as I made my way to the altar, vows in hand.

‘Am I losing my mind? Is future magic plaguing me as well?’ I mulled these thoughts in my head, my brain hurting as it tried to make sense of all this.

Apparently, the sound travelled throughout the castle, because Praxis and Trixie came over to me in a panic. “We just heard the crash, what happened?” Trixie asked.

“Oh, just me. Freaking out about the celery shortage! You know how I get...” I gave a fake smile and turned my gaze to behind the altar. I hope that the two would get the message. I continued to look behind the altar and then moved my head a little. “Get the hint you thick fucks!” I then whispered angrily.

Whoops. Talk about a Freudian slip.

Before I know it, Praxis grabbed my ear with his RIGHT HAND and pinched it as hard as he could. Now, I’m rather resistant to pain, but hot damn, those fingers of his are sharp! He walked into the room I left, with Trixie following him and me in agonizing tow. “Ow! Let go!”

“Dude!” he barked after he tossed me aside like a piece of trash. “I’m thick-headed, daft, pathetic, and lame, sure. You can call me that, and I’ll still smile; but don’t throw Trixie under the bus, man. Show some respect, please?”

“I will not show any fucking respect!” I whispered angrily. I pushed him away from me and dragged him behind the altar. “We have a fucking problem, and it’s a big one. That shadow?” I pulled the book out and pointed at the passage. “Read that, motherfucker.”

Praxis, with a furious glare, snatched the book and read the passage, muttering a few key words. “Shadow Demon, da da da, Black Stare, yadda yadda, Black Demon, blah blah blah, once a powerful Order Reaper, banished when he went mad with power, they used to call him..’

“Umbra...” I seethed, my stare not changing from Praxis. “Now don’t you get fucking snappy with me, Prax. This. Is. Serious. And now you know why I’m like this right now. I’m a bit on the fucking edge.”

“I understand,” he said, “but try and hold your tongue to people. Sure, you’re mad, but what good does it do to lash out at others with your anger?” He patted my shoulder. “Besides, we defeated a mad god from destroying the world. You make it seem like you can’t handle this.” He turned and leaved the room.

“Praxis! You don’t understand!” I ran for him, my hand grabbing his shoulder. “Umbra is not like Insanity. This... Thing is so much more powerful... You have no idea what we’re dealing with...”

“Expect the unexpected. I’m not saying that to be foolish, or because I’m ignorant. You have every right to be on your toes... God, I miss toes... and pants....” He looked at the ground, but shook his head at his ridiculous notion. “Regardless, I told the Royal Guard, they’re keeping their guard up. If shit goes down, there’s us. If we go down, the Princesses are up next.”

“The Royal Guard is just a fly that Umbra can swat away without anyone knowing. He can make perfect shadow clones of them, and they look EXACTLY like them.”

“O ye of little faith.” He sighed. “Just have hope. It’s all we have left. We’ll pull through; we always do.” This time, he actually left the room, with Trixie following him and leaving me alone once more.

I sat back down with a sigh and my head in my hands again. “Great... that goat’s an idiot,” I whispered.

“I heard that!” He hollered back.

“...Good!” I yelled back, my leg shaking. I needed something to calm my nerves... Like a smoke or something. Unfortunately, cigarettes are rather rare in Equestria, and I’m sure none of them exist here in Canterlot. So, basically, I’m fucked until after the wedding until I can go out and find them.

But that’s not the point... The point is. We’re fucked. Royally. If this gets through the castle, there is no stopping this... Let’s just hope this asshole has the common courtesy of letting a man be married.

Just... have hope? What was he thinking? How could he say something like that at a time like this? That satyr is fucking insane if he thinks that I can calm down right now.

I sighed again. I might as well at least try to calm down. Besides, the dude’s still my friend, after all.

“Damn it...” I got up and made my way around the room.

Something caught my eye, and I quickly turned my head to see-

...nothing.

“Shit... I’m losing it!” I whispered.

I swear I saw something. It was shadowy... and seemed to just drip with evil....

Time to hunt it down, I guess.

~End of Chapter XIII~

Comments

[Fireeaters]

Moar! Also when is praxis getting his reaper powers back?

[lolz anonymous]

he fucking with your mind!!!