Time passes so quickly in the Upper…it has been months since…

Tamrissa stumbles through the warp gate and it snaps shut with a violent flash. She falls to her knees giggling and leaning forward on her hands, the amulet backing pressing into her palm.

“I will bring you back,” she whispers suddenly, her giggles subsiding and a very bitter grimness making her face twist. “I will bring you back. The Umbras need you, Fei.”

‘You need him to,’ a bubbly voice giggles into her ear. ‘You need him like you need blood…whether it be in your veins or on your sword. You need him to live and to die.’

“Get out of my mind!” she swats at her ear, her teeth clenched. “I don’t need anyone!”

‘Liar, liar…leather pants on fire!’ the voice sputters, then goes into another fit of laughter. ‘You are as mad as they come if you think you do not love him just as much as he loves…loved you!’

“I am mad!” she growls at the voice. “I am mad…as crazy as a bald yeti in a snowstorm…but I do not love him more than a comrade…a fellow warrior! He is needed here! That is all that makes good sense!”

‘You need him for yourself, yeti, no matter what you say,’ the voice takes a serious tone. ‘It does not matter what makes good sense…love is not good sense…good sense is not love. Love is love…sense is sense. They both serve their own purpose.’

“What purpose?? What purpose does love serve?”

‘Who knows! Who knows!’ the voice says idly, then speaks rapidly. ‘Love…good, evil…it is a balance of two souls…a teeter tottering balance…what purpose? Ha! Strangely stupid question from you, Tamrissa Roshan…child of the Upper…daughter of the fey…daughter of the mortal. For what purpose were you treated as an abomination? Why? Why? Why?’

“ ‘It is the way things are,’” she recalls her mother’s voice saying. She furrows her brow.

‘Ah ha! The way things are! You see, you answer your own question!’ the voice says in a bright and cheery tone. ‘Love…no reason or purpose…it is just the way things are.’

“No! No, that is not an answer! There is a purpose to everything! This is insane! You are insane!” Tamrissa opens her eyes after squinting them tightly together. “Who are you and why do you torture me with your mindless words?!?”

“My lady…Empress of the Upper…I come to help you with actions, not torture you with words,” a voice suddenly booms through her skull, a shadow sweeping over her. “I am Naraka Makani. Might I help you up, my lady?”

Tamrissa looks at the worn black leather of a pair boots, then slowly allows her gaze to travel upwards. Boots meet rough-looking tan pants, patched and dirt-smudged. Pants meet over-sized dusty white shirt held firmly to his waist by a rugged braid of leather belt. An emblem lies over his heart on the shirt…the curling black letters J.N….flames dancing around them in an orange blaze. When she reaches his face, she finds it smiling down at her. A handsome face with a hawk-like nose and thick, dark eyelashes. He is tan and his skin flawless, though it contains a certain hardness, as if he has seen much and knows even more. Long, wispy hair is pulled back from his face in a slick black tail. Piercing brown eyes peer down at her, never wavering.

“How did you get here?” she suddenly begins laughing again. “I sealed this umbra off when I came through the swirly lighted thing…no one can get through…what was your name? Makaw?”

“Makani, my lady, Naraka Makani,” he crouches and reaches out to her with his palms up as if trying not to frighten a cowering animal. “And, I have been here for months with my people. You are unwell. Come, let me help you up.”

“No!” she screeches suddenly and sits back on her heels, staring at him. “You and your people?!”

“Yes, my people and I,” he lowers his hands, but stays crouched. “We came here shortly after hearing of the Upper’s fate. We are in search of a new homeland, as our own was destroyed.”

“Oh,” she blinks, then laughs again. “You can’t stay here. There are these frightfully horrible creatures that are jealous of warmth and life…they’ll kill you all.”

The man watches as Tamrissa looks at him with her eyes gleaming in insane glee. He smiles to himself and mouths a few strange words, a wisp of pale smoke drifting from his lips and passing over her pale face. She immediately falls forward, right into the waiting arms of her new friend…or captor.


OOC: Time passes much more quickly in the Upper Umbra, so don't be alarmed by this post. It doesn't mean that months have passed on the Earth or anywhere else. And this is also only the beginning of what has been happening there. The Umbra is still locked by Tamrissa's magick and Cenzar has also closed all portals on Earth as Jihon said in one of his past posts. I'll post more later...this is just to help build the story and give ya something strange to read.