Umbral Menace in the Multiverse

A/N

Me: "Hmm, I haven't written in a while sure, but it hasn't been THAT long."

The "1 month" shaped sentence on my fanfic:

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Say, what if one day, something that absolutely cannot exist, came into existence.

It isn't anything large, or even particularly harmful. It is merely the unexplainable. Like a blurry lamp in the corner of a room.

An oddity. A mystery.

This irregularity, that suddenly and without warning manifested, defies everything you've been told, and nobody besides you can understand, that this shouldn't exist. How would you feel?

Wouldn't you be terrified?

If you can imagine this, then you have imagined yourself in the shoes of Mona Magistus, proud astrologist, extremely broke,

And currently freaking the fuck out.

Mona's thoughts moved feverishly, with her hands struggling to keep up. She prided herself on her delicate and accurate use of astrology magic, but she couldn't afford to take this slow and methodical like usual. The situation was too grave.

A dark star has appeared in the night sky.

Now usually, a new star in the sky would be a pretty big deal in and of it's self. But the reason this is a problem is because there are no such things as dark stars.

No records state the existence of such a thing, and even her master never brought it up. And for good reason.

"Something like this shouldn't exist...!"

Mona mumbled to herself, trying desperately to deny it's existence. But her astrology was deathly accurate, and choosing to deny facts in the face of such a presence would do her more harm than good.

Her eyes flickered here and there, and sweat dripped down her brow. The combined brains of Mona and the knights of favonius' resident magician was entirely useless. Even Lisa, who's magical knowledge was more vast than Mona thought, was unhelpful.

So, it was time to get desperate.

Everyone told her she was getting in too much of a fit, and that if we don't know anything, we'd have to wait.

But no. They were not like her. Mona was a trained astrologist, and if they knew what she knew, they'd say her reaction was perfectly reasonable.

So she decided to perform a divination on the dark star itself.

This would prove to be a bad decision.

The stage was set. The circle for divination was complete, and her magic was primed and ready. Everything was as perfect as she could manage, and the only thing left to do was close the circuit.

As she drew the final line and flooded in her elemental energy, a reaction occurred.

A dark shadow fell over the room. The total opposite of what's supposed to happen. Usually the circle lights up, nearly blinding Mona. But now, it's as though light was being drawn in by a menacing presence.

Before she noticed, Mona was in a pitch black space. Her breathing quickened, and her mind started racing. Quickly scrambling to erase the divination circle, she gasped upon seeing that it no longer there.

Around the time the realization hit her, and panic began to set in, a song began playing. A beautiful, delicate sound, seemingly from a music box.

A truly haunting melody that shook Mona to her core.

•~Now playing~• Shadow Bonnie music box

The tune was unsettling, yet solemn.

It embodied the feeling of death.

Fading away in a dark, unknowable place. You don't know where you are. You don't know why you're gonna die. You don't even know who did this to you. There was no hope, but a deep sense of acceptance.

Nobody would come for you, nobody would even care. The darkness closing in comforts you as you fade into sweet, sweet oblivion.

This sensation was transmitted to Mona with no room for error. And it was understood that this was her fate.

Her brain was telling her that if this continued, if she didn't escape, she would die.

But she also knew that there was no escape. Just like the song. She has no choice but to accept it. No choice but to embrace oblivion.

Before her consciousness slipped from her, she looked towards the source of the grim melody, and instantly wished she didn't.

Two white, glowing eyes peered at her from beyond the darkness. And as if it was waiting for her to notice it, the entity's mangled maw of glowing white teeth curled upwards.

It smiled.

Mona screamed, and promptly passed out, her eyes rolling into the back of her head.

The being looked at her, and frowned.

"I thought smiling would make a good first impression, but as I thought, this form is a no go.."

He tried to make himself look as human as he could remember, and failed spectacularly.

The darkness began to retreat back into RWQ and he scratched where his chin would be.

I say would be, because he was currently an amorphous blob, that barely retained a humanoid shape.

Giving off a sense of weightlessness, his "feet" lingered 1-2 inches off the ground. His cloudy, sludge-like form would melt off his bones and recombine with itself. Pieces of him would float off, and disappear. It was as though he was struggling to keep shape. His very being seemed to defy several laws of physics.

"I've gotten so used zero gravity, it's hard to adjust."

Contracting his form too much would turn him into a dense sphere, while letting too loose would turn him into a gaseous being.

"I've managed to find a good middle ground, but pieces of me keep falling off. By the way, when did I get bones? Wasn't I a ghost?"

Anyway that's neither here nor there. Whats actually important-

"Miss! Are you okay in there!?"

Was avoiding the mess that would follow.

A scary looking fellow standing next to a collapsed woman, who recently screamed like she was dying. It was bound to be a bad look.

RWQ may not have remembered much, but he somewhat recalled that first impressions matter. He didn't know why, but he knows he messed up.

"Guess I should leave before it gets worse..?"

At that, he heard knocking at the door, and the same voice asking for someone named "Mona".

"Excuse me! I'm coming in!"

"Oop, gotta go!"

RWQ briefly looked panicked, and transformed into a cloudy mist before leaking out of a crack in the window.

The door slammed open, and a white haired maid rushed in. I say that, but she seemed more like a cross between a maid and a knight.

Mona was no fool, she knew that this might be dangerous. So she requested that a guard be stationed outside her room in the case of emergency.

Although she didn't quite get a knight, she decided to work with it.

"Ah!? Miss, are you okay!?"

Upon seeing the lady passed out on the floor, the maid-knight scurried to check her pulse, and sighed in relief upon seeing that it was stable. However she still panicked slightly.

According to Acting Grandmaster Jean, Mona was no slouch, and should be able to handle anything that was thrown at her. Her presence was hardly needed. And yet here she was.

"She should have been able to handle it... What happened? If it was just a divination like she said, what did she see? Oh dear... I have a bad feeling about this..."

Picking up her limp body, she hauled her to a proper medical facility, before reporting the situation to headquarters.

Mona would continue to remain unconscious for 1 and a half days. All sorts of examinations and tests were run on her, both physical and magical. And to resident magician Lisa's dismay, nothing was found.

It was as if she simply collapsed. No other external force or anything.

"But that's completely implausible." Lisa rubbed her temples, contemplating the situation.

"What is?" The blonde next to her asked for her thoughts.

"According to the results, she passed out from stress. But that usually isn't possible. Magicians, the good ones at least, are naturally mentally strong. It's kinda in the job description."

The blonde woman, formally known as Acting Grandmaster Jean, rubbed her chin, as she too took on a contemplative tone.

"And you said, there was no trace of any other magic?"

"None that we could find. Sorry sweetie."

Jean sighed to herself. She thought things would calm down when the traveler came and helped pacify dvalin. But now that the abyss failed in their plans, they've waged an all out war, and the knights of favonius have been busier than ever.

Least to say, this dark star incident was more than they had the manpower to handle.

And it didn't help that said dark star, was no longer present.

For a capable magician like Mona to fall unconscious like this, just what happened during the divination?

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The culprit of all this unrest, was currently out of town, taking in his current surroundings.

"It's been... So long."

The green, the red, the yellow, all sorts of colors in a variety of shapes.

"Finally, something that isnt void..."

As he looked at the trees, the foggy image in his mind suddenly sharpened, as though he was reminded of their shape.

The full, vibrant fruits upon said trees stimulated a hunger he never had.

Walking further into the forest, he came across a number of small animal and wildlife. All of which ran away from him, but that was fine.

He came to a stop in front of a pond. The glimmering night sky reflected on the shimmering waters surface, and he was once again reminded of how he got here.

Looking up, he saw the full moon, in all it's luminescent glory. And something in him cracked.

His heart, within which his emotions were laid dormant, began to crack open like a vault. And all manner of feelings came crashing down on him like an unending waterfall.

Happiness. That the suffering was over.

Sadness. That it ever began.

Anger. At the fact that this was taken from him.

Regret. That he did it to himself.

This surge of emotion completely paralyzed him, and if he had eye ducts, the forest would be flooded by his tears.

Trembling, RWQ stayed there for hours, sitting and basking in all the emotions he felt. This too, was an experience he would not forget.

Slowly opening his eyes, he was greeted by the rising sun, and simply sat there, admiring the mix of warm and cold colors in the sky.

As RWQ sat there, he realized. He was free. And now he needed something to do with his freedom. Just enjoying it wasn't enough, for he had already spent an eternity doing nothing.

"Hum, what should I do first..."

Looking around, he noticed two rabbits looking at him from a bush. They gave off feelings of fear, yet at the same time curiosity.

RWQ observed the pair. "Two of them huh...? I guess you guys couldn't bear being alone either, hahah!"

RWQ was slightly jealous. He wanted friends too, he was tired of being by himself.

"Wait a second... Why didn't I think of that!"

As if a mental barrier was knocked down, he came to a shocking realization.

"It's not like there's a shortage of people, I can just go meet someone!"

After being shown what true loneliness was by The Umbra, RWQ realized that at the end of the day, he just needed someone to talk to. And there was finally the option to do so.

RWQ finally had a direction.

Make a friend.

"Shouldn't be that hard right?"

Sure, he was blobby, blackish-purple mass of dark matter.

"Well..."

Sure, his eyes and appearance literally strikes fear into the hearts of others.

"Um..."

Sure, he hasn't talked to anyone in Eons.

"Uuu..."

But how hard could it be?

RWQ looked into his reflection on the pond.

And recoiled in fear.

Really, how hard could it be?

As he tried to get accustomed to his own appearance, he heard a deathly shriek in the far distance.

"GAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!"

Looking in the direction of the scream, RWQ only muttered to himself.

"Friend?"

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