Desperil has a minion!

Hope the Umbri

You were doomed the moment you stepped into the darkness...

Though you are painfully oblivious, every step you make leads you closer to your fate. The silence is suffocating as you step forward into the unknown. Even your footsteps make no sound as they carry you forward, deeper into the gray mist that swirls around your feet and swallows everything around you. It flees as if you were something to fear. When you open your mouth to call out nothing escapes.

...

The complete and utter lack of anything makes your mind start to wander, you wish for anything, anything to change. It has been hours since you found yourself sleeping on ground of this endless plane, and just as you were bordering between unconsciousness and awareness, you thought you had heard the whispers of a hundred voices. You couldn't make out what they were saying though, and when you tried, they slipped away along with unconsciousness like so much sand between your fingers.


...


Since then you have wondered if you may have gone deaf, or perhaps mad, and this was the result of that madness.

...


After what seems like an eternity, you catch movement out of the corner of your eye and nearly jump out of your skin. Snapping your head towards it, you spot a tiny moth as it appears out of the darkness. It's hard to see, and seems like it's made out of the mist itself and you loose sight of it after it flutters around aimlessly for a few moments, then fades back into the darkness from whence it came.

That was the first living thing you'd seen since waking in this place and you weren't about to let it slip away that easily. You yell out "Wait!" though no sound escapes the confines of your throat. It still discerns you, but you throw the thought to the back of your mind as you rush in the direction where you last saw it, just barely managing to catch sight of the tiny wispy trail it left behind.

It doesn't take you long to catch up, as it doesn't seem to be in any kind of hurry to get anywhere. You feel gratitude towards the tiny creature, though it certainly was strange, it did break the monotony of the nothingness, and following the creature is giving you something to do. Surely it can't wander around listlessly forever?

As soon as that thought crosses your mind, the moth changes directions and flies off, no longer meandering, but still floating in the air slowly enough for you to keep up. You continue to follow it, feeling excitement overtaking you when you realize it must be leading you to somewhere important.


...


After a while, the mist seems to get thicker and you have to walk much closer to the moth or risk loosing sight of it. The thicker mist parts a little more reluctantly for you than the thinner kind and that definitely makes you feel nervous. Still, you're not about to loose sight of Hope! That's what you decided to call the little moth, as that's exactly what she makes you feel. It's the tiny fluttering of Hope's silent wings that's keeping you from getting lost and even though she is just an insect, you crave her company as much as your lungs crave air. The thought of loosing sight of her tiny wings and wandering aimlessly, alone once more, terrifies you. You wonder if there is anything else that lives out here, wherever 'here' even was.


...


You can't even even see your feet anymore...the mist only moves a tiny bit now, which makes you feel as if it were alive and that you were in so deep that it was no longer afraid your presence. You swallow a lump in your throat and halt suddenly as you notice that Hope had stopped in front of you and is fluttering in circles once again. She flaps around for several moments, as your sense of unease grows, before she swoops down low and alights in midair, folding her wings to preen her antennae meticulously.


...


You take a step closer and see that she's landed on the top of what looks like a pile of stones. As you watch, they move slightly, disturbing Hope in her routine as she flies away.

Suddenly, two red dots appear and something as simple as the color makes you gasp, then fear clutches at your heart as the mound unfurls revealing the "rocks." The mist parts, as if in a great gust of wind and you're staring at a creature made of pure darkness.

The nightmare stands up, at least 9 feet long and it's whiskers wave as it levels it's beady red eyes with your own frightened ones, and growls. The sudden sound nearly deafens you after so much time in dead silence, and you hear yourself screaming in terror as the beast lunges right at you. You feel an incredible amount of pain as it flows right through your body like an apparition and once it passes you spin around to face the beast, you see a white glowing orb between it's teeth. It seems to look at you with knowing eyes as bites down on the light.

The pain you were still feeling from the creature passing through you intensifies a hundredfold and you fall to your knees, unable to stand from the weight of it. You don't know what the light is, but you realize that it is connected to you somehow, and you have got to get it back, no matter the cost. But the pain is to great and you can feel unconsciousness crawling up your spine and sinking it's claws into your awareness.You barely manage to lift your head enough to meet the monsters eyes once more, but are horrified to be just in time to see it's hateful eyes fill of glee and malice. It knows it's beaten you, and with gleeful abandon it throws it's head back and you can only watch, helpless, as the light disappears within it's maw. You watch horror-struck as the last glimmers of light vanish, before you are consumed with agony and fall into a painful unconsciousness. You manage to whisper one last word as the light fades,



"Hope..."

You were doomed the moment you stepped into the darkness...Though you are painfully oblivious, every step you make leads you closer to your fate. The silence is suffocating as you step forward into the unknown. Even your footsteps make no sound as they carry you forward, deeper into the gray mist that swirls around your feet and swallows everything around you. It flees as if you were something to fear. When you open your mouth to call out nothing escapes.The complete and utter lack of anything makes your mind start to wander, you wish for anything, anything to change. It has been hours since you found yourself sleeping on ground of this endless plane, and just as you were bordering between unconsciousness and awareness, you thought you had heard the whispers of a hundred voices. You couldn't make out what they were saying though, and when you tried, they slipped away along with unconsciousness like so much sand between your fingers.Since then you have wondered if you may have gone deaf, or perhaps mad, and this was the result of that madness....You catch movement out of the corner of your eye and nearly jump out of your skin. Looking towards it, you spot a tiny moth appearing out of the darkness. It's hard to see, as it appears to be made out of the mist itself and you loose sight of it after it flutters around aimlessly for a few moments, then fades back into the darkness from whence it came.That was the first living thing you had seen since entering this place and you weren't about to let it slip away that easily. You yell out "Wait!" though no sound escapes the confines of your throat and rush forward in the direction where you last saw it, just barely managing to catch sight of the tiny wispy trail it left behind.It doesn't take you long to catch up, as it doesn't seem to be in any kind of hurry to get anywhere. You feel gratitude towards the tiny creature, though it seems strange, it did break the monotony of the nothingness, and following the creature is giving you something to do. Surely it can't wander around listlessly forever?

As soon as that thought crosses your mind, it suddenly changes directions and flies off, no longer meandering, but still floating in the air slowly enough for you too keep up. You continue to follow it, feeling excitement overtaking you when you realize it must be leading you to somewhere important.After a while, the mist seems to get thicker and you have to walk much closer to the moth or risk loosing sight of it. The thicker mist parts a little more reluctantly for you than the thinner kind and it makes you feel nervous, still, your not about to loose sight of Hope. That's what you decided to call the little moth as that's exactly what she makes you feel. It's the tiny fluttering of Hope's silent wings that's keeping you from getting lost and even though she was just an insect, you crave her company as much as your lungs craved air. The thought of loosing sight of her tiny wings and wandering aimlessly, alone once more, terrifies you. You wonder if there is anything else that lives out here, wherever 'here' even was. You can't even even see your feet anymore and the mist only moves a tiny bit now, seemingly no longer afraid your presence. You swallow a lump in your throat and halt suddenly as you notice that Hope had stopped in front of you and is fluttering in circles once again, then she swoops lower and alights in midair, folding her wings.

You take a step closer and see that she's landed on the tip of what looked like a mound of darkness and as you watch, it moves slightly and Hope flies away.Suddenly, two red dots appear and something as simple as the color nearly makes you gasp, then fear clutches at your heart as the mound unfurls.

The mist parts, as if in a great gust of wind and you're staring at a creature made of pure darkness.

The nightmare stands up, at least 9 feet long and it's whiskers wave as it levels it's beady red eyes with your own frightened ones, and growls. The sudden sound nearly deafens you after so much time in dead silence, and you hear yourself screaming in terror as the beast lunges right at you. You feel an incredible amount of pain as it flows right through your body like an apparition and when spin around to face the beast, you see a white glowing orb between it's teeth. It seems to look at you with knowing eyes and bites down on the light.

The pain you were still feeling from the creature passing through you intensifies a hundredfold and you fall to your knees, unable to stand from the weight of it. You don't know what the light is, but you realize that it is connected to you somehow, and you have got to get it back, no matter the cost. But the pain is to great and you can feel unconsciousness crawling up your spine and sinking it's claws into your awareness.

You barely manage to lift your head enough to meet the monsters eyes once more, but are horrified to be just in time to see it's hateful eyes fill of glee and malice. It knows it's beaten you, and with gleeful abandon it throws it's head back and you can only watch, helpless, as the light disappears within it's maw. You watch horror-struck as the last glimmers of light vanish, before you are consumed with agony and fall into a painful unconsciousness. You manage to whisper one last word as the light fades,

"Hope..."



Coding by User not found: xanne, Code editing and all art by Gerudo additional problem-fixing Tilcara