Chapter 2: Seeking Direction
Amphitheater, Beacon Academy
The purple haired girl looked around briefly before moving on. Not that she would have spotted him anyway, even if she had continued looking, as he currently was engulfed in the shadows cast by the overhead arches in the sunlight. As she moved off, Umbra Imaly eased off his semblance, letting the shadows fall away back to their natural locations. The fact this Murasaki even looked for him after they arrived struck him as a bit odd; he had only used her for directions, nothing more. Then again, everything he encountered since arriving at this school was odd; it was so...different compared to life in his nomadic tribe.
He already missed the open air and empty land of Vacuo, or at least, all the lands that the Skugga traveled. The untouched wilderness he would explore while hunting. The quiet environment, only punctuated by brief conversations and the natural world around them. This place had already proven to be far noisier and crowded then any place he had been before. It wasn't even the kind of noise Umbra was accustomed to, it was all laughter and lightly toned chatter. There were no sounds of combat, no sense of seriousness. He grew up hunting and sparing with his tribe mates; silently grinning in triumph as he knocked them into the dirt time and time again. There was none of that here, at least none that he could see. This was suppose to be a school for warriors?
Despite all of these new surroundings, part of him felt no desire to return home, at least not yet. For the first time in his life, Umbra was actually sent out into the world instead of being hidden away from it. The past several years of his life, hell, most of his life, had been spent being told his time would come. Constantly training, pushing his limits, only to be held back from raids on settlements, being told to stay back even when those younger than him were allowed to attempt their first kills against the weak who tried to settle the lands. Anger swelled in him as he remembered wandering through a ruined settlement, seeing others his age compare their new kill marks on their arms. Umbra's own arms remained bare as the day he was born.
Static feedback cut through that anger as the speakers came to life. Umbra glanced over the heads of the others to see an older bespectacled man approach the microphone on stage, cane in hand. A hush fell over the crowded room.
"I'll...keep this brief," the man said, pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose.
"You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you finish, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."
Umbra scoffed. He was only here because his tribe had sent him here on a mission, certainly not so he could become a protector of people. As the pride of the Skugga, Umbra knew he was destined for far greater things. This had been told to him throughout his entire life by his war chief and all the elders. Finally, after waiting and training all these years, his mission had been revealed to him: bring to life a legend that would restore his tribe to it's former glory; to bring back the time of the Lightless Night.
"But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."
This sentence gave the Vacuo native pause. Purpose he had, the responsibility his tribe had entrusted to him, the whole reason he was here. He had been given no real instructions though, no direction. The only knowledge he had was the tale itself, and that was vague enough. The tale was told to the children of the tribe, of a time when their people could move at night completely hidden, with no stars and moon to reveal their presence to others. A time where they ruled the night, where all who opposed them vanished in the darkness. Umbra always thought it was a mere tale to inspire pride in the tribe; that they had been great once and would be once again. The young were made to retell it over and over, until they memorized it from start to finish. But to be told it was real, to be charged with making it a reality…it was a daunting task.
A bead of cold sweat rolled down his forehead at these thoughts, all caused by that last sentence. This old man shouldn't be capable of causing this kind of emotion in him.
"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but you will find at this school that knowledge will only carry you so far" The older huntsman's eyes narrowed.
"It is up to you to take the first step."
With that enigmatic statement, the cane using man walked away, with a blonde women taking his place. Although she started speaking, her words fell deaf on his ears. The old man's words, they hung about in his mind.
'The first step…' Umbra really had no idea where this first step should be taken. Questions were not something he had a chance to ask before leaving, given how abruptly he had left. One moment he helping his tribe mates loot a settlement, one they had set up to be attacked by Grimm. The next, he was being shoved in the dirt by Nox, the war chief himself, his mission quickly whispered into his ear followed by a blade between the ribs. Now the convincing image of a lone wounded survivor, the arriving Vacuo military responding to the attack found and 'rescued' him, taking the tribal teen to Vacuo city proper to be treated. There, he was surprised to find a Skugga informant waiting for him, passing over papers showing he was accepted into some place known as Beacon Academy in the far off Kingdom of Vale.
In minutes, his whole life changed, no longer being held back from raids or partaking in worship of the holy creatures of Grimm. So many questions rang through his head, but he only had one statement to deal with them.
'I will not fail.' This declaration was made in Umbra's mind as he was lifted, still bleeding, into the Vacuo airship. It rang true during the lonely flight to the far away Kingdom of Vale. Even now it lingered in his mind. It didn't matter if he didn't know where the first step was; Umbra would not let his tribe down. He would validate their faith in him as the pride of the Skugga.
His confidence growing stronger, Umbra refocused on the women talking-only to see her gone from the stage with everyone moving out of the amphitheater. His renewed confidence deflated like a balloon, replaced by the same creeping anxiety he felt earlier when he was directionless. Everything just moved so quickly here, nothing like what he grew up with.
'The group, focus on the group. No different than tracking herds of animals' Umbra told himself, trying not to lose his cool. Quickly moving from his spot towards to exiting mob, he almost slammed into the floor by tripping over a figure on the ground. Lurching forward, Umbra barely caught his balance, snarling as he turned to look at the idiot who got in his way. Slumped up against the back wall was a scraggly blue haired male, looking completely out of it to point of not even noticing Umbra's presence. The urge to kick the collapsed over boy set in quick, but he forced himself to ignore it as the group was getting farther and farther away.
Someone who passed out from a simple speech wasn't worth his time anyways. Umbra had one goal, one mission: to restore the Skugga Tribe to glory by fulfilling the Legend of Lightless Night.
