Chapter 19 – Laws of the Mind
Ruby
"It's Team C.R.D.L." Yang gasps when she looks at their bodies, the damage that has been inflicted upon their skulls. Weiss crouches down by the corpse of Russel; there is a lot of blood on the ground where his head must have been struck. She then looks around, probably to figure out where Cardin's body is. But alas, he is not there, and she looks at Ruby, and they are all beginning to come to the same suspicion.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Weiss asks them all when she looks away from their corpses.
"I hope we're wrong...Cardin was an asshole but he never struck me as a psycho." Yang states, crossing her arms as she looks at the bodies. Blake looks back at the people watching, her ears can detect the slightest mumbling that people are saying to one another. Some of them are not even looking at the dead; they are looking at Ruby with suspicious eyes. Concern forms over Blake and Sun can sense that. He looks at her and he follows her eyes.
"Why are we letting a crazy girl in on our problems?" One of them whispers to the others.
"Do you think she did it?" Another asks, and Sun sighs with anger when he hears the horrible judgements that people are making about her. He leans down to her ear and whispers to her.
"Want Neptune and I to get them out of here?" He asks her, and she smiles, nodding her head to him gratefully. Sun looks over towards Neptune and he whistles to him in order to get his attention. The blue haired Huntsman looks at him, responding like a dog from how quickly he heard the whistle. Sun gestures towards the crowd and he understands what Sun intends to do pretty quickly. Sun and Neptune both walk towards the crowd, and they both lift their guns up in the air. They both pull the trigger, making everyone jolt from how sudden it was.
"Alright everybody! Party's over, take your popcorn and get the hell out of here." Neptune demands, and they swiftly depart from the area, the officers who are really just hired guns look at them with shocked expressions.
"Hey! You've no right!" The Hired Gun shouts, but Sun leans forward towards him and holds his Junior Badge up in his face.
"Go away!" He slowly pronounces to the Hired Gun, like he is talking to a toddler. The Hired Gun squints his eyes with annoyance at the blonde haired Monkey Faunus, but decides that he might as well go. He and the other Hired Guns turn and leave the scene for the Huntsmen and Huntresses to do their work. Ruby keeps on looking around at the crime scene, using her still developing detective skills as best as she can. She touches some of the blood on the floor, and it sticks onto her finger. She rubs her thumb across it, it is still wet. This could not have happed very long ago; at most this must have been a couple of hours ago. Blake stands beside her and she crouches down as well, examining it as well.
"This was recent, more recent than the Pyromancer and the Headmaster." Blake reports from what she can see.
"Yeah, blood's still wet." Ruby agrees, wiping it down her trouser leg. She stands back up as she looks around with Blake. Yang walks with Weiss and Winter as they search for any kinds of clues, whilst Oscar looks around for anything else, hopefully another one of those Echoes in Time, like the one he saw of the Headmaster. Sun kneels down by the body of Dove and he looks closely at the damage done to his head. The parietal bone in his head has been cracked, collapsed inwards from whatever it was that struck him in the head. Blood has covered most of his face, crimson claret glistening in the starry night sky. The floor beneath where his head hit the ground has been slightly cracked, most likely from the murderer hitting him in the head again. The damage done to the skull could only have been done by multiple strikes with a heavy blunt weapon.
But this is not like what happened with the Headmaster, because there are signs of struggle. Sun notices his nails, blood and bits of skin lodged underneath them. His weapons have some blood on them as well, and from the scrapes on the polished steel, that could not have been his own blood that did that. This means that they were fighting whoever it was that attacked them. His nose has been broken, the nasal bone protruding from his snapped nose. A couple teeth have been knocked out as well. "This wasn't a surprise attack; they fought the Imperator off by the looks of things." Sun surmises when he looks at the way his body looks after his death.
Yang sighs, scratching the back of her head as she looks at them. "What the hell were they doing here, anyway?" Yang questions with confusion when she looks down at Sky Lark's corpse on the floor. His hair is dishevelled; bits of it have been ripped out. The fight must have been quite bloody, more than just a weapon striking him in the head.
"I dunno, maybe they came here looking for work?" Neptune suggests, searching for anything around their bodies. An idea comes to Neptune's mind though and he swiftly turns to Team B.R.N.Z who are keeping the area secure. They still are uncertain if they can trust them, after what happened with Team N.D.G.O, but they are all they have at the moment. He walks towards them with a question on his mind. Weiss walks with him as they try and get some information out of them. "Did you guys ever see Team C.R.D.L here?" Neptune asks them, and the four of them look at each other. Nolan scratches the back of his neck, a clear sign that he knows something.
"I do remember seeing them a couple times. We never really spoke to them." Nolan says to him, and they both look to each other.
"Was Cardin Winchester ever among them?" Weiss inquires.
"Cardin?" May asks for confirmation.
"Cardin Winchester, big douchebag with a mace?" Neptune describes briefly but rather well.
"Oh him, yeah he was with them. Not much though." May shrugs as she looks at them, her Sniper Rifle slung over her shoulder. She still wears the same beanie hat as she did in the Vytal Festival, slightly slipping over one eye.
"So Cardin was here...doesn't mean he killed them though. Headmaster could have been understandable; Oscar said the Headmaster was acting a little volatile. He might have done it to stop him from killing innocents...but why would he kill his own team?" Weiss mutters as she paces back and forth. Neptune walks away from them and he continues to look at their bodies. As Weiss thinks to herself, May approaches her while the rest of her team secure the perimeter.
"Is he your boyfriend?" She asks him, and Weiss stops, and slowly turns to face her.
"He is – is that an issue?" Weiss asks, almost challenging her.
"Oh no, not my type. Isn't he scared of water though? Why would his parents call him Neptune if he was afraid of water?" May asks, and Weiss just puts her hand on May's shoulder.
"Ever been in a submarine...in the middle of the ocean...or better yet outside of one with giant sea Grimm around you?" Weiss asks her, vividly remembering the Krastax that they came face-to-face with, outside of the Tethys.
"No?" May nervously answers.
"If you do, you'll be scared too." Weiss promises, patting her on the shoulder as she walks away from her. Ruby looks down at one of the bodies, looking at the body of Russel again. She has examined every part of his head and she knows that only a powerful guy with a blunt weapon could have done this. And it is all pointing towards Cardin at the moment. She sighs, rubbing the side of her head when she observes their bodies, so many things don't add up.
Why exactly did they come here? There must be a reason for it...
Why would Cardin kill his own team so callously?
Why would Cardin kill the Headmaster?
Ruby sighs when she thinks about these things, still at a loss for words when trying to solve this puzzle. Oscar walks around and he stops when he hears something, his eyes widen and he turns towards the bodies with shocked eyes. Finally...he has detected one of them, an Echo in Time. He walks towards it, seeing the fractured apparitions of the three men that lay before them. When they must still have been alive. He can hear their voices echoing endlessly throughout the vacuum of time itself as they speak. "Did you see what he did?" Russel asks them with a fearful voice.
"He's losing his edge..." Sky Lark agrees, pacing back and forth as he touches the back of his neck. Dove has his arms crossed whilst Russel is leant against the Lamppost, one that has been slightly damaged from the fight that must have broken out here. The Time Echo is very short, it only loops from there...but it does raise more suspicions.
"Guys..." Oscar says to them, and Ruby looks at him with surprised eyes.
"What's up?" Ruby asks him as she walks towards him.
"I saw another one." Oscar informs.
"An Echo?" She asks.
"Yeah, it wasn't long but still made me curious." Oscar explains as he sits down on one of the loosened bricks. Yang walks over as well, crossing her arms as she listens to what he describes. "I saw the three of them stood where they are now, it couldn't have been long before they died. They were talking about someone...it might have been this Cardin guy. They were saying that they saw him do something...that he is losing his edge." Oscar explains, and Yang touches her long blonde hair as she thinks this over.
"That's strange...it doesn't mean though that it was him." Yang states.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asks her.
"Well think about it, what if they saw someone else do it? Or what if they are just saying stuff about Cardin doing something else...when someone loses their edge; it means that they are getting soft. Not losing their mind." Yang explains, and thus making a very good point as well.
"It's a good point; Cardin never struck me for a murderer." Ruby says.
"Lionheart never struck me as a traitor and a coward either." Oscar remembers, and the two sisters fall silent from his even better point. It is always the ones you never expect to be the enemy that end up being the monsters. Yang sighs, flicking her long blonde hair back over her shoulder and out of her view.
"So now what?" She asks.
"Well the best move would be to find any witnesses, the bodies were found really recently. Somebody must have seen someone leaving the area." Ruby explains, and Winter notices something that truly intrigues her. She gasps and she looks at one of the lampposts, and then she points at it with her finger.
"I have a better plan." Winter tells them, getting their attention, and they follow her finger towards a camera attached to the Post. It is looking directly at them at the moment; little do they know that Jacques Schnee is in fact watching them. "We need to find out if that camera caught anything, there aren't any inside of the Headmaster's Throne Room, but there's one here." Winter explains as she walks towards them with her theory.
"What if they have been wiped?" Blake suggests.
"It's a good point, our foes aren't stupid." Weiss agrees.
"It's still worth a shot." Winter states, and they have to agree with her logic. She is Atlesian Special Forces after all. Oscar looks around and he still feels that the idea to find some witnesses would be good.
"I'll go around and look for witnesses; you guys find the camera systems and get whatever you can." Oscar says to them, and she nods to him. Ruby looks at Oscar and he looks at her with a smile. "I'll be fine." He promises, smiling kindly, eventually Ruby calms down and smiles back. She turns and follows Weiss and Yang as they follow her big sister. The others walk with them, and Oscar turns and walks in a different direction. Oscar walks past some people, and he can see a tavern up ahead. If there is any place where you could get information from the people, a tavern is the best place to go.
Oscar
He pushes the doors open, and like a movie set in the Wild West, they all swiftly turn and glare right at him. He looks at them all, large hazel coloured eyes glaring right back at them. He scoffs, and walks right inside, past some of them. He has become a lot more confident over the years compared to when he first joined up, now that he has become accustomed to the life of a Huntsman. One of the guys, a Bandit by the looks of his getup, eyeballs him as he walks over to the bar. He stands next to him and continues to stare at him. "Hey!" The Bandit challenges and Oscar sighs, rolling his eyes.
"What's up, pal?"Oscar sighs as he stands at the bar, the Innkeeper cleaning the alcohol from the wooden surface.
"What's a young lad like you doing around here? Haven't seen the likes of you here before." The Drunkard challenges. Oscar looks around, completely ignoring the witless idiot as he stands there, spouting rubbish at him. He continues to look around until his eyes see him there, his heart skips a beat.
His brown eyes staring straight into his soul, shaven head and a slight stubble on his face. He wears the tattered clothes of a merchant and has a cunning smile on his face, sat on a table, not even on the bench itself. "Oscar Pine! Over here." He calls over, Vir Nominis Umbra...the first time that they have met since Arkhonex. Oscar sighs, and he walks past the drunkard, towards the Soothsayer that sits before him. But the Bandit stumbles in front of him, and pushes the boy back.
"Hey, boy! I'm not finished with you yet!" The Bandit slurs as he stands there, wanting to fight him with his fists raised.
"Seriously, asshole?" Oscar sighs, he could drop him instantly but he does not seem to want to. He looks at Vir Nominis Umbra and shrugs at him, and the Soothsayer scoffs when he looks at the man.
"I said! I'm not finished with ya!" The Bandit slurs, swinging towards him to punch. Vir Nominis Umbra lifts his hand over his head and snaps his fingers, creating a loud crack that echoes through the whole tavern.
And then...
Time stops.
But not like it does when either Time or Oscar does it, the land around them does not become all fractured and distorted. It just stops, like a video being paused. It seems his abilities are far more powerful than anything that they are capable of. Oscar looks around at all the people, seeing them all frozen where they were, no stretched out voices throughout a paused time frame; it is perfect compared to his. He looks past the bandit and back to the smiling entity across the room from him. "Show-off." Oscar says, walking towards him and Vir Nominis Umbra laughs.
"Of course I am, I'm sure you are with your gifts as well. Time's a marvellous plaything, isn't it?" Vir Nominis Umbra says as he holds his hands out in the air, leaning against the wall on the table that he sits on. Oscar stares at him, and he takes a seat, that is obviously why he is here. He wants to talk to him...
But why?
He has the power to destroy them all in a couple of seconds...
Why oh why does he not do it?
"Are you a traveller? I saw you in Arkhonex and you haven't aged a day." Oscar asks him, and Umbra chuckles.
"At least buy me a drink before you start with the flirting, my dear." Vir Nominis Umbra quips, smirking constantly as he speaks to the young boy. "But no, being a Traveller is just so boring. So many rules and regulations in what must and must not happen...no...I prefer to use Time to my own advantages. It provides so many delightful opportunities." He continues, his brown eyes turn to one of the other Bandits inside of the Tavern with his soup before him. He chuckles and takes one of his potions out as he walks towards him, he unscrews the vial and pours the deep purple fluid into the tomato soup. "Like, spiking the soup of unsavoury individuals with appropriately ghastly things." Vir Nominis Umbra states, and Oscar's good nature makes him concerned for the man.
Oscar looks back to the Soothsayer, then narrows his eyes suspiciously. "It doesn't look like what happens when I manipulate time...do you actually control it, or is this just some conjurer's trick?" Oscar asks him, and he scoffs.
"What difference does that make?" He asks him.
"A big one." Oscar answers.
"Ooh..." Vir Nominis Umbra vociferates, thinking of his answer with a smile on his face. "Okay then, let's sum this up as – time has always fascinated me – so I taught myself how best to use it." He answers casually.
"Wow, you just taught yourself, huh?" He scoffs.
"I do not expect Humans and Faunus to comprehend." Vir Nominis Umbra states, just as casually.
"Alright then, why Time of all things?" He asks him, and the Soothsayer chuckles.
"Oscar, there are four dimensions. Length, width, height and time. Which one is more appetising to you? Length? Well for some guys perhaps." He chuckles, making more innuendos as ever. Oscar sits there, and the question continues to bounce around in his head, the question everyone who has met and understood who he is has wondered.
"Who are you really?" Oscar asks him, the question he must be sick of at this point.
"Vir Nominis Umbra, also known –" He answers theatrically.
"Not what I meant." Oscar interrupts, and Umbra looks at him with a smile.
"Ah, so you'd rather understand what it is that I do?" He presumes. "In short, I give folk what they ask for – you might say, I simply grant their wishes." Vir Nominis Umbra answers, waving his hands around as he speaks.
"Yeah, and then drop them into a world of hurt. I heard about what happened with Roman." Oscar states, remembering what Ruby told him about what Torchwick said to her when she was captured five years ago. Umbra's next statement is very powerful, and shows a dark hint behind what he really is.
"No, not I. That would be poorly formulated wishes. I'm no cheat, no liar, Oscar. I give folk what they want, the costs of their wishes however all come down to their wishes. If they wish for unworthy things, that simply all comes down to their rotten natures." Vir Nominis Umbra explains.
"So you show the evil in everyone?" Oscar asks him.
"Something like that." He agrees with the same cunning smile he always has. "Take you for example, when we first met, I sensed the love you had for Ruby Rose. What is the cruel version of love?" He asks him, leaning forward.
"Lust." Oscar answers, realising as well.
"Correct. And look how you turned out." He says, leaning back against the wall. Oscar stares at the Mysterious Soothsayer and he clasps his hands together, similarly to how he does it, and he now asks the important questions. No more getting-to-know-you courtesy, now it's serious.
"Why are you doing this? You're not on our side, I know you're not. You could kill me and the others easily...but you still haven't told me why you are fighting us." Oscar states, and Vir Nominis Umbra's sinister smirk returns.
"Every fairytale requires an old-fashioned villain." Vir Nominis Umbra answers, with what almost sounds like pride in his scheming voice. Oscar, however does not seem overly convinced by his very simple answer.
"No...it can't be that simple. You've been doing this for a long time, what could possibly be your endgame?" He questions, and he chuckles, leaning closer to him.
"Oh but it is, Oscar." Vir Nominis Umbra claims, still smiling like a mad man. He reaches over to the cup of tea that one of the people here was reaching for. He holds it in his hand, and has an apple right by his foot. "All of you, Team R.W.B.Y and all your pathetically childish teams...you need me." He states, and he scoffs.
"I think we'd fare just fine without you, Umbra." Oscar states with anger in his eyes.
"Now, you say this. But what kind of hero would you be, without your villain? It is the natural law of things, without me you would be nothing. No great enemy to save the innocents from. You all need something to keep you going, keep you intrigued. And that is where I come in." Vir Nominis Umbra tells him, powerful truth behind what he says as well. "You see, the good guys and the bad guys...we're all just alike...except the good guys are boring." He tells him and Oscar scoffs.
"Boring, huh? So a girl that can dart into rose petals and a guy with a split personality isn't interesting?" Oscar questions.
"Childish hocus-pocus. If you really believe your abilities would interest me then you are thicker than I thought you were. I am not interested in the things that make you strong...no...I am interested by what makes you weak." He claims, prodding Oscar's chest where his heart is. "Your kindness, your willingness to fight on the side of the angels is what makes you so weak. But at the end of the day...heroes always are the ones that get beaten down. They might win eventually but that is just children's authors for you...but this is no story...this is real life. The bad guys, do not play by your rules." He explains.
Oscar sits there, thinking of what to say next. Deep down, he knows that Vir Nominis Umbra is right, everything he has said so far, he is right. "How did you know I was going to be here?" He asks him.
"Come now, Oscar. I managed to track you down when Time sent you thousands of years into the past. Did you really think I would have struggled with figuring out you would come here?" He questions.
"Soothsayer..." Oscar sighs, realising as well that he must be able to see the future as well.
"There you go." Umbra chuckles. Oscar thinks and then the murders come to question, and he might as well ask him to find out if he was involved.
"The deaths, Team C.R.D.L, the Headmaster and the Pyromancer. Was it you?" He asks him, and Vir Nominis Umbra smiles.
"What do you think?" He asks him.
"Enough with the riddles, just tell me." Oscar demands. Umbra does not even look jolted in the slightest by Oscar's raised voice, he just smiles.
"I was not the one behind the weapon, but I must admit it has been fun orchestrating some of it from behind." He answers, and Oscar steps back with shock when he says that. Vir Nominis Umbra really does not lie.
"Who is it?" He demands.
"Oscar, Oscar. That is not how the game works, I have already given you plenty of hints, but do you go ahead of tell everyone the answers to your own quiz?" He asks him, and Oscar scowls at the Soothsayer.
"Let me guess, you would want something in return for that information? A good old fashioned Merchant like yourself?" Oscar presumes.
"No." Umbra retorts.
"No?"
"Why would I? I enjoy watching you lot trying to figure out my little game. The fact you never noticed me before always amazed me."
"What do you mean? I found you."
"Oh, I'm talking long before that." Umbra says, taking a sip from the hot tea. He hums with excitement from the taste. "Oh, that is some good tea!" He cheers triumphantly.
"Then how are gonna do it, then? Huh, Mr Bad Guy? How are you gonna kill us?" He asks him.
"Kill you? Oh no, not yet. Trust me, my Wrath is coming and a lot of you will be killed. It will be a massacre, lots of blood will spill on both sides of the coin. But at the moment...I still need you." Vir Nominis Umbra tells him truthfully, his wrath has gotten him extremely concerned of what he meant by that. A massacre? "No...but if you truly want to know what I plan to do next? I love watching you living beings suffer...watching you reach breaking point. It is one of the most enjoyable sights imaginable." Umbra says with excitement in his voice, and Oscar seems extremely creeped out by this personality that he has.
"Then how do you plan to do it? Break us down?" He asks him. "Has it got something to do with a – Great Evil?" He asks, remembering what Loss told Weiss that one time.
"Ah, dear Starla. Bless her heart, she is paying the price for her transgression, she shouldn't have gone to you." Umbra explains, and for once he actually feels concerned for one of the Knights.
"What have you done to her?" He questions.
"What? Do you think I killed her? Oscar she's already dead. No...I just made her wish she could be." He says and Oscar's eyes widen fearfully.
"What do you mean?" He questions.
"Have you still not caught on?" He asks.
"Onto what?"
"Oh Oscar, I had hoped you were cleverer than this." He sighs.
"Answer me!" He shouts, for of all of them he does care for Loss the most because she still has some sense of who she used to be in her.
"Alright, big man...calm down." He laughs, acting like he is afraid of Oscar. "She is a Spirit at the end of the day, I can put her through the worst pains imaginable and she would never die. And I won't stop until she remembers her place." Umbra coldly states, smirking away as he speaks.
"The Knights are not your chess pieces." Oscar snarls.
"When did you become so fond of them?" He asks with that smile.
"When I met them before they were corrupted." He answers, and Umbra chortles away.
"You're sense of decency is charming but it is one of your greatest weaknesses...and thus comes the great problem." He says, and Oscar looks at him with confused eyes, taking a seat. He sits there, contemplating on what he meant by that. Umbra is a master of hiding things inside of the usage of his words, he does not lie but makes it hard to understand what he says. A genius method for someone who is not as poetic as he is. "What's the Great Problem, Oscar Pine? Because I did tell you...but did you listen?" He asks him in a sing-song tone, smiling away as he says it. Oscar thinks away, remembering everything that Vir Nominis Umbra said...and he is struggling to figure out what it could have possibly been.
Wishes? Is he going to trick one of us into wishing for something with him?
Wait! No, he loves riddles...is that what he is gonna do?
The Massacre?
The Knights of Grimm?
Gods what could it be?
"I love listening to you trying to figure it out, I really do." Umbra says with a smile, hearing his very thoughts.
Vir Nominis Umbra sets the mug of tea back down onto the table and he begins to whistle as Oscar thinks away on what he means by that.
That tune...it's the same one that I heard before...I heard it at Arkhonex and then in the woods at one point.
"How hard is it for you to admit that you don't know the answer to something?" Vir Nominis Umbra asks him.
"Trust me, I don't know the answer to a lot of things." Oscar says with a chuckle.
"You might not...but he did." Vir Nominis Umbra says, tapping the side of Oscar's head with a smirk.
He is talking about Ozpin.
"By the way, talking about being so clever, have you told all your friends about it yet?" Vir Nominis Umbra asks him, and Oscar stares straight at him.
"About what?" Oscar asks him.
"About the nightmares and who you know is responsible for it? Why you haven't bothered putting any cameras up in the hotel room you and Ruby are sharing together?" Vir Nominis Umbra asks him.
"No." Oscar answers.
"But you know who it is?"
"Of course."
"Go ahead." Vir Nominis Umbra says, wanting to hear Oscar impress him.
"You want me to tell you what you already know?" Oscar questions.
"Nope, I want you to tell me. I want to see how you know." Vir Nominis Umbra answers, looking excited to hear him say it as well.
"Very well." Oscar agrees. "I was taken by Time into your Dimension – the Charred Forest – which leaves me to guess that he is one of your minions as well. Possibly a new Knight of Grimm that we've never faced before or a brand new creation of yours. Doesn't matter." Oscar explains quickly.
"Good." Umbra says, taking a bite out of his red apple he had in his hand, letting the juice trickle down his lip slightly. He wipes it off with his wrist as he watches and listens to him.
"I was taken to Arkhonex and then I met you, you were following me everywhere, and then you were there with Qrow when you helped us find Ruby. She has had nightmares of the Charred Forest for years now, your Dimension which could only mean that you have been feeding these nightmares to her yourself." Oscar continues to explain, showing the intelligence that he does have. When he does know something, his explanation skills can be just as good as Ozpin's.
"Good, keep going." Vir Nominis Umbra encourages.
"What purpose do the nightmares have? No certain yet, but from the emotional changes she has been having lately, killing Dew the way she did and showing more anger...I have reason to believe you are doing this to try and control her. As you did with Pyrrha Nikos." Oscar concludes and Umbra smirks. He applauds him as he sits there.
"That's the Oscar I've heard so much about!" He cheers, sounding monstrous as he speaks as well.
"But there are other factors I am unsure of, right?" Oscar presumes.
"Oh a whole lot more, but I don't expect you to know any of that yet." He says with a chuckle.
"Then teach me." Oscar requests.
"Well, human minds have always been so interesting to me. So many things can motivate people, and one of the things I enjoy manipulating is the fear function that they have. Same as the Faunus in fact, and how just through feeding nightmares to someone...eventually they will fall into your control over time." Vir Nominis Umbra explains. "Every soul who has ever lived can just be another tool, another chisel for my stone art work." He states. "And Secrets! Oh! Secrets are just so delicious! The more you tunnel your way into someone's mind...the better the secrets become. And the better they become...you own secrecy." Umbra says to him, and Oscar glares at him with hatred in his eyes.
"What kind of secrets?" He asks.
"All kinds. I could learn the secrets of the most powerful men in the world, I could start countless wars with the secrets I know. I could launch a nuclear missile to hit Vale and start a war against Atlas in mere seconds. Everything is at my disposal...the man with all the secrets is a king...and baby you should see me with a crown." Umbra says to him, again in a singsong voice.
"And you'd be able to do all of it in the shadows." Oscar says, with real shock in his voice when he realises it as well.
"Don't get me wrong, I am not afraid to get my hands dirty. I have slaughtered entire armies and not a single one of them could harm me. But it is far more intriguing to use people – never underestimate the usefulness of others. That has always been my most prized quote." Vir Nominis Umbra says to him, revealing that Salem must have gotten that line from him.
"Then how do we fit into your little game? Can't just because we're challenging you." Oscar says.
"Why do you think?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why do you think I haven't just wiped you and your friends out already?"
Oscar thinks and thins, trying to come up with why he hasn't. Then it comes to him. "You can get the world to look at us as the enemy?" He guesses, and Umbra smiles.
"We shall see, won't we?" He says with a smile. He holds the apple in his hand and he swivels it around, using his fingers to spin it round on his palm. But then the big question comes to Oscar, the one he really wants to ask.
The one he does not know the answer to.
"What is the Shivering Dominion?" He asks and he looks at him with the apple next to his head.
"Everything ends..." He says, and the apple begins to rot away in his hand. The flesh turns brown and it collapses down into itself, becoming dusts. "Even time...joins the ashes." He says as he blows the dust away.
"You sound excited for it." Oscar says.
"Of course I am, it looks so incredible!" He laughs and Oscar scoffs.
"You're insane..." Oscar shudders, and Vir Nominis Umbra stares at him.
His next statement...
...is very powerful.
"Ah, and therein lies the common misconception." He says, leaning forward towards Oscar with his hands clasped together. "Nobody seems to understand the Three Laws of the Mind." He says with a smirk.
"The Laws of the Mind?" Oscar questions.
"Neither do you, apparently." He chuckles. "Well, listen up, son." He says as he sits there. "There will always be bad people in the world, but there are three forms of them that they come in." He explains.
"Go on." Oscar says.
"There those who are formed through suffering. Those can be insane, or just with nothing left to lose in the terrible things that they do." He says, and his eyes turn yellow, just like the irises of Tyrian Callows. "There are those who are misguided by their beliefs or by what they have..." He continues, and his eyes turn Hazel coloured as he stares at him with a smirk. He leans towards him and his eyes turn red as he glares at him. "And then...there are the evil ones. Insanity is a by-product of suffering, others are misguided...Evil however...Evil is a choice." He says with an evil smirk on his face, intimidating Oscar.
Vir Nominis Umbra hops off the table and walks to Oscar's side, looking down at him. "Which of your foes are which? Which...am I?" He asks him with a smile.
He walks away from Oscar, and the young man watches him as he walks away. Vir Nominis Umbra walks towards the Bandit that challenged Oscar when he first entered the room. He smiles at the Bandit. "That is the last time you interrupt me whilst I was talking to someone." He says, touching his shoulder. Oscar gasps when he sees the man's skin wrinkling, hair turning white slowly and his body collapsing as he ages him.
Vir Nominis Umbra just aged him into a Pensioner, and Oscar sees him turn to look at him. He holds his hand over his head, and snaps his fingers again. Time resumes, and the Bandit collapses, his heart stopping...
...He aged him to death.
Vir Nominis Umbra's smile has not disappeared as he leaves the Tavern, leaving them all behind.
Oscar shudders fearfully.
He has learned a lot about Vir Nominis Umbra.
And now he knows he is the biggest threat that any of them have ever faced.
Author Note - Do you fear him?
This is a section I have been pushing back for a while, it was gonna happen around ten chapters ago, but I wanted to do more development and such beforehand. But I hoped you liked it, and it answered some more questions about him. Vir Nominis Umbra is hands down the scariest villain I have written for the power he has and that he chooses to let them live because he enjoys the challenge.
The Law of the Minds is probably the biggest message of the story, for that sums up my villains extremely well. I would love to know if you think you can categorise them all into which areas of bad that they fit into. Who is a product of suffering? Who is Misguided? And who is Evil through choice?
Compared to my other chapters this was a little shorter, but this was an Oscar and Umbra heavy chapter, so I hope that can be forgiven. (Please don't lynch me)
And Umbra aged someone to death for literally no reason and poisoned another...
He is so lovely(!)
Anyway, what did you think of this chapter? I hope you enjoyed it! It was great fun to write Vir Nominis Umbra so more to develop him more and more as it goes on. I love seeing peoples theories of who he might be.
Please review and let me know your thoughts!
Stay tuned for the next chapter!
- Matt!