(UNDER HEAVY EDITING!!) Stellar Serenade: Cosmic Connections

Chapter 23: Cursed

"The very memory of it has haunted me.." Luminara mumbled. "But nevertheless you killed my mother- and my friends" Luminara growled, lifting her sword at the tip of Umbra's neck. "Your mother's alive- just at the ruins" Umbra said. "Take me to her!" Luminara cried. "I haven't spoken to you in years..." Umbra muttered under his breath. Luminara pressed the sword harder against his neck. "I'll take you to your mother, and bring back your friends, but all I ask in return, is to be with you as a friend" Umbra asked. 

"What?" Luminara said. "Did you not hear me, do I need to repeat?-" 

"No- no I hear you, but I don't know if I can trust you or not. Like- you just killed thousands of people- thousands of spirits" Luminara said. "I can release them- The shadows are hungry... Ugh! Snap out of it you know better than to listen to stupid Lunal." Umbra muttered. "Lunal? My father Lunal??" Luminara said. 

"The brainless stupid manipulative moon spirit." Umbra answered. "My father" Luminara confirmed. "My father is the puppeteer behind the strings of pure murder" Luminara mumbled. "He seems to be drawn away whenever you're nearby, which is why I've been trailing you, so I can regain my consciousness and control of my body. I don't wan't to be some shadow consumed egotistic monster- I just want to be me, regular Umbra". Umbra said, pulling away her sword from his neck. 

"I forgive you, but before we do anything I want to revive Aral and Horus" Luminara said. "Anything, everything as long as I don't need to pull my katana out again" Umbra said. "Your friend's are ancient Egyptian right? The Ankh symbol is a sigil of renewal and life, if we can figure out how Horus uses it, we can get to the tomb they were last at and revive the two of them!" Umbra announced. "Aral mentioned something about Tutankhamen" Luminara said. She wasn't sure if anything Umbra said was true, but now that she had harnessed the power of the sun, it shouldn't be too hard to defeat Umbra. He pulled out the same ankh pendant Horus once wore from a nearby shadow. "You still have a grip on your abilities?" Luminara asked.

"Well yes, but they're not as strong compared to when Lunal's in charge" Umbra answered. "So... The weird creepy 'shadows will eat you' angsty talk wasn't actually you?" Luminara asked. "I said that?! Oh... Well there goes my dignity" Umbra muttered.  

"LUMINARA?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING??" 

Xyn ran into the room, the Weather Dancers behind her. "It- it's not what it looks like!" She stammered. The Weather Dancers locked hands and began 'dancing', storm clouds quickly surrounded umbra, a mini-astral storm had conjured right around him, trapping him in a sphere shaped cloud of destruction.

"I'll explain everything- just let him go" Luminara shouted. Xyn and the Weather Dancers turned around, their backs towards Luminara, a lot of discreet muttering was heard. "We won't let him go, but we'll let you explain" Xyn said.  "What's going on?" Umbra mumbled. A loud crackling cried from the cloud. "HOLY-" Umbra screeched.

Xyn suddenly grabbed multiple cups of tea, handing one to each Weather Dancer, then to Luminara, then to herself. "I don't have any biscuits, but the hibiscus tea is good" Xyn said

"Mmm- really good" HeatWave said, chucking the whole cup down his throat.

"Hey...Save it for the story" Snow said.

"HUH?! You're eating tea while i'm stuck in this orb of torture?!" Umbra shouted from inside the cloud. "Not eating, I'm drinking" Luminara corrected. "Tell the story already!" Xyn and the Weather Dancers shouted in unison.  "Right-right okay..." Luminara mumbled.  Luminara spent the last 15 minutes explaining what had happened 5 minutes ago, also refreshed their memory on the last story they told.

"You called me that? I'm not that rude if you get to know me" Umbra mumbled. "Okay! Let my friend out" Luminara said. "You've known me for 3 years as a childhood friend Nara, I'm sure I've qualified for a best friend?" Umbra said, his body plopping onto the ground as the cloud dissipated. 

"You killed my mother" Luminara remarked rudely. "I told you she isn't dead! She's at the temple" Umbra cried.  "Hmph." Luminara huffed, crossing her arms. "We'll hand you some resources for the trip" Mist offered. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" Umbra said.

"I was talking to Luminara" Mist scowled. Umbra said something under his breath. "We'll meet you two by the border of the veil" Xyn said, leading the Weather Dancers out of the theatre. 

"Creepy- creepy masked people" Umbra said. "They're actually quite nice" Luminara argued. "I'm going to collect my stuff from the chamber" Luminara said. Leaving the theatre, and walking towards their chamber.

The chamber was dim, everybody's stuff was scattered everywhere, just like they left it. "Wow... this place is a mess" Umbra said, his head emerging from the shadow of a wardrobe. "OH WHAT- Oh, oh, it's you. Don't sneak up on me like that!" Luminara gasped.  "Sorry" Umbra said. 

"You somehow got my sword during our duel, how?" Luminara asked. "I can warp any object into its own shadow, and bring it into the Shadow Space, any object in the space I can pull in and out" He explained, he pulled his body up from the shadow and sat on the floor. "Is that how you got here?" Luminara asked. Umbra nodded in return. "Can I ask of you a favor?" Luminara asked.

"Ooh- so many questions- yeah sure!" Umbra said, smiling warmly. "Can you put their stuff into the space then?" Luminara asked. Umbra's face went from normal, to extremely confused.

 "Ha?.."

Luminara gathered Horus and Aral's stuff, placed them in a messy pile. "Please..?" Luminara said, gesturing to the mess of items in-between them. "Errr... Okay" Umbra said. Luminara watched as the objects sunk into the shadows, until every object her friends owned vanished. Umbra yelped and fell back, the final item, Horus's Ankh pendant, was halfway through until it broke and shattered into a billion pieces, so small it looked like a pile of shimmering stardust. 

"WHAT THE HECK?!" Luminara shouted. "What happened??!!" Luminara cried. "The- the object is sort of blessed with light, it can't enter the shadow space, if I forced it through everything inside the shadow space would turn into the same state as your friend's pendant" Umbra monologued. "Oh...  Are you okay?" Luminara asked.

Umbra lifted his hands, one of them was bleeding. Luminara stared at his hand for a moment. Vermillion raining down from the palm of his hand. He lifted his hands towards his face, and licked it.

"EWWW!!!" Luminara shouted. "What?" Umbra asked. "Oh, it's some sort of eye. It appears ive been cursed" Umbra said. He moved his palm to show Luminara, and there it was, engraved in his skin, an Eye Of Horus.