The moment Umbra launched upwards, the room changed smoothly into a large empty hall.
Pillars containing torches alight with green flames lined up the sides.
Ragnar seemed baffled for a moment.
Umbra's hand closed around his neck again moments later…
He flung Ragnar as far as he could, chest heaving slightly.
His supposed disciplinarian smashed through three pillars.
He crashed into the fourth, leaving it broken and teetering on the edge of collapse.
The locket on Umbra's neck glowed dully in the dimly lit temple.
Ragnar got to his feet gingerly, smiling at Umbra. Grimly. Preparing to attack.
"That's some superhuman speed you've got there," he praised, wiping a trail of blood off his mouth.
Just then, his eyes caught sight of the glowing locket.
A new fire rose in his eyes, not anger this time, but alarm. He reached a quick decision; to back off.
"Calm down, Umbra", he said soothingly, raising both hands into the air. Dropping the daggers he wielded.
"I'm sorry for insulting your mother, but you have to listen."
Umbra snorted decisively. His breaths came in ragged bursts.
"I thought you wanted to fight", he taunted, "I can't be defeated here."
Ragna watched the locket and sighed in relief.
Its glow dullened with each passing second, reverting back to cold metal.
The mysterious temple changed back seamlessly into the cushy room.
At once, Umbra fell back onto the bed.
"You're already exhausted. I guess I'm not that easy to throw," Ragnar gave a hearty laugh.
Deep beneath it, he thanked his stars profusely. For having noticed on time.
"I'm sorry for what happened", he apologized, stone faced. "I sort of lost control."
"That's alright", Ragna gritted his teeth in suppressed pain.
Truthfully, nothing would've prepared him for this.
"It can happen at times," he added. "I mean, your will at times isn't all that better–"
Umbra shot him a glare, before returning to his self examination.
"It's not always my fault", Umbra flexed his arm, wincing slightly.
Ragna didn't reply. Instead, he took the bedside chair. Making a mental note to visit the Healer to exmaine his collar bones.
He healed his minor wounds. Although not wholly concentrating.
Thinking of Umbra chameleon–personality, it no longer surprised him.
One moment angry, next moment a bit sentimental…
Ragnar flexed his neck, sighing. Those wild mood swings did little to help matters too.
After a while, Umbra glanced up. Fixing Ragnar with an inscrutable look.
However, Ragnar recognized it.
A question. A really twisted one.
Umbra rarely asked questions. But the few he asked, could turn a philosopher into a raving idiot.
Answers seemed crystal clear, yet cloudy in some way.
But this time, Umbra only wanted to ask about something very related.
"Do I need to call a new–"
"It's something you can answer," Umbra sniggered at Ragnar's uncompleted offer.
"What's that supposed to mean..?" Ragnar just ignored the fact that he'd just been bullied.
"A compliment, I think," Umbra replied in the same clipped tone.
Then continued with a brisk businesslike one.
"The locket glowed…why? You've never given me an explanation for that, but you always freak out each time it happens."
Ragna swore quietly. So he'd noticed.
Actually, it'd be kind of dumb to assume that Umbra had never noticed the locket's erratic pattern of glowing.
When he felt a very powerful emotion…
Especially one related to his mother or…
He didn't want to remember that now.
Being Umbra, Ragnar presumed that those emotion would likely be anger.
Ragna wondered if now was the right time to tell him.
Soon, he soon came to a quick resolution.
He had to know. Meanwhile, it was only a matter of time before he figured it out himself.
Umbra Ashmedai, being a prodigy with an almost unpredictable nature, couldn't be toyed with after all.
'Letting a little aspect of the secret wouldn't hurt a bit, will it?'
The Council of Incarnian Overlords had agreed to keep most of the gory details about his status unknown to him, in the interim.
But then, if Umbra really planned on venturing into the mortal world any time soon, he needed to know.
Since no one would obviously try to stop him.
Unless the Master interfered. And he was a different person altogether.
"It limits your power", Ragnar made a show of taking a deep breath.
Umbra's face turned contorted.
Seeing Umbra's look, he quickly added, "Yes, that's the easiest way to put it."
Umbra's suspicious look persisted, so Ragnar began to explain.
"When it glows, it means that your emotions at that moment, are so powerful that they're capable of overriding the locket.
And if that happens, without proper training on how to channel your powers, it will end up killing you."
Umbra's face morphed into a new expression…not fear, not anger.
Something unreadable…like sorrow.
"Why? Why do I have to be born with these malevolent curses? It ruined my life!"
Ragnar had guessed they he'd be shaken, but not to this extent. He looked nearly livid.
He'd thought so from the very start…keeping Umbra in the dark wouldn't be a good idea.
"You must have guessed from people's reactions on meeting with you, that you're considered more a time bomb than a person."
"I always see through their veneers," Umbra's voice didn't shake this time.
'Although, to be honest, you've managed to change many perspective of the Dark Prince…'
Ragnar didn't say this aloud, since Umbra would think it as an attempt to console him.
But it was the truth. Ragnar listened discreetly to gossips at times.
It can prove really beneficial to a monarch sometimes.
Something he'd learnt from his father.
"Ragnar?? Your head's been broken as well?"
Ragnar stifled a laugh.
Also, Umbra read widely and avidly. He already knew most of the general perceptions of a Dark Prince.
Alongside popular capabilities.
"You owe me a ton of explanation," Umbra lay back on the bed, resting his arm gingerly as he did.
"Other Princes of Darkness are usually full Incarnian, or in some rare cases, other breeds. But never a Cruceni or even worse, human.
Any Prince born like that…the normal way…would have a chance of surviving for a short while in their full state.
But you are part human, which increases the chances of your mortality rate, giving you a half–percentage of the immortality that Princes normally have."
Umbra's eyes literally jumped. Immortality?
He'd never read about that.
"So the Princes of Darkness were –"
"As long as they didn't duel", Ragna answered sharply. He hadn't missed the glow up in Umbra's eyes on hearing 'immortal'.
"Princes of Darkness were partially immortal; they could only die in battle, but never from injuries sustained in a fight or during peacetime."
Umbra looked down at the locket with an expression that revealed his next question.
And Ragna didn't like whatever was coming next.