The Arrival

Elric Languine was a tall man with fair skin and long, dark brown, hair. True enough he didn't normally look as rough as he did right now but he blamed the damn sea monsters and the three months travelling time for that. Right now his skin was coarse and calloused to an extreme degree as he had helped his men through the entire journey, hauling ropes and sails with the best of them.

But they had finally made it.

They had made it to the mystical shores of the land beyond the Sea of Screams, a land that only existed to his people as a myth. A bedtime story that parents told their children in order to make them want to push the boundaries and explore the world beyond their own continent, an island as it was.

And here they were.

The sand was black as night but they had some of that in their homeland so it wasn't too different. Humming, Elric shrugged before jumping from the side of his wooden ship to land softly in the sand. It felt... finer, than the sand of the homeland,

"It's not dangerous boys!" He called back to his men with a grin, "Stop being such milk-drinkers! Alrose! Toss me my affects boy!"

A young teenager dropped a sword and a bow and arrow onto the sand and Elric strapped them on as some of his crew disembarked to look around the beach,

"Drink it in boys! A brand new land!" He laughed, "And we found it! Our names will be sung as legends in the drinking halls!"

His men roared their approval but a man up in the mast, Erondeth, called down and immediately caught their attention,

"Captain!" the cry went, "We got people inbound! You gotta see this captain... they ain' like no one I ever seen!"

Elric held his bow at the ready,

"Everyone but Alrose back on the ship..." he ordered, giving the teen a friendly pat on the back, "Since your new first mate you have to join me in greeting our new, and perhaps only, neighbours boy! Be polite for Serapth's sake."

Umbra was on the patrol with the escort that was taking Fallandrir the Dwarven Mayor of their city to the Sea of Screams to meet with the Merpeople as he was supposed to. He never went anywhere these days without an escort because of the fear that some of the uprising would get to him without his precious armour being able to stop their swords and arrows.

His armour was being reforged at the moment, the prime time to kill the bastard but yet she found herself unable to - there were too many people watching and he by far was not worth giving her life to kill. He would be replaced in mere hours by another, perhaps worse example of scum from the Dwarven realm.

Scowling lightly as she walked alongside the Mayors horse, Umbra looked towards the approaching coastline, her ears picked up on the sounds of ships moving through the water and her eyes darkened, the skin around them growing black as dye dropped into a pool of water.

This was not good.

Nobody had crossed the Sea of Screams in nigh on centuries...whoever they were had power to be reckoned with and she was surprised that their Mayor had not been told of the threat to the Merepeople from the new arrivals. As he approached them, unwisely, Umbra resisted the urge to roll her eyes and approached after her master on foot.

"You, strange creatures!" Fallandrir called out imperiously looking down at them from his horse "What business have you in the lands of Saeptuose? Speak now before my servant cuts your tongue out for such insulant behaviour."

Umbra bristled and drew her lip in a growling snarl. She was a great many things, but a servant was not one of them, goddamn Dwarven scum.

"Master would it not be beneficial to say these new beings are innocent until proven guilty?" she asked, her voice thrumming through the air with her power.

"You dare to talk back to me?!" Fallandrir screamed, throwing down upon her a sprinkling of blessed water and Umbra tried to stop herself from wincing in the pain, but a hiss escaped her clenched teeth never the less.

Elric blinked a few times to make sure that what he was seeing was right. To him it looked like a tall, bearded, child was leading a group of dark-looking individuals towards him and his ship. He glanced at his young first mate who gave him a confused look before shrugging.

Okay so maybe it wasn't just him seeing this weird thing.

He lowered his bow before strapping it onto his back again when it became clear that they didn't seem to want to attack them. Well, he thought they didn't want to attack them anyway. The bearded child-thing seemed to be shouting at him and although he was currently only able to pick up the odd word, he blinked a few times before glancing back at his young first mate,

"Is the bearded child thing insulting us?" He asked his teenage crew member before he thought about what the strange creature had said before he realised it was like their language... only with a very strong, very strange, accent, "Oh... I think it did insult us actually. And threaten us! How rude."

He lightly tapped the side of his sword's handle and all of his men caught the signal but waited for his mark. The woman who was with the bearded thing he could understand better and she liked the fact she wasn't going to attack him for nothing.

Of course when the bearded thing somehow hurt the female, with what looked like water, Elric decided he'd had enough already. The ugly little creature had insulted him and his men and threatened them before assaulting someone for speaking sense. In his land, even the first two would be worthy of his response.

Reaching forwards, Elric grabbed the thing by it's wild hair with one hand and drew his sword with the other. With a might yell, he cleave the thing's head from it's shoulders. His men all had arrows trained on the group, just in case they decided he'd done something wrong. He scowled a little bit and dropped the head,

"He smells foul..." he muttered before turning to the others, "I hope that doesn't worsen your opinion of us. In my land insults like that are met with steel."

Umbra watched in mild amusement as the creatures talked amongst themselves in what sounded like a rather more watered down version of the language that they spoke, however demons had the useful ability to be understood by most races because of how old they were. There wasn't a language that they hadn't spoken in all likelihoods and moreover, all languages were derived from theirs in the first place so, she could guess what they were saying.

They seemed to be upset with the Dwarf and she hoped that they would kill him over this dispute, it would be easy without the armour he wore on, just like killing any creature that was unarmed.

Inside her mind she was willing the man to kill Fallandrir.

She almost wanted to put her demon will upon him but that would not do her any favours either, and so she merely watched and waited for the situation to pan out. Umbra had to conceal her laugh when the creature called Fallandrir a bearded child...it was quite amusing to her because without his horse he was by far the shortest one in this entourage.

However, when his head was cleaved from his shoulders Umbra's mouth popped open, as did the rest of the demons accompanying the now dead dwarf. They stared and stared at the dead carcass before Umbra began to laugh happily, letting out a loud 'woop' into the air as she punched her fist up in a happy gesture.

Gently she wrapped her arms around the creature and gave him a soft kiss on the lips, it was a very enjoyable texture she had to admit! So different to other demons and elf skin...Umbra had to say she enjoyed it immensely;

"Thank you." she grinned as she stepped back "It does do nothing but alter our opinions of you for the better, you do me and my people a great service."

Stepping back she, and the rest of the company bowed; "We are in your debt, welcome, to the country and Praelium."

Elric had to admit that cutting through the creature's neck had been very easy for him. Easier than his experience with killing humans would have him believe. Perhaps it was the result of working so hard on the ship? Or maybe these creatures had weaker bones than humans did? For some reason they seemed to all be wearing some form of armour, though he guessed that the bearded creature had left his for some reason.

It had been took unsteady on it's feet... something about it suggested that the thing was used to being a heck of a lot heavier.

Either way, it didn't much matter now that the thing was dead.

And one of the other creatures was approaching him. It was the female who had been attacked by the bearded thing. The men readied their arrows but he turned to them and waved at them to lower their weapons. When he turned back round she was right in front of him and she was... kissing him? Her lips were very soft he had to admit and he loved the sensation of her lips against his own.

He hummed a little bit,

"Any time." he assured her in a mild daze before grinning at his first mate when she turned away, "I freaking LOVE this country lad..."

Turning back to the woman, he grinned a little bit and held his sword up so that the flat of it was almost pressed against his nose. He then spun it so that the blade pointed down and knelt down, stabbing the blade into the ground as he did so. Grinning, he stood,

"A formal greeting from a warrior of my homeland." he told her with a grin before looking around, "So... is this your country?"

He paused before tapping the severed head of the bearded thing, "Or is it the country of this... thing? There aren't more of these smell creatures are there?"

Umbra laughed softly when she heard that the man loved being here, she hoped that it was because of her kiss but she thought that might be a little bit big of herself to just assume that straight away. There was precious little else that had happened yet though, however she thought that it was better that he liked the country because of her, than because he could kill easily.

The greeting that he gave in formality was reached with a warm smile, something that many people did not believe could happen from a demon. Perhaps this man had come from somewhere beyond the scale of this world, he was certainly nothing that she had seen before.

Although the question was simple she did not know the best answer to give at this moment, looking at the water warily, Umbra turned on her heel and barked an order in daemon to the other soldiers, who turned on their heels and began marching back to the city, there was no need to have them in the open like this...so close to the sea.

"Saeptuose is my homeland, as is the land of Praelium but they were lost to us in the war with the Dwarven kind, they occupy most of this land." she stated with a frown "Now is not the time, and here is not the place to talk. You should remove your men from your ship as soon as you can, there are great dangers lying in the deep."

Elric liked this new land to be honest. The land seemed rather nice, a little bleak but some parts of his own home were much the same. And, of course, he was beginning to like the people a lot more than he thought he would. The little bearded thing was annoying but the female was someone he could see himself spending a lot of time getting to know.

He had to be an ambassador for his people after all.

...

Okay this exotic woman had just kissed him and he had a desire to see a lot more of her. Was that so wrong of him? Probably but he wasn't the type of person to care about right and wrong when it came to things like this. He grinned a little bit,

"Nice name." He told her before humming a little bit and glancing at the bearded thing, a dwarf if he was right in assuming, "So these bearded things... dwarves... are the overload type beings around here? Huh... they must have some kind of weapons and armour then because he was very squishy."

Waving at his men to follow them, he patted his little teen sailor on the head,

"See? Told you that you'd get to see new places!" he told the lad before winking, "Though the exotic beauties part seems to be going more my way than yours at the moment."

He frowned a little bit,

"If you mean those giant sea snake things... we killed one on our way here. I'm guessing there's more out there huh?"

Umbra couldn't help but think that this man was rather amusing, the manner in which he kept putting down the Dwarves, many people wished to do that and did in fact in the privacy of their own homes however not in front of the sea where they could be heard and reported on by any passing mer-person who wanted to get into the good books of their leaders.

She wanted to help keep these new creatures safe in this land and Umbra hoped that in return they would help them in their quest to reclaim their lands although...that might have been a bit too early to assume they would help them just yet.

"Thank you, it is quite different though from the name that we once called it." she smirked softly "They have a unique armour that when they choose to wear it, makes them almost invincible...it seems to absorb the magic that it comes into contact with making it stronger."

The reference to the exotic beauties made Umbra's dark black eyes develop a warm flame flickering in the center, it was a happy flame, although her skin still stung slightly from the water she was feeling lighter than she had done in years. She might actually have a shot of being free if these humans would let them join up forces together.

"You never know who could be around the corner, perhaps you would find the Elvish more to your liking." Umbra teased the younger boy "I have a feeling we might be too much for you to handle just yet."

Moving further inland, Umbra rested against a barren tree and shook her head;

"If you only encountered one sea snake you are incredibly lucky. I talk of the Mer-people, and the beasts that they control which are worse than the snakes of the sea...have you ever heard tale of a Kraken?" Umbra smirked.

Elric had to admit that the more time he spent in this new land the more he realised how different it was. There was something in the air that had not been present on their island homeland and he wasn't entirely sure how to feel about it. It was palpable, that much he knew, but it was ethereal enough that he wasn't going to risk looking like a fool by mentioning something about an invisible feeling he seemed to be the only one experiencing.

He raised an eyebrow,

"I'd ask what that name was but I doubt my people have a word for it huh?" He joked a little bit before humming a little bit, "See I think there's a language barrier... I understand what you mean by armour and that makes sense to me..."

He paused before chuckling sheepishly,

"But what in the name of the furies is 'magic'?" He asked with a frown, "Some kind of strong bow or something?"

Her eyes were... weird but they were weird in a good way. The kind of way he could see himself liking in the future, after the initial shock of her eyes having flame-like stuff in them died down. He laughed a little bit,

"Well if they're all thin and waif-like then I think you've found his perfect match." He joked before asking, "How many different er... races, are there here?"

He shook his head,

"We only killed one, we encountered many but we learnt early on that if you take even one of their eyes they stop chasing you." He informed her before shuddering slightly, "Every man knows of the Kraken... one of our legendary heroes sailed with a hundred ships to slay the beast. Ten ships came back and the only damage they had done was to take one of the beast's teeth. It makes for a great monument."

The difference between their two races was palpable and Umbra was excited to explore the differences in culture, perhaps where they came from Demons were something to be feared and avoided? How would he feel if he knew that she had her fellows were one of them? Hopefully he would learn to look past it and he would continue to join with them in an effort to help the new creatures find a place for themselves in this world.

What Umbra did not expect however was for him to say that he didn't know what magic was. Blinking at him Umbra laughed softly;

"You must come from a strange world indeed where you do not know of magic!" she smiled brightly "All beings here have some element of magic, Elves and my race have the most power in this respect."

Clicking her fingers, Umbra's hand burst into flames, they licked at her skin before dying down and disappearing. Clicking her fingers again Umbra's hand became engulfed in shadows and they flickered down her arm and into the air.

"Magic is a talent we have to manipulate the world around us, there are different areas of magic available to you. What do you creatures use when you are going into battle if not magic?" she asked, her bright eyes blinking in uncertainty, her flaming red hair tossed down her back as she tilted her head to the side.

With a little nod of her head Umbra frowned;

"The Kraken lives in these waters hence, you might not be able to leave now that you are here, and they know you are dangerous. But to answer you, there are 5 races here, there are the Elves whom are our allies, then the others who rule the land. The mer-people. The Dwarves. The Harpies. My race, and now you, what are we to call you?"

Elric wasn't so sure that he did come from a strange world. He was pretty sure that their world was the strange one. After all, whatever this magic stuff was this seemed to think incredibly highly of it for some strange reason. He would have to assess it's usefulness in battle to see if it would be worth bringing back to his homeland,

"Or perhaps yours is the strange land and mine the normal one?" He teased her a little bit before shaking his head a little bit, "We have none of this magic... at least I don't think we do. When we wage war we do so with the strength in our bodies and the wits of our minds, if magic is not ruled entirely by either of those then no, we probably don't have it."

When he fingers lit on fire he paused for a moment and watched as the fire changed to shadows and then both disappeared. Okay... that was weird. No one he had ever met had had the ability to do something like that,

"How very strange... you can create fire like that? And you say your people are subjugated by the dwarves? I find that hard to believe." He admitted before shrugging, "You make fire from nothing, we make fire from pitch and lather stone with it so that we can send chunks of stone and fire at enemies over a great distance. Closer... sword, axe, arrows and that sort of thing."

He sighed a little bit,

"I expected as much... I feared we were being tracked by the Kraken but it was strangely not able to follow us too this shore." he hummed a little bit, "I think you're going to have to be slightly more informative than that my dear. As for us... we are Humans. Humans of Ealdcyoou, our homeland."

Umbra grinned at the male, she thought that he was amusing to say that their land was the strange one, of course in her age and wisdom she knew that both lands were strange simply because they had things that they did not know about from each. It was not worth getting into a serious discussion about to her mind.

"Both lands are strange to the people from each." she stated with a wise smile "It is the way of the world when we encounter something that we do not know of."

Frowning a little bit when it seemed as if he was saying that it seemed idiotic for them to lose to the dwarves when they had such great magic, Umbra thought perhaps these humans as they called themselves were not all as amazing as she had first thought they were.

"Dwarves are masters of craft. They create things we cannot hope to in all of our long years, and as I said, our magic is useless against their new armour, created from material deep within the earth, our combat skills are lesser to their creations and so, we lost the war."

The flames in her eyes flickered brighter in her anger for a moment before she clenched her fist;

"The mer-people live under the water, they control the sea, who comes, who goes, the creatures beneath the waves. The Harpies are part bird creatures who patrol the skies, they look over all to ensure that there can be no uprising and have keen ears with which to spy. The Dwarves, they live both upon the earth and under it, they mine for precious items, create new machinery and rule over Praelium."

Turning and looking back at the humans Umbra smirked;

"Welcome Humans of Ealdcyoou, to Seaptuose, the land of Demons. I am Umbra Daeraon, you will find me in the City of Breksfell if you wish to talk with me further, I must catch up with my company. The city will be a safe place for you to stay while you reach your bearings now the Mayor is killed, half an hours march north as the crow flies."

Elric admitted that their land would probably be very strange to these new creatures. His land was one of contrasts after all. There were mountains with peaks of the coldest frosts and land swaths of land that were so hot that nothing could live there. This land was as odd to him as his own land would be to them,

"You sound like one of those big thinkers." He told her with a small smirk, "Philosophers we call them... same in your culture I guess?"

He raised an eyebrow and many of his men moved hands to their weapons. It seemed that their host had taken offence to a question he had asked with no ill intent. He tilted his head slightly to the side as he regarded her curiously,

"I wonder why you believe I have offered you an insult friend... I have not knowingly offered you any insult and any slight you find has been found based on information and experiences you have knowledge of and I do not." He told her formally before smirking a little bit, "I mean no offence."

When she spoke about people living under the water his first thought was to check her for lunacy but to be honest it might make more sense. The sea snakes and other monsters did seem to attack with a purpose seldom seen in wild and untrained animals after all,

"I see... creatures of intelligence under the treacherous waves. It seems the gods have an odd sense of humour." He admitted before nodding his head as he took the information in, "I see. We have no means of fighting creatures who make their homes under the waves. But I believe we could fight the creatures of the sky. We have done so in the past with the griffins of my homeland."

He thought for a moment before bowing to her,

"Captain Elric Languine of Borowmound. I shall accompany you to the city along with my first mate." he told her before turning to the men, "Bring the ship ashore... tear the old girl apart to make the walls of a fort. Use the sails to make tents. And... see about hunting some game. I do not like the idea of hunting the waters, knowing there are creatures under it."

He cheerfully followed after Umbra with a grin,

"So Umbra..." he smirked and gave her a cheeky wink, "You single?"

Umbra thought that if he were in her position he would have taken offense at the same thing that she had done. It wasn't something she was proud of after all, having her skills in magic come to naught and to be reduced to a slave in the eyes of the Dwarves when she could have easily ripped them apart before they found that damn metal underground.

She was a demon and demons should not be running around like messenger boys for weaker species!

Although she was willing to let this go while they travelled back to her city, she wanted to keep her new friends close to her and allow them to get to know more about their culture the occassional bristle was to be expected from people who knew nothing about any of the history of Praelium.

When Elric gave the order to tear their ship apart Umbra thought that it might be for the best, she didn't like the idea that the creatures could spy on them and how they used the ship, and therefore it would be best to serve for other purposes, like the beginnings of a makeshift village while they got their bearings and more supplies.

"I would advise trying to drag the base of your new home as far away from the sea as possible for your men, just as the Harpies patrol the skies the Mer-people do the water, it would be best to at least avoid their gaze." she advised with a small smile on her lips.

Raising her eyebrow Umbra looked a little bit confused;

"Yes there is only one of myself, I am a singular being, although there are those who have magic that can split themselves into two and be in two places at once that though is more Elvish magic than Demonic." she stated with a gentle smile.

The smoke from the city fires was visible on the horizon and Umbra carried on with a little smirk on her lips; "Are you currently travelling with a female attachment, Elric? Partners for your men or yourself?"