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Description
"The air in the alleyway suddenly became very heavy, almost corporeal, as Carter examined the gem he had received from the corpse of Qimby, who lay still in his study now, as he considered the deed he had done at his “Mistress’s” bidding, of how this stone may provide the key to the incorporeal shackles, how such a small and seemingly mundane object could be his only hope for freedom. Whether through the sweet release of death, or through the end of his dagger, mattered little to Carter as he continued to steal himself for the fight he knew would come. When the shadows around Carter seemed overwhelmingly real and threatening it come like a sudden storm of uncertain doom.
Carter’s dagger was already sunk into the thing’s wrist as it held him there, pinned against one of the walls in the alleyway, the ground several feet below him. Dull green lights served as the thing’s eyes, or so Carter assumed, and they burned into him, showing and telling him on the swift and painful death that awaited him at their Mistress’s bidding. It resembled a huge torso of armor, otherworldly in design, demonic in appearance, it arms being like those of an ape’s, longer than they should be. Red, pale and with a hint of purple, tassels hung from its helm, covering the corners of its eyes with their thick braids. It was black, and Carter knew it was made of nothing but shadow, and so it was no surprise to Carter that his dagger didn’t seem to affect the thing. That horrible shade…
Then the shadow beside Carter began to swirl, he sensed more than saw, and from it a form cloaked in darkness wearing a mask of swirling white and black stepped forth. With in a matter of seconds the rest of the figure began to form into a curvaceous woman wearing a brown shirt with a hood and a green skirt with a slit up its sides and a metal leaf over her groin, forcing the dress to show her voluptuous legs and boots. At one point and time Carter may have wanted to bed the woman, but he knew better now as he looked to the crude tattoo of a chain that wrapped around her right thigh. The woman seemed to regain her composure after she became a creature of actual matter again, her shoulders stiffened and she inserted her hands into their opposing sleeves, something that many scholars did. She walked around Carter, the grim mask staring at him with nothing but black slits.
What was it? Was she looking at him with a wonder of what he was doing? Did she know of his new found item? Or was this simply something else entirely? Carter composed himself, he had pocketed that stone when h had drawn his dagger and was certain that if need be he’d try to kill that monster holding him and then most likely die at her hand moments after, as it was certain that she had to be stronger than the creature serving her in order to exert her absolute air of control and confidence. Forcing down his bile from the fear that was rising in his stomach Carter stared back into those unnaturally black slits, showing her the sheer intensity in his eyes, that primal and grim look, explaining to her that in no uncertain terms that if he were held by her pet much longer that he’d die but not before showing her his true ferocity.
Several seconds passed before the creature lowered him, releasing the strain on his neck and back. Carter coughed and withdrew his blade, never removing his eyes from his Mistress. “Quimby is dead then?” she asked with a voice that was as soothing as a serpent’s. Carter didn’t answer. She shrugged and turned her back and removed her hood, showing her pale blonde hair. “It doesn’t matter if you answer or not, Carter, I know the truth of it, and I know what you now carry in you’re left pocket.”
Hissing he reached to put his hand on the magical stone.
However fast Carter was his Mistress was much faster. In one fluid motion she grabbed his wrist and wretched him free of her servant and brought his arm behind his back, pinning him chest first to the wall. “Do not think for a moment that anything sort of the God’s themselves could save you, Carter Jamven!” she hissed. “I am always watching you, Carter Jamven,” her voice began to rise in timbre and lower in pitch and Carter could not help but wince in fear of the powers she controlled. “As long as there is shadow, as long as there is a dark place in the corner of the world, as long as you’re blade drips with blood, I’ll be with you until you can no longer serve my purposes; like the fool Quimby.” she released him. “You cannot ever out run me, Umbra, the Forgotten Foe, Carter ‘Strife’s Companion’. Because you will never escape the darkness in your heart…”"
Well there you have it folks, basically this is my entry to *chioky contest. [link] Now I'm sure that the excerpt above may be slightly confusing. So to clarify I basically want to explain a few things. This story is based off of D&D and as such Carter is the main character who plays a guy who stumbled upon a woman while adventuring with some friends, the woman being Umbra, and Umbra being a very angry and hurt person who kills half of Carter's friends with her manipulation of shadow itself and forces Carter and his companions to work for her for unknown reasons. They move back to their home town and Umbra has the most charismatic of them get into office, and several other notable changes in the community, namely with Carter, who is the most nimble, killing many people in the city. Including his old mentor Quimby.
Now about Umbra and her shade. Umbra was cast out as a child and thrown into the wilds for reasons that she can't remember and was too young to understand. Somehow she survives in a crypt where she stumbles upon a magical bracelet. She puts it on and gains the control of a shade (she is a monk/shadow dancer) She does not realize it but her shade is nothing more than her own rage, revenge, frustration and pain personified through the bracelet and shadow turned semi-corporeal. It whispers promises of death and revenge in her ear and tells her that several adventurers are in the crypt and that she should enlist their help as puppets. It is important (for the contest) to note that this shade, however sentient, is not so different than a zanpakutō to the shinigami in Bleach, it is just an extension of herself. From there she plans to kill everyone in the city by sucking it into the plane of shadow and then let the shades who call that place home (who are usually very violent). Along the way she enjoys watching Carter squirm (she is very upset from the fact that she could not kill him in their initial conflict, for unknown reasons) and making him kill his friends. Basically she loves to torture Carter on every level she can. I hope this isn't too much explanation but I've been thinking of this character and her shade, plus Carter, for Almost a month, and I'm very excited by the depth of them. I hope you feel the same.

Description
"The air in the alleyway suddenly became very heavy, almost corporeal, as Carter examined the gem he had received from the corpse of Qimby, who lay still in his study now, as he considered the deed he had done at his “Mistress’s” bidding, of how this stone may provide the key to the incorporeal shackles, how such a small and seemingly mundane object could be his only hope for freedom. Whether through the sweet release of death, or through the end of his dagger, mattered little to Carter as he continued to steal himself for the fight he knew would come. When the shadows around Carter seemed overwhelmingly real and threatening it come like a sudden storm of uncertain doom.
Carter’s dagger was already sunk into the thing’s wrist as it held him there, pinned against one of the walls in the alleyway, the ground several feet below him. Dull green lights served as the thing’s eyes, or so Carter assumed, and they burned into him, showing and telling him on the swift and painful death that awaited him at their Mistress’s bidding. It resembled a huge torso of armor, otherworldly in design, demonic in appearance, it arms being like those of an ape’s, longer than they should be. Red, pale and with a hint of purple, tassels hung from its helm, covering the corners of its eyes with their thick braids. It was black, and Carter knew it was made of nothing but shadow, and so it was no surprise to Carter that his dagger didn’t seem to affect the thing. That horrible shade…
Then the shadow beside Carter began to swirl, he sensed more than saw, and from it a form cloaked in darkness wearing a mask of swirling white and black stepped forth. With in a matter of seconds the rest of the figure began to form into a curvaceous woman wearing a brown shirt with a hood and a green skirt with a slit up its sides and a metal leaf over her groin, forcing the dress to show her voluptuous legs and boots. At one point and time Carter may have wanted to bed the woman, but he knew better now as he looked to the crude tattoo of a chain that wrapped around her right thigh. The woman seemed to regain her composure after she became a creature of actual matter again, her shoulders stiffened and she inserted her hands into their opposing sleeves, something that many scholars did. She walked around Carter, the grim mask staring at him with nothing but black slits.
What was it? Was she looking at him with a wonder of what he was doing? Did she know of his new found item? Or was this simply something else entirely? Carter composed himself, he had pocketed that stone when h had drawn his dagger and was certain that if need be he’d try to kill that monster holding him and then most likely die at her hand moments after, as it was certain that she had to be stronger than the creature serving her in order to exert her absolute air of control and confidence. Forcing down his bile from the fear that was rising in his stomach Carter stared back into those unnaturally black slits, showing her the sheer intensity in his eyes, that primal and grim look, explaining to her that in no uncertain terms that if he were held by her pet much longer that he’d die but not before showing her his true ferocity.
Several seconds passed before the creature lowered him, releasing the strain on his neck and back. Carter coughed and withdrew his blade, never removing his eyes from his Mistress. “Quimby is dead then?” she asked with a voice that was as soothing as a serpent’s. Carter didn’t answer. She shrugged and turned her back and removed her hood, showing her pale blonde hair. “It doesn’t matter if you answer or not, Carter, I know the truth of it, and I know what you now carry in you’re left pocket.”
Hissing he reached to put his hand on the magical stone.
However fast Carter was his Mistress was much faster. In one fluid motion she grabbed his wrist and wretched him free of her servant and brought his arm behind his back, pinning him chest first to the wall. “Do not think for a moment that anything sort of the God’s themselves could save you, Carter Jamven!” she hissed. “I am always watching you, Carter Jamven,” her voice began to rise in timbre and lower in pitch and Carter could not help but wince in fear of the powers she controlled. “As long as there is shadow, as long as there is a dark place in the corner of the world, as long as you’re blade drips with blood, I’ll be with you until you can no longer serve my purposes; like the fool Quimby.” she released him. “You cannot ever out run me, Umbra, the Forgotten Foe, Carter ‘Strife’s Companion’. Because you will never escape the darkness in your heart…”"
Well there you have it folks, basically this is my entry to *chioky contest. [link] Now I'm sure that the excerpt above may be slightly confusing. So to clarify I basically want to explain a few things. This story is based off of D&D and as such Carter is the main character who plays a guy who stumbled upon a woman while adventuring with some friends, the woman being Umbra, and Umbra being a very angry and hurt person who kills half of Carter's friends with her manipulation of shadow itself and forces Carter and his companions to work for her for unknown reasons. They move back to their home town and Umbra has the most charismatic of them get into office, and several other notable changes in the community, namely with Carter, who is the most nimble, killing many people in the city. Including his old mentor Quimby.
Now about Umbra and her shade. Umbra was cast out as a child and thrown into the wilds for reasons that she can't remember and was too young to understand. Somehow she survives in a crypt where she stumbles upon a magical bracelet. She puts it on and gains the control of a shade (she is a monk/shadow dancer) She does not realize it but her shade is nothing more than her own rage, revenge, frustration and pain personified through the bracelet and shadow turned semi-corporeal. It whispers promises of death and revenge in her ear and tells her that several adventurers are in the crypt and that she should enlist their help as puppets. It is important (for the contest) to note that this shade, however sentient, is not so different than a zanpakutō to the shinigami in Bleach, it is just an extension of herself. From there she plans to kill everyone in the city by sucking it into the plane of shadow and then let the shades who call that place home (who are usually very violent). Along the way she enjoys watching Carter squirm (she is very upset from the fact that she could not kill him in their initial conflict, for unknown reasons) and making him kill his friends. Basically she loves to torture Carter on every level she can. I hope this isn't too much explanation but I've been thinking of this character and her shade, plus Carter, for Almost a month, and I'm very excited by the depth of them. I hope you feel the same.