The Umbra World

The Nephalem

Drake had read so many books on myths and one of them was about a Nephalem with extraordinary abilities called Shinigami who disappeared into thin air after the umbra world rejected and turned against his world. The world was divided into the umbra world and the mundane world.

"Tell me what happened?" Shinigami asked after a brief silent that allowed Drake to let Shinigami's introduction to register but he still didn't believe obviously because he thought all Nephalem were extinct.

"The thing you called a Ravener demon. It attacked my dad's boat. Only I and him were present on it. He was going to show me something at the other end of Delta city ocean". He stopped awhile as it dawned on him that his father is no more.

"It killed my dad and I killed it" Tears burned the backs of his eyes as he continued in melancholy.

"You killed a Ravener demon all by yourself.”?

“I guess I did.”

“But you’re a mundane and a kid?

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Drake said, savoring the look of thinly disguised amazement on shinigami’s face.

"And I'm not a kid, I'll be eighteen this coming Sunday. And your obstinacy is wearing on mine. I dreamt and watched the whole incident occuring like I'm watching a movie. I was lying on the floor of the ship in a pool of blood with a dying demon practically on top of me. I watched as it vanished. If i didn’t kill it, who did?”

"Firstly, I'm sorry your dad didn't make it unfortunately. And secondly Raveners are stupid. Maybe it got itself in the neck with its stinger. It’s happened before".

(He is human,how could he kill a Raven demon all by himself") Shinigami thought to himself.

Raveners are search-and-destroy machines,” Shinigami said. “They act under orders from warlocks or powerful demon lords. Now, what interest would a warlock or demon lord have in an ordinary mundane and his father a mundane also?” His eyes when he looked at Drake were bright with disbelief. “Any thoughts?”

"It must have made a mistake then...." After he said that he continued "Are you pertaining to me and my Dad as mundanes? What does that mean?

"Demons don't make such mistakes" shinigami replied. And of course " Humans are mundanes".

"You said you're Shinigami? A Nephalem?" "I have read about one on some mythological books. And I'm Drake Wayland, wouldn't be surprised if you're trying to assume a Nephalem's identity. And right, I'm human,I mean we'll are."

"A book lover I see.." Shinigami chuckled.

No mundane may summon a demon—they lack that power—but there have been some, desperate and foolish, who have found a witch or warlock to do it for them. Shinigami thought to himself.

"How much do you know about shinigami as you prolly must have read from the mythical books in Delta city?" Shinigami asked not surprised,he didn't expect Drake to understand anything about the Umbra World so soon or even believe he is a Nephalem.

Drake sighed..

"Angel Inarius and his demon confidante, lilth led a group of renegade demons and angels were they created a new world through the worldstone. And In an act without precedent, Inarius and lilth mated and created a Nephalem but however The Nephalem are a race of hybrid beings who are half angel and half demon,yet fully a new entity. They wield the powers of both supernatural species and are considered a threat to both demonic and angelic power due to their formidable prowess and potential. Because of this, they were hunted down and slain. Only one survived and fear of being killed, he hide in a mysterious isolated riverine island away from the Umbra World that comprised of Vampires,Warlock,Demons,Witch/wizards, Werewolfs and faeries.' Drake explained and shrugged."

"What if everything about that myth you read are true?" Shinigami asked.

"Oh com'on, they're just myth and I really need to start going back home soon. Thanks too for saving my life he said as he staggered to stand up."

"In addition, you're obviously human. You can't have been the only surviving Nephalem" Drake said.

“I may look like one,” Shinigami said. “But I’m not like you.” There was no defensiveness in his tone. He sounded like he didn’t care if he believed him or not.

Drake’s heart felt as if it had shrunk down to the size of a walnut: a tiny, hard stone in his chest. I will not cry, Not in front of this man. He thought. I'm a man. It was a difficult task wearing a bright face and answering Shinigami's questions knowing his dad was killed by that demon.

Drake’s eyes were stinging the way they did when he tried to hold tears back for too long. Shinigami loomed up in front of him, a fussing gray blur. “Sit down,” he said.

He sank gratefully onto the soft cushions. His cheeks were wet. He reached up to brush the tears away, blinking. “I don’t cry much usually,” he found himself saying. “It doesn’t mean anything. I’ll be all right in a minute.”

Drake wiped his eyes on the hem of Shinigami's shirt.

Shinigami pulled the chair out from behind the desk, dragging it over so that he could sit facing him. His eyes, he saw, were gray, like his hair and tweed coat, but there was kindness in them. “Is there anything I could get for you?” he asked. “Something to drink? Some tea?”

“I don’t want tea,” said Drake, with muffled force. “I want to go home and meet my mum and my sister. They need to know what happened And then I want to find out who sent the demon in the first place, and I want to kill whoever.”

“Unfortunately,” said Shinigami, “we’re all out of bitter revenge at the moment, so it’s either tea or nothing.”

Drake dropped the hem of the shirt—now spotted all over with wet blotches—and said, “What am I supposed to do, then? And where is this place?”

"I could start by telling you I'm the only surviving Nephalem like I told you earlier,the one you read about on books. All the legends and stuff about the Umbra World are true,” Shinigami said, rummaging in his pocket. He produced a handkerchief—crisply folded—and handed it to him. He took it with silent astonishment. He’d never before known anyone who carried a handkerchief.

"You mean everything about the Umbra World? The downworders - Vampires? Werewolves? Warlocks? Are real? And that you're Shinigami the Nephalem?" He asked to be sure of what he had just heard.

"Yes!" A moment of silence dawned on the room.

Nephalem are, the most simplest term, abominations. They possess both grace and miasma, born of both heaven and hell, and their nature is both angelic and demonic. Yet, they are neither of the two. Some Nephalem chose their angelic parents, some chose their demonic ones, but the majority chose to be neutral. And that caused many to fear them. For that neutrality alone is much more dangerous than any side. They usually have a combined appearance of both of their parents, how come he is looking like a typical human? Drake thought himself as he recalls a little bit more about Nephalems.

"How come you're looking like a human if you're a Nepahalem?" Drake broke the silence asking.

"I assumed a human form not to scare you..I bet you don't want to see my true form" Shinigami answered and his eyes radiated a demonic aura.

Drake was terrified at the sight of that and tired of asking questions whose answers only made him more confused. He stood up.

“Is there any chance I could go home?"

"No - whoever sent that demon after you is still after you. But you'll be safe with me here on Shinigami island. I have been living alone here all my life and it'd be nice to have a mundane who singlehandedly killed a Ravener demon keep me company. And of course to survive here in shinigami island you've to become something dangerous."

It still felt weird being congratulated for killing.

Drake was wrapped in an angry silence. He didn’t really mind the silence; it gave him a chance to think. He kept reliving what has come to his knowledge and his dad, over and over in his head. It hurt to think about it, like biting down on a broken tooth, but he couldn’t stop doing it.

"So,this is the Shinigami Island??" Drake asked in disbelief.

"Do the umbra world know you're still alive?" Drake asked wanting to interrogate shinigami to know if he really does know what he is saying. He was so confident on what he knows.

" No, And they're looking for me to get rid of me for Good. I pose a threat to the Umbra worlyd as a whole,thus I keep myself hidden." Shinigami replied as he stood up. He singlehandedly turned this cave into his home, built the furniture and everything in it. The cave sure did looked like heaven.

How one person turned a cave into a vast place that looked mystical and appealing baffled Drake but he thought if he were truly a Nephalem,that would be a very easy task and if he has been hiding away from the Umbra World "how did he manage to get books?", Questions pumped into his brain but he couldn't ask,he was getting discombobulated and more than willing to go home.

The next second Drake let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding for quit some minutes now.

" And even if you were to go home? How do you make it home?" We're at at a place without a location,and since you know pretty little about the Shinigami Island,I need not explain extensively" Shinigami added.

"Your experience here will awaken your survival instincts. Many kinds of demons are from here and they roam around here." Shinigami asked wanting to tune his expectations.

"When do I live?" Drake managed to ask that question.

"You can't leave this island at the moment. The only way out is through a teleportation portal that I can create but requires me to cultivate for five years." Shinigami replied but that was a lie,he can create teleportation portals anytime any day but he so much craved the company of the mundane that he had to lie to keep him. And secondly the witches and warlock of the downworld are continually searching for him and if he creates a portal it could send a signal to them and he'd be located.

"......and what's a portal?"

“It’s a door, Drake, it’s a five-dimensional door." Said Shinigami. "Dimensions aren’t all straight lines, you know,” he added, in response to Drake''s blank look.

“There are dips and folds and nooks and crannies all tucked away. It’s a bit hard to explain when you’ve never studied dimensional theory, but, in essence, the portal can take you anywhere in this dimension that you want to go."

Drake was dumbfounded knowing he has to stay with this man for the next five years in this cave in this island that he has book knowledge about. He couldn't help but think that he'd surely find a way out before those years elapses. He had no idea what was going on truly.

"Can you show me around this place you call your island?" Drake finally broke the silence asking the question mildy. His plan were to feel the air around the island and look for a route to escape on process, he wondered if he were dreaming but reality is he was not, he has just been introduced into the Umbra World. And he chose not to believe until he confirms for himself.

Occasionally his dad Mr Wayland would call him The Doubting Thomas, a disciple in the christian bible who always doubted.

"Alright come with me...and there is no escape from this island. Trust me" Shinigami replied like he was reading Drake's thought but however he didn't let it get to him.

As they both walked out of the cave. Apprehension dawned on Drake shinigami was not lying afterall. The environment was flooded with living trees and plants like a very thick abandoned forest just as several authors painted the island to be in words, there were quite differences but it were not much. Without being told,one should know the environment was very demonic.

"Where is this place......god?" He murmured.

Suddenly some thing moved past them in the form of bold of a lightening with a speed almost like the velocity of light,the bushes confirmed that a path was created in it's direction due to the speed . The glowing flowers died at instant indicating the thing that had just passed is demonic. Demons destroy everything good that comes their way. They were twisted and built that way.