Penumbris: First Contact

Penumbris is a dangerous continent home only to manic beasts of shadow. The landscape is dark, and life, as we are used to, cannot flourish there. What few plants are toxic to foreign lifeforms and the ground harbors powerful but volatile energy. Some explorers, brave and foolish alike, venture to this cursed place. Some naively seeking adventure, some delusional enough to try and harness the energy of the land. However, in modern-day, Penumbris is destined to be visited by a peculiar group of people.

They were a group of people known as the “Spark Users”, a society of light commanding and wielding beast experts. They decided that it would be a good idea to check up on Penumbris, to make sure there wasn’t a growing threat. The land had been left alone for nearly 200 years and who knows what could be developing there at that time. Maybe all the creatures finally killed each other in that time, perhaps the landscape changed. They decided for the betterment of all people, and for their interests, they would venture to the cursed continent.

The spark users were right in their thinking because, in these recent years, changes have been occurring on Penumbris. A new type of people has risen. Within the slew of manic beasts, there are a few who have a shred of intelligence and morality. They were able to reason with each other and decided that staying together was a better option than killing each other because they were getting tired of having to be alert and ready to fight literally at any moment. They formed a single, settlement whilst trying their best to coexist. Their leader, Malignus, was the first to start this process as he was incredibly powerful after being hardened by his environment, to the point where he simply grew tired of fighting. Over the years their settlement grew and even some “second generation” shadow beings were born.

The day the spark users arrived was like any other, dark and cloudy. They arrived via boat since air would be too risky. They were assaulted on the way by the shadow beasts that inhabit the sea surrounding Penumbris, but made short work of them, displaying their prowess even when confined on a ship. They met the shore shortly after, but as they stopped, the boat made a loud noise and alerted nearby creatures on Penumbris, the shadow people included. Many beasts were now on their way to rip and shred their new visitors, but they were met with destruction at their hands.

So far Penumbris was what they had been expecting, and scouts began to search and survey the area. Though what they found surprised them, there appeared to be a village of some sort. Here? Of all places? Had some people managed to survive over time? You can’t eat the shadow beings nor the mushrooms here, so there’s no food to support any life...unless. As they drew closer it was obvious that this was a society of shadow creatures...and they appeared to have been waiting for them to arrive.

What ensued was a few quiet but crushingly tense moments of staring. Both the shadow beings and the scouts were afraid of making a move that would startle the other. Things changed when a beast suddenly came rushing at the scouts. A small scuffle ensued but mid-way the beast decided to go after a smaller-looking member of the shadow settlement. A scout then charged ahead to cut it off and subdue it. While not the ideal way, this did break a bit of the tension...by adding more elsewhere. The random beast had made it a fair bit into the village to attack the small shadow person, as did the scout who stopped it. Other shadow folk gathered around to get a good look at this mysterious person, including Malignus. Some even attempted to copy the form of their new visitors, perhaps as a way of trying to understand them. This scout was a young man named Roakai, and he began to speak to them, mostly just to see what would happen. It caught the surprise of the shadow folk, who were not used to sounds coming out of mouths that weren’t bloodthirsty screams.

One Shadow person got very close to Roakai and began poking around a bit. Though the thing they were most transfixed by were his eyes. Roakai noticed that this shadow person’s eyes were slightly different than the rest. He was used to handling monsters but wasn’t quite sure how to handle this, so he just nervously stood there. The large one, Malignus made a noise followed by a gesture and the shadow person backed off Roakai a bit.

Eventually, the time came for them to leave, so the scouts headed back to the ship. This was an incredible discovery. There were people here now! Before leaving the scouts gifted the shadow folk a tracking orb, so that they could keep an eye on them and make sure nothing bad happened to them. They wished they could stay longer, but their food rations were dwindling in numbers. With spirits high, the spark users set sail for home.

...................................

However...

They had unknowingly brought someone along with them. The shadow person with the peculiar eyes had hidden in Roakai’s shadow when she was following him on his way back. The whole time, Roakai constantly felt as if someone was there, but he just couldn’t see anyone whenever he checked. He had no choice but to ignore it. When Roakai returned to his home, he noticed something rather shocking, his shadow had the same eyes as that shadow person from before...