Urainia and Noctave talked in Urainia's private study room about Umbrum.

"I have to face Umbrum, but I'm not sure what to expect. All the memories I have of him are faded and positive. Like when he held me in his arms next to the fire on long, cold nights."

Urainia nodded. "You were a very fussy baby. You hated being cold."

Noctave fidgeted with the cube puzzle on Urainia's desk. "You knew him well, what was he like? And what truly went wrong."

Urainia pondered it a bit, looking through her vast collection of memories.

Noxis appeared on the desk, not wanting to miss an opportunity to talk about Umbrum. "Umbrum was an abrasive sort of god, but he retained a strong moral fiber even at his lowest point."

He batted at Noctave's black harness.

Urainia responded with "I suppose that's him in a nutshell, considering if your definition of moral is different from mine."

Noctave picked up Noxis and sat him on her lap. "What exactly went wrong?"

Urainia sighed. "The first thing that went wrong was the attitude that the other gods had towards us."

"What do you mean?"

"Every other god was intimidated by Umbrum, and they couldn't understand what I saw in him." Noctave adjusted her harness and realized something.

"Hold on, I just realized I never asked how you and him met!"

"Would you like to hear how?" "Yes, of course! We've got time to spare."

"I appeared alongside the first stars. I'm certain that he was there before me, but there's no way to know how long. Time had hardly existed. For a time, we were the only gods that existed, but we had each other, which was more than enough.

"Other gods appeared, and Umbrum was seen as very scary. He was always a bit grumpy and not the friendliest god around, but he didn't deserve to be seen as a monster. He got into arguments with others, sure, and sometimes physical fights, but usually because they were harassing him."

Noctave said "Well, wouldn't you avoid someone if they were scary to you?"

Urainia shook her head. "I wish. Umbrum's reputation was not helped by his tendency to make off-color jokes or his bad temper. This only made other gods fear and hate him more. It's the main reason no one showed up for our wedding." "Could you give me a specific example?"

Noxis asked Urainia if Noctave knew about "The Halucina attack." "Oh, that's a very good example of his anger being entirely justified, but nobody caring about it."

Urainia continued. "It happened while I was pregnant with you. Umbrum was more stressed out than me about a new baby, mostly because he wasn't good with children."

Noxis interrupted, "He sure got out of that one, didn't he?" Noctave scolded him, but Urainia gave Noxis a death glare through her veil.

"To make matters worse, he began to have nightmares. All of them centered on losing his child. I say child because we weren't sure if you were going to be male or female. He told me about them, and I tried the regular folk cures to ensure better sleep. It was fruitless, and his lack of sleep made him more irritable and paranoid. The other gods were happy to hear the "high and mighty" Umbrum was now a coward because of a few bad dreams. This is a bit off topic, but not a single god or goddess gave me support while I was pregnant. I had to bribe Matruemi for her services."

Noctave was shocked. "Doesn't Matruemi see delivering babies and helping new mothers as a labor of love?"

Urainia went quiet for a while, and flipped over her veil and rubbed the freshly forming tears from her eyes."That doesn't extent to wives of gods of "death, misery, and destruction"."

"Umbrum knew who was responsible, and set a trap for her. It worked, and Umbrum confronted Halucina. He politely (as much as he could) asked Halucina to stop the nightmares. Halucina laughed it off, asking why she shouldn't inflict misery on a god directly responsible for it existing. He then proceeded to..."

She cringed at the memory of seeing Umbrum beating Halucina with his mace.

"Deal with her. Halucina never messed with him again, but his reputation only sank lower."

Noctave was saddened by this story, but felt it gave her quite a bit of insight into her mother and father.

"Did any god or goddess try to hurt you, directly?"

Urainia said, "Philiana tried to make me "hook up" with someone else and repeatedly told me "to get rid of that abrasive bastard". I always tried to ignore her, but she was very persistent."

Noxis supported her. "Fuck Philiana! For a goddess of love, she doesn't know a happy union when she sees one."

Noctave asked Urainia about the failed invasion of Illuminana. "I understand the disaster, but why did he invade it in the first place?"

Urainia pondered the topic, and said, "Cumulus and Umbrum always had a rivalry, but it went from petty to violent very quick. Cumulus never missed an opportunity to insult Umbrum, and Umbrum did so in turn. It started out fairly petty and playful, but once he got personal, as in attacking me, he got violent. It was somewhat justified, but he soon became obsessed with revenge."

Noxis hopped on the table. "Can you blame the guy? Cumulus told him he didn't deserve a wife and child."

Noctave was shocked, again. "What? He actually said that?!"

Urainia and Noxis nodded. "Well, it's no wonder that he invaded Illuminana!"

Urainia said "Nonsense, Noctave! I vehemently opposed him on the idea, but he put his own grudges above his family."

Noxis made direct eye contact with Urainia. "But what else was he supposed to do? Nobody was supporting him-at least not anyone divine."

"But violence doesn't help anything! When has it worked out for him?"

Noctave left, silent. Neither Noxis or Urainia, busy with their little debate.

"What other choice did he have? He was trapped in an eternal checkmate, every move he makes was a losing one."

"Then he should've stopped playing the game!"

Noxis grew a wide smile. "Umbrum never gave up. And despite your best efforts, he never did."

Urainia scowled at Noxis. "Get out of here, Noxis. Now."

Noxis' proud smile became an expression of dread, and he disappeared, leaving Urainia alone in her fancy office.