The days that followed the council meeting took on a peculiar rhythm within the Umbralis Castle. Eleonoré had settled into their assigned quarters, attempting to infuse some semblance of warmth into the shadowed stone. Augustus, meanwhile, had returned to his arcane pursuits, his rock-sorting hobby now joined by an intense scrutiny of various Umbralis schematics and star charts. Aurené, oblivious to cosmic politics or her parents' bizarre routines, had just discovered a profound joy
crawling.
Her tiny, determined movements propelled her across the cold floors, a small, bright beacon in the perpetual gloom. This new mobility, however, came with a fresh set of challenges. Aurené's curiosity was boundless, and her grasp of "appropriate objects for consumption" was, to put it mildly, nonexistent.
Eleonoré watched with a mix of awe and terror as Aurené, having somehow scaled a low cabinet, reached for a glass orb that glowed with trapped, flickering souls. "Aurené, no!" Eleonoré snatched the orb away just as the baby's mouth opened. Aurené merely gurgled, eyes fixed on a glint beneath Augustus's worktable.
Augustus, seated cross-legged on the floor amidst a sprawl of schematics, looked up as Aurené veered towards him. "She's moving faster now," Augustus observed, his gaze following Aurené's determined crawl. "We'll need to watch her more closely." His eyes fixed on the glint beneath his worktable. "No. Don't touch that."
Too late. Aurené had already reached Augustus's side. Her plump fingers closed around a tear-drop shaped rock, dull and black, yet radiating a cold, ancient energy. This was the peculiar artifact Augustus had acquired during his earlier 'seeking', a remnant of a shattered star or perhaps a hardened tear of a dying god, kept for its unusual gravitational properties. It was a relic, yet yields insidious aura.
Before either Eleonoré or Augustus could react, Aurené popped it into her mouth.
There was no crunch, no sound of chewing. Just a single, soft schlorp. Aurené blinked, her eyes wide, then let out a delighted, satisfied sigh, a tiny wisp of black smoke curling from her lips. The tear-drop rock was gone. Utterly, completely, consumed.
Augustus stared, his usual impassive features shifting into an almost imperceptible, clinical surprise. "...I think that was the cursed fragment I brought back during our stay at the shepherd's hovel...."
Eleonoré, however, was less scientific and more horrified. "She ate it?! Augustus, what was that thing?!"
"A curious anomaly," Augustus replied, already making a note on a nearby tablet. "It might have had a strange kind of awareness, even at its core. Very unstable. For most Umbralis adults, it usually twists reality around them." He paused. "Aurené appears… unaffected. Or perhaps, enhanced."
As if to prove his point, Aurené let out a delighted giggle, and a tiny, perfectly formed black hole the size of a pea briefly shimmered on the floor before winking out of existence, having vacuumed up a loose dust bunny.
"Enhanced, indeed," Eleonoré muttered, pressing a hand to her forehead. This was going to be a long journey.
Other antics followed throughout the day as preparations for their departure were finalized. Aurené, now a crawling terror, managed to replace a vital void-reactor component with a sock, swap the ceremonial Umbralis crest from the gate with a petrified mushroom, and somehow re-route the castle's internal waste disposal system to the central fountain of Umbralis. Each time, Augustus would offer a deadpan observation about "unforeseen permutations" or "unconventional problem-solving," while Eleonoré, well.....utter shock, disbelief, and perhaps....a touch of existential dread.
Finally, the time came to leave Umbralis. The grand gates, usually guarded by golems, stood open, revealing the desolate, craggy landscape beyond. Waiting beyond the open gates was a peculiar craft, not drawn by beasts but sculpted from seamless plates of blackened, preternaturally silent alloy. This armored carriage, built for grim purpose and swift passage, hummed with latent power, its form sleek despite its resilience. Behind it, a sturdy, hermetically sealed wagon, clearly designed for extensive supply hauling, was securely docked, a testament to the journey's anticipated length. Augustus placed Aurené, secured in a custom-built, surprisingly plushy silk carrier, next to Eleonoré inside.
With a final, detached nod to the few Umbralis Lords who had gathered—Vexatio conspicuously absent—Augustus took his place at the controls. The heavy gates of the Umbralis fortress began to grind shut behind them, sealing off the home they'd just left. The void-vehicle hummed to life, accelerating swiftly into the Northern Passage, the desolate winds of the Star-Scoured Wastes already beginning to whisper around them.
The journey had begun. And somewhere in the gloom ahead, Vexatio's calculated plan.