A tunnel of warm sticky heat envelops me. Pulls and sucks me deep into its vortex. The timeless nothingness stretches me; thinner, thinner, thinner.
My psyche travels through some cosmic sieve, and I lose … what is it that I have lost? The brighter part of myself—an ember—falls away. It is gone.
Images from my life, memories—the ones I buried—jangle through me. I’m reminded in vivid detail of every evil I ever committed—from the smallest lie to the most deplorable betrayal. The excuses I made for myself—every rationalization—consolidates into a single trail of gluey telltale.
The sticky thread spins and rolls into a compacted ball of cowardice, envy, self doubt, and self pity. The grey light is extinguished. I have arrived in a void of omnipotent blackness as an impotent, seething blotch.
Heat builds around me, my consciousness implodes. Raining down through the ethers, I am mortal ash. — Umbra, Isolt's Enchantment
Quantum Musings: "Quantum Electrodynamics ... does not see [the] universe as static but [as] a dynamic arena where matter and energy are spontaneously created and destroyed and [the] particle anti-particle annihilative dance keeps the stage rocking." — Amir Suhail Wani
Umbra.
The darkest part of the shadow. A quantum manifestation of all unresolved human suffering.
OMG!
There couldn't be a better theme song for Umbra than "You Want It Darker" chillingly performed and superbly written by genius songwriter Leonard Cohen.
"You Want It Darker" Lyrics
If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game
If you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame
You want it darker
We kill the flame
Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the help that never came
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my lord
There's a lover in the story
But the story's still the same
There's a lullaby for suffering
And a paradox to blame
But it's written in the scriptures
And it's not some idle claim
You want it darker
We kill the flame
They're lining up the prisoners
And the guards are taking aim
I struggled with some demons
They were middle class and tame
I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my lord
Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name
Vilified, crucified, in the human frame
A million candles burning for the love that never came
You want it darker
We kill the flame
If you are the dealer, let me out of the game
If you are the healer, I'm broken and lame
If thine is the glory, mine must be the shame
You want it darker
Hineni, hineni
Hineni, hineni
I'm ready, my lord
Hineni
Hineni, hineni
Hineni
Isolt of the Waters is an ancient water elemental whose betrayal and enchantment has forever changed the Whole. When a young scholar in Idonne discovers her story, along with tales of dwarf magic and the birth of Umbra—a malevolent entity dwelling in the Void—he dreams of a life filled with adventure and heroism.
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