[Corven Umbrovante]:
Corven woke up in a bed far more comfier than he's used to, in a room, he's unfamiliar with.
It was big, at least twice the size of the attic back at Miss Blueford's place. And grand. It had white walls, with intricate silver designing trims and the bed he woke up in was at least three times as big as his own back home, and even more time more comfortable. A dresser of elegant brown wood lined one wall while a series of windows, open and bright lined the other, a bathroom the size of a medium sized bedroom was at one side and a walk-in closet fitted with various clothes rested on the other side of the room.
Eyes hurting, Corven quickly got up to close each of the curtains, and dimmed the lights, making it tolerable enough to see where he was. The excessive silver and white around the room still reflected light but Corven could now see his surroundings without having to feel like he'd pass out. Damn it, he hated sunlight!
"Not a fan of sunlight, I see," a feminine voice startled Corven, who turned to see the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen enter through the double bronze room doors.
Her hair and eyes were like matching pearls, undecidedly pink or silver or white or all of the above. She had olive white skin that was pleasant for the eyes, a lean physic with curves despite her youthful appearance, and she looked to be 15 years old. She was dressed in a pearl white rose-y dress that complemented her eyes, and her hair was lush and curly.
"I-I… I don't, no," Corven stuttered over his words, to which had the girl giggling into her hands, causing Corven to go slightly red in the cheeks. Never had he been thankful for the dark room as he had in this moment.
"I'll keep that in mind next time I heal you," the girl said, her voice both regal and youthful. "I am Princess Celeste Luminaris, of House Luminaris."
Those words shocked Corven to his core, as the events of what happened to get him here came rushing back like a tsunami. "My friends, my cousins! Have you seen them?" he began panicking.
Celeste seemed perplexed momentarily before gathering her wits. "Achlys and Cimon are awaken and are up and about. Our house had its best healers patching them up. They'll fully recover in a few days."
Corven let out a relieved sigh. He wasn't entirely sure what he would have done if he had learned his friends were dead. It would have sucked ass.
"So you're Celeste Luminaris?" Corven asked, looking at the girl. "The healers?"
"I am Celeste Luminaris, heiress and princess of House Luminaris," Celeste said, eyeing Corven with a curiosity he wasn't sure what to do with. "I was incharge of healing you, as you had the worst of injuries between you and your… friends/cousins? Though you summons seemed more worried about you than I could have been, honestly."
"My… summons?" Corven asked, confused.
Then he saw it. He hadn't noticed it when he woke up, but the shadow he'd extracted and made solid from the Chaos Sphinx had shrunk to the size of a dog and was resting by his bed, its white flaming eyes watching Corven's every move. It took a lot of willpower not to visibly shiver at the sight of its cold, white eyes, and even more to not flinch away at its predatory gaze.
Despite the initial shock, Corven didn't flinch nor back away. He held its gaze, inwardly sighing when it shifted its gaze away towards Celeste, watching her every move, as if vigilant towards the girl, but kept its distance. He wasn't sure why or how, but he was certain that this sphinx was different from that chaos sphinx it was born from; he knew it wouldn't — rather, it couldn't — hurt Corven.
The creature blinked at Corven again, curiously this time, before trotting over to him and kneeling respectfully.
Perplexed by the interaction, Corven heard Celeste speak then. "I take it there's a special bond between the two of you? She wouldn't leave your side since she brought you here, you know. I had been the only one she had let go near you."
When Corven didn't answer, she continued. "Are you a summoner-type demigod or legacy? Do you know who your godly parent is? What House are you from?" Like a dam had broken, Celeste found herself overwhelmed with curiosity. She had asked these questions in quick succession, hardly giving Corven time to process any of them, before asking the next one. "What is your relationship to House Umbrovante?"
"I don't know, I'm not sure and I can't say," Corven answered her first three questions. "As for that last one, I was told that I'm the last son of House Umbrovante, and that you guys — House Luminaris? — would help me? What is this place? How'd I even get here? That last thing I remembered was that monster being killed before me by that shadow…".
Celeste was quiet for a few moments, while she processed his answers and then his questions. "Your summons carried you and your friends here last night," she said. "It wouldn't let anyone go near you who wasn't a healer. From what I can tell, your summons are highly intelligent and incredibly loyal and fierce. Those aren't traits usually found in summons… At least, not as a combination," Celeste said in awe, causing Corven to look at the creature now rubbing its head on his ankles, before puffing out its chest in pride at the praise. "I've never seen anything like her? What's her name? She's so cute! Can I pet her?"
"Her?" Corven asked, looking at the creature, lost in thought, "Her name?"
Corven was at a loss for words. He hadn't given a name to the shadow sphinx just yet. He hadn't even known it was female until Celeste said it was. He'd been too unconscious to really give it a name. Maybe he should…
What he did know was that he shouldn't reveal much info about his abilities to her. He wasn't sure how'd she react if he told her he could literally extract and bring to life her literal shadow to work for him for all eternity. People are weird, and he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. He still didn't know the mechanics of such abilities himself, nor, if these people proved to be enemies, did he want to deal with them knowing a lot about him from the get go, in case he needed to escape.
As Corven petted a purring shadow sphinx, she answered Corven's other questions. "This is the main estate of House Luminaris. It is heavily warded and guarded by both mortal and legacy guards 27/7 — You're safe here."
And yet, Corven couldn't shake the feeling that Celeste was trustworthy — her vibe was chill in Corven's eyes. He shouldn't feel this way about someone he's barely just met, and yet he got the sense that she wasn't harboring negative intentions towards him — Not only that, there was a faint connection between the two of them, as if they were connected in some way like through a thread somehow.
As he pondered this over, Celeste spoke again. "Why don't you name your sphinx 'Eclipse'? She's dark like an eclipse and hard spot at night. It fits her perfectly."
Corven actually had nothing against such a suggestion. Jhe actually liked the suggestion. And, from the way the shadow sphinx was having zoomies around the room like an excited puppy, she liked it as well. "She?" Corven asked again.
"Oh, yeah, its a girl. I can sense it," Celeste stated so matter of factly that Corven didn't argue with her on it. "Also, what's your name? I haven't asked you that yet. I was so caught up in asking questions, I got carried away."
"It's alright," Corven said, eyebrows raised in surprise. 'She wanted to know my name?' "It's Corven, Corven Umbrovante."
"Well, Corven Umbrovante," she said his name with a suggestive expression before giggling. "Do you want breakfast? We have the best bacon around, I promise you that; you've got to try it."
Corven laughed. He was about to answer when the door opened again and in came a man, barely 17 years old, with cold eyes and a jock-ish build. He was mid-sentence before looking up. "Sister, father said to bring the stranger with the House Umbrovante pendant down when he wakes—," as he looked up in surprise, he locked eyes with Corven. "Oh, he's awake."
Corven, who instantly sensed what type of person this guy was upon just looking at him, eyed the newcomer warily, and Sean did the same to Corven before Corven spoke to Celeste. "Can I take a shower? I feel dirty."
Momentarily stunned by the gaze battle between the two men, Celeste couldn't help but to stutter her words. "R-right. The shower is that way. Please, help yourself to the pleasantries inside the bathroom and I will arrange for the maids to bring some clothes to prepare while you're in the shower. There will be a guard outside your door to take you to the Dining Hall when you're ready."
"Make sure the outfit is dark, preferably black, but dark grey works, too," Corven said, promptly ignoring Sean's look of incredibility, as he walked past the boy. Celeste nodded her acknowledgement.
With a shift in his step, Sean left the room, as Corven closed the door to the bathroom, blatantly in his face. As Sean left the room, he was heard muttering "Arrogant, inbreed trash," before disappearing down the corridors.
"What an asshole," Corven muttered aloud, turning to Celeste right before he closed the door, and asked "Is that your brother? For real?"
"Yes….mostly. He's more really a close cousin — A son of my father's half-sister than my literal brother, but, yeah, pretty much," Celeste rambled on slightly, before giggling, liking this boy more and more. It didn't hurt that he was very attractive, either. "He's not the most welcoming of individuals… especially after I was named our father's heiress, instead of him the heir, despite him being older."
Corven sympathized with Celeste. He wasn't new to having domestic family issues. Everyday with Miss Blueford for the last while have been nothing but domestic family issues. 'Guess even the most powerful families have them, too,' Corven thought privately. 'Familial drama is universal, it seems.'