Umbra ventured deeper into the vast organic cavity that served as the stomach for the ancient dragon. Each step was accompanied by a viscous, muffled sound, the uneven surface beneath her feet composed of a grotesque mixture of partially dissolved matter, mineral fragnts, and remnants of things devoured over countless centuries. The shadows beneath her boots continued to form small, solid platforms, preventing her from sinking into the corrosive liquid that slowly circulated within the creature. Nidhogg’s heavy breathing caused the surrounding muscular walls to pulse slowly, compressing the space in rhythmic intervals as if the cave itself were alive and observing her presence.
Umbra observed everything with clinical attention.
There was no sign of revulsion in her expression beyond the occasional irritation at the nauseating sll that perated the air. Her eyes scanned the environnt with ticulous precision, analyzing each object partially buried in the organic mass that made up the floor. Small, glistening fragnts remained scattered around the area, but as she moved forward, she began to realize that the remains inside the creature were far more varied than the initial blue fragnts had suggested.
Her gaze fixed on sothing tallic, partially buried beneath a thick layer of viscous material.
Umbra approached.
With a simple gesture of her hand, a small wave of shadow pushed the digestive material aside, revealing the object’s complete form.
A sword.
It was ancient, extrely ancient. The blade was partially corroded, but fine engravings were still visible along its length. Runic symbols had been carved with a precision that indicated the hand of a highly skilled craftsman. The hilt was ornanted with details reminiscent of intertwined leaves and branches.
Umbra picked up the sword.
She slowly rotated it between her fingers, examining the balance of the blade.
"Interesting," she murmured.
Even after being swallowed by a primordial dragon and exposed to an extrely hostile digestive environnt, the weapon still retained a fraction of its original energy. A faint aura vibrated along the runes engraved on the blade.
Umbra raised an eyebrow slightly.
"An elven blade."
She looked around again.
"Or it was."
With a casual movent, she opened a small slit of shadow beside her hand and let the sword disappear into it. There was no reason to waste sothing potentially useful.
She continued walking.
A few steps further on, sothing else caught her attention.
A long rod erged partially from a pile of crushed bones.
Umbra pulled out the object.
A spear.
This one was in even better condition than the sword. The tip of the weapon was made of a dark tal that showed no sign of corrosion. The shaft was long and reinforced by tal rings distributed along its structure.
Umbra tested the weapon’s weight with a light movent. The spearhead produced a soft sound as it cut through the heavy air of the dragon’s stomach.
"Military," she murmured.
The weapon was clearly no ordinary artifact. Even in that hostile environnt, the energy contained in the tip still vibrated steadily.
It, too, disappeared into a fold of shadow.
Umbra advanced a few more ters.
The deeper she explored, the more things appeared.
So were completely unrecognizable, reduced to deford masses by the dragon’s digestive process. Others still retained identifiable forms.
She found a set of tools made of a light tal that resembled ancient silver. Hamrs, chisels, precision instrunts that seed to belong to so kind of highly skilled artisan.
Umbra examined one of the instrunts for a few seconds.
"Dwarves," she murmured.
The level of precision in the tools was unmistakable.
She left the tools where they were.
They weren’t particularly useful for what she needed at that mont. Continuing her exploration, she found sothing far less pleasant.
Bodies.
Several of them.
Most were already in advanced stages of decomposition or dissolution, making it difficult to identify exactly what they had originally been. But so still retained recognizable features.
Umbra stopped before one of them.
The body was partially preserved, trapped between two gigantic bony structures that had likely belonged to so even larger creature. The shape was slender, with long, delicate limbs.
She approached a little closer.
The pointed ears were impossible to ignore.
"Elves," she said calmly.
There were several of them scattered around the area, so still wearing fragnts of light armor made of organic materials that resembled living wood interwoven with thin tal.
Umbra observed the body for a few seconds.
There was no emotion in her gaze.
Only analysis.
"You really have a special talent for making bad decisions," she murmured.
She turned her face away and continued walking.
The surrounding environnt seed to expand even further as she advanced. The dragon’s stomach cavity was so large it could easily accommodate a small village. The ground was littered with strange objects that told silent stories of lost battles, ancient hunts, and extrely unfortunate encounters with the creature that now lay unconscious above them.
Umbra found more weapons.
Axes.
Broken swords.
Deford shields.
So still bore coats of arms engraved on their surfaces, symbols of kingdoms or military orders that probably no longer existed.
She ignored most of them.
Her focus remained clear.
Roots.
After walking for so ti, sothing finally changed in the environnt.
Umbra sensed it even before she saw it. The energy in the air was different.
Much denser.
Much older.
She stopped imdiately.
Her eyes moved slowly around the environnt.
Then she saw.
Among a pile of gigantic bones and fragnts of destroyed armor, sothing shone with a light completely different from anything she had ever seen before.
Golden.
Umbra walked in that direction with firm steps.
The closer she got, the clearer the source of the light beca.
Fragnts.
Several of them.
Thick pieces of crystalline wood were scattered across the stomach floor, partially covered by the creature’s digestive fluid. Even so, each fragnt emitted an intense golden light that seed completely immune to the corrosive environnt around it.
Umbra crouched before the largest one.
It was a thick piece, almost the size of her arm.
The structure of the wood was unlike anything ordinary. Veins of energy coursed across its surface like rivers of light, forming complex patterns that seed to move slowly beneath the crystalline shell.
She reached out.
As soon as her fingers touched the fragnt, the reaction was imdiate.
The golden light pulsed more intensely.
Umbra observed this with a slight smile.
"Exactly what I needed."
She carefully lifted the fragnt.
The energy emanating from the wood was stable, pure, charged with the primordial essence of the World Tree.
Yggdrasil.
Umbra rotated the fragnt between her fingers, analyzing its structure.
"Perfect for a core."
She then looked around again.
And noticed sothing even better.
There wasn’t just one.
There were several.
So smaller.
Others almost as large as the first.
Nidhogg had clearly ripped off enormous chunks of the roots before swallowing them, and the creature’s digestive process hadn’t yet managed to completely dissolve that divine material.
Umbra let out a small, satisfied sigh.
"You really made my job easier."
She began to collect the fragnts one by one.
Each piece disappeared into a fold of shadow as soon as it touched her hand, being safely stored within the Umbral’s own domain.
When she finished, Umbra stood for a few seconds observing the surrounding space.
Her gaze swept over the remains scattered throughout the dragon’s stomach.
Ancient weapons.
Lost tools.
Forgotten bodies.
Relics of civilizations that had gone astray.
Umbra crossed her arms slowly.
"Well," she murmured.
A small smile appeared on her lips.
"At least this wasn’t a complete waste of ti."
Then she turned her body toward the dragon’s throat.
Ti to leave.
The interior of Nidhogg’s stomach returned to a heavy silence as Umbra began to walk back toward the organic tunnel of the throat. The shadow platforms that supported her steps rose and fell beneath her feet as she traversed the viscous terrain once more, now carrying within the Umbral itself the golden fragnts of the Yggdrasil root she had recovered. The dragon’s slow breathing continued to echo through the muscular walls like an ancient chanism running on autopilot, each contraction of the creature making the tunnel pulse slowly around her. The nauseating sll remained as strong as before, perhaps even worse now that she had spent enough ti inside for her patience to have completely run out. Umbra wrinkled her nose again as she climbed the gigantic throat, observing the damp walls that contracted and relaxed in an unpleasantly organic rhythm.
"Definitely the worst relic library I’ve ever explored," she muttered irritably as she dodged a thick stream of liquid that slowly trickled down the side of the tunnel. The shadows continued to protect most of her clothes, but not even the Umbral could completely prevent the corrosive effect of the internal environnt of a creature devouring the roots of the World Tree. Small tears were already beginning to appear on the hem of her white dress, the delicate fabric partially damaged by the mixture of acidic saliva and digestive residue. Umbra was clearly not happy about this.
She continued climbing with agile movents, using small shadow projections as makeshift steps as she advanced through the living tunnel. As she approached the creature’s mouth, the organic darkness began to give way to the dim light of the prison chamber, filtering through the opening of Nidhogg’s jaw. The air entering the dragon’s mouth was significantly colder, laden with the sll of broken stone and Umbral energy that dominated the outside environnt.
Umbra finally reached the creature’s colossal tongue and walked the last few ters to the mouth opening. The outside air hit her face imdiately, driving away so of the terrible odor that had accompanied her throughout the descent.
Outside, Lyra and Seryth remained exactly where she had left them.
The two were positioned near the dragon’s colossal head, keeping enough distance to avoid any unexpected movent from the creature still imprisoned by the shadow chains. When they saw Umbra erge from Nidhogg’s mouth, they both straightened up imdiately.
Lyra was the first to speak.
"This took longer than we expected."
Umbra stepped onto one of the dragon’s giant fangs and descended from the jaw with the sa ease as soone descending a few steps on a staircase. As soon as her feet touched the stone floor of the chamber again, the difference between the environnts beca even more evident. The cold dust and dry air of the Umbral were almost pleasant after what had been inside the creature.
Seryth observed Umbra for a mont before speaking.
"Is everything alright?"
Her gaze quickly swept over the figure of her superior.
The white dress Umbra was now wearing was clearly damaged. The hem had been partially corroded in places, and small dark stains marked the fabric where the dragon’s acidic saliva had managed to penetrate the shadow defenses.
Umbra looked at herself for a second.
She sighed.
"No."
Her tone was absolutely dry.
Lyra crossed her arms as she examined the state of the garnt.
"His saliva did this?"
Umbra replied as she raised one hand and gently pulled at a torn piece of the dress’s hem.
"Yes."
The fabric easily disintegrated between her fingers.
"This animal eats roots of the World Tree, but apparently can’t produce even minimally civilized saliva."
Seryth let out a small sound that could have been the beginning of a laugh, but quickly suppressed it.
Umbra completely ignored the reaction.
She extended one hand to the side.
A small fissure of darkness opened in the air beside her. From within the threshold fold, objects began to fall.
First one.
Then another.
And another.
Thick fragnts of golden wood began to accumulate on the stone floor before the three won. Each piece glowed with a soft, steady light, veins of energy running across the surface like rivers of living light.
Lyra’s eyes widened imdiately.
"Roots of Yggdrasil."
Umbra continued scattering the fragnts on the ground until she ford a small, uneven pile of crystalline branches.
"Parts of them."
Seryth moved a little closer to the pile, observing the energy emanating from the living wood.
"He really swallowed all of this?"
Umbra closed the shadow fissure with a small gesture.
"More than that."
She glanced briefly at the dragon trapped behind them.
"He clearly intended to continue."
Lyra observed the golden fragnts for a few seconds before turning her attention back to Umbra.
"So you got what you wanted."
Umbra nodded slightly.
"Yes."
She walked to the pile of wood and gently pushed it with the tip of her boot, scattering the fragnts across the ground exactly where the previous portal had existed before the destruction caused by Nidhogg’s escape. The energy of the roots reacted imdiately upon contact with the Umbral soil.
Small threads of golden light began to pulse between the pieces of wood, as if trying to reconnect with each other.
Umbra observed the phenonon with moderate interest.
"Well."
She crossed her arms slowly.
"Now I just need to rember how to make a portal to return."
Silence.
Lyra blinked.
Seryth blinked too.
They both looked at Umbra.
Then they looked at the branches.
Then they looked back at Umbra.
Lyra was the first to speak again.
"You... don’t rember?"
Umbra tilted her head slightly as she observed the pile of golden fragnts.
"I rember the theory."
Seryth narrowed her eyes.
"And the practice?"
Umbra raised a finger in the air, thoughtfully.
"More or less."
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