In the following week after Elizabeth agreed to become an Umbreise, they began the preparations for both her living space and her brief initiation. Although she was concerned at first about complications with leaving her dorm, the expenses, and dealing with the school overall, Lilith reassured her that ‘everything will be taken care of’.
True to her word, it appeared to be the case. She received no complications from the school, and also found that her dorm fee had been compensated for. She wanted to know how Lilith managed it on her own, but was too nervous to ask. Once all of those matters were settled, then came the moving and initiation day. Thankfully she didn't have an abundance of possessions at school to begin with, so the moving process was simple with a bit of help.
Irisyla sat on the floor, crossed legged while resting her arms and chin on one of the boxes piled in the entrance hall. She hummed to herself absentmindedly while watching Elizabeth pace back and forth on her cellphone.
As Irisyla waited patiently, Euryale peeked around the corner and spotted them both. “What are you waiting around for?” She asked her while walking up with a puzzled look. Irisyla was the type of person who always needed to be doing something, so seeing her do 'nothing' was a bit surprising to her.
She lifted her head and turned to Euryale with a slight pout. “I was helpin’ Liz carry her stuff over, but she got a call from her mom when we came in the front door!”
“Why don't you just take the boxes up to her room while she is on the phone?” she asked.
“I was gonnaaaa! But she said she didn't want me to do it alone or she'd feel super guilty ‘bout it.” Irisyla replied as her cheeks puffed out more.
She shook her head with a slight smile. “Well, the preparations are almost finished for her initiation. Once you two are finished as well, can you bring her to the lounge?”
“Roger roger!” Irisyla nodded with a salute to her as the succubus walked around the corner back to the lounge.
“Yes Mom! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine! ...Y-you can stop getting so emotional, it's embarrassing!” Elizabeth muttered to her mother over the phone. “I really have to go now, but I promise I'll call you later okay?” She paused for a moment as the response came and smiled. “Love you too, bye!” Now that her call was finished, she stuffed her phone away and let out a sigh of relief. “I'm sorry for making you wait like that, Iris!”
The succubus picked up most of the boxes with ease, leaving only one for Elizabeth and shot her a childish grin. “It's no problemo! Though Yu said that we gotta go to the lounge for the initiation thingy once we finish moving your stuff.”
“Okay, I'll just unpack everything later on.” Elizabeth told her while picking up her single box. She hurried over to the large staircase that led to the second floor. “Thank you again for helping me with the move,” she glanced over at the tower of boxes Irisyla was carrying, “and doing most of the work...”
Irisyla giggled and grinned at her again. “Of course! With your position now, I'm here to do anythin’ for you!” She informed her. As if to show off a little, she balanced all the boxes she carried with a single hand. “Plus this is suuuuper easy for me.”
She watched the succubus carry her boxes, and felt a bit jealous. She didn't know what everyone was capable of, but seeing people around her performing feats that she would have thought impossible a week ago was going to be something she would have to adjust to over time.
Once upstairs, the pair turned down the lavish hallway and walked down all the way down where Elizabeth's new room was. Along the walls were a few paintings similar to the ones that littered the first floor walls. As well, spread out on both sides of the hallway were a dozen or so closed rooms with nameplates on them. Most of the name plates were blank, while the remaining few had names filled in, a few of them were even decorated with little extra trinkets.
When they reached the door to Elizabeth's room, she glanced back at a couple of the doors they passed one the way to hers. Lilith, Euryale, and Irisyla's names were on some of them as expected, but there were two other names she didn't recognize. “Hey Iris, who are Sarana and Raksha? I thought it was just the three of you here. I haven't met anyone else,” she asked nervously.
Irisyla opened the door to the room and gave her a reassuring look. “Oh you don't have to worry, they're succubi too! Sarana has actually been home since you first came, but she's really really shy! She saw you when you were conked out, and then ran up to her room to hide.” She paused for a moment and looked at Sarana's door. “She's only come out lately when you aren't around I think!”
“That's... encouraging for me to hear,” she spoke dejectedly with a sigh.
“Don't worryyyy, she'll come out at some point!” Irisyla reassured her again while ushering her into the room. After they were inside, they plopped the boxes onto the smooth wooden floor and looked around.
Her room was mostly bare for the time being, but the succubi had graciously provided her with a large bed, a dresser, and a desk with a chair beside it. The size of the room was almost intimidating for her, as it was at least twice as big compared to anything she ever had in her life. Elizabeth dusted off her hands and looked out at the room across from hers. “And what about Raksha?”
Irisyla chuckled awkwardly while rubbing her head. “She's kinda... uhm... hard to get to know at first! But she works really really hard and she's really strong!!”
“But if she isn't shy like Sarana, why haven't I seen her around before?” she asked.
“Sooooo... you remember how we were tryin’ to find the Umbral Queen right? Raksha didn't wanna stay in one place anymore, and she went off to who-knows-where to find that person. She hasn't come back home since she left. Though... Raksha might've gone pretty far away, cuz we all thought the Umbral Queen was gonna be a demon, so it was pretty weird to see you were human!” the succubus explained.
Elizabeth felt a bit of uncertainty with that, but she couldn’t explain why. “I guess she'll be a bit surprised when she gets home?”
“Maybe, but it's not like it matters! You’re here now!” She answered and skipped over to the door. “C'mon, let's get you initiated!”
When the two left Elizabeth's room and closed the door, they looked down the hallway to see that the door to Sarana's room was ajar. Elizabeth could only see darkness through the opening, but squinting allowed her to catch a glimpse of an eye watching them. But the moment they started walking towards Sarana's room, the door slammed shut and the sound of it being locked echoed down the hallway.
Irisyla ran up to the door and knocked loudly a few times. “Awwww!! Sarana you should say hi to Liz! You don't have to be so shy!!” However, no matter how much of a ruckus she caused, Sarana did not make a sound in response. After a few more failed attempts at getting Sarana to come out, she was dragged away from the door by Elizabeth and went with her downstairs towards the lounge.
“This is a tad eerie...” Elizabeth muttered to herself when they arrived at their destination. She inadvertently shivered at the state they found the lounge in.
The room was completely dark, the only source of light coming from a few candles burning as an arrangement in the center of the room. All the furniture had been pushed out to the walls, and most of the floor was covered in chalk-written symbols that formed a circle around the room.
Euryale –who was in the center of the lounge– took a step away from the candles and gestured Elizabeth to the middle of the chalk circle. “Don't worry Elizabeth, this will be very quick and it won't hurt or anything.”
“This looks way too much like a cult thing!” She swallowed hard and moved to the circle, while Irisyla stood off in a corner of the lounge. She glanced to the side to see Lilith standing against a wall in a creepy looking black robe. “That looks even MORE like a cult thing!!!” She felt a bead of sweat drip down the back of her neck. “Why is she wearing that...?”
Euryale sighed while rolling her eyes at Lilith. “Don't... don't even pay attention to it.”
Lilith smiled mischievously at Elizabeth and stayed silent, although she appeared quite fidgety underneath the robe.
Elizabeth glanced down at the floor when she reached the center. “Is it too late to back out now?” she thought. The eerie atmosphere was getting to her a bit too much now.
Euryale gently pushed her down onto her knees before taking hold of her right hand. “Are you ready for this? If you have any second thoughts you should say them now so we can clear anything up,” she told her.
Initially she was freaked out, thinking the succubus was reading her thoughts. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that she was showing most of her thoughts on her face. She shook her head, clenching Euryale's hand for a brief moment before letting go. “I'm ready, I trust you all with this.”
The succubi in the lounge all smiled, relieved that Elizabeth had no reservations for the time being. Euryale rested her finger atop the human's frail hand. “Elizabeth Ambrose, you have come here today to become one with the Umbreise Clan. Our founder and leader –Lilith– has entrusted you to me for this initiation ceremony.”
As Euryale spoke, the tip of her finger glowed ever so slightly, and radiated a peculiar warmth. The chalk symbols on the floor began glowing as well, fading in and out with each word spoken. “Despite your status as a human, you have entrusted yourself to us, demons. To give you a proper connection to our world, I shall bear you the mark of our clan.” Carefully, She started to draw the mark of the Umbreise on top of Elizabeth's hand with gentle strokes.
Her heart fluttered as the mark was drawn, the warmth from the finger against her skin creating an unfamiliar sensation in her head. The sensation and silence was brief, allowing her heart to calm a little as the mark was completed. Euryale lifted her finger away, and all that remained was the mark glowing on her hand.
“The Umbreise Clan exists for those who have faced great hardships and found themselves without a place to call home any longer. By taking this mark upon yourself, you have accepted our hardships as your own, just as we have accepted your hardships as ours. You will now and forever be a part of our family, even if you must leave us to walk your own path in life.” Once Euryale finished speaking, she leaned down and gently pressed her lips against the mark on Elizabeth's hand.
The glow on her hand exploded into tiny particles of light, leaving a proper black clan marking in its place that slowly faded away into her skin. The tiny lights filled the room for a brief moment, creating the beautiful illusion of a night sky in the room. They danced slowly down to the floor until they touched it, elegantly dissipating from existence. As the glowing chalk marks faded from the wood, Irisyla turned the lights back on for the lounge and gave their new companion a cheerful grin.
Elizabeth clutched her hand against her chest, cheeks burning slightly as the fluttering sensations in her body drained out. “That wasn't bad at all.”
Euryale watched the other two move the furniture back into place and giggled at her. “I told you it would be fine! Now you can move between here and the human world through the doors without our help.”
“That's good, but...” She watched Lilith wheel something covered in a blanket over to the fireplace. “I still don't get why she is dressed so weird?” she asked. She was focused now on the mysterious cult-like robe that Lilith wore, considering it didn’t appear to have any part in the initiation ceremony.
Lilith looked back at her mischievously, throwing the blanket off and revealing a whiteboard with markers. “It's very important!~” she informed her in a sultry tone.
Euryale didn't say a word in response to either of them, opting to silently shake her head and sit on the couch beside Irisyla.
Elizabeth was puzzled by the whiteboard, or what it had to with her acting so strangely. Whatever it was, Euryale seemed to know what she was up to and was having none of it.
“It's time for you to learn more about demons and where we come from!~” In a single motion, Lilith grabbed her black robe and threw it away onto one of the chairs. Underneath the robe, she had been hiding a provocative set of clothes. Wearing a white button-up shirt that was too small for her endowment, the poor final button struggled to keep her covered.
Elizabeth's face exploded with red as Lilith whipped on a pair of glasses and took her by the hand. “W-what is all this about?!”
“Come my princess~ It's time for you to learn!” she chimed at her. Ignoring any sort of physical resistance, she guided her new friend over to a seat.
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