"It would be a pleasure for me to die at your hands. "
A cloaked figure knelt before a man with eyes as dark as night. The man seemed to resemble a walking corpse, his ragged clothes and pale skin blended with the surrounding atmosphere of a dark alley.
"But unfortunately, Lady Ligeia commanded me to-"
"Who am I?"
The man tried to catch a glimpse of his appearance through the reflection of his blade.
"...It's not nice to interrupt someone when they're speaking, you know?"
The figure got up from the ground, unsheathing their dagger.
"Your name is Caligo... At least that's the new name gifted to you."
"Caligo...Ca..."
"Ca-li-go. It seems that the curse, compared to the rest, works much more effectively on you.
Makes sense, after all, you're-"
"New.. memory. I'm Caligo."
"Alright, that's the second time that you've interrupted me.. And you know what? Lady Ligeia has been strict with my salary lately. If she expected me to be patient enough to feed you memories for another.. let's say a week or two? She was very, very wrong. Heck, why would I tell you all this if I was going to.. wait, let me get my script. Oh, I found it... DIE?! Theoretically, I chose to be a Follower of The Eye, but I also have my private life. In addition, I have to pretend to be some incredibly mysterious character. THE THING IS THAT I CAN'T. Do you know how many times I repeated my lines to myself at home, ignoring the fact that the curse didn't make it any easier? I've already forgotten what I was originally going to say.. More treatment like this, and I'll convert to the Children, I swear."
Caligo almost fell asleep halfway through the figure's vent. His Essence Strings frayed, and it wasn't long before he forgot his purpose of coming to the alley. As he came back to his senses, the first thing he focused his attention on was the dagger in the hand of the stranger.
He shifted into a low stance, knees bent. He positioned the edge of his sword towards the Follower, letting Umbra shroud it all over.
The Follower stopped rambling and jumped back in surprise after witnessing Caligo's usage of Umbra.
"Uh, I never knew it could be used that way.. or is it not your doing? Either way, I've gotta learn that some day!"
...
"You could've at least given out a speech about how I'm going to meet my demise, you know.. Oh well, I guess time is up, right? Let's get this over with."
The Follower smirked, raising their hand, and a shadow tendril shot from the ground, aiming for Caligo's chest.
Caligo dodged, rolling to the side. The cobblestones scraped his knees. He swung his blade, creating a wave of Umbra, which burst out, slamming the Follower's dagger away. It clanged against the alley wall.
"Damn you're quick."
The Follower waved their hand, and two more tendrils lashed out, curling toward Caligo's legs, while he went to pick up his dagger. In response, Caligo jumped back and increased the intensity of his blade's Umbra.
Umbra reacted to Umbra, cancelling each other out, turning the terrain near Caligo into mist. He pointed the blade, and a mirage of himself flickered, confusing the Follower. Their second tendril hit the fake Caligo, vanishing.
"I believe you're more capable than that, come on!"
The Follower charged. Caligo sidestepped; his blade was ready to strike clean. He thrust it into the Follower's shoulder, leaving an open scar and Umbra particles escaping from it. The Follower gasped, dropping their dagger.
Caligo's blade drank a memory, Ligeia's voice chanting about the Veiled Stacks. Caligo pulled back, dizzy. His mind blurred, and he had trouble distinguishing which memory was his.
His Essence Strings frayed once again, making him forget why he fought, but he muttered regardless:
"Stay down."
The Follower smirked one last time before collapsing. Caligo stumbled away, blade dimming, heading for the undercity.
...
"So, uhh.. should we mention his crashout to Lady Ligeia?"
"Nah, it was pretty valid."