I'm read–

Inyssa didn't get to finish the sentence, which saved her from being proven wrong less than a second later.

A scene of impossible breadth and desolation hit Inyssa's like a hammer to the face. What she saw made no physical or logical sense. Her eyes flared up immediately, but as much as her and Uxie's mind combined tried to wrap themselves around what lay before them, they couldn't begin to parse it. She remembered the expression Uxie had used before toward her. 'Like drinking an entire ocean through a straw'. But no, that was nothing compared to this.

The realm in which they stood had no horizons. The more they looked, the more they felt as though their sight should eventually reach its end, the more there was to look at. There was no solid ground, no anchored surface. Instead, thousands… no, perhaps even millions of broken, dilapidated structures floated amidst an endless void of deep black and flashing purple, as though a palatinate storm were trying to break through the surface of a moonless night.

At first, neither of them could even parse what the structures floating through the void were. Their minds kept trying to steer their sight in a hundred different directions at once, making the impossible in giving their incorporeal forms a splitting headache. But slowly, they were able to parse out the details. There were… small islands, pieces of ground and vegetation that had been ripped apart from god-knows where, some of them even having small waterfalls whose water fell infinitely to the void below without rhyme or reason, some even upside-down. But… no, that wasn't all. There were also buildings. Houses, palaces, castles, temples… structures that Inyssa had seen in books from thousands of years before and some that looked as though they could only exist in the distant future.

All of them were… scattered to the void, floating aimlessly. Some were mashed together into unrecognizable forms, others were so far apart from each other that they looked like stars in the night sky. Yet all of them… every single thing inside this horrible void looked like it was suffering the same fate.

They were all slowly disintegrating, being eaten away by what loomed in the distance. A black sun. It hung high above them much like the real sun, only it was... no, it looked to be about the same size, but deep down a part of Inyssa understood that it was impossibly bigger. So massive that the mere idea of its true breadth would drive her mad.

At that thought her eyes shone brighter, and Inyssa felt emotions that were not her own. That ancient hunger for knowledge that made the core of Uxie's power flared angrily, forcing her to stare straight at the black sun in defiance, intent on understanding its nature no matter the cost. Unfortunately, much like the real sun, she could only look at it for a few moments before having to stop, a terrible pain cleaving her mind in half.

A-agh! Fuck, I-I…

"Take your time," Fantina whispered beside her. "I can't think of a worst person to behold this sight than a Shockeyes."

What… what the f-fuck? Inyssa could barely think. The sensations wracking through her Spirit were unlike anything she'd ever felt before. Physical pain was nothing compared to it. W-w-what is this?

Fantina took a second to reply. Despite being only a mass of wisps, Inyssa could perfectly imagine her looking up at that black sun with a sad, nostalgic smile on her face.

"There is no official name for this place, but our predecessor, the first to hold back the great Chaos, once called it the World of Distortion. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" she asked, a clear smile on her face. "You could think of this place as a sort of limbo. That which connects everything we will ever know to the fate which awaits all that there ever will be."

All that will… huh? It was hard to parse Fantina's riddles normally much more when this place made her feel like this. W-wait… our predecessor?

"I'm afraid you've missed the forest for the trees, Inyssa. Pull back a bit those big eyes of yours, will you?"

I–

Inyssa didn't know how in the hell she'd missed them. Maybe because of this place's enormity, there was just so much that she couldn't even see what was in front of them. But… there they were. Young Fantina stood on the same platform as them, only a few feet ahead. And before her was another person; an old woman of silvery white hair. Her eyes were hidden in shadows, but a satisfied smile could be seen on her face.

"This is where I faced my final trial," said Fantina. "Where I took the mantle of Eight Stigma from its previous owner."

The old woman raised her blackened hands, atop which rested a small, smooth crystal the color of amber.

It… looks familiar, she thought. But I don't remember ever seeing something like that.

Young Fantina raised her own hands, placing them atop the crystal so that, between the two of them, it was fully hidden. Then, something odd happened. Despite the crystal being hidden from view, it was clear that it slowly started to dissolve, as their hands got closer and closer together until, finally, their palms touched.

There was a throb in the distorted world around them, almost like a heartbeat. Then, with a sound like that of rushing water, the stigma adorning old woman's hands and the dark, corrupted veins lining her arms started crawling up young Fantina's skin instead. The girl's whole body tensed up, and though Inyssa couldn't see her face with her back turned toward them, she could imagine from her body language the intense pain she must have been in.

After what felt like an eternity, the transference was complete. When they let go of each other's hands, there was no crystal to be seen, only the dark corruption eating up young Fantina's arms.

The old woman let out a tired, satisfied sigh and looked up at the girl with a smile. Her eyes, which had previously been hidden by shadows, were now in plain view. They were big and bright and full of love and compassion.

"Thank you, my child. For relieving a poor old woman of her burden," she said, her tone so warm and motherly. "I pray your time will be easier than mine."

It didn't take more than a second for Inyssa to recognize her voice.

That's the voice from before! The one that spoke to you when you were drowning!

Fantina said nothing, but she could feel as a proud smile formed on her lips.

"Now…" The old woman took a step back, letting her shoulders drop. Suddenly, she looked drowsy. "I think I've earned my rest. Shall we?"

"M-master?" asked Fantina, frightened.

"Come now, you know this was coming," she said, smiling. "It's a perfect opportunity. For me to say goodbye to it, and for you to meet it for the first time."

"I-I…"

Out of the corner of her sight, Inyssa saw the black sun move, and froze in horror. It pulsed like a heart, tendril-like wings of pure darkness pouring out of its sides as a pair of red, burning eyes shone from within. No… not within. The black sun itself was changing, reshaping into a form so vast and horrifying Inyssa's mind refused to even try to behold it.

She did, however, see as it spread its wings and dove toward them with impossible speed, swallowing everything in its path. Inyssa and Uxie screamed in unison, and were then, alongside young Fantina and the old woman, consumed whole.

For a moment, Inyssa thought she had died. Then her mind was jolted back toward her body and she awoke with a start, eyes shooting wide open as a horrified gasp crawled up her throat.

"Take your time. I reacted much the same way my first time."

Had Inyssa been in any state to tell Fantina to go fuck herself, she would've gladly done so. But she couldn't. She barely managed to push herself up to her feet, her mind swimming. Her head felt like it was about to split in half but for once she was grateful for the pain, grateful for a physical body she could anchor herself to. Compared to what her mind had just been subjected to, physical pain was a bliss.

And it wasn't just her. Deep in her mind, Uxie was silent, shaking with fear it never thought a being of its power could feel. Uxie felt… small. Insignificant in a way it'd never felt before.

It took Inyssa a few seconds to be able to speak, unconsciously hugging herself and shaking slightly.

"That was… that was it, right? The… thing. Chaos. What Nyss vanquished."

Fantina gave a solemn nod. "Chaos. Nothingness. It has quite a few names, considering its existence is the Lorekeepers' greatest kept secret. Although for our purposes, I think it's better to call it by its Ancient Sinnohan moniker." Her lips moved as she said the name, but for some reason it took Inyssa's mind a few seconds to recognize the sound she made. "Giratina."

Inyssa swallowed. That name… something about its inherent wrongness sent a shiver down her spine. Unconsciously, she shimmied toward the nearest chair and let herself fall on it, feeling her legs weak and shaky.

"Gi…ratina," she mouthed off the name herself, rolling off her tongue like something sour and unpleasant. "But… what is it? Really?"

"Before Arceus came to be, before there was… well, anything, there was Nothing. An infinite sea of pure absence. Then, from that nothingness, a spark was lit. A being emerged. And before this being split its power to create time and space, it inadvertently created something else. Contrast. Struggle. A fate that was written into the very fabric of the universe growing from that being with every beat of its heart. For just as Life bloomed for the first time, so did its opposite."

"D-death?" asked Inyssa, then frowned at herself. "No, that's… not it."

"Indeed. I've met many who have fallen to death, yet they are still here. Death is not the end, nor is it the opposite of Life. It is simply a… transitory step. A moment of silence in between two heartbeats," she explained, a hint of passion in her voice. "No; what was born that day besides Life was not Death. It was Entropy."

Somehow, Inyssa wasn't surprised at the answer. A part of her felt as though she'd known it for a long time, like it was written in some part of her mind the moment she was born, but she'd been too afraid to acknowledge it.

"You're right to be afraid, of course," Fantina said like she'd read her mind. "Fear of entropy, of this nothingness, is present deep in every living being's Spirit, though most mistake it for the fear of death."

"And… that's what that thing is?" asked Inyssa, tone uneasy. "The, like… opposite of Arceus? Something that wants to swallow everything into nothingness again? Like… like it tried to do before Nyss stopped it?"

For a moment, Fantina looked surprised. Then she just giggled and waved with her hand as though to swat the thought away.

"Oh, no, no. I'm afraid you're thinking of it too much as an entity like Arceus, instead of… well, absence itself. Something without a mind to think. Life and entropy are just the byproducts of two opposites coming into contact, much like the sparks that fly out when steel strikes flint." Fantina raised one of her blackened hands in front of her, showing it to Inyssa. "When Nyss took Dialga and Palkia's powers for herself, Giratina did not come forth because it saw it as its perfect opportunity. It's just that, in the other two's absence, nothing held it back anymore. Just like if you poke a hole on the side of a glass full of water, said water will start pouring out."

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"And to stop it, Nyss…" Inyssa was out of words for a moment. "When she used Dialga and Palkia's power to create the moon, that'd be like… like covering the hole in the glass with tape?" She frowned at herself. This headache was interfering with her ability to make good similes. "But why was reflected sunlight enough to cast it away?"

Fantina looked somewhat proud that she'd asked that. "You should know better than anyone; our dear moon is so much more than a simple mirror. Nyss made sure of that. She imbued most of the power she'd absorbed onto the moon itself, making sure its light would be strong enough to keep Giratina at bay. And when the two collided, another pair of sparks lit the night. Another two beings came into existence." She smiled. "Two beings I'm sure you're familiar with."

Inyssa nodded. Again, she wasn't surprised. A part of her felt like she'd known this for a long time.

"Darkrai and Cresselia."

"Isn't it funny?" asked Fantina, her lips quirking up. "A small portion of what was once Arceus' power collided against a small portion of Giratina, and the result was a repeat of their first clash, only… much smaller. The result was even the same. Two beings, one of light and one of shadow, were created. In a way, you could think of Darkrai and Cresselia as pale imitations of something greater. Ha…" She pressed a hand against her mouth and giggled. "Much like a plush toy of a Tyranitar versus the real thing."

Inyssa just glared at her, once again unsure of what to make of her sense of humor.

I'm pretty sure both of them would rip you to pieces if they heard you say that, she thought.

"I… okay, I get what it is now," she said, a bit of her usual strength coming back to her voice. The shock of what she'd seen a mere minutes ago was starting to fade. "But what does it have to do with you or that weird Institute or Shadi?"

"I was getting to that," said Fantina. "You see, Nyss knew that the moon she'd created couldn't stop Giratina forever. That power that it possessed, that reflection of light that kept the darkness back, reaches its peak roughly once a month and then slowly weakens until it can recharge again."

Realization dawned on Inyssa. "The phases of the moon."

"Yes. Luckily, any amount of light is enough, but… well, what would happen during moonless nights?" she asked, clearly rhetorical. "Fearful that the seal might fail, she thought of a fail-safe, a way to contain Giratina during moonless nights only. And the key to that fail-safe is what you saw both me and my old mentor holding before I became the Eight Stigma."

"That gem? The one that looked like a piece of amber?"

Fantina nodded. "In truth, it's not really a gem. It's more of a… coagulation. When Nyss' and Giratina's power clashed and the latter was banished, a small part of it was cast off, left behind. Since it was a piece of… well, nothingness itself, it couldn't quite be perceived or even felt by most people. Those like me or Nyss being the only exception," explained Fantina. "And Nyss got an idea. That piece of Giratina, the Griseous Orb, was still connected to what it'd been cast away from. Small though it might have been, it was a piece of Giratina itself… If her previous bonding with the siblings of the lake had been any indication…"

She didn't finish the sentence, but Inyssa had no problem connecting the dots at that point.

"She wanted to bond with it?" she asked, horrified. "That's what you and that old woman… and what Shadi… did?"

It was brief, but a small, saddened smile formed on Fantina's lips. "You're right, in a way. But of course, it would be impossible for any human, even one as strong as Nyss, to fully bond with Giratina itself, so she simply bonded with that small piece of it. The Griseous Orb." Once again, she raised one of her hands and examined it. "I'm sure you're wondering how that helped with the moonless night problem. Well… as it turns out, bonding with even a piece of Giratina is quite different than bonding with, say, the siblings of the lake.

"With the siblings, the bond is mutual, but very one-sided. The power a human receives from them was far greater than whatever they could offer in return. But with Giratina, it's the opposite. Its very nature is that of absence. Like a black hole. You will get some power, yes, but the price to pay in return is much greater. You will influence Giratina much more than it will influence you." Fantina spread her palm open, showing her the small dot in the middle. "I told you before; Giratina is, by nature, mindless. But it doesn't have to be. Like blood dripping into water, the smallest addition will alter its nature."

Inyssa swallowed. "T-then… if you were to bond with that thing, that Griseous Orb, Giratina wouldn't be mindless anymore? It would take on your… personality?"

"Yes. That is why Nyss managed to keep it at bay for so long. That is why, when I fell and drowned in the waters of the Unovan sea, the voice that urged me to rise again, Giratina's voice, sounded like that of my predecessor," she explained. "And when it was my turn to carry that mantle, I did so without complaint. Every moonless night I felt within myself Giratina's urge to devour all, and every moonless night I simply reminded both myself and it that there was no need to rush. Entropy would claim all in the end. Giratina's victory was assured from the moment Life came into being… so what was waiting just a little bit more?

"That's how it was for a long time. From my years within the Institute until I finally left their ranks years later, horrified by the atrocities they'd committed. And yet, I was not persecuted. I was allowed to keep this power, this bond to myself. And so… I kept it." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I didn't even let go of it when my own child was tainted by the darkness that rested within me. Nor when she abandoned me to join the very Institute I'd found too abhorrent to be a part of so long ago."

She… she must mean Sanbica, thought Inyssa. So she's one of them… those Institute guys.

Fantina seemed to notice the look on her face. She smiled and waved the matter away. "Oh, you needn't worry about her or those idiots she hangs out with. The Institute is none of our concern, since we are of no concern to them either," she said. "In any case, this brings us to your previous question… though I'm sure you could answer most of it for yourself by now."

Again with that irritating smile of hers. Then again, at this point Inyssa was irritated in general, not only by everything she'd just learned but also the fact that they were all in much, much bigger trouble than she'd first assumed.

Placing both elbows on the table, she hid her face in her palms and sighed deeply.

"Shadi bonded with that piece of Giratina at some point, didn't she?" She parted her fingers slightly, looking sourly at Fantina. "And you helped her do it."

Fantina smiled tersely. "You're… half right."

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" asked Inyssa, voice thin with exhaustion and frustration. "Yeah, I remember you two arguing in our house, and I remember you telling her that you wouldn't teach her anymore but… what happened? Why…?"

In lieu of actually relying her current feeling of overwhelmingness through a single question, she just threw one palm up, shook her head and huffed through her nose in a general gesture of 'What the fuck?'. Luckily, Fantina seemed to understand the nuance of her frustration.

"Shadi studied under me, yes, but never did I suggest the possibility of her succeeding me. I didn't even tell her much of what I've told you today. Only a small fraction. Yet she was… intelligent, reckless and good at putting pieces together; a terrible combination, really." Her face darkened as she said that. "In truth, I only taught her what I knew regarding ghost Pokemon, and later on I helped her in her quest to locate both Darkrai and the Dread Plate. Although… I never could have imagined what she'd eventually use them for."

Inyssa remembered. Flashes of the memories she'd recovered that night. Shadi coming back home on that rainy night, the shadows heavier around her, an unmistakable glint of blue in her eyes. That dark stone she kept looking at like it was a puzzle. How Inyssa had inadvertently helped her put the pieces together…

"The day we broke off our teacher-student relationship was the day she suggested… no, she insisted that I tell her more about Giratina, about the Institute, about everything else I've revealed to you, Inyssa." She sighed. "In all honesty, I still don't know how she found out about it all. But of course, I couldn't comply. No matter how much she insisted that she needed the power, I felt as though I'd done enough damage as is. I'd already sent Johanna's daughter down a dangerous path. I would not make it worse. As you remember… Shadi did not take that well. That was the last time I ever saw her."

Inyssa blinked in confusion. "Wait, then how did she…?"

"It just… happened one night," smiled Fantina. "A few weeks from then, I woke up to find that I could not feel Giratina's presence within me. Moreover, the Griseous Orb that had melted into my scars was also gone, although the scars themselves remained."

"H-how?"

"All I know is that, at some point, she came into contact with the Institute. As to how she managed to obtain that bond with Giratina in a way that no one's ever done, especially without me noticing… well, your guess is as good as mine, I'm afraid." She shrugged. "Judging from your battle against her, though, that bond couldn't have been very stable. She didn't have the darkened scars nor the stigma on her one remaining palm, did she?"

Inyssa shook her head.

"Yes, I figured," muttered Fantina, looking down pensively. "Perhaps it was the fact that she was already bonded to Darkrai, that she couldn't sustain both bonds fully at the same time. Or maybe it was another reason… but I believe she might have only partially bonded with Giratina," she explained. "It would explain a few things, especially… what happened to her in the end."

It felt like a bucket of cold water being suddenly dumped on her. Inyssa gulped, eyes going wide. The shock and horror of what she'd just experienced was such that she'd almost forgotten the main reason she'd asked Fantina for this information in the first place. And now that she was about to get her answers… she felt like her heart was trying to claw out of her throat.

"Giratina… took her, didn't it?"

Fantina was unable to meet her eyes.

"There are only two lights capable of burning through a moonless night'," Fantina quoted those familiar words. "'The first is the crack of dawn. The second is the flash of thunder.'" She looked up at her, forming a sad smile. "When your thunder struck Shadi, it destroyed not only her Dread Plate but it also burned away her bond with Giratina. You broke both of her bonds at once. What remained was nothing but a normal woman… one who currently held on to the Griseous Orb and had no way of containing its power. There is… a reason only an Eight Stigma should hold on to such an object."

For a few seconds she didn't say anything else, not because she'd finished speaking, but because the next words were difficult to get out.

"Shadi was… consumed. All that she was, her very being… was taken in by Giratina itself. She was practically erased from existence, and from the memories and souls of all who'd ever known her," she said with a heavy voice. "The only ones who can still remember her now are those whose Spirits have a… layer of protection so to speak, whether from having bonded with a legendary Pokemon or… for other reasons."

There was something to the way Fantina had said those last three words, but Inyssa couldn't think about that right now. Because suddenly, it was like the entire room had filled with cold water. She felt dizzy, weightless. Had she not been sitting down, she was pretty sure her legs would have failed her.

You already knew, a part of her told her. Deep down you knew that's what happened to her, so why…

"Is there…!" Inyssa looked up sharply, eyes full of desperation. "Is there a way to bring her back!?"

The emotion that formed on Fantina's face wasn't pity, but it wasn't far from it either.

"Well… if we don't, I'm afraid things will get rather difficult," she smiled. "She was the one keeping Giratina in check. And without knowing where the Griseous Orb is now, we either get Shadi back or… well, the leader of Team Galactic won't have much time to enjoy his victory once the moonless night arrives. Our world or his, it will be consumed all the same."

There were a few seconds of silence. Then Inyssa chuckled. It wasn't a healthy, sane chuckle by any stretch of the imagination, but it somehow eased a bit of the knot that had formed in her throat. She placed a hand against the side of her face and shook her head, a broken, wavy smile on her lips.

"Great… here I thought I was only dealing with one end of the world and a missing sister. Turns out there's two different ways the world could end… and my sister's still fucking missing."

Maybe she'd finally gone low enough to dip into what was Fantina's sense of humor, because the woman chuckled as well.

"If it makes you feel any better, we do have a plan," she said. "Cynthia and I have been trying to think of a way to solve both problems at once. Kill two Pidgey with one stone, so to speak. The rest of her group will take care of Team Galactic, and we… that being you, Barry, Metchi Cynthia and I will take care of… well, Shadi's mess."

That was enough to startle Inyssa. Not only the fact that she'd been recruited without her knowledge, but also that Barry was meant to work with them? Was… was Barry already back on his feet? And heading over here!?

Inyssa felt her breathing get faster and harsher.

"Breathe in and out. Slowly." Uxie spoke for the first time in minutes, its voice still weak but slowly recovering. "Let's handle one thing at a time, alright?"

She nodded. Uxie was right. Right now, this was more important.

"I'm guessing there's a reason you and Cynthia need all three of us," she said. "I'll… help, of course, but I'd like to know what the plan is."

Fantina sat silent for a few seconds. Then, slowly, almost reluctantly, she pushed herself against the table to her feet and sighed. When she looked at Inyssa again, there was an apologetic look on her face.

"That's… the thing. I'm afraid you probably won't like the first step of our plan very much."

"I… what is it?"

"Barry and Metchi are both ready, but you…" Fantina formed a lopsided smile. "You will have to… die, just a little bit."

Inyssa blinked a few times, confident that she'd heard her wrong.

"H… huh?

----------------------------------------

Cyrus frowned as he was led down one of the cave's many corridors toward one of the crevices where they'd left their equipment while they rested for the night. It had better be good, whatever Jupiter wanted to show him. He'd finally managed to fall asleep for the first time in three days.

"Yah, trust me boss, you're gonna wanna see this one," said Jupiter, her voice slurry. Was she drunk again? "Ah, here!"

"I can't imagine what would merit such–"

He stopped after entering the crevice, shocked. There, in the back, rested the three containers that held the siblings of the lake, both containing them and siphoning their power. At first, Cyrus noticed that something was odd, but couldn't identify what. Then it hit him.

"Uxie's vital signs…"

Jupiter exhaled out of her nose, relieved. "Yup. Its cerebral activity spiked up a few minutes ago, and it's stayed like that ever since. Which means…"

"The grunts outside succeeded in their mission." No true joy or excitement could exist within Cyrus, but there was still a certain intensity to his voice as he said that. "We finally have all three of them."