A single foot stepped inside the boundaries of the dead valley within Turnback Cave, and its decay slowed then, if only for a few moments.
The place had almost completely disappeared. With Nyss' death and Cynthia's departure, there was no powerful Spirit left that could fuel its existence, that could maintain the portal between their world and the next. The entire valley, as well as the cliffs surrounding it and all of Sendoff Springs themselves had started to vanish, specks of white that looked like either ash or snow bleeding out like smoke, erasing them all from existence. Barely anything remained but the upwards drift of white specks amidst a white nothingness.
But it wasn't wholly gone yet, and for that the man who stepped inside the valley was grateful.
Dusty creaks resounded under Riley's feet as he walked through the disintegrating scenery, the golden ring he wore upon his finger casting a dome of light around him, protecting him from being erased himself. It was a useful artifact. He'd been glad to have asked for it in exchange for his cooperation with Cynthia.
And speaking of which…
He looked all around, and after confirming that Cynthia was indeed gone, he walked over to the striking pile of burnt, smoking iron smack dab in the middle of the valley. Nyss' armor lay there, solitary, devoid of the one it had once protected. It was now nothing more than a bunch of scrap, a memento that he had no interest in.
Now, the sword, however…
Bending down, he grabbed the long, ornate weapon by its hilt and lifted it up with the swiftness and expertise of someone who knew his way around a sword. Or, well, at least one of his masks did. The weapon didn't feel heavy in his hands, but there was a certain… pressure it exuded. An aura of sorts. Just as he'd suspected, Nyss' sword still retained some of her power within.
The man calling himself Riley smiled a terrible smile. He couldn't believe Cynthia had really left Obsidian here to disappear alongside everything else. Had she done it out of respect for Nyss? Or a sense of propriety? Regardless…
He turned around, sword in hand, and started walking back toward the exit, a satisfied look on his face.
"That was the worst mistake you could have made, ex-Champion."
----------------------------------------
Inyssa fell slowly, as though wading through the depths of a dark and still sea. She couldn't see or hear. All she could feel was the sensation of floating down toward… somewhere, trying to reach a bottom that was out of sight.
Time was a meaningless concept inside that darkness, so she couldn't say exactly how much of it had passed once her feet made it to solid ground. She was let down gently upon a blanket of something that was soft like dirt, but much crunchier.
"…Snow?"
As soon as she said that, color returned to the world. From the spot in which she stood the darkness dispelled outwards, allowing her to see again and pooling in a large dome around the scene around her. She blinked a few times, overwhelmed by the sudden burst of white.
She stood on the edge of a long and narrow path covered entirely in white, leading toward an enormous set of marble stairs, atop which sat what looked like a burning structure. A building of sorts. She couldn't quite make it out from this distance, as it was completely coated in flames.
Looking around, she saw that nothing existed beside these things. The edges of the path led to an endless abyss, and not even the sky or the moon could be seen past the top of the staircase. It would have been a perfectly still and stagnant scene, almost like a painting, were it not for the countless tiny specks of white raining upon it all. They fell gently and uniformly, as there was no wind to turn them into a blizzard.
One of the specks landed on the bridge of Inyssa's nose and she scrunched up her face, waiting for cold, but it didn't come. Instead, the speck broke apart into tiny grey particles, staining her nose.
Inyssa blinked, then looked down at the blanket of white under her feet. Pressing against it with her foot, she saw the same thing happen. A small cloud of grey dust rose up around her in curls.
"…Not snow, then," she whispered. "Cinders."
And as she looked up toward the burning building in the distance, she figured she knew where it was all coming from. She closed her eyes and sighed, then began to walk.
Nothing but the sound of her feet stomping on ash and the distant crackle of the flames could be heard as she made her way forward. There was a certain peace, a calmness to the scene. And a beauty that Inyssa was sure her sister was responsible for. She'd always liked this sort of thing.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Human-sized statues lined the two extremes of the staircase as she walked up the steps, all of them identical, all of them staring straight at her. Their shapes were intentionally hard to make up. Made of some kind of grey-ish stone, they depicted human figures wearing long robes, clad almost entirely by the span of their own angelic wings. It would have been an inspiring sight, were it not for the fact that all of their faces were absent, eroded by time. Black veins of rot ran through the edges of the wings' feathers, dripping down the sides and onto the pedestals themselves, as though they were bleeding.
Inyssa made a face at the unsightly statues, focusing her gaze ahead instead. After a couple minutes of climbing, she could finally see the building at the end of the path. It was… as she'd expected, a large, gothic cathedral full of tall windows and sharp edges and large buttresses, all of it beautiful and burning and decaying, like a masterpiece someone had thrown into a bonfire.
"Dear Synn…" Inyssa muttered in irritation.
She finally reached the end of the staircase, and threw her hands against the burning gates of the cathedral, not caring for the flames that coated them. She felt neither pain nor heat as she pushed against them, making them part with a low whirr, like the groan of a sleeping beast, before slipping inside.
The crackle of fire softened as she walked into the cathedral, but they didn't disappear altogether. Flames coated the inside too. They licked up at the walls and ceiling, pooling in the large rows of pews leading toward the altar, making them go up in flames. Only the central path was unobstructed. A long red carpet, once vibrant and beautiful, now dark and rotting, paved the way toward what Inyssa had come here for.
Inyssa looked up at what lay at the end of the path, and her lips pursed. There she was.
"Shadi…"
She started walking on instinct, feeling her heart tightening up. High above the altar, in front of the large stained glass which decorated the back of the cathedral, her sister hovered in mid air, suspended by a spider web of pulsing, inky veins.
It looked just like the substance that made up Giratina's body, the same substance that had formed Shadi's wings during their last fight. Now, it kept her trapped like a Caterpie in an Ariados' web. Thin strands shot up from every edge around her, from the floor to the walls and the pillars framing the altar, to the ceiling high above, all thickening as they went inwards, converging in a bleeding clump of darkness in which Shadi's body was trapped. It had devoured almost all of her. Only parts of her legs and chest and most of her head could be seen, dark veins stabbing into her clothes and skin, siphoning something from what lay beneath.
And it pulsed. It pulsed like the exact opposite of a heart. The sight was enough to make Inyssa retch.
As she approached, somehow her steps echoed louder than the crackling of the flames around them, and Shadi's head moved. She blinked rapidly, in a haze. Then, after a few moments, she looked down with dull, colorless eyes and saw her.
"…Niss."
Her voice echoed, but it was weak, strained. Inyssa recoiled, feeling a stab of pain at the sound, but she didn't back down.
Without saying anything, she reached the end of the path and took one step into solid air. As she did so, another, smaller set of stairs materialized under her feet, leading her to the spot in which Shadi was suspended. Shadi saw this and blinked in what almost looked like surprise as her sister approached.
"Again with this?" she whispered, the barest hints of a smile crossing her pale lips. "You really can't live without me, can you? I'd find it funny… if I were in the mood to laugh."
Inyssa stopped only a few steps before reaching her and looked up at her face, locking eyes. A storm of emotions crossed her face in an instant.
"What is all this?" she asked with a small shake of the head, sounding disappointed.
"Hm?" Shadi raised an eyebrow, though even a gesture as little as that came with great effort. "Shouldn't I be the one asking that? You're the one that barged in uninvited."
Inyssa's lips went pale, her frown exacerbating. "I mean here, this cathedral. This whole place. What are you trying to prove with all this posturing?"
Shadi's silence was heavy and poignant. She looked away.
"You knew I was coming, and you prepared this scene to… what?" asked Inyssa, shooting her hands up a bit and letting them fall again. "To impress me? To keep appearances?"
A sound almost like a growl came from Shadi. "I… never wanted you here. I never asked for you to come rescue me."
Inyssa scoffed. "Yet when I do, you have to rush to make everything presentable? Who do you think you're kidding? The raining cinders, the rotting statues, the burning cathedral and all this other… decoration…" She spoke that word with venom, as though it made her gag. "How fucking stupid do you think I am? I know how to tell apart the real you from the Shadi you wish others saw you as."
Even past the paleness of her face and the veins of black covering most of it, attempting to swallow her, she could see a hint of shame in her sister's expression. But of course, it didn't last long.
"…I guess I just wanted to save you the displeasure of the truth. Like I've always done," Shadi spat out. "But if you insist you're such a grown girl now…" There was a deep, piercing spite behind each of her words. "…Then fine. If I can't stop you, I might as well enjoy the pain in your face for as long as I can. So go ahead. Tear this place apart. See what's really underneath."
Inyssa spat out a derisive chuckle, although no smile reached her lips.
"I don't need your permission. You're done hiding yourself from me."
Then, she extended her right hand to the side, and the light behind her eyes flashed. Burst like lightning, like a heartbeat. Countless threads of luminosity exploded off her palm, striking at the floor and walls and ceiling. They cut through them and headed for what lay outside too. In only a few seconds, the entire cathedral, the hill outside and the marble staircase all were run through with veins of lightning.
Then, Inyssa pressed her thumb and middle finger together, and snapped. Those veins grew larger, brighter, shattering the illusion.
The entire world fell apart like a stained glass being hit by a hammer. Shards rained, hitting the ground and vanishing into motes of light, into small clouds of luminescence, only to disappear completely. Everything disappeared. Only Shadi and her dark prison remained.
And this time, Inyssa could see the real shape of the place her sister had been trapped in. It wasn't a snowy mountain or a burning cathedral or a dark, gloomy temple.
It was much more simple than that. It was the inside of a house. Their house.
Inyssa's eyes widened at the sight of their living room, dark and devoid of life, nothing but endless darkness past the open windows around them. In front of her, Shadi snickered.
"Welcome," she said, shining her a smile full of hurt and spite. "To my personal hell."