Chapter Six: Statuesque Nightmare

The old temple stood with ruined walls and many large holes in the ceiling. The foundations of the structure were far from being stable and it looked as if one strong gust of wind would do this building in. Oddly enough, the air here was completely still. Rita looked around at the trees surrounding the dead clearing, there were branches moving just outside the clearing, indicating a strong enough breeze to be felt, yet there was no wind moving down here, just stillness.

“Even the wind is dead here,” Rita said while fighting back a shiver.

Lamont walked forward. “Like last time, this place is filled with enough nether energy to even kill the wind.”

Wonder drew herself closer to Rita. “I-I don’t like nether magic.”

Lapis was already skipping ahead of them. “Let’s go check out the creepy old temple! I bet there’s lots of cool stuff inside! OOOOO like skellemans!”

Wonder’s hands found their way around Rita’s left arm. “Skeletons aren’t real! Necromancy doesn’t exist!”

Rita rolled her eyes and started walking forward, half dragging Wonder with her in the process. “Lapis, don’t go in there by yourself.”

Lapis’s entire body started to glow a dim blue. “It’s okay!”

Rita drew her light gun out in her right hand. “While impressive, I don’t want you thinking that your little light trick will save you from an ambush from these things. There’s no telling what they can really do.”

The four of them advanced a little more slowly after that. Each step across the dead grass brought with it a crunch. It wouldn’t be such a bad sound normally, except that it was the only sound outside of their breathing. This place was dead silent. It was worse than waking up in the middle of the night in Starsera only to realize that the entire city was asleep and that virtually nothing could be heard. Usually Rita could listen for the sound of passing trucks, or of the nocturnal animals. This time however, there was no sound, no life, no nothing. Just deathly silence. She really could use some of Heath's bardic music now, too bad she'd never hear it again.

Upon reaching the entrance of the temple Rita could see how little light there actually was inside despite the easy access for light in the ceiling through the many holes in the arched rooftop. The old wooden doors stood wide open, halfway destroyed from some kind of violent attack. Just on the inside of the structure, where the light barely touched it, Rita could make out something hard and metallic.

“Lulu,” Rita said quietly while keeping her revolver trained on the darkness. “Light it up.”

Wonder’s right arm was shaking as she pulled out her wand and aimed it at the darkness. A small ball of lavender light appeared at the tip of the wand, and Rita could feel the familiar and warm tingle of aether magic going into the little spell. The orb of light shot out from the wand and into the darkness. It traveled to the middle of the room before climbing up into the rafters and exploding into a series of larger white lights casting their brilliant radiance across the temple.

Armor and weapons littered the floor. Some of the armor had the depiction of an orange sun, while others held the depiction of a blue moon. Some of the armor with the sun design was torn as if some horrible beast had taken it apart with its claws. As for the moon armor, there were scorch marks on them, melted bits of metal having frozen mid-drip off of the armor-like iron icicles, and even chunks of glass hanging inside them. There were the signs of death everywhere, yet there was something missing, the bodies. There were no skeletons, no corpses, no mummies, and not even any dust piles to indicate where corpses could have been. Just empty arms and armor.

Lapis pointed forward with her tentacle arm. “What’s that?”

Rita peered through the temple and saw an old stone statue of a woman kneeling. She seemed to have been holding at her stomach, but it was difficult to tell as it was still too dark around her. The light didn’t seem to penetrate the darkness there.

“So,” Rita asked, “How far did you get last time?”

Lamont gripped his stave tightly. “About this far.”

Hearing that only increased the tension in Rita’s shoulders. “How many did you say you saw last time?”

“A half dozen at least,” Lamont admitted.

Rita took a few very cautious steps forward. Wonder practically clung to her back, Lapis behind her. Lamont took a few of his own strides inside, though he looked a bit more tense than before. The Stave he had was rather thin, and much more like that of a bo-stave then a usual wizard stave. One side was red and black, the other was blue and black. The blue side was touching the ground leaving little bits of frost where it landed, and the red tip sticking up in the air had a small flame the size of a candlelight atop it.

The corners of the room were still very dark where Wonder’s light didn’t reach. Rita nodded toward those shadows to indicate to keep a watch on them. While they slowly made their way, step by step closer to the statue. Despite growing ever closer, the darkness around it wouldn’t let up.

“Where are they now?” Rita asked.

Lamont walked close by, but kept just a little bit of distance, likely so that in case of a fight he wouldn’t accidentally burn the girls with his magic. “That’s the question now; isn’t it?”

Rita stopped only a few feet away from the statue. She pulled out a flashlight from her backpack and pointed it directly at the statue. Most of the darkness around it filtered away and Rita was able to see the piece of art much more clearly. It was a beautiful woman with long flowing hair, a star pattern on her forehead, and a pair of feathery wings. Her mouth was open slightly to show off shark-like teeth. She wore armor which looked cracked, chipped, and scarred. Her hands were holding her belly where Rita could see a large gash. From the gash a steady trickle of darkness ebbed out leaking into a puddle which lead to an old rusted-over sword lying behind her.

A bone-chilling energy spread throughout the room emanating from the statue. Cracks spread along the statue’s body starting from the bleeding wound. A lump of iron formed in Rita’s gut as the cracks spread further still. Black shadows poured forth from the cracks like water. The stone fell off like flakes revealing navy blue skin beneath. Rita bumped into Wonder as she stepped away.

Lamont’s voice rang out clear as he pointed his stave toward the statue. “Get out of here!”

It was too late as the statue exploded into a fountain of shadowy energy. Out from the shadows stepped the dark skinned beautiful woman. Her wings were black with dots of glowing white like the night sky, and her hair was very similar. A pair of green eyes matching the green star on the woman’s forehead stared at Rita. The pair of green lips curled up into a sickly seductive smile.

The woman’s voice came out sounding more like music then words. “Oh what do we have here? A bunch of children come to pay homage to their deity?”

A bolt of fire flew from the tip of Lamont’s stave and towards the woman’s face. The woman shifted in the blink of an eye and the fire went right past where her head used to be. A shark-toothed snarl from the woman caused a pang of fear to shoot through Rita’s heart.

The woman moved faster than fast, and like lightning appeared before Lamont. Her arm swung down and Lamont for his part moved just quick enough to put the stave between himself and her. The sound of the blow against Lamont's stave echoed through the old ruins.

Rita steeled herself and looked at her friends. “You two, leave now.”

Wonder nodded jerkily and Lapis gave Rita a determined stare. Rita however wasn’t going to take no for an answer, she looked toward Lamont and the woman once more and saw them trading blows at such speeds she could barely keep up with them. “We need you to be outside so that Saturn can find out what happened.”

Lapis frowned. “We won’t leave you.”

Rita nodded toward Wonder who was shaking and staring wide-eyed at the battle that she clearly couldn’t see. “Get her to safety, please.”

Lapis nodded and didn’t need any more prodding to help Wonder start running toward the exit. However, the two of them stopped just outside the building, still able to look inside and watch. Rita could accept that.

After pulling out both of her revolvers Rita faced toward the battle once more to see Lamont aiming a steady stream of flames from his stave at the woman. The woman however was running so fast that she was actually outracing the flames. Lamont cut the flames and turned his stave around so quick that Rita couldn’t even see it, as he did ice spread across the floor toward the woman and grew around her feet.

The woman froze in her place as the ice grew up to her waste. She merely smiled at Lamont as the ice kept growing. “Oh, please, did you really think that a goddess such as myself could be so easily stopped?”

Lamont grinned. “Oh this dance is just beginning.”

Rita could see through his bravado though. He was only able to slow her down, he didn’t have any methods of actually stopping her. What he also didn’t realize was that stopping the dark creatures was Rita’s job this time around. She took aim with her light revolver and waited.

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As the ice grew over the woman’s shoulders she let out a sigh. With just a flex of her muscles the ice surrounding her all shattered at once. Just as this happened Rita pulled the trigger and a bolt of white light flew straight towards her at lightning quick speeds. It hit her in the shoulder and the navy blue skin melted revealing pale blue flesh beneath. She screamed and grabbed at her shoulder.

Rita grinned. “Let me brighten your day a little.”

The woman set her eyes on Rita and a cold shiver ran down the young woman’s spine. Rita’s hand worked on reflex to pull the trigger, but the woman shifted out of place and the bullet missed. The woman moved so fast it was like she'd teleported five feet closer and Rita pulled the trigger again. Once more the woman moved in the blink of an eye growing ever closer and Rita continued to pulled the trigger. Each bullet missed, and each time the woman dodged a shot she grew steadily closer until she was only a couple feet away from Rita.

A wall of ice formed between Rita and the woman, just moments before a dark fist smashed through the ice stopping only inches away from Rita’s face. Rita looked over to see Lamont as he was nodding toward the doorway while shouting, “GET OUT!”

Despite her fear Rita was able to steel herself once more. She didn’t need to be as fast if she could just outsmart her opponent. Rita jumped back as the entire ice wall shattered before her and she quickly checked to see where the woman had been shot only to reveal that the layer of navy blue skin had reformed over the previous wound.

The woman was snarling at Rita, her mouth larger than any human’s had any right ought to be. “That hurt!”

Rita pulled the trigger again but the woman shifted once more. After having had so much experience with fighting some things become more learned by the body than the mind. In this case Rita felt the woman’s movement before she could even see it. Rita ducked as the woman slashed through the air with her arm as if it were a blade. The woman moved faster than light once more and Rita jumped back avoiding it. She couldn’t see the woman’s attacks or train a shot on her, all Rita could do was dodge, and even then she was just barely managing it. Finally Rita’s back hit the stone wall and she ducked as the woman struck out once more. Her fist smashing through the wall as if it were merely air to her.

Little bits of stone fell on top of Rita's head and shoulders as she stared up like a dear in headlights. This woman, this creature, was something beyond Rita’s skills as a fighter, and without her entire team behind her, she doubted that she could actually defeat such a villain. Even if what was left of her team was backing her up, she wouldn’t let them. She couldn’t risk their lives like that against a creature like this. Not again.

Rita lashed out with a kick to the woman’s shin. The blow made contact but the woman hardly moved an inch from it. Instead the woman swung the back of her hand at Rita’s face and this time she made contact. It was like being hit by a truck driving at full speed. Rita was thrown off the ground and flew a good ten feet before hitting something soft and squishy on the floor and rolling a few times. Every muscle in her body hurt, especially her neck. It wasn’t a deathly blow, but it certainly could have been, and probably should have been. If it hadn’t been for whatever she’d landed on she imagined it would have been much worse.

The woman's voice called out, “Disobedient children need to be taught their place.”

It took a good few seconds before Rita had enough of her senses back that she could move or think again. Looking down at the mass of tentacles growing out of the ground beneath her made her realize that maybe the cold stone floor would have been better to land in instead. Lapis was waving from the doorway with a smile that didn't match the terror in her eyes.

Rita looked back over to see the woman manage to knock Lamont off of his feet with a swipe of her leg. The woman was back up in a standing stance in no time. She moved quickly and while Lamont was on his back she stomped at his kneecap. First there was the sickening crunch that echoed across the room, and then there was the horribly high pitched scream that if she didn’t see Lamont making himself she would have believed it to belong to a murdered woman. Half way through the scream his eyes rolled into the back of their sockets and his head hit the stone floor.

The woman looked down at her foot and grinned. “You should have known better than to try your hand at fighting a goddess, you a creature of light. Now let me end your pain.” She leaned over and grabbed Lamont’s unconscious body by the scruff of his neck.

The fox around Lamont’s neck came to life and breathed fire out at the woman causing her to react with a swipe of her hand. The fox went flying into the wall with enough force to cause the creature to go flying through the wall. With a smile the woman pulled her fist back and hot fire raged through Rita’s veins.

This was the man who had taught her, tutored her, and trained her. There was no way in the seven hells that she was going to allow this injustice to pass by. Rita jumped up to her feet and aimed her light gun. “NO!” A bullet of light energy flew through the air and slammed into the woman’s back causing the woman to yelp in pain.

The woman looked back at her and narrowed her eyes. “You!” she dropped Lamont and he landed with a thud. Slowly she rose to her feet and spread her raven-like wings wide. “You!” she began walking toward Rita and every one of Rita’s muscles screamed for her to turn and flee immediately. The shadows around the woman grew and collected into her hand forming themselves into the shape of a massive, pure black, scythe.

Rita slipped her fire revolver back into its holster and grabbed one of the orbs in her pocket instead. “You think you can stop me? I’m Rita Rockford, the Ingenious Rita, no one can beat me!” Rita glanced at Lapis and Wonder, then at Lamont and back to them, Lapis nodded.

“Such insolence!” The woman cried. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

Rita shrugged. “Should I?”

“I am the goddess of the moon, the mother of darkness, and the dark matron and nightmare to all the creatures that dwell in the light. I am-“ The woman began.

“The lady of shadows,” Rita finished.

A much too large smile spread over the woman’s face. “Oh how nice, you could also just call me Nightmare.”

Rita’s arm was starting to shake. The taste of copper filled her mouth. She spat out to the side and watched the red glob hit the ground with a splat. “Well, Nightmare, you think you might be the top dog in the dark, but I’ll tell you this; I’ve met a lot of things proclaiming how great the darkness really is.”

The woman was only a few feet away at this point. “Oh, and why haven’t you joined them?”

Rita glanced over and saw Lapis and Wonder were already at the doorway dragging Lamont between the two of them. With a quick motion Rita threw her head back and her goggles slid down her face. “Because of one simple thing.”

The woman stopped, right in front of Rita. Now it was clear to Rita for the first time just how tall this woman really was, she must have been at least six foot five. The woman stood right in front of Rita, the barrel of the gun pointed directly at her chest. “And why is that?”

“Because,” Rita said as she pushed the little button on the metal orb with her finger. “What lives in the dark can never stand up to the light.”

Rita lunged forward, pulling out the orb with her free hand and slammed it into the woman’s chest. White light flashed across the room bright enough to completely devour everything in sight. Even with the goggles and their automatic dimming features Rita was hard pressed to see anything but vague shapes through the brightness. The high pitched demonic shrieking that followed didn’t help at all either.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she needed to do next. Rita ran for the exit. Every ounce of strength she had was poured into each pump of her little legs. If there was anything Rita was good at besides her inventions, it was her speed. Rita was fast, faster than most, and she used that to her advantage to push herself out the doorway with a powerful leap down and over the steps and hit the grass in a roll.

The light had already stopped by the time she was out. The shriek had twisted itself into words, “INSOLENT CHILD!”

Lapis and Wonder were already sprinting down the long stretch of dead grass and toward the woods with Lapis carrying Lamont in her tentacle arms. Rita followed up by screaming, “RUN!”

Of course Rita was already taking her own advice when she felt a cold presence burning into her back. She turned around and saw Nightmare standing at the entrance. Half her body was naked as the navy blue gunk covering it was melting off. Still she held her scythe and burned daggers into Rita with her eyes. The gunk surrounding her reformed and covered her body once more.

Rita slid to a stop half way across the field. She still had two more grenades and judging by the injuries that Lamont had suffered, she was going to have to buy some more time. Maybe even run in the opposite direction. She couldn’t let this creature get to her friends.

Nightmare threw her left arm forward her arm stretched forward like a tendril. Rita took aim with her light gun. The tendril hit the light gun and smacked it to the hard ground with enough force to break it into a half dozen pieces. The tendril lashed out at Rita’s legs but she jumped and pulled out another light grenade. The second Rita’s feet touched the ground again she threw the light grenade at Nightmare. It flew across the field and landed at Nightmare’s feet before exploding.

The tendril dropped onto the ground and burned away, Nightmare shrieked once more. Rita turned to continue her run and got only twenty feet away before she felt the hairs at the edge of her neck stand up. Rita looked just in time to see a half naked and pale skinned Nightmare swinging the scythe at her head. Rita ducked just in time to avoid the blow as Nightmare flew past her and landed in front her.

Rita stared up at Nightmare, her heart skipped a beat as she saw the black gunk regenerating albeit a little slower. Nightmare glared down at her with those green eyes burning with rage. “You, will, die!”

Rita only had one more grenade left, but it was obvious that despite the injuries Nightmare was only just starting and growing more powerful by the moment. There was only one more thing she could do. Rita pulled out her flame revolver and aimed it at Nightmare.

Nightmare moved first, but Rita was starting to be able to follow her movements if only just barely. Rita pulled the trigger, and Nightmare was forced to block the blow with blade of her scythe. Meanwhile Rita threw her last grenade at Nightmare’s face. The flash of light was just as bright as ever and Nightmare howled with pain until she fell to her knees.

Rita took aim and pointed directly at Nightmare’s head. Nightmare’s face, without the black gunk covering it belonged to a completely different person. She was a pale blue skinned woman with soft green eyes, her long hair was a mix of blue and purple looking very much like a twilight sky. Nightmare's eyes were glistening and wet, but not from pain. The look was something sad, desperate, and wounded.

Nightmare’s voice came out tiny, frail and weak as she spoke. “Please run. If you don’t run now-“ the gunk swooped up and as the woman’s eyes widened in horror it covered her face. Her voice dropped into a hiss, and this time her face looked much more like a wolf then a human as she swore with red hot fire in her voice, “-I’ll kill you!”

Rita pulled the trigger but Nightmare was already moving again. The scythe lashed out and Rita jumped back. White hot fire erupted across Rita’s outstretched arm as the scythe’s blade drew a line across it. Rita screamed as she hit a rock with her heel and fell backwards. A dark line from her wrist all the way up to her elbow was a crimson soaked mess and pain flared through her entire arm.

Nightmare laughed coldly as she raised the scythe once more. “You should never have crossed blades with a goddess.”

A pink and white blur slammed into Nightmare and just for a moment Rita was able to see it in perfect clarity. Saturn was flying through the air, a gleaming white sword in her left hand, a pink and white teardrop shield in her right. The shield was being slammed against the side of Nightmare’s face with enough force to throw her off her feet and into the air.

Nightmare went flying into the dirt and earth. Saturn landed right in front of Rita and rose to her feet. Saturn's entire body was beginning to glow a bright white-pink color. She took a shield fighter stance facing her enemy, only taking a few moments to glance over at Rita. “You did good today.”

Rita blinked. Maybe it was the blood loss, or maybe it was the adrenaline which was swiftly fading form her body, but either way Rita couldn’t help but to say, “I can’t believe I was saved by an angle.”

Of course even if Saturn had heard that she was already charging toward the enemy once more so it wouldn’t have mattered. Darkness crept at the edge of Rita’s vision and the pain was swiftly forgotten as her head started to swim. She tried to stand but when the world decided to turn onto its side and the ground hit her, the blackness swallowed her whole.