It went without saying that Rita was staring down the catalyst of her own possible demise. Why Rita had to go ahead and insult Nightmare on top of everything else was just insane. Of course Rita hadn’t ever learned any better from what little she’d gotten from her actual parents, so here she was, acting much like the hero she’d envisioned her mother to be.
With Rita’s revolvers still aimed at Nightmare she knew she could pull the trigger any second, but the issue was that Nightmare was faster than her, the difference between their speeds was like a house cat versus a lightning bolt, Rita was the house cat. It in fact took all she had to not simply bolt in the most opposite direction possible right then and there.
“So,” Nightmare snarled. “What do you think you can really do against me?”
Rita knew she was losing any ground she had for a possible victory and fast, so she did the only thing she could think of. “This,” she replied as she pulled both the triggers at once.
The bolts of light energy flew out lightning fast and Rita watched with heightened senses as Nightmare turned her entire body to the side, dodging the bolts completely. Nightmare swung her left leg out too fast for Rita to actually move against it. The leg landed square in the middle of Rita’s right side with enough power to knock her off her feet. Pain exploded across Rita’s side from the attack. She flew through the air for a good couple seconds before hitting the earth and rolling over a half dozen times.
Once Rita stopped moving she was knocked breathless and panic set in as she tried her damndest to breathe. Her first breathe was like clawing through a sheet of iron, it came in painful and slow. The next breath was easier, and the after that it leveled off to something closer to normal. Her side was in agony, there were burning cuts and scrapes across her face where it was exposed to the earth as she rolled. Rita rolled over onto her left side and pushed herself up fighting through the burning agony shooting through her tiny frame.
Once she was up on her two unsteady feet she looked back at Nightmare only to find her a good forty feet away next to the workshop. Rita looked for her guns and only found the light revolver in her left hand, she’d dropped the combination one in her right hand mid flight. Rita ground her teeth and tasted both dirt and copper.
“Damn it,” Rita cursed. She spat a crimson glob to the side. “I haven’t bitten my cheek this bad since that one time I was chewing gum in baseball practice.”
Nightmare began walking towards her, every step she took made her look more like the wolf like predator she really was beneath that skin. Rita had seen what Lunaria was capable of in a war before she went all Nightmare murder happy. Now she was likely more dangerous than ever before.
“Come on,” Rita complained as she aimed her revolver at Nightmare. She also began charging her right power gauntlet. “This is hardly fair, you're at full power. If this was an anime you’d go easy on me at first so I could go super form against you.”
Nightmare laughed. “I am going easy.”
Nightmare propelled herself forward with her feet and flapped her black wings. The speed she flew at was insane. The scythe was raised and ready to strike. Rita was lucky she’d already started charging this because otherwise she’d be extremely screwed. Rita waited for the very last possible second before throwing her right arm forward and shouting, “PHOENIX PUNCH!”
Nightmare was only a couple feet away at this point, her scythe already bearing down toward Rita. The air exploded in a bright white flash and concussive energy. Rita was already off centered on her feet so she was easily knocked back onto her butt. Meanwhile Nightmare was bounced to Rita’s left. A high pitched scream permeated the air as Nightmare crashed into the ground rolling and patting at herself as flames covered parts of her flesh. Wherever the fire burned the black ooze melted revealing the pale white flesh beneath.
Rita jumped back up to her feet, activated her hover boots and shot a mean glare to Nightmare. “So, you're wearing Lunaria like a meat suit. How long has that been a thing?”
Nightmare shot a glare back at her and flashed those fangs. “She is not a meat suit, and I am not merely a parasite. We became so much more together once she did the one thing she was never meant to do.”
“Go into the pool a second time,” Rita suggested.
“Precisely. The dark is not good nor evil,” Nightmare said as she rose to her feet. The black ooze was already beginning to crawl back over the exposed flesh, though slower this time. “It’s just a different way of thinking, a different life with different emotions and values. Though, a mere pet such as you could never understand that.”
Rita shook her head. “I understand better than you’d think, Nightmare.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Nightmare said. “Because now you’ve proven that you're more than just pray to be slaughtered, I must do my utmost to slay you.”
Rita nodded. “I’d expect nothing less from the Lady of Shadows herself.”
Nightmare’s form grew, long black fur appeared from her skin, she hunched over onto all fours as she continued to grow. Before Rita could really understand what she was looking at fully Nightmare had changed into a wolf that was about the size of a small house. It wasn’t that Rita hadn’t expected this to happen in their fight, she had just really hoped it wouldn’t. Even Rita’s power gauntlets were likely going to be useless in this confrontation.
Once Nightmare was done transforming into her wolf form she growled and her voice echoed loudly across the bailey. “So what do you think now little human?”
Rita let out a sigh. “Now I really wish I had that super form. Seriously, just let my hair become spiky and yellow, then I’d really kick your butt. Now I’ll have to put actual effort in.”
That seemed to strike a cord in Nightmare as she began running at Rita. The giant wolf was just as fast if not faster still then her previous form. Rita had only a micro second to move her feet into gear and race away from Nightmare as a pair of massive jaws opened and snapped shut on the space she had just barely occupied. Nightmare’s teeth caught on Rita’s trench coat and panic shot through Rita’s heart. With a quick toss of her head Nightmare sent Rita flying up into the air and off to the side. The trench coat tore out of those teeth allowing Rita to be freed from a potentially deadly shaking but that still left her flying a good fifty feet up into the air and over the damned walls of the castle.
Rita righted herself mid air and used her hover boots to kick herself off of nothing and propel herself towards landing on one of the walls walkways. She hit the top of the wall and started sliding over the ground a few feet, hover boots did not mean good traction. Her heart was still racing, and her head pounding from the sudden forceful movement. If she had any choice she would have just laid down and given up then and there.
“Okay,” Rita said to herself. “The big bad wolf is down there huffing and puffing, and your still a little piggy, and she is both bigger and badder than you can deal with, not even a brick house will stop her.”
There was the sound of something heavy pounding into the ground and then silence. For a brief moment Rita looked down at the ground terrified of what just happened. When she saw a massive shadow blocking out the light from the full moon above she bolted forward as swiftly as she could. Not even a few seconds after moving she felt the walls beneath her shake, and heard the sound of crumbling stone. A quick glance behind her revealed that Nightmare was attempting to climb atop the castle walls and was just a little too large for an easy fit. Still she managed to get up onto the wall well enough and reached out with a paw as large as Rita herself.
Rita pressed her feet down hard against the stone floor and sprung up into the air just in time to avoid being struck by the massive paw and its deadly sharp claws long as swords. Rita saw a split second opportunity and took it to fire several shots from her revolver into the paw beneath her. The little blasts of white light did nothing but sizzle against the paw.
A tiny yelp revealed that Nightmare did feel it, though Rita realized it must have felt much more like being stung by a bee than anything real.
Rita hit the wall once more with her feet and continued racing forward faster than she could ever run. Behind her Nightmare continued giving chase. This wasn’t just a bad situation to be in, this was the worst situation to be in. She needed to get the upper hand somehow, though how to get the upper hand against a giant demigod all by herself was a great question. In the past she could rely on her friends and their skills to help her out, but those friendships were gone, dead, and buried. If she ever did see Dusk again, he’d likely kill her. Who could really blame him, it was her fault after all that Heath died. It was all, her fault.
Nightmare roared forward and gave chase. “I can sense the darkness in your heart. You're a tough survivor. If you submit to me and my power completely right now, I’ll allow you the chance to serve me. You’ll have more power than ever before, and you won’t have to die.”
Rita didn’t dare look back at the chasing behemoth but she did reply, “Oh and what happens to the queen if I do that?”
“What should have happened when she took my Shade from me! She dies!”
Rita thought about who was all here in the castle. Lamont and Saturn should have been out here by now, helping to fight the monster and/or keep the wounded safe. All she had right now was Fiona who was in the infirmary with everyone who’d been hurt and healing them. Even the bitty bitch was in there, under restraints of course. Rita glared back at Nightmare who was only just barely out of paw’s length from Rita as the two raced across the top of the castle walls. “Where is Lamont and Saturn?”
“The two that tried to hold the goddess of darkness prisoner?” Nightmare howled back. “Buried under a ton of rubble and stone.”
They were dead.
Something in Rita’s mind twisted, snapped, and broke. Rita reached the end of the wall and where she could have turned to keep the chase going she instead made a uturn and raced toward Nightmare. Both of her gauntlets were already charging and she tossed her useless pistol aside letting it clatter to the floor beneath her. Nightmare tried to slide to a stop clearly surprised by the sudden shift in tactics. Rita leapt into the air screaming in primal fury and raised both of her hands to Nightmare’s big fat wolf face. “PHOENIX SMASH!”
Both gauntlets exploded at the same time and the light that emitted from it was so bright that Rita was forced to close her eyes. The concussive force was twice as powerful as it had been and this sent Rita flying back through the air. Nightmare reeled back throwing her paws out blindly. One of Nightmare’s paws nicked Rita in the leg and sent the girl spiraling down towards the bailey.
The world went red with pain as Rita’s leg exploded in agony. She barely managed to use the boots to slow her rotation and velocity enough so that she didn’t die on impact with the ground below. Instead she landed in the flower beds, rolling, bouncing, and tearing through them. The roses cut at her exposed flesh, the wooden fence posts tore at her trench coat and she finally landed in a heap on the ground right next to the fishing pond.
The world was merely an existence of pain and agony. The howls of pain were loud enough to echo down to the city Rita assumed, and she watched Nightmare's massive form at least a hundred feet away rolling and pawing at her face until she fell off the wall and into the bailey below on her side. Her entire head was cleared from the black slime and now it was just dark blue fur and blood from a deep gash and a nose bleed.
Rita laughed. “Take that! You! Stupid! BITCH!”
After realizing the accidental pun she made, Rita laughed only harder.
The slime began returning over Nightmare’s face once more only this time much, much slower. The black ichor on Nightmare’s tail shifted and moved away from the tail in order to crawl towards the face. Something clicked in Rita’s mind as she saw that, a possible victory, a potential win, but one that she’d have to work for. Too bad her leg was bent in the wrong direction and the rest of her body refused to move at all.
“I could really use a few heala cola’s right now,” Rita said as she lay there in pain.
A gentle voice next to her replied, “I don’t have any… but I do have this.”
Fiona had arrived next to Rita’s side and was kneeling down besides her. Orange light spread out over Rita’s body and the pain started to fade. Fiona’s face was glistening with sweat and she had a slight bit of crimson running down her nose. She’d pushed herself healing the others inside. This girl was going to pass out from exhaustion if she didn’t rest soon.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Behind Fiona Rita spotted two figures coming out of the back doors of the keep. Lamont was walking with a slight limp but looking otherwise good enough. Next to him stood Saturn who had a few cuts and bruises but was alive and well. Rita glanced over at Nightmare who had black ichor up to her snout now. Rita needed time, just some time and she could pull off this and save the day. Hopefully more than just the day too.
Rita looked at them. “I need a minute. Just one minute and I can stop Nightmare for good.”
Lamont smiled. “That’s good because I’ve always been bad at lasting longer than a minute. Just ask my ex girlfriend.”
Saturn swung a fist into his shoulder hard enough to make him yelp. Saturn's eyes narrowed on Rita. “You only need a minute?”
Rita grimaced as her leg bent itself back into the right direction. The one thing they don’t tell you about healing magic is that it sometimes hurts worse than the actual injury in question. “YES!” Rita screamed mostly from the pain. “Just buy me some time. We’ll stop her.”
Saturn and Lamont began marching towards Nightmare just as the giant wolf began to rise. Rita looked up at Fiona as soon as her leg was mended and snapped, “Okay stop! The queen is out front by the workshop. Grab her drag her inside, keep her safe, you don’t have to heal her if it’s going to hurt you anymore.”
Fiona wiped an arm across her nose and looked judgingly at the blood on her sleeve. “O-okay.”
Rita pushed herself up. She was still in pain but now that she had a plan she was going to execute it. It was time to do the one thing that heroes did, and save the day. A quick check revealed to her that both of her boots were still functional so she was able to race across the bailey, out from the backyard of the castle, around the side where she saw her workshop and then towards it with extreme haste.
Once she hit the workshop she threw open the door and raced inside. She glanced back just enough to see Fiona at The Queen’s side and picking her up under the shoulder to lift her. Fiona was not only a lot faster than expected but strong too. It was a good thing Fiona was on her side, Rita didn’t like the idea of ever being on opposite sides of her.
The workshop as usual was a wreck. There were half finished devices all over the place, and half empty cans of energy drinks. Rita grabbed one and chugged it down. Tasted cold but flat, the energy however still kicked in well enough to fight back any fatigue that might have creped in from the adrenaline loss. Outside her window she saw a massive wall of ice appear, and then shatter as Nightmare crashed through it chasing after the flying form of Saturn.
Rita looked around and found a metal sphere with ten empty gem slots. This thing was a failed device in the past. Despite its power the thing took so much energy that it wasn’t worth using. But that was the past, right then Rita needed the most powerful thing she had on hand despite the cost. She’d only get one shot at this either way. Rita threw off her gauntlets and her boots. She began digging the gems out of the gauntlets with a knife. Since she’d used three of the ten charges she was left with only seven usable gems. To which she quickly threw into the sphere. Then she took the light gems from each of her boots, giving her two more. She still needed one more before the thing would work.
The sound of a horrible roar outside and an explosion of flames distracted her enough to force her to look outside. Lamont was spraying flames from the castle wall down over Nightmare as the wolf batted blindly for Saturn, her attacks getting steadily closer to connecting. Even a scratch from those claws would be enough to bring Saturn down for good.
Rita had to hurry.
She went around the workshop throwing things aside left and right before she stopped to check her gun holsters. She didn’t have either of her guns. She threw one on top of the castle wall, the other one was dropped just outside. Rita didn’t hesitate for a moment. She grabbed the metal sphere under her arm like it was a football, only it was about the size of her head, and ran through the door. She scanned the area looking for the weapon. She found the gun only a few feet away and jumped on it.
A horrible scream filled the air and Rita looked over to the side to see Saturn flying towards her. Rita hit the deck as Saturn flew over head and landed in the dirt behind her. One of Saturn’s wings was bent all sorts of wrong ways. At least Saturn was knocked unconscious so she didn't have to feel it.
Rita looked back over to see Nightmare glaring down directly at her. “Oh… crap cakes.”
Nightmare began charging straight for her. Lamont threw up his arms and another ice wall formed between the two of them. Nightmare crashed through it, slowing down but not stopping.
Rita tore at her gun using her bare fingers to pop out the gem and then fumbled with it for a moment in her fingers. The gem dropped onto the ground beneath her and she hurried to pick it up. Rita slammed it into the machine as quick as she could and then felt the thing humming to life in her hands. She turned right only to see a massive set of teeth opening up on either side of her, along with a throat large enough to swallow her whole. Rita pressed a button on the sphere and if she could breathe, she would have screamed.
The world around Rita transformed into a miniature sun and the weight of a semi truck slammed into Rita’s chest. The ground beneath her vanished and the rushing wind moved through Rita’s hair and whipped at her torn coat. The ground reappeared on her back and slammed into her hard, causing her to slide with enough force to dig a small trench around herself. If she wasn’t blinded by the bright white light she would have loved to see where she had ended up at.
There was the sound of something large slamming into stone and the following sound of crumbling rock brought with it the idea of Nightmare’s wolf form being thrown into the castle wall itself. For several moments Rita just laid there.
Her vision returned to her slowly. The white fading into shapes around her. First she saw the outline of the keep with one of its walls smashed thoroughly. Then she saw the form of a wolf lying next to it surrounded by broken stone. Then she saw something lying further away between the wolf and Rita. It was vaguely human shaped, looking much more like a humanoid skin with no bones, meat or intestines inside, just a flopping flimsy thing. It was black, pitch black and slimly.
Rita’s entire body screamed in pain as she rose to her feet to meet the thing. The thing looked at her and spoke somehow with a voice that could come from no living creature she’d ever heard. An alien sound of whispers, screams, and tearing meat along with the hint of breaking bones came from this thing, “Now you die.”
The thing took a flimsy step forward before collapsing on its own weight. It sort of flopped itself back up a moment later. “What? What? What did you do! “
Rita would have loved to have a gun at that moment. “Let me guess, you're the Nightmare.”
It hissed at her sending shivers down Rita’s spine. “You tore me out. That can’t happen. I am her, and she is me! You cannot separate us, Guardian!”
Rita walked forward, her entire body in agony. She was thrown a good twenty feet away from the workshop. The sphere lay where it had been only covered in broken gems that had lost their hue. Yet there was still one thing in Rita’s hand that she was happy to see. Rita flicked the switch turning her Revolver into flame mode and aimed it right at the shadow. “Do you feel luck, punk?”
“What?”
Rita fired into the creature. Each round of flame that hit it exploded and knocked bits and pieces left and right. Rita Fired again, and again. She blasted away its limbs, knocked it down into a puddle on the ground and continued to fire at the puddle.
A firm hand landed on her gun hand stopping her from firing any further. Lamont looked down at her. “You did it. You killed the… thing.”
Rita swore, “Damn it! That’s the thing that did all this! That’s the Nightmare! The evil from the pool of darkness! The thing that promised to keep a young girl safe and then ended up corrupting her into a dangerous monster!”
Rita looked back toward the blue wolf but saw it shrinking at an incredible pace. It took all she had to not run over immediately, but she did move swiftly. Lamont moved his stave and surrounded the puddle of dark ooze into a perfect sphere of ice. Rita had to pause when she saw the shape it froze in. it froze in the shape of a black heart. That was yet another question for another time, she focused on Lunaria first. Once Rita arrived at the scene of the wolf’s fallen body her breath was taken away from her.
A young starling girl, maybe twelve or thirteen years of age with pale blue skin lay huddled up and completely exposed to the elements. The girl’s dark purple hair was long and reached past her rear end. She shivered and sniffled in a puddle of what Rita dearly hoped was just left over transformation liquid and not the much more likely cause of a thirteen year old girl who just woke up after a several hundred year long nightmare and a massive explosion.
“Lunaria?” Rita whispered.
Lunaria looked up her green eyes shimmering with tears. “Y-you? H-how?”
Rita took off her trench coat and walked over. After lying the trench coat over the girl Rita put a hand to her forehead. The girl’s forehead was freezing cold. “Lunaria, are you okay?”
Lunaria shook, shivered and closed her eyes. “I… think I’m okay for the first time in… a long, long time.”
Rita closed her eyes and nodded. “That’s good. I guess I saved you huh?”
“No,” Lunaria said slowly. “But you tried your best.” She looked up past Rita and maybe ten feet behind her.
Rita followed her gaze and saw Saturn standing there, her armor was torn, her wing was limp at her side, her face covered in wounds and her sword out in her left hand. Saturn smiled coldly as she looked down at the sight. “Looks like you finally stopped the monster, now I’m going to make sure this thing never threatens my mom again!”
If Rita could have crapped out her spine, this would have been the time to do. Beaten, injured, confused, and left with only a single flame charged revolver in vanilla mode, yet Rita still rose to her feet and threw her hands to her side. “This girl was possessed by an evil-”
Saturn took a step forward, her eyes narrowed darkly. “No words! This thing hurt my mom, almost killed me and all of your friends, caused the deaths of so many innocents that I cannot forgive her for the crimes.”
Rita scowled and gripped her revolver tight. “No! Mind Sliver the little creep killed those people with the Shadow Sickness, the bastard even cut up one of his own supposed friends just to poison me. That is not her fault!”
Saturn was still moving forward, she didn’t reply, she only gripped her sword tighter still. It was clear that she was not going to back down, but neither was Rita. Rita aimed her revolver at Saturn and with her free hand she drew her dagger. Saturn stopped moving but focused her glare at Rita now. “So, she’s corrupted you as well.”
Lunaria grabbed Rita’s ankle gently as if she was holding a porcelain doll. “Please, Rita. I… I made my choice. I deserve this.”
Rita’s scowl deepened and a deep growl emitted from her throat. “No. I’ve been dreaming about your life for three freaking days! I am going to get some answers from you when this is over, but I did not just sacrifice several thousand dollars worth of equipment to save your scrawny ass only for you to end up dying from the insane bitch I’m crushing on!”
Saturn let out a tiny breath, and her muscles hardened. Rita could feel a change in the air. A bright white glow enveloped Saturn’s blade and she charged. Saturn was fast, but she was nothing compared the goddess that Rita had just gotten done blowing up with a super bomb. Rita charged to meet her. Just as Saturn pulled her sword back, Rita lifted her dagger. The sword came clashing down onto the dagger with enough weight and power to make Rita’s feet slide, but Rita also had her pistol lifted up and aimed directly at Saturn’s gut.
The temperature dropped in an instant and ice appeared over both of their feet, their weapons, and their arms and around Rita’s trigger finger. Neither of them could move anything save their necks and heads. Rita glared up into Saturn’s eyes and Saturn glared down at hers. Saturn looked a little more down and saw the pistol aimed at her gut. Her eyes widened as she realized who had just lost this little dual.
Lamont stood over on the side, the sphere of ice holding the blackened heart of Nightmare in it in his arms. Ice stretched out from his feet over to the two fighters. He shook his head slowly. “You two are too headstrong for your own good. Haven’t either of you figured out when to stop fighting?”
Saturn burst full of anger and fury. “You should help me! You serve our mom just as I do!”
“The difference,” Lamont said as he nodded to the side, “Is that I know when to ask mom for advice on what to do.”
Both Rita and Saturn looked over to see the Queen walking towards them. There was some dried crimson in her flowing fiery hair, but she looked otherwise completely fine. Once she was next to Lamont she smiled down at him and as usual. “Thank you, Lamont. I’m glad at least one of you two listens to me.”
Saturn growled. “That thing is the monster that almost killed you! Now she takes the form of a child hoping for sympathy when we have her beat, but she’ll just stab us in the back. You can guarantee it!”
Rita followed up with, “No! Lamont has the Nightmare in his hands right there! It took possession of Lunaria. She reached out to me, helping me to defeat her. I was almost too late too! But I did it. I saved her from the Nightmare.”
Queen Solaria looked down at the thing in Lamont’s hands. “May I see that?”
Lamont handed her the orb without question.
Queen Solaria held it up in her hand and smiled. “Ah… I see. Truly a parasitic being…” She clicked her tongue a few times in disapproval. “You’ll have to try harder than that to destroy me I’m afraid.” The orb of ice instantly lit up with golden flames so bright that both Saturn and Rita were forced to look away.
The Nightmare screamed out in pain. “AHHHHH YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE!EVEN STOPPING ME WON'T STOP THE DUST STORM!”
Just as the voice stopped screaming Solaria let go of the flames and the orb along with the monster inside were completely gone. Solaria shook her head slowly. “Now let me take a look at this situation here a little closer.”
Queen Solaria walked forward, and as she passed by Rita and Saturn the air grew warm like that of a mid summers day, the ice melted and Saturn stumbled back a few steps meanwhile Rita complete collapsed. Every single muscle in Rita's body ached and she could feel both a migraine, and exhaustion taking over. Queen Solaria walked over to Lunaria and knelt down. The puddle around the girl evaporated and Lunaria quit shivering.
Several minutes went by in complete silence with nobody moving. The tension only grew tighter with each passing second. Part of Rita feared that if there was any corruption left in Lunaria, which now that she’d had time to settle down she realized was a possibility, that Solaria might just burn the poor thing to cinders then and there. Even if Rita was at full strength she doubted her ability to even face off the queen long enough to hold her back while Lunaria ran for it.
Lunaria finally spoke, “You got old… didn’t you?”
Solaria laughed which broke the tension, and it set Rita’s heart a flutter with warmth. “Yes, yes I did. You had gotten old too, or so I had thought.” Another giggle escaped her. “So, it looks like you're finally back.”
Lunaria lifted her head, looked around, then lowered it back down and closed her eyes. “I don’t… I don’t know.”
“How long have you been asleep?” Solaria asked.
“Too long,” Lunaria complained.
Queen Solaria’s hand gently brushed against the girl’s forehead and the pale blue skin brightened up in tone and color. She then looked back at Rita and Solaria with a warm smile on her lips. “Thank you my daughter for trying to protect me from your admittedly younger looking aunt. And thank you, Rita, for doing what I couldn’t do, and what none others thought even possible, you saved my little sister not only from that monster, but from herself.”
Rita tried to nod, felt too sluggish and tired so instead she said, “Your welcome… you're not going to let anyone kill her now are you?”
Queen Solaria’s magical laugh filled the air once more. “Of course not. She is my little sister, even I was unable to kill her when we had our most deadly of fights, but then again, she couldn’t kill me either.”
Rita smiled. “Good, now I’m going to crash.”
Before anyone could say anything Rita fell onto her back with her eyes closed and allowed the world to be swept away into a dream like state.