Lunaria stood at the back of the line of thousands of soldiers. Besides her stood Solaria wearing a suit of golden platemail. Solaria began to rise in the air with powerful flaps of her wings, to which Lunaria followed rising beside her. They lifted themselves up until they were at least fifty feet in the air. High enough to see over the soldiers and what they were facing. Far back, over a few miles of barren and dead terrain, stood the imposing city of black metal. Buildings like crooked and twisted spires rose up into the sky, coiling around a mountain where a dark metal castle emitted dark green light from every window especially from the unseen courtyard.
The tingle of magic was thick in the air even from this distance. There was something cold and sickening about the magic, something that brought forth a nauseating feeling inside of Lunaria. She looked over to her sister and saw the hard lines formed over that beautiful and generally warm face. Lunaria cleared her throat before speaking, “Malik has already begun his fell ritual, can we truly stop him in time before he summons the Dust?”
Solaria nodded. “We will prevail my dearest sister. No longer shall the slave empire reign free across our land. Even if we must go against one our old friends, we will stop him.”
Lunaria focused ahead. “At least I can be sure that my Shade is safe from this war. This is no place for my apprentice.”
Solaria bit her lip and glanced over at Lunaria for only a brief moment before steadying herself and looking forward once more. “I have Dawn keeping watch over him. He will be fine.”
With that said Solaria threw her sword arm forward and cried out in a voice powerful and loud enough that it echoed across the battlefield. “NO LONGER SHALL WE SUFFER THE HANDS OF SLAVERY IN OUR LAND, IN SILVER GLOW, GO FORTH MY VALIANT SOLDIERS, GO FORTH AND DESTROY THE ENEMY!”
There was a responding war cry from the soldiers below as the charge began. For a long moment the soldiers charged, roaring brave and strong with no sign of opposition. It was strange how there were no slavers, no soldiers, no militia even to meet them in battle. What could Malik be planning?
At first there were dots coming out of the city. Lunaria couldn’t make out the black shapes rising out of the city, they had wings yet looked oddly shaped for birds. The dots flew towards the charging line of soldiers. The closer they got the larger they became until Lunaria began to make out what she was seeing. They were humanoid figures with black scaily flesh, leathery wings, black armor and twisted expressions as if looking at a jigsaw puzzle that had broken apart. The monsters slammed into the front line like tanks and tore through them with reckless abandon.
From the city a massive dark shape rose up. It was like a bat, with arms ending in hooked tendrils, and where its feet should be were more tendrils. The thing vomited green steaming goop which flew across the sky landing in a splash against the charging line. Wherever it touched, ground, man, and monster alike all melted.
Solaria charged forward, her body exploding into flames. It was always amazing to watch and this time was no different. The flaming form of her sister expanded into a terrifying and massive phoenix. Lunaria couldn’t simply stand by and allow her sister to have all the fun. She dived down at an angle, feeling the dark energy inside of her explode, expanding and shifting altogether. When she hit the ground she was no longer human, but rather she was a massive black-blue wolf charging through the lines and aiming for the massive monster bat creature.
The battle ensued. Things got progressively worse as even after Solaria and Lunaria took down the massive monster many more simply appeared to take their place. Waves of monsters were put down one after the other. Yet no headway could be made on the castle itself against the unending tide. When Malik himself joined the confrontation it only grew worse.
Eventually though, they did take down the evil wizard Malik, and his numerous monsters. It was moments after the final blow against Malik had been stuck. His wounded body bounced against the earth, broken and useless. Lunaria walked around him, still in wolf form and preparing to bring the final blow against her pray. Solaria circled overhead in much the same fashion.
Malik laughed through broken bones and far too much pain. “You have no idea what I was doing.”
Lunaria snorted. “I don’t care. You killed and enslaved our people.”
He shot a green eyed glare at Lunaria. “Yes, I did. And by doing so I saved millions more.”
Lunaria snarled. “Explain!”
He closed his eyes. “It’s already done. The last monster of the apocalypse bombs will be dead soon. No longer shall the old world threaten to surface and destroy what still lives in humanity.”
Lunaria was about to crush him when she felt an intense pressure in the air. It was like a metal spike was shot through her heart, then electrified for extra pain. She fell to her knees whimpering and trying to paw away the pain in her head.
As quickly as the pain had appeared, it also vanished. For one brief moment Lunaria thought it over. Yet relief didn’t even get the chance to wash over her.
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The world exploded beneath and around her.
Things after this were a blur. There were dead soldiers, everywhere. Most of which were bleeding from the eyes, ears and mouth. Every structure lay in ruins. The entire mountain was gone, along with the castle and its fell magic. Lunaria walked, and walked, and walked some more trying to find something, anything she could understand and find familiar.
Finally she found something familiar. A wolf, a little larger then a normal one, only covered in dark gray fur and covered in crimson wounds lay on the ground. It looked up at her with one open eye. Slowly the wolf changed back into a young man with brown hair and wearing blue robes.
Lunaria fell out of her wolf form at his side. “Shade!”
Shade looked up at her. “I… did it. I saved us.”
Lunaria shook and shivered. “No, no, no. Stay awake. Please stay awake.”
His eye closed. “I did it for you… thank you for saving me…”
Lunaria growled as the life faded from his body. “You cannot die on me too! Not you!”
Time ceased to matter as she knelt beside the body. She cried, she screamed, and she howled. Nothing she did could bring him back, she just didn’t have that much power. All the power she got from the darkness, from the ascension, all of it meant nothing…
Footsteps crunching the rocks beneath them sounded behind her, and Lunaria shot a glare at her older sister who stood there with a young woman hiding behind her. There was a tortured look in Solaria’s eyes. “Lulu, I’m s-”
Lunaria saw it in that instance. The way her sister had acted before the battle had told her she was hiding something, but she had promised Shade was safe with Dawn. Yet there was Dawn, the young apprentice to Solaria hiding behind her like a scared little girl. Raging fury like blades whirling in the darkness spun in Lunaria’s heart as she rose, still wounded to face her sister.
Lunaria gritted her teeth together. “Where was your apprentice?”
Solaria looked toward the ground, doing her best to avoid eye contact. “She was hunting Malik’s general… they found him and slew him.”
Lunaria’s fangs hungered for blood and vengeance. “Where?”
Solaria put an arm in front of her apprentice and looked up to meet Lunaria’s eyes. “In the mines under the mountain that used to exist.”
Lunaria’s rage threatened to bubble forth in a blizzard of pain and agony. “What happened?”
Dawn fell to her knees behind Solaria, her voice cried out in a broken sob. “Shade knocked me out and went in by himself. He said, he said he was going to blow everything up!”
Lunaria glared at her for a moment knocking the girl onto her back with a mere look before meeting her sister’s eyes once more. The anger bubbled over and vanished. It hit her like a tidal wave of realization. Shade had kept his friend safe, stopped the bad guys, and ended the ritual as well as the war. He had become a hero.
But he was still gone.
Everything inside her froze. Her heart was incased in a solid block of ice, her mind frosted over, and her body grew cold. Lunaria was hollow as she picked up Shade’s body in her arms, looked towards the horizon and could feel the place of her power calling towards her. Lunaria began walking away.
“Lunaria, where are you going?” Solaria asked.
Lunaria barely had the strength to reply. “I’m done.”
“Done?”
“I’m done, with everything. Good bye.”
Days went by with Lunaria only being able to walk steadily onward. Somehow her sister had not followed her, or lost track of her. Lunaria went though forests, lakes, and up the mountain where the old city ruins had once long ago existed. Lunaria kept going until she found the old stairwell, the only part of the city which still stood. She ventured into it and down the long dark stairs. Once she finally reached the end she found the lake of darkness.
“He’s gone,” Lunaria said holding his body out towards the water. “Help, please.”
The lake was still, quiet, and unmoving.
Lunaria shivered. “If you can’t help…” She shook her head. She already knew he was gone, but it was time to finally do what needed to be done the whole time. Lunaria walked forward and stepped into the cold dark water. She recalled the voice telling her never to enter a second time, yet she cared not. It was time to end the charade of life she had built. It was time to either die, or be reborn a new.
Once she was waist deep in the dark pool she let go of Shade’s body. The dark water took his body and dragged it below to a final resting place fit for the best apprentice, friend, and child anyone could ask for. Next she let go of her final breath and dunked her head in.
The darkness wasted no time in grabbing her as well. She was dragged down to the bottom, down deep below the water where no light had ever penetrated. For a long time she just stood there. She didn’t drown, or struggle to breathe, she simply stopped breathing, it was no longer important for her body, just an old reflection of her old life. In that deep dark she felt the darkness. The pain of the world all collected into one place. The longer she stood there, the more she saw the world through the eyes of the hurt. Glimpses of the surviving slaves all living together and struggling, barely able to feed themselves, helpless against disease and injury. They had been freed, but they were left without a place to go. Solaria had completely abandoned them after freeing them.
Time didn’t exist for her down there. All things happened at the same time. She merely watched, and watched, and felt, and understood the hurt of the world. Until one day she decided that there had been enough pain in the world. Lunaria pulled herself, sluggish step by sluggish step towards the water’s edge. Lunaria pushed herself through the water, using every ounce of strength she had left in her, she pushed herself out of the water.
Once Lunaria was freed she looked back at the surface of the water, it was a mere puddle now. Her body had changed. She was covered in black slime which clung to her skin so tightly it might be mistaken for her actual skin.
This time she swore to stop those that caused such deep pain on others. A cruel smile grew over her lips as she stared down at herself, her too wide grin was filled with too sharp teeth. It occurred to her that if she was truly to going to do this she knew where she might have the best start to saving the world from pain.
Of course, she also needed a new name. Lunaria simply didn’t belong to her anymore, that was just the name her mother had given her. No, now she was so much better than that. She’d evolved into the darkness, into the pain, into the thing every vile creature should fear. She was now The Nightmare.