It was the first sign
The first step along the path of darkness
That meeting with the Shadowed Soul
Everything changed for me cause of that encounter
I meet something of complete darkness
Yet there was something inside me
Something even darker
That was just waiting to be released
Chapter 12: Hate
Luna gritted her teeth and pushed herself to her feet. She didn’t know how long she had been wracked with intense pain. It could have been minutes or hours, Luna had no way of telling. She remembered screaming and screaming. When she managed to rise to her feet she heard the chuckling voice of Remana.
“Still alive and still struggling. Your resolve is commendable. You are so fun to play with.” She caressed Luna’s cheek. “But don’t worry, soon you will break. Soon you will tell me everything and this pain will end. Luna slapped away Remana’s hand. Luna staggered backward several feet and pushed out her hand toward Remana.
Black and white motes began to form around Luna and then they shot out in Luna’s signature black-light beam. Remana tried to pull back out of the way but it was too late. The beam stuck Remana solidly and she fell back. There was a sizzling sound and splatters of a dark liquid spread across the ground around her. Luna didn’t waste any time gloating. She scrambled across the roof to where her bat had been knocked. She grabbed it and turned to face Remana.
Remana was beginning to recover. Luna could see that Remana’s face was a mass of dark leaking fluid however it was slowly beginning to knit itself back together. Luna could tell that her strongest attack had only inconvenienced the monster. Remana was move moving toward Luna and her swiftly repairing lips were parted in a smile.
“Naughty girls are going to get punished. You have been very naughty and now I am going to have to punish you. I do so like punishing people. You might even begin to enjoy it after you while however I hope that you won’t.”
Luna didn’t wait for Remana to punish her however she leaped toward her using all the magically powered speed that she could muster. She pushed the her bat directly at Remana bring the point directly into her rib cage. The Shadowed Soul may not have noticed it coming quickly enough or maybe she wasn’t able to move quick enough. Either way the bat hit Remana solidly and there was a grisly crack.
Luna then reached out and grabbed Remana by the face. The black and white motes began to appear again and then she blasted Remana with her black-light beam at point blank range. The beams shot directly through Remana boaring large gory holes in the creature. Luna didn’t give it a chance though. She brought the bat up and to the side knocking the creature to the floor. Then with every last drop of energy she shot it one more time with her beam. It was a wide thick beam carrying the weight of all the power that Luna had left.
Remana took it squarely to the chest. There was a explosion of energy and when the light from it disappeared Luna could only see an empty roof. She fell backward in sheer exhaustion, she didn’t have enough energy left to stand. However it looked like she had defeated the Shadowed Soul. At least that was the thought that she had for a few seconds before the laughter appeared again.
“So close, so close. To think that you still had that much power left in yourself. Yet it wasn’t enough was it. I even let you take it out on me to see what you were capable. How disappointing that that was all that you were capable of. I guess I thought too much of you.” The darkness began to congeal where Remana last stood. It swirled into a solid form which was similar to the one Remana was in before.
This time however her black dress seemed to be made out of flowing darkness. Luna tried painfully to stand to her feet but Remana swept toward Luna in an instant like her feet weren’t touching the floor and she was just passing through the air. Remana grabbed Luna by the arm in an instant and Luna heard the creak of bone breaking. The pain quickly followed and she was back on the ground in pain.
Remana stood over Luna’s broken and tired form. “You have nothing left do you. You couldn’t even try again if you wanted to.” Remana turned and looked at the door that lead back down into the school. “And look, your friends are finally here to rescue you. How nice for you. To show you how much I like you I’m going to give you a gift. I’m going to kill all of your friends in front of you before I kill you. You are free to try and stop me at any time. If you can that is.”
Remana then turned and floated eerily toward the door. Seconds later the door burst open and Joy and Sibyl stepped through. Joy was carrying Ouroboros in the form of a sword and Sibyl was glowing a strange blue. That flickering looked was back but this time it seemed more controlled, less random. She looked between the crumpled form of Luna Star and the shadowy figure of Remana.
Then Ouroborus was a bow and an arrow was already in the air heading toward Remana. However the arrow never reached its target. Strands of darkness lifted from the ground and plucked the arrow out of the air. Then they reached out and wrapped themselves around Joy binding her tightly. More strands pulled themselves around Sibyl. The two struggled against the force but it seemed like their efforts were in vain.
Ouroboros shifted form into a dagger to cut at the strands but they refused to cut beneath the blade. In just moments after they had entered the room Joy and Sibyl were bound and helpless at the mercy of Remana. She moved toward them slowly giving Luna and them time to fear her arrival. She stopped before them and asked backward toward Luna, “Which one should I kill first? Do you have a preference?”
Remana looked back at the form of Luna. Luna had been trying to get to her feet by propping herself up with her bat. She glared at Remana not wanted to give her an answer. Remana turned toward the two girls again and say, “Fine then I will begin with this one.” The strands of darkness began to ravel around her hand and in moments she held a weapon that looked remarkably like a scythe. She raised it up high and then brought it down toward Sibyl’s head.
The strange scythe sliced through Sibyl and Luna let out a scream. Yet instead of blood splattering everywhere the body seemed to disolve in a sparkly of blue motes of energy. Remana mused as she handled the scythe gently. “It seems that she was using a fake body. How unusual. I’m make sure to find her real body and kill it soon. Now I suppose I should go to the next one.”
Luna had been watching the proceedings. When the scythe had fallen down on Sibyl something had clicked inside her. She not just needed to some this monster, she needed to stop Remana. From the darkest depths inside Luna she wanted Remana dead. She dug into the darkness inside her, to the dark things inside her that she had long buried. She had wanted to keep them hidden forever but now she wanted blood.
Remana was beginning to raise the scythe again when she heard from behind her, “STOP.” The voice was cold and dark. Remana turned to see Luna standing once again. However something seemed different about her. Her bat was laying to one side next to her feet but it seemed like she was having no trouble standing.
She clothes looked kind of different. The white runes on her clothing had dimmed to an almost imperceptible level. Black runes along her clothing seemed to suck up the light, eating what little was being emitted by her white runes. But it was her eyes that had really changed. They were now pure silver inside a pool of darkness.
Remana stared at Luna with a kind of shock on her face. “You, what did you do?” However that was all that she had time to say. Black bolts of energy shot out from Luna toward Remana. She raised her scythe to block but that only served to delay the bolts as they passed through the scythe. Remana managed to shift mostly out of the way but her left are was caught in the blast. Where it had been there was nothing remaining just a stump which began dripping black oozing.
Luna stepped toward Remana who began to backpedal stepping farther and father away from Luna. She opened her mouth to speak but Luna didn’t care about words anymore. Black energy coursed around her figures and formed into the long form of something like a bat. Remana was far away from her but she passed through the distance in a matter of seconds. Remana tried shielding herself with a mass of shadows but the bat passed through them like they were not even there. It smacked into Remana and sent her flying across the roof.
She crashed into the wall near the stairway. Remana rose in a dark wreath of shadows. The darkness of the night began to expand behind her blotting out the lights of the city behind her. “Luna die, this will end you.” Then the wave of cold and fear rushed past Remana and toward Luna. Joy, now free from the tangling shadow, felt the darkness push by her and she scrambled back into the door leading to the stairs and out of the way.
That wave broke upon Luna and crashed against the floor around her ripping up tiles. However she stood firm against it barely moving from the force. Then she took a step toward Remana, then another one. One step at a time step moved into the wave of blackness and closer to Remana. With each step Luna took Remana took one backway. Soon she was pressed against the hard metal of the railing.
Then Remana took a very human action, she fled. The darkness that had been pushing forward suddenly began to pull backward. It sucked at Remana and Luna and behind Remana a hole appeared, a rip in the world which felt completely wrong. Then Remana turned and escaped into the hole and away from Luna. Luna however would not let her leave. She moved closer and closer to the hole and as it seemed to close she grabbed the edges of it and held it open.
Luna was about to step through the hole when Joy wrapped her hands around Luna’s chest and yelled, “No, stop, don’t go Luna.”
Luna’s eyes turned to Joy and the silver gems stared deep into Joy’s eyes. The something inside Luna seemed to regain a little control. She struggled against the portal but it was shutting around her so she tried to push Joy away. Then something small and black darted from behind Joy, it jumped at Luna’s arm and there was a few droplets of blood. Luna’s fingers twitched and her strength weakened. Joy used that moment to pull Luna backward, out of the hole. With one last suction of air the hole sealed, leaving them on the roof.
“What in the world were you attempting to do? Walk straight into a portal into the Abyss after you manage to win? Are you insane?” Came a voice from the small black form. Joy recognized the voice and Blackberry and sagged in relief.
Luna began to fall back, her previous exhaustion catching up with her. “Maybe.” She smiled wearily, “Thanks Blackberry.”