Ni No Kuni: Friendship and Magic

Within a dark and ruined castle, a great battle was being waged. Random bursts of light and energy erupted from the windows of the ruined palace, disturbing the poisonous wetlands which surrounded the imposing structure...

"Wretched Sage!" A dark and powerful voice bellowed as a bolt of light impacted the shield that materialized in front the owner.

Taking a moment the assess her situation, the sage jumped to the side quickly to avoid a beam of dark energy coming from her enemy's palm, a beam which shattered a statue of a gargoyle a few meters behind her. She gazed upon her foe with persistance, the dark cloak and uniquely patterned cloak he wore concealed any trace of humanity or emotion underneath its hood. A pair of bony and pale hands outstretched from beneath it and began to draw another rune with the wooden cane it grasped in both hands.

"Your powers are mere parlor tricks compared to me... Alicia." The Dark Djinn spoke once more as once the rune was complete, a gigantic ball of pure Despair emerged from a shadowy void in the floor. Not wasting a second, Alicia readied her own wand and cast a Ward to protect herself. Moments after, the ball swelled and exploded in a wave of pure darkness that engulfed the chamber the two wizards fought in.

"Shadar... Just what have you become?" She said to herself, recovering from the powerful attack.

"I have seen this world for what it is truly worth, and in response I have gained the power to shape and destroy it!" Shadar answered, with Alicia shocked at his reply.

"That's not true! I know you Shadar... You wanted to protect this world! To protect everyone and everything that this world had to offer! What caused you to turn your back on all of it!? What caused you to become this way!" She prepared to cast another spell, but was knocked back by a blast of dark wind from Shadar.

"I do not answer to the likes of YOU Sage!" With a mighty thrust of his cane into the air, the atmosphere within the chamber began to chill. A blizzard had come seemingly out of nowhere and began to produce massive spikes of ice. Alicia barely had enough time to put her guard up before the ice began to impact her. After a few agonizing seconds the blizzard had stopped, and the ice melted away as quickly as it had formed. As she attempted to stand, Alicia clutched her side in pain, feeling a cold yet lukewarm wetness which could only mean she was wounded badly, and she lacked the concentration and time for her to heal herself.

Noticing this, Shadar laughed in triumph, "Ahaha! Alicia... You should have known that you stand no chance in defeating me... Not now. Not ever." Shadar said, about to finish her off with a final spell. "It is time you met your end... Great Sage."

"You are wrong, Shadar! I have found another way to defeat you." She proclaimed.

The Dark Djinn had gone silent from Alicia's words. "What?"

"I will travel to another world, because I know that in a parallel dimension... there is someone out there who share's your soul! And if I can save this soul mate of yours, then you-"

The Dark wizard merely laughed at the injured Sage. "This is your plan? Your scheme to save me? I'm afraid I must disappoint you... For I have no soul mate."

Alicia's eyes had widened as she took a step back to process the information she just recieved about her foe. "No... No, that isn't possible! How could you exist without a soul mate!" She shouted.

"The Dark Djinn chuckled once more, "Ha, I took the precaution of severing all ties with the one who share's my soul, so that this weakness could never be used against me..."

Still trying to get over the shock of her plans falling to pieces, Alicia cried out in anguish. "THIS CANNOT BE!"

"Now you see that every path has been closed to you... Every path... except for the one which leads to death."

Alicia thought for a moment before realizing her final option. "No Shadar, there is still another way. Souls are reborn after a time..."

"What exactly do you mean by this..."

"Even if my plan fails... That your soul mate will never be born anew, and my efforts will be in vain..." She clutched her side once again. "There will always be Hope!"

"What is this madness you speak of?" Shadar questioned, canceling his spell but preparing to cast another.

"There will always be another to stand up to your tyranny! There is still Hope for you Shadar... I know it." She chose not to speak anymore, clutching her side in pain and tasting iron. Realizing she had to do this now, she raised her staff and began to draw a rune, Shadar readied to defend himself before he recognized the pattern of the spell she was about to cast.

"Surely not? You know you will never return! Not to this time..." Shadar asked in disbelief.

Raising her head to glare at him one last time, she replied. "I am well aware of that... I am ready." Alicia replied, as the finished the final drawings of the spell.

"DAMN YOU!" Shader cried, raising his cane to stop her.

"Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday! She cried, closing her eyes to protect them from the blinding aura of blue energy which surrounded her figure. Shadar, trying finish his spell quickly directed the blue fireball he held in his palm towards the pillar of blue which surrounded Alicia.

"Take me safely on my way..." she finished with a whisper as she felt herself hurling through time and leaving the dark throne room of the Dark Djinn's castle.

The fireball that he cast impacted the space where the Sage once stood and grew to become a towering inferno of blue flames which quickly dissipated, leaving a few stray flames and a scorched area on the floor. Shadar, realizing he failed to stop Alicia from using "Breach Time" moved toward his throne and sat softly down. The throne room had once more become silent, while Shadar continued to ponder his decisions on how to counteract Alicia's plans.

"Damn you Alicia." he cursed softly. He was about to warp to recuperate in his chamber until he noticed the large book which was near the spot the Sage had warped from. He quickly levitated himself to have a closer look, and chuckled darkly upon realizing what it was.

"How careless of you to leave your 'Wizard's Companion' behind." Shadar pondered, speaking to no one in particular as he picked the tome up with his right hand with a degree of difficulty.

"Perhaps it's best if this was never seen in this world again..." he decided, as he encased the book in a dark aura and began to draw another rune with his cane. Using his powers, he proceeded to forcefully remove several pages of the book and scattered each throughout time and space. Before long, a vortex similar to the one which he brought his attack on Alicia earlier had appeared in front of him. With one last glance to the cover of the book, he casually tossed it into the menacing void. He watched as the book sank deeper and deeper into the mass of darkness before it was swallowed whole, satisfied with his work, he closed the void and levitated himself back to the throne.

"Hope she says... What a forlorn fantasy." He mused.

In another world filled with life and magic different to the world before, on the outskirts of a small town named Ponyville, a ripple had formed in the Everfree Forest. Sensing the great evil and dark power nearby, creatures of all shapes and sizes fled the area as a dark void split the space around it and spat out the unfortunate book. For years it would lay undisturbed and undamaged thanks to the protective enchantment on it. For years it would lay idle witnessing many things, such as the the Sun doing battle with the Moon, the land descend into fathomless Chaos, the disappearence of a great Empire and many more. There it sat... without an owner, without a companion...

Until now.