Introduction: Fall Through the Void
Falling…
Falling…
Falling…
…
Really? Still falling? Ugh, this got repetitive really fast. I mean, seriously, does everyone just fall into an endless abyss when they get killed by a moon demon? Wait, now that I think about it… what was that thing anyway? It looked like a talking horse, in fact, it looked like a crossbreed between a Unicorn and a Pegasus that got blasted with massive amounts of demonic energy. Was that creature some type of new Moonlight Beast? Was it really a demon? What did it say its name was? Nightmare Moon? That's a weird name.
…
Eh, no matter, even though I’m dead right now it won’t be long until my body reconstitutes back on the moon by mother. Should be any second now.
…
Any second now.
…
…
…
Um…
…
Welp, well done Shade… well done. Not only did you get yourself killed by some kind of horse-moon-demon-thing, but apparently you managed to use so much Moonlight that your connection to the only person who can reconstitute your ass got cut off. Way to go Shadiseus Lunarium Nocturnis… you done goofed.
…
Well, might as well introduce myself while I’m falling in this neverending darkness(I wish I had my music…). So, like I said before, my name is Shadiseus Lunarium Nocturnis, Son of the Moon Goddess Nocturnis, Rightful Inheritor of the Blue Moon Scythe, Four-star Dubstep DJ, and, as of currently, D-E-A-D. Perhaps I should explain how I got into this situation, and, I have to admit, the fight that led to this was the strangest I’ve ever been in.
Author's Note
I hope that this small introduction will pique interest to you.
Again, criticism is appreciated so that I can write this story to the best of my ability.
Up next is a flashback that covers the fight between Shade and Nightmare Moon! Let's see what happens to him during this fight!
Thanks for reading, and like if you enjoyed the story!
Flashback 1: Clash of Nightmares and Moonlight
I turned my gaze to my window after being woken up by a sonic boom and a flash of light to see if there was a storm outside, but what I saw outside was a pillar of Dark Magic mixed with Moonlight Energy. “That’s… odd.” I said to myself, trying to sense the source of this unusual, yet familiar, combination of magic. Normally, mages aren’t capable of using Lunamancy{1} unless they are given a temporary buff from my mother, Nocturnis, but I’m the only one who is able to use Moonlight at will. You see, my mother created me from a strand of hair that was imbued with a balance of both Shadows and Moonlight, thus making me have a balanced affinity of Dark Magic and Lunar Magic. It’s also the main reason why my hair is black while parts of it is pure white, but, while I have a balance, this entity is using a large majority of Dark Magic. For all I know, it could be some Shadowmancer{2} trying to use Lunamancy. I thought, and I knew something like that could end in disaster.
I jumped out of bed and went to my closet to equip my Moonlight Assassin attire and gear. The set consisted of a white T-shirt, dark purple cargo pants, grey boots, a dark blue mage overcoat with black and purple shoulder-guards attached, and Shadowleather{3} fingerless gloves. As I clamped the top latch of my overcoat(which was a crescent moon), I opened my window, transformed into my Dark Mist Form, and flew towards the beacon.
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As I landed in front of the pillar, I started to sense another energy that sent shivers down my spine. This energy radiates pure malice, this thing isn’t something mortal… it’s demonic. My thoughts halted as I noticed a dark figure emerge from the dark-light, and it kind of threw me off guard once I saw it clearly. “What the hell?” I stated to no one in particular.
The demon(?) took notice of me and stared me down from across the field for a moment before it spoke, “Well well, what do we have here?” it spoke in a feminine voice that bled regality, “Who, and what I might ask, are you?” Wait, this thing doesn’t know who I am? That’s… new, normally any demon I’ve come across have called me “Moonborn” or “Shadow-spawn”, and on one occasion, when I pissed off their king, it was “Bastard of Nightfall”(heh, that one always made me laugh).
However, this moment right now really threw me for a loop, and its appearance threw me off as well. All of the demons I’ve met normally had some sort of reptilian appearance, but this one looked like a jet black horse with a horn and wings of the same color, its mane and tail looked like a starry sky with a purple filter flowing in an invisible wind, and it was also equipped with cobalt regalia consisting of only a helmet, chestplate, and hoof-guards. I also noticed that it had a white crescent moon on the chestplate and a teal one on a purple splotch on its flank, and that’s when everything started to come together in my head. This thing must be wanting to take down my mother and take the moon’s power for itself! I thought, trying to form some sense of action, If that’s the case, then I need to stop it! Of course, I need to know what its intentions are first before jumping to conclusions. I took in a breath before speaking, “My name is Shadiseus Lunarium Nocturnis, and might I ask who you are and what are your intentions here?” I calmly asked after introducing myself.
“Well now, isn’t this a surprise.” she said in that regal tone, “You are the first one to ever show such politeness toward me.”
The hell is she on about? I’m only being diplomatic until I decide to kick your ass.
“Very well, since you asked so nicely, I shall answer your request.” that tone is really starting to bug me. She raised her head to look down on me like she was a freaking queen, “I am Nightmare Moon, Goddess of the Moon, and Mistress of the Night!” she finished her boast with a fanged grin.
OH HELL NAW!!!!
That’s where I draw the line. “Like hell you are!” I yelled, causing her smile to become a scowl, “There’s only one moon goddess, and that’s my mother, Nocturnis!” with a bust of silver flame I summoned my scythe, Blue Moon, and readied myself into a battle stance.
“FOOL!” she boomed, her very voice causing wind to cut across the field and blow my hair and the bottom of my overcoat back, “YOU DARE CHALLENGE ME!?” My only response was me lunging at her with a flurry of slashes, and she only had enough time to summon two shadow blades to block my attacks. We performed this dance for a moment until she tried to get me with an overhead swing, but that left her open for me to counter with an upward slash sending her skyward. She managed to regain her balance with her wings and began to fire Fast Arcane Bolts down upon me, but I used my Dark Mist Form to fly towards her while dodging the oncoming projectiles. I managed to get close enough with only a few grazing me before splitting into four forms of mist to get behind her and slam both of my feet into her back, but, as soon as that happened, she flipped over and grabbed my left leg with her right hoof and wing. We continued our close quarters duel while plummeting to the ground with her being on offense and me on defense. She got a few hits on me at first, but I managed to free myself from her grip before we hit the ground.
We pulled ourselves off the ground with both of us having cuts, bruises, and me with scorch marks. Fortunately, Nightmare was fairing worse than I was due to the gash in her chestplate from my earlier counter-attack, and, apparently, she noticed this as she brought an armored hoof to her chest. She watched her blood trickle down from her armor as she realized that my scythe can cut through armor like butter with a heated knife, but, as this happened, Nightmare started to shake not in shock… she shook in complete… unadulterated… rage. Yeah, if I thought she was mad at me for challenging her, then this was where she got pissed. “Now you know why they call me ‘Shadow-spawn’.” Nightmare Moon looked up at me with hatred in her draconic eyes as I continued, “It’s because that I fight like the shadows themselves… I don’t care how I win a fight against threats, especially when they threaten Nocturnis.”
She stood there seething while I had a cold, emotionless glare, “Grr, YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE, WHELP!!!!” Nightmare bellowed while her horn seemed to burst into black flames, her pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks, and her mane and tail started to flail around like crazy. She screamed to the heavens creating an explosion of Dark Magic that almost threw me off-balance, and I also had to cover my face to keep the dust she threw around out of my eyes. When I uncovered my face as the dust cleared, I saw that her eyes became pitch black, her regalia became full-body armor, and her mane and tail seemed to radiate pure Moonlight.
Crap, she has a Champion Form{4}!? there was no way I could fight her in this state, and my Champion form requires more Mana and Moonlight than I can handle! The thing is: Mana and Moonlight are two different energies to the point that if there is too much of one, then the other will try to convert that into the minority energy, but that will also cause a chain reaction where one energy keeps converting the other and vice versa. This will eventually lead to the persons Mana and Moonlight reserves to overload, and create a catastrophic internal and external singularity. In other words: you burn from the inside out, and then you go boom. Realizing that it was either that, or get obliterated by a demon… horse… thing I lowered my head. “Guess there’s no other choice.” I sighed, my hair covering my face from view.
“Do you surrender, Whelp!?” she was getting cocky.
I looked up with a smirk as I gathered as much Mana into my hand to form a ball of pure shadow. “If this is where I die, then you’re going down with me!” I yelled as I threw the shadow sphere into the air where it exploded to part the clouds, revealing the moon. The moon’s light shined down upon me as I started to feel empowered, and I screamed at the top of my lungs while rapidly absorbing as much Moonlight and Mana as I can. I felt myself growing larger and more powerful with every passing second as a beam of silver light rained down upon me from the moon itself. As the light faded, I could see Nightmare no longer with a face of rage and confidence, but now her face showed utter shock. "Prepare yourself, Nightmare." I said in a low tone, my body burning with energy to the point I felt like I was on fire.
"I'm just getting started!"
Author's Note
Lunamancy - Magic that uses the moon and its light to perform powerful and devestating spells.
Shadowmancer - Mages that use Shadowmancy to manipulate the darkness as a tangible substance.
Shadowleather - A rare material that is refined from Darkhide that is obtained from Shadow Beasts.
Champion Form - A special transformation that can only be achieved by gods, godborn, or arch-mages.
This is part one of the fight between Shade and Nightmare Moon!
Next up is the battle conclusion, and how Shade ended up in the void with little to no power.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to like if you enjoyed the story. Criticism is also appreciated and will help me iron out some kinks that I might have in this story.
Flashback 1-B: Is There Such Thing as a Moonburn?
‘OH SWEET NOCTURNIS!’ I screamed in my head, ‘THIS HURTS LIKE A BITCH!’
My body felt like I just spontaneously combusted from the inside, and that combustion continued to boil my skin underneath the armor that appeared with my Champion Form. With the amount of Moonlight I absorbed, this became a race against the clock before my reserves overloaded. I needed to defeat Nightmare Moon before I go critical and become a human atomic bomb, but the amount of pain I was in made it difficult to move. Luckily, Nightmare didn’t notice my pained expression thanks to my new Moonlight-forged helmet, for all she knew I was staring her down with a menacing glare while my armor radiated an almost blinding light.
“What kind of power is this!?” Nightmare questioned.
“This is the power that the moon grants me,” I replied, damn… my voice got deeper, and it sounds badass! “Now prepare yourself, Nightmare,” that voice… it sounds so menacing, “I’M JUST GETTING STARTED!”
I launched myself forward, scythe in hand, while attacking Nightmare with a series of magical slashes that shot towards her with every swing. She managed to block a majority of them with a barrier before it shattered, and this gave me time to get close enough to use a Charged Arcane Bolt at point-blank range. She stumbled back from the blast, and this gave me time to charge in again before she can recover. However, she recovered faster than I hoped as she blocked my scythe with both of her Shadow Blades, locking our blades, and putting us into a power struggle.
“Perhaps I underestimated you,” Nightmare said while we struggled for ground, “Such power you wield, yet I can sense that you desire more”
‘What is she talking about?’
“I can give you that power you so desire,” she said in tone so smooth that you could slip and fall onto your ass on it, “Join me, and I can give you power beyond your wildest dreams”
...
‘Seriously? That is the most cliché version of the “join me and gain more power” speech I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of different versions’ I ignored the increasing pain in order to speak, “Yeah, like I haven’t heard that one before”
I jumped back from our struggle to gain some distance, and, once I got far enough, I tapped into my Moonlight reserve and started charging one of my more devastating Lunamancy spells. I sheathed my scythe onto my back, and cupped my hands out in front of me as an orb of silver light started charging between them. I needed to end this now because my body was boiling more and more by the minute.
“MOONLIGHT CANNON!”
A huge beam of light shot out of my hands towards Nightmare, but she also fired her own that was as black as the night sky we were under. Our beams clashed together in the middle of the space between us with a massive *KRACK* before emanating a shockwave, thus starting a beam struggle.
‘Why does this remind me of an anime?’ I asked myself, attempting to ignore the pain of that boiling feeling in my flesh.
Unfortunately, the pain started to get worse again causing me to get pushed back by Nightmare’s beam, and this made her start laughing like a madwoman, “HAHAHAHAHAHA, it is hopeless!” she laughed, “Even with all of that power, you are still outmatched!”
‘Come on Shade, focus!’
My adrenalin was running to the point all of my hearing was dulled, and the only thing I could hear was my heartbeat.
*Badum*
*Badum*
Nightmare’s beam was now a few meters away from me.
*Badum*
*Badum*
‘So this is how it ends, huh?’ I thought, closing my eyes. The burning sensation in my flesh had become so unbearable to the point I felt like I could go critical at any moment. ‘Well, I guess I had a good run’
*Badum*
*Badum*
Nightmare’s beam was only a few inches away, forcing me down onto one knee.
‘I just never thought I’d go out like this’
My body was close to its limit, my skin felt like it could melt off at any second, and I already felt myself growing larger than I should be. This was it… this is where my journey ends, and it wasn’t the way I imagined I would die.
...
…
…
‘…No’ I thought, my eyes open with determination, ‘I will not accept this fate while I still have at least a small chance!’
I stood back up with as much strength I could muster, and I poured as much Moonlight into my beam to push back Nightmare’s. I could feel my blood boiling with the determination to strike this foe down, or maybe it was the fact that I was about to explode with the strength of ten megatons. I think I’ll go with the determination; that sounds more heroic.
Nightmare noticed my beam was beginning to push hers back. “What!?” she yelled in shock, “How is this possible, I sensed your power weaken!” my beam was beginning to regain lost ground, “How do you still persist!?”
“It’s because I will not be taken down by the likes of you!” I responded, my beam inching closer to the center space, “It’s also because I’m fighting to protect the ones I care about! If I let you win, then I won’t be there when they need me! That’s how I still fight, because I’m doing it for my friends!”
I poured every bit of Moonlight I had into the final stretch, making the beam twice as large than before. I was out of time, and I needed to finish this fight once and for all. The silver light overpowered Nightmare’s shadows as it sped towards her. Seconds later, the beam collided into Nightmare as she screamed, “NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Not… again…”
As the light faded, I could see the devastation that was caused during the battle: craters everywhere, trees burnt to a crisp, the grass was black. Hell, even the forest in front of me had a trail of destruction where trees used to be. I was starting to think that I might have overdid it a little, but those thoughts stopped as I heard a noise in front of me.
“Uuuuuuuugh…”
My eyes widened as I saw Nightmare pick herself back up, ‘No… she’s still alive!?’ I was surprised that she survived that attack, but I also saw that she was jacked up pretty bad. She had reverted back to her original form from the beginning of this encounter, but I was still in my Champion Form due to the fact that I was about to go critical.
“You cannot get rid of me that easily, Whelp” she said in a weak, yet furious tone, “You are weak*gasp*and I still have enough power to*cough*finish you off”
‘Then this is where it ends, huh?’ my thoughts started to drift to my friends, ‘Jace, Mike, Sarah… looks like yesterday will be our final adventure together’
I used what was left of my energy to transform into my Dark Mist Form, fly behind Nightmare, and grab her.
“W-what are you doing!?” she yelled.
“As I said before: if I die here, then I’m taking you down with me” I replied as I flew high into the sky as a dark cloud with Nightmare in my grasp. I flew high up into the atmosphere to make sure the blast didn’t cause any damage. Nightmare was struggling to get free, but I held on with every last bit of strength I had. My entire body felt like I was thrown into the sun as I started to rapidly expand, and, as this happened, my mind went back to the life I lived. I thought about my first day on this world, how I was completely clueless on how everything worked. I thought about my friends, how they found me wandering the streets like an idiot and decided to let me hang around them. I also thought about how we all enrolled into the Mage Academy where I learned how to control my magic, and about all of the missions that we used to get sent on by the Headmaster. All of the adventures that the four of us went on, and every single one brought us closer together as a team. All of the things we did when there weren’t any missions available, and all of the trouble we used to get into. I didn’t want it to end like this, but did it seem like I had a choice?
‘We had a good run guys, and I’m sorry I had to go so soon’ I thought as I closed my eyes, the last thing to see was me holding my grip on a struggling Nightmare as we floated above Earth, ‘Just don’t forget about me’
With that last thought the light from my armor intensified to where if you looked up from Earth, you would see a bright new star shining in the sky. I screamed at the top of my lungs from the pain, but soon after that scream was silenced as everything went white. Moments passed and I felt myself falling through an endless abyss.
‘Where am I?’ I thought as I fell.
What I didn’t realize before was that the moon was glowing blue before my body expired.
Author's Note
Finally got this done, phew. Well, I hope that you enjoyed part two and the conclusion to the fight. This scene will be the first of many battles that Shade is going to engage in the future, and this is also where the story is really going start. Also, if there is anything that you guys want to see in the future be sure to PM me, or leave something in the comments section.
Up next: Shade wakes up on a moon that he is not familiar with.
If you enjoyed the story, leave a like so that I can show more!
Thanks for reading!
