The songbirds have been silent, the ground cold, the grass gray and bitter, ever since she came to drive us all into eternal night. But if there's any luck on my side... If my earnest solitude and secret study count for anything... There will be a new dawn tomorrow.
With the Princess captured and the last jewel shattered, it was clear that none could stand against the witch. The only hope was that there might be some undiscovered way, a scrap of hidden lore that would hold a clue to her defeat. And study would give me time to increase my powers, that I might use that lore effectively once I found it. And so I sequestered myself from the bewildered townsfolk, barred the doors of the library, and in candlelight and silence, I began my search. In time, the urgent knocking ceased, though baskets of food were still left at the door to sustain me in my task.
As the gloom deepened, my faithful aide, who had lost all contact with the Princess, grew despondent. I sent him away to find what solace he could under the black sky, and worked on alone. It was just as well, for how could I expose anyone else to the evils I encountered? My studies grew grim, in horrid tomes best left untouched and converse with entities best left unnamed. Only my relentless will saved me from losing my way and joining the side of the dark enchantress. Even so, my soul was stained, and I fear that the corruption is permanent.
But I will redeem myself now, under the dark of the moon.
Now, I stand before her, alone in her lair. Her guards have engaged my supernatural escort, and as they struggle around us with wet shrieks and maddened howls, I recall the time when I first challenged the witch in this ancient castle, then a ruin abandoned for a thousand years. It was here that I saw the jewels shatter into discordant fragments, here that my hopes were dashed and I was driven into the dark, into defeat. It was here that she had the effrontery to name herself queen... of the moon, of us all.
Her blue eyes lock with mine, and the surge of dark energy drives questing tendrils into my brain. She's trying to steal my mind, but I won't give her time. I counter with my own attack, striking deep into her psyche, and I catch the briefest glimpse of red turmoil there... a hint of fear. She did not expect me to be so strong. Will she stand or flee?
She makes her choice. A blue-black swirl of stars opens around her, then spills out and surrounds me, and in a flash we are transported beyond the sky, into space.
She thinks I will not be prepared for the sudden jump to the harsh radiant vacuum, the bright stars undimmed by atmosphere and the whirling globe of the shadow-cloaked world far below us. It is her territory, the very essence of the night, and she waits for me to choke out my life, screaming silently into the void. But my wards retain a sphere of air around my body, and they contract now to press that air firmly about me that I might not burst.
Now we are far away from innocents who might be harmed, and I can use my powers without restraint. I gather them now. The time for peaceful resolution is past, and the burden is on me. If I could only hope...
No. She brought us here, but she won't take me back. I am prepared even for this, and if I can deal with her without draining my powers too far, I may yet return home to see the magic of another dawn. But I must not let this tempt me into restraint; whatever befalls me, her reign must end here and now. I feel the power surge into my forehead, and I let it flow forth with in the intensity of my gaze. There is a smile on my lips, a snarl on hers.
She attacks first, sending a beautiful golden flower swirling gently towards me like a peace offering. With a firm kick I disperse its frozen razor leaves. Next come spears of ice which I melt with a contemptuous flick of my head. I counter with scintillating electric fire, which she absorbs with a web of iron, and on we fight, spell and counter-spell, illuminating the sky around us like fireworks... planned carefully in advance, but subject in execution to the winds of chance, vulnerable to catastrophe at the slightest error.
And the first error is hers. She launches a deadly spell of diamond shards, but this briefly lifts the charm that guards her chest. My studies forewarned me of this chance, and I am ready. If there is any meaning left to my life, this is where I now defeat her.
I call upon the word which the grimoires could not spell out in full, so terrible is its power. The diamond shards burst into glittering dust and panic strikes my foe's eyes as my prepared spells brush past her wards. Borne upon a doom-laden wind, I surge through the void, and with the full force of my magic, I strike.
My horn pierces her breast and splits her heart asunder as she shrieks in shock and calls out her last defense, a spell of consuming fire—too late to save her, but it dooms me. The blast incinerates my horn and shatters my magic wards, and I shriek in turn as my flesh is ripped from my bones in a great violet burst—
Perhaps in the town below they will see a glimmer of my deathflame, a brief twinkle in the sky. If so, my name will also be my epitaph...
But I have won. The Princess is free to return, mourning the death of her dark sister, but bringing with her a new dawn. I am sure she will forgive me, and honor my memory. My lonely vigil has been vindicated, my selfless sacrifice was worth it. I die content.
With my final shreds of thought, I remember the last day that the sun shone, and that little town full of kind, well meaning folk. How happy and full of life they were, how eager to help, how brave to strive against a foe so far beyond their power. How... how nice they were to me, even as I sent them away. I've thought of them from time to time, and I hope that they kept some of their spirit under that nightmare yoke, and that the new dawn can awaken in them a part of what they once were.
I wish there had been more time. I wish—
No... I die content.
i could have had a friend
