Amidst the Howling Dark

The Way the World Ends

De'mah had waited so long for this day. The day that'd finally see the grievous injustice that had been wrought upon this world corrected. The following day would dawn upon a cleaner, purer world. He took a moment to reflect on what he had accomplished thus far. The first encounter, learning the language, Jilnarok and the dragons. His dragons, now. The Equestrians, the Griffons, someday soon the Minotaurs and all the rest. At least with them all, there'd be resistance. True challenges. The Equestrians had become a chore. A righteous chore, but a chore nonetheless. They hardly fought back at all, hardly resisted his might and the power of his dragons. The work was important, but De'mah found it tedious.

It ends today, however he thought. It wouldn't truly end today, he knew. Their race would still exist, but with their coward Princesses dead it'd be a simple matter to extinguish the rest. Killing their Princesses would be more than just a message to the rest of their pathetic species, it'd be the one fight against their kind that De'mah would truly enjoy, assuming the cowards would meet him in a fair fight and did not run again. He'd tasted a bit of their strength, but knew they were holding themselves back. He so longed for them to provide him a true trial.

In the end, it would not matter. De'mah knew that, of course. Whether they held back or not, fought with all the power they could muster or not, it wouldn't matter. They would fall, and De'mah would erase the rest of their species from the pages of history. It was clear now why the Forerunners had never graced this world with their presence; they had seen the creatures that lived here and had despised them as much as De'mah did. The Equestrians, the Griffons, the Minotaurs, they were nothing to the Forerunners. De'mah could only surmise that the dragons hadn't existed at the time, or the Forerunners would've took note of them.

De'mah took note of a vague shape, flying in the distance, and he ignited his energy sword. The cowards would soon approach, and at last he'd have his triumph. His victory. He would earn the right to become a true aristocrat of 'Tokam and take his place among the others, and with his dragons 'Tokam would go on to become the most powerful state on all of Sanghelios. It would be a glorious new age for the Sangheili, and his name would forever be on it as its herald, its champion. Honor, kin, and blood: De'mah would satisfy the demands of each, and forever be remembered as 'Tokam's mightiest warrior. The warrior who compelled an entire species to swear loyalty to the Sangheili, and with their help extinguished an entire world's vestiges of cowardice and weakness.

And it would all begin on this day.

Princess Celestia approached the flat mountaintop, the glow from the seven pillars of purple flame guiding her in the midst of the rainstorm that fell all around her, her heart thumping. She had resolved to do all that she could against De'mah, to finally put an end to this genocide, and restore peace and safety to the world once more, but doubts lingered. What if she failed? What if De'mah had already told his people of Equestria's location, and soon their entire sky would be filled with alien spacecraft? Defeating him then would have no purpose, for then thousands of his kind would descend upon Equestria and all of ponykind would be extinct within weeks.

In the end, she had come to agree with Luna: she would not give up. She would not relent, she would not capitulate, but what she did plan to do made her afraid. Very afraid. It made her hooves tremble and heart race, and made her queasy with worry. It could go so wrong, so quickly, and then there'd be no hope left.

She reached the mountain, stopping just short of the flat peak, and descended. There were a number of stone staircases carved into the mountain's steep faces, wrapping around and heading up to the peak, and Celestia set her hooves to the stone. She ascended up to the flat peak, the falling rain turning to steam as it fell upon the purple flames atop the seven pillars, arranged in a circle around a sigil carved into the stones. In the middle of this sigil stood De'mah, the rain producing the same steam as it fell upon his blade. His dark eyes regarded Celestia with contempt and scorn, and his free hand was clenched in a fist. The blue gems inserted into his armor glowed, helping his blade cast his whole form in what was truthfully a beautiful light, but Celestia couldn't appreciate it. Every inch of him reminded her of what he'd done to her kind, and what he was planning to do to the rest of their world. Her world.

But only if she did not stop him.

For one horrific year he'd set himself upon Equestria, and his dragons had scorched every one of her towns into ash. This day there were no dragons to be seen, per Celestia's request. She wanted no one to bear witness to this. She reflected on that first day, at Logger's Vale, and all the horrible memories came back. The failure of the Elements, his immunity stealing every last scrap of confidence Celestia had placed in those majestic artifacts, and everything that had transpired since then. City after city, village after village, pony after pony. He'd eradicated every last one that he'd come across, and now it was up to her to put an end to it all.

"I wish that I could understand this" Celestia began. "You, the Sangheili, the Forerunners. Maybe one day I will. Maybe I don't want to understand. I've long wondered what our first contact with extraterrestrial life would be like. We could've learned so much, you could've learned so much. We learned nothing... No, that is not true. We learned what fear is."

"Where is your kin, coward? Sneaking up on me, I'm sure" De'mah barked, and Celestia shook her head.

"It's just us, De'mah. No Luna, no dragons. This is how it will be. This is how it should be. This is how it'll end, regardless of who wins, and who dies. Tell me, have you ever once considered what this is like for us? Do you understand what you've done? The fear and horror you've caused? Do you even understand fear at all?!"

De'mah was quiet for a moment, the only sounds that of the rain hitting the stones, and Celestia was sure he wasn't going to answer when he spoke. "When I first arrived here, I was shown to the High Lord of the dragons, Jilnarok. He was a titan. Five times my size. He towered over me, and I understood then that all he had to do was look upon any foe, and that foe would turn and run, or bow at his talons" De'mah said. "When I first laid eyes upon him, I was afraid. In time, however, I came to learn the truth: he was a weakling. It's why I killed him. It's why I succeeded, and he did not. It's why the dragons then swore loyalty to me, for I had proven the strength of my name, and their code compelled them to bow at the feet of the creature that killed their current High Lord. Jilnarok's death proved to them, and my work will prove to the rest of your world, the truth about the Forerunners' universe. That a coward, a weakling, might reign for a time, but it will not be long before a stronger being casts them down. That is how it should be."

Celestia looked to the stones, silent. Such a waste. A senseless code followed by senseless killing. "I guess that's it, then. There's nothing more to say."

De'mah scoffed. "So this is it, then? This is where I am finally to do battle with you, in single combat? Do you think you will win, or I? My dragons are a MILLION strong, and they have wrought upon your miserable species a terrible inferno. They will rain fire upon this entire planet, until none remain but them and I. They have even built for me a magnificent city, on the mountain not far from your castle. It is there that, one day, thousands of Sangheili will look out upon a world no longer tainted by your presence. You and your kin, though, are strong. I have seen it. Even the rest of your kind could be strong, if you would let them be, but you are afraid of power. Afraid of violence. You are a contradiction of yourselves, a paradox that, if allowed to remain, would destroy the universe and all that the Forerunners struggled to achieve."

De'mah cracked out of his stillness with a roll of his shoulders, and he began to pace, his sword leaving trails of steam in the air. Celestia shut her eyes and let out a breath, preparing herself. "Enough, De'mah. I no longer have the energy or desire to fight you. I will submit myself to you, and let you do what you will to the rest of my kind. We can't muster any more strength; we've given all that we have, and now I understand that we could never hope to defeat you" Celestia said.

"Hmph, you really are a coward. I don't know what you expect, but this will end only with your extinction. If all of your kind surrenders then at least it will speed it along. Hmm... Perhaps you think that this is wise. That since you no longer have hope, that you have never had hope, that you ought to get it over with already. You disgust me, truly, but a victory is a victory, particularly when it is all said and done all of your kind will still be dead, and I will still remain. Whatever you think, it hardly concerns me: it's your funeral" De'mah replied, and silenced his blade. "Do follow me."

De'mah turned to walk away, and as his back faced Celestia she began to charge her horn, her tip crackling with dark green magic and a thin film of it being wicked off her horn by the passing rain and air. The sound alerted De'mah and he spun, ignited his sword, and lunged at Celestia. The day Princess gritted her teeth as the monster neared and discharged the profaned spell in a brilliant flash of midnight black and arcing green fire, and the spell hit De'mah in the chest. He was blown back, away from Celestia, and hit the stones hard.

Celestia looked on in horror as De'mah lied on the wet ground, a burning hole in his chest. He scrabbled at Celestia's hooves, coughing and sputtering, and the Princess scurried back from him, feeling like she was about to throw up. He looked at her with vitriol and malice in his eyes, and purple blood leaked from both the hole in his chest and his mandibled mouth. "Your cowardice is abhorrent... That you would... Would... Would dare to strike at a warrior when his back is turned, reprehensible. I die here, now, by the hands of a coward, leaving my Dragons... To face whatever your treachery has in wait for them... I die now know-w-ing that..... That I will... Have my revenge. Even if... If it’s only in my n-name. My n-name, the name of the Sang-- Sangheili, and...in the name...of the F-Foreunners..."

De'mah faded away and his body fell limp, and Celestia stared at it with wide eyes. His blood pooled under his body and began to run thin in the rain, the purple fluid running across the stones to Celestia's hooves and staining her porcelain fur. She let it pool around her, never once tearing her gaze away from De'mah's lifeless body even as his cold eyes stared into the sky, and his final words haunted her.

She stayed that way for a long time, simply staring at the lifeless body of the creature that had visited so much suffering and misery upon her species, upon her and her sister, and upon the world they shared with all the other species. Would they ever know the full extent of De'mah's horrors? The total death count? The lasting damage to the minds and bodies of the few who had survived? Even with De'mah dead, were they all doomed anyway? It would take so much to come back that Celestia wondered if they'd be able to manage it at all.

"I will have my revenge, even if it's only in my name."

Celestia was about to get up and trot away when a dark shadow passed overhead, and she turned to look up at it, the sound of fluttering wings and whooshing wind blowing by her. A dragon, scales as dark as midnight, banked and slowed to a hover, descending down onto the stones of the shrine amidst a cloud of dust and a deep *boom.* Celestia tensed, but the dragon seemed more interested in De'mah's body.

“De’mah, vork ahn toro. Liu’kun aro... You felled the High Lord De’mah? You faced him in fair combat, and triumphed?” the dragon asked. “This is most impressive, Equestrian. Tell me, what is your name?”

“Princess Celestia.”

“Mmm. You lead the Equestrians, with your sister? You have much fire, if you defeated De’mah fairly." The dragon tucked his wings against his body and lowered his chin to the stones. “Dragon code dictates that I must abide by you, and answer your beckon. All dragons shall be told, and all shall heed; the Div, the dragons, are now in service to the Equestrians.”

Celestia remained silent, unsure of what to say, if anything. She certainly wasn't going to admit that she murdered De'mah in cold blood, and the dragon rose hesitantly, as if he'd expected Celestia to say something. He shifted on his talons, watching the Princess.

"I...see. Who is the high lord now, then?" she asked.

"There is none. The High Lord is dead, and one has not yet been selected to take his place” the dragon said. He reached out, picked up De'mah's body, and cast it aside without care. Celestia's eyes went wide as the Sangheili's corpse slumped against one of the pillars, and a terrible fury spread through her. That the dragons had waged genocide in De'mah's name for over a year, only for this dragon to toss his body aside as if he meant nothing, infuriated Princess Celestia. De'mah had been their high lord, had compelled to murder ponies by the thousands in his name, and now that he was dead this dragon cared nothing for him.

But there was nothing Celestia would say about this. "OK, then... As De'mah's slayer, I select you as the new High Lord. I expect that you will...perform to the highest of...standards" the Princess declared, unsure of her words and the guilt of lying piled on top of the unease of having murdered De'mah. This mammoth dragon towered over her, instilling a great fear, but he was her charge now, and she would have to set the example for him and his species.

"Of course, my lord."

"I...must return to Luna. We must begin to rebuild, and let the world know of the...peace, that I have brought" Celestia said, and she turned away. "There is much to do."

"Here, allow me" the dragon said, and lowered his head to the stones again. "Walk or travel not, I shall fly you to your kin, and show you to the royal city we built, 'Tokamelot."

"I see. Thank you." Celestia clambered onto the drake's nape and he spread his wings, about to take flight into the warm skies. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"Aldurmaax, my master. High Lord Aldurmaax."