In another time, in another space, in another dimension of the universe, the sixth victim marched into the black frothing pit, steadying the frantic anxieties of her mind. Thoughts darted from place to place within her panicking brain—some bitter memories and some fatalistic realities—and yet she soothed them all with a single thought, one last hope to hold onto as she descended into the abyss.
That hope was in the six guardians of life who had journeyed with her into the darkest depths of existence, those incorruptible beings who had rescued her from the very enemy she must face again.
This location in the realm of existence, into which she descended with an aura of calm in the storm, was wholly the same as the location in which the other five victims dared to battle the Void—all of them confronted the very same mirror—and yet it was wholly different. The infinite Void, the pit of nothingness from which all corruptions are derived, was of such a peculiar and fascinating nature that, though it was an infinite plain, all locations were one.
Imagine, if you will, a realm where if you walked straight forward for a thousand years, you could turn around and end up exactly where you had started. In this manner it was very similar to the great road of Time that all must travel…although one great and beautiful fact lying in wait for all to find is the quintessential nature of life, a nature that the Void does not share: Time gives its travelers the glorious gift of purpose. Some still need to find this purpose, though they may find it sooner than they expect…
An air of serenity surrounded Luna as she descended into the abyss, breathing deeply, thinking deeply. Familiar shadows surrounded her on all sides, whispering in the darkness, gleeful and excited that their master had returned. For these were the very shadows whom she had commanded as the Master of Nightmares, wielding their terrible power with ease and control, using it to her every whim. In this state, though, the equally terrible irony is that the true controller of the shadows had given her this power at the price of her will; her actions were not her own but of this entity who has always twisted the minds of the many and the few. In that case…who was the real master?
A mirror loomed up ahead, the mirror she had feared and despised, the mirror she had grown to love and loved to grow within her heart, a corruption that bloomed into a consumption of the soul.
The sixth victim approached.
The surface of this mirror rippled as it was casually brushed aside by the merciless Bringer of Nightmares, Wrath of Jealousy, and Incarnate Shadow who had threatened to plunge the entire world into darkness: Nightmare Moon. Her gait was equally regal, equally confident, and equally serene; her essence was undeniably derived from Luna’s own. However, the most fascinating aspect of this mirror is that it steals the darkest part of its victims’ hearts and twists them so beyond their original essence that, by the climax of their corruption, they embody the antithesis of the spiritual essence which gave them birth.
Two glowing dragon-eyes emanating blue fire locked onto Luna’s, attempting to glare through the mask of confidence, searching for weakness. Finding none, it hesitated but a moment before exiting the mirror.
Taking the initiative, Luna spoke at her oppressor: “You should not still exist. I watched them kill you, permanently. Therefore you must be an illusion, only a shadow of the mare who-” Luna’s speech faltered as a very familiar egotistical chuckle cut her off, rumbling through the Void and resonating with its darkness.
“My dear, beloved Luna, the petty successor who dares to wear the body that is rightfully mine, you are as naïve as you are weak. You cannot kill death. Light does not destroy shadows…it only creates them. So long as the Void of emptiness exists, I will never die.”
Luna’s gaze hardened. She stood her ground even as the beast that had possessed her for thousands of years calmly approached, even as it casually ignited its horn with a flash of indigo fire. Channeling the power of her will through the spark of life that drove her forward, amplifying her power with resolve, Luna ignited her own horn, that powerful instrument which brimmed with energy spilling over into the darkness, casting rays of light in all directions.
“Shall we begin, then? Just like old times?” spoke one reflection.
“Gladly.” spoke the other.
A thousand meteors fell from the sky far above them, crashing down into the Nightmare with infinite force. A cloud of glorious light wrapped tightly around the meteors, shining with harsh brilliance into the eyes of the Void, searing them with the power of life.
The Void hissed and retreated, putting all of its efforts into the puppet it had summoned from beyond the mirror. Waving the aerial strike aside with a flick of her horn, the Nightmare responded in turn, calling upon the shadows to attack and to consume the purified Regent of the Night.
Frantically the Regent rose into the air, rising up through the Void to escape the shadows’ grasp. Yet none could escape the bottom of a bottomless pit, not even her…the shadows’ claws scraped along her coat, tearing at her essence, ravenously craving the spark she sheltered so close to her heart. Summoning her magical energies from within, Luna detonated a shockwave of pure energy; a tidal wave of light pulsed from her body and her soul, reaching out into the darkness. Most would flee in terror before such a display of power, but the Void simply consumed it, wholly undaunted. Its puppet rose into the air, eye to eye with the Regent of Serenity.
In the same instant that both reflections took to stare into each others’ cold eyes, two beams of raw energy met between them, blasted out in less than a second. On one side was a ray of pure moonlight, beautiful and white, a band of living radiance that had been focused and weaponized. On the other was a straam of black smoke that quite nearly blended in with the Void who controlled its master. The two beams shared equal power derived from equal determination; streaks of light and darkness flashed around them in every direction, spiraling into the nothingness. Deafening claps of thunder echoed around the beam of life, sending out shock waves into the Void, rippling and disturbing the nothingness. Equally deafening explosions of silence reverberated from the opposite side, silencing the thunder where the two waves met, creating a mesmerizing pattern of noise meeting silence, beautiful sound warring with empty quiet.
Frozen beyond Time in this timeless realm, the two Night Mares fought for an eternity and a day, a moment that lasted forever and passed in a second. Such was the evil of this Void beyond Time: Though Time has the mercy to let all moments pass in quantifiable measures, this dark realm stretched Time beyond its limit, twisting and perverting it out of shape such that it could never be re-formed nor recalled to life, damning the bottomless Void to live forever, preserved with dead life.
All other regions under Time and Space sat upon a plane of existence far above that of the Void, a plane where Time—though ostensibly cruel—could never match the cruelty of his reflection within black mirror. All other realms above the Void enjoyed a transcendent existence, empowered with purpose, filled with elements of light to fight the single element of darkness which corrupts every Thing within its reach.
Frozen in Time, the sixth victim fought until the end, an end that she would never see until the unknown Incorruptible One should free her.