//------------------------------//
// The Dark Chasm 
// Story: Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Rarity and Edric, like usual when they completed an area, returned to Majula so they could spend the souls they had been given during their fights and get information from Shalquoir before they headed out, though this time around only Rarity was moving out. The reason behind that was because the Dark Chasm was only open to her, since Darkdiver Grandahl recognized her and only her, meaning that he wouldn't let her enter his trials unless she was alone, but she made sure that she was prepared for what was to come before she departed from the town. One thing Rarity did was hand over the keys to the other crowns to Edric, since she didn't want something happening to them, before she made sure she had ever spell in her spellbook memorized to the best of her ability, something that she knew Twilight would have done if she thought a test was coming up.

When she was fully prepared, and had rested for a decent amount of time, she approached the bonfire and bid Edric farewell for the moment, to which she took a deep breath and selected her first destination, the alter that rested beneath Drangelic Castle. A few seconds later she appeared in the area underneath the castle, to which she walked over to where Grandahl was resting and found that the man was still sitting in his chair, though she was more interested in the fact that the portal to the Dark Chasm was still open, as if waiting for her to return. She nodded to Grandahl as she stepped onto the glowing portal, feeling the magic trying to embrace her already, before she knelt in the middle of the portal and closed her eyes as she willed the magic to take her to the Dark Chasm.

A few seconds later she found herself standing in a darker area that was surrounded by water, though as she summoned a floating fireball to give herself some light she found a path, that happened to be resting in the water, that she could use to reach safety. That seemed to be the smart move to do since she was able to follow the path, though at the same time she kept her guard up in case enemies started to come after her, since she knew that it was a matter of time until a foe showed up. It didn't take her long to reach the other side of the cave area she had found herself in, though she made sure to carefully follow the narrow stone bridge that was in front of her, but that was before she noticed a sickly black specter waiting at the end of the bridge. Rarity stopped in her tracks for a few seconds, as she understood that the warrior was part of her trials in the Dark Chasm, but at the same time she needed to be careful, since she had no idea what abilities her foes had.

Since she didn't have time to play around, and wanted to get to the Darklurker, she ignited her Lightning Spear and hurled it through the air, knocking the warrior back in the process, but it continued towards her regardless of the damage it had taken. Rarity paused for a moment as she noticed that the warrior was dangerously close to the edge of the stone bridge, to which she switched to her Emit Force spell and aimed at the area beside the warrior, allowing the force to knock the foolish specter into the abyss around them. From there she noticed that there were three more enemies for her to contend with, two more specters and a strange mage type enemy, though before she could make a choice on who to take out first the mage enemy loosed a Great Soul Arrow at her... though as Rarity dodged it she heard the spell collide with the specter that was in the path behind her, but whether it was dead or not she had no idea.

She backed away from the fork in the path and noticed that the strange mage and the wounded specter were already coming after her, to which she chuckled as she threw her own Great Soul Arrow at the mage creature, though as it staggered for a moment she switched spells. A moment later she targeted the specter that was advancing towards her and loosed a Soul Geyser at it, which was a blue mass of soul energy that collided with the specter, though that was before it separated into a mass of even smaller bolts that struck the specter for even more damage. As the specter was stunned by the amount of damage Rarity had done, as Rarity was as well, Rarity was the first one to recover and loosed an Emit Force, blasting her foe into the abyss like the first one. When the specter was taken care of Rarity turned her attention to the mage enemy that was coming at her again, where she gathered her magic again and loosed a Soul Spear at the mage, piercing the creature's chest and killing it instantly.

With three enemies taken she walked over to the path that the second specter came from, knowing that the other specter was likely following behind her, though as she noticed that there was a fog door blocking her way she heard the sound of the other specter drawing it's weapon... though all she did was loose a Emit Force at the wall next to the specter and hurled it into the abyss, before she noticed that the door disappeared with the death of the last enemy. That, in turn, brought her to a dead end and caused her to backtrack once more, though as she explored the area her foes had come from she eventually found a hidden path that she had to carefully climb around... before finding a large shrine of sorts with a brazier or torch she could light. She reached into her back for a moment and pulled out one of the Flame Butterflies she had picked up in the castle, when she and Edric were exploring it, before she sighed as she crushed the poor creature, expelling the flame from within it.

That ignited the brazier in front of her and lit the area around her, though as she stared at the fire she felt her connection to this place weaken for a moment... though a few seconds later she reappeared on top of the alter she had knelt on earlier, as if she had never left in the first place.

"Young Undead, the Dark beset upon you runs deeper than I had imagined." Darkdiver Grandahl commented, though at the same time Rarity stood up and faced the old man, as she understood that her power over Dark Magic might be what he was referring to, "Let us see just how much Dark you can endure. You have seen Dark that has existed from times long past. What once was a great void of darkness became but fragments. But slowly, the scattered fragments grew, absorbing all things. It is we who will be pilgrims to these sacred sites."

That told Rarity that she had to seek out the other two areas that she had encountered the man in, to which she headed back to the bonfire and selected the one inside the Black Gulch, though upon her arrival she ignored all of the creatures that normally wanted her dead while she shadow went to town on the poison statues. It took her a moment to recall where the way down to the alter in this area was located, though when she remembered it, and made her way down to the still open door, she found that the portal was still closed. A few moments later she discovered that entering the Dark Chasm was only free for the first time at the third location she met the man in, hence the reason why she was compelled to return to the castle first, before discovering that the price to open a portal in this area, as well as the final one, was a Human Effigy... but since she had no real use for them, and Edric had the majority of them, she offered one and let the portal open before her eyes, to which she knelt in the center of the circle and entered another part of the Dark Chasm.

When she arrived in the new area she discovered that she was in a small tunnel that got bigger when she rounded the corner, though at the same time she kept her guard up since it appeared that this area had fewer places for her to push her foes into. The first foe that discovered her existence was the specter of a knight that was carrying two large hammers, though as it climbed the path to reach her, however, Rarity responded by blasting it with a Lightning Spear that pushed it back a tiny bit. As the knight regained itself Rarity noticed that a second enemy, one that appeared to love the Forbidden Sun pyromancy spell, started to follow the path as well, to which Rarity decided that she would try out a new spell that she had never used before. When the knight got back on his feet, and the sorcerer was right behind him, Rarity snapped her fingers in their direction and loosed a Forbidden Sun at them, blasting the knight into the sorcerer's face, which caused the sorcerer to fall of the edge of the path and disappear into the abyss.

The knight remained standing there before Rarity used an Emit Force to knock him over the edge as well, but instead of admiring her handiwork she continued down the path and kept her eyes open for any additional enemies that wanted her dead.

As she reached the end of the path she quickly dealt with the strange mage enemy she had encountered in the other part of the Dark Chasm, since it was the only foe around, before she headed further down the path that some bits of water were flowing passed. At the end of that path she discovered a fork in the road and headed to the left, where she found a brazier that she could light, as it was the same one she discovered in the other area she had been in, to which she headed up to it and sighed as she sacrificed another Flame Butterfly to activate the brazier. A few moments later she found herself being pulled back to the other side of the portal, to which she closed her eyes for a second and waited for the magic to die down, though not a few seconds later she opened them and found herself back in the Black Gulch alter.

"I knew that you were special." Darkdiver Grandahl stated, allowing Rarity a moment to collect herself before she stood again, though at the same time Rarity wondered what the point of these trials were, since she could already best these types of enemies with ease, "You are a true Pilgrim of Dark. There is more Dark within you than even you know. Dark is the mother of all. All things were born from it."

Rarity had the feeling that Sombra would get along better with Grandahl than she did, but instead of saying anything she nodded head and and walked out of the chamber that the alter was resting in, though to get back to the bonfire she had to go down a little more before finding a cage type elevator that would take her back up to the level were the bonfire was located. Once she returned to the bonfire she rested for a moment, not that she needed it, before she headed over to the area where the final alter was waiting for her, the area known as the Shaded Ruins, and materialized beside the first bonfire she and Edric had discovered when they found this place. She quickly made her way through the lion warriors that stood in her way, without killing them or taking any damage, before she reached the hole that she could use to drop down into the area that Grandahl was waiting for her in... to which she silently offered him another Human Effigy to open the way to the third part of the Dark Chasm, where she knelt on it and let the magic happen.

Once more she found herself in a tunnel, just like the last area she had been in, and summoned a light so she could see where she was going, though she carefully followed the path in front of her until she arrived at a larger chamber that had two specters and a mage waiting for her. As she backed away from them, so she could study her foes for a few seconds, the mage broke rank and followed after her, though when it rounded the corner Rarity took care of it like she had done in the second part of the Dark Chasm. From there the archer specter, which had been watching her the entire time, made it's move and started coming after her as the warrior specter remained still, though Rarity was fine with that as she threw a Lightning Spear into the specter's chest, knocking the archer backwards. As the archer got back up, however, Rarity threw another Soul Geyser at it and watched as the damage appeared all over her target's body before the specter broke apart... leaving her alone with the warrior.

Fortunately the warrior specter appeared to be as weak as the others she had fought so far, as she was able to best the specter before it even touched her, though with her foe defeated she approached the brazier that was on the left side of the chamber and sighed as she sacrificed one more butterfly... though this time, when she ignited the brazier, she was immediately taken from the area she was in, where she appeared in the area where the Darklurker ruled.

"There you are," Rarity commented, though at the same time she readied her staff and her spells, because she was sure that this was going to be a hard fight, if the fight with the Giant Lord was anything to go by.

The Darklurker tilted it's head as it stared at Rarity for a moment, as if it was studying her, before it floated over the distance between the two of them and flew into the air, where it stopped after a few seconds and loosed a beam of energy from it's head that forced Rarity to moved. Sure, the attack wasn't the fastest and it was easy to avoid when she saw it coming, but it also left a gash in the ground where the beam traveled, telling Rarity that being hit by it was not the best move in the world. The instant the beam attack was finished the Darklurker returned to the ground and thrust it's hand towards Rarity, forcing her to move again as a bolt of soul energy rushed passed by where she had been standing moments ago, meaning that her speed was not as good as her opponent's. As Rarity came to a stop once more, and locked onto her foe, the Darklurker opened a small dark portal in front of it, which a white ring around it, and did something with the magic he was using.

What Rarity wasn't expecting was the Darklurker to have opened a second portal right above her, as that allowed the Darklurker to loose a dark orb, one that screamed as it moved through the air, into the first portal and let it come out the second portal... where it targeted Rarity and homed in on where she was standing, blowing her into the side of the wall and knocking some of her equipment out of the way. As Rarity picked herself up she noticed that her chime, pyromancy flame, staff, and sword had been torn from her body with that one explosion, though before she could retrieve them they all disappeared, as if they had never been there to begin with. Fortunately it wasn't all bad news, as she could channel her magic through her hands and horn, meaning that she wasn't powerless, but it appeared that her only real weapon was gone, putting her at a slight disadvantage.

The Darklurker closed the gap between them and swung at Rarity with it's upper left hand, since it's lower left and right arms were crossed in front of it's chest at the moment, though that was when Rarity got her first encounter with the energy blade that extended from the Darklurker's left wrist. The slashing motion that came first was enough to warn her that she was in trouble, especially with the fact that part of her robe now bared the slash mark on it with some blood dripping from the diagonal wound, before her foe thrust his arm at her. Rarity was smart enough to dodge the attack that was coming her direction, though as she did so she quickly raised a hand to her wound and used a healing spell to get rid of it, before landing on the ground and calling lightning to her side once more. She then hurled the Lightning Spear through the air and struck the Darklurker in it's chest, though even as the creature staggered for a moment, revealing it's weakness to her, the Darklurker summoned another portal system that knocked Rarity into the wall, as her foe was smart enough to move the second portal to a different location each time it used the attack, preventing her from guessing where it was going to strike next.

Rarity groaned as she picked herself up and faced the Darklurker, as she honestly wasn't expecting to fight such a smart opponent this time around, before she lifted her right hand and snapped her fingers, sending a Forbidden Sun right at her target... though that was followed by the Darklurker disappearing and letting the spell collide with the wall behind where it had been, only for her target to reappear diagonally to the left of where she was laying, revealing that her foe could teleport as well.

"Now this is what I call a powerful creature," Rarity commented, as she was referring to all of the creatures she and Edric had taken out since their journey had started, the creatures that had started out strong and had become weak over time, though now she was back at the beginning of it all, "though I don't think I was even remotely prepared to fight something like this."

The Darklurker stared at her as she started to pull herself up, though before she could get onto her knees, however, she felt the temperature in the chamber shift as the Darklurker held all four of it's arms up towards the ceiling, though that was when she watched as three Forbidden Suns materialized around her opponent. Rarity could only watch as the three spheres were pulled into a single larger being, causing her to sweat for a moment, before the Darklurker hurled the mass of fire at her. Seconds later the area around Rarity exploded and she was thrown even further backwards, where her back painfully hit the wall behind her before she fell to the ground, though even as all this happened she noticed that there was a hole where she had been resting earlier, where the attack had hit her to be exact. As much as she hated to admit it, and she really hated to admit it, but she wasn't getting anywhere without the power that she had unlocked earlier, thanks to her rage for the Pursuer... to which she sighed as she opened herself to the Dark Magic inside of her once more, where she felt the strands of magic form around her eyes.

Rarity honestly never thought that she would have to resort to using Dark Magic against such a creature, but this meant that she would be using her full power from now on, though once her power was stable she opened her eyes and pushed herself back into a standing position.

It was impossible to see if the Darklurker was surprised or annoyed by the fact that she had gotten back up, but instead of worrying about that Rarity focused on her mission and rushed her opponent, abandoning the notion of fighting from a distance as she appeared in front of her foe and connected a Lightning Spear right in the center of it's chest. That made the Darklurker step back after the attack went through it's body, though it quickly recovered and swung it's energy blade at her about, but this time around Rarity was prepared for that. Her shadow shifted as it moved into a shield that blocked the energy blade from cutting her from the side, as that was the slash part of the attack, and shifted to provide a shield in front of her when the Darklurker tried to thrust the blade into her chest. As her shadow distracted the Darklurker, however, Rarity willed a spire to rise and a crystal spire erupted from the ground, but she was unable to pierce her foe's chest as the Darklurker teleported out of the way... to which she did the same thing and reappeared on the ground, causing the spire to stop in it's tracks.

This time around Rarity was the first one to resume the fight, though as she moved around the area she stared firing Forbidden Suns at her target, who either tried to move out of the way by simply moving or teleporting, but in the end Rarity got him as she pulled the mass of fireballs together and had them all touch her foe. The resulting explosion from all the Forbidden Suns shook the entire area for a few moments, but at the same time it brought a smile to Rarity's face, since it appeared that she had won already. Before she could even consider what to do next, however, a flash of light emitted from the flames and the entire area returned to how it had been a few moments ago, only this time around there were two Darklurkers standing side by side. At first Rarity wasn't sure if the Darklurker had severed it's power into two halves to catch her off guard, or if it had somehow created an exact copy of itself that had the same level of power that it had, but she quickly determined which was the right answer.

That was because the two Darklurkers raised all four of their arms into the air, where they both summoned three Forbidden Suns into the area around them, letting six of them float around them in a ring of sorts, before they melded them into two larger spheres. Rarity would have thought that the trick would have ended there, with them firing the two empowered Forbidden Suns at her, but in reality the two Darklurkers merged their individual spheres together and created an even stronger Forbidden Sun, one that shook the entire area with it's sheer power. Rarity, not having a single spell that might even be on the scale of such an attack, did the best thing she could do at that moment, she raised the strongest barrier she had and braced herself for what was coming her way. A few seconds later the two Darklurkers sent the massive sphere down towards where Rarity was standing, where the flaming ball collided with the dark barrier that she had created... though it quickly became apparent just how underpowered she was in the face of such a foe, as the sphere pushed down on the barrier until it shattered, allowing the attack to detonate in Rarity's face.

Rarity was blown to the other side of the chamber they were in and moaned as she collided with the ground, because despite the fact that she was Undead the pain the Darklurker had inflicted on her body was definitely real... though at the same time she realized that even with Dark Magic, which had allowed Sombra to do some terrible things, she was unable to do anything against her opponent.

I don't understand what's going on. Rarity thought as she remained laying on the ground, because it appeared that every time she tried to move the Darklurker started to attack, but if she remained still for a moment or two her foe wouldn't attack her, Discord told me that everyone else that walked through the mirror received extraordinary powers during their travels, yet it seems like this is my limit. Discord said that Rainbow and Applejack were bring trained by gods, Starlight had gained new knowledge and power, Lyra and Trixie were great heroes in their own rights, and Sunset became a god thanks to her travels. Even Pinkie, who was already overpowered, gained new powers... and yet I appear to have reached my limits.

Rarity laid there for a few more moments, going over everything that Discord had told her before she finally decided to venture through the mirror, before realizing that she had been one of the weakest members of the group, of what Discord often called the 'Mane Six', and that she would always be at the bottom... but that was before a new thought entered her mind and overrode what she was thinking about.

No, I refuse to go down now, after fighting through all the challenges that this land has thrown at me. Rarity told herself, though at the same time she carefully picked herself up as she summoned her power to her once more, only this time around she had a faint dark aura surrounding her, I will draw forth every ounce and drop of power that is inside my body to show that I have grown stronger over the time I have spent on this world.

With her mind set to her task, and there was no going back at this point, Rarity stood up once more and stared at the two Darklurkers as she opened herself to all of her magical potential, though as she did so she felt something inside her crack, but she paid little attention to it at the moment. As she started to gather her energy the two Darklurkers stared down at her before they started merging their six Forbidden Suns into a single sphere again, causing the chamber around them to shake once more, though this time around the walls started to crack. Rarity, on the other hand, held her arms out to her sides and gathered all of her energy into two black colored spheres, though as she did so the area around her shook as the walls started to shatter. It was as if they were in another part of the Dark Chasm, as when the walls of the cavern collapsed Rarity noticed that the only thing that existed around them was darkness, though she then turned her focus to her attack... even as she felt whatever had cracked inside her shatter as well, before her energy output increased enough to enlarge the spheres to the size of her hands.

Rarity braced herself as she brought the two spheres together in front of her body, melding them into a single mass, before it expanded several times and stopped when it was a massive sphere that was larger than she was, but at the same time it's size matched the size of the Forbidden Sun the Darklurkers were planning on throwing at her. A few moments later, where she was sure that the attack was ready, Rarity heaved the sphere of dark energy into the air and watched as it soared towards her targets, who threw their own attack at her in response to what she was doing. The two attacks collided in the middle of the air and pushed against each other for a few seconds, with the Darklurkers trying to overcome Rarity's attack, but Rarity refused to let herself be defeated, especially since her friends had overcome even greater odds than what she was facing. She could feel the strain her body was in, from using every drop of her power in such a manner, but it would all be worth it if she could beat the Darklurker and claim it's power... until she gave her sphere one more push, one that let her dark sphere shatter the Forbidden Sun and fly right into the Darklurker's face.

The resulting explosion consumed both of the Darklurkers and shook the area around Rarity, if not the entirety of the Dark Chasm, though she stood her ground as she waited to see what happened next... though when the smoke cleared a single Darklurker appeared in the sky, before turning to dust as a rush of energy surged into Rarity's body.

As the energy settled down Rarity discovered that her attire had been replaced by something new, as it appeared that she was wearing a new pair of pants, a little baggy in her mind, that were dark grey colored, along with a new shirt of some kind that possessed the same coloration. On top of those two pieces of clothing she wore some sort of overshirt that was purple colored, like her mane, complete with an azure colored sash around her waist, which happened to match her eye color when she wasn't channeling Dark Magic. What was weird was that she felt so much stronger than she had been when the Darklurker was trashing her, causing her to move her fingers for a moment to be sure that she wasn't imagining anything, before she raised her hand into the air and willed three Forbidden Suns into existence... fusing them into a single mass that shook the entirety of the Dark Chasm, before she dispelled the attack a few moments later.

A few seconds passed before she realized that by taking the Darklurker's soul, or more accurately it's power into her body, she had also taken it's moves as well... to which she focused her magic for a moment before vanishing from the Dark Chasm entirely. A moment later she reappeared in Majula, next to the bonfire, surprising Edric and the Emerald Herald by her sudden arrival, though the one that wasn't surprised by all of this was Shalquoir, who came out of her shop to personally welcome Rarity back to the town.

"Congratulations Rarity, you've conquered the Dark Chasm," Shalquoir said, as she has happy to see that nothing bad had happened to her favorite Undead, despite some near disasters in the Dark Chasm, though she smiled as Rarity turned to face her, "Now then, you have four giant souls and the power boost you were looking for... so I suppose you know what needs to happen next?"

"Yes, we need to see King Vendrick again," Rarity replied, as that had been the plan after she took on the Dark Chasm, though she knew that Shalquoir was also reminding her to acquire Vendrick's crown so she could activate the three keys she had been given, which she collected from Edric, "This ought to be an interesting visit."