//------------------------------// // Chapter 78: Naraka // Story: XCOM: Ranger // by Wanderer D //------------------------------// Ranger Chapter 78: नरक By Wanderer D Sunset stood alone in the middle of a shallow pond. The liquid didn't even cover half her shoes. Although it was dark, a soft light of unknown origin made her able to see around herself to some extent. Walls, covered in hieroglyphs depicting humans, gods and monsters stood solid and slimy just barely outside the illumination. She started walking, making soft, stirring noises in the otherwise still water as she moved. Echoes of voices, sounding ancient and distant seemed to whisper just beyond her ability to understand them, but despite the gloomy surroundings, there was a deep sense of calm, as if she were in a familiar place of sorts, although she was sure she had never actually been there. What had she been doing, before coming here? There were whispers, familiar voices, screeches… combat. It all seemed so distant and pointless. Unworthy of remembering, even if there was a nagging feeling that she had been doing something important. As she walked, she became aware that she was not alone, shadows of ponies, humans and aliens smoked past her, barely keeping their shape as they moved in the same direction she was going. Never let it be said that Sunset was slow on the uptake. "I'm dead." Sunset stopped in the middle of the pond and started laughing as shadows passed her by. It was raw laughter, not unhinged or crazed, just… the whole thing was tremendously hilarious to her. She was dead. Finally. A lifetime of errors had come to an end. A lifetime of bitter resentment, disappointment, betrayal, contempt, anger, fear, misery, ambition and failure. It was all over. All she needed to do was keep walking. And she laughed. Because it was so simple. So… moronically stupid. That she had thought that somehow she was special. That she was exempt almost from this… joke. And unlike her human counterpart, she wasn't going to go out in a blaze of glory. There would be no great sacrifice from her. No furthering of the cause. Just… fall into a hall and die. As was appropriate. Who was she trying to fool? Pretending to be nice? When every decision she had made had been self-serving. When every challenge she took was with the ultimate understanding that whatever the risk, whatever the price, doing whatever was necessary benefited her? She was a lie. A pretentious, small being with aspirations that would never come to fruition. She would never be a princess. That role had been taken. She would never be Commander. That role had been taken. She would never be Celestia's daughter. That role had been dismissed time and again. She had no lover. No family. No friendships that she hadn't forged out of selfish necessity and lies rather than honest attachments. And even if deep inside of her something rebelled against that thought, what could that small voice say to the evidence before her? Life. What a farce. An exercise in futility. A mockery of the self. An invitation to pretending to be something you were not. What further proof was needed? If she discarded her armor and clothes now, she wouldn't even be her true self. A human body. Not a pony. A face she had stolen from another Sunset Shimmer. No, she couldn't be saddened by this. She had been inviting disaster from early foalhood. She had experimented harder. Done more than any other student. Stolen secret magics, pushed herself to the point where mistakes would leave her hornless and useless, until finally she had exiled herself with a last stolen secret that she could barely use without exhausting herself to the brink of unconsciousness. How many underlings had died? How many teammates? Because of her mistakes. Because of her orders. Because she wanted to keep her secrets? Her ambition. She took a step forward. A distant, unseen gate called her. She would leave all of this behind. Sunset stopped when the water boiled around her. No. Not water… blood. The shadows shrieked the whispers became vehement, urgent as a figure slowly formed from the blood. At first, it resembled her, from the armor, to the hair, to the body, deep red, made of flowing blood. But then… it became bigger… twice her size. Its arms extended grotesquely, it's hands becoming sharp, long claws ending in sharp nails made of blood so dark it was almost black. Horns emerged bubbling from her counterpart's forehead, raising almost a foot above its—-her head and when it opened its eyes, there was nothing but the blackest of darkness within. It's mouth also opened, revealing sharp pointy teeth similar Aria's, only made of blood… a twisted, almost flirtatious smirk just as wings, batlike and dripping blood extended from its back. "No." A voice. Her voice. "No… there is no purgatory for ussssshimmer…" the hiss was wet, as if the creature of blood was slurping something. "We have achieved... ssso much..." it's words were half halting, half rushed, as if it were a struggle to say them, but then another to keep them coherent. "We are madnessshimmer…" the creature gurgled. "Madnesssand… promise!" Sunset took a hesitant step back. She recognized the form. That was a blood-made version of the demon she had turned into. The blood-demon Sunset took a step in tandem with her, only forward. "No deathshimmer. No death! Not for ussshimmer." "There's nothing more!" Sunset cried. "Nothing! I failed! I failed all of them! I failed myself! I'm a lie! No matter the power I have, it's not enough! It's not worth their—" she choked as mental images of Twilight, Celestia, Bradford, Mox, Jane, Elena… all of them from her dead teammates to her abandoned world flashed painfully through her. She swallowed the pain. "It's not worth their disappointment! "I don't want to be brave anymore! I don't want to rule!" She looked past the monster she was. "I… I want peace…" The creature gurgled a wet, sickening laugh. "Not now," it said. "Not… evershimmer. We are not meant to die yetshimmer." An echoing roar pulsed through the cavern, making it shake, the blood ripple. "Nevershimmer will you deny us our existenceshimmer!" The roar shook the place once more and again. It took another beat for Sunset to understand what she was hearing. "No!" She tried to run around the demon, but it reformed in front of her no matter how she zig-zagged, how far, how tricky. It would only let her take steps back. Away from peace. Away from warmth. "You're not real!" Sunset shouted, angry and desperate. "You're a lie! Blood Magic is not aware!" "I am not blood magic…" the creature growled. Its claws shot out and picked Sunset up by the throat just as another heartbeat shook the world around them. "We are not an illusssionshimmer! We are you Shimmer!" Another heartbeat shook the world. The walls started to crumble, splashing into the blood lake. "We are you!" Sunset shook her head, trying to fight the monster, but her hands went through the blood as if it wasn't solid. As if it was still liquid. She was unable to grasp it, unable to fight her. "You will liveshimmer!" The demon leaned in, smiling it's smile made of blood and darkness. "And with you. Through you. With you. We will too!" A heartbeat. Blood. Pain. Regret. Darkness… "Shimmer…" o.0.o End Chapter 78 o.0.o