The energy cracked around him, splitting the air as it roared around the tear. Even if it was only a small tear in the surface of this world, it was already enough to shake its very foundations. But there was no other way to do this, he put more pressure into his efforts.
Carefully, he started to adjust the frequency of the tear, synchronizing it with the dagger in his robes. He felt the alicorns' arrival, but ignored their shouts and pleas. They would not be able to stop what had to be done here. The tear started to shake in resonance to his influence.
---
They didn't know what was happening, but it couldn't be good. The way everything around them shook, how the very air seemed to scream at them from the tear... it simply wasn't natural. Celestia tried to call to him, but he paid them no notion. Desperately she tried to reach out with her magic, but it simply washed over him without effect. She tried to approach the pillar of roaring blackness, but the sheer amount of energy pushed her back. She could do nothing, and it scared her.
"Princess!" over the roaring wind she could make out the words, and the realization who it was that called out to her almost made her heart break. She had prayed that of all her subjects, they wouldn't have to be the ones to see this world end.
It was Twilight, with her friends in tow, "Princess! We saw that thing from the village! What is happening?!" she saw him stand in the center of the roaring chaos, "What is he doing?!"
The pillar started to shake, slashing out at the ruins of the castle. The remains of an old tower came into contact with the black tendrils, and shattered like glass. "Get beneath me!" Celestia shouted as she and Luna held a protective shield over their subjects. The tendrils lashed out and trashed everything in their way, making Celestia and Luna grit their teeth as they held their shield. The force each random strike delivered to the shield was terrifying.
"We need to do something!" Luna shouted desperately. She couldn't believe their world would simply end like this.
Before any of them realized what was happening, the purveyor performed the phase shift. The world around them went silent for a mere moment as the tendrils drew inwards towards the tear before their surroundings exploded into sound and light. The sheer force of the shift shattered their protective spell and threw them to the ground.
Celestia carefully stood up, trying to brace herself against the roaring wind that threatened to throw her over again. Besides her, Luna was struggling to keep her footing as well while the elements of harmony hung to roots and debris alike for their sheer life.
She looked up, and saw him. There, in the middle of chaos and swirling blackness he stood, one of his arms shoulder-deep inside the tear as the air screamed and the tendrils slashed and shook around him. For a moment he seemed frozen in this position. Then, with a scream so full of hate and anger it made her shiver he started to slowly pull back his arm, and something started to appear from the tear.
Black tendrils like his own started to come forth from the tear, slashing at his face and armor but doing no effect. As he pulled back his arm, the shadows started to take form and for a moment she thought she could see something golden glint from inside the blackness. Then, with a final, violent pull he ripped the formless mass from the tear and flung it to the ground, the tear closing behind him in an instant. In a mere second, the pillar simply vanished and everything was quiet again.
In front of the purveyor, the black mass of tendrils and shadows flailed around wildly, slowly taking form to shape something she had not seen before.
When it finally took shape, another one like him stood under the night sky. A golden mask crafted to resemble a face covered its head, and where the purveyors plates were black as the night, this one's were colored like pure gold. The purveyor's voice could be heard cutting through the air like a knife, but she failed to recognize the words.
He was talking in his own language, she realized. It was crude and fast paced, like metal scraping over metal. But even though none of them understood what he was saying, all of them trembled at the anger in his voice.
---
"Did you really think I wouldn't find you?" he addressed the dissident with a cold voice as he stood up, "Did you really think I would stand for such a mockery?"
"You stood for it long enough..." the dissident replied with a sneer, "For over a thousand years I have been trying to corrupt this pitiful world... but they always found a way to survive it. They should know better, and serve our needs... you should serve your people!"
"I serve them how it was meant to be, not by your insatiable hunger for power... That you, of all people never understood this only deepens my shame."
"We were meant to rule! The councils are weak and nothing more than a memory of our old past. Just like these worthless creatures..." he pointed a finger towards the ponies, "They should serve us!"
"Have you nothing but blasphemy in your head?" he thundered at the dissident, "Is there nothing within you that sees how wrong you are? We ourselves interrupted the natural order of things before, and see what it brought to us! Our own world, destroyed! And us, living a pitiful existence in the void!"
"We weren't ready to handle the power then, but we are now! We are gods now! We are meant to rule! Every form of existence should only exist to feed our needs!"
He shook his head, "I should have taught you better." Slowly, the shadows started to form around his hand, extending and condensing to take the shape of a long and curved blade, "This will end here, I will not allow anyone to repeat our past sins, not even you."
The dissident slowly formed his own blade, "You never saw the potential we had, the potential I had! You doomed our race to an eternity of hunger! What is your power worth when you waste it to pick up the spoils? What is our life worth if we spend it in hunger?"
"Even a life spent in hunger is still a life. We live by this way to atone for our sins, and that is all. One day, we will either consume ourselves or the void will consume us. Until then, we will continue to watch, and we will continue to wait in hunger." he pulled up his sword, "That is all..."
---
The alicorns and the ponies had been watching the conversation with tension. When the blades started to form in their hands, Celestia already understood that something terrible was about to happen here. But nothing could prepare her or the others for the fight that followed.
They moved so fast they could barely be seen, disappearing into the shadows and reappearing behind one another in a flash while bringing down their swords in perfect motion. When the swords collided, it felt like the world was being shattered around her, each collision accompanied by the an explosion of sound, the impact sending a shudder through time and space even they could feel.
For a moment, they would disappear completely from view and leave a terrible silence behind. But then they would appear again, a roaring and clashing form of shadows and steel. The fight went on for what seemed like an eternity as the two forms clashed again and again without mercy.
And then, just as sudden as it had begun, it was over. The two figures stood in front of one another, silent, unmoving. Simply watching one another.
Just as Celestia was starting to wonder why they had stopped though, the one with the golden mask fell over backwards. A deep gash ran over his side, black blood seeping from it quickly and already starting to turn into black shadows.
As the alicorns and ponies watched in silent horror, the purveyor slowly stepped up to where the other one was lying. He watched him lie on the ground for a moment, and Celestia could hear them exchange words in their own language as the wounded one drew in deep and shuddering breaths. Then, without another word, the purveyor brought his sword down a final time, and the other one stopped moving. The fight was over.
All of them stared at the scene before them in silent shock, not knowing what to do next. The purveyor didn't move, he simply stood above the body of his enemy and observed in silence as the remains started to turn to shadows.
Carefully, almost scared to take this step, Celestia walked up to him and watched with him as the figure slowly started to disappear. Again, she felt his presence... but this time there was something new to it she did not recognize immediately. Under all that hate and anger, there was something else... sadness. The realization shook her hard, who had the other one been?
"Who was he?" she almost whispered.
There was a moment of silence and she thought he had ignored her question, but then, with a motion of his hand he let the dagger fall to the ground. It was slowly starting to fade from existence as well, the will that had once bound it was gone.
"He was my brother."
She struggled to find words. What had happened here? Why did this have to happen? Everything she had once thought she understood was starting to lose sense these days...
"I..." she started.
"Three days..." he interrupted her with an even voice as she felt him cut off his presence from her, "In three days I will take you to our council. You will have your chance to bargain for your world... I advise you think of how much you are willing to sacrifice for it." and just like that, he was gone again.
Celestia looked down as the last traces of the other one vanished into black smoke before her eyes. Nothing remained of him to prove his existence. She stared at the ground in silence as the others carefully approached her, three days... in three days she would have a chance to save her world... but what would she give for it? What could she give for it?