//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 // Story: After the Nightmare // by CORACK //------------------------------// Selene tried to back away but she was still frozen in place. Concentrating as hard as she could she tried to move her hand, but was met with only a slight twitch of her fingers. The monster standing before her let out a dark laugh as it gazed down upon her. "Truth be told, when I detected the teleportation spell that brought you to this level, I was very confused. As far as I knew, I had left none of this planet's inhabitants alive. Nothing should have been left on the planet that could follow me down here. I was furious, the automatic security system kicked in right after your trip and because of you I've lost control of that pad. It was meant to be my escape route back to the surface." The monster's voice filled Selene with a feeling of dread. She wasn't sure what it wanted, but it couldn't be good. "But the question remains, how did you end up down here. I had keyed the that teleporter that took you here to only respond to very high level of magic. But you appear to be completely devoid of any magic of your own. Still, I can detect the threads of a spell woven into your body. The magic is strange, yet in some way it seems familiar. Who cast it upon you?" "Magic? A spell? I don't know what you are talking about," Selene said nervously. If Luna's tracking spell was still intact, she might be able to find Selene. "Do not fill the first conversation I have had in millennia with lies," the monster said. "You will accomplish nothing, I can analyze the spell myself." Selene felt a wave of energy flow over her body. A moment later a familiar feeling of dizziness washed over her. "WHAT IS THIS?" the voice shouted out. "The power within you! What manner of mortal are you? This cannot be!" A second later the dizziness receded, allowing Selene to concentrate on her current situation again. "And now it fades. This is impossible. Explain the power that I sensed in you. Are you a god?" "No," Selene shook her head slowly. "Then why could I sense divinity in you!" the creature shouted. A deep rumbling erupted up from the creature as it broke out into insane laughter. "This is too perfect. You may have cut off my escape route, but when I strip you of this power, I can finally break free of my eternal prison." A dim glow lit up the room, giving Selene her first good look at the monster. Unlike the golem she had fought with Luna it was not a featureless vaguely humanoid block of crystals, nor was it like the fire shooting golem she had ran into earlier. Instead what stood before her could have almost passed for a human wearing a suit of black crystal armor, if not for the fact that it was nearly three times her height. Embedded into it's chest was a large metal box that looked similar to some of the control panels strew throughout the room. A fearsome looking face with glowing eyes gazed down at her, lips twisted into an vile grin. "Who are you?" Selene asked. "Who am I?" The monster roared. "I am unending pain and suffering. I set brother against brother and father against son," It took a step towards Selene, as it's voice grew louder. "Since before the dawn of time I have stoked the fires of cruelty and hatred. I am Malice!" Whatever this thing was, it was clearly insane, Selene thought to herself. Her only hope was to keep it talking and pray that Luna was still looking for her. "There were other... things, like you but they didn't talk," Selene said. "Are you like them?" "Ah, you mean my constructs, no, they are mere soldiers, they exist to carry out my will," Malice said. "Are you an artificial life form?" Selene asked, pointing at the metal box embedded in Malice's chest. "No little mortal, what you see before you is but a shell, an anchor that allows me to exist in this universe," Malice pointed at the box. "This once housed an artificial intelligence created by the beings that inhabited this world, they were known as the Eternals. I integrated it into this body so I could learn more about them." "You aren't from here?" Selene asked. "Where did you come from then?" Hollow laughter filled the room. "No, this wretched world is nothing more than a stepping stone on my path to reclaim what was stolen from me," Malice walked to the center of the room and began to clear a out a large area of debris. "Eons ago a war began, beyond anything your mortal mind could possibly imagine. The heavens themselves were ravaged as the forces of Harmony struggled against Pandemonium. Eventually, a truce was declared and the all of creation was divided among the two sides. But I would not rest until all reality was mine to control. What neither side had realized was as the war raged on, I grew more powerful, fueled by all the suffering and the rage. I prepared to attack Harmony in secret, under the guise of the forces of Pandemonium. This would restart the war and allow my power to continue to grow until I could conquer both sides." "Only my worm of a brother, - Malice spat out with a disgusted look on his face - knew of my plans." "He had always been a mischievous one, but I wrongly thought I could trust him. Instead he betrayed me, he struck a bargain with the forces of Harmony, He attacked when I was preparing to launch my assault." The center of the room cleared, Malice stretched out his hands, a black glow enveloped them and a beam of energy lanced out and struck the ground. A bedding of black crystals rose up from the floor forming a large circular platform. "Before I knew what was happening, he had neutralized most of my forces. Moments later he turned on me directly, a grave mistake on his part. He did not know how powerful I had become. I crushed him utterly, but the damage was already done. I had spent too much of my power fighting him. "You killed your own brother?" Selene asked. Laughter filled the air. "Killed? Gods cannot die." Malice said with a grin. "I snapped his mind like a twig, drove him insane and left him a shell of his former self." "But before I could regain my strength, Harmony's legions descended upon me. They quickly crushed what remained of my armies and then captured me and my brother. He sacrificed his very sanity to their cause, but his madness made him unfit to remain in the heavens. He was cast out, banished to another dimension where the gods of Harmony decided to make the chaos he would cause someone else's problem. For me though, banishment was not enough. They constructed a special prison, completely cut off from the rest of the universe, from even time itself. It was meant to bind my powers and hold me for all eternity." "I spent what seemed like eons in that prison, studying it and trying to devise a way to escape. I had access to only a fraction of my power, but eventually I found a small flaw. There was no way for me to open a gateway from inside the prison, but for someone outside my prison, opening a gateway in would not be as hard. Still, the chances of an untargeted dimensional gateway randomly picking my prison were astronomically low. So I devised a spell that acted as a sort of dimensional attractor. It raised the chances significantly that an unaimed spell would open a gateway to my prison." Malice stepped back from the platform and turned to Selene. "Centuries went by before my spell was able to divert a dimensional gateway. An alien of a race I'd never encounter before. He called himself a unicorn and his name was Sombra. The magic he wielded was very similar in its nature to the spell that is bound to you." A dark beam of energy shot out from Malice's body and a projection shimmered into existence. Selene suppressed a gasp as the magical projection solidified into a dark grey pony. "He had been experimenting with dimensional travel, and luck was with me, his first successful attempt had opened a door directly into my cage. Unfortunately the gateway he had created was too unstable for anyone but him to return to his world. I corrupted his mind, taught him dark magic and sent him back. He was supposed to gather strength and reopen a larger, stronger gateway." With a wave of his hand, the projection vanished. Malice turned back to the platform and began to pour more magic into it. Spikes began to grow, jutting out from the platform in all directions. "I waited ages, but Sombra never returned, something must have stopped him, but I had no way of finding out what. Another eternity went by before I was got another chance. The race that called this planet home, the Eternals, had constructed a means of generating magic artificially. In their experiments they opened a gateway to my prison. Once again the gateway was far to unstable for me to cross, but this time I was prepared. My body might not be able get through, but I was able to project my consciousness. Once on this side I was able to take over one of the Eternals' AIs and began a war of extermination. My power grew, but my true physical form, and the my divine powers remain locked in the my prison. Eventually I made my way to this planet, their home world, in a desperate attempt to stop me, they sealed the space surrounding this system into a pocket dimension, but what the remaining AI above us does not know is I have spent the last few thousand years circumventing many of the lockouts on the magical generator at the core of this planet. I am almost ready to seize control, and your arrival will only hasten things." Malice continued to pour dark energy into the crystalline circle. A large rectangular block grew up from the ground, Somehow it was even blacker than the bed it rested on. Light itself seemed to be pulled into it's surface and just looking at it caused horrible feeling to creep into Selene's chest. Finished with his work, Malice turned to face the young woman. "I am afraid the history lesson is now over. The time has come for you to assist me in reclaiming my divinity." "I don't help you do anything, your insane!" Selene shouted. "Oh, you will," Malice replied. He reached down towards the girl with his massive hand. Selene watched it come closer and closer, until just before it reached her face the hand stopped. For a moment nothing happened and then with a tremendous burst of speed, Malice's hand latched on to Selene's head. She let out a horrible scream, as she was overcome with pain. A moment later and she passed out. White spots floated over her vision and Selene put her hand up to her head. She was angry, so very angry. She stomped up and down the corridors of the Ascension looking for something to unleash her fury upon. There was no reason behind her madness, nor did there need to be, all that existed was the uncontrollable need to cause pain and suffering and the longer she went without the worse her rage grew. She stopped in front of a door, it was Luna's room. She hit the button to open the door and then looked inside. Luna was sleeping peacefully on her bed, completely unaware that Selene had entered the room. Selene's lips twisted upward into a maniacal grin. She glanced downward and saw a glint of light reflect off the blade she was carrying. Sharp serrated teeth hungered for flesh and Selene would give it to them. She crept up to the unsuspecting pony. Gently she lifted Luna's wing then with a swift motion she plunged the knife into the joint. She pulled on the handle as she felt flesh and tendons tear apart until seconds later the wing fell down to the ground. Luna writhed in pain, unable to do anything but scream, she looked back and saw Selene standing over her with a crazed look in her eyes. Before the pony could react, Selene grabbed Luna's horn with her free hand, and began to pull as hard as she could. Luna's head was wrenched backwards as Selene tried to break her horn. She cried out for Selene to stop but the girl ignored her pleas. Selene jabbed the knife into Luna's side then took hold of the horn with her second hand, she began to push in the opposite direction as hard as she could. There was a sickening crack and the top half of Luna's horn broke free. Selene flipped the broken horn around and with a mighty thrust she jammed it through Luna's throat. In an instant the pony stopped struggling. For one brief second Luna looked at Selene, desperation in her eyes, her mouth opened but the gurgling sounds that escaped were unintelligible. Then her head dropped down to the bed, her eyes blank and lifeless as blood continued to pour from the wound in her neck. Selene stood up and began to cackle with glee over Luna's corpse before removing the horn and thrusting it into her own chest. Malice removed his hand from Selene's head and the girl's eyes flew open. She collapsed to the floor gasping for breath. A moment later she threw up. Bile dripped from her mouth as she stared up at Malice in horror. The images in her brain played over and over again, and she could still sense the disgusting feeling of pleasure that washed over her as she watched Luna slowly die. She heaved a few more times, but her empty stomach had nothing left to give. Her head dropped down to the floor and she let out a loud cry. Malice watched on with amusement. The dark aurora around him seemed to grow in intensity. "W-w-what did you do to me?" Selene choked out between sobs. "It will be a delicate separating the fragment of divinity from your soul. Your suffering will ease my work, while simultaneously feeding me." Malice reached out one more time and violently grabbed a hold of Selene's head. The girl's eyes rolled back and she let out another scream as she once again lost consciousness, face frozen in horror. Still holding on to her head, Malice dragged Selene's body to the platform. Dropping her, he raised both of his hands up. Black energy erupted from his fists causing four dark crystal spires to rise from the ground at the four corners of the rectangular block forming a dark alter. A nexus of energy slowly sparked into existence, flowing between the four spires, crackling and sputtering. The Ascension cruised silently through D-Space. Some of the crew were still awake but most of the slept peacefully during the night cycle. Selene walked the corridors watching people she had not seen in years walk quickly past as they went about their duties. She found herself on autopilot unable to alter her course. She walked into her old room and saw her younger self snuggled up in bed completely unaware of the looming disaster. She tried to shout out but she had no control over her own voice. She turned and left the room. She continued until she reached engineering. Her father was there, working the late shift as he finished up some long overdue maintenance. She walked up to him, unable to even turn her head as she made her way over to an engineering console. Her father let out a yawn and walked up next to her. He reached down to the console and began to make some adjustments to the D-drive's power systems. Selene watched in horror as he took the D-drive's safety system offline. She knew that any work on the safety system had to be done in real space while the D-drive was not active. From her attempts at investigating the cause of the crash that the D-drive's dimensional lock system had failed, but she had never been able to find the cause. With the safeties off, a failure in the dimensional lock system could throw the ship into a random dimension. An automatic alarm sounded when the safety system was disengaged. Another engineer heard the alarm and walked over to investigate. "Hey Sam, what's up?" he asked, looking at the flashing display. Her father ignored the question and continued to bring systems offline. The engineer's lips turned downward into a frown. "Sam?" He placed his hand on Sam's shoulder. Sam kept working, completely ignoring the second engineer. "Sam you can't bring that offline, the drive's in use, stop!" The engineer grabbed her father and pulled him away from the console. When Sam spun around, Selene got a look at his face, his eyes were glowing red and his lips were twisted in an evil sneer. He lashed out at the other engineer, flying forward he knocked the engineer to the floor. Selene watched on, her gut twisting in fear and disgust as she watched her father attack the other man. Sam stomped down hard and there was a sickening crack as the other man's arm broke. Two other people heard the commotion and ran over. They grabbed Sam and pulled him off the injured engineer. "Sam, Paul, what the hell is going on?" one of them asked. "Don't let him near the console, he's doing something to the D-drive!" Paul screamed while clutching his injured arm. Sam answered with a savage growl. He struggled violently and before anyone could stop him, he pushed his way free and slammed his hand down on the console. Seconds later the whole ship shuddered as more alarms started blaring. Her view changed with no warning, she was outside the ship, she watched it exit D-space, a large planet hung directly in it's path. The ship hurtled down through the atmosphere, crashed into the surface below. Selene's eyes fluttered open slowly, Malice had dragged her to the center of the room while she was out. He was currently focused on adding more magic to the platform in front of her. Unable to get the memory of what she had just witnessed out of her mind, she broke down, tears streaming down her face. "Awake I see. You are strong for a mortal, but that is all you are. I do not know how you acquired a spark of divine magic, but when I am done tearing it from you, you will beg for me to end your life." "Why are you doing this to me?" Selene cried. "BECAUSE I CAN!" Malice shouted, eyes brightening in anger. "It that not enough of a reason? It is my will that you suffer, and you will continue to do so until it no longer amuses me. Then, when you are nothing more than a husk, burnt out on years of pain and anguish, when I have destroyed your ability to feel, only then will I allow you to die." "You can't..." Selene protested weakly. In the blink of an eye Malice's arm flew downward. He grabbed Selene by the throat and lifted her up off the ground. "Who are you to tell me what I cannot do? You are nothing to me!" "While you suffered, I studied you mortal and the the divine power flowing through you. It is nothing more than a faint ember, barely sustaining itself, but even a tiny spark of godhood is more powerful than you can imagine. When I take it from you, I will be able to at last open a true portal to my prison, and reclaim my true power. No longer will I be constrained to this form," Malice said gesturing at his crystalline body. "You're... insane," Selene choked out between ragged breaths. "I don't have any powers or magic, you can't gain anything from me." "DO NOT SPEAK OF WHAT YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!" Malice said, squeezing Selene's neck even tighter. He tossed her down to the ground. Malice turned back to the alter and began to pour more magic into the nexus surrounding the spires. It pulsed with raw power slowly at first, but the rate accelerated as more and more magic was forced into the nexus of energy. Selene sucked in air through deep breaths and watched on, unsure of what to do. She looked around the room, but all the doors were still shut tight. It was then that she noticed her rifle, she had dropped it the first time she fell unconscious, but it wasn't that far away. She quickly glanced at Malice. He had his back turned to her as he continued his work. As quietly as she could she began to crawl towards the rifle. Every few feet she looked back, terrified that Malice would discover her intent before she was able to reach it, but he didn't seem to be paying any attention to her movements. At last she reached the gun. She grabbed it and aimed the rifle at her tormentor. Her hands were shaking so badly it was hard to keep the rifle steady. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself down. Slowly the shaking lessened until she was able to line up the rifle. Praying that Malice's massive crystal head was a vital spot, she prepared to fire. The first sign that something was wrong, was a skipping motion in Malice's otherwise steady movements. She realized with horror that she had blacked out for a second or two. She felt nauseous and the room was starting to spin. "Not now damn it!" she swore silently to herself. Another dizzy spell was overtaking her, the last one had caused her to black out for hours. She watched as the barrel started to drop slowly downward. Malice began to talk, still not having noticed Selene's absence. "I can feel it's power in you even now. Do you feel it as well? It's killing you, you know. Your mortal body slowly failing as the sheer power of divinity slowly burns away your soul," Malice said as he began to turn around. He looked down to where he had stopped Selene but she was not there. Quickly he looked around the room before spotting her holding the gun and trying to aim at him. "What are you..." Selene squeezed her eyes shut for a split second, forcing the dizziness back. She hefted the rifle back into alignment and gently squeezed the trigger. With an imperceptible click the firing pin struck the primer which in turn ignited the powder charge, propelling the bullet rapidly down the barrel. Muffled by Luna's spell, a quiet pop was all that was heard as the enchanted bullet sped rapidly towards Malice. The bullet quickly closed the gap between the human and monster and penetrated the top of his shoulder. Malice screamed as Luna's enchantment disrupted the dark magic animating his body. He stumbled forward and then crashed to the ground. Selene tried to ready another shot but the rifle slipped out of her hands. A sharp pain rose up in her skull and her vision started to go white.