Gatekeeper: Prince of Darkness

by InfiniteBrony

Realm of Titans

Luna scanned the World of Dreams, straining her senses to their limit and uttering a groan of exasperation. Already now she had been searching for hours, and still she was hardly any closer to what she sought. It was beginning to seem a hopeless venture, but she wouldn’t give up, she couldn’t, not with what might be at stake.

As she looked around, she wasn’t quite sure what she was looking for even existed. She didn’t even want to believe that it existed, but she didn’t have the luxury of such a choice. Though, if there was even a chance what King Rex spoke was true, even a small one, then things had gotten very bad indeed. If he spoke true, then the Dark King himself had returned.

She grimaced as she thought of him. When last they had met she had underestimated him and his ruthlessness; that had ended up being one of her greatest mistakes, and she paid dearly for it. One grave mistake she had no intention of making again. Her passionate fury and the fact that she began to sense an unknown Gatekeeper were the only reasons she still continued her search, after several continued hours of failure.

Eventually though, just as she was about to declare the cause lost and return home, she found it. The dream was faint, half hidden away, and near where the waking world met the one of dreams. Drifting near, she examined it more closely. It was large, massive by the regular standards of dreams, even compared to the dreams of herself, and the changeling queen. The sphere of the dreamscape was dark as night and misty as morning, obscured to her vision as it trembled and heaved violently like a twisting storm and beat like the pounding of drum. It was a strange thing, its very existence unusual and alien, almost seeming to emanate a sense of foreboding like it was consciously trying drive her away, almost like it wasn’t even a dream at all. There was little doubt in Luna’s mind, there was nothing else this could be, but the sleeping mind of her query. With several deep breathes, she readied herself, reigning in her emotions in the face of Sombra’s return.

After finishing the brief moment to steel her nerves, she heaved and strained and dove into the dreamscape.

*~-/^\-~*

Luna came to with a deep groan, shakily rising to her hooves and gently rubbing her aching head. The transition into the dreamscape had been considerably rougher than any she’d been through before, and left her with a resounding headache. That wasn’t the worst of it though. Without even opening her eyes, she could tell immediately that something was wrong. Everything felt different than it should; the world was abnormally clear, and she could feel the air against her coat and the grass and stones beneath her hooves. There was the spicy-sweet scent of juniper in the air and all around her the world trembled with regular tremors the like the beating of some great unseen cosmic heart. As Luna worked of the courage to actually open her eyes and take in the dreamscape around her she was almost disappointed in a way.

For the most part, everything around her seemed normal and mundane, almost unnaturally so. Instead of the strange, alien, nonsensical worlds she had often experienced and indeed even come to expect within the sleeping minds she patrolled, the place she found herself seemed almost a perfect mirror to some unknown locale within the real world, recreated with a level of detail that was absolutely astonishing. The world seemed to be some sort of badlands, arid and inhospitable, the land flat and filled with stones. All around her all that grew were some sparse and hardy shrubs as well as the occasional twisted and warped tree, bleached and bent, growing from the ground and reaching for the sky like some sort of large skeletal claw. All around her the flatland stretched into the far distance, seemingly for miles, but to her left she could see a small range of tiny rocky mountains and strange rock formations. All about the world though was strange smoke like substance, hanging thickly in the air like mist, and obstructing most everything unless she looked at something directly. Suppressing a shiver as the smoke-mist pressed coolly against her coat and leached her warmth, Luna slowly began making her way towards the mountains in the distance, there being no other landmarks for miles in any direction by which to navigate. As she walked though, she could help but feel that something was off, that there was something fundamentally wrong with the world around her. As she felt a shiver travel down her spine, she reflexively turned her gaze skyward, only to gasp and stop dead in her tracks at what she saw.

The sky was empty. There was nothing above her, nothing at all, no stars or moon, no comets or nebulae, not even some clouds. Just… nothing. Only a blank and empty void of pure absence, deep and unending, overpowering in its oppression and seeming to draw her further into the featureless abyss the longer she looked at it. After several moments of staring, she managed to pick up her jaw and turn away, closing her eyes tightly and doing her best to fight back the sudden feeling of nausea and vertigo. After getting herself under control and forcing the image of the dark sky out of her mind she continued onwards, eager to seek out Sombra and finish her business with him so she could leave the disturbing place with all due haste. So involved with her thoughts and the sky above was she that Luna didn’t notice for a time that the continual pounding beats and tremors that rocked the world since she had arrived had stopped. She only had the briefest of moments to wonder about it before the world seemed to upend itself.

The wind suddenly became violent, whipping and clawing at her, stealing the breath from her lungs. It tried to drive her to her knees as she both heard and felt something moving through the sky, something so great in size that its very passing was enough to incite hurricane gales. A split second after Luna realized that there was something flying through the air high above her head, it came crashing to earth.

And the whole world exploded.

The noise created by its landing was absolutely deafening, overwhelming her ears so quickly that she felt more than she heard the sound. The ground upheaved itself from beneath her hooves; massive stones the size of her head launched themselves into the sky and fell in an earthen rain. Luna’s hooves were ripped out from under her, violently dropping her and painfully dashing her head against the stones. Instinctively, she lit her horn, surrounding herself in a protective shield of pale blue magic that lit up the darkness around herself for miles in every direction while her head reeled from the impact.

After taking a moment to come to her senses, Luna immediately came to a startling and disturbing realization. That had hurt. She had felt pain. Carefully and disbelievingly, she raised her hoof to the side of her head where it had impacted the rocks, quickly withdrawing it and sucking a hissing breath in through her teeth at the lance of pain when it made contact. Gingerly, she moved her hoof in front of herself and examined it in the light of her horn. The sole of her hoof was coated in red.

Luna began hyperventilating. This wasn’t right. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t be injured, since this was only a dream, right? Right? Swiftly beginning to panic, Luna quickly decided then and there that the whole mission was a bust and that she was going to tell everyone that she hadn’t ever even found Sombra’s dream, and immediately dream-walked out of the dreamscape.

Only, she didn’t move. In fact, now that she focused on it, she couldn’t feel any of her dream-walking abilities at all. And her head was still hurting. Suddenly, the vague sense of wrongness she’d felt since coming here made a whole lot more sense. Somehow, someway, in some manner, this was all real. Which meant she could get hurt. And she couldn’t get away. Luna began to descend further into her panic, staring at the red-coated hoof in front of her face even as it began to shake. Unnoticed by the princess in her panic, the light of her shield and horn had illuminated the very thing that had crashed to earth and knocked her from her hooves in the first place.

And it was enormous, utterly so. It was easily several stories tall, its form indistinct, made, from what Luna could see, of constantly roiling and shifting smoke and mist and stormy clouds given solid form and substance. The only constants of it form were its vaguely equine shape, massive spire of crimson bone-like substance emerging from the top of its head and the balefully glowing green eyes leaking violet plumes of smoke.

Stilling reeling from its own crash landing, the massive creature slowly rose to its own hooves, taking a moment to come to its senses. When it did however, the first thing it noticed was the disturbance in the darkness of the world around it. Almost magnetically, its gaze was drawn to the pale blue light of Luna’s magic. At first it displayed only confusion at the strange little thing that had disturbed it wonderful darkness, but its expression quickly shifted to one of comprehension and realization, and soon thereafter, its eyes narrowed into a look of pure malice and rage. Opening its maw — an enormous cavern large enough to consume an entire homestead and lined with fangs like stone spires — it sucked in a deep gale-like breath and loosened a terrible roar, loud enough to rattle the stones upon the ground.

Snapped out of her stupor by the earth shaking cry of anger, Luna looked up, only to freeze in place, her fear paralyzing her as she beheld what lay before her. The massive beast hatefully bore down upon her, its fury almost palpable and its size comparable to that of the elder star beasts. Eyes impossibly wide, she looked upwards just in time to see a massive hoof larger than a town square falling towards her, tearing through the sky like a meteor from on high, ready to crush her into a small pink mess upon the rocks…

… Only to be stopped mid-strike as it was wrapped in an even larger fist of a similar substance bedecked with crimson claws. Following the fist and attached arm with her eyes, Luna looked behind herself to see an even more massive creature towering above the landscape and holding the descending hoof within its claws.

The second of the two titanic creatures was almost massive beyond scale. If the first was at least as big as an Ursa Major, then this one was no less than twice the magnitude of the first and at least as large as Canterlot Castle, if not Canterlot itself. Like the other one, the second being was comprised of the same, strange, solid-smoke like substance; its form constantly roiled like a huge storm cloud, though its only constants were its crimson claws, the same acidic green eyes, and its almost human shape.

Squeezing the hoof held in its grip even tighter, the titanic humanoid lifted with all its might. With an enormous show of effort and strain of muscles so great that Luna could physically hear them flex, the being heaved mightily. So great was the force that for a brief moment the first beast was lifted from the earth once more, propelled through the sky and flipped backwards through the air. Landing on its back some ways it the distance, the dark equine completely flattened one of the foothills leading to the mountains in the distance. Even though its face was smooth and it had no discernable mouth, the bipedal titan behind Luna bellowed a single word, so deep and loud that it shook her very bones and caused the earth beneath her hooves to tremble. “NO!” it roared, crouching defensively overtop of her while glaring at the other creature.

Reeling from its impromptu forced flight, the first beast struggled to its hooves, flattening the landscape around with its flailing. Once its footing was stable, the equine behemoth turned to Luna and the titan behind her. Its face twisted into a look of pure malice. Rearing up on its hind legs and flailing its upraised limbs about, the behemoth opened its cavernous maw and bellowed out an inarticulate roar of rage, loud enough to force Luna to cover her ears. After a moment, its hooves crashed down with enough force to trigger an earthquake, knocking Luna once more to the ground. It began charging towards her with an utterly horrifying speed, each stride at least half a mile long and where every hoof-fall caused an aftershock, never letting Luna regain her footing.

Seeing the hostile actions of the enormous beast, the titan acted immediately and ferociously. “STOP!” it thundered loud enough to shake the earth. Rushing forward in a manner that seemed impossible and to almost defy logic, its form blurred incredibly until it lost its shape completely, becoming almost like an entire storm front moving across the barren landscape. It moved with such speed and force, reminding Luna of the ‘rockets’ that Selene had told her about. Both of the massive creatures were on an intercept course with each other; Luna only had the briefest moment to brace herself before they collided.

And collide they did. The sound alone was practically incomprehensible so impossibly loud and overwhelming that the whole world itself was utterly silent in comparison; the noise was felt deep within her bones more than heard. The soundwaves pressed against her lidded eyes until it quieted enough that her ears could actually perceive it. In the same instant, the shock wave assaulted her body, popping her shield like a soap bubble and violently ripping her from the ground and flinging her into the air where she flipped end over end and flailed about bonelessly like a ragdoll. Eventually, she came down painfully at least a hundred yards away and tumbled about in the dirt for at least another dozen yards.

After a moment, Luna managed to come to her senses, still extraordinarily dizzy, disoriented, and aching all over. Carefully, she tried to rise to her hooves only to fail repeatedly as constant tremors and rumbling of the earth knocked her down again. Falling down on her side, she sucked in a gasp and instinctively curled into a ball, breathing shallowly and doing her best not to upset the lances of sharp agony in her chest. Allowing the pain to calm for a time, she eventually lifted her head and looked around for the enormous creatures. They weren’t hard to find, her horn was still brightly lit and illuminated the surrounding landscape for leagues in every direction.

They lay upon the ground at least a few miles away; the greater momentum of the bipedal had won when they collided, carrying them into the distance. The two goliaths grappled and fought, their massive movements heaving and violent, the very earth trembling with each strike. The larger one sat astride the other, its form having solidified again as it rained fist after fist upon the one beneath it. Conversely, the equine shaped creature lay on its back and struggled in vain to extract itself from underneath its oppressor, baring its enormous fangs and flailing its hooves wildly as it did so. The equine beast’s head rocked violently side to side under the force of each blow from the titanic fists, until with a defiant howl it managed to land a crippling blow of its own, its giant hoof smashing powerfully into the face of the being above it, rocking the assailant to the side and distracting it just enough for the equine to finally slip from underneath with one more surge of effort.

The four legged creature didn’t even bother rising to its hooves, and instead rolled onto its stomach and immediately turned its head to face Luna where she lay. Bellowing an enraged roar, it lowered its head until the crimson spire upon its brow was pointed directly at her, and began to glow and shine with a maleficent and baleful light. Even from such a large distance away, Luna could feel the incredible amount of sheer power gathering, blisteringly hot and radiant, alighting on her skin painfully and burning like a small sun. With a shriek, the Colossus fired.

The titan behind reacted just in time however, and it reached out just as the gathering power reached it crescendo and harshly jerking the beast’s head to the side as it released. A beam of pure heat and incomprehensible amounts of energy lanced out from the crimson horn, gouging into the earth less than a hundred yards from where Luna lay terrified and unmoving. The heat was enough to char her feathers and burn the side of her body facing it even at this distance. The beam continued onwards, ripping through the earth and leaving an immensely deep canyon of smoking, molten glass as it tore its way through the landscape until it finally it collided full force with one of the distant mountains. The side of the rocky mountain facing the beam vaporized almost instantly; the sheer power and energy was enough to reduce the rock to dust and ash. And the rest of the mountain did not fare much better; the layers upon layers of stone were swiftly shredded and blown away like clouds before a gale wind. After an instant, all that was left of the once mighty mountain was a large mound of rubble and stone, and the energy of the beam began to dissipate and become unstable.

Then, it detonated.

The blast was incredible, awe-inspiring and utterly horrifying all at once. There was a great flash of light brighter than the sun, completely filling the landscape for hundreds of miles in every direction with a pure whiteness; as the light faded around the site of the former mountain, a massive cloud of smoke and ash and rock rose high, reaching towards the heavens like a colossal mushroom. A full several seconds later, the noise and shock of the blast hit her, loud enough to be almost deafening and forcing her to cringe once more and lay her ears against her skull. The force of it was more than strong enough to ruffle her feathers and mane; it swiftly tossed her on her back.

The noise died down after a moment. As Luna struggled to orient herself while mindful of the sharp pain in her chest, she glanced back towards the two titanic creatures where they struggled in the distance. The larger one once again sat astride the smaller of the two, though this time on its back. The humanoid had its arms wrapped tightly around the four legged beast’s neck, lifting its head high in the air and slowly choking it. “CALM YOURSELF,” the faceless titan commanded. The titan’s prey struggled futilely beneath it; the smaller behemoth batted its hooves at the titanic arms that constricted its airway. Eventually, the seemingly inexhaustible rage and malice that had driven the quadrupedal colossus faded away and its exhaustion caught up with it. A weary heaviness settled into its limbs as it grew limp in the titan’s grip; the behemoth’s struggles finally ceased. After several second of silence in which the equine shaped beast lay still, it raised a single fore-hoof, and tapped it lightly (lightly that is for its size at least) against the ground three times. As if it were some kind of signal, the titan quickly released the beast beneath it from its grip, rising to its feet and stepping away as the four legged creature drew in several deep breathes.

After several minutes of inaction, the beast eventually recovered and rose to its hooves, looking upwards at its opponent. The titan stared levelly at the behemoth, and they each held the other’s gaze for a moment before the four legged one seemed to be cowed, cringing in on itself and lowering its head submissively as it sighed deeply. It nodded its head, not able to meet its opponent’s gaze. Raising its head a little higher, the larger of the two nodded back.

And then Luna felt her breath catch in her throat and every bone in her body turn to rubber as the titan turned to look directly at her and casually began to stroll towards her; its every footfall shook the earth. The defeated Colossus headed in the opposite direction and quickly disappeared over the horizon. With its enormous mile spanning stride, the biped managed to cross the great distance between them in just a few steps. After only a matter of a few seconds, it reached her and lowered itself until it sat on the ground before her. The titan’s arms and legs folded against its body as it still stood utterly towering over her like an eldritch monolith. It stared at her, boring into her soul with those all-too-terrible eyes that she recognized all too well. Luna started to shake and tremble in terror; her breath came in rapid and shallow gasps as she stared horrified and unblinking. Her heart beat hard and fast enough that it pained her aching chest. Unnoticed in her terrified trance, the smoke-mist surrounding her began to move, undulating and flowing like liquid, swirling about and crawling up the immense form before her while simultaneously thickening around her own body.

Eventually the smoke-mist grew thick enough to be almost solid, and Luna could swear that the creature was somehow impossibly getting even bigger. Becoming aware of a strange downward breeze against her entire body, Luna snapped out of her panic briefly. Looking around herself and eventually turning to look backwards, Luna gasped at the revelation her eyes brought. What she saw caused her caused her breath to catch in her throat and her heart to skip a beat in horrid realization.

Behind her and to her side, in the near distance, were five terrifyingly familiar crimson spires. All around her were the titan’s claws. She was lying on its hand.

Looking upwards once again, she realized that the titan wasn’t getting bigger, she was getting closer. After a moment, the breeze stopped and she sat level in the air with its face, staring into its horrid eyes, each larger than the Canterlot Throne Room doors. For several minutes, she simply lay there in silence while slowly getting herself under control and stopping her shaking. As she stared at the terrifying titan before her, it simply sat there impossibly still, as if it were a living mountain. Eventually, Luna calmed herself enough to find her voice, and, after using her magic to amplify her sound, she began to speak, “I-“

“LUNA OF EQUESTRIA,” It interrupted, its voice, loud and deep enough to shake her bones, came from everywhere at once. Tinged with the faintest amount of anger, the voice seemed to emanate from the very world around her. “KEEPER OF THE NOCTIS GATE. WHY HAVE YOU COME HERE? HOW HAVE YOU COME TO THIS PLACE?”

Luna gulped thickly, doing her best to quell the shaking in her limbs that began anew the moment the titan’s voice resonated around her. “I-I don’t know where I am exactly. I was patrolling the dream world like I do every night when I came across a strange one that reeked of an old foe. I grew concerned, and so I dream-walked into it and-“

“DO NOT LIE TO ME!” The titan raged, its eyes narrowing and the hand she sat on beginning to curl into a fist. The whole world seemed to shake and the smoke-mist trembled as if in response to its anger. “THIS WORLD IS NO MERE DREAM! TELL ME HOW YOU CAME HERE!”

A fear like none she had ever known before took hold of Luna’s soul as the titan before her howled and raged. Hot, frightened tears sprung from her eyes and her heart tried to beat its way out of her chest. “I-I s-swear it’s t-true, I saw a w-weird d-dream a-and I-I-I-“ she managed to eke out with a trembling and cracking voice before her fear overwhelmed her. She began to blubber like an infant and curled into a ball like a frightened foal; a wing folded over her head to hide herself and her tears.

The titan stared at her for a few moments, before its rage abated and it heaved a loud sigh. Reaching up with its other hand, it waved a single crimson talon above her, which soon began to glow. In response, a thin layer of the smoke-mist peeled off and began to settle over her cowering form in a small cocoon, which quickly seeped into her flesh.

Luna felt the coolness of the smoke-mist against her skin, and soon thereafter an odd and novel sensation. A gentle coldness settled over her bones and muscles, traveling through her body like a cool autumn wind from the inside, blowing away her constant aches and pains like so many leaves in the breeze. And all of a sudden, she wasn’t afraid any more. Or, at least, not entirely. She felt that there was fear, and that she should be afraid, but it was dull, and muted. Like something had reached inside of her and locked the fear away behind a thick wall.

After a moment, Luna managed to stop her crying and reduce her sniffling. Carefully wiping her hoof across her face, she dried her tears and gingerly rose to her hooves, quietly delighted to feel that her injuries no longer bothered her. Turning around, she faced the titan again and sat on her haunches. Clearing her throat, she spoke calmly, her composure shot but under control again, “I’m terribly sorry about that, it wasn’t very princess like behavior. I know not what came over me.”

“DO NOT FRET OVERMUCH, YOUR FEAR IS UNDERSTANDABLE,” The titan said, the look in its eyes a little more gentle. “NOW, I SHALL ASK AGAIN: HOW DID YOU COME TO THIS PLACE?”

Luna breathed deeply in and out before she responded. “I did not lie, I indeed dream-walked here. Now that I’m here though, I can’t seem to leave,” she said, a hind leg twitching as she did her best to ignore the small, deeply instinctive voice that screamed at her to start running as fast as she could and never look back. Thankfully she was able to hold her gaze unblinkingly, albeit while swallowing thickly past the lump in her throat.

The world was silent for a moment as they two stared at each other, and shortly after Luna spoke she felt a strange sort of pressure, like her head was in a vice and a constricting band of rubber traveled from her neck down the length of her body. The titan let out a deep grumble and a sigh before responding. “IT SEEMS YOU ARE INDEED BEING TRUTHFUL. THE ESSENCE OF THE DREAM WORLD STILL LINGERS UPON YOUR FLESH AND I CAN HEAR THE HONESTY IN YOUR WORDS,” It said, looking past her to stare far into the distance thoughtfully, the deep nature of its ponderings written clearly across its face. “THIS IS A MOST TROUBLING TURN OF EVENTS, AND WHAT IT IMPLIES IS DISTURBING INDEED…” It seemed to muse aloud. After a moment, it snapped out of its thoughtful stupor and turned its gaze back to Luna, saying, “SPEAK, LITTLE ONE. I KNOW YOU HAVE MUCH TO ASK. I CAN HEAR YOUR QUESTRIONS WHISPERING AT THE FRONT OF YOUR THOUGHTS.”

As soon as the titan gave the go-ahead, Luna couldn’t hold back anymore; her curiosity burst forth in the absence of her fear, questions pouring rapidly from her like a cascade. “Who are you? What are you? Are you male or female? Where are we? What is this place? Who is that other giant creature? Why were you fighting? Why did it attack me? What was that power it used? What’s going on around here?” Luna asked, the words tumbling forth quickly and without pause until she was forced to take a breath. She sucked in a deep lungful of air to go on, only to hesitate when she noticed the massive hand she stood on shaking and the air trembling with a deep, rhythmic bellowing. Luna looked around curiously for a moment before it dawned on her. With a blush, she realized what it was: the titan was laughing.

It took several moments for its mirth to calm, but soon it did, and it looked at Luna, its twinkling in a jovial light and crinkled at the edges in a mouthless smile. “SO MANY QUESTIONS, SUCH YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE! IT WARMS MY COLD, DARK HEART,” the behemoth said warmly, an almost paternal gleam adorning its eye. Luna could have sworn that if it could have done so without crushing her, the giant would have tousled her mane. The alicorn’s blush only deepened as she hid bashfully behind her mane in embarrassment. The titan laughed even harder at her reaction, which in turn caused her blush to darken yet still. “OH, HOW INNOCENT AND SWEET; I SO DEARLY WISH I COULD HAVE KNOWN YOU WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG.”

The titan remained silent a moment more, and Luna’s embarrassment subsided enough for her to meet its gaze again before it continued speaking, the strange eyes-only smile still plastered on its face. “I AM MANY THINGS, BUT HERE, NOW, IN THIS PLACE AND IN THIS FORM I AM ARHKIS, LORD OF DARKNESS. MORE IMPORTANTLY, I AM LIKE YOU – BOUND SOUL DEEP TO ANOTHER, ONE FROM ANOTHER WORLD. MUCH LIKE YOU KEEP THE NOCTIS GATE, I HOLD DOMINION OVER THE GATE OF SHADOWS. THE ONE FROM EARLIER IS MY PARTNER. HE ONCE WAS A UNICORN OF SOME RENOWN, KNOWN AS KING SOMBRA.”

“Sombra!” Luna shrieked. Her anger flared hotly as she reared on her hind legs and snorted steam. Her wings flared out behind her. “The Dark Tyrant is your partner?! How can this be?!” she screamed, upset and honestly confused. How could the being before her, who looked at her with a patronizing gaze and had fought tooth and nail to protect her when she arrived be bound at his soul with such a dark and maniacal despot? Arhkis seemed kind, if not a bit terrifying, and had even healed her wounds. How could he be bound to an evil beast like Sombra?

“How is he still alive? He should be dead by now! How could he have possibly survived all this time?” she asked hotly, pacing back and forth restlessly, unable to quell the angry energy seeping into her limbs.

Arhkis sighed once again and paused, pondering his words before speaking. “SOMBRA IS INDEED MY PARTNER. HE HAS SURVIVED ALL THIS TIME FOR MANY REASONS THAT I WILL NOT GO INTO NOW, FOR MOST OF THEM SHOULD REMAIN UNSPOKEN AND FORGOTTEN TO TIME. SUFFICE IT TO SAY THAT HE STILL EXISTS BECAUSE HE NOT REALLY ALIVE, NOR IS HE TRULY DEAD. HIS SOUL, AND BY EXTENSION MY OWN, IS UNIQUE AND UNLIKE ANY OTHER I KNOW OF ACROSS THE WORLDS, CAUGHT IN AN EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH. THE CORES STILL LIVE, CONNECTED TO THE LIVING WORLD, YET THE REST OF THEM, OUR VERY LIFE-FORCE, IS GONE. THAT ENERGY HAS ALL BEEN REPLACED BY DEATH AND DARKNESS, THE VERY ESSENCE OF THE VOID ITSELF,” he said, speaking slowly and choosing each word carefully.

Luna was silent as she took his words in, digesting them and committing them to memory. She continued to pace back and forth with a scowl on her face. As much as she wanted to deny outright everything Arhkis had just said as ludicrous and impossible, she had to admit, it made for a horrifying possibility. There was still so little known about the nature of life and death, and it would go a long way towards explaining many of the other seemingly impossible things Sombra had done during his reign before Luna and her sister had confronted him all those years ago. With a deep sigh, she stopped pacing and sat back down on her haunches. The night princess, with a scowl still adorning her face, stared into Arhkis’s eye. “Well, what of you then?” she asked, her voice touched with a hint of venom. “If you are bound to the very being by which we still measure evil to this day, then what sort of ill deeds have you committed?”

“GOOD AND EVIL ARE JUST WORDS,” Arhkis began, “CONCEPTS AND IDEAS CREATED BY MORTAL MINDS TOO LIMITED TO COMPREHEND THE GREATER SCOPE OF THINGS. I LIKE TO CONSIDER MYSELF ABOVE SUCH NOTIONS. THEN AGAIN, I AM ARROGANT, AND I CONSIDER MYSELF ABOVE A GREAT MANY THINGS.”

“AS FOR SOMBRA, HOWEVER,” Arhkis continued, leaning slightly closer to glare levelly at Luna, “YOU, BETTER THAN ANY OTHER, SHOULD KNOW THAT THE SINS OF A THOUSAND YEARS PAST ARE OFTEN THE BITTEREST REGRETS OF THE PRESENT,” he chastised her. Luna at least had the decency to look ashamed. “HOW MUCH DO YOU TRULY KNOW OF SOMBRA? WHEN LAST YOU MET HIM, YOU WERE STILL YOUNG AND FOOLISH; YOU SAW ONLY A MONSTER, GUILTY OF UNSPEAKABLE CRIMES AND THAT NEEDED TO BE PUT DOWN.”

He paused for a moment and sighed, leaning back again and his eyes falling, beginning to take on an almost sad glint. “SOMBRA USED TO BE VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE STALLION YOU KNEW. I HAVE SEEN IT FOR MYSELF, BORNE WITNESS THROUGH HIS VERY EYES AS OUR BOND DEEPENED AND I CAME TO KNOW HIS MEMORIES. SOMBRA WAS ONCE A KIND AND JUST LEADER, A FAIR AND WISE KING. UNDER HIM THE EMPIRE THRIVED AND PROSPERED, IT WAS A CENTRAL LEADING POWER THE WORLD OVER, KNOWN FAR AND WIDE FOR ITS WEALTH AND POWER; YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NO SMALL STRETCH TO SAY THAT THE EMPIRE WAS THE TOP OF THE WORLD, RENOWNED FOR ITS RICH CULTURE, ADVANCE TECHNOLOGY AND ARCHITECTURE, AND ITS UNIQUE AND AMAZING MAGIC. THE PEOPLE WANTED FOR VERY LITTLE, AND LIVED IN A GOLDEN AGE. SOMBRA ALWAYS DID WHATEVER HE COULD TO INSURE THAT HIS PEOPLE WERE HAPPY AND SAFE, AND THAT HE WAS MUCH BELOVED. ALL WAS NOT WELL THOUGH, FOR BACK THEN THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE WAS OFTEN A KINGDOM UNDER SIEGE. MANY WERE ENVIOUS OF ITS PROSPERITY OR COVETED ITS RESOURCES, AND SO IT WAS BESET BY ENEMIES ON ALL SIDES. EVENTUALLY, THE CONSTANT ONSLAUGHT BY SO MANY ADVERSARIES WORE DOWN THE KINGDOM’S DEFENSES, AND SOMBRA BECAME DESPERATE TO SAVE HIS SUBJECTS. FOR MANY MOONS HE SEARCHED DAY AND NIGHT FOR SOMETHING TO HELP SAVE THEM, THOUGH FOR THE MOST PART IT WAS ALL IN VAIN. EVENTUALLY THOUGH, HE CAME ACROSS SOMETHING THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER FALLEN INTO MORTAL HANDS, AND JUST WHEN HE WAS DESPERATE ENOUGH TO DO ANYTHING AT ALL. SO HE SACRIFICED HIS SANITY, HIS HUMANITY AND EVEN HIS SOUL ITSELF TO GIVE HIMSELF THE POWER HE NEEDED TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE. AFTER THAT, THE EMPIRE’S FOES WERE SWIFTLY DEFEATED, BUT AT A GRAVE COST. NOT LONG AFTER, SOMBRA FELL INTO MADNESS -YOU YOURSELF KNOW ONLY ALL TOO WELL WHAT HAPPEN NOT LONG AFTER THAT.”

Arhkis fell silent and as he sat with his gaze cast downward Luna almost see the ghosts of the past haunted the soul behind those enormous eyes. She could have sworn that if they had been capable of such they would have teared up by now. After almost a full minute, he heaved another great shuddering sigh and continued speaking. “WHEN I FIRST FOUND HIM THERE WASN’T MUCH OF HIM LEFT. JUST HATE AND RAGE AND DARKNESS. HE WAS BEASTIAL, ANIMALISTIC; HIS MIND WAS COMPLETELY SHATTERED AND THE PIECES CAST ADRIFT LIKE GRAINS OF SAND IN THE WIND. IT TOOK ME WEEKS OF HARD LABOR TO PUT HIM BACK TOGETHER AGAIN, THOUGH ONCE HE BECAME AWARE ENOUGH TO HELP, THINGS PROCEDED SIGNIFICANTLY FASTER. EVEN THEN THOUGH, HE WAS STILL SO ANGRY. BUT MORE THAN THAT, I THINK HE WAS AFRAID. WITH THE NEWFOUND CLARITY MY MIND GAVE HIM, HE BEGAN TO REALIZE EXACTLY THE EXTENT OF THE HORRIBLE ATROCITIES HE HAD COMMITTED, AND THAT REALIZATION HURT HIM. IT CUT HIM BONE DEEP. I HONESTLY THINK THAT IF SUCH WERE STILL POSSIBLE, HE WOULD HAVE TAKEN HIS OWN LIFE IN THOSE TUMULTUOUS FEW DAYS. THANKFULLY, BY THEN OUR CONNECTION WAS FULLY FORMED, AND I WAS ABLE TO HELP HEAL HIM, OFFERING MY OWN MIND AND SOUL AS A SAFE HAVEN, AND HELPING HIM TO DEAL WITH THE CRUSHING GRIEF. HOWEVER, ONCE SOMETHING IS BROKEN, IT CAN NEVER TRULY BE WHOLE AGAIN. NOW WE BOTH BARE OUR SCARS, THOUGH HE MORE SO THAN I. THAT’S WHY HE REACTED SO VIOLENTLY WHEN HE SAW YOU; YOU DRUG UP SOME VERY PAINFUL MEMORIES QUITE QUICKLY AND UNEXPECTEDLY. HE WASN’T PREPARED FOR IT, AND IT CAUGHT HIM OFF GUARD. MY PARTNER’S CONSTANT RAGE GOT THE BETTER OF HIM. BESIDES THAT, I DON’T THINK HE’S TRULY FORGIVEN YOU FOR LOCKING HIM AWAY, OR IF HE EVEN CAN. DEEP DOWN THOUGH, HE’S THANKFUL THAT YOU AND YOUR SISTER STOPPED HIM.”

For several minutes, all was quiet. Luna sat still, contemplating what she heard, vaguely surprised at the lump of emotion in her throat. The Arhkis’s words stung her; she had indeed been younger and more naïve when she had banished King Sombra. All she had seen back then was an inequine monster, capable of terrible things and needing to be put down for the good of others. The parallels between his story and her own were staggering and disturbing. Luna honestly didn’t know what to make of it. It would take some time to reconcile what she had heard with the insane tyrant she had known. Doing her best to distract herself and stop her thoughts from taking a dark turn, she cast her mind back and voiced again one of her questions from earlier, “If he is your partner, then why do you fight each other? Shouldn’t you be working together?”

Arhkis sighed again as he responded. “AS I SAID, EVEN NOW, WE BARE OUR SCARS. ONE OF THEM IS THAT WE ARE PERPETUALLY ENRAGED AT LEAST SLIGHTLY AT ALL TIMES; AS SUCH, WE FEEL A CONSTANT THIRST FOR VIOLENCE. WE FIGHT BECAUSE WE MUST. WE FIGHT EACH OTHER BECAUSE THE ONLY THINGS STRONG ENOUGH TO FIGHT US ARE OURSELVES. THAT IS WHY WE MADE THIS PLACE,” the giant said, gesturing towards the dark, barren landscape all around them.

“THIS PLACE EXISTS BETWEEN WORLDS, NOT CONNECTED TO EITHER MY WORLD OR YOURS, YET IS MORE CLOSELY RELATED TO THE REALM OF SHADES THEN EITHER WORLD. IT TOOK MANY LONG MOONS AND ALL OF OUR POWER, OUR COMBINED SKILL, AND OUR KNOWLEDGE. THOUGH, ONCE WE REALIZED WE COULD NO LONGER TRULY SLEEP, THERE WAS LITTLE ELSE TO DO BUT WORK ON CREATING OUR OWN LITTLE DEMESNE. EVENTUALLY, WE MANAGED TO CRAFT A PLACE THAT WAS OURS, AND OURS ALONE. HERE, IN A PLACE THAT IS NOT QUITE DREAM, NOR SHADOW, NOR REALITY, WE ARE AS GODS - LORDS AND MASTERS OF ALL CREATION - FOR IT IS OUR CREATION. WE THOUGHT IT COMPLETELY FREE, IMPENETRABLE, AND UNKNOWN TO ANY BUT US. APPARENTLY, WE FORGOT TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT JUST HOW CLOSELY THE REALM OF SHADES AND THE DREAM WORLD OVERLAP. IN THE FUTURE, NEITHER YOU NOR YOUR PARTNER SHOULD EVER COME HERE AGAIN, IF YOU ARE EVEN ABLE TO DO SO. IT IS HERE IN THIS PLACE THAT WE GIVE UP RESTRAINT AND GIVE IT OUR ALL, WHERE OUR POWER RUNS FREE, AMPLIFIED AND UNFETTERED, UNLEASHED WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE. AT NIGHT, WHEN OUR BODIES ENTER THEIR DEATHLY STATES AND OUR MIND AND SOULS ARE CAST ADRIFT, THIS IS WHERE WE COME, TO FIGHT, TRAIN, AND TES OUR LIMITS. IT IS HOW WE GROW STRONGER, TO MASTER THE POWERS WE HAVE, AND QUENCH OUR THIRST FOR BLOOD.”

Luna sat there silently, doing her best to school her reaction to what Arhkis had told, but failing rather badly as her jaw hung agape. If what he was saying was true - and she saw little reason to doubt it - then the implications were absolutely staggering, and not the least bit horrifying. Sombra, along with his Gatekeeper partner, had created his own world! Such a thing was almost inconceivable! Casting her gaze about, Luna looked around at the barren and stony landscape, and the empty night above, trying and failing to suppress a shiver. If they could do something like that, then what else could they do? Looking towards the remains of what was once a mountain in the distance, she saw only a great amount of slag and glass. Gulping, she realized she knew exactly what else they could do. Knowing that her curiosity would get the best of her sooner or later and that she might as well ask now, she raised a shaking hoof to point towards the rubble in the distance and asked, “What exactly was it that Sombra did when he destroyed that mountain?”

Arhkis turned his gaze towards where Luna indicated, and for a moment was silent, and enigmatic expression on his face. After a while he spoke, “HE DID SOMETHING I WASN’T SURE WAS EVEN POSSIBLE, AND SOMETHING I TRULY HOPE REALLY IS IMPOSSIBLE OUTSIDE OF THIS PLACE, WHERE OUR POWERS ARE BOOSTED. IT WAS JUST THEORETICAL UNTIL NOW, AN IDEA I HAD COME UP WITH IN MY MUSINGS AND TALKED TO HIM ABOUT. HE LIKE THE IDEA SO MUCH THAT WE HAD WORKED TOGETHER ON PERFECTING A MAGICAL FORMULA TO USE IT, ONE WE HAD MADE OURSELVES USING MY OWN INGENUITY AND THE DARK ELDRITCH KNOWLEDGE SOMBRA GAINED WHEN HE SACRIFICED HIS SANITY. I WON’T TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT IT, BUT IN ESSENCE, WE MADE A TINY SUN USING A COMBINATION OF MAGIC AND SCIENCE, THEN WITH THE POWER WE WIELD OVER THE ENERGIES OF DEATH, WE KILLED IT. I AM CERTAIN THAT YOU OF ALL BEINGS SHOULD KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A STAR DIES A VIOLENT DEATH.” Arhkis looked back to her, and seeing her eyes grow wide and a terrified shiver go down her spine he knew that she understood. “WHEN IT DIES, WE CHANNEL ITS CATASTROPHIC DEATH THROES INTO A THIN LANCE, AND THEN, WELL, YOU SAW FOR YOURSELF. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A LAST RESORT, AN ACE-IN-THE-HOLE SUPERWEAPON SHOULD WE EVER NEED ONE. I AM BOTH EXCEEDINGLY DISAPPOINTED IN SOMBRA FOR USING IT, AND, IN ALMOST EQUAL AMOUNTS, AMAZED THAT IT EVEN WORKED IN THE FIRST PLACE.”

Luna just trembled where she stood. Such a thing was horrific, abominable. What sort of wretched mind could even conceive of such an atrocious act of destruction? Suddenly, she felt herself growing even more cautious of Arhkis then she already was. Eventually, she managed to ask, “Why would you ever need such a thing? What would drive you to such danger, to create such horrid power?”

Slowly, Arhkis’s gaze fell even further, and his eyes twinkled sadly as he answered. “I SINCERELY WISH YOU NEVER HAVE TO FIND OUT, THOUGH I FEAR MY HOPES ARE IN VAIN. WHEN THE TIME COMES, YOU WILL HAVE YOUR OWN ROLE TO PLAY, AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND. FOR NOW, SUFFICE IT TO SAY SIMPLY THAT I DO WHAT I DO SO THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS TO.”

Once again, Luna just stared ahead blankly, doing her best to solve the enigma that towered before her. Just who was Arhkis? What sort of being was he? What was his character? So far he seemed kind, yet arrogant; protective, yet bloodthirsty; jovial, yet horrifying; wounded and sick-minded; selfless; angry; and even rather mysterious. Luna could, with all honesty, admit that she was utterly perplexed by him. After several minutes of sitting in silence in which her thoughts ran in circles, she came to realize something. It wasn’t just that she didn’t understand him, it was that she couldn’t understand him. He was simply just far too different from what she had faced before, his way of thinking too alien. With that realization, she slumped where she sat, her limbs giving out under her mental exhaustion, and she lied down again. Raising her head, she looked to him and asked the one question that was bothering her more than any other, “Why? Why are you sharing all of this with me? You don’t even know me.”

Arhkis stared at her for several moments, contemplating her words and trying to think of how to respond. When he finally did speak, his head tilted almost quizzically, as if he himself were confused by his answer. “I HAVE MY REASONS, BUT PERHAPS CHIEF AMONG THEM IF SUPPOSE IS BECAUSE I FEEL A SORT OF KINSHIP BETWEEN US. WE ARE BOTH GATEKEEPERS, WHICH IS SOMETHING OF AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE BREED. BUT IT’S MORE THAN THAT, I THINK. WE ARE BOTH CONNECTED IN AN ODD WAY. I AM A BEING OF DARKNESS, AND YOU ARE A CREATURE OF THE NIGHT. SUCH THINGS GO HAND IN HAND, AS THEY HAVE SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME. WE MAY NOT KNOW EACH OTHER PERSONALLY, BUT IN SOME WAYS, I DON’T THINK WE ARE REALLY ALL THAT DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER.”

Luna sighed deeply at his words, closing her eyes and laying her face against the ground, not even surprised that his words only made her more confused about him. Groaning, she wearily rubbed her head with her hooves, trying to alleviate her growing headache.

Arhkis noticed her downcast demeanor, and asked, “IS THAT ENOUGH QUESTIONS?”

Luna lifted her head to face him again, sighing wearily and nodding. “Yes, I… I just… I just want to go home now,” she said quietly, feeling mentally and emotionally drained.

Arhkis nodded in response. “VERY WELL,” he said, and the shadows and smoke-mist once more began to move, flowing like rivers and curling over her body.

“I, ARHKIS, LORD OF DARKNESS, CAST YOU OUT. LEAVE MY WORLD, LUNA OF EQUESTRIA, KEEPER OF THE NOCTIS GATE, AND DO NOT RETURN.”

At his words, the shadows from all around curled tightly around her, and for a brief moment, Luna felt at peace.

Then, she knew only darkness.

Comments

[Merchent343]

Awesome chapter.

[TheStratovarian]

Huh, i look to things like this, and see just how far things are.

[wille179]

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New Sombra is still technically imprisoned in ice, so there hasn't been much of a chance for him to show off his alignment.