Shadows of the Moonlight

by Dusklight Shadow

Flashback 1-B: Is There Such Thing as a Moonburn?

‘OH SWEET NOCTURNIS!’ I screamed in my head, ‘THIS HURTS LIKE A BITCH!’

My body felt like I just spontaneously combusted from the inside, and that combustion continued to boil my skin underneath the armor that appeared with my Champion Form. With the amount of Moonlight I absorbed, this became a race against the clock before my reserves overloaded. I needed to defeat Nightmare Moon before I go critical and become a human atomic bomb, but the amount of pain I was in made it difficult to move. Luckily, Nightmare didn’t notice my pained expression thanks to my new Moonlight-forged helmet, for all she knew I was staring her down with a menacing glare while my armor radiated an almost blinding light.

“What kind of power is this!?” Nightmare questioned.

“This is the power that the moon grants me,” I replied, damn… my voice got deeper, and it sounds badass! “Now prepare yourself, Nightmare,” that voice… it sounds so menacing, “I’M JUST GETTING STARTED!”

I launched myself forward, scythe in hand, while attacking Nightmare with a series of magical slashes that shot towards her with every swing. She managed to block a majority of them with a barrier before it shattered, and this gave me time to get close enough to use a Charged Arcane Bolt at point-blank range. She stumbled back from the blast, and this gave me time to charge in again before she can recover. However, she recovered faster than I hoped as she blocked my scythe with both of her Shadow Blades, locking our blades, and putting us into a power struggle.

“Perhaps I underestimated you,” Nightmare said while we struggled for ground, “Such power you wield, yet I can sense that you desire more”

‘What is she talking about?’

“I can give you that power you so desire,” she said in tone so smooth that you could slip and fall onto your ass on it, “Join me, and I can give you power beyond your wildest dreams”

...

‘Seriously? That is the most cliché version of the “join me and gain more power” speech I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of different versions’ I ignored the increasing pain in order to speak, “Yeah, like I haven’t heard that one before”

I jumped back from our struggle to gain some distance, and, once I got far enough, I tapped into my Moonlight reserve and started charging one of my more devastating Lunamancy spells. I sheathed my scythe onto my back, and cupped my hands out in front of me as an orb of silver light started charging between them. I needed to end this now because my body was boiling more and more by the minute.

“MOONLIGHT CANNON!”

A huge beam of light shot out of my hands towards Nightmare, but she also fired her own that was as black as the night sky we were under. Our beams clashed together in the middle of the space between us with a massive *KRACK* before emanating a shockwave, thus starting a beam struggle.

‘Why does this remind me of an anime?’ I asked myself, attempting to ignore the pain of that boiling feeling in my flesh.

Unfortunately, the pain started to get worse again causing me to get pushed back by Nightmare’s beam, and this made her start laughing like a madwoman, “HAHAHAHAHAHA, it is hopeless!” she laughed, “Even with all of that power, you are still outmatched!”

‘Come on Shade, focus!’

My adrenalin was running to the point all of my hearing was dulled, and the only thing I could hear was my heartbeat.

*Badum*

*Badum*

Nightmare’s beam was now a few meters away from me.

*Badum*

*Badum*

‘So this is how it ends, huh?’ I thought, closing my eyes. The burning sensation in my flesh had become so unbearable to the point I felt like I could go critical at any moment. ‘Well, I guess I had a good run’

*Badum*

*Badum*

Nightmare’s beam was only a few inches away, forcing me down onto one knee.

‘I just never thought I’d go out like this’

My body was close to its limit, my skin felt like it could melt off at any second, and I already felt myself growing larger than I should be. This was it… this is where my journey ends, and it wasn’t the way I imagined I would die.

...

…

…

‘…No’ I thought, my eyes open with determination, ‘I will not accept this fate while I still have at least a small chance!’

I stood back up with as much strength I could muster, and I poured as much Moonlight into my beam to push back Nightmare’s. I could feel my blood boiling with the determination to strike this foe down, or maybe it was the fact that I was about to explode with the strength of ten megatons. I think I’ll go with the determination; that sounds more heroic.

Nightmare noticed my beam was beginning to push hers back. “What!?” she yelled in shock, “How is this possible, I sensed your power weaken!” my beam was beginning to regain lost ground, “How do you still persist!?”

“It’s because I will not be taken down by the likes of you!” I responded, my beam inching closer to the center space, “It’s also because I’m fighting to protect the ones I care about! If I let you win, then I won’t be there when they need me! That’s how I still fight, because I’m doing it for my friends!”

I poured every bit of Moonlight I had into the final stretch, making the beam twice as large than before. I was out of time, and I needed to finish this fight once and for all. The silver light overpowered Nightmare’s shadows as it sped towards her. Seconds later, the beam collided into Nightmare as she screamed, “NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Not… again…”

As the light faded, I could see the devastation that was caused during the battle: craters everywhere, trees burnt to a crisp, the grass was black. Hell, even the forest in front of me had a trail of destruction where trees used to be. I was starting to think that I might have overdid it a little, but those thoughts stopped as I heard a noise in front of me.

“Uuuuuuuugh…”

My eyes widened as I saw Nightmare pick herself back up, ‘No… she’s still alive!?’ I was surprised that she survived that attack, but I also saw that she was jacked up pretty bad. She had reverted back to her original form from the beginning of this encounter, but I was still in my Champion Form due to the fact that I was about to go critical.

“You cannot get rid of me that easily, Whelp” she said in a weak, yet furious tone, “You are weak*gasp*and I still have enough power to*cough*finish you off”

‘Then this is where it ends, huh?’ my thoughts started to drift to my friends, ‘Jace, Mike, Sarah… looks like yesterday will be our final adventure together’

I used what was left of my energy to transform into my Dark Mist Form, fly behind Nightmare, and grab her.

“W-what are you doing!?” she yelled.

“As I said before: if I die here, then I’m taking you down with me” I replied as I flew high into the sky as a dark cloud with Nightmare in my grasp. I flew high up into the atmosphere to make sure the blast didn’t cause any damage. Nightmare was struggling to get free, but I held on with every last bit of strength I had. My entire body felt like I was thrown into the sun as I started to rapidly expand, and, as this happened, my mind went back to the life I lived. I thought about my first day on this world, how I was completely clueless on how everything worked. I thought about my friends, how they found me wandering the streets like an idiot and decided to let me hang around them. I also thought about how we all enrolled into the Mage Academy where I learned how to control my magic, and about all of the missions that we used to get sent on by the Headmaster. All of the adventures that the four of us went on, and every single one brought us closer together as a team. All of the things we did when there weren’t any missions available, and all of the trouble we used to get into. I didn’t want it to end like this, but did it seem like I had a choice?

‘We had a good run guys, and I’m sorry I had to go so soon’ I thought as I closed my eyes, the last thing to see was me holding my grip on a struggling Nightmare as we floated above Earth, ‘Just don’t forget about me’

With that last thought the light from my armor intensified to where if you looked up from Earth, you would see a bright new star shining in the sky. I screamed at the top of my lungs from the pain, but soon after that scream was silenced as everything went white. Moments passed and I felt myself falling through an endless abyss.

‘Where am I?’ I thought as I fell.

What I didn’t realize before was that the moon was glowing blue before my body expired.

Author's Note:

Finally got this done, phew. Well, I hope that you enjoyed part two and the conclusion to the fight. This scene will be the first of many battles that Shade is going to engage in the future, and this is also where the story is really going start. Also, if there is anything that you guys want to see in the future be sure to PM me, or leave something in the comments section.

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Up next: Shade wakes up on a moon that he is not familiar with.

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