Beacon & Nightshade Meet
Beacon rushed through the hallways of the dungeon he found
himself in. He had a Raylight Arrow resting on his Bow of Hope, ready to be
drawn at a moment's notice. He wasn't the subtlest, but he knew how to stay out
of sight if he wished. He drew the arrow as he approached a corner, tentatively
peeking around it to check for threats. He saw a Ghoul and shot it. The evil
inside the demon-possessed corpse was too great, so the arrow's light ate the
flesh and bone, leaving nothing left.That must've been the hundredth Ghoul he'd banished in this
place alone. He wondered how much further he needed to go. He checked his
Quiver, seeing that he had the Light Energy for twenty more Arrows. Seeing how
much Energy it took to kill some Demons, he feared he had much, much less.
Beacon continued, approaching a puzzle of sorts. The fox swore. He was
surrounded by darkness as it is, and he wasn't very good at puzzles to begin
with. How was he supposed to do this?He took a deep breath, he knew he needed to solve it to activate
the mechanism in the door, which had no handle or lock. He couldn't even pick
locks. He sat down to take a deep breath. He really needed some Sunlight. It
gave him the Energy to keep going and power his Abilities. He then heard a
voice identical to his own pierce the silence."Need a hand?" the voice echoed through the hall. The fox
looked around, confused."Huh?" he asked aloud, "Who's there?""It's me, Beacon, your opposite." The voice answered."My opposite?" the fox mused, "Wait, you're Nightshade?""Indeed I am. Words cannot describe how elated I am to
finally meet you." The voice said, no longer seeming to echo through the entire
dungeon."Where are you?" Beacon asked, quietly, "And keep your voice
down, who knows what's lurking out there that I've not banished.""You mean demons? I've been haunted by those long enough to
know their presence, and there aren't any that can hear me." Nightshade said.
Beacon looked forward to see a portal to a city-covered landscape. A jet black
wolf looked back at him with a childishly pleading look, crouching in the frame
of the rift. A look that only Beacon knew. The fox motioned with his hand and
the wolf stood from where he was stooped and walking over to the fox and
collapsed beside Beacon. They were dressed similarly: hoodie, jeans, no shoes,
and an amulet around their necks. The only differences: Nightshade's hoodie had
no sleeves and was black with purple smoke designs on it, where Beacon's was
short sleeved, white, and had a golden zipper and golden threaded strings.
Their amulets were different as well. Beacon's was a golden cross made of a
pale yellow gold on a white gold chain that shone with a light of its own. It
was artificial, so Beacon gained no Energy Benefit from it. Nightshade's was an
ebony chain with dark amethyst octahedrons with a stretched height, five of
them, decreasing in size as they went away from the center. The chain absorbed
light and the gems glowed an extremely dim purple light."Is there Sunlight in your world?" Beacon asked, beginning
to breathe heavily."The sun's gone Dark in my Dimension," Nightshade replied,
"The portal's closed, anyway.""I need Sunlight so badly," Beacon complained, "I'm getting
tired.""You run off Sunlight?"Beacon took a couple deep breaths, attempting to keep awake,
"It fuels my consciousness. It's one of the drawbacks of harnessing the Power
of the Sun.""I'm fueled by fear." Nightshade said simply, "I'm not proud
of it, but, being raised in darkness, I've learned to use what I have and take what
I don't."What about your parents? Mine are dead, killed by the mafia
they worked for." Nightshade said, an obvious distaste in his tone, "I was
forced to watch, the mob boss assuming I posed no threat. I inherited, from
that, a permanent childish behavior and a desire for a family. I also grew
vengeful, taking vengeance on my parents and not stopping there. Every time I
saw injustice, I took it upon myself to right it. Though no one but my victims,
who were quickly deemed insane, ever saw me as this," Nightshade motioned to
himself, "I quickly became known as Shadow Karma: the black wolf that haunts
the wicked. Crime rate went down, with me having no trouble corrupting the
minds of mob bosses, thieves, murderers, serial killers. Soon I found that people
posted as many criminal activities as they could and as publically as possible.
My victims became less satisfying in the sense that they just cried in a
corner. I never came into the light or touched them, they learned their lesson,
and I got my fix of fear. I heard your silent cries for help about a week ago."
Nightshade suddenly switching topics grabbed Beacon's renewed attention, where
he'd been debating whether or not to stay near this freak."That's when I'd almost died in a necromancer's cave." Beacon
realized after some thought, "I'd survived from a sudden barrage of Sunlight
streamed in from a Rift in the ceiling of the cave." Beacon thought for a
second, "That was you?""Legend has it in my dimension that there is a Mirror World,
a world opposite to ours, facing us like a reflection." Nightshade looked at
the wall from which he'd appeared, "Dimensions between these, well, dimensions,
have no relation. Like what you've just seen, I was high up on the
three-hundredth floor of a skyscraper, and here you are underground."
Nightshade looked with pity at Beacon, "I feel your fear. Why are you afraid?
I'm not going to hurt you. I've saved your life before, you know." The ceiling
of the tunnel Rippled like a lake's surface disturbed by a thrown stone, and
Light poured through, bathing the fox in a yellow Glow. The fox's Quiver
refilled itself with Arrows. When the Light faded, the fox sat there, basking
in what seemed to be pleasure."That feels so much better."
Beacon said, his breathing becoming steadier. He got up, refilled with
enough Energy to keep going. Nightshade stood as well."As I was saying," the wolf continued, "there are, it turns
out, countless dimensions. Ten of them are in a special formation, allowing
them to feed off one another and become sort of Gemini Dimensions. I call these
dimensions the Apocodims, ten dimensions so dependent on one another that one
disruption can cause a collapse. Such a disruption has occurred recently,
allowing me to talk to you. The Apocodims have bled together, with key
doppelgangers having conversations and apocalypses breaking out. Heatstroke,
another of our Aura Signature, is in danger. He and Frostbite, Heatstroke's
opposite, are trapped in the Dimension of Heat, and are about to witness that
dimension's downfall. This is what lies at the end of this tunnel: a scene of
ruin and of loneliness. Is that motivation enough for you?"Beacon sighed, "This door's encryption was motivation
enough. 'For those who enter that have good intentions, all they will see are
the negative results.' I intend to make that false." Beacon took an Arrow out
of his Quiver and stabbed it into a chink in the door, causing a network of
Light to crawl over the door. Nightshade did the same on the opposite side of
the door, except using his Dagger of Fear and causing purple Energy to mirror
the Light. The door slid open, revealing a Portal leading to a fiery world."Are you ready?" Nightshade asked the fox. Beacon's response
was a nod and jumping into the portal. Nightshade followed...