Null Realm ~ Blacklight Eternity

[Sudmensch]

He gave a warm crocodile smile back as he rested his burnt cheek against Saltriv's neck.

"I love you too, Sal," he said, hugging his boy- wait, wait, no. His... partner? Lover? Significant other? Hm... he'd have to figure that out later. For now... ah. It seemed the adrenaline was wearing off.

Still holding Saltriv tight, he collapsed to the ground as his legs buckled beneath him.

 

[IFBench]

"Dill!" Saltriv yelped, eyes wide with concern, before beginning to dig with a vine through their bag for a healing item. "Are you ok?"

 

[Sudmensch]

"Hahhh..." Dill managed out, shakily reaching for a burn on his back.

 

[IFBench]

Soon, Saltriv pulled out a seed shining with Radiance, a renewal seed. They thrust it towards Dill, saying, "Eat this!"

 

[Sudmensch]

Dill could only nod as he took it, managing it into his maw.

 

[IFBench]

As Dill healed from his burns, Saltriv looked over at what remained of the Eternal Blacklight. It...it was still a person, wasn't it? That Eternatus from Telum.

They glanced over at Diyem and Bahamut. Was...Bahamut trying to save it? Bahamut?

A small smile formed on their face.

They had to do their best to help, too.

"We'll save you, Eternal Blacklight," Saltriv said, as they walked up to Diyem.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa rediscovered stillness in the aftermath of the combat. 'Combat' didn't really feel like the right word for it. What they'd overcome, what they'd achieved... It went beyond that. A struggle for the soul of one small universe, and the fate of many. By rights, she should be dead, or in too much pain to think or perceive at all. Instead, she felt lucid, alert, stronger than she ever had in her life. Her body still rippled with Blacklight, less volatile than usual, well within her control. Her plasma shimmered silver and gold. Her body bore no true wounds. No pain.

In fact, she could hardly feel a thing.

"Take me with you," she said to Diyem and Bahamut. "I wanna do my part in this last thing."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr glanced uncertainly at Brisa. Much as she wanted to just leave that thing to the others--she'd finished, she'd done her job--if Brisa was going, then...

"I'll go with you," she said. No clue what they'd find when they went in, but... whatever. They'd be able to handle it.

 

[Negrek]

The battle's rage reached an ever-higher pitch, the spirits of Cibus striking back against the Blacklight thing's many tendrils. With their help, Team Spectrum's attacks grew ever more spectacular, huge beams of energy, strikes powerful enough to crack bedrock, and finally one huge explosion that reduced the Blacklight thing to no more than a few glittering motes of light.

Nate sat off to one side, a dark mudkip curled in what was now empty air in front of him, and watched.

Useless... Nate's attacks have no effect in battle! His Calls of Hope go unanswered!

"Marshtomp," Rocky said nervously, bouncing around him in the new-made air. "Marshtomp, it's over. You saw that, right? The Blacklight's gone now!"

"Uh-huh."

"So you can get up!" Rocky said brightly. "There's no more fighting. But Diyem... Diyem says we're going to go see if we can talk to the Blacklight. Before the zygarde takes it away."

"Yeah?" Nate grunted. "We're at that part now, are we?"

Rocky nodded emphatically. Nate sighed and slowly pushed himself to his feet. "Well, whatever, I guess. Friendship time and all that."

"Right," Rocky said uncertainly, watching Nate's form go dark and blurry as he reached for the connection through Diyem. The familiar swooped in and scooped up the mudkip that had remained lying despondently on the ground and held it tightly, waiting to see what would happen next.

 

[Namohysip]

He glanced at Ionys. "Want to look inside this thing's head?"

"...Yeah. Yeah, I think I do."

All who were able followed Diyem inside, taking a filament of darkness as the world around them disappeared. They were floating, flying through a great void, and then there was an overwhelming, bright light that they couldn't look away from... And then...

<><><>​

They appeared in a great, open field. There were a few stray clouds in the sky and no clear sun despite how blue it all was. Their shadows were surreal and directly below their bodies, as if this blue light was coming from straight above them.

Gentle winds caressed tall grass, climbing a small hill where a single figure drifted about. It had a weakly defined shape, vaguely serpentine, independent of gravity and the wind. Hazy dark energy radiated off of it, but only for a few inches. From tip to tip, it was no longer than S'more.

Diyem advanced, his body solidifying I to something familiar to the team. He folded his wings and walked with deliberate purpose, but he did not conjure his weapon. There was no need.

Owen came with them, as did Cal, but they both stayed back out of caution. The grass was soft against their feet.

Getting closer, they saw something else that this wispy serpent gravitated around. It appeared to be a withering sapling with prismatic, delicate leaves that glittered in the sunlight.

The wispy thing was staring at them. If spoke, but its voice was soft and high and trembling, like the air of a dying winter. It spoke, free of corruption.

"Go away..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

So, this was the soul of that corrupted Eternatus? How many generations had it suffered...? And was that . . . a Tree of Life? It had hidden in one, only to be petrified and then sundered, before its long journey to this dimension. What did that experience do to a mind?

Brisa padded closer, wishing she knew more about Eternatus, and their life before their corruption. Had it been long, like Eien's? Or short...? She had the sudden, nauseating thought that Giovanni had chosen a juvenile eternatus as his target. She should have grilled him, not that he'd have cooperated.

She glanced at Starr, knowing she'd be by her side, but still wanting to see her there.

Eternatus must have been so lonesome. More than even Brisa had known.

"We ain't goin' anywhere," she said, in a raspy whisper.

 

[Flyg0n]

A strange sense of peace and resoluteness remained as Koa followed his team into the strange, dreamlike landscape.

Somehow, he felt a sense of... remorse, that this soul had turned to darkness because of its suffering.

He hung back, determined, yet quiet. Listening. Now wasn't the time for his words, perhaps.

 

[Ambyssin]

It would've been so easy to oblige. Or to strike it down at that point. It sounded like Bahamut would do it a favor in that regard.

... but no undo assumptions at a time like this. Too much mental energy was going into this to try and parse the aura.

"Eternatus?" Best to keep things simple. "Or... is there something else you answer to?"

 

[Cresselia92]

And so, Icetales reached that new land, hidden in the depth of the former Blacklight’s mind. It sure was dissonant to see such… peace, after having to behold all kinds of horrors and nightmares.

Though, he knew that the mind was a mostly unexplored domain. Perhaps… that was its coping mechanism? Its own way to recover?

The wispy thing was staring at them. If spoke, but its voice was soft and high and trembling, like the air of a dying winter. It spoke, free of corruption.

"Go away..."

Something stirred inside of Icetales, as those fearful words reached his ears. Ah, yes, to be frightened of what he did or what he feared doing… that was something he knew all too well.

With a flick of his tails, the darkness dissipated from his body, returning back where it belonged.

He needed his own peace of mind, so that he could better assist another troubled individual.

“Be at ease. We are no seeking any strife,” he said, measuring his words to a soothing timber. “All we desire is to converse. This is all.”

 

[Namohysip]

"We ain't goin' anywhere," she said, in a raspy whisper.

The clouds seemed to darkness and the wind picked up with a malevolent aura of warning. It seemed to surround Brisa only, like she could be lifted up and out of this realm with a single breeze. In the end, they were within the Blacklight's cleansed realm, but it was still its realm, and she could be ejected from this innermost sanctum if it so wished.

To Koa, he felt little; perhaps it appreciated the distance.

"Eternatus?" Best to keep things simple. "Or... is there something else you answer to?"

Bahamut, too, experienced no such rejection. Instead, it seemed like being addressed with a question was enough for it to give him its full attention.

"I... I don't know," it replied. After getting a little closer, Diyem spotted a few subtleties of the thing, the way its voice sounded, comparing it to Eien, that he could discern a few things.

"...He could have regressed," Diyem said, "or Giovanni had chased down a young Eternatus. One that was naive and went away from safe travels. There is no telling, now. And asking him how old he is... No. It won't do any good."

The thing curled up a little, then glanced at the tree, which looked the same: withered, faded.

“Be at ease. We are no seeking any strife,” he said, measuring his words to a soothing timber. “All we desire is to converse. This is all.”

To this, he loosened a little, but said nothing. Perhaps he didn't understand.

Ionys was more solid, but still that ghostly red-white color. His claws were digging into his fur like he was pensive, wanted to say something, but held back. Particularly after Brisa's words got that noticeable reaction. They had to tread lightly, or they could be kicked out of the realm instantly.

"Why are you... here?" he asked. "Don't... hurt me anymore..."

 

[Negrek]

"Go away," "Don't hurt me anymore..." Where had Nate heard that recently? His eye twitched. Should have sent Rocky in instead.

He tried to put those thoughts out of his mind for the moment. Here was an actual problem to be solved.

"We don't want to hurt you," he said. "But we know you ain't been feeling great. You doing better now?"

He tried to make that all sound as... friendly as he could.

Nate used Radiant Misdirect!

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa winced. The critter really was a kid, huh? She owed that moonbat bastard a hell of a drubbing after this.

"We're hopin' we can help you," she said, conscious of the tiny soul's guilelessness. "It's important to us. We don't want you t'be in pain."

 

[Ambyssin]

Nate's approach was actually the right one, in Bahamut's opinion. The problem was that ninety-five percent of Team Spectrum had spent... uh... well, an unknown amount of time hurting the thing.

He tried to whisper toward his teammates. "You think it's going to buy your words when they stand in opposition to the actions you've taken?"

The necrozma sat down on the field and crossed its crystal legs.

"Creation is... complicated." Bahamut addressed it. "Not everyone is fortunate to experience warmth and welcoming when they come into the world." He looked at what teammates had accompanied him. "I believe this group, as a whole, understands that better than most groups you'd find across the omniverse. And some of us know what it means to be burdened with power that cannot be understood."

 

[Namohysip]

"We're sorry for hurting you," Owen said, summarizing the sentiments of the team. "We didn't want to."

"Then... why?"

"We were defending ourselves... from pain, too."

"I... caused that." He at least seemed to recognize this. "I... needed that..."

The clouds calmed a little. But it felt like their time with this creature was about a third of the way through, perhaps more.

"Creation..." He drifted clockwise around the dying sapling. "...What am I...?" He looked at the sapling again, which seemed to respond weakly when he did. He and the sapling appeared to be linked more than the rest of this realm, this projection of the spirit. Perhaps that was his heart.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa took a breath of what might have been air, were this space made of matter, and slow sank to her knees, and then into a seated pose. A meditation position Owen had taught her, one that helped remind her that this was no battlespace, but something unprecedented. That word again...

"We ain't entirely sure what or who y'are," she told 'Eternatus', soft-voiced. "We think we know some of the things that happened t'ya, fer you to get here and become like this. D'you remember at all? Would y'like us to tell you?"