Author's Comment: This chapter is pretty long, and gives a lot of background information. Pay attention!
Please Critique and Comment? D
Sunset's Story
"A while back," began Sunset, "There was a family who lived among our pack. They had one daughter, a child named Moonlight. From the beginning we could tell she was different. Her power levels would fluctuate with her moods and she would seem to have conversations with herself, but that comes later. When she was a young lady, about two years old, a stranger came to our pack seeking shelter and food. This stranger was an Umbreon, yet his markings were strange and black, while his coat was white. Intrigued by this white Umbreon, we let him stay. Soon after, Moonlight and Shiroi (that was his name) became lovers. Not long after, another stranger began appearing by night, the same markings as Shiroi, but his coat was extremely dark, and he called himself 'Pure Darkness'. This stranger would terrorize our pack at night, while Moonlight would just stand aside, often in the shadows, with a sad look to her face. After a few weeks of this torment, we began to notice that Shiroi was looking more tired and withdrawn with each day that we saw him. To add to that, we found that during these terrors, he was nowhere to be found."
Hugo interrupted, his curious side getting the better of him. "You mean... Shiroi and Pure Darkness were one and the same?"
Sunset nodded. "After confronting Moonlight about it, she confessed, only to try and save Shiroi from being outcast once more, as he had been from many other packs for the same reason."
Hugo's eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped. "You let him stay? Even after he did that to your pack?"
"We found out that it wasn't his fault. The leader of the pack at the time, a very old and respected Espeon, my father, was able to connect with his mind, and found two souls there, not just one, as expected. One was the Shiroi we saw during the day; the other was 'Pure Darkness'. Shiroi tried to explain to us what he knew about it, but even that wasn't much. This dark side was his brother, killed before Shiroi was born, yet able to live on through him by some dark magic. 'Darkie' as we had come to call him, fought constantly with Shiroi for control of the body. Shiroi's spirit was strong, but occasionally had to break down under the constant struggle. Because Shiroi had become betrothed to Moonlight, we searched for options to let him stay. My father would have sessions with Shiroi every day to help keep Darkie at bay."
"Did it work?"
"It did for a while, but it seemed that the longer Darkie was held back, the stronger he was once he came through." Sunset paused for a moment and sighed. "One night," he continued slowly, "Darkie had evidently had enough of that. After Shiroi had been stable for quite some time, I found Darkie…" Sunset winced and forced out the words, "hovering over my father's dead body. Blood was on Darkie's paws and fangs. His color; however, was fading quickly as his dark coat changed into white, becoming Shiroi again. Enraged with the death of my father, I banished him far beyond the boundaries of the pack."
"What about Moonlight?"
"After my father's funeral and burial the next day, I approached her and told her to find him and bring him back, as I had reduced the banishment; they were to live in the cave right outside the boundaries of our pack."
"But if that was all it took…"
"It wasn't," interrupted Sunset. "Even after that, Shiroi still had no control over Darkness. However, Moonlight now had to face most of the torment on her own."
Hugo sat there, speechless.
"During one of their conflicts," continued Sunset, "Darkness introduced a black crystal, claiming that if he absorbed the energy within it, Shiroi would be no more. Mlu struggled against him, but was no match for his brute strength. In the process of the fight, the crystal was shattered; Darkness's plans shattering with it. However, more bad came out of this than good. Slivers of the crystal entered Mlu's body when it shattered… and within this crystal resided another soul, similar to that of Darkness."
"And so now Mlu had a dark side too…"
Sunset nodded
solemnly. "Her name was Shadow." As Hugo pondered over this for
a moment, Sunset continued. "Shadow wanted Mlu dead. If Mlu would kill
herself, the special abilities that Mlu possessed would be transferred to her.
In order to try and push that along, Shadow would kill or torture anyone that
had a connection to Mlu. She also had a hand in bringing Darkie out more…
a lot more. And because of their petty competition, Darkie became stronger,
even stronger than he already was. And that strength was what killed one of
the strongest Eons I knew. So, something had to be done about this. We took
the strongest Eons in our pack to the cave while Darkness was free one night,
and attacked. Mlu, half-beaten in a corner and terrified, looked on as we fought
a losing battle. Her father was a part of the group, you see… and when
she saw him flung into rock… well… she had had enough of Darkness
for the night and lunged at him herself. Darkie, unbeknownst to all of us, had
succeeded in creating what we call a 'Bakuha'. It is a very, very
powerful explosion of energy. Our ignorance of this almost cost us all our lives.
I teleported most of our group out, but stayed behind to try and help the rest
as soon as Darkie had revealed his attack. He jumped into the air, seemingly
flying, and threw it down at Mlu, who was underneath him. The explosion rocked
the area, creating part of the crater that is now there. Mlu was able to shield
herself and jump back a bit, but the force of the blast sent her flying through
a tree, and she was out cold.
"The other members of the group and I were thrown as well, though not as
forcefully as Mlu had been. When Darkie touched ground again, he peered over
towards Mlu, and then suddenly keeled over in pain. I stared on dizzily; the
blast had done quite a number to us all. It seemed as if Darkie was splitting
in two… the image of him glowed in a silver light as it became fuzzy,
then it was clear again and there was Whitey… but Darkie was there too."
"They split!"
"Somehow, yes. Then they began to fight. Darkness claimed to have the ability to destroy everything, and it seemed that Whitey believed this. It ended with Whitey sacrificing himself to save everyone… but thankfully killing Darkness in the process."
"But… if he's dead, then what are we fighting?"
"Shortly after their deaths, Mlu gave birth to another child. He was an exact replica of Whitey, complete with white fur and black markings. She named him Angel, in remembrance of him. That is who we are after now."
"But if Whitey saved everyone, why do you want his son to die?"
"Because that dark soul lives on within him, too. Nothing is safe until he is dead."
Hugo pondered over this for a time, seeing Sunset's side to the story more clearly now. This Umbreon was a danger to everything. Not just this clan. "What happened to Shadow?"
"When we tried to get to Angel, Mlu wouldn't let us. She fought with us, and eventually, in the thing we refer to as 'the battle', she destroyed many to spare her son, including herself. Because of that, Shadow's spirit reformed into a crystal, waiting for an unlucky host. That host has been found and is traveling with Angel. I fear the past will repeat itself in greater proportions if we do not do something before it is too late."
Hugo sat there, wide-eyed, thinking of the friends he had before he joined this clan. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he had let some monster… some demon… get to their lives and ruin them. He frowned and nodded in agreement. "I will help, for this clan is my family now. And…" Hugo paused for a moment, "to help all the ones I have ever cared for."
