Nightshade

I can't really remember the last time I was this worried. Perhaps in my days in some of the teams of olde, though even then I still had back up. Right now I was alone, and about to face one of my most powerful foes to date. It seemed I was fighting more than one person, a light manipulating witch from another dimension, and the captive person within her, though I still wasn't too sure of the exact nature of their relationship. My guess would be she took her over against her will, which would make things even more difficult, now not only did I have to face a behemoth of an enemy again but I had to worry about collateral damage. It was never really my style, playing the hero, I guess this time I didn't really have a choice.

I made my way to the roof of my apartment, I had no doubt she would be nearby, I could sense her, deep down there was some link between her person and mine, probably due to the shared history of our ancestors. I leant over the top of the roof and glared into the street. I could barely see a thing from this height, the majority of people and vehicles melded together into one cosmopolitan blur of chaos. I could sense her getting closer though, whether I could see her or not was irrelevant. It was time to move. Standing back and composing myself, I sent the darkness flowing as I shot up into the sky. I hovered for a moment, looking around for any movement. In mere seconds I could see a flash from beneath me, deep down on the concrete pavement. She was coming. Once she was in my field of view I shot in the opposite direction, flying as fast as I could. The cold wind of night whipped at my clothes and muffled my hearing, I used a small shied of dark to keep from freezing too much. The further I flew the closer she seemed to be approaching, she definitely had me beat for speed. Didn't matter too much as we were almost at our destination. I sailed through the cloudy skies until the field came into view. This time, I'd make sure there were as few people around as possible. Don't need a slew of bodies on my conscience above everything else. I jettisoned to the ground and landed with a heavy thud, sending dirt flying and insects scuttling. Two seconds later she did the same, landing a good five meters in front of me.

The two of us stared at each other, both of us seemed to feel somewhat sorry for the other, but neither of us had changed our minds.

"You don't have to do this." I spoke.

"I don't see any other way."

"The land of Nightshades it's... it's a horrible place, but there are people I know there, things I still have to do."

"Not my problem."

"Destroying them won't bring your people back."

"Doesn't make any difference. They need to pay. Which side started things is beside the point, so is the collateral damage."

"So, suppose you do win, suppose you get your revenge, what then?"

"Then I can die a happy woman."

"And that's it?"

"That's it."

"Then, I guess there's nothing more to say. If that's how you want to live your life I guess I can't tell you otherwise."

"We give our own lives meaning, this is mine. Why do you even want to protect them? They betrayed you."

"I'm not in the habit of letting innocent people die if I can stop it." at this she chuckled, walking around with resignation.

"You know, you're more of a 'hero' than you make yourself out to be, Nightshade."

"If only that were true" I laughed back in response. At that we simply stared at each other, neither wanting to make the first move, both hoping that the other would back away before it was too late. Once a few more minutes had passed we both realized our only option, the inevitability that lead us here. We got ready. Kneeling back I prepared for flight, she did the same. A second later I was headed in her direction. A shock-wave of energy flew in either direction as we soared across the field to one another. I primed a fist of darkness to counter her beacon of light. A breath of fury flashed across her face as he raced toward me. As the two of us collided I felt an agonizing slash cut at the side of my arm, I'd managed to absorb most of the attack, and she did the same. Though her light-based attacks are far more effective against my darkness, it forced me to use at least twice as much energy for each and every attack compared to her, something of which she was likely aware. Whipping around as I landed, I barely had a moment to look at the damage I'd done to her, if any when she came rocketing toward me. I warped myself away in the nick of time, narrowly escaping the wrath of her light with a graze on one leg. This definitely wasn't going to be easy, if anything she seemed to be even stronger than last time, or at least more eager. I couldn't let up, even for a second.

It was time to summon some help. Reaching behind me I pulled out a device I'd borrowed from a friend. What appeared to be a hand fan I whipped open to reveal a mirror in the shape of a shield. If my darkness couldn't do the trick it was time to attempt the one thing that might. I just hoped her light was purely that and not energy disguised as light. I readied a blast of darkness as I saw her flying toward me. I positioned my mirror shield in her direction as she shot another blast. The beam of light ricocheted off the shield and into the field, digging a massive crater. Though I had felt the wrath of her attacks before it was quite a thing seeing how much damage she was actually capable of. She stumbled for a moment, as though considering her next course of action. The floated in the same position for quite some time, not moving the slightest. I began to worry now, perhaps she was testing me, I decided to get a closer look when in the blink of an eye I saw a flash behind me. Moving to one side in not quite enough time her true form shot from behind me and took a chunk out of my arm. I screamed in agony, but managed to keep myself from stumbling completely. She can manipulate light, of course she can create illusions. I fell to the ground in a haste and disappeared into the shadows. When I re-emerged I was behind her in much the same fashion, but unlike me she was prepared. Creating a whip of light she hurled it at me, I managed to avoid it, though not completely and she looked to the sky as I continued to fly upward, not noticing the threat lurking below her. By the time she realized it was too late. My serpent of darkness consumed her entirely and she was stuck within. Unsurprisingly this didn't last long, a moment later a beam of light cut the serpent in half and it went falling to earth, disappearing into the darkness it emerged from. As she attempted to gather her bearings even she was surprised to see me hovering to her from the front. She attempted to shoot me down. The light pieced me straight through the heart and I was gone. A second later my true body struck her from behind with a gargantuan punch. It connected perfectly and send her flying to the earth. Even then she didn't have time to relax as an army of dark insects began to overrun her. She let out a wail of irritation, clearing the lot. By the time she raised herself from the ground I was in front of her again. I held my shield in front as she attempted to light me up, it worked this time as well, the reflected light decimating some nearby trees. I was able to reach her just in time and landed another clean hit, or so I thought. Once again she'd replaced herself with an illusion, as my fist went straight through her dissipating head. Then, without time to think I felt something grab me from behind. A hand grabbed me by the neck and flung me to the ground. She attempted to follow up with a ground stomp but I recovered in time and flipped myself backwards, missing a kick that left an enormous crater.

I went downwards this time, appearing to vanish beneath the grass, though she seemed to know what I was up to. When I reappeared behind her she was ready for me, grabbing me yet again she flung me skyward this time, then shot up after me. It gave me just enough time to recover, priming another attack I shot an army of dark crows in her direction, she shot them down easily, but by the time she was done I was nowhere to be seen. She spent a second looking around, trying to find some sign of me, by the time she did it was too late. She looked and saw me coming from the left, before she could act she saw me approaching from the right, and below, and up above. She sent out a flare of light to deflect all of the attacks and it might have worked, were it not for the shield I held in front of my person above her. Removing the plate of glass I circled in time and sent her flying with a kick from the back of my heel. Fast as a bolt of lightning she hit the floor, leaving a massive crater made by me this time. I slowly floated down, keeping my eye on her for any more illusions. As she raised herself from the ground I detected an air of annoyance, rather than anger. She stood across from me now, and I could tell her final attack was incoming. It seemed I would have to do the same. She then did something I truly wasn't expecting and smiled. Laughing a moment she then spoke to me with what little breath she had.

"You know... in another life... we might have been good friends."

"Perhaps." I said back. Standing back as I summed all my energy, as did she. We stood for a whole minute each, me summoning a dragon of darkness the size of big ben, her summoning a bird of a similar size. It seemed this was it, she aimed her sceptre toward me, and I aimed my fist. We both caught our breath for a second and then jumped for one another. Our beasts flew through the air in a beautiful sight of equilibrium. When they clashed the impact was felt for miles. The never-ending light verses the eternal darkness, we were finally going to get our resolution to the age old bout. I felt myself fading as the light pulsated through me, I could see the same happening to her. I vanished into nothingness as reality around me appeared to splinter. Then, there was darkness.

When I came to, not more than a minute later I was lying in the ground. I looked over, so was she. Most of my clothes were gone, so were hers, but at least my body seemed to be in one piece, guess I underestimated myself. I inched myself over to her, barely able to move a muscle. The sun was rising now, it had been a long night. I lay next to her in relief that it was finally over, we both seemed to make it. It was a better ending than I could have hoped for; that was until she spoke.

"Not exactly how I thought I'd go out, but I must say it's been an honour."

"You'll be fine."

"No, no... definitely no. I might look okay but trust me I can feel it."

"Feel what?"

"My body returning to the light. It's what happens to my people when it's... our time." she said, I wanted to cry, though barely had the energy to even do that.

"God, I'm so sorry."

"I don't blame you. You're a victim of the diaspora like me after all."

"It's hard to feel like the victim at a time like this."

"But you are. Never forget that, we didn't choose to place ourselves here, our families did."

"I guess, doesn't make it right."

"It's never been right, even when we were at peace it was off the back of others... I just wish... I just wish it didn't have to be this way."

"Does it?"

"Yes, it does. By the way, you can keep my sceptre, it won't be going anywhere. If you ever do decide to turn on your home world, use it to give 'em what for." she said, at that I laughed, coughing up blood soon after.

"Damn"

"I don't think I caught your name."

"Eve. Eve Eden."

"I'm Siara, though I think I told you already."

"That you did." I said, and with that we continued staring into the sky as the sun rose, leaving behind the eternal night. We lay in silence for quite some time, until she spoke the words I was dreading.

"Well, looks like this is it." she said, as I looked to her I was taken aback at the sight before me, she was glowing, every part of her, from her skin to her clothes, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

"Ugh, I'm so sorry Siara... I just... I just wish..."

"It's okay. Just do me one favour."

"What?"

"Never stop being you, the world needs a hero like Nightshade." she said, and with that the glowing woman vanished into the rising sun and disappeared into eternity, Alice Oakley appearing unconscious in her place. I lay on the field for a while afterwards, being forced to make my escape once onlookers started approaching, agonizing as it was. When I got back to my place, and when I recovered, I decided to make notes of these exploits. I couldn't let this go unwritten. Even if this was the only story of mines I ever wrote. I still remember those final words, beckoning to me as though she spoke them herself;

Siara, the White Widow; gone, but not forgotten.