Calamity of Darkness

Fairy Tales of Remnant

Chapter XIII

The Great Calamity

Ages ago, the world flourished in a time of peace and magic, an era of fairy tales. The pinnacle of this era was a grand kingdom, home to the greatest magic wielders in the world…But it was destroyed in a single day by a demon born from the deepest and darkest depths of the world. Many historians say it was a great calamity that befell the kingdom and in a way they are right.

It was a calamity brought on by a demon.

The heart of the kingdom was destroyed and replaced by a tower while what was left of the kingdom sank beneath the ground. The dark tower became the demon's seat of power and a quarter of the great fallen kingdom became his den. This demon's presence and deeds struck fear into even the boldest of warriors and sent its monsters out to take over the land. And in its new dark kingdom, its tower, grew rich with the treasures stolen from all over the world.


The world had changed greatly in the following days.

Those that survived the God of Darkness, judgment were powerless without the use of their magic.

Aside from only two.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A family, consisting of a mother and two daughters were running and scream as the Grimm attacked their village. With no magic to defend them, those that knew how to fight were left with just their weapons and that barely slowed them down. Three Beowolves lunged at them-

SLASH!

SLASH!

SLASH!

And were immediately cut down by a blue light.

Everyone looked to see a woman dressed in blue and silver armor, a beam of light surrounding her sword as she slashed the three Grimm. The remaining ones growled…

And then suddenly backed off much to the amazement of the survivors.

They did know it, but the woman who had saved them was the only one the Grimm would not attack because of the orders of their creator.

"Though you stated you would take your plea for me to cease hunting you I hereby rescind the order for my children to hunt you for fighting against that dark woman and those traitors on our behalf. Consider this to be my generosity. "

Aqua remembered those words and it seemed the Grimm were still following their creator's wishes, even if he and his brother had abandoned this world. The problem was that they had not been ordered to leave the surviving half of humanity alone and thus several days after the Brothers had departed; the Grimm had started spreading out.

And Aqua was starting to grow tired of it.

She had been wandering from village to village, saving those that she could but sometimes she would be too late. All she could do was move on while the people begged her to stay and protect them but she couldn't.

Not only was it against the rules of the World Order but if she stayed to protect those that she had saved, others would be left to die. It was a hard choice but she could only advise them to find shelter in one of the remaining kingdoms. She knew she shouldn't be involving herself like this but she couldn't just leave these people to die.

It was a hard decision but she knew in her heart she was doing what she thought was right.

She wondered how long she could keep doing this though.


"So the Gods have left this world and humanity has lost the gift of magic."

Well, that was not entirely true.

At least one person still harbored the gift of magic and that was the herald of the God of Darkness himself: Surtr.

After the God of Darkness had revived him, Surtr had returned to his fortress to plot out his next move, while waiting and watching as the God of Darkness created newer and stronger Grimm to fight against that woman with the key. However, the Gods were gone now, having abandoned this world because of humanity betraying them and thus magic had been stripped from them. With no Gods or magic, the world had been irreversibly changed forever.

And Surtr couldn't have been less pleased by it.

"With the Gods now gone, this leaves a vacuum waiting to be filled by others." The Dark Herald grinned under his mask. "A new God to take their place and rule this world."

And since he was the only one with magic left, who would oppose him?

He was no longer human, having been changed forever with his body now similar to that of a Grimm with his crown holding his soul that allowed him to retain his life and mind, meaning he could live forever. His magic was greatly enhanced by the God of Darkness and he could even command his creations.

This was perhaps his destiny.

"As Sidorak, I was a warlord, conquering anything and everything in my way and now that the Gods have forsaken this world, why should I not continue what I started?"

And he knew where to begin.

Where the first of the resistance against him began.

The Emerald Kingdom.


"The kingdom is overflowing with refuges from the outer villages and our soldiers are stretched too thin and they are dying, Your Majesty."

King Artura 'Arthur' was having a very long and difficult day.

First was the loss of magic along with the Gods departing, all that being blamed on the foolish woman Salem for daring to start an uprising just because they wouldn't bring Ozma back from the dead. Artura knew there was something about that woman that she hadn't liked but Ozma liked her and that was enough for the Sapphire King/Knight to give her a chance. In the wake of the Gods departing, the following kingdoms and villages were attacked by Grimm that had slowly began coming out of the Land of Darkness. Without magic, humanity was much more vulnerable to the Grimm now, reducing them to relying on old fashioned weapons and that was barely enough to slow them down.

The Emerald Kingdom was for managing to survive, due to the mountains surrounding it but that only delayed the Grimm, not stop them. As such, the kingdom's armies were almost fighting them off day and night as more and more refuges came, begging for shelter.

"You're Majesty?"

Artura shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Forgive me, I was contemplating our troubles."

"Well, I hate to add more but in this case-"

"What is it?" The 'king' asked immediately.

"There are some members of the royal court who believe we no longer have the room to sustain any more refuges. They suggest-"

"Unacceptable!" Artura stood up from her throne, glaring down at the advisor who shook slightly. Even if she no longer had magic, Artura was still a skilled and seasoned warrior with the training of a king and she even had the look one who had been crossed. "Magic or no magic, the Emerald Kingdom does not turn its back on those on need! You would have me close our doors to the defenseless people, children included, and leave them to die at the hands of those beasts!"

"But we might exhaust our food and shelters with what we have already." The advisor pointed out.

"Then we find a way to make more food and room. Make a giant garden in the royal courtyard to grow our food, build more houses on top of the ones we already have, whatever it takes I will not consider the idea of closing our doors simply because you and my 'esteemed' council of advisors are worried we have to share some our own food with the commoners."

"I-I-" The advisor stammered.

"Do not think I am not wise to the dealings and minds of my own royal advisors." She slowly approached the advisor who took a step back. "I have long since kept track of your actions, making sure none of them were ever harmful. After all, as King I fight for the people, even if it's sometimes against some of my own when their interests endanger the rest."

"We would never-"

"Keeping a steady supply of food, water, even expansive wine in a few 'hidden' pantries when I made the order to share the royal pantry to accommodate the first batches of refuges. Making an order to increase taxes when given that we have lost our magic, our main means of defense against the Grimm, we might not live long enough to enjoy whatever wealth and luxury we have left." Artura's eyes narrowed. "Even ordering some of my soldiers to turn away any refuges who might not be capable of any kind of 'work' while allowing those that 'could be useful' in."

"But we-"

"Your 'advice' has been noted. That will be all." Artura said coldly, her glare being more than enough motivation for the advisor to leave rather quickly.

The 'king' sat back down on her throne and sighed, her headache having only slightly lessoned from telling her advisor where to stuff his advice. It's been the same the last few days, more refuges showing up and the advisors on her council saying they do not have enough food and housing to accommodate them.

Day in and day out.

And to think it was all because Salem couldn't accept her loss and try to move on. No, instead she tries to spite the Gods for refusing to bend to her will and it ended up costing so many people their lives while the rest lost their magic. She knew that Salem's proposal to rise up against the Gods and 'reclaim' their immortality was a foolish move, hence why she rejected the devious maiden's proposal and sent her away.

Too bad no one else was smart enough to do the same.

Now the world was on the edge of a great change that could lead to humanity's end if they could not somehow learn to live without magic.

Could things get any worse at this point?

A sudden shadow blocking out any light shining through the windows caught Artura's attention. She stood up and slowly approached the nearest balcony, looking up to see what was causing the sudden blackness.

And in the sky, she saw the answer to her question.

A dark tower made of dark purple crystal, sitting on top of a mass of land with dark purple crystals sticking out of the bottom.

And flying all around the tower were Grimm.

What happened next was the end of the Emerald Kingdom.


Aqua sighed as she sat down in front of a tree, taking a moment to rest.

Yet another village was attacked that she had managed to save on time.

It was getting exhausting now but she knew she couldn't turn her back on the people who were in need of saving. She even felt somewhat responsible even though she knew she didn't have anything to do with why this had happened.

The blame ultimately fell on Salem for her selfish and insane action.

'Salem, what were you thinking?' She thought as she closed her eyes. 'Did you really think just gathering an army would be enough to take down two Gods?'

She knew that the Gods had cursed Salem for trying to trick into resurrecting Ozma for her but was that an excuse to bring everyone else into her conflict with them?

Aqua knew she shouldn't be thinking much on this. She should be working to make sure at least enough people survive this sudden new change.

And then…

Well, she wasn't sure.

Should she head back to Daybreak Town?

She wasn't sure that was a good idea on account of the Foretellers continuing to challenge her and there was something about that Master of theirs she didn't fully like and it wasn't just because of the dark coat he wore. Besides, Daybreak Town wasn't the world she was trying to get back to.

Maybe it was time she went back to Drasil.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

THUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!

Aqua's eyes shot open as she heard an explosion followed by a great rumble in the distance. She looked in the direction and felt a great darkness…

A very familiar darkness.

She immediately summoned her armor and glider, taking off in the direction of the explosion.


"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Screams filled the night, followed by fires as the Grimm swarmed the Emerald Kingdom. It didn't help that many of the Grimm were the new, stronger ones made to fight Aqua and her Keyblade.

Including the giant bulky bipedal lizard on that literally busted through the walls, trampling houses down.

In the dark tower floating above, Surtr raised his hands, summoning a literal thunderstorm above and lightning rained down on the besieged kingdom below, destroying many houses, towers and damaging even the Emerald Castle itself.

"It's time for the old world to be burned away and born anew." Surtr rasped, conjuring not just lightning but also fire as fireballs descended next.

With another wave of his hand, Surtr summoned large amounts of ice and snow would hit the kingdom, flattening anything they hit. People screamed as they tried fleeing while the knights tried fighting off the Grimm.

Leading them was none other than Artura.

The young 'king' led her knights bravely into battle against the Grimm as they attacked. Many would fall this night as they gave their lives to give the people just a few seconds to try and escape. Artura would fight harder and fiercer than any of the other knights…

So much so that she was the last one standing when the others fell, but she wouldn't stop.

In fact when she came face to face with a giant spider Grimm she charged straight at it with her silver eyes glowing…

And the Grimm was reduced to a stone statue that shattered a second later.

Artura didn't stop as she continued to use the power of her eyes to petrify and shatter the invading Grimm.

This was her Kingdom.

She would fight to defend even if she was the last one standing.

Surtr looked down, watching as the young king struggled in vain to save a dying kingdom, his eyes narrowing at the power behind her own eyes. "Those could be used to hurt even me. Eliminate him."

The Grimm swarming the kingdom obeyed his command, abandoning their previous prey and concentrating on the one prey that they knew to be their greatest threat. They were the power gifted by the power of their creator.

The Eyes of Death to the Grimm.

The Grimm Reaper.

Even though humanity had been stripped of the magic gifted to them by the God of Darkness, Artura was still able to keep the power of her eyes that had been a gift from the God of Light to use against his brother's creations. She did not know why she had been allowed to keep this power but she was not in a hurry to question why as she used this power.

At full power these eyes could cleanse an entire kingdom of Grimm and that was she used them for.

A great blast of light purged the entire besieged kingdom of Grimm and even took out many of the ones in the air surrounding Surtr's tower.

Even Surtr himself felt a great deal of pain from the light. "Damn her…"

The light faded and Artura fell to her knees, the strain from using all the power of her eyes finally taking its toll on her. She looked up and saw she had cleansed most of the kingdom of the Grimm but the dark tower was still floating above and even worse it was floating above her castle.

Surtr held his hands, conjuring another storm and lightning began blasting the Emerald Castle to rubble, followed by giant fireballs and shards of ice.

"No…" Artura got up to her feet, struggling to summon her powers again but she was too weak to try and the dark tower was too far away for her to affect its owner.

The Emerald Castle was reduced to mere rubble in a matter of minutes and the itself opened up, swallowing the remains and spread out, allowing the Dark Tower to takes its places as it slowly floated down and softly landed exactly where the castle had resided, as if to mock its king and the survivors of what it had taken.

Artura could only feel rage and sadness, seeing her home destroyed, swallowed up by the land and replaced by a dark abomination and that wasn't the end.

The land began to shake and great cracks appeared around the kingdom and to Artura's horror, it began to sink.

"No! NO! NOOOOOO!" The young 'king' screamed, refusing to believe this would be the final fate of her kingdom.

"ARTURA!"

Artura looked up and saw Aqua in her armor and glider, flying down at her grabbing her hand. She was pulled up behind Aqua as the glider took them up into the air and both watched as the kingdom sank beneath the surface.

"My kingdom…" Artura muttered to herself, despair etched across her face as she watched the once great Emerald Kingdom sink into the ground.

Aqua glanced over her shoulder at Artura. "What happened?"

"It was Surtr. He came back somehow." Artura answered dully, now feeling numb after everything that had happened. "He brought a Grimm army right to us and without our magic…The surrounding kingdoms were all destroyed and their warriors fell…I tried to stop him but…I failed."

Aqua looked back at seeing the kingdom sinking into a deep dark hole. "Surtr? He came back…How…Erebus."

Artura turned her eyes to Aqua. "Who?"

"The God of Darkness. I think he revived Surtr before he left." Aqua explained.

"…Yes, that would explain." Artura looked down at the glider. "How do you still have your magic?"

"That's a long story." Aqua sighed, looking ahead. "I'll tell you when we're far enough away."

Artura took one last look at where her kingdom once stood, holding Aqua tightly as they flew away.


With its new kingdom established, the demon lord set about its plans to rule the rest of the world. With an army of monsters at its command, one would think no one would be able to stand its way. The demon lord was once human and held onto a special object of power he had created through followers and began looking for ways to increase his own powers. Especially after he had witnessed an enemy use their own special powers to defeat his monsters.


"So much for the great Emerald Kingdom." Surtr chuckled, watching from his throne as his tower sank beneath the surface with the rest of the kingdom.

Due to becoming a creature of darkness, he naturally shunned the light and decided to live in perpetual darkness for the rest of his existence.

"Now then to see what the great King Arthur was hoarding for himself."

He knew that the Emerald Castle was home to many magical artifacts that he knew would survive the castle's fall. He gave the order to his Grimm to search through the ruins of the castle that now lied underneath his dark tower. In the meantime he had to consider what his plans would be for taking over the rest of the world. It should be easy given that the rest of humanity had lost magic and even if Arthur somehow cast a great light that even made him feel pain.

Him, Surtr the Dark Herald.

This has to be addressed and quickly.

Surtr watched as his Grimm came into his room, mostly Beowolves and dropped many objects on the ground.

Including a red gem.

Surtr's eyes widened as he slowly bent down and picked up the gem. "This gem…From my time as Sidorak. So Ozma brought it here."

He clenched down on the gem and felt a familiar rush of power through his being. "Yes, yes!"

It was like being infused with the power of a thousand suns, adding to his already considerable might.

The Dark Lord opened his hand, staring at them gem as new ideas started to circle in his mind. "This gem can be used to increase my power, combined with the power gifted to me by the God of Darkness."

But did it have to be the only one?

He looked at the gem, examining its properties.

What if he could create more like it to increase his power and influence on the land?

Unfortunately, even with his newfound powers, he was not skilled enough to begin forging objects of power but he could learn. He had all the time in the world now and he just toppled the most powerful kingdom in the land. He could learn and begin creating new forms of weapons to aid him in his bid for world domination.

In time he could grow strong enough that he could surpass the Gods themselves.

Just look at how much stronger the Great Flame made him!

Surtr chuckled and he placed the gem on his armor, letting the power fill him and make him even stronger. His purple glowing eyes now had a red tint in them and his dark raspy voice became even deeper.

"Go forth and conquer." He ordered to all the Grimm who could hear him. "There is a new world order now, in place of the Gods who have abandoned this world and its people. For those who wish to live, they will bow down and serve Surtr!"

The Grimm roared, happily carrying out this order as they spread out in all directions to find new places to conquer for their master.

All except for one serpentine dragon Grimm that stayed at the top of Surtr's tower and produced a torch with a bright flame on it from its mouth.

"The Great Flame." Surtr said as he took the torch. "This is what the God of Darkness created and used to restore me after my first defeat. Now we shall see if it can be used to even greater affect."

With a wave of his hand, floor underneath opened up and up rose three stone alters with three bodies resting upon them.

"My generals from my past life." Surtr looked over them, seeing their skin was still deathly pale with dark marks traveling down their skin and black sunken eyes. "You served me well as Sidorak. Now serve me again as the reborn generals of Surtr."

He held the Great Flame over them and watched as the fire rejuvenated their bodies. They slowly stood up, looking around in frightened shock and fell off their altars.

Surtr watched as they crawled along the ground, genuinely frightened and confused. "Rise my generals, we have much to do."

Only they did not rise.

In fact, it did not look like they had even understood them.

They just stared at him with frightened eyes. They did not have the looks of humans, but frightened animals.

"Hm…What is this?" Surtr knelt down, looking at them and saw no inclination of the generals he had once known. "The Flame rejuvenated your bodies…But it did not bring back the soul!"

That's why they were not acting like themselves!

Theirs souls would hold their sentience, minds and memories. Without them, they were just mindless animals, unable to understand or reason the way humans would.

"Bah!" Surtr smashed one of the altars, frightening the mindless generals who quickly crawled into a corner and quivered. "What use are you to me now?!"

He had wanted his generals back to lead his armies and this is what he got?!

Perhaps he shouldn't have possessed them back when he was revived in the first place but he had been so overtaken by his powers he had not understood what he was going at the time. Now they were mindless animals, living only by instinct.

What should he do with them now?

He stared at them, watching them shivering in absolute fear of him. He should probably kill them but as much as he wanted to, the small part of him that was Sidorak still considered his generals his friends and it was because of them he had survived long enough to become Surtr. If only they could be changed like he was.

Surtr's widened as he then got an idea. "Hmm…The Art of Transmutation is an art of magic few have rarely delved into for the results tended to be…abominations." He grinned under his mask. "And perhaps that is what I am looking for."

He looked through the magical artifacts that had been brought to him and several books and tomes on Transmutation.

He grinned as he looked over the generals. "It was not my intention for this but I believe you will be better off than you are as of now." He held up his hands as they brightly glowed. "And so you are reborn as my great beast. Art of Transmutation: Beasts of the Sky!"

The soulless humans screamed as the magic cast by Surtr altered their physical bodies, changing them beyond recognition into something else. They did not have human souls anymore but their new physical forms would fit better with their soulless nature and Surtr would make sure they would serve him and him alone.

The screams were brought to an end…

And replaced by roars greater than anything a Grimm could ever make.


The demon lord would rebuild the fallen kingdom into its own palace and filled it with many monsters. In addition to its new stronghold it would also build a pit like dungeon near its palace, filling with it deadly and terrifying monsters…All of its enemies and all would fall in disfavor of the demon lord would be thrown into the dungeon to rot and fight for their lives for the demon lord's amusement. In addition, the demon lord would have three beastly pets that flew across the land, spreading destruction and terror to all corners of the land.

To this day, the mere mention of these beasts and their appearance is enough to invoke terror in those who still believe.


"So because you defended the Gods you were allowed to keep your magic and because of that the God of Darkness simply took our magic instead of just wiping us out."

Aqua was becoming worried from how Artura was acting. They had found shelter in an abandoned village where Aqua was forced to tell her story, at least a few parts of it.

She nodded. "Yes. Because I faced down Salem and her army that day she arrived at the God of Light's Domain. I had already been there to discuss something of importance with both him and his brother when Salem's army had arrived."

"I remember Salem coming to my kingdom, asking me to lend her my army so she could take back the immortality she claimed the Gods stole from us." Artura scowled. "I refused to consider such nonsense and sent her away. It seems I was the only one who did so."

Aqua nodded and continued. "Anyway, I fought as best as I could but Salem's army was much and her being immortal made it impossible for her to be stopped. It wasn't until the Gods stepped in and had enough. They used their magic against them, which Erebus, the God of Darkness took rather personally. That's what led to his decision to strip humanity of magic."

Artura sat down near a window and looked outside. "The God of Darkness' name is Erebus?"

"Well, that's actually part of what I talking to him and his brother about. Like I said, I was talking about something important with the two of them when the subject of names came up, names for Gods and the God of Light was curious what names I might have for them if they wanted to be known for more than just simply being the Gods of Light and Darkness." Aqua admitted.

"Really?" Artura looked back at Aqua. "They must have thought very highly of you."

"They were curious of me." Aqua admitted. "The name Erebus came from a story I read about a creature of darkness that sowed discord and chaos. As for the God of Light, I came up with the name Izanagi, a name I found in an old legend that spoke of being who was the father of all life. Maybe they both inspired those names long ago."

"Izanagi and Erebus." Artura repeated softly. "Those names aren't familiar to me…Then again it doesn't matter right now."

"Artura…" Aqua said slowly, seeing the broken look on the 'king's face.

"My kingdom is gone, Lady Aqua." Artura looked back out the window. "Buried by the very ground it stood on."

Aqua could see that Artura's heart broke from seeing her kingdom destroyed. The very kingdom she had sworn to protect, sank beneath the ground and controlled by the very demon that had taken it and scattered its people.

"Artura…" Aqua slowly walked over and knelt down with a sympathetic look on her face. "You gave the people time to escape. No one could have expected any more from you."

"A king gives anything and everything for their people." Artura retorted, glaring back at Aqua. "My people have escaped, only now to wander in the wilderness as prey to the Grimm, stripped of their homes and for what? A selfish woman who couldn't just accept the death of her love, a mad demon and the Gods who chose to forsake us for the crimes of a few?"

Aqua only stared back in silence.

"No, Aqua. I expected much more from myself, because I didn't give everything I had to stop him." Artura retorted, her stoic face breaking down. "All I had were my eyes and my sword and what good were they? Nothing. Your attempts to comfort me might as well be nothing as well."

Aqua stepped back as Artura looked back out the window. "…What will you do now?"

"I am going to destroy that demon." Artura answered calmly, eyes hardening. "Even if I have to die to do it."

Aqua looked at Artura for a few moments before she came to a decision. "Then we should start coming up with some ideas."

"We?" Artura looked back at Aqua. "What stake do you have in this?"

"I was there the day Sidorak fell with Ozma. We let him get away because we didn't think he was a threat anymore after that. Then he came back as Surtr to take revenge on the both of us." Aqua answered. "Ozma is dead so now it falls on me to try and make this right…for him."

Artura simply stared, saying nothing after that.


Even in the darkest of moments, light can still shine. A young woman from the Emerald Kingdom bereft of her home sought to end the demon lord's reign. Accompanying her was a woman dressed in blue and silver armor, wielding a key shaped sword. As the demon turned its sight on the rest of the world, they would be there to defend the people it sought to enslave or destroy, becoming beacons of hope against the great evil.