Sooyoung generally considered herself a brave person, but she had to admit to a healthy measure of fear as she approached the crashing, undead darkness at the peak of Bridge Tower. The eternal night was sequestered to that one area by Seul’s final attack, limiting Eodum’s influence, but that didn’t mean it would be an easy fight. Not by any means. The Darkness seemed to draw her in, taunting her, beckoning her with purposeful hatred. In those heavy clouds she saw fury like the rabid anger of a dying animal. In spite of its apparent lack of a source, that rage had its own direction to it. Eodum wanted blood. He wanted to destroy. He wanted retribution. The Darkness proclaimed that everything - and everyone - on this planet would be annihilated, drowned in a flood of pure evil.

    Below, Bristol University was a ruin. The bulk of the fighting was over; the people that had remained in town were trickling into the streets now, inspecting the damage, gathering the bodies of their fallen. Just like Joohyun was doing with Seul right now. Even if she succeeded here, the world had a lot of rebuilding to do.

    There’s no ‘if’ to it, Sooyoung chided herself, I have to win. I can’t let Seul’s sacrifice be in vain.

    It was then that she noticed the necklace hanging from . It was a thin chain with a ruby pendant, threaded neatly between her s, secured by the tight cloth of her shirt.

    Sooyoung ran her fingers over the gemstone. It had a heat to it, glowing faintly as she came into contact with it, a kind reflection that reminded her of something both wonderful and terrible. She had the feeling that Yeri had given to her, but that didn’t seem entirely correct. Regardless, she was completely fine with not knowing where the necklace came from, or what its purpose was. She had bigger things to worry about.

A slant of sunlight fell on Sooyoung then, creating an intense glittering effect that sent a shining, reflective glow all around her.

    The citizens below craned their necks for a better view of her. When they realized what they were seeing - one of the magical heroes who’d been fighting for the Earth - they began to cheer. Sooyoung felt a chill run across her body. In their voices she heard a willingness to fight, to resist the end. A compunction to survive, even with the odds so woefully stacked against them. Their voices sounded like… Hope.

    A grand impression of euphoria stirred within her, and Sooyoung felt as if she’d been saturated by energy. The small amount of tiredness that affected her Vis vanished entirely. In fact, it was almost as if that realization had brought with it an extra influx of power. From within her came a feeling of excitement that she couldn’t explain. It started in the core of her soul, from somewhere far beyond, even farther than the Astral Plane. It made her muscles feel strong and kept her mind from falling into a panic. It lived in the memories she’d made with Yeri during their time together, the tender moments that they’d shared before everything had gone to hell. It even existed in the times when the Earth was falling, pockets of respite like the clarifying troughs of calm between the red, heart-thumping crescendos of an Adderall binge.

    Sooyoung smiled as she reminisced on her past habits. Getting high hadn’t appealed to her for a while now, pretty much since she’d started dating Yeri. Drugs had always been there to bandage the hole in her heart created by her past. They’d offered her an escape from an unjust world, from a mind that wandered too much when left unoccupied… or unaltered.

    With the destiny of a world behind her, Sooyoung picked up speed, flying like an arrow - no, like a bolt fired from a crossbow - toward Eodum. A bolt that would pierce his heart and destroy him for good. She knew the idea was corny, but she was about to go battle an ancient demon to stop him from destroying the Earth. She could allow herself to be a little corny.

    The Darkness continued its sinister beckoning, and Sooyoung pulled her arms tight against her sides, making for the most streamlined flight method possible. She released an extra burst of golden Vis from her feet as Eodum’s influence gathered, rearing up to block her path. The clouds formed into the shape of a hand, opening its palm wide. Between each of its fingers, crimson lightning danced, flashed, and grew. It forked outward.

    Driven by momentum, Sooyoung swerved around the blasts, narrowly avoiding them. The heat from their passing swept over her, and she could feel herself breaking into a sweat. She fired back with balls of Vis from her hands, creating an eruption of gold and crimson that illuminated the streets below. The lightning shot off at near-constant intervals, forcing Sooyoung away from the bulk of Eodum’s eternal night.

    I can’t do anything to him like this, Sooyoung thought, bending backward to avoid an attack, He’s purposely keeping me away.

    As if reacting to her thought, Eodum sent out a blade of lightning that swept outward, cutting into several nearby buildings and striking Sooyoung at the junction of her armpit and chest. Her Vis took the brunt of it, deflecting the majority of the blast and sending flickers of lightning back toward the sky.

    Sooyoung backed off, giving herself enough distance to inspect the wound. Her shirt was torn and blackened where she’d been hit, just at her shoulder, but the burn marks on her skin were barely more than red stripes.

    From Sooyoung’s left, three bolts of white careened toward Eodum. She squinted to see them, but was interrupted by a burst of electricity that she was forced to dodge. She confirmed that two of the newcomers were Seungwan and Joohyun, wielding blades of white, cutting the lightning away as Eodum directed his attention to them. Was the third Yeri? No, that couldn’t be. Yeri didn’t know how to fly or use swords of Vis.

    Sooyoung’s heart leapt into as she recognized the full cheeks, narrow eyes, and fragile-looking, thin limbs of Seulgi Kang. Seul’s Vis had returned to the same opalline white that Joohyun and Seungwan’s took on, and she no longer wore the face and makeup of her Representation-self.

    “Seul!” Sooyoung called, joining her friends, “You’re alive!”

    Seul nodded, swiped at a branch of Eodum’s lightning, evaded right. Her flying pattern was a bit awkward, and she didn’t seem to be able to stay in a single place for too long. Sooyoung understood. Regular Vis was driven by momentum, while gold and silver Vis tended to behave exactly how the wielder wanted them to. At least, that was what Sooyoung had experienced.

    “For the most part, yeah,” Seul replied ominously, drifting backward to avoid a pair of attacks. In the same movement she jerked herself further to the right. Trails of lightning followed her.

    As if prompted by Seul’s words, Seungwan made a similar motion in the opposite direction, splitting off from the group and drawing several of Eodum’s lightning blasts toward her. Joohyun watched her sister go, a conflicted expression on her face, then turned to Sooyoung.

    “Yerim is on a rooftop nearby, ready to provide us with healing if needed,” Joohyun said, nodding to a spot behind them.

    Sooyoung grimaced, feeling conflicted. “I told her to stay away. You guys shouldn’t be here. It’s too dangerous-”

    “Did you think you would be able to destroy Eodum alone?” Joohyun asked, cocking an eyebrow. The Representation put on her motherly mask; if she hadn’t been holding two cosmic sabers, Sooyoung was sure she’d have crossed her arms over her chest. “Even if we do not actually harm him, we can divert his attention from you. We have our reserves of Vis back, and Yerim can heal us. We will be fine.”

    “Whatever,” Sooyoung grumbled, moving to catch a blast of lightning that was aimed at Joohyun, who managed to stop it with a swift block. “Are Moonbyul and Solar okay?”

    “They wanted to help, but in light of recent… events,” Joohyun frowned deeply, exhaled through her nose, then continued, “We decided to have them stay with one of the other Representations.”

“Other Representations?” Sooyoung questioned.

“This is neither the time nor the place to explain,” Joohyun said, avoiding another line of scarlet. “We will split up from here, divert Eodum’s attacks to ourselves, and allow you to move in.”

“One last question,” Sooyoung said, causing Joohyun to turn, “How did Seul survive?”

Joohyun paused for two full seconds before answering.

“Seulgi’s Representation, Stardust, used all of her Vis in order to revive Moonbyul and Solar, as well as destroy the eternal night,” she said solemnly.

Sooyoung nodded. That’s why she isn't using her silver Vis anymore. She doesn’t have access to it.

“Good luck,” Joohyun said, then headed off in Seul’s direction.

Sooyoung gathered her Vis and resumed her assault on Bridge Tower. This time, she could continue her path forward without having to constantly swerve and backtrack. Eodum probably saw her coming, but the three other girls took as much of his attention as they could. They buzzed around him like angry bees, cutting away at the clouds of the eternal night when they could get close enough, giving Eodum no choice but to drive them away.

It was a sloppy strategy, and could lead to disaster even with Yerim on standby, but Sooyoung concluded that it was a hell of a lot better than the nonexistent plan of her own. At this point, she’d decided that trying to take Eodum down from outside of his eternal night was impossible. She’d have to dive into clouds, find where the Representation himself was hiding, and hopefully beat him to a pulp. That was the best-case scenario.

Worst case, she ended up crashing haphazardly through the eternal night, trying desperately to dodge blasts of lightning as she hopped in and out of the Astral Plane. A terrible, chaotic nightmare that ended with her either being burned to a crisp or losing consciousness and being killed by Eodum.

Can’t think about that now. I have no choice but to succeed, Sooyoung thought. A peculiar warmth pressed to her skin where the mysterious necklace was, but she couldn’t afford to look down to check on it.

The eternal night loomed above, eclipsing both the sun and the Astral Plane, muffling the sounds of the battle behind her. The clouds parted for her as though they were welcoming her approach. Within was a slit of absolute darkness like a gaping wound, welling up with black blood. The presence inside let out a cosmic roar, an attack meant to stifle and extinguish her Vis before she could reach it.

Sooyoung let out a grunt of effort, resisting Eodum’s sinister magic. She became surrounded by radiating, shimmering light. She forced her Vis close to her skin, shifting the aura, making it flutter and flare like streamers of gold. Her own power flowed from her in waves, crashing against the eternal night’s own cosmic influence, holding it back and allowing her passage.

Like the unfolding petals of a half-dead, toxic flower, the eternal night peeled back, taking the resisting pressure it exuded with it. Sooyoung shot forward, propelled by built up momentum. She shoved down her surprise at the sudden increase in speed and instead allowed the psychological effects of her Vis to take over. Calming and mildly euphoric, all the positives of combining an upper and a downer without the terrible, potentially fatal side effects.

As Sooyoung crashed headfirst into the void, she couldn’t help but grin slightly. Of course her final thoughts before going into battle had to do with drugs.

The eternal night sealed itself behind her.

***

    Sooyoung fell through time and space. She careened downward, driven by a gravity so powerful that her Vis could do nothing to stop it. Around her, the confines of that wild dimension were marked by undefined walls of a reflective material, fissures and cracks running through, creating symmetrical shards like pieces of glass in a broken mirror.

She’d barely registered what was going on when the reflective surface fell away, and instead revealed a dimension that she initially believed to be the Astral Plane. A sky made of black cosmos, interspersed with celestial bodies that revolved and rotated and strobed with a living luminescence. Rather than planets, however, this realm contained celestial bodies of various shapes and sizes. Spirals of gas that towered in and out of sight, sending out floating pieces of mist that danced and ghosted around, never seeming to dissipate, just traveling out of sight. Rivers of multicolored liquid flowed freely between the celestial bodies, floating pieces of rock and metal riding on their perplexing waves. Solids of irregular, impossible forms - pyramids, cylinders, and thin streaks - fell with her through the vacuum, somehow moving at the same pace in spite of their gargantuan masses.

Where the hell am I? Sooyoung thought as she gave up making sense of what she was seeing around her.

    Somehow, despite the fact that she’d fallen what felt like seven million miles, she landed on her feet, stumbling slightly as her legs adjusted to the abrupt burden of her body. Beneath her feet was a semi-transparent, solid rainbow. Through its surface of constantly-changing geometries she could see similar roads and bridges linking the structures and phenomena below. The path she stood on was the only one that didn’t seem to connect anything. It just stretched from horizon to horizon.

    Sooyoung walked forward a few steps and looked around. Flanking each side of the rainbow road were rows of trees, some leafless and short, some lush and tall, their branches reaching skyscraper-like heights. Their roots dangled over the side of the rainbow and into empty space. An unseen, unfelt wind blew their branches toward the direction that Sooyoung faced.

    The experience was not only quite trippy, but also not what Sooyoung had anticipated. She had a strong feeling that this dimension didn’t belong to Eodum. It felt too vast, even for him, beyond the confines of what anyone short of God could have created.

    This isn’t the time to turn to religion, Sooyoung thought, God probably can’t help me now anyway.

    Sooyoung felt a tickle at the back of her neck, as if she was being watched. She turned and saw nothing but the black void, dotted with drifting objects. The branches of the trees still continued to bend away from that direction. She frowned and turned back the way she’d been facing when she landed.

Finding she could think of no other options, she began to walk. She tried to collect herself as she did. Her golden Vis was as strong as it had ever been, but her white Vis was entirely unavailable; she couldn’t feel it at all when she tried to tap into her earring. That didn’t shock her. Intuition told her that she was nowhere near the Astral Plane. Or any plane that she was familiar with, for that matter.

The trees began to sway, their trunks bending slightly in the wind.

Absentmindedly, Sooyoung caressed the pendant of her necklace in her hand, rubbing it with a thumb, inspecting its spotless red surface. Rhythmic pulses of heat still came from it. Not an unpleasant heat at all, but the pulses seemed to be increasing in tempo and frequency. She again wondered where she’d gotten it, but the back of her mind continued to assure her that it wasn’t important.

The trunks of the trees were beginning to bend, leaning away as if in fear, attempting futilely to escape from something. Sooyoung paused, squinting up at them, acutely aware of the worsening sensation of bugs crawling over the skin of her neck and upper back.

Sooyoung turned again, and this time she noticed a change in the scenery. A figure against the abyss, a color that was deeper than black, representing a beast that not even light could escape from. From this distance it was hard to tell how large the figure was, but she could see flickerings of red and black wafting around it, weaving between the trees, making them turn a sickly brown, leaves crumbling away as they were subjected to an intense, immediate erosion. The shroud of the eternal night.

The figure froze, seeming to notice that it had attracted Sooyoung’s attention. They both grew completely still, an unfathomable number of miles apart, a multiversal standoff. Raw, blaring panic welled up in Sooyoung. She swallowed down a scream, beginning to sweat, heart thudding against the inside of her chest with frantic urgency, limp fingers gaining a quivering tremor. It was a thing of human nature, a predator-prey response that she could not resist.

Standing there, waiting for her, was the ultimate darkness. Evil personified. The monsters lurking under her bed, the shadows in her closet, the death-whines and sterile lights of a hospital operating room. Her own sobs echoed in her mind, things of a past that she’d thought was behind her. Invading, infectious thoughts, empty ideas with dark conclusions. A part of her she had believed to be conquered, brought to bear again, newly armed with fangs and claws, physical representations of the wounds inflicted on her.

The figure burst into motion, gliding forward like a wraith, bringing with it its tide of destructive black force.

    Sooyoung ran. Driven by Vis, legs smashing the iridescent floor, arms pumping with the grace of a sprinter, she fled. The trees were bending away from her at impossible angles now, blurred by both her own motion and their own, the sharp cracking of their branches mimicking the sound of metal scraping metal. Of brakes screeching, of rubber sliding on blacktop. Momentum carried her, threw her forward like a car careening out of control. Down the highway, spinning wildly, four passengers within, three of whom were doomed by fate. Damned by the darkness. The fourth would live, bearing the lifelong curse of survivorship.

    From behind Sooyoung came a cry, high and horrible, a song of death. Sooyoung let out a gasping, pathetic sob, finding the will to sprint harder despite her tiring Vis. She was moving fast, faster than she ever had, putting every ounce of herself into escaping the Darkness. Emptiness, sorrow, and loneliness nipped at her heels, approaching at a speed that she could never outstrip.

    It was inevitable that the Darkness would catch her. That much she knew with certainty. She’d run out of steam eventually, but the Darkness wouldn’t. It was fueled by eternity. It was only a matter of time before she fell to it, before it ate her, finally finishing its horrific work from all those years ago. 

    How could she ever think that she could stop Eodum? How could she ever believe that she was anything more than helpless?

    Blame came to her then, in the solitary darkness of her bedroom, in a permanently quiet house. Curled beneath the covers, crying into a pillow, she wished that death had taken her, too. Thinking of ways to end it, to join her family in endless sleep. Those lost years, the years where Sooyoung had lived in the Darkness.

    Sooyoung slowed to a jog, then a walk, then stopped. She had reached the end of the road. The translucent material that made up the path was broken into a jagged termination, leading only into the void of eternity. Sooyoung fell to her knees at the edge, hid her face in her hands, and wept. She cried for the people she’d failed. For Yeri, for Joohyun, for Seulgi, for Seungwan, for Stardust. She cried for the Earth that she’d doomed. 

    If only she’d been stronger.

Are you seriously thinking of giving up now?! A furious, proud voice demanded suddenly.

Sooyoung started. That sounded a lot like…

Beside her, a stream of silver flickered in the void, forming a humanoid figure slightly shorter than herself. With long hair of a metallic sheen, with a slight green tinge in her bangs, teardrops of ever-flowing mascara running from her lower lids to her chin.

Yes, it’s me, Stardust said with a celebrity-esque smile that contrasted her stoic, battle-ready voice. I figured you could use some help.

“How did you survive?” was all Sooyoung could say, “How’d you even get here?”

I did not survive, not really, Stardust said, My Vis diffused across the Earth, and my consciousness is currently fading into nonexistence. An alternate version of myself stabilized me. A temporary measure - one that is highly uncomfortable, might I add - but a necessary one, clearly. You need my help.

    Mouth dry, slightly taken aback by the matter-of-fact tone Stardust carried, Sooyoung nodded. She had no idea what Stardust was talking about, but it didn’t feel overly important now. She stared pointedly at the apparition of her friend, unwilling to address the Darkness that came for her.

    As much as I would like to, I cannot fight Eodum directly, Stardust said with certainty, However, I did not come to win a fight against him. That is your job.

    “You can’t be serious. I… I can’t do it, Stardust. He’s too powerful. He’s Darkness itself.”

    With a surprisingly tangible hand, Stardust grabbed Sooyoung’s head and forced her to face the avatar of Darkness running at them. Though it remained surrounded by the onrushing eternal night, the figure’s face had marked features. Its skin was pale and chalky, with fractures and holes all throughout, giving the appearance of a monster made of cracked stone. In the lines created by each crack were streaks of crimson, identical in appearance to the lightning of the eternal night. Its pupils were slits within eyes the color of rotten lemons, lipless mouth gnarled with overgrown fangs. A stream of liquid shadow trailed behind its head, separated into strands as if it were hair. It appeared indistinctly feminine, somehow, which didn’t make sense. Eodum was Joohyun’s husband, right?

    You can’t run from this, Stardust said, breaking Sooyoung from her reverie, You need to accept the Darkness that plagues you. Your Darkness.

“I did,” Sooyoung said, barely resisting the urge to shut her eyes, to pretend the demon coming at her didn’t exist, “I accepted what happened years ago.”

    Stardust shook her head slowly, then released Sooyoung.

    You never accepted it fully, no, Stardust said. Drowning it in drugs and meaningless isn’t ‘accepting’ it.

    “How do you know this?” Sooyoung demanded, “How do you know that’s true?”

    Briefly, when I utilized the entirety of my Vis to revive Moonbyul and Solar, I ascended. I became a Representation far above a mere white hole. I became Light, and only through that could I fully resist Eodum. With such powers came a certain multiversal awareness that allowed me to see through multiple realms. For a fleeting moment - a fraction of a second, really - I had access to time and space. I wasn’t powerful enough to affect them directly, but I could observe and gain knowledge. My stint in those realms was brief, Stardust’s smile grew larger, gaining a tint of genuineness, But as others would tell you, I pick up on things quite easily.

    Darkness roared, revealing circular rows of teeth that lined the inside of its mouth and throat. A gust of fetid wind blew Sooyoung’s hair back, but Stardust was unflinching. How could she act so nonchalant? How could she speak with such reserved certainty when the fury of hell itself bore down on them?

    But we two are different. We were created to suit specific needs, Stardust continued, taking a step forward, a single blade of Vis forming in her hands, I was to become Light. You are to become… something else. Admittedly, something more. Mere Light isn’t enough to undo the damage Eodum has done to your planet.

    The proud Representation frowned, then held her sword out for Sooyoung to take.

    A sword won’t be, either, but besides inspirational words, it’s all I can offer you, Stardust said, Besides, what did you expect to do? Pummel him to death?

    Sooyoung took the blade by its transparent handle, using her own Vis to stabilize it. The silver blade flickered, vanished for a moment, then reappeared with two feet of length added to it. Unlike the formless, fire-like swords that the other Representations wielded, Sooyoung and Stardust’s combined blade had a hilt and handle, with only a single sharpened edge. It was striped with bands of alternating silver and gold.

    A falchion fits your brutish fighting style more, Stardust observed approvingly, That alone will not destroy him, though.

    The forward pressure of Eodum’s approach began to press on Sooyoung. She tried to mimic the stances of swordsmen she’d seen in movies, spreading her feet apart and holding the blade directly in front of her with both hands.

    Eodum let out another roar. Primal, it grated against Sooyoung’s ears like the sound of a car swerving into traffic. Like the scream of her older brother as he was tossed around the cabin, a scream that was cut short as his neck struck the dashboard. Sooyoung wondered why, why hadn’t she insisted on him wearing his seatbelt? Not that he would have listened, but she could have forced him, could have saved at least one them, could have-

    A hand clapped her shoulder, and through its contact Sooyoung felt a tiny bit of peace come over her, tearing her from the depths of her misery. Trickles of Stardust’s influence found their way into Sooyoung’s arms, staying the grip on the sword and preventing her from shaking.

Steady, Sooyoung. Steady. This is all part of Eodum’s attack. This is, at heart, a battle of emotions and psychology.

The oncoming wave of Darkness was close now, so close that she could make out the individual lines on Eodum’s face. There was a distinct familiarity to his appearance. His features were feminine, as if he’d taken the appearance of a gorgeous woman and twisted it, contorted it into a husk that barely resembled a human. As if solely to ert a beautiful thing. Just like he’d done when creating zombies and Sirdar.

You have done it in the past, Stardust said. Her body had grown opaque, barely visible to the right of Sooyoung. A thin mist, an outline of the Representation’s body. Defied the Darkness. Rebelled against it in spite of its power. You made yourself stronger than him. In order to beat him, you have to do it again.

“How do I do that?” Sooyoung muttered, half to herself. She racked her brain, trying to think of all the occasions she’d managed to defy Eodum. If Stardust was speaking about the notable events, a specific one came to mind. On Blackstar, when she’d first obtained her golden Vis. When she’d saved Yeri, gaining the power she needed when all of her white Vis had been drained.

Stardust didn’t give an answer; she seemed unable to speak any longer. Whatever tenuous connection she’d had to this realm was fading. Sooyoung could feel the last of that silver Vis trickling into her, a parting gift from her fading friend. Similar to the way she’d given up all of her power in order to destroy the eternal night and revive Moonbyul and Solar. Using up all of Vis to ascend beyond the confines of her dimension, burning as bright and hot as she possibly could. At the cost of her life.

    “Thank you, Stardust,” Sooyoung whispered, flexing the silver Vis within her. She thought she knew what she had to do.

Sooyoung gathered her Vis. All of it. She seized every last bit of the Astral power that was in her body, holding it in her mind. She gritted her teeth hard at the intense concentration it required. Her stomach growled, her muscles ached, and breathing became harder. Her body rebelled against her destructive use of its vigor, an instinctual, survival-oriented cry against its own death. She knew that without Stardust’s help, she wouldn’t have been able to do this. Not in her current mental state.

She focused the Vis she’d gathered, directed it all into her blade. She could feel herself fading, as if her whole body were winking in and out of existence, but her hands remained solid and strong. She had Stardust to thank for that.

    Sooyoung and Stardust swung together as Eodum crashed into them. They sliced into the Darkness, spurts of blood-like darkness rushing by them like high-pressure fountains. A bubble of metallic light exploded from them, an aura that bent beneath the weight of Eodum’s fog, but otherwise remained intact.

    Sooyoung became Light.

    At Sooyoung’s chest, the necklace glowed. Bright red - almost a dark pink - shot out in a beam that shot into the heart of Eodum’s massive form, streamers of light cascading in every direction. Where they could, the streamers blocked the Darkness, prevented it from coming into contact with Sooyoung’s aura at all.

    The blade came to a stop less than an inch before the demon’s open maw, its path frozen in place by the two opposing forces to either side of it. Sooyoung tried to push it farther, to get through that last inch of resistance, but found she couldn’t. It was like trying to cut through stone with a butter knife.

    The Darkness itself drew close to Sooyoung, and where they came into contact, wars were waged. Light and Dark crashing against each other, perfectly balanced, reaching a multiversal stalemate. Within those furious, disastrous collisions, universes were broken down to their basic elements, then woven back together with multiversal thread, triggered into motion by the meeting of two supra-cosmic forces.

    Sooyoung struggled against an ocean of black, yelling out, blade quivering from the effort of keeping herself from being pushed back. Eodum’s mouth cracked upward into a grin, so close to his end, knowing that Sooyoung couldn’t end him. 

There was no give to either side. With a cold wash of despair, Sooyoung realized that she couldn’t win. Even with the last dregs of Stardust’s power bolstering her, even with the mysterious necklace she wore protecting her, it was a fruitless battle. She could feel no way to get an edge, to throw the last of herself into an attack in hopes of destroying him. This was all that was left of her. She couldn’t give any more.

Eodum was a Representation, and she was a mortal. Without her Vis fueling her, she had a limited time before her body ran out of steam and simply stopped existing. They were evenly matched in power, turning the battle into one of attrition. And in that kind of contest, Sooyoung stood no chance.

Still, she rebelled against defeat. This couldn’t be the end. She hadn’t made it this far to die without at least taking Eodum with her. Unfortunately, she could think of no way to do so. In a way it made perfect sense. Light was the antithesis of - but also the ultimate compliment to - Darkness. Neither was stronger than the other. A clash between the two could only result in a stalemate.

Sooyoung needed to become more, just as Stardust had said. So, she looked within herself. Internally, she walked the road she had been denying for all these years, treading on a path paved by shame and pain. With a sober mind, without that ading loneliness that had plagued her for so long, with her body on the verge of death, Sooyoung saw everything.

She sat in the back of a sedan. Though the windows were down, it was unbearably hot. The air conditioning was broken. Her brother had removed his seatbelt, complaining that it was chafing him too much. Their mother was yelling at him while their father insisted that everything was alright, that it was a short drive anyway, that they’d be home soon. Sooyoung agreed with him. They were five minutes from the house, less than a mile before they would exit the highway. There was a lot of traffic, today, but it shouldn’t take too long. She might even make it home just in time to watch that new episode of-

Sooyoung’s father yelled out, and her mother screamed. There was a terrible, gut-wrenching lurch. The car spun out, and Sooyoung felt an intense pressure across her chest and hip. Then, another screech, distant this time, followed by a crash. Anchored by her seatbelt, Sooyoung was yanked hard to the left. She felt something give in her chest, a brittle set of snapping noises that were accompanied by the worst pain she’d ever felt.

Then, Darkness.

Sooyoung returned to herself, gone for less than a fraction of a second, granted the omniscience of Light. From within her vision she had brought back a sense of discovery, of realization, of understanding.

There was nothing Sooyoung could have done. She didn’t cause the accident, nor could she have prevented it. It was a random happening, a universal hiccup, the alignment of a million events that could have played out in a billion different ways. All these eventualities she saw through the lens of Light, an all-encompassing gaze that ripped through time and space.

What she had been through - the hospital visits, the lonely nights, the strangeness of being cared for by an aunt and uncle she barely knew - had molded her, shaped her, diverted her from the original course her life was set to take. There were many things could have become, had her childhood not been snuffed out by disaster. A nurse, a lawyer, a politician, a veterinarian.

But in none of those alternate realities did she see Yeri, her sweet blonde fairy from Mars. In none of those alternate realities had she met Joohyun, training under her, forming an apprentice-master bond that occasionally slipped into sisterhood. In none of those alternate realities had she traveled the cosmos, fighting evil and defending what she loved from the ultimate evil.

It was then that Sooyoung realized that she was exactly where she needed to be.

After years of suffering, Sooyoung finally forgave herself for something she hadn’t even realized she’d been burdened with. And with that forgiveness came a heightened awareness. A prescience, an understanding of what needed to be done, which avenues her mind had to take, and which of these paths would lead to her defeating Eodum.

Tears flowed freely from her eyes. The Darkness grinned further, perhaps mistaking her catharsis for fear. When Sooyoung began to grin back - a furious, passionate grin worn only by warriors who were confident that victory awaited them - Eodum’s rictus faltered, if only slightly.

    She couldn’t let the Eodum continue his rampage. Allowing herself to fall into despair, to cower before Eodum, was no longer an option for her, her friends, or the planet she called home.

    There was nothing Sooyoung could do to prevent tragedies from happening. This she knew as well as anyone, especially in light of Eodum’s invasion. People had died. Loved ones had been taken, and some have been left terribly, desperately alone. But life continued on. Sooyoung had been lucky enough to find refuge from her own Darkness. She’d found Yeri, Joohyun and Seulgi. She’d found a way out. But others were not so lucky. Without a light to guide them, they would fall to the Darkness. They would need a savior, a Representation to pull them from the Darkness and despair. A reason to carry on. Light could hold it off, but only temporarily. That was a band-aid, a temporary fix. What happened when the bulb blew, the candle’s wick burned through, when the torch was extinguished?

    The only light, then, would have to come from within. And if those people didn’t have light within, well, Sooyoung would just have to be that light for them. Because at the very end of the day, when the sun had set, the night would creep its way into the bedrooms of those left in that unforgivingly cold physical realm. To haunt their dreams, tempt them into wallowing in the pits of self-pity. Someone needed to give them shelter and reprieve. A Representation of a way out of the Darkness. She’d done it for herself; now it was time to do it for everyone else. Not just for her world, not just for her love, but for her universe.

Someone had to be strong.

The words echoed across the multiverse, and in all manners of realms - physical, Astral, mental, and others that mortals would never be able to comprehend  - those words were heard. On the surface of a small blue planet called Earth, engaged in a battle they knew was unwinnable, four Representations felt a thread of light shoot across their consciousness. They smiled and cheered, fighting with renewed fervor, knowing that their friend was about to do the impossible. A blonde-haired woman with blue eyes accepted a twenty dollar bill from a bitter-looking, tall man, a stranger whose downcast expression hid a tiny bit of happiness. A short-haired brunette rested a crossbow on her shoulder, touching her hand to her heart and watching as the eternal night recoiled in agony.

Sooyoung became Hope.

Sooyoung felt her Vis extend, felt it flow from behind her, expanding into a sea of shimmering, glittering radiance. The opposite of Eodum’s cloak of the eternal night, it wrapped around her in an embrace of compassion, euphoria, and optimism. It extended through every dimension, even those that existed far beyond the reaches of the physical world, even those claimed by Lady Death. 

    Eodum cried out, reeling backwards as the voices of the dead - millions upon millions upon millions of lost souls - gathered behind Sooyoung. At the forefront were three particular souls, wearing soft smiles, extending their hands out to the little girl they’d known all those years ago. From them came forgiveness, pride, and love. When Sooyoung felt their touch, saw the fear her enemy tried to hide, she understood that the battle was won.

    To her side, Stardust grinned and placed a hand upon the handle of Sooyoung’s blade.

    Thank you for that, the silver-haired Representation said in a soft voice. I owe you one. But first... Let’s do this together, shall we?

    Sooyoung grinned broadly, doubled her hold on her weapon, and drove it straight into the center of Eodum’s face.

***

    Seulgi saw the exact moment of Geulim Ja’s downfall. Though it happened without warning, she’d been expecting it since Sooyoung’s universe-spanning message. Her message of Hope, a signal that the battle was about to be won, the flash of the blade as it bore down on the evil tyrant.

Prior to Geulim Ja’s destruction, the eternal night roiled around Bridge Tower, spurting lightning and attempting to spread its influence outward. Then, a single tear appeared at its front, releasing a blinding, brilliant beam of gold. Geulim Ja’s cry of agony shredded the air as several other holes appeared, pockmarking the surface of the eternal night like bullet holes, spreading with the persistence and rapidity of wildfire. Each of the beams expanded wildly, undoing the layers of darkness, separating them into thin scrims of mist that were taken away by the breeze. 

All this within the span of ten seconds. Maybe it was a bit less, or a bit more; Seulgi wasn’t sure, and she didn’t particularly care. All she knew was that her body, soul, and mind were depleted of all energy. Coherent thought was difficult. Her mind felt empty, as if a piece of it had been taken out, leaving a void that she was now responsible to fill.

Seulgi allowed herself to drift down in a controlled fall, landing atop an office building  down the street from Bridge Tower. Beside her stood Joohyun, expression blank and contemplative as she watched the remains of her husband vanishing into the atmosphere. Bridge Tower itself crumbled. There was no spectacle to it, no explosive affair; it merely fell apart, piece by piece, showering the city with debris. Creaks, crashes and clangs sounded out through the streets, broken noises that echoed with the finality of a defeat. Shattered glass fell like rain.

Floating above it all was a figure surrounded by a halo of shifting colors and shapes. Of geometries that Seulgi had never seen before, of hues that her eyes were unable to register. Within that halo were sensations and events and ideas of goodness.  A wheelchair-bound doctor smiling as her childhood beloved bent in to kiss her. The first gasp of breath from a young girl as she defied a premature death. Dawn breaking over a world that had endured centuries of night.

All Seulgi knew for certain was that the wonderful, lovely spectacle she saw was centered around her roommate. The partying, swearing C-student with a literal heart of gold: Park Sooyoung.

Sooyoung lifted her hands to the heavens. The halo around her moved upward, undulating pulses that brushed against the blue-purple of the Astral Plane and the sky. It separated as it reached the atmosphere, blots of untamed color spreading out, covering the open sections of the Astral Plane, stitching them together neatly like open wounds. The dimensional threads that Sooyoung used were clean, knitting pieces of azure, sealing away the Vis-realm that lay just beyond that of their own.

    “It is good that she chose to repair the cosmic integrity of your planet,” Joohyun said, watching as Sooyoung fluttered from place to place like an iridescent hummingbird, “It could lead to many complications if she did not.”

    Seulgi nodded, then wrapped herself around Joohyun’s elbow, rested her head on the older Representation’s shoulder. Such a comfy spot despite Joohyun’s relatively thin frame.

    “Have you ever seen powers like that before?” Seulgi asked, stifling a yawn.

    Joohyun was quiet for a moment. “Yes. But only once. A long time ago, before humans even walked the Earth. But that…”

    “Is a story for another day,” Seulgi finished, smiling and cuddling her girlfriend. Having Joohyun back - being able to touch and feel and caress her - was a blessing.

    “Indeed,” Joohyun said. She then turned to Seulgi, held her close, and whispered, “Oh, my poor dear. You’ve been through so much.”

As she found herself swathed in Joohyun’s embrace, Seulgi began to weep. She leaned against her partner’s chest, rocking back and forth, trembling with emotions that she found herself unable to process. Despair and loss intermingled with relief and happiness. At the forefront of it all was that immense, heavy exhaustion. She didn’t want to have to deal with reality anymore. She just wanted to sleep.

“Come,” Joohyun whispered, holding Seulgi tighter, perhaps sensing her discomfort, “Let’s find a place for you to lie down.”

“What if I’m needed for something in the aftermath?” Seulgi asked, swaying feebly on her feet.

Joohyun chuckled and gave Seulgi a kiss on the cheek. “I believe we can handle that on our own. For now, rest.”

Seulgi would like to have protested, would have liked to even pretend that she would argue, but she didn’t. She simply didn’t have the strength. So she allowed Joohyun to take her into the sky, intent on carrying her like a puppy all the way back to the dorms. Seulgi’s grip on consciousness slipped quickly, and she was asleep by the time they took off.

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Well, that's it for the final battle versus Eodum! Hope you guys liked the conclusion. I feel like this story was filled with battles of physical/Vis strength, so I wanted to change it up for the end. This isn't the last chapter; I'm going to post an epilogue that goes into the aftermath of Eodum's invasion and what the girls do afterward.

Thanks for reading, and make sure to comment and upvote if you enjoyed the story (: