Avalar: The Darkest Hour Crisis (Part 1)
Deviation Actions
Literature Text
The Darkest Hour Crisis: Darkness Falls
The Skylands of Avalar are known for their heroes, but also for the forces of evil that threaten it regularly. However, during the century-long Times of Trouble, the country would be faced with a threat unmatched since the First Dark Dragon War and the planet's near destruction.
Background
"The Ancients were many things. Intelligent, brilliant, benevolent… but unfortunately, they were also very, very lazy."
--- Master Aeon on the mysterious Ancients.
Long ago, Avalar was home to a precursor species only known as the Ancients. These beings were known for a unique form of magic capable of bringing their imagination to reality, and used it to make a great many amazing things. Among these was the Core of Light, the Rift Engines, and even entire demiplanes of reality. Unfortunately for all, they were also known for being lazy.
However, among their travels and tampering with rifts in the fabric of reality, they would reach into places mortals were never meant to dwell. A realm of reality not unlike the Well of Shade in which Stygian became the Pony of Shadows. This plane of reality was filled with a still not understood dark power that can bring the shadows in the hearts of all sapient beings to life. The Ancients' hubris and laziness would allow this force to act on their own hearts and mix with their imagination based reality, creating a 'Monster From the Id' (similar to what the ancient extraequusian species/civilization the Krell on the planet Altair IV had unwittingly conjured). A being born from their collective inner darkness given shape.
This being would be dubbed the Darkness, a formless, mindless mass of raw, unbridled destruction and impulse. Immense in power and nigh impossible to destroy, the Darkness would destroy most of the Ancients and their civilization before the survivors managed to use the Core of Light to imprison it on a floating island, within a bottomless pit with impossible dimensions.
They would hope the Darkness would remain in its tomb until the end of time. Unfortunately, that would not be the case.
Darkness Falls
"Bow down before the might of I, the mighty Havok!"
--- Havok, innumerable times.
With Valefor destroyed for good and Stormswirl banished to the Void Between Worlds, Skylands still faced its fair share of threats. Chief amongst them being Havok, who would break out of prison repeatedly to become Skyland's new top villain, but always defeated.
However, in his latest attempt upon escaping his prison, he would find the floating island which served as the Darkness' prison. To his credit, the diminutive wizard would be smart enough not to free it thinking he could control it, but instead drew power from it for his latest plan.
His latest device, the Sky Eater, would disrupt and shut down the Skyland Portal Network and communications, as well as creating rifts that devoured parts of the Skylands, including the 'sky' itself. However, when confronted, Havok would reveal himself completely ignorant of the latter aspect, as it wasn't intentional. He did, however, decide to use it to try and blackmail the Skylanders into surrender…while secretly trying to correct it.
"Wait, if it's not supposed to eat the sky, why did you call it the Sky Eater?"
"Because it sounded cool!"
— Havok's reaction to finding out what his plan was actually doing. Some consider that by itself a valid justification.
However, when his plan was foiled and the Sky Eater was brought down and he was confronted by the Skylanders, it'd turn out that the consumed portions of reality, though now returned, had had their energy sapped by the sleeping Darkness to regain its strength. Either through contact with Havok's mental energy or simply having evolved through the untold years it's been sealed, the Darkness was no longer a mindless force, but in possession of an incomprehensible, malevolent intelligence. The Darkness would use Havok's plan to feed itself until it was finally able to break free of its prison.
"Alright, give it up Havok!" Pyro III shouted, smirking as they cornered him in the wreckage.
"NEVER!" Havok shouted in his normal theatrics, charging dark magic in his hands…before everyone suddenly shivered as a presence rippled through them.
"Uh…did anyone else feel that?" asked Cinder II.
= = =
= Live and Die - XAI =
Deep in the pit that ran deeper than the island could feasibly hold, magenta lightning flashed in the pitch blackness. A massive pillar of darkness and magenta lightning exploded forth like a guyser, all light in the room above going out.
= = =
The present Skylanders gasped, turning around as the pillar of darkness exploded out of the top of the island Havok had found. The island detonated in a huge explosion of magenta lightning. Shockwaves rippled from where it touched the sky and began to engulf it.
As darkness spread, the group shuddered, several falling to their knees as an overwhelming sense of despair and hopelessness washed over them from the shadow rolling over them.
"What in Pyro's scales is that thing?!" Sonar asked, shivering as she tried not to fall to her knees.
Havok, normally hammy and theatrical, watched with his eyes wide. "It can't be…the Darkness only had power drawn from it, it shouldn't be able to break free!"
= = =
Miles away, sipping tea with Mistmane, Stygian gasped, dropping it and snapping over to look in Skylands' direction. He went pale, feeling an oddly familiar sensation on a gigantic scale.
The Darkness escaped its prison, spreading across the sky and beginning to plunge Skylands into complete darkness.
Crushing, Ruinous Defeat
With the Darkness set free, it began spreading, but satellite sensors would detect the majority of its mass was heading straight for the Core of Light. It began to deploy lesser monsters in the process, and to make matters worse, its mere presence began draining the hope and drive from those shrouded with it. It quickly became a massive crisis.
The entity's expanding form would finally reach the Core of Light, forcing all available forces to converge on it in an attempt to hold it back. However, it was all to no avail.
"Okay, so nothing is working!" Sir Combustor yelled, slashing into one of the unholy monsters spawning from the entity and blowing it to bits with his fire.
"What are we going to do?!" asked Prism Wing, flying down and using her light beam to blast another off her boyfriend, Stone Splitter.
"Don't worry, everyone, there's no way it'll get to the core of Light so long as we're around!" Pyro III yelled…right as magenta lightning converged in the sky and slammed down.
The Core of Light's barrier tried to hold back the assault, but soon cracked and finally shattered. The impact sent out a thunderous roar.
Guiding Light screamed in pain, prompting Nightfall to dash over and catch her.
"Guiding, what's wrong?!" the Nightmare Dragon asked.
She kept writhing and screaming as the stream of dark energy burned into the Core before a massive explosion engulfed it. Her eyes widened and she froze…before the light emitting from her body faded and she went limp.
The Skylanders turned and watched in shock as the smoke cleared to reveal a smoldering crater where the Core of Light used to be…missing eight colored lights flying to the ends of Skylands.
"No…It can't be…" Cinder II muttered in horror as Skyland was plunged into complete darkness and gloom.
"Guiding…please be okay…don't leave me…" Nightfall stuttered, cradling his unresponsive best friend with tears running down his face.
The Darkness would unleash its full power, blowing the Core of Light to bits. Magical shockwaves were felt across the entirety of Skylands as magic was disrupted with its 'control node' destroyed. The Darkness had managed to do what many villains throughout Skylands' history had tried to do within a few hours of its escape. To make matters worse, one of the Skylanders, Guiding Light, who was connected to the Core, suddenly went unresponsive and was believed dead.
The Skylanders attempted to fight back against the Darkness in an attempt to stop it, as other heroes were on their way to help. However, the darkest hour was yet to come.
"I do not believe this is accomplishing anything!" Buzz Scales, a Green Dragon in armor, called as he fired his optic rays into the mass of darkness.
Pyro III and Cinder II charged up and let loose a joint stream of purple energy into the darkness engulfing the sky. While able to blow a whole in it, it quickly sealed, filling back in with shadow.
After spending several moments unloading, the Skylanders panted, staring up.
"...It's not working, we didn't even hurt it…" Sonar stuttered.
"How do you hurt something made of…the dark?!" Pyro III asked in confusion.
= Lavos Theme - Chrono Trigger =
An unearthly deadlight ignited in the darkness, giving them all the feeling they were being looked at directly. Whatever thoughts lay behind it were incomprehensible, but chilling. Magenta energy began to crackle about its form. Satellites picked the arcane weave warping and twisting. Several magic deities felt jolts of pain tear through them.
The Skylanders all prepared themselves and fired together…only for a massive shockwave of electricity to pass over their attacks, causing them to fizzle from existence. The blast spread out, hitting the Skylanders, leaving them screaming in pain as it rushed through their bodies and continued on, covering all of Skylands.
= = =
Miles away, on their way to help, Pyro II and Cinder I were taken off guard as the attack washed over them, reacting the same as the younger heroes…and shrinking.
= = =
The dragons and other races whose growth in size was affected by natural magic among the assembled heroes began shrinking, as in their magic cores something was just…flipped.
When the blast ended, the group crashed to the ground, groaning in pain. All of their members with magical related growth are reduced to the size of children.
"Does anyone else just feel like their nervous system just got lit on fire?" Pyro III questioned as he struggled to his feet. He growled and tried to spit a fireball…but nothing came out. "Huh?"
Sonar tried to give a sonic screech, but likewise was met with nothing. "I can't use my magic!"
Buzz Scales could barely stand as his armor's power refused to turn back on and was now much too large for him. He groaned as he tried to move his prosthetic arm, but found it far too large for him and refusing to work. "My armor isn't working either…The magical battery couldn't have shorted out…"
"No no no no!" yelled Gale Wings, trying to will her eggs to hatch…but they just wouldn't.
Cinder II looked up as the Darkness watched them with that unearthly glow. "...It…It took away our powers?"
The magenta deadlight vanished, leaving them alone and powerless as the Darkness spread to engulf all of Skylands.
"...Did we just lose?" Pyro III asked, the normally egotistical dragon's eyes wide as dinner plates.
With the Core of Light destroyed, the Darkness would use the lack of a 'control node' for Avalar's magic to tamper with it. In a shockwave radiating all over Skylands, it would strip the Skylanders and other heroes of their powers in an instant, aging down dragons to children due to their growth being partially decided by magic. To make matters worse, Pyro II and Cinder I were also affected, being reduced to powerless children.
The Skylanders had been defeated and Skylands was plunged into an eternal night.
Keeping the Embers Burning
After their crushing defeat at the Core of Light, the Skylanders would retreat to Skylanders Academy…only for a horde of the Darkness' minions to find them and force them to run. Every time the heroes tried to find a safe place to regroup, the entity's minions would track them down, with some evildoers even joining the unearthly being in return for power.
Finally, they'd find refuge on a ship that could constantly move and allow them to rest…only to learn the Darkness and its forces had begun attacking or corrupting places of great cultural significance to the Avalarians. The land was blighted and tainted by its touch, as demonic beings born from its profane existence would torment the citizens. Making matters worse, the entity's existence would magically sap the hope and will from those within if not resisted, sending Skylands into despair.
Despite their situation, the heroes of Avalar would try to hang onto their hope, no matter how hard it was, and save as many as possible. Their tech-savvy members, denied of their magitech, would still design new armor and weapons to give their allies at least some semblance of their powers, but it seemed like an impossible uphill battle. Still, they remained supportive of their depowered comrades. Some did have ego trips about now being stronger than their previously empowered allies, but were quickly shut up and reminded this wasn't some act of god to humble them, but their friends essentially being disabled or rendered comatose. Even the skill and tech based among them found themselves weakened by loss of magitech or racial magics.
Still, they fought to hang onto hope. However, they would soon discover an unexpected source of it.
The group sat in solemn silence. Buzz Scales worked on various weapons, trying to distract his mind from the despair gnawing at his mind.
Normally a chatty bunch, the Skylanders present were more fixated on trying to figure out anything they could do and fight back against the dark influence trying to drive them to quit.
Prism Wing noticed the door to one of the ship's rooms open and a familiar Nightmare Dragon emerged. "Oh, Nightfall…how's Guiding Light doing?"
Nightfall somberly leaned against the wall with his head in his claws. "She's in a coma or something…she's not waking up but at least she's alive."
Buzz Scales' head shot up. "Wait…Guiding Light is still alive, just inactive."
"Yeah, that's what I just said," Nightfall snapped, then caught himself. "S-Sorry, it's just…I don't know what to do."
The genius dragon ran over to their notes and searched through them before turning. "Guiding Light's life force is linked to the Core of Light, hence her collapsing when it was shattered…however, there's every indication to suggest its true destruction should've killed her outright. That can only mean one thing."
The group stared at him for a few moments before Maelstrom gasped. "...The Core of Light wasn't actually destroyed?"
Buzz Scales nodded. "Yes. The outer casing and mechanism were destroyed, but they were never the actual core. The actual core was composed of eight specific magical cores, linked to act as a control node for Avalar's magic. Those are the TRUE Core of Light, and they must have survived the blast, just gone dormant like Guiding Light without being in proximity to each other."
"So if we find them," Cinder II asked, standing up. Unfortunately, no powers meant no life drain, and she was beginning to look haggard. "We might be able to rebuild the Core and stop the Darkness?"
"That's the hypothesis," replied Buzz Scales replied.
"Well, it's at least something," Pyro II, now the same size as his son, replied as he flew over. "And if it's right, we have a chance.
Buzz Scales, a genius dragon who used power armor to fight, would realize that the fact Guiding Light had only gone dormant, not perished, when the Core was 'destroyed' meant that the Core wasn't lost for good. Rather the eight elemental cores composing it must have been scattered in the blast, giving the impression it'd been destroyed.
With the potential to fix the Core and save Skylands from the Darkness, the group would begin trying to find a way to track the eight pieces. The difficult part was realizing that if the Darkness was aware it'd been incapable of destroying the Core for good, its alien intellect would seek to protect them, and thus itself. Adding to it, the Darkness was borderline omnipresent now that its form had engulfed all of Skylands. While it was realized that despite this, its actual consciousness was not omnipresent and needed to pick a location in its form to 'be' at any given moment, that still posed a significant problem.
Fortunately, unexpected aid would arrive when a visitor arrived on their ship.
They all felt it suddenly - a sudden flickering and dimming of all the lights inside the airship, followed by a brief, sudden drop in temperature around the cabin, as if all light and warmth were momentarily banished. They looked around, and for a moment they saw the shadows cast by themselves and various objects briefly move, writhing as if coming alive even for a second.
A bout of panic swept through the Skylanders as they consider the possibility that the Darkness had somehow found and penetrated into their airship. Yet as they prepared to fight, they heard a voice coming from elsewhere in the airship.
“I mean you no harm.”
They looked around, trying to triangulate the source of the voice, before turning as one to the stairwell as they heard clopping hoof-steps.
"Who's there?" Maelstrom asked, defensively, as the mysterious pony descended the stairs.
The Skylanders’ eyes widened when they beheld the unassuming unicorn in simple clothing and a bowl cut merely, looking around the gathered heroes nervously.
"My name is Stygian… and I know darkness better than most. I'm here to help."
A Heroic Darkness
Outside of Avalar, the rest of the world was dealing with their own crises to begin with, but this combined with the danger posed by the Darkness made outside help difficult, if not impossible in many cases to get through. Most heroes found themselves stripped of their powers if they attempted to enter the 'Darkness Zone', and most militaries' magitech was likewise stripped of its functionality. This left many nations unable to take the risk.
Adding to the issue, the Darkness seemed to be tampering with the Leymit system, allowing messages out, but not in. Thus leaving Avalar radio silent to the outside world while letting the outside hear their desperation and panic.
However, aid would come from an unexpected source. Stygian, the Pillar of Understanding/Scholar of Shadows, a member of the Pillars of Equestria, not only sensed the Darkness being released, but discovered due to his shadow powers received from the Well of Shade, he was capable of bypassing the 'depower' effect, and in fact was entirely invisible to the entity. As such, he was uniquely able to enter Avalar and provide much needed assistance.
"I don't know if I can do this…"
"Sugar, you've always wanted yer chance to be the hero, this is your chance."
"There is a beauty in your darkness, and that beauty could save all of Avalar."
"We didn't have faith in you in the past and we all paid the price for it. We have faith in you now."
--- Stygian remarking on his insecurities about being Avalar's backup. His fellow Pillars would support and encourage him.
Stygian, through a long journey of his own seeking means to help and helping others, would manage to track down the Skylanders' mobile base.
"I know my powers make me somewhat suspicious, but I assure you I'm here to help," Stygian explained, understanding the caution. In their situation, he'd likely be cautious as well.
"Alright, alright, everyone settle down."
The group turned as a tall pony witch in dark robes with an…admittedly huge and gaudy collar walked over.
"Hmm…" Havokssandra looked over Stygian closely, especially the eyes. "Yeah, we can trust 'em." She looked over to the others. "You don't spend a long, LONG time with your brother-in-law corrupting you without being able to see corruption from a mile away…Hope that flankhole is enjoying his stay in the Void Between Worlds."
= = =
Stormswirl continued screaming soundlessly as he tumbled through the void at the edge of the universe, denied seeing anything relating to the current crisis as per his eternal punishment of only seeing his hated foes being happy.
= = =
"Anyway, dear, glad to have some help, we sorely need it," Havokssandra replied, offering her hoof.
Stygia hesitated for a moment from shock about his trustworthiness being so easily proven, but took it and shook it.
With Havokssandra's help, Stygian would prove his trustworthiness. And he wouldn't be alone.
"Ah ha!"
The Skylanders spun around as a certain sorcerer made his way down the stairs with his troll sidekick in toe, all preparing for battle.
"I, the great Havok! Have finally found you, and-"
"Oh, hey Havok, glad to see you're doing well, sweetie," Havokssandra replied with a wave.
"Mom! I'm trying to make a dramatic entrance!" Havok huffed.
The witch looked to the Skylanders. "Oh, stand down, he's on our side."
"How do you know that?" Pyro III asked, growling.
"Because if there's one thing I know about my Havok, it's that he's not going to let the Darkness conquer or destroy Skylands before he can take it over and become Supreme Emperor of Evil."
"Mom, I've already been Supreme Emperor of Evil at least three times by now!" Havok replied.
"Yes, sir, how could anyone forget?" Grimshanks asked with a sigh.
"...Yeah, he did kinda conqueror Skylands a couple times," Cynder II remarked. Fortunately, they successfully overthrew him again, but it was a reminder that Havok wasn't to be taken lightly.
Havok cleared his throat before laughing manically. "But she is correct! No one, not even the Darkness, will conquer Skylands before I, the great EVIL and mighty Havok, can!"
Stygian looked over. "He…kind of helped me find you."
"Wait, Havok still has his powers?" Sonar asked…before trying to hide a dizzy stumble.
"Yes! Because I am EVIL!" Havok shouted. "...That and this weird boring pony managed to put a ward on me that blocks me from the Darkness' presence and depowering trick."
"It appears the Darkness couldn't comprehend the idea of Havok joining forces with you and thus intentionally didn't remove his powers," Stygian remarked. "And yes, I can do that, but first we have much to discuss.
As it turned out, the Skylanders' archenemy, Havok, had helped Stygian track them down with intent to join forces with them, as he viewed Skylands as his to conqueror. As the Darkness viewed Havok as an enemy of the heroes, it hadn't depowered him like them, unable to comprehend the idea he might ultimately take issue with it trying to conquer or destroy Skylands before he could take it over (again).
Stygian was able to ward Havok against the Darkness' senses and ability to strip him of his powers, and was able to spread this protection to the Skylanders and their allies. While too late to prevent them from losing their powers, it would hide them from the Darkness and its minions, finally giving them some peace and ability to act.
It would be here the Skylanders would share their discoveries with him and he would reveal they lined up with something he'd found: an ancient, powerful magic known simply as the Legendary Power that was once given to heroes of Avalar who had performed great deeds worthy of legend before being lost to time.
"Hmm…I do wonder why it's just called the 'Legendary Power.'"
"Because it's a power and it's legendary?"
"Well, yes, but you'd think they would call it something else…then again, the First Age wasn't known for its creativity."
--- Stygian commenting on the Legendary Power's uncreative name.
Stygian's studies suggested the Legendary Power could restore (and possibly increase) the powers of the Skylanders, and there was one corresponding to each of the Core of Light's subcores. As such, it was noted that based on known properties of the Core and the Powers, it was likely the subcores would be drawn to the Powers, potentially to revitalize themselves as a failsafe. Unfortunately, the texts were difficult to translate, and thus Stygian had only managed to translate the location of two of the seven. But it was a start.
"So where's the Undeath Core?" Cinder I asked, like her husband deaged to a child.
Stygian looked up from the text. "Hell."
Cinder I sighed. "That bad?"
Stygian shook his head. "No, it is LITERALLY in Hell."
Cinder II perked up, walking over. "Oh! That's where I grew up!"
Stygian slowly turned and stared at her dumbfounded. "...You grew up in a Hellrealm?"
Cinder II nodded. "Yes...it wasn't that bad to be honest. Then again my dad was pretending to be nice at the time." She rubbed her shoulder awkwardly.
"Well, that actually is a good thing," Pyro III noted, walking over and patting Cinder II on the back. "Cinder…this one, not my mom, actually rules that place."
The Dragon/Wraith hybrid nodded. "Yeah…I mean I'm not very good at ruling a Hellrealm, I'm too nice, so I let Colossiris and Grimkeeper handle it most of the time, but I am technically the queen."
Pyro III blinked. "Oh, and Noctis says 'ironic that Hell is probably going to be the easy one.'"
"Oh, good, he's still in there. He's being oddly quiet so I was worried," Cinder II remarked, remembering Pyro III's dark side turned brother now co-existing in him.
"Yeah, he's still in here, but apparently us tagging in and out counts as a superpower," the dragon replied. He then paused. "Yeah, I know it's stupid…and you're bored and have played the droppings out of all our games. I'll have Cinder get us more games when this is over."
Stygian just stared in confusion, but not at the brothers' situation. "You have…games in your mind?"
Cinder II nodded. "Yeah, I possessed him and put a video game console in their brain so they could have something to do when the other is out."
"Yeah, but Noctis hasn't been out of my brain since this whole thing started and beat all of them, now he's complaining," the young demi-god grumbled. "And I'm the only one who he has to complain to!"
Cinder I cleared her throat. "Well, it's also good because little Cinder is half-Wraith and can't feed without her powers."
Stygian nodded. "As for the other one, the Water Core is located somewhere called…Pearl Plunge."
Sonar's eyes widened. "That's…my old home…The locals don't exactly like me very much, but given the circumstances, I can probably get us in."
Stygian nodded. "I'll try to keep translating. I suggest we deploy two teams to go and find the Legendary Power at these two spots, and if the Cores are truly there, bring them back."
"We can't send everyone," Havokssandra replied. "We're spread thin as it is, you know, not letting people die, and a small group has the best chance of going unnoticed."
"So we're going into Hell and the bottom of the ocean, while the Darkness is hunting us, without powers, and in small groups?" asked Pyro III. "Oh, and a lot of us are kids now."
"Pretty much," the witch replied. "And given our luck, likely guarded somehow."
The armored form of Sir Combustor (his fire body unfortunately no longer able to leave his armor at present, nor produce fire for offense) walked up and planted his sword.
"Certainty of death, small chance of success." He simply shrugged. "What are we waiting for?"
With the Undeath Core, the part of the Core of Light that governed magic animating and empowering the undead (which Skylands was known to be far more tolerant of than most places), was likely in the Hellrealm formally governed by Valefor, now ruled by his daughter Cinder II, as that is where the Legendary Power relating to Undeath resided. The Water Core, which governed magic relating to water, had found its way to Pearl Plunge, the kingdom surrounding the Pearl of Wisdom and Sonar's hometown and the Legendary Power of Water.
While most of the Skylanders, now effectively invisible to the Darkness, would focus on saving lives and trying to restore Skylands' hopes, two teams would be deployed to the Hellrealm, a mission which was expected to be easy.
Reality would prove it would be anything but.
To be continued in Part 2... The Circles of Hell
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Deviation Actions
This really is a very difficult situation even more than was already clear. It's good that Cinder managed to recover and admit her fears. It's clear that Valefor gave both Cinders a lot of mental issues.