The diamond was exactly what I needed to not be turned into Swiss cheese by the guards. I just had to get to it without being seen. The biggest problem was that my magic would be visible the moment I used it. The best time would be when they turned their backs to me.

“I’ll try to find him, Dirk.” As the one I depended on for my escape approached, he nodded and stood up. It seemed all that he had wanted to tell me had been said, or we had run out of time. Now escape was my top priority. Just then, a new problem flashed through my mind. Dirk was my brother. Would they throw him out of the camp if they knew to whom he was related? Would Robin do that to him? He had known Dirk since he was a baby. The safest thing would be to take him with me. But then what? My window of opportunity was closing, and the diamond was going to disappear in his pocket. I had no other choice but to act. Before it got out of my sight, I enclosed it in my magic grasp and let it slip from his pocket. Dirk turned to look at me again, and his eyes started to widen when he saw the glow of my horn. The attendant was already out of the door when I put my plan into motion.

“Get down!” I called out to my brother as I threw myself at him. Thanks to this, he fell against the door and closed it. In the same moment, I lifted the jewel fully out of the pocket and into the air. I had to use more magic since I couldn't see it. When I thought the time was right, I activated the light spell on maximum for two seconds. Everybody in that hallway that had their eyes open should be having considerable problems with their eyesight for the next few days. I heard the guard falling to the floor and screaming in pain as his retinas got roasted. His colleague evidently wasn't doing any better, judging by the second muffled impact.

“Follow me!” I called out to my bewildered brother and opened the door. As expected, the three of them lay on the floor, writhing in pain. I took no pleasure from it, but I was glad to be out of that room. Other doors opened up, and relatively scruffy-looking people in old clothes with haggard faces looked out to see what had caused the commotion in the hallway.

“What’s going on up there?” I heard from downstairs, while many footsteps could be heard coming up the main staircase. Luckily, I knew this building, and so I went for the small staircase at the other side of hallway. Our spectators saw a little pony that dragged a human, roughly double its size, like a doll down the corridor while magically grasping the human’s wrist. We made it to our destination just when our pursuers reached theirs.

“Over there, the ... the prisoner escaped!” I looked back and saw two men in uniforms, which looked to be from the British army, aiming pistols in our direction while running towards us.

“Not this time!” I yelled at them. I activated my transformation magic and used the floor in the middle of the corridor to build a sparse but effective blocking wall. I didn't linger to look upon my piece of art made of linoleum, instead turning and jumping down the first five steps of the staircase past my brother. I heard them fire the first shots and could imagine my wall taking on the appearance of Swiss cheese.

“Come on!” He seemed to understand simple instructions and began to descend the stairs behind me. Quickly, my focus returned to the hallway in front of me. Frightened because of the shooting, the survivors disappeared back into their rooms and made the way free for three more soldiers. One of them was wearing a uniform like the soldiers upstairs. The other two wore vests over normal clothing. These could be poorly trained civilians, I thought.

“Stand down or we will open fire!” yelled the guy in uniform before he pointed his pistol at me. The other two had Kalashnikovs, and crouched down to better aim their guns. I could see Dirk was behind me on the last landing, partially covered by the metal railings.

“I'm sorry, but we won't do that.” I prepared a spell, and that was apparently enough for my opponents to open fire. Before the first bullet left the barrel of their weapons, I rolled out of the way. This bought me a few seconds while they had to take aim again. I used this to throw the British soldier with my magic down the way he came. His slightly less trained companions could just watch as he crashed into the first pillar of the main hall and sank to the floor. That was their mistake. With a flap of my wings, I soared forward and, with a little touch of my horn, turned their weapons into pudding-like mush. The rapid charge was still very tiresome, but used in the right moments, it was a priceless ability. I was completely ignored since our would-be assailants, in their panic, were too focused on freeing their hands of the weapon-mush. I gave Dirk a sign, and together we ran in the direction of the thrown soldier. In the main hall, you could take the exit through the mess hall, which was down another hallway, or the main exit to our right. Two shots echoed through the hallway, and two soldiers ran down the stairs. They had made the decision for me. I pulled Dirk behind the pillar, then nodded in the direction of the exit behind us and hoped he understood.

“Okay,” was the only thing I heard from him before he opened the door and disappeared into the sunlight.

“Let us go or I’ll have to—”A gunshot interrupted me, and I pulled my head back behind the pillar. “So much for that,” I grumbled to myself while I slowly formed a small energy ball.

“Watch out!” one of them cried out, but they were too late. I threw the light bomb into the hallway. I covered my eyes just in time with my leg, as the spell went off right in front of the soldiers. After a few seconds, the light was gone and I used the time to run back to the stairs and turn them into a slide. Since this light bomb wasn't as powerful as the diamond one, the soldiers started to rub their eyes. Maybe they had blurry vision by now. Still too late. The moment I was done with my spell, they slipped down to me. I turned my back to them, took aim, and bucked them in the pit of their stomachs with merciless precision. Both slumped down at the foot of the former stairs. Now I noticed a number of onlookers standing in the hallways around me, having observed my fight. None of them made an attempt to attack me or even say anything.

“I didn't want to do this, but they left me no choice!” I called out to them, but this wasn't met with any reaction. The last thing I wanted to do was turn the people I was here to save into my enemies. A little tired, I turned to the exit and followed my brother to the outside, but I couldn't find him anywhere. “Dirk?” I called out and took a look around in the small courtyard. In front of me was the stone path that led to the road. To the left and right of it were a lawn and a small bicycle parking, where the batteries from last night lay around. Around the lawn was the fence through which I had looked last night. But where was Dirk?

“Over here, Timo! Or should I say ‘Light’?” I turned around and saw Robin and Dirk coming around the corner of the building. “Did you think I would just let you go? We could exchange your brother for the other Elements.” He held something against Dirk’s back. If I had to take a guess, I would say it was a gun.

“Did you really sink so low, Robin?” He just let out a small laugh and pushed Dirk down to the ground. Afterwards, he emptied his Glock by sliding back the barrel. Then he took out the magazine and threw it all in the bushes behind him.

“This isn't about honour. Survival is all that matters now! You only give grace to the dying, Timo. You were not here in the last few months and witnessed it all going down the drain. We fight for fresh water every day, just to get a drink once a day. Since we can grow our own food, we have to defend our fields against other groups, because they wouldn't hesitate to kill us.” That may all be true, but that wasn't the point.

“I'm here to change that, Robin. Wouldn't it better for the last humans to cooperate instead of fighting? How about safety from the Nightmares? Or shades, as you call them?” He fixed me with a gaze and slowly walked towards me.

“We should work together with people that tried to murder us last week for a can of beans? You just don't get it! Human society is dead. No one trusts anybody further than he can throw him, and with the shades waiting in the background, it's a textbook apocalypse. We can just try to live as long as we can.” It made me sad to hear that, because it meant that somewhere along the way, he just gave up. “Just because someone says nice things doesn't make them a reality. Even if we went up to our neighbours with open arms, they would not hesitate to shoot us.” He now stood right in front of me and reached out with his hand. “So give me the Elements. With them, we would guarantee a safe life for a few people.” I took a step back and shook my head.

“Do you even understand what the Elements are? What you got there is only a dangerous relic, not an Element.” He pulled the necklace out of his pocket and weighed it in his hand. He weighed it a few times back and forth before he put it around his neck.

“Then I need more of these. It radiates pure might, and don't lie to me, I know you feel it too. Anyone with a little magical ability would notice it immediately.” To my defence, I realized it because of my nightmares. “With them, we could even destroy the shades."

“Robin, that thing is a shade. It's locked up in that crystal. Please take it off and be careful with it. You know what happens when it comes free.” He took a look at the necklace again.

“Are you sure?” he asked unbelievingly and stared into the darkness of the crystal.

“Robin, maybe I have not told you everything, but I never lied to you." Carefully, he took the necklace from his neck and looked down at me, a little lost. I saw the desire that the necklace stirred in him, but also the unwillingness to use one of those beings.

“Down!” I heard my brother yell and looked past Robin. The few moments happened in slow motion. Dirk had apparently crawled into the bush and put the magazine into the gun. He took aim at Robin’s back and pulled the trigger. Out of reflex, I threw myself at my friend and pushed us both to the ground. The amulet slipped out of his grasp and emitted a strange black aura that allowed it to remain in the air. In a lightning quick motion, it went into the trajectory of the bullet and burst into a million pieces. In that moment, Robin and I hit the lawn. Totally dumbfounded, we both stared at Dirk and then at the destroyed crystal. Cautiously, I set myself upright and slowly drew closer to the destroyed object as I would do when fireworks didn't go off. I lifted the chain up in my magic and let it flow in the air in front of me. A big piece of the pendant still hung from it, but the darkness dribbled down on the lawn.

“Shit..." was all I could say before an enormous shadow pulled itself together from all the little pieces and rose up in front of us. Immediately, it seemed like the light was fleeing, and around us rose a darkness as though it was already night. I looked over to Dirk, whose gun had fallen to the ground, and he just stood there, staring at the creature in pure fear. I could not even blame him there, because I had not reacted differently at my first encounter.

“Stare tamen!” Robin, on the other hand, seemed to have kept his cool and fired multiple magical projectiles into the darkness, but they fizzled like a drop of water in the desert. The incantation circle in front of his hand dissolved, and with it, the little light it emitted. “What is that thing? This can't be a normal shade!”

“It's a Nightmare, a shadow with a consciousness. Or in other words, it's capable of thinking,” I hissed out, as I already suspected what it was about to do. It couldn't survive long in the sun. I got up and took a step forward. “Hey, asshole!” I yelled into the blackness. “How about we cut this short and you just get back into the crystal.” One dark red eye opened up and looked down at me.

“Interesting. Aren’t you a soul that should be no more?” asked a monotone and ice-cold voice out of the darkness around us. More eyes opened up to take a look at what they had caught. “In addition, we have a human and a mage. And all around us nothing but death... Marvellous!”

“Magia seras!” Robin tried again and fired several magical projectiles simultaneously. “Come on, Timo. Together we can take that thing down!” He put some distance between us so that we couldn't be hit so easily. So his basic training in the army was noticeable after all. The things Shining Armor drummed into me came to mind, and I ran in the opposite direction. It was not easy to estimate the distance in the darkness, so after a quick sprint, I came to a halt and began to cast a spell.

“Buy me some time!” I called out to Robin, who was visible thanks to the red glow of his incantation circle. “In harmony with the elements: fire, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness." My incantation circle began to take on a yellow radiance, while I tapped into the magic of Celestia. Nightmare had started to fire magical projectiles at Robin, some of which flew in my direction. I avoided them and continued on casting my spell. “Justice has no name, therefore judge me as you judge my enemies.” Our adversary had started to swing at us with black spikes. I only noticed this because one of them grazed me. I started to move again to not get hit by it. Robin was ahead of me in that regard and moved around the whole time, while casting one spell after the other. Unfortunately, no effect was visible so far. “Carry out the judgment! The bowstring is drawn, so scatter before the pure light! Light arrow!”

My incantation circle divided itself and out came the nine golden arrows, but this time I had a little experience using them. I took the first two and aimed them at two of the eyes in the web of shadows. As quick as the Nightmare was, it could not dodge them, and they punctured the wall of blackness like it was made out of butter. Light penetrated through the hole, and the following shriek made it clear that it had an immediate effect. The resulting hole was getting bigger, and I saw smoke from the outer skin ascending to the heavens. Not only did we trouble it internally, but there was also the sun from the outside.

“I will not go down!” it screamed out while I fired my remaining arrows at it. None of them hit their target, as the Nightmare pulled itself together into a little ball and everything was bathed in bright light. Blinded by the sudden transition, I protected my eyes. I feared what would happen next as I noticed a gurgling. It used its own weakness to catch us off guard.

“Robin, Dirk!” I called out in horror and ran over to them as fast as three legs could take me. Both of them lay on the ground with one arm over their eyes. In my haste, I chose my brother and pulled his arm away and looked into his narrowed eyes. “Dirk, are you okay?” He nodded weakly. Burns on his skin and his clothes suggested that he had not evaded many of Nightmare’s attacks. I slowly turned around because I knew what this meant. I was greeted by a black energy beam that hit me directly into the face and threw me a few meters back into the pile of car batteries.

“Damn it…” With pain in all my limbs, I sat up and saw that Robin was only a black figure with smoke emanating from it. He also did not walk on the ground in my direction, but levitated a few centimetres over it. If that were not enough indications that something was wrong with him, the dark red eyes in his skull would be. The thing reached down to me and clasped my neck with his hand and brought me to his eye level.

“Hello, Prince of Equestria. Not even the Princess of the Sun can help you now. My army is on this world, and as soon as the night falls, it will be ours!" With a gesture, it threw me against the fence and started to laugh. What disturbed me the most was that it used the voice of my friend. “I will let you live, you worthless piece of flesh. This way, you can see this world burn!”

With those words, it turned around and looked down at my brother, who still lay there and trembled in fear. “Dirk, run!” I cried out and built a barrier around him with my last strength. With that, my magic was spent.

“Let’s start with your friends!” It pointed at my brother, and dark energy gathered in front of its hand.

Author's Notes:

Translated by Yurtus
Edited by JBL
Proofread by Dj7291993