2nd Place: Deep Within the Dark

Kira was sitting at a long table with her nose in a book. A cool breeze made its way through the hall where she sat. As the draft passed Kira, she could hear a whisper. The voice was one she knew very well. It called for her to follow. Mesmerized, Kira left her book and followed the voice.

Kira snapped out of her daze only to find herself standing in the Grand Throne Room. The room was magnificent. The shining gold against pure white was almost blinding in its brilliance. Turning, she caught sight of the throne and its occupant. It was the Empyrean Reaper. Kira immediately dropped her gaze.

The whisper, like a melody, reaches Kira's ears once more. "The Void is calling Deep within the Dark. You shall be the first to explore. Danger awaits. Treasures await. The unforeseen is waiting to be seen. Delve deep within the dark and return with your tales. For I wish to see, your story unfold. Maybe you are the Champion that I seek. What dangers will you overcome? Will you succumb to the Void, never to be seen again? Forgotten. Unremembered. Erased. Fallen. Lost. Alone. Tell me, what shall your fate reveal? You, of the High Heavens. You, close to the Light. You, an Angel. Can you take up this challenge and return to the High Heavens with tales in tow?" With the last words, the whisper fades away, and silence falls around the room. Kira lifts her gaze to the Empyrean Reaper, "I will accept the challenge and explore the Void."

Kira leaves the Grand Throne Room and gives herself a mental shake to strengthen her resolve. "What have I gotten myself into?" she asks the empty hall. She takes a deep breath, "Deep within the Dark, I shall not succumb to the Void."

Kira hurried back to the book she left and took it to the great library. "The annuls have all of our history in them. That'll be the place to start." she thought. She headed toward the library to search for the books she needed.

The library was empty when Kira got there. She moved through the stacks to where the oldest books were kept. Searching the shelves, she finally found the book she sought and took it to a table to read. She flipped open the book and began reading. "It is said that in the beginning, there was "the Word." she skimmed down the page, looking for any mention of a void. "Empyrean Celestial and the first of the angels had been brought into existence." Further down, she found mention of the Fire Angel and the mirror of creation, the Darkness, but still nothing about the void.

Frustrated, Kira returned the book and took the next one off the shelf. Skimming the first few pages, she read about a meeting between the Empyrean Reaper and the Prime Evil. That was also the day there was an attack on the gates of Heaven. "This all happened before I became an angel." She thought out loud.

She was about to give up when her eyes landed on a section of text that mentioned the void. "Found it," she said loud enough to echo through the empty room. She reread the paragraph, "Once the spiraling ceases, they find themselves in a desolate place, void of light. Void of everything. This place seemed to be, Nothingness."

Kira leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. "Did the Empyrean Reaper and the Prime Evil create the void? But where? I'll have to find out where the meeting occurred." She was thinking out loud again. She flipped through several more pages, but there was no mention of where they had met. She returned the tome to its shelf and took down the next.

This tome was much newer than the other two. Kira skimmed what little was written in it. "This one talks about the great war of Miriach. The Angels won that one and now control that land." Reading through the rest of the text, she only found mention of the War of Sacrilege and a partially burnt letter.

Kira snapped the book shut and sighed. This was going to be more complicated than she initially thought. She put the book back on its shelf and decided to wander through the gardens of Heaven. Maybe the walk would clear her head enough to find where to search for the void.

As she came by the nightshade fields, she stopped and watched the young angels tending the blooms. Nightshade was beautiful when it bloomed. Kira stood mesmerized for a few minutes before a glint in the distance caught her eye.

Kira took a few steps in the direction the reflection was coming from and shielded her eyes. Could that be the top of a building? She didn't remember there ever being a building there before. Deciding to take a look, she extended her wings and took flight. Flying was always faster than walking.

Kira could see the building as she got closer, but it was more than just a building. It was a palace. She circled once before landing and walking up close to get a better look. The castle was made out of what looked like white marble. It was so smooth the sun glinted off the surface like glass. "No doors. No windows." She said aloud to herself.

She walked along the outside of the palace, trying to find something that may be a way inside. As she rounded the side shaded by the sun, she noticed something shimmering on the wall. Cautiously, she stopped in front of the shimmering place on the wall. It was almost like she was looking into a pool of water. Except there was no reflection. Instead, it was more like a very deep well.

Kira slowly raised her hand and put it into the shimmer. It felt cold, not wet like she expected. "In for a penny, in for a pound." She said as she stepped into the portal.

Everything was spinning. When the swirling stopped, Kira couldn't tell where she was. She thought she had gone deaf and blind. Everything around her was black, and the world around her was silent. "This must be the void." Closing her eyes, she took several deep breaths to center herself. She opened her eyes and raised her hand in front of her. Whispering a spell, she created an energy ball that made some light. The darkness was so complete that the light from the energy ball only allowed her to see a few feet of her surroundings.

Kira slowly turned in a circle to try and get her bearings. She was surprised to see the shimmering pool behind her several feet. Slowly she walked toward it and noticed that she could barely make out the wall around it. She placed her hand on the wall near the portal and took a couple of steps before she bumped into another wall.

"So there are walls in here." She said into the darkness. She turned around, walked to the portal's opposite side, and bumped into the wall on the other side. Keeping her hand on the wall, She moved away from the doorway. She had gone several feet down the hall when she came to an opening. "I'll have to count the openings and turns if I ever want to find my way back out of here."

She turned into the opening but kept her hand on the wall. She went a few feet and bumped into another wall. She turned and repeated the process and discovered that she was in a small room. She moved the energy ball closer to the wall and saw it was made of black stone. The stone was so dark it seemed to swallow the light.

Leaving the room, she looked back down the hall and could still see the portal; it faintly reflected what little light her spell put out. She used her hand as a guide and started down the hall again. On and on, it went without any openings.

Kira was starting to lose hope that there would be anything here when she came to a turn. Soon after, she came across another and another, then finally another opening. "A left, a left, and then a right." She was trying to remember the way she had come. She made two more rights and another left before coming to another opening.

This opening was another small room, but as she moved the light closer this time, she could almost make out some writing. "I've never seen these kinds of markings before." She ran her fingers through some of the grooves and tried to understand what they were.

Leaving the room, she continued down the hall but soon noticed the floor was sloping downward. The air around her started to feel colder the farther she went. She began to doubt she would find anything when she noticed a faint light down the hall. She hastened her steps and moved toward the light.

The light was in a room across from her. This room was huge compared to the other two she had found. Deciding she no longer needed the energy ball for light, she let the spell fade. Although larger than the others, this room had the same strange writing carved into the walls.

Kira took her time, examining the walls and trying to remember as many symbols as possible. "This is something the Empyrean Reaper will want to know about." The room was lined with shelves. Most were empty, and some held boxes with more strange writing.

"Where is this light coming from?" She moved around the room, looking for the light source. She found a large glass case on one of the shelves along the back wall. Inside the case was a golden circlet. It was beautiful. In its center, there was a small stone. Its beautiful green color reminded her of jade. The band looked like vines woven around each other holding the stone in place.

Kira removed the lid on the glass case. She was about to pick up the circlet when she heard a loud bang somewhere in the hall. It was loud enough to echo around the room, causing Kira to jump and cover her ears. She stood motionless and listened for a minute. She reached out and lifted the circlet from its resting place. She stood holding her treasure when she heard a dragging noise. It was as if something was being dragged on the stone floor down the hall. She slowly moved toward the doorway and peeked out.

She tucked the treasure away and whispered her spell to create the energy ball again. It would make light, and she could always throw it if she needed to defend herself. She moved farther into the hall and looked in both directions. Not seeing anything, she quickly crossed and placed her hand on the wall.

Retracing her steps, Kira moved quickly and as quietly as she could. She made it to the second room she had found when she heard the dragging sound again. This time it was much, much closer. She could also hear a clicking sound. "Was that claws?" Her heart began to race, and she picked up the pace.

She was running now and could still hear whatever was behind her getting closer. She made the last turn in the hall and could make out the portal ahead of her. She left the wall and ran as fast as her legs could. The hall was too cramped for flight, but if she could reach the portal, she would launch herself into the sky and hopefully evade the thing chasing her.

Kira reached the portal just as the creature behind her caught up. It slashed at her as she went through the door. Searing pain coursed through her as the world around her spun. Before she knew it, she was outside again and quickly extended her wings and flew high and fast.

She was as high as the top of the palace before she turned to see if the creature had followed her out. She couldn't see it anywhere. Nor could she see the shimmering portal. Her shoulder burned, reminding her that she had been attacked and needed healing.

Kira returned to the Grand Throne Room and stopped just outside the door. She whispered the spell that would heal her wound. Giving herself a moment to steady her nerves, she opened the door. She approached the throne where the Empyrean Reaper was seated. She knelt and took the circlet from her cloak. "I have found the void and the treasure it held." She said no more and waited for the Empyrean Reaper to respond.