Delilah walked with Alice through Shadowland, white fire blazing between them, connecting them by their bracelets. The theaters and rain-soaked city street had fallen away, revealing a horrific desolation, black and scorched, the sloping terrain made of crumbling stone that made each step a challenge. Black lightning blossomed in the ash-choked sky, followed by rumbling thunder.
Yet Delilah wasn’t concerned. She wasn’t afraid.
There’s nothing they can do to stop us. Nothing they can do to make us afraid. They tried their best, but now we’ve made it through, and we have nothing to fear.
Maybe the other will come back. Maybe Jormungand and the Sons of Night will try to fight us directly. Whatever they try, they don’t stand a chance.
“Oh, look who decided to join us,” Alice said, nodding ahead. There, up a rise of black, jagged stone, was a shadowed figure with white hair and a wicked scar across his face.
Jormungand.
“You will go no further,” Jormungand said, darkness writhing at his feet. “You can defeat your own evils, perhaps, but there still remain me and my allies. Courage is no weapon, it is no shield against a true foe. Here in this land, there is only darkness. Darkness enough to consume your meager light.”
The shadows poured forth like a wave, towering high until they blocked out the sky, roaring forward with frothing intensity. Delilah and Alice braced themselves.
And then…
A song started to play.
Piercing the gloom and the silence and the rush of watery darkness, a melody sounded from a piano, bright and hopeful. It was layered under with resonant, unyielding chords, and then more layers came in, making it clear this was a duet, four hands together forming a song of hope and victory on the piano.
And with the music came the voice of a little girl.
“We’re still with you!” Isabelle called out, her voice disembodied in the darkness. “And this is all still a stage, still a play. The show’s still going.”
“You aren’t fighting him alone,” said Maribelle’s voice. “But this song needs to be yours. We can play —”
“And I’ll sing for you, Alice!” Isabelle chimed in.
“— but the words have to be yours,” Maribelle finished.
“Which means you’re starting this off,” Alice said, looking aside at Delilah.
Delilah’s heart skipped a beat. It was one thing to stand on the stage and speak, but to sing? That was…
No. She couldn’t back down, not now. There would be no stage fright here, no nerves to keep victory from her. She opened her mouth, words coming easy, but —
“You’ve gotta project,” Alice said after just three words, punching Delilah lightly in the arm. “No one’s gonna hear you at that rate.”
Isabelle has a much prettier voice, and she’s so good at this. Why can’t she lead, and we can just pretend it’s Alice?
No.
I can’t back down. Not now! This is the last fight, the way we escape Shadowland.
It’s the show-stopping finale, the big final push that shows Revue we meant our promise. It’s how we save Revue, save her Palace after so long being forgotten.
Delilah took a deep breath, staring defiantly up at the oncoming wave of darkness.
And she began to sing. Shaky at first, her voice came through. Not as strong as she wanted, and she didn’t hit every note as perfectly as she wanted, but she’d found her song and she couldn’t be silent:
“An ocean of doubt recedes at last
Giving way to a tiny rock of clarity
Together we stand, and no one will stop us
From pushing the darkness back”
She raised her left hand and the fire on her bracelet blazed brightly as Isabelle and Maribelle’s piano duet rose with sweeping, hopeful triumph. The wave of darkness halted, thrashing in rage but unable to proceed further.
“Belle-Belle, you’re spotting me, right?” Alice asked.
Into Shadowland came the little giggle of Isabelle. “I’m ready,” she said. There was a slight shift in the song, a sort of pause, and Alice tapped her toe to the rhythm, like a countdown. She stepped forward perfectly in time with Isabelle beginning to sing for her, astonishing in how much she sounded like Alice:
“The fire’s alive deep inside our souls
So bright we can’t hold it in if we tried
Shining, alive, expanding the light
And pushing the darkness back”
Alice’s bracelet flared up, and the fire connecting her and Delilah blazed even brighter, roaring triumphantly against the wave of darkness. The wave grew taller, taller, taller, but it didn’t come any closer, instead thrashing hopelessly against the light that shone before it.
“Marcus, don’t get left out,” said Isabelle’s voice, so softly she could barely be heard. Soon a set of drums joined the piano, pounding out a strong, energetic rhythm that, with the music of the piano, began to build, gaining life and strength as it pushed towards something triumphant, a powerful chorus to rend the darkness and claim victory. Along with the drums came the occasional resonant chime of a bell from Marcus’ staff, filling Delilah’s heart with hope.
“You can never win!” Jormungand cried. The wave grew higher, frothed more wildly, but its roar could not drown out the music.
Delilah looked to Alice, who was tapping her foot and bobbing her head to the rhythm, a smile on her face. She looked back at Delilah with white eyes, and nodded. The song built, built, built, and then it let loose, and Delilah sang, Isabelle meeting her voice, crafting a duet where each sang together in perfect harmony, their different words blending together towards a singular goal and theme. Delilah’s side of the duet had fewer words, holding long notes and building steadily upwards, Delilah pouring her heart into each note. Isabelle, on the other hand, sang more swiftly underneath her, adding lyrical depth and a layer of energy beneath Delilah’s half:
“Light is here
So bright and clear
The fire is true
Its warmth comes through
Love survives
This life, it thrives
Dawn will break
Here comes the brightest day”
“Light shines like a candle in darkest night
Nothing and no one can consume its light
It started as a spark and continued to grow
Warming up our hearts with a resonant glow
The love between the two of us keeps us strong
Life stands in defiance of death with this song
The break of day declares the strength of our youth
We stand tall upon this hopeful truth”
Their fire blazed brighter still, shining like a marvelous white sun in the center of Shadowland, blasting apart shadow and darkness.
But it wasn’t done. The girls’ separate duet now formed together, both of them singing the same, simple words, a show-stopping, defiant battle cry, a declaration against the night that it could never win:
“There’s no stopping
No, there’s no stopping us
No night devours
No night can devour us
Darkness runs
All the darkness runs from us
You won’t find fear
No, you won’t find fear in us”
Voices held that note strong, while the piano and drums, along with Marcus’ bells, continued on in a sweeping, triumphant ending. As they built up to their final note, the light grew brighter and more beautiful still, fire blazing until it wiped out all darkness. There was a faint cry of dismay from Jormungand, but it was quickly washed out.
All was suddenly silent. Delilah was still smiling, still high on the excitement of that last song, that it took her some time to realize that the light had faded, and that she was standing somewhere entirely different.
And she was all alone.
Spinning in a slow circle, Delilah looked all around. But all there was to see was endless, still water, shallow enough that it only came up to her knees, under a bleak, dark grey sky. In all directions, the horizon was dark, and there was nothing.
Until Delilah turned back around to where she’d started.
Out across the water was a new sight: a high gate, like a Japanese shrine gate, wooden and worn. Four blue lanterns — two in front and two behind — tinted the whole structure blue, washing away whatever its true color was.
And underneath the gate was the other.
Always smiling. She’s always smiling, all the time.
So confident. And yet so sinister, at the same time. How does she manage that?
She’s me. Is that… really what lurks inside my heart? Such prideful, arrogant malice?
“You don’t want to come through here,” the other said in Delilah’s voice.
“No, I don’t,” Delilah said. “Not without Alice.”
The other raised an eyebrow. “She’s gone. Or didn’t you notice?”
“Whatever you did, it can’t last. Not unless I let it.” Delilah folded her arms across her chest, letting her bracelet, still softly glowing, show clearly. “You’re my problem, and I’ll deal with you. But not on your terms. So bring back Alice and stand aside.”
The other cocked her head to the side, her smile never wavering.
But a moment later, she vanished.
“Oh, there you are,” came a voice that made Delilah beam with joy.
“Alice!” she said, wrapping Alice in a hug.
“Hey, get off me,” Alice said, squirming in Delilah’s grip. “What’s with the sudden PDA? Not everyone likes that, you know?”
“I know, I know,” Delilah said, fighting against tears that stung her eyes. “But we won! We really did it! And that song was so amazing, and you were so amazing, and Isabelle and the others were so amazing, and, and…”
“Yeah, yeah, we were all really cool,” Alice said, pushing Delilah away gently, smiling at her. “I’m happy too, you know?”
Delilah nodding, wincing inwardly as she sniffed once.
“Please don’t cry,” Alice said, turning towards the gate. “Save your tears for when we’ve totally beaten the darkness. If you get used to crying over little victories, you’ll spend them all before the big moment, and then it’ll be super awkward.”
Delilah laughed, wiping her eyes. “Yeah, okay, I’ll do my best.” She started towards the gate. “Ready?”
“You bet.”
Together, the two girls strode forward through the water, passing under the gate.
Light.
Light filled their world, filled their vision, filled everything. Light so intense that no shadow could ever exist. And with it…
Silence.
Silence that eliminated all sound, so silent, so powerfully silent, that Delilah couldn’t even try to speak.
And in that silence, the softest, smallest of voices. Delilah wasn’t even sure it spoke in words, but she could understand it so clearly.
It was even harder not to cry now. But she was smiling more than ever.
The light vanished, and the girls were back on the stage, back in the Drowned Palace. Isabelle, Maribelle, and Marcus stood alongside them, while across from them were Sen, Dullan, Valgwyn, and even Jormungand, unscathed despite his defeat in Shadowland.
But between them was the most surprising sight, a sight that had left everyone else still, waiting, watching.
Etude and Nocturne, masked beings of Revue Palace, stood in the center of the stage, a bright spotlight shining down on both of them together. They were shining with light, and light stretched between them, a white fire all too familiar to Delilah. But that fire was swallowing the pair up, blossoming with light until Etude and Nocturne vanished, emerging from the fire…
As one being.
Nearly twice as tall as Etude and Nocturne, this new masked being wore a long, flowing white dress adorned with feathers of many different colors, glistening with jewels. Each of her ten long fingers bore a ring of a different color. Long golden hair tumbled down to meld into her dress, and her mask was glistening pearly white, fixed in an elongated, dramatized expression joy beyond compare.
“Finally!” Revue cried, her voice so musical, so powerful, taking over the stage. She was beautiful, from her appearance to her voice to her movements, and Delilah was utterly captivated. “I am reborn, whole, complete!” She turned her masked visage on Jormungand and the Sons of Night, and the mask morphed from joy to rage. “You four will never infest my Palace again. Be gone!”
“You have no power over —” Sen started, but was abruptly cut off by a blast of white light. When the light faded…
Sen, Dullan, Valgwyn, and Jormungand were gone.
“What’d you do?” Alice asked.
“I banished them, and all the darkness, from this Palace,” Revue said, bending low to look at Alice with a calm expression. She looked up and around at the still ruined theater area, the flooded seating beyond, the darkened space. “There is much still to do here, but it will be safe, I can assure you of that. The Engine must be restarted, the theaters and seating repaired, paths reopened to allow actors and audiences to flock here once more. And…” Revue turned her gaze upon both Alice and Delilah.
Delilah nodded. “We’ll keep our promise,” she said.
“Promise?” Isabelle asked.
Delilah looked back at the others, and sheepishly at Marcus. “We, ah… kind of… promised to be the Paladins of Revue Palace and help restore it and keep it from ever being Lost again.”
Marcus looked surprised for a moment, but then smiled warmly. “There is nothing to be ashamed of. You’ve done well. I knew you two were something special, but this is really quite something.”
“You won’t have to do it alone,” Maribelle said. “The Library of Solitude was once a major point of traffic between the rest of the Dominion and Revue Palace. We can be that once again.” She held out her hand, smiling. “A partnership.”
Delilah shook her hand. “A partnership,” she said, nodding. “Although…” She turned back to Revue. “I’m sorry, Revue, but we can’t immediately get to work here. We need to —”
“Go find Lady Kodoka, yes?” Revue asked. Her mask morphed into a smile. “But of course. The Prime Paladin has been missing for far too long. And the door to her wicked prison is still active.”
“There’s a door to the Storm from here?” Maribelle asked.
“The Storm was once something else,” Revue said, shaking her head. “Though it’s been so morphed and twisted that its former self has been well and truly forgotten, much more so than even my Palace. But don’t linger here. Go save Lady Kodoka, so you may return swiftly and fulfill your promise.”
“We will,” Delilah said, following with the others as Revue led the way. Through darkened halls of the Palace, they came to a black door inset in the far wall of a backstage area.
“This door leads to the Storm,” Revue said. “Take special care. This prison is one Lady Kodoka willingly submitted herself to, knowing its consequences. She will not easily be freed.”
“She willingly put herself there?” Maribelle asked, eyes flickering with fear.
“But why would she leave us on purpose?” Isabelle asked.
“The answers are only properly known to her,” Revue said. “Go. Save her.”
“We will,” Delilah said. She opened the door, flinching as a howling gust of wind blasted through her hair. All that lay beyond was darkness and howling, raging winds.
Delilah stepped through into the Storm.