The void engulfed Sorcha, suffocating her, crushing her. Black fury ripped the light from her, sending her spinning into the depths of misery.

She gasped as she crashed into something hard, and then she was still. Her eyes, forced closed against sights too terrible to describe in mortal words, opened, and she saw them surrounding her. Tall, shadowy figures, with flickering eyes and wide mouths leered down at Sorcha with malicious intent.

"Sorcha O'Riordan," one cackled in a high-pitched voice. "Come to the dark, my love. We know of your pain. We can help you avenge your past."

Sorcha whimpered. "No. I won't. I won't become one of you!"

"But Sorcha," the shadow jeered. "Amaterasu used you to strike at us. Can you trust one who would tear your years away from you?" The entity dissolved, and in its place rose others. Two figures took form from the ether, and Sorcha recognized them: her parents, Feargal and Breda O'Riordan, weeping as their daughter drifted away from them, beyond their ability to help her.

"Mammy!" Sorcha cried. "Dad..." She shook her head roughly, shaking the delusion loose. "Get out of my head!"

Another voice, this one deep and resonant, boomed out from the gaggle of fiends. "Sorcha, the Light is your enemy. It is finite, feeble. See Amaterasu's desperation to keep her guttering flame alight. It will use you up in its attempt to ward off its inevitable end, as Amaterasu is using you. With us at your side, Sorcha, Summerkin need no longer fear the darkness, for you will be its ruler."

Sorcha was confronted by a vision: Summerkin, its forests and fields dead, its citizens nevertheless happy in their reverence of Sorcha, queen of the shadows. She sat astride a great throne, her loyal subjects prostrating at her feet, worshiping her.

Sorcha felt desire tugging at her mind, her heart. Her mouth watered.

Queen Sorcha...

No! "I won't!" she wailed. "I won't be ruler of a dead world!" She bared her teeth. "I'd rather be used by Amaterasu than serve you!"

"The girl is strong," a third voice, this one metallic and gravelly, rasped. "Sorcha, your friends and family will die if we are not satisfied by your dedication to us. With the Dark Sun rising, we are in a position to destroy them quite swiftly. Swear allegiance to the shadows, and we will spare them. They will be your first servants, with many more to follow. You can have everything, Sorcha. Everything you ever wanted. The dark will provide for your every whim. Perhaps even immortality."

More visions: Sorcha, surrounded by her colleagues and her family, all of them speaking words of love, admiration and undying fealty.

For she was their goddess.

Sorcha moaned as the promises piled up. Amaterasu had taken much from her, but these demons would take more. For everything they would give her, the universe would essentially die.

She couldn't let that happen.

"No," she repeated, the word becoming a litany. "No, no!" She growled at the shadows. "Keep your promises. I will never turn from the light. Yeah, sure, I'm pissed at Amaterasu. But that's between her and me. You can get stuffed!"

The smoky horrors laughed amongst themselves. "Very well," the deeper voice chortled. "Maybe a friendly face can convince you to embrace the dark."

They evaporated, and Sorcha was falling again.

***

Sorcha yelped as she opened her eyes and light poured in. It was pale light, but enough to shock her out of that midnight realm. She was back in the world she knew.

The world that was about to be swallowed.

Sorcha yelped as a familiar face hovered in front of hers. "Hi, Sor," Nia chirped. Her voice sound distorted and wrong, and her eyes were in shadow.

"Nia," Sorcha breathed. "Nia, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothin', Sor," Nia trilled. "The darkness is my ally now. And it can be yours too, Sor. You'll never fear anything again. The light will no longer trick you into thinking you need it."

Sorcha got to her feet, shoving Nia away. "Ni-ni, wake up. I don't know what they've told you, but they're lying. They're the ones tricking you!"

Nia laughed an unnatural sounding laugh. "Oh, Sor. Remember when you hit me?"

Guilt, Sorcha thought. That was new. "Ni-ni, I'm sorry. I told you I was sorry. I still am. I just..."

"Listened to Amaterasu?" Nia hooted. "She's a liar, Sor. A pathetic liar. So intent on cupping her paws over that last candle. She's a relic." Another howling laugh erupted from Nia's maw. "I'm looking to the future. 'Coz there ain't nothin' by the past for the light. I can't wait to get back to Rilo and tell everyone about what's coming. Everyone will worship the shadow of truth."

Nia suddenly stopped and blinked, her lovely cobalt eyes returning. "Help me, Sor!" she sobbed.

Sorcha grabbed her in a loving hug. "Ni-ni, it's okay," she told the shaking Fox. "It's okay. I've got you. You're safe."

Nia suddenly shoved her away, and a terrible smile slithered across her muzzle. "It is clear that the lies of the Light have turned you from the dark forever," that horrible voice rumbled, echoing from poor Nia's mouth. "Very well. I can turn others. But you, Amaterasu's champion, you will no longer be an obstacle!" The Dark Sun reached down and picked up a rifle; Sorcha looked down and noticed Palmer on the floor, her eyes closed, her body motionless. She was still breathing. Sorcha looked around and could see the others, all lying unconscious.

The Dark Sun cackled, aiming the rifle at Sorcha. "It is tragic. You could have had everything. But now you will lose it."

Sorcha yapped and hit the deck as a volley of rifle fire streaked over her head. "Ni-ni, no!" she cried.

The Dark Sun grinned. "Who is this Ni-ni of which you speak? It is only you and I here, Champion of the Light."

"Leave her alone!" Sorcha yelled, charging at the Dark Sun. It brought the rifle's barrel up, shoving it hard into Sorcha's faceplate and knocking her back. She hit the floor with a grunt.

The Dark Sun snarled and stood over her, its face set in an arrogant sneer. "And so it ends for you, Amaterasu's puppet."

Sorcha tried to roll away, but a booted foot slammed onto her stomach, pinning her down. "Get off me!"

The Dark Sun let out a mocking laugh. "Oh, I think I'll enjoy this," it hissed at her. "I'll take it slowly." The barrel of the rifle swivelled towards her knees. The Dark Sun began to pull the trigger.

Sorcha spluttered and glanced at Palmer's still unmoving body, and a glint of metal caught her eye. Strapped to the Wolf's thigh was a large hunting knife, its handle just close enough for Sorcha to reach. Without thinking, Sorcha pulled the knife from its sheath and brought it around in a scything slash. It sliced through the material of the suit above the foot pressing down on her stomach and into the furry leg it enclosed.

The Dark Sun let out a shriek and staggered backwards, the rifle falling to the floor. Its paws went to the wound Sorcha had inflicted. "Blasted mortal body!" it bellowed. "Useless soft flesh!"

Sorcha moved closer, wielding the knife. "I don't want to hurt her any more than I have," she growled. "Stand down."

The Dark Sun let out a strangled snort of pained anger and charged. Sorcha swung out with the knife again, landing a cut on its right arm. The Dark Sun wailed, its voice beginning to bear a tinge of Nia. "I have no time to play games with you, you deluded little insect," it seethed. "Enjoy your last moments as the shadow of truth sucks the life from you. Your remains will lie here undiscovered, mourned by no one."

And with that, the void faded from Nia's eyes, and she collapsed to the floor.

"Ni-ni!" Sorcha fell to her knees and cradled Nia in her arms. "Ni-ni, are you okay?"

"Mmmmmm," Nia mumbled, her eyes fluttering open. Her eyes were cobalt once more. They focused on Sorcha. "Mmmmmm. I'm Nia." She blinked. "No. I am darkness. No! I'm Nia. I'm Nia." She began to weep. "Sorcha, who am I? Help me."

"You're Nia," Sorcha told her. "Little Nia Goodwin."

Nia let out a loud sob. "What's happening? Where am I?"

Sorcha could hear grunts of confusion and unease from behind her. The others were waking up. "What the bloody hell?" she heard Palmer inquire.

Nia suddenly let out a tearful squeal of pain, and Sorcha remembered the knife, hanging in her paw. She let it drop to the ground and checked Nia's wounds. They weren't too severe, but they were substantial enough and would require treatment. "Ni-ni, just stay here," she told the Arctic Fox. "We'll get you back to the ship and get you fixed up."

Nia blubbered.

"What happened here?" asked a harried voice, and Sorcha looked back to see Jillian standing over her. "O'Riordan, what the hell are you doing with Goodwin?" the mutt asked sharply.

Sorcha stood. "Team Leader, there was an incident. I don't know if I can explain it, but something really bad is happening and we need to figure out how to stop it."

"I don't think attacking Goodwin is the way to do that," Jillian said sternly. "O'Riordan, you have five seconds to make sense, or your next review is gonna be a real ugly one."

"The nebula is a dark energy source," Sorcha told her angrily, not caring if any of it sounded sane. "And it's going to get bigger. First this system and then everywhere else. It tried to take Nia, but I sent it away. We need to stop it, and now."

Jillian blinked. "What?"

"We need to stop it," Sorcha repeated.

Jillian blinked again. "How?"

"I don't know," Sorcha mumbled, feeling her stomach drop. "It must be somewhere here in the city."

Jillian threw up her paws. "This is insane." She looked to Nia, who was still crying on the floor. She turned to one of the guards, all of whom still looked rather groggy. "Which one of you is the medic?"

The Akita, Blason, raised his paw.

Jillian hoiked a thumb at Nia. "She's wounded. See what you can do for her."

Blason went to help Nia. Sorcha looked back up to the large window in the ceiling, which was now darkened by the horror in the sky. "Don't look at the Dark Sun," she told everyone. "Keep your eyes off it."

"What the crap is the Dark Sun?" Boland asked hotly.

"The thing in the sky," Sorcha told him.

Jillian was rubbing her faceplate, clearly agitated. "We need to get out of here," she declared. She pointed a finger at Sorcha. "O'Riordan, you stay with me. You're not getting out of my sight."

Sorcha dutifully did so, staying tight at Jillian's side. What do I do now, she thought. Amaterasu, guide me.

***

The team hurried out of the dark chamber, heading back up the tunnel. Blason and Travis carried a floppy Nia between them; the medic had given her painkillers and sedated her, but past that there was little else he could do.

Sorcha felt her heart pounding as she weighed up her options. There were none. Despair bowed her head as the team re-entered the armillary room, still illuminated by a trickle of light. She glanced resentfully at the sculpture, its golden gleam teasing her.

Something clicked in her head then, and she looked up at the window in the ceiling. It was admitting light for a reason.

Sorcha broke away from the protesting Jillian and ran up to the sphere, examining it. Amaterasu's words echoed in her head: Some fought for us, while others served the Darkness.

Sorcha found herself smiling as more of Amaterasu's words came to her. In the battle for this planet, in the height of the war, the civilization that lived here were divided. She regarded the mysterious object as if seeing it for the first time.

The Light had a weapon, as well.

"O'Riordan, get over here," Jillian shouted.

"It's here," Sorcha cried. "It's here. The weapon is here." She looked to the window in the ceiling. And then the disks – no, not disks. Mirrors. "We need to get the light to shine on this thing." She searched the armillary sphere for anything that would make that happen, and found a railing set into the central ring. No, not a railing – a handle. She motioned to the others. "Quickly! Help me turn this."

Jillian looked to the others, to Sorcha, and back to the others several times. "Come on. Blason, stay with Goodwin."

Sorcha was already turning the handle and having little success when more paws gripped it, and it began to move slowly. Sorcha looked up to see Palmer next to her, her face set in a rictus of effort.

The sphere began to unfold, opening like a massive steel flower. From inside it rose a large round mirror, its surface still bright and reflective. As Sorcha and the others kept rotating the handle, the mirror folded forward and moved into the path of the weak sunlight, catching it and sending it up into the suspended mirrors above. The light bounced around the room and shone brightly on something else that had risen up behind the mirror; it looked like a pedestal-mounted gem of some sort, but its exact purpose was unclear, as nothing seemed to be happening to it. Despite the directed light, the sphere wasn't working. Sorcha could hear something inside, a mechanism trying to work, but to no effect. It was as if it had insufficient power.

Sorcha looked back to the window. Insufficient sunlight, more like. "The sun." She looked to the others, all of them still confused. "We need more light."

"More light," Jillian repeated.

Sorcha nodded. "We have to reignite the sun."