The end of the world left Susie weak, and desperate.

The stone felt hard underneath her. Distantly, she could make out the weak groans of her friends, knocked back by the powerful attack just as she'd been. The room was dark, darker, yet darker than anything they'd faced before.

"Kris..." she found herself murmuring. "Ralsei... are you..."

"They are the same as you," a voice intoned. It was deeper than thunder, and crueler than the lightning that preceded it. The bearer of the voice lumbered close to them, an enormous, hulking, shadowy shape clad in armor blacker than the dark fountain spewing behind it.

"They are mere moments from death," the figure intoned. "Moments from death from the hands of I... the Knight."

Somewhere she heard a voice. She recognized it at once as Ralsei.

"Y... You!" he exclaimed weakly. She searched for him, to find him shaking to his feet with his fist clenched. His hat had been knocked off long ago, and a defiant look was on his white and bruised face. "You're the one who's caused all this mess!"

Kris too stood, and Susie somehow found the strength in her SOUL to do the same. They stood, three heroes of prophecy, facing down the Knight at World's Edge.

The Knight laughed, and the sound was as though madness itself had a voice. "Yes, young one. I am the one they call the Knight."

He strode closer, slowly, step by step. The heroes tensed.

"It was I that drew the fountain from the earth."

Kris drew their sword, standing firm. The Knight kept coming.

"It was I that poisoned the King of Spades with my promises. My lies."

Ralsei prepared a prayer, standing firm. The Knight kept coming.

"It was I that drove the court jester mad with my utterances. My truths."

Susie drew her ax, standing firm. The Knight stopped where he stood, and somehow, though his face was concealed by a helmet, they could swear he was smiling at them.

"It was I who have wrought all the suffering you have tried so hard to struggle against. And in days to come, the legends will agree on one thing... it was I who slew the three prophesied heroes at World's Edge."

"Not gonna happen," Susie said flatly. "You've got no idea who you're dealing with."

Kris gave them a nod of appreciation, standing tall by their side.

"You may not realize it," Ralsei proclaimed. "But this is a world where hope and dreams always prevail. As long as heroes stand against you—as long as light shines in the SOULs of the good—you will never win!"

The three heroes stood side by side, their SOULs shining with power. The Knight seemed taken aback. He cocked his helmed head.

And then he laughed.

"Haven't you realized?"

Tendrils of pure darkness burst out of the earth, ensnaring each of the heroes and tightening around them. Susie could feel them constricting her, and it began to grow very difficult to breathe.

"YOUR CHOICES DON'T MATTER."

The tendrils squeezed, and Susie found herself screaming with a voice being slowly crushed out of her.

Then.

A single shining spade shot through the dark, severing the tendril and freeing her.

"What?" The Knight sounded angry. "Who dares?"

Another couple of spades severed the tendrils that held Kris and Ralsei. Susie turned, lips curling into a grin as she saw who had saved them.

"Lancer! About time you showed up!"

He grinned back at her, tongue lolling out, before turning to face the Knight.

"Hey you!" he shouted. "I'm the King of the Dark because of them! And if you think their choices don't matter... then you're the King of the Clowns!"

Lancer. Bless him.

The Knight snarled, summoning more tendrils. But now a shining arrow pierced through them.

"Who now?" he demanded. But he paused as he watched a new figure stride into view.

It was Noelle. She was taller here in the Dark, and wore the green tunic of a ranger. A massive bow she held in one hand, and with the other she was nocking a silver arrow from the quiver at her belt.

Susie had to admit. She looked pretty good.

"I'm afraid of a lot of things," said Noelle. There was no more tremble in her voice. "But I'm more afraid of losing my friends than I'm afraid of you. If you want to hurt them, you're going to have to go through me!"

"And me... ha ha." Seam, dressed in his court magician robes of old, teleported into view. He was followed quickly with a pop by his side.

"And me! Uee hee hee!" Jevil laughed maniacally, spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts dancing chaotically around him.

Other Darkners appeared at the gates. Rudinn. Hathy. Clover. K. Round. Rouxls Kaard. Topchef. The mysterious man who stood behind trees and passed out eggs.

It was as though the Dark itself had rallied together to purge this menace from within itself.

"It's just like we said," Ralsei proclaimed.

"As long as we're fighting... your plans aren't going anywhere," Susie said with a grin.

Kris took a single step forward, and the Knight took a step back. He seemed alarmed.

But then...

Then...

He began laughing again.

"So you think," he rumbled, "That all of you, fierce as you may be, can still stand against me? You do not even know who I am."

Susie snorted. "Dude. Why don't you stop mumbling into that helmet then? I can barely hear you anyway."

"As you wish... BUT YOU MAY SOON BE WISHING I HADN'T."

The Knight reached to his helmet and pulled it off in one swift, smooth movement.

The Dark was still. Not a breath was breathed.

Susie stared in shock, eyes wide. She felt the same shock rolling through the crowd behind her.

"You..." she breathed. "...YOU!"

Noelle's voice was next. It was quivering, not out of fear but out of anger. "You... how could you?!"

The Knight smirked.

He was Berdly.

"It's called doing something with your life," he sneered, squishing his face in an impossibly mocking expression. "You guys should try it some time!"

Some part of Susie's brain refused to accept what she was seeing. "But... but... Berdly?! How—how could it possibly have been you this whole time?!"

The Knight—Berdly—cackled. "Haven't you heard the old saying?" he quacked. "Well... I guess you wouldn't have. But it goes, 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer!' You never expected your nerdy little classmate to be unraveling the Dark World right underneath your beak-less noses! And that... will be your undoings!"

He was interrupted by a quick arrow from Noelle's bow. He caught it an inch away from his face, and turned to sneer at her.

"You," she seethed, "You! I trusted you!"

"That's not myyy fault, partner dearest," Berdly drawled. "But... this will be!"

Tendrils of darkness as far as the eye could see burst out of the ground, ensnaring everyone. Every Darkner in the world was now his to destroy at will.

"Now," he sneered, "Listen closely. I am a merciful dark lord. If the three heroes turn in their overdue library books—and pay the requisite overdue fees—then I might just spare this pathetic world!"

"Never," Susie spat.

"Then see the Dark World perish before your very eyes!"

Berdly laughed, and for a moment, it seemed like there was nothing in the world but his darkness.

But then...

A figure in shining white chain mail burst in through the main gates. His skin was red. His muscles were bulging. A toothpick stuck out of his mouth and broad antlers cast shadows where he walked.

Rudolph Holiday helped his daughter to her feet, and then turned to address the situation.

"Never liked that kid," he said simply. Berdly's eyes flashed with rage and hatred.

Rudy spat his toothpick out, before cracking his knuckles.

"I'll kick his ass."

Berdly squawked a godlike squawk, an inhuman, an inmonstrous sound that shattered the whole world. Physics collapsed. Reality quaked. He burst out of his armor, his feathered physique expanding until it filled the universe. At the end of each feather was an eye, and it was plain that this bird knew all, saw all, and hated all. Susie was falling, falling, endlessly into the abyss that was Berdly's plumage, as the god of all bird monsters clashed in divine battle with Rudy Holiday-

Susie bolt upright in bed.

It was quiet outside but for the chirps of crickets. It was dark. Night.

She'd had a dream. A nightmare.

She put a claw on her face, feeling cold sweat leaking through her scales. Her heart was pounding and she found herself breathing intensely.

This wasn't just any old nightmare.

This one called for a Tier Three swear word.

"Okay," she said shakily to her empty bedroom. "What the FU-"

♪ When the light is running low

♪ And the shadows start to grow

♪ And the places that you know

♪ Seem like fantasy...