The lone Sailor Soldier raised her white-gloved hands level with her eyes aglow and turned to face the approaching darkness.  Her fingertips flared with the lick of a white flame.

“Cosmos Rossellius!” she cried out.  A hot wind raised her pale blue hair and sent the tails of her belt swirling behind her.

The stream of fiery white energy streaked towards the dense cloud looming in the sky before her palace.  The blast was absorbed into the darkness and penetrated deep into its form. Sailor Sun leapt into the hazy orange air as the sunspot below her feet crumbled into the molten surface.   From the ominous cloud, a low rumble grew stronger until the mortar of the palace began to disintegrate behind her.  With a few more vaults, she distanced herself from the collapsing structure.  Her chest felt like a solid, aching weight as she watched the pillars sinking into the molten surface.  It hurt to breathe.   The clouds parted for a moment and through the dense orange atmosphere she caught a glimpse of the Earth, a star in her sky.  "Helios," she whispered.  

A mournful cry lurched forth from the cloud mixing with the sound of the trembling sun.  It formed into words, barely discernible through the chaos of destruction: “I am Metallia! Surrender this star to me!”

“Never!” Sailor Sun responded.  

“Soon the Earth will fall and the Kingdom of the Moon will be mine!” the voice rumbled.

Sailor Sun howled in pain as a terrific blast of dark lighting poured down from the cloud and lifted her from the surface.   She struggled to keep conscious as the torturous waves of energy tore into her body sending agony to every finger and toe.  For a moment, she wished for death.

“No,” her conscience said.

A rippling blast of white light burst from her body in all directions. It disrupted the dark powers that held her and sent its shock wave undulating through the enormous cloud above.  Her clothing was incinerated in the blast leaving her nude body shimmering with its own light.  A brilliant red glow on her forehead pulsed with each wave of power.

“You cannot take this star,” she said, pressing her palms upward towards the darkening sky.  “I will not let you!  Brilliant Mémoire!”

The bright bursts of light reversed direction, pulling inwards to her as they gathered strength and speed.  Her nude body began to shimmer with light as if her whole form was lit from within.

She raised her head.

Dark power from the cloud above crushed her in an instant.   It snuffed the light and sent a blast of cold air across the surface of the sun forming thick black crust its wake.  The charred surface spread for miles.  

Sailor Sun felt the entire star tremble as the last of her body’s energy began to drain.   “Queen Serenity,” she pined, as her body was crushed under the weight of Metallia’s power.  

Through the swirling darkness, she caught a glimpse of the half sunken castle, locked in place with the tips of its pillars hacked off and trapped upside-down in the hardened surface of the sun spot.  Through one of the smashed windows she saw a white light, sparkling in the destruction, vibrating with her spirit.  She reached out to it with a trembling hand soaked in blood.  

The Vault of Memories was sealed.