Memoirs of a RAFian

[Estelore]

*cracks knuckles, loosens shoulders, and generally gets ready to throw down like Yip Man*

>:-}

[Gaz]

Good stuff! This is exciting!

[Blazing Angel]

Must resist urge to not look in spoiler.....nah.


IM GONNA GET THE MASTER SWORD!

[Cloak]

Actually, you'll get something far superior, in my opinion, Blaze. . . . *smiles mysteriously.*  Shortish chapter.  'Bout one or two more chapters to go.  Unless I decide on more.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Oh, Bloody Hell

Meanwhile, back at the forum, the distraction team was having a bit of a problem.  They were pulling their punches, not wanting to harm their vampirically-brainwashed friends and former comrades-in-arms.

"Is it me," Blaze said, still deflecting Parker's shots with his sword, which was starting to look more and more worn with every succeeding volley, "or are we in some deep --"

"There's the others," Aila pointed out, but having no projectile abilities, she was not able to much more than she had already done.

Sure enough, the liberation team had succeeded in freeing the imprisioned, and they were joining the fight.  But it was still a one-sided fight.  The "revolutionary refugees" were still quite outnumbered.

"It's still not enough," Cloak muttered.

"But that's half the fun!" Demos cried with excess bravado.

"Demos, shut up." Phoenix sighed.

"We're still holding our own," Aquilai noticed, firebending expertly.  "That's something."

"But for how long?" Aila intoned.

Suddenly, the entirety of the refugee forces were encircled, and they were completely surrounded from every above ground direction.  There was no escape.  They were at the horde's mercy.  And they didn't really look to be in a merciful mood.

"Uh, not very long, I guess," Blaze commented.

"We have to keep them at bay," Richard commanded.

"Estelore, what's taking you so long?!" Cloak muttered tersely, unheard by anyone but himself.

"Really, Richy?" Evil Gaz said.  "You will continue with this futile exercise?  You would continue to delude yourself to believe you can achieve victory this night?"

"Gaz, this isn't you.  You must fight this evil which has taken you." Phoenix said.

"Alas, dear Phoenix, you don't know me.  Not as well as you believe you do.  No evil has taken me."

"Yes, there has.  It's twisted your mind.  It's bleached your soul black." Cloak said, clearly playing for time.  "You can overcome it, though.  You have the strength.  C'mon back to us, Gaz!"

Something in Gaz's eyes changed for a fraction of a second, before it returned to the previous state.  This proved it to Cloak.  The REAL Gaz was in there, but this evil that had seized her, wrested it from her own mind and body.  But Cloak, for once, had absolutely no idea how to disspell it from her -- only Estelore was in a position to do that. . . .

[Gaz]

I'm still in there! Get me out!

Good stuff, Cloak!

[Darth Revan]

Believe me blaze, you're surviving only because plot demands it.

Great stuff Cloak. I have to say though, the Esty fight probably won't last long. Being a star, she can just shine on her and fry her in an instant.

[Cloak]

Well, yes, true.  That's why Estelore is to confront her, and not me.  No Realm Walker can simluate a star's stellar power.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
Starlight, Star Bright

Estelore, meanwhile, was waiting for Madre de Vampyra to make her first move.  The vampire queen, however, saw Estelore as no challenge, so she wasn't about to make a move.

"So," Estelore said, with faux casuality, "make your move, fang breath."

"You dare to presume to fight me?!" she snarled, indignant.

"I do." Esty replied with her voice calm.  But make no mistake, Estelore was quite angry.  But she was able to set aside such emotions for battle, for she was wise enough to know that anger tends to make you make hasty decisions, which can often be detrimental to your side.

"Filthy human.  But, alas, I am getting hungry."

"For the last time, I may LOOK human.  But I am not." This time Estelore's impatient tone betrayed some of her anger.

"Fine.  Whatever.  Have it your way."

"Now you're still fast food slogans?" Estelore taunted jauntily.

Madre said nothing, but extended her fangs.  Estelore stood up, because she had been leaning nonchalantly against an old gnarled yew tree.  Estelore also showed no fear or anxiety of this fight.  She could easy destroy the Madre, but Estelore's curiosity rivaled Cloak's.  A fatal flaw?  Possibly.

She wanted to see what this vampire mother had in her.

The vampire queen lunged forward, and Estelore made the slightest adjustments to her position, and the queen ran headlong into a tombstone of someone who had the initals "SOPA", but the grave was empty.

"Really?" Estelore asked, with a skeptical tone.  One had to wonder if she was breaking the fourth wall.

"You --" the queen uttered a stream of words in several dead and unknown languages.

"Quite the mouth, don't you?"

The vampire queen was riled up, and Estelore was pitying.  It could be easier but this was pathetic.

"I told you I wasn't a human.  You want to know what I really am?"

"I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S --"

"Such language, queenie!" Estelore scolded the vampire queen as if she were a naughty child.  Well, comparing the ages of the two, it could be seen as apropriate.  Everyone knows that stars such as Estelore are long lived as Realm Walkers.  "I just happen to be . . . a sentient star."

The look on the queen's face was quite priceless.  From a near-berserker rage to incredulity to shock to abject terror.  She knew what Esty was about to do before she did it.

Estelore used her stellar power to shine as bright as day.  With a strangled hiss, the madre turned gray as ashes, frozen like a statue.  Then suddenly, a wind came and blew her away.

"Pathetic," Estelore said, posthumously, shaking her head.  Her voice was sad and pitying.

[Blazing Angel]

That was way too easy.

[Cloak]

Estelore is a star, Blaze -- it was always an unequal fight before either stepped onto the battlefield.  It is common knowledge that Estelore is the most powerful RAFian -- more powerful than myself.

And I'm thinking of adding a poll to this thread . . . seeing the favorite book (but I won't vote, naturally).

But more chapters'll come tomorrow.  I'm running very short on time, just now.

[Blazing Angel]

Well I wwas aware that she ws a star I just thought the fight might have been a little more dramatic. It's still another good chapter though.

[Estelore]

*dusts grey ashen-schmutz off our sundress*

^_^;

[Cloak]

Thanks.  Hmmm . . . maybe I can stretch this out to another two or three chapters. . . . I think it would make it my longest book.  Shortish chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:
The Curse is Lifted, Somewhat

Back at RAF, the refugees were completely encircled.  Blaze's sword had finally broken, after being required to being used so arduously against projectiles.  This cause Blaze to have a bit of a break-down -- the sword was quite important to him.

Then a large figure loomed up out of the crowd.  A vampiric Pootang.

"They got the Pootang," Phoenix muttered, "perfect.  Just bloody perfect."

The refugees were severely outnumbered, ten-to-one, and they were prepared to make their last stand.  All the horde had to do was press their attack, swarm over them like army ants over a forest floor.  But they seemed to hesitate, or wait for something.  This sowed confusion among the refugees.

Then, quite suddenly and rather rapidly, they all turned ashy-gray.  Then the shadows seemed to recede from the forum, and it brightened to its natural luster and brillance.  Then the ashy gray color flaked away from the horde, revealing the RAFians, whole and cured again.  But with no memory of the past week or so.

All except Gaz.  She was burdened, cursed really, with knowing everything that happened.  What she had done under the Madre's macrabe influence.  She wore a look of horror on her face, and seemed to be on the verge of furious tears -- self-hating tears.

She ran to her thread, unable to look at anyone, to talk to anyone.  Cloak, Guy, and the other RAFians looked after her, greatly concerned.  Of course, only Gaz herself and the refugees held any memory of these events, so they knew why she was so upset.

"We should not speak of this to anyone," Richard whispered to the refugees, "if only for Gaz's sake."

"No one would believe us," Ash interjected.  "It sounds like a bad fic."

"Speak for yourself," Cloak said, a bit indignant.

Ash looked puzzled at this reaction.  Cloak realized that he had broken the fourth wall again, and apologized.  Phoenix, however, was looking at where Gaz had gone.  He wore a very serious look on his face.

"I am going to have a talk with her," he decided.

"Phoenix --"

"Let him go," Aila advised.

Cloak, however, turned to Blaze, who was cradling his broken sword.  It was then that Cloak realized that the sword had not been broken -- it had been shattered beyond repair.  Even for a ferrokinetic.  The only part that wasn't shattered was the hilt.  Blaze was completely woebegone.

"Blaze, please," Cloak said, kneeling, holding out his hand, "let me see that."

Blaze looked at Cloak, but did nothing more.

"Please,  I have a friend.  In the Nexus.  His name is Itemsmith . . ."

[Blazing Angel]

Gonna do the the master sword dance *starts shuffling*

It occurs to me that regular pootang is still out of his cage.

[Cloak]

Now you know what the rest of us will be doing while Phoenix and Gaz have their little heart-to-heart.  And, no, you won't be getting a Master Sword, whatever that is.  You'll get something far superior.

[Blazing Angel]

The master sword: a legendary blade used byl ink in the legend of zelda series.