Memoirs of a RAFian

[redtailedsaffa]

EH WHAT

[Cloak]

Oh, you'll find out, Saffa.

Okay, another chapter I think. Here's where it becomes somewhat . . . autobiographical.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Humble Beginnings

"You cannot seriously believe that load of Muk ding," Cloak said. It sounded completely implausible to him, that the supposed creator of all that is in this realm was located in such a place. He probably misappropriated the sight of a large Ectonurite for this supposed God. They were close to Anur Phaetos, after all. "You would risk your entire cult --"

"You mean crew?" Saffa interjected.

"I know what I said," Cloak answered brashly. "You, Spork, would risk the lives of your cult in addition to your own to seek out this fool's dream."

"Ah," said Spork, reaching behind his head, fiddling with the knot the bandages were tied in. "All this hostility, all this skepticism, all this lack of faith. You may be able to hide and obscure your thoughts from me, but your past is an open book. Such a rich past full of disappointment, heartache, and abuse."

Cloak said nothing, he could not deny it.

"Yet you haven't told them everything have you? Allow me, dear, cloaked stranger," Spork.said, sounding uncannily like former Fire Lord Ozai. Then he dropped the bandages from his eyes, which glowed a purplish-blue. They glowed, not like suns, but like fluorescent lights.

"I see why he wore the bandages," Estelore muttered. "He makes a Feebas look cute."

But ol' Spork ignored the snide remark and unleashed a bluish-gray mist from wear a human's tear ducts would normally be. The mist appeared was a psychoactive substance, used to amplify Spork's psychic abilities. The mist started taking on forms, shapes from Cloak's past. The others could see it as well as he himself.

"Is . . . Is that the Nexus?" Aquilai asked.

"Over two hundred of your years ago," Cloak said, tonelessly. "Roughly."

The mist quickly formed itself into pictures of Cloak's near infancy. His grandfather, Sage, would sit all his children, grandchildren, and, eventually great-grandchildren, down upon his knee and sing them a song, the same song for each one of his six daughters and their children. Cloak could never remember more than the first two lyrics.

It was right then and there that Cloak was recognized as being . . . different. Everyone else cried after a few minutes. Cloak was the only one not to cry. The only one. His grandfather suspected that it might mean that he was born with something special, but said nothing. After all, Shadow was subjected to this tradition and she cried as with all the rest, and she became an Elements Master.

Cloak stood by idly, arms crossed, eyes closed. His expression was inscrutable.

[redtailedsaffa]

This guy reminds me of a church priest. I hate priests.

[Cloak]

Certainly hope you were referring to ol' Spork, Saffa. Now, most of these events are absolutely true, unequivocally. But the song adaptation is essentially a parody of what happened when I asked my mom to take me to get my driver's license.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
The Man Behind the Cloak

Then his little sister, the one who would later become known as Dagger, was born. While he and she could have been considered close in some aspects -- they would play games like hide and seek (which was easier when Cloak had to do the finding, as Dagger would giggle and give her hiding spot away) and such, but their sibling relationship was far from ideal. Mostly, they competed in all things, suffering from severe sibling rivalry at times. The two were like day and night -- Cloak was quiet, timid, and a wallflower, while Dagger was aggressive and prone to domineering and arrogance.

But Dagger did have a softer side. As the mist showed the others, while his mother hit his father and then two fought, Cloak was in the room he shared with her, curled into the fetal position, crying. He believed his parents to be fighting because of him. Dagger could have hurled some horrible jibes his way, but she didn't. She patted his back in an attempt to comfort him. Dagger wasn't evil, just complicated and flawed -- as is all people, regardless of species or religion or age or whatever category was left.

The fighting of his parents intensified, eventually, his father had to sleep on the couch in their living room. Little did Cloak realize then he was glimpsing into his future, as the selfsame couch was to become his bed when his bedroom became infested with mold (which of course was his fault, according to his mother). Cloak never had the best of relationship with his father, but that was mostly because he was so different from him. Cloak was always an introverted schoolwork, his father meanwhile was an active sports nut. His mother eventually led Cloak to believe that is why his father didn't love him -- which was very likely a lie, as not only was Cloak his eldest son, but he was his father's firstborn.

Eventually, his father got as much as he could stand of Ursa's crap, he ran away. Ursa led Cloak to believe it was because of him that his father left, and because Cloak's disinterest in sports. Like an idiot, Cloak swallows this hook, line and sinker. Just one instance of a long line of being manipulated by his mother.

Cloak would later join RAF, but eventually his mother puts her foot down and forbid's him to return.

"You want to the Realm? Why, son?
Look at you! Fragile as a flower!
Still a little sapling, just a sprout!
You simply don't have enough power.
That's right, we need to keep you safe dear.
Guess I always knew this day was coming.
Knew that, soon, that you'd want to leave the nest.
Soon, but not yet.
Trust me, pet,
Mother knows best!
Mother knows best.
Listen to your mother,
Those are scary Realms there.
Mother knows best!
One way or another,
Something'll go wrong, I swear!
Trolls, thugs, poison ivy, quick sand,
Cannibals and snakes, the Hate Plague!
Also large bugs, monsters with pointy teeth and --
Stop! No more, or you'll just upset me!
Mother's right here.
Mother will protect you.
Darling, here's what I suggest!
Skip the drama!
Stay with Mama!
Mother knows best!
Go ahead, get trampled by a wino.
Go ahead, get mugged and left for dead!
Me, I'm just your mother, what do I know?
I just bathed and changed and nursed you.
Go ahead and leave me, I deserve it!
Let me die alone here, be my guest!
When it's too late, you'll see -- just wait
Mother knows best.
Mother knows best.
Take it from your Mumsy.
On your own, you won't survive!
Sloppy, underdressed,
Immature, clumsy -- please!
They'll eat you up alive!
Gullible, naive,
Positively grubby!
Ditzy and a bit, well, um . . . vague.
Plus, I believe,
Getting kinda chubby.
I just saying because I wuv you!
Mother understands.
Mother's here to help you.
All I have is just one request!"

Any protest Cloak had was swiftly drowned out during the song, and now his mother said, rather menacingly, "You must never go back."

Cloak turned his back to her, not answering. Tears were welling in his eyes. There was no one his age around here, he was so lonely . . .

"Don't forget it!
You won't regret it!
Mother knows best!"

Cloak felt a crushing weight of loneliness crash down on him.

[redtailedsaffa]

Yep, obviously I was referring to Spork! You are in no way hateful, like you said, just flawed. And that's okay.

[Cloak]

It wasn't me that I thought you were referring, it was my grandfather, Saffa.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
The Rise of the RAFian

From there, the mists reformed into the night most prominent in his memory, because it was when he hit his lowest point. The point where he considered doing the unthinkable to himself.

He was cooking a meat stew, as he always did a bulk of the cooking (not to mention a most of the.laundry and nearly all of the cleaning). He cooked per his mother's finicky orders. It seemed to be going well, other than the raging tempest of rage, resentment, and bitterness that he was repressing. His mother seemed blissfully oblivious to this.

When the stew was ready, his mother got upset that the fact of an ingredient -- a potato-like herb that is prepared identically -- had dissolved into the stew's saucy brine. Instead of accepting that that is what happened, she told him, as if he had an IQ in the negative integers, that there was none of the herb in it. She accused him of not putting it in (which he did) or eating them all (which he did not, he always served his mother first, before himself).

"No, I did!"

"Don't take that tone with me!" she said. Then she landed some of the stew up and let it fall into the pot, showing Cloak the absence of the chopped herb, as if he was stupid.

"But I did put them in! I did everything you told me too!" Cloak said. Even now, he didn't know how he kept control of his powers.

"Then where are they?!"

"They must have dissolved --"

"They can't dissolve!"

"But that's what happened!"

"I don't believe you. You're lying."

"I'm telling the truth!"

"You're a horrible liar."

Cloak's temper began to flare, but he kept his powers stable. If there is one thing that he cannot abide, it is being called a liar when he is being sincere. "I am not lying!"

Things escalated to the point found himself with a knife at his wrists. And he was going to follow through . . . had Shadow's face not swam before his eyes. He could not do that to her. He would not do that to her. But his mother caught him, and, instead of stopping him, she actually instructed him on the proper way to do it!

Cloak had enough, and his mother told him to get out, after he threatens to have her arrested for child abuse and neglect (in response of her claims of having him arrested for some stupid reason he chose not to remember). He left, and he never returned.

"Such deep pain," Spork said. "You don't have to carry this around anymore. You can have relief."

Cloak opened his eyes, but his expression was surprising. He wore a bored look of indifference, as he addressed the Spork, "Are you done yet?"

[Underseen]

It's been more than a year since that happened and you can still remember it that clearly. This is really deep.

[Cloak]

Well, it wasn't verbatim, and I was begging on my knees somewhere in there for my mom to understand. Power corrupted her.

Anyway, back to the two-time RAFAward-winning fanatic.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Truths and Deceptions

"What's this?" Spork said. "You cling to your pain?"

"I do not cling to it," Cloak said, voice even. "I know my childhood, my past, was far from idyllic and ideal. But it is mine, and I accept it. These hardships molded me into the person that I have become."

"Besides," Cloak stood up straighter, unfolded his arms, and glanced briefly at Aquilai. "A good friend once told me that you could either dwell on the past, or learn from it. The first step is acceptance, these events happened and there no going back and changing them. Without changing who I have become."

"You speak nonsense," Spork disagreed. "The pain of the past is best purged, removed. Relieved."

"You speak nonsense. You speak dogmatic foolishness, an empty unfulfilling religion." Cloak said. "You know very well that you don't help anyone, but expedite their end. You are little more than a  murderer who kills under the veneer of mercy!"

"Cloak, nice speech and all, but you might as well save your breath." Saffa murmured. "I get the feeling he's one of these really stubborn, ultra-religious fundamentalist."

"A Vulcan Fred Phelps?" Demos interjected.

"That too."

"It makes little difference," Spork snarled, doing the bandages back up, concealing his luminous house-elf-like protuberant eyes. "You will lead me and this ship through the Anomalous Nebula. Whether you cooperate or not!"

"Dropping the 'holy man' routine?" Estelle asked rhetorically. "Not that it was entirely believable or plausible."

"I didn't ask for your critique!"

"I know," Estelore said, in a bored voice. "That's why I gave it away for free."

"Pestilential star," Spork snarled quietly.

Aquilai's eyes widened, "You took us into the Nebula already, haven't you?"

"'Bout time you caught on." Spork said, haughtily. "Now, help us find God or be lost in this forgotten fog with us forever."

[redtailedsaffa]

As an atheist, I am thoroughly enjoying this book.

[Cloak]

While I don't consider myself an atheist, just someone who places a higher importance on science and provable fact, to the mythologies of mainstream religions. And as you can guess, I despise people who hide behind their religion to justify their bigotry. People like Laura Mallory (who wants to ban Harry Potter from her children's school, but can't be bothered with actually reading them) and Fred Phelps (the guy who instituted the tactless homophobic protests at soldier funerals).

But enough of that, there's a thread for it already.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Plumbing the Depths

"I cannot believe how selfish you are, Spork." Gaza scolded. Laserbeak mirrored this with a reproachful squawk.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!!" he roared. "And I'm not being selfish! I'm showing the devotees the path of enlightenment! When we find God, we will be welcomed in His kingdom with open arms!"

"Your god cannot be all that good if he allows brazen, remorseless murderers into his heaven," Underseen said.

"I am NOT a murderer! I eased and relieved them of their pain! I lifted the weight from their hearts! I purged the sin from --"

"Oh, stop with the pretense," Demos said. Even he was getting annoyed now.

"Don't you take that tone --"

"Enough," Cloak said. The very air vibrated with his aerokinetic power as the inner hull vibrated with his ferrokinetic power. Spork decided that it was in his best interest to listen, as it became obvious that Cloak was getting close to gutting him like a fish. "We have no interest in hearing your rationalizations for your crimes, nor with helping you in your inane quest from the metaphysical. We shall leave."

<Cloak, I hate to argue,> Noelle said, <but can we really, in good conscience, leave these people to meander here, endlessly?>

Cloak's expression was inscrutable, but Spork acted as if Noelle was his ally. But she ruined it for him when she thought-spoke again, <I mean, Spork deserves that, he chose this path knowing full well of the consequences of such actions. But can we say the same of his devotees? He could have -- and it is very likely that he has -- deceived, threaten, or brainwashed them to stay onboard. They deserve some consideration, do they not?>

Cloak said nothing, because he knew that she was right. He couldn't just write off the crew like that. Cloak.looked at Estelore, hoping she had a better plan. He was sorely disappointed because, by the look on her face, she hadn't.

"We're taking over this ship," Cloak said. "We will find a way out of this Nebula."

"You can't!" Spork protested. "I'm so close!"

"Silence, you. You've done enough already!" Cloak snarled.

"Wait, Cloak." Esty said, noticing something outside the window. "What's that?"

[Cloak]

Okay, new chapter ti-- why is Auto Correct capitalizing the 'n' in 'new'? Seriously, how many times has auto correct ever been helpful, not just a nuisance?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
The Rock

Cloak turned to see what Estelore indicated. It was a rocky planetoid, possessing a Galilean complexion, though very clearly lifeless. Besides it was much too big to be a Galilean. It possessed three large craters each forty-five degrees from each other, at least from this angle. Every so often, one of the craters (which was about as big as RAF itself) would belch the same hazy, misty, gaseous substance that made up the Nebula.

"What does this mean?" Yarin said, all six eyes open in surprise, then blinking furiously.

"It means that I was right, foolish nonbelievers!" Spork shouted. "Now you'll have to endure His eternal damnation!"

"He don't know me very well, do he?" Demos said, in a possible Bugs Bunny impression.

"Fanaticism aside," Saffa added, "that planet proves that this Nebula isn't naturally made. Assuming that the planet itself is artificial."

"Helmsman! Plot a course for the planet off the port bow!" Spork yelled into an intercom-like communications device. "It is there where what we have sought for so long is located!"

Cloak sighed. "That's right, I forgot to tell someone to watch him."

"You'll see! You'll all see! My crew and I will be welcomed into the gates of heaven, while you'll be left behind! We will be rewarded grandly!" Spork said, rather deliriously devout. He was fast losing the veneer of a sagely old prophet and becoming more akin to those street people who are convinced that the end of the world is near. "Not only will you be left behind, but you'll be punished most severely for your disbelief! For your lack of faith!"

<You are ranting,> Noelle sniffed, in a remarkable -- but completely unintentional -- impression of Jim Dale's reading of Minerva McGonagal in "Order of Phoenix".

"Uh, is it me, or does it seem that we're coming upon that planet a little fast?" Underseen asked, quite prudently.

"It isn't just you," Cloak commented.

"We're coming too hot!" Estelore exclaimed. "Everyone, back to Yarin's ship! Now! Go go go!"

[redtailedsaffa]

Now he reminds me of my grandfather at church. And I don't like that either.

[Cloak]

My maternal grandmother was similar, Saffa.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Pan Padre

Cloak's eyes snapped open, and he was his feet within seconds. He looked around immediately, and saw that he was on the rocky planetoid. He saw the others scattered around him, just now reaching consciousness. They had never made it to Yarin's ship.

Cloak was surprised that Yarin's ship survive a crash that turned Spork's significantly larger one into shrapnel. That reminded him, and he glanced around for the non-RAFian survivors. He didn't. He felt a pang of sorrow and empathy. . . . Sport's crew did not survive. Cloak knelt beside a shattered horn and a dismembered piece of Triceraton tail. Poor Kuzon.

Yarin staggered his ship, muttering something about being grateful for its Impervium finish. That would explain its ability to survive such a crash.

"It . . . It is done!" came a maniac voice, tinged with insane devotion. "Can you feel it? He is here! My eternal rewards are nigh! The Rapture shall begin, wiping away the sinners and unworthy! Only the devout will profit! Beware His Almighty ha--"

"Oh, shut up!" Saffa snarled, holding her head as Underseen completed reconstituting himself. "I already have a migraine, I don't need you piling on more pain!"

But Spork wasn't listening, but walking drunkenly toward an unseen mass of purple vines. It was like he was so delirious of his dream that he decided to forgo reality. Unfortunately, this planet did not seem to be uninhabited. . . .

"Get away from there, you damn fool!" Esty shouted. She doesn't make it habit to curse, so you knew it was serious. "It's not safe!"

So she sensed it too. But her warning met deaf ears, and came a smidgen too late. A vine -- no, an oozy tentacle had wrapped itself around Spork.

"BECOME ONE WITH ME," boomed a voice that reverberated around and through the planet. "BECOME ONE WITH ME."

"Yes! Yes, M'Lord!" Spork said, slavishly devoted. "Thank you for choosing me! Thank you! Rapture me,  rapture me when ready, Lord!"

"You idiot! That's not -- " Aquilai began, but the tentacles completely enveloped the hyper-evolved Vulcan as Saffa, Noelle, and Gaz shrieked in terror as lightning flashed in the misty fog around them.

"What the hell are you?" Demos said. Even he looked disturbed.

"PAN PADRE," the creature said. It was a hybrid of Father, the One, and a Lethifold. "BECOME ONE WITH ME."

"No," Cloak said in reply. Then we he addressed the others, "We need to get to Yarin's ship. We need to get out of here."

"YOU WILL BECOME ONE WITH ME!"

"No, we won't. We're not deluded theomaniacs." Gaz said, primly. "But how do we get out the Nebula after we get to the ship?"

<Worry about that later,> Noelle said. <Let's get out of here!>

[redtailedsaffa]

Good heavens. Brilliant stuff.

[Cloak]

Thanks, two more chapters until this book is done. Then we'll see more of Aquilai's past -- hopefully, it won't be to heavy-handed.

But I'll post 'em after I get off work.  It's a miserable day here, weather-wise, so I may be too tired to do so.  If that happens, forgive me.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
The Escape

"You heard her," Estelore said, "get moving guys!"

"Don't dawdle!" Cloak intoned seriously. "I'll hold it off, but hurry!"

Cloak used his mastery over the earth element to make earthen walls to cover the others' flight to the ship. But it was like fighting that viral ooze and the Phalanx all over again! Cloak glared at the creature, pondering this idea of his . . . was it right to slay a creature for doing what it was biologically programmed to do? To slay a creature of questionable sentience? All of its sentience could have just come from the beings that it absorbed, just like that Father creature that the Ellimist defeated.

But did that make it right to take its life? Did it?

"Cloak, we're all aboard!" Gaz shouted. "Get the lead out!"

If he left this creature here . . . then it would just absorb more and more hapless travelers who blundered into this Anomalous Nebula. What would they say of his ethical qualms to allow this creature to survive victimizing more and more people? Could he really justify his decision then?

"Cloak!" Saffa called.

Whatever happened, he would take the responsibility. He would bear the burden of blame. It would be his burden alone to bear. He gnashed his feline fangs as punched the ground, terrakinectically ripping the planet apart. Granted, it took a majority, if not the totality of the power he possess, the power that he usually restrained, and repressed.

Then, with a hop, a skip, and a jump, he boarded the ship. The RAFians looked at him a bit awestruck at the show of brute strength. Cloak looked at them with a heavy-lidded look. This wasn't the first time he showed the limit of his power.

"You just . . ." Underseen said.

"I didn't do anything that you haven't seen me do before," Cloak said, a bit irritably. "The land wasn't as solid as you believe it to be. The outer crust of that planetoid was a fraction as thick as the Earth's crust."

They just shuffled a bit, as Estelore told Yarin to pilot the ship out of the Nebula, which seemed to dilute just a bit. Cloak was glad to see that the stunned look of shock evaporate from their faces. The planetoid was mostly hollow due to the large craters synthesizing the Nebula gas.

Cloak looked out the window, and saw that the creature was being swallowed up in the rubble of the planet. He heard the creature attempt a sustained roar, until it stopped with unnatural abruptness. He saw that it stretched over about two-thirds of the planetoid. The creature clearlybdied as the imprisoned psyches were freed to go wherever such things end up.