Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Still On the Trail

They continued alone this beach-like setting, until in branched out into an enclosed rainforest feel. There was thick foliage, and it was open to the sun with stone walls curved and curled around them protectively.

"The Methuselah Tree is supposed to be hidden exceptionally well, right?" Demos said, looking rather awkward in the direct sunlight. "This open sky seems counterintuitive to that."

"I don't know," Faerie said, thoughtfully, fluttering along, "it isn't like that Eterno guy can fly or anything like that. And these stone walls are smooth -- unclimbable."

Cloak shot a look over his shoulder. He didn't know why, but he felt like they were being followed. And his misgivings about not sealing that crack grew exponentially, and his anxiety increased in kind.

"Cloaky, what's wrong?" Goom asked.

"Nothing," Cloak lied, eyeing the way they came wearily. It wasn't unnoticed, as they had reached a mossy tree stump with a broken bit pointing to a downward-sloping, fully-enclosed tunnel among a myriad of other paths that they could take. It didn't take a genius to figure out the correct way to go.

They travelled into the path the moss tree indicated, losing sight of the river altogether. Demos seemed more at home now, back into the confines of a tunnel. Perhaps that is one reason why demons like possessing things and people, because they like being confined? Nah, it was probably nothing.

Yet, Cloak kept looking behind them, expecting -- dreading to see if they might see Eterno, but it was heating up in here, and only Cloak and Demos seemed not to notice. Eventually the tunnel opened into a boiling lake of lava, with a small bridge of stone that forced them to all walk, one by one, across it.

"Which way?" Goom wondered.

"Hold on," Cloak said, looking back, " I knew we were being followed."

Cloak stomped his foot, swinging it and his arms to the right, causing the bridge to pivot to the right, resting on this side of the lake of lava. Leaving a very angry Eterno on the other side of the lake of lava -- trapped.

"YOU CHEATS!! YOU LIARS!!" he roared.

"Oh, shut up," Cloak said, turning around as the Eterno realized the heat was unbearable. The Eterno backed away and disappeared up the corridor, back from whence he came.

"Now which way is on?" Faerie asked, motioning to three pathways. A puff of smoke that appeared similar to a naval mine issued and dissipated from the lefthand one. After a momentary pause of silence, Faerie said, "That way, then?"

"Ever get the feeling that we're being led?" Demos asked.

[Cloak]

New chapter. Sorry about the brevity.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Journey's Last Legs

They went through the tunnel to find that the tunnel end in a shaft to open sky. The translation from tunnel to shaft was shaped rather like a "J". A ring of shiny stones twinkled at the mouth of this pit fall.

The walls were thick, semi-smooth stone. Very, very difficult to climb, for most species. But the RAFians came this far. They weren't about to give up, and Goom was the first to act, moving surprisingly quick for even a Goomba. He actually wall-jumped with alarmingly success. Cloak used his usual energy disc, and Demos blasted fire from the bottoms of his shoes and his fist, rocketing his way up to the top. Faerie . . . well, Faerie had wings naturally. She flew up simply.

When each passed by the glittering, twinkling gems, each RAFian felt a tingling sensation that didn't hurt, but was just beneath their even noticing. It was almost as if they were being scanned.

When they reached the top they found a lovely little glade, guarded by Dugtrio-like protrusions that seemed to possess angry, judgemental glares. In the center was a rather beautiful, silver-leaved tree with golden bark. Or could have just been Cloak's own perception of the tree.

Around the tree, lying by the tree's roots, like dogs on the rug in front of a fireplace, were creatures Cloak assumed to be the centiscarabs*. They had long bodies like centipedes, but large jaws and mandibles. They had segmented antennae and what appeared to be vestigial wings. They had clawed appendages coming off their backside. It was impossible to tell whether or not they were sleeping with their large, fixed eyes.

The four approached the tree, trying to hide their awe. They all knew what this tree was. It was quite obviously the Methuselah Tree. Cloak didn't know what he had expected, but it was most certainly not this.

"You may approach closer," the centiscarabs said. Cloak did not know that they could speak, especially considering how their jaws and mandibles did not indicate such an ability. And both spoke with the very same intonation and cadence as the other, they were identical. "You've proven yourselves worthy."

"They talk," Goom said, awe in his voice very evident.

"It's not the centiscarabs speaking," Cloak said, with hushed respectability, " it's the Methuselah Tree itself!"


*

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
The Tree and It's Mouthpieces

"It's true," the Tree spoke through its protectors again. "I am what you call the Methuselah Tree. The metaphysical embodiment of all the waters of this world."

The centiscarabs reared up a bit, swaying back and forth a little.

"You've passed the tests with flying colors," it said. "You've correctly followed the signs here, and you have been scanned and analyzed. You four do not thirst for power."

The centiscarabs swayed and looked -- at least, they faced Goom.

"Small one," it said, "you thirst for knowledge and burst with curiosity, but not power, status, and influence. You seek knowledge for the sake of  your personal discovery, and there is nothing wrong or evil in it, especially because you know some lines that ought not be crossed."

The centiscarabs swayed again, this time addressing Faerie.

"Winged faerie," it said, through its protectors, "you haven't any need for power, status, or influence, you thirst, instead, for adventure. You prefer action to inaction, you prefer to be proactive instead inactive."

The centiscarabs swayed again, this time addressing Demos.

"Demon," it said, through its guardians, "you do not have a thirst for power, status, or influence. You, instead, thirst for redemption. Redemption from your inclinations as a demon, struggling with an innate malevolence that comes from being a demon. Do not give up, you are doing well."

The centiscarabs swayed again, this time addressing Cloak himself.

"Cloaked one," it said again, through its guardians, "you are quite the opposite of one who would seek the power of my sap. You do not seek power, but refuse and deny hour own. You thirst for balance. You thirst for acceptance. You thirst for . . . love."

The other three look st Cloak, who appeared to be very stone-faced, while he was overwhelmed and roiling with contradictory emotions inside. He was order externally, but chaos internally.

"But there is another reason we've come, Methuselah Tree," Cloak said, "the world's waters -- they're turning to salt. And we need, not only a way to reverse that, but a way to undo the touch of the Eterno."

"The Eterno," the Methuselah Tree sounded wistful, regretful. "Ah, I remember him. A warrior-king, known then as Contentio* the Conqueror, he tried to find me, for the sole purpose of controlling me, of dictating which nations could or could not get my waters. It would bring entire empires to their knees."

It seemed to sigh sadly.

"I could not allow this," the Methuselah Tree said, "I sent my guardians to stymie him. I admit I do know just how he became an Eterno, but he is the only one that I to have become one."

"How do we save those who have been touched by him?" Faerie asked.

The Methuselah Tree seemed to think about this, before addressing Goom, "Knowledge-Seeker, take this blossom. But be careful. Visitors, even the most worthy, are only allowed to this place once. Sadly, this is not negotiable, but not by me, by the very nature of this place."

The RAFians seemed more aware of the angry glares coming from the Dugtrio-like structures around them.

"Dear Seeker of Knowledge," the Methuselah Tree said, almost as a way of farewell, "you shall know the prudent course. Adieu."


* "Contenio" is apparently Latin for "selfish".

[redtailedsaffa]

Decided to screw studying and read the whole book instead. What a great idea! This book is so exciting. Reminds me a lot of something out of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

And congrats on highest viewed!

Book CMLXIII: "The Rakshasa" -- Saffa deals with a savage rakshasa.
Book CMLXIV: "Saffa's . . . Getting Married?!" -- A rogue gandhava tries to force Saffa into marriage.

Oh look, two things I recognize from my culture! Rakshasa basically means demon in Sanskrit, and the second one is basically every Indian twenty-something's extended family.

And the PDFs for the last three books, which I missed out on posting the last time:

[Cloak]

Yeah, I came upon those terms, rakshasa and gandharva (i misspelled it when I wrote out the book synopses), on the Superpower wiki, which some times I go onto for book ideas. I also thought the idea of anyone forcing you into marriage as funny, because I'd imagine they'd get walloped.

And this book was basically inspired by the episode "Eterno", from the first season of the Secret Saturdays.

[redtailedsaffa]

Yeah, my dad's doing the (metaphorical) walloping on my behalf in my absence.

[Cloak]

New chapter. Sorry about the brevity.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Glade Gone

The note of finality in the Tree's two-part voice was unmistakable and undeniable. It was dismissing them, but in as polite a way that it could. The RAFians could take a hint, with Goom somehow holding the blossom, which looked very much like a hybridization of a lily pad and a lotus blossom, with a dazzling design of whites and pinks. It's scent was wonderful as well, as well as being so remarkable as to defy explanation.

As they turned to leave, the glade seemed to have been replaced by a barren, circular palette of land, dusty brown and desolate.

"Is this like the Fidelius Charm?" Faerie asked.

"No," Cloak said, "my kind can see right through such things. No, the Methuselah Tree is gone from this place. Presumably to another place with all new traps and aigns and pathways."

"It doesn't matter, in any case," Demos said, "we can't go back."

Cloak bit back a retort. Realm Walkers, while accustomed to being able to go anywhere they please, could not venture into some places. Like Heaven or Hell, because something about their own energy reacts like you try to force two sides of a magnet of the same polarity together -- it just can't be done.

And then there's the Forge of Creation. They are under treaty with the Celestialsapiens not to cross into that territory. Cloak only counted himself as lucky that they seem unaware of how that has been breached on two occasions, through no fault of Cloak's own.

Cloak was about to let Realm Walker pride and Realm Walker vanity skew him into saying something that very well may not have been true. He didn't know for a fact, if he could return to the Methuselah Tree whenever he wished, but knew it would not be able to deceive his eyes.

"This blossom," Goom said, analyzing it with his instruments, as they walked on, the path they took having changed and altered since their trip to the the Tree. "The water in it -- such wonderful properties. Best of all, I think it just might be able to reproduced."

"Reproduced?" Demos asked.

"Well, I can't be entirely sure," Goom admitted, "not until I get to the lab and examine the data, but it should be doable, I think."

"Well, that's good," Faerie said, allowing herself a sigh of relief. "Some good news, at last."

[Cloak]

New chapter. Sorry about the brevity.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
YOINK!

"I'm transmitting the data over to Aquilai, at the lab," Goom said.

"Why?" Faerie asked.

"In case something happens to me or this data before we can see if it can be replicated, if need be."

"The blossom should be enough, right?"

"Somehow, I doubt it Demos," Goom said. "The Methuselah Tree must have already known this, and yet, it gave us this blossom. Just this blossom. It had to have an ulterior motive."

"Do you honestly think it thought that far in the future?" Demos said. He clearly didn't believe that it did.

"Perhaps," Cloak said, "but our goal remains the same. We have to find the others and revive them. Then those other people, and the village, then the waters of the world."

They proceeded in silence for a bit, before Faerie said, "You know, I'm a bit surprised that we haven't ran into that Eterno guy yet. I would have expected him to show up by now."

"I THIRST!!" came a scream in reply.

"You just had to say something, didn't you?" Cloak sighed.

"I THIRST!!" the scream commented.

"Hey, I didn't know that he'd show up right after I mentioned him!!" Faerie protested.

Suddenly, Goom let out a scream of fright and terror, as the Eterno lifted him up with his left hand, snatching at the flower with his right hand, whcih caused Goom to wriggle with supreme vigor.

"'Ey! Lemme go!!" Goom said. He was being held upside-down.

And yet, the Eterno had managed to take the flower blossom from him without touching him -- Goom fearing his touch. The Eterno knew where this blossom had come from. He knew what it spelt to him.

But it wasn't power that he was after, of course.

He deftly dropped Goom, having lost all interest in the Goomba. Goom quickly scurried away from the Eterno. Terrified of becoming a salt statue, Goom continued to keep his distance from the Eterno.

Demos and Cloak didn't dare to use their pyrokinesis at the Eterno for fear of damaging the flower. But the Eterno didn't pay them any mind. His mind was solely on the flower, more precious to him than gold. . . .

[Cloak]

New book ideas!

• Book CMLXV: "God of Destruction" -- Cloak is given a label he rejects.
• Book CMLXVI: "Cursed Eyes" -- The RAFians fail to prevent the kidnapping of seven kids.
• Book CMLXVII: "Eyes Full of Hate" -- A boy is cursed with a killing glare when he feels hate or rage.
• Book CMLXVIII: "Eyes Full of Love" -- A girl is cursed with a killing glare when she feels love.
• Book CMLXIX: "Eyes Full of Greed" -- A girl is cursed with a killing glare when she feels greed and avarice.
• Book CMLXX: "Eyes Full of Compassion" -- A boy is cursed with a killing glare when he feels compassion.
• Book CMLXXI: "Eyes Full of Fear" -- A boy is cursed with a killing glare when he feels intense fear.
• Book CMLXXII: "Eyes Full of Hope" -- A girl is cursed with a killing glare when she feels intense hope.
• Book CMLXXIII: "Eyes Full of Defiance" -- A boy is cursed eith a kiing glare when he feels defiant.

Titles are subject to change. Don't think that I rehashed anything.

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Eterno's End

For Eterno, for Contentio (a name he had long forgotten), this was the culmination of all his hopes and desires. More precious than the purest gold. From the moment that he arose from that salt-ified river, it was this very conclusion that filled him with determination. He had suffered from this incredibly cruel, unrelentingly insistent thirst.

He, of course, did not think he deserved such a horrible fate, though he would be completely indifferent if it befell someone else. Contentio was a man who has never known love, compassion, or kindness, as he had never recieved any of it himself. And, since he did not know what they were like, as he had never felt them.

And so he became little more than a pirate. Taking that which was not his and claiming them as his own. From there he succeeded in his first conquest -- he assassinated the king very discreetly and covertly and overthrew the corrupted government of a kingdom, proclaiming himself as not only the new king, but the mightest warrior of the kingdom as well.

He was not a good ruler. He was a tyrant, and ruled with an iron fist. He killed dissenters overtly and through assassination. He was a man without morals, without principals (though that didn't mean he didn't foist crude principals upon those he conquered). He was just gaining more and more power, for the sole sake of more power.

He had even tried his hand at magic, as black magic, in particular, seemed to interest himmlst, but soon found that he had little patience and aptitude for it, and so slew his teacher. Then he outlawed practicing magic, black or white -- didn't matter, throughout the lands he conquered. Punishment for defying this order was not only death, but a sensationally gruesome death.

And that was the way he ruled his tyranny, if there was something that he couldn't do or get the hang of, he slew or assassinated the person who could and outlawed the thing in question. So, naturally, he had to put down a number of rebellions, but always saw them as inconsequential. Mere day trips, nothing to be concerned with.

Then he heard of the Methuselah Tree. The tree where all the world waters came from.

Whoever controlled that tree controlled the world. It was far too tempting for him to pass up. That power under his control? The world would be begging for subjugation!! The world would be at his feet!! He would be the most powerful man in the world!! He would have been able to deny his enemies waters, and he would watch with malicious enjoyment as they whethered and died as their livestock and crops did the same!! He would have had it all!

Then he falls. He somehow became . . . this.

He did not deserve this. He did not deserve to become this walking monstrocity with an unquenchable thirst. It was a heresy to the mighty man, the powerful warrior, the terrifying king he was!! This fate was truly most undeserving!!

Now . . . now it ends.

He lifted the blossom high in the air, and squeezed it. Inexplicably causing some water to trickle out, into the Eterno's mouth. He dissolved away, with a refreshed, "Ahhhhh . . ."

Eterno was dead.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Solutions

The RAFians watched with incredulous awe as the Eterno, as the person who was once Contentio, dissolved into nothingness. They all bore witness to the death of the creature, his thirst finally quenched, and finally able to pass on.

"Well," Demos said, "he's going home."

"Heaven?" Faerie asked, already knowing that she was wrong.

"No," Demos confirmed, answering the rhetorical question anyway.

"This presents us with a problem, though," Cloak said, pragmatically. "The blossom has been drained. We could have used that Methuselah Tree water to free the others . . ."

"Somehow, I doubt it, Cloak, if it held that little," Faerie said. "But I can't imagine why it would guve us so --"

Goom's communicator vibrated, indicating an incoming call. "Yes, Aquilai?"

Cloak's ears were acute enough to pick up Aquilai on the other side.

"Goom? That data you sent me," Aquilai.said, without preamble. "It's absolutely incredible. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. It is so --"

"Stop gushing," Goom said, very seriously, "can it be replicated?"

"What?"

"Can it be replicated?" Goom repeated. "It's essential to undo the salinification of the world's water supply, and to free the people -- and Dino and Parker's leg -- from that salt exoskeleton they have when the Eterno touched them."

"Wait, what about Dino? And Parker's leg?" Aquilai said. "And what's an eterno?"

"Later!" Goom said, with uncharacteristic bite of impatience. "Priorities, Time Lord! Priorities! Can the water in the data be replicated??"

"Yes," Aquilai said, disconcerted a bit by the intensity of the question, "quite easily, actually."

"Good, then," Goom said, "go ahead and replicate it. We need to get the entire forum on this. That water can solve everything."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
Saved and Strut

Once armed with an ample amount of the Methuselah Water, each and every RAFians went to work. First Dino and Parker were freed, then the villagers, Liliana's family, and finally Liliana herself.

Then it was the waters themselves that were reverted back to normal. It was as if nothing every happened, as the aquatic life were just put in suspended animation, not unlike from Dino and the villagers.

It took them all of seventy-two hours, but the deed was done in the end. The waters were back to being waters, and the people were no longer statues. All was as it should be.

The crisis was over.

***

Naturally, with the crisis over, a celebration was in order, and GH took upon himself to organize the music for the event.

Gh prompted, "One -- two -- three, and --"

Saffa, Faerie, Abby, and Gaz said, "Hey!"

GH said, "That was good.  One more time, girls. You ready?  Let's do it.  Now!"

"Hey!"

GH chortled as the music began in earnest. He then sang:

"Here we go everybody.
Okay, time to move.
Put your body in the groove,
RAFians here in this bungalow.
Oh, here we go.
Right, left, right, left, right,
Stretch up to your highest height!
One, two,
Say what?
Forum-floor strut!
Now the Yeerks can get a bit excited
When da dragons can't keep their big mouths shut
When they're dancing, they are all united!
You can spot them on the bottom
As they do the forum-floor strut!
Lean back, turn around.
Feel the beat that's going down.
One, two, oh, say what?
Hey, man!
Forum-floor strut!
Oh hey, me and you --
See us drop and stop on cue.
Stop! Say what?
Ha! Forum-floor strut!
Would you check out that old crazy arbiter?
Jammin' out of his old lazy rut.
He says, 'Hey, don't you be a party pooper!
Get your rear in gear 'cause here, my dear
We do the forum-floor strut!'"

The only one, pretty much, who was not celebrating, but present at the forum, was Cloak. The frivolity and uproarious nature of the celebration made the feline Realm Walker feel uncomfortable.

Cloak was never a real "party dude". His reserved, stoic, and serious nature conflicted seriously with that aspect. Cloak spent his time wondering if he should try to make contact with Aniyu, but not really wanting to.

She would force him to confront the pain he had worked so hard, endeavored so arduously, exerted himself so assiduously to bury and forget. He didn't want to open the old wound.

He didn't . . .

[Cloak]

New chapter.

BOOK CXIX:
THE GREAT RACE
CHAPTER ONE:
Sakki Amuck

In a cartoon's title sequence and opening scene suggested that Sakki was to star as a musketeer, who boldly acted out an action scene with a fencing foil. As she thrusts the foil and advances, the background abruptly disappeared, leaving a plain white screen. Confused by this, Sakki turns to the animator and asks him to complete the scenery.

However, instead of a castle from the original scene, the animator paints a scene that is totally irrelevant from the previous one. Sakki returned and started to repeat her musketeer opening, but quickly notices the different background. Unamused, she walks off screen and returns acting out the new scene. A few seconds later, the scene segues into a winter backdrop. Sakki notices and is not amused.

Sakki deftly changes into winter clothes off-screen, and skis through the snow (to the tune of"Jingle Bells") and into a Hawaiian setting. Still dutifully going through the changes, Sakkk comes back in Hawaiian garb. After a couple of bars of "Farewell To Three" on ukulele, Sakki ends up back in an empty, white background.

Sakki tries to reason with the animator that cartoons should have scenery, she becomes completely erased and redrawn as a cowgirl with a guitar. Sakki tries to play it but there is nothing but silence. She requests sound with a sign and is granted with various non-guitar sound effects. Then Sakki also finds herself briefly generating random sound effects before finally blowing her top and shouting angrily at the animator.

" -- AND I'VE NEVER BEEN SO HUMILIATED IN ALL MY LIFE!!"

Regaining her composure, Sakki demands some new scenery and is given an amateurish line-art cityscape background in pencil. Sakki demanda color, prompting the animator to slap various colors and patterns all over him.

"NOT ME, YOU SLOP ARTIST!!"

All but Sakki's face is erased and upon asking where the rest of her was, she is redrawn as a bizarre mismatched animal with a "screwball" flag on its tail. As Sakki walks off (wondering to himself if she wasn't living up to his contract and if she hadn't been keeping herself trim), he becomes suspicious of his new form until the animator creates a mirror and Sakki scolds the animator upon seeing her hideous self.

"EEK! You know better than that!"

Everything is erased and Sakki is redrawn again, this time as a sailor. She begins to sing "The Song of the Marines" as the animator draws an ocean scene with an island in the background. Upon realizing that she has been left in thin air and surrounded by nothing but water, Sakki falls into the ocean and surfaces on the distant island where she asks for a closeup, only to have the camera zoom up close to her eyes.

As Sakki tries once again to negotiate with the animator to have an understanding, the black screen frame falls on her. After failing to keep the frame up with a stick, Sakki goes ballistic and rips apart the black background. Now at the end of his rope, Sakki demands, "Now let's get this picture started!"

So the camera does an iris-out to black, followed by "The End" slide which Sakki frustratingly pushes off camera. Sakki suggests that he and the animator go their separate ways and (hoping, against hope, that nothing further will happen) begins a dance routine which is quickly interrupted when the film runs out of alignment, resulting in two Sakkis on the screen. They argue with each other and almost start a fight, but one Sakki is erased just as the other throws a punch.

The animator then turns akki into a pilot and draws him into an airplane. The RAFian excitedly flies around until a mountain is drawn in his path. The plane crashes off-screen, leaving Sakki with nothing but the plane's steering wheel and windshield. She "bails" out of the plane's remains and floats downward with his parachute which is replaced with an anvil. Crashing to the ground, a disoriented Sakki hammers the anvil while dizzily reciting "The Village Blacksmith". The artist changes the anvil into an artillery shell which explodes after a few more hammer strikes.

Sakki finally snaps and angrily demands that the animator reveal himself. He does, but not until after he draws a door around Sakki and closes it on him. The camera draws back and reveals the guilty party to be Mithril at a drawing table, who turns around and says to the audience: "Ain't I a stinker?"

***

"Nice recreation, guys," Cloak said, having finished the video.

"Recreation?" GH asked.

"A recreation of 'Duck Amuck', starring Daffy Duck," Cloak explained.

[guitarhero01234]

. . . What the hell just happened?

[Cloak]

Looney Tunes, GH.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWO:
The RAF Festival

The celebration continued a few days later, when it became clear that there wasn't any more pressing concerns. It was amazing that Sakki and Mithril could make such an entertaining recreation of "Duck Amuck", a Daffy Duck cartoon. It was a great way to kick of the festival.

The mods had even organized a race, which they had Cloak and Aquilai build the courses with their tech and the elements. Of course, this naturally meant that they were not eligible to enter the race, not that Cloak would have been interested in participating anyway.

"Fourteen tracks may be a bit much," Cloak said, seriously.

"It's basically a triathlon," Aquilai said, jovially. It starkly contrasted Cloak's dour, moody expression. "The change-up in the scenery will add some oomph to the race."

Cloak said nothing, and continued to scowl.

"Oh, cheer up, grumpy!" Aquilai said, bracingly cheerful.

Cloak kept his dour demeanor. He wasn't sleeping well, and it was starting to show in his waking hours. He was moodier and more brooding than usual -- and that was saying something. It was not unnoticeable, either.

"Is . . . is everything okay?" Aquilai asked, gentle concern in his tone.

"I'm fine," the Realm Walker said, repressively.

"Cloaky," Aquilai said, coaxingly, "you don't need to --"

"I said 'I'm fine'." Cloak said.

"Cloaky --"

"Don't push me on this, Time Lord," Cloak growled.

"Fine, fine," Aquilai said, raising his hands in mock surrender. "Keep your feeling bottled up."

Cloak said nothing. His sleep problems were coming from his desire, both consciously and subconsciously, to avoid Aniyu. He was running from his problems, but he wanted to keep that pain buried, where it belonged. Where . . . it belonged.

Aniyu would want him to forgive Ursa for all she's done . . . but she didn't deserve forgiveness. She hadn't earned it. She hadn't . . . she didn't . . . he couldn't do it. He couldn't forgive her. The wounds . . . they were too deep. Too deep to be healed. Too deep for the inflicter to be forgiven.

It was impossible to forgive her. Impossible . . .

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER THREE:
Selection Method

There was a wooden stage that over looked the sparkling lake. This was really a perfect sort of day for this festival. There was a podium of a lacquered brown and a pedestal with a stone goblet churning with blue flames.

Yes, they got that idea from that wizard competition between Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beaubaxons.

Anyway, the idea was that whoever wanted to.participate in the race would just put their name into the goblet, like at that tournament thing. The goblet would just pick the names completely at random and cast a magical light on the selected. There were no real rules locking it, which Cloak thought it was a mistake, as Leatherhead put his name in, and he thought that he was too young. Cloak believed that GH was being too lenient with him on this. But Cloak was also very cranky.

"Welcome!! Welcome, RAFians!" Richard called, but Cloak was eyeing a section of the crowd suspiciously. The movement underfoot and his incessant insomnia was making it difficult to utilize his Earthsight properly. But his instincts were telling him something was up. "Welcome to the first-ever RAF Fest!"

A cheer went up, but Cloak did not join it. He kept.eyeing thst one spot. He thought he saw someone with a drab cloak on. A suspicious character . . .

"Now that you've all had ample time to supply your names for the Great RAFian Race," Richard announced, MC'ing the event, "the time for the Selection Goblet to give us the names of the racers aprroaches closer. Plenty of time to go over the rules of the race."

Cloak stared at the other cloaked person, and he had the feeling that, unlike Cloak, he or she was trying to obscure their identity. There had to be a reason why.

"By submitting your name to be a racer, you are magically obligated to compete," Richard said, "but you know this already. The race will commence over fourteen different tracks, with a brief resting period between. No powers or items of a destructive capacity are to be used, and the use of grapples, like grappling hooks and what not, are expressly forbidden. You are not to attack or maim your fellow racers, or face immediate disqualification."

Cloak keep his gaze on this intruder, and he could tell that this intruder was trying to get out of the way of this intense glare.

"Well, I think that's all," Richard said, as the Goblet's fire turned scarlet. "And now it's time to select the racers!!"