Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Healing

Cloak had really done a number on Bast. Though she was libel to rip you to shreds rather than admit such a thing.

She felt as if it was a betrayal, despite Cloak having never aligned himself with her. His obstinate nature would not allow her Catcall to work on him, and being a Realm Walker didn't hurt matters.

She had not expected him to fight back. She had expected him to stand there and take her punishment. In her view, he should have stood there and taken it. She opined that since he was the naughty one, that he deserved the punishment for defying her. Her, the Catmother!

He should have fawned over her, like the others. He should have capitulated to all her desires, like the others. He should have given her undying gratitude, like the others. He should have given her abject obedience, like the others. He should have done a great many more things for her, without question, like the others.

She did not realize how dictatorial this made her sound, but even if she did, she would just pass off as some sort of hack criticism. She took criticism reasonably well, as she ignored it, seeing it as unimportant. Her critics were meaningless to her, and soon they would be hers.

Despite her rhetoric about freeing the human race and yada yada yada, she was really a control freak. She couldn't control humans as she could cats. So, how to remedy that? Simple, really. Turn the humans into cats. Then they would be hers. Then she would be worshipped again, because she would make them do it. They would have no choice, they would be felines.

Although . . . what if a sufficient number of them proved to be renegades like that one in the cloak? What if a significant number of them don't bow their head and fall in line? What if a number of them refuse to comply to her whims?

She shook her head, as if to shake away the notion.

If that came to pass, she would just simply kill off the troublemakers. That would show that she meant business and act as a deterrent for such future actions again. Her plan was foolproof.

She righted herself tentatively, pleased to see that her body wasn't aching. Apparently, bodies made from the Duat were more reserved resilient than she gave them credit for. She was glad that she didn't go the lazy way and just wait for a host body. She would have to struggle against the native mind and will . . . the silence was so much better.

Then she stood, a bit wobbly at first, but stable soon enough. Her strength was returning, thanks to the ministrations of her children. Soon, very soon, she'd have regain the energy to cast the ailurorization magicks.

She never noticed how the Marks of the feline RAFians seemed to start to steadily glow brighter and brighter in such small and subtle increments. . . .

[theyoungphoenix]

she may be a god, but she's very naïve to how the world actually works, apparently.

also heck yeah c'mon rafians

[Cloak]

And last chapter of the night. It's off to bed I go.

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
She Puts a Spell On You

Bast had her children gathered around her in a circle, with the RAFians hesitant at first, then complying. She was in the center, with at least five feet of clearance in any direction. Light seemed to have been leeched out of the Garden for whatever reason. The only light was a spotlight upon Bast, with a blue filter.

Bast shut her eyes, and steepled her fingers beneath her feline nose. "It's time."

She snapped her eyes open. "For the ailurorization magic."

She flung her arms down and the light now illuminated everyone, and then that's when the music started up. And she started to sing . . .

"I put a spell on you,
And now you're mine.
You can't stop the things I do!
I ain't lyin'!"

The music picked up as the magical energy the color of sand began to billow around Bast in a circle. The ailurorization magic. With every note, with every beat, sung the energy amassed and pushed outward. Naturally, it didn't affect those that already were feline to begin with.

"It's been five thousand years,
Right down to the day!
Now the cat is back!
And there's HELL to pay!"

Bast was certainly having fun with this now. She seemed to be relishing it. 

"I put a spell on you
And now you're mine!"

Yep, she was definitely relishing this.

"Hello, world!
My name's Bast!
What's yours?

And now she was hamming it up.

"I put a spell on you
And now you're gone."

The cats in her little menagerie, well the ones that could speak anything other than Cat, sang (although, curiously, none of the RAFian felines took part, as their Mark began to glow brighter and stronger, unnoticed by all):

"Gone gone gone, so long!"

Then Bast sang:

"My whammy fell on you
And it was strong!"

Her disciples that were able sang:

"So strong, so strong, so strong!"

Then she sang:

"Your wretched little lives
Have all been cursed!
'Cause of all the magic's working
And you're the the worst!"

Bast seemed to be really enjoying herself, seeing her magic expand beyond the circle.

"I put a spell on you
And now you're mine!"

Her followers that were able (and suspiciously not carrying a Mark) sang:

"Watch out! Watch out! Watch out! Watch out!"

Bast continued:

"If you don't believe,
You better get superstitious!
Ask my kitties!"

Those able responded:

"Ooh, she's vicious!"

Bast continued:

"I put a spell on you . . .
I put a spell on you . . .
Children!
I say into pie uppa-maybe-uppen my!"

Her cats who were able repeated:

"I say into pie uppa-maybe-uppen my!"

Bast:

"In Kamma Kory Ama."

Cats:

"In Kamma Kory Ama."

Bast sang the conclusion:

"Hey hi, say bye-bye-i-i-i-i-i-i-i!
Bye, bye!"

Then she watched gleeful as the sand-colored magic roll and expand ever onward. Only . . .


Source Song: https://youtube.com/watch?v=zaC-WDrvmUQ

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Not So Fast, Bast

Only the magic wouldn't expland and roll out beyond a certain point. It was almost as if the magic itself was defying Bast! Impossible! The ultimate insult! Her ailurorization wave, her human-to-feline magic was perfect! And now even that was disobeying her wishes? Disregarding her will?

No! No, she wouldn't have any of it. She was too close to be stopped so suddenly now. This should not happened. The magic should have grown to encompass the world in its entirety! All 196,940,000 square miles of it! Sea, land, and air!! It should have been unstoppable. It should have been relentless.

Bast roiled with apoplectic rage and deep-seated ire at this newest development. She was sure she did the magic right. It was perfect -- in execution and plan, but yet the results were less than desired. Why? Why was her scheme not working to fruition? What could have possibly gone wrong?

It was when the magic seemed to reverse direction and contract back towards her, did she see why. She finally saw the energy shield of swirling gold and scarlet that had preemptively stopped her magic. She was livid, as she should have been able to see that a long way off.

But noooooo . . . she had to be dramtic. Nooooo, she had to draw it out. Noooo, she had to savor the moment. Why didn't she not hurry to cast the magic right after her Catcall? Why had she been so adamant to have all her children in the Garden, when the magic wouldn't have affect them anyway?

All these thoughts and more spun 'round and 'round inside her head, as she crushed daisies and a young lily-of-the-valley underfoot. She started to unconsciously worry her emerald green catsuit wither her sharp human-like nails/claws, as she paced in a rather diamond shape.

Shield continued to constrict and contract. It would crush them soon if it did not slow its pace. She had to do something. Anything. But . . . what could she . . . she didn't know how to . . .

She would attack it. She would attack it fiercely, like a woman gone mad. She ran toward the gold and scarlet barrier and lunged at it like a wild beast. . . . Only to pass harmlessly through. The energy bubble's entire purpose was to keep the magic in, but not the occupants.

Bast quickly stood up with all the grace of a cat, looking for the energy bubble's source. Only to quickly discover four slabs of Earth pinioning her arms to her sides and holding her steadfast, when she discovered the terrorist behind the shield.

"YOU!" she accused.

"Me," Cloak said. "Sit tight, Bast, you crazy cat lady. We'll talk after I fix your mess."

[theyoungphoenix]

woo! cloaky to the rescue!

[Cloak]

Oh, there's more to it.

(I hope Saffa's okay.)

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Don't Call Me That

"My what?!" Bast cried out, indignant, as the energy bubble continued to constrict and contract, as the felines quickly evacuated it. "The ailurorization magic isn't a mess!! Why if you hadn't interfered -- !"

"Oh, do shut up," Cloak said, wishing that he had gagged her. It was taking more energy to constrict and contract the bubble now, as the gaseous magic was becoming more and more compressed. The more compressed it got, the more it seemed to fight the compression.

This compounded with the fact that apparently Bast was like Emily from "Until Dawn" and she didn't know when to shut up or stop whining. Which just served to aggravate the Realm Walker all the more.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Bast said, suddenly, interrupting her own disjointed thought, "I know why you didn't fall for my Catcall!"

"Pray tell," Cloak said, dryly, knowing she would have told him anyway, regardless if he said anything at all. She wouldn't shut the Veil up either way.

"There is only one explanation for all this," Bast said, sounding rather demented, in Cloak's honest opinion. "You're a god."

"Don't call me that," Cloak said. The way he spoke it, it was as if Bast had called him a racial slur. He grated against such an identification, recoiled at such a label. He, in his view, was no more a god than any Dweller was one. Besides, he knew of the debauchery of the Olympians, the masochism of the Asguardians, and the parasitism of the Egyptian pantheon. He would prefer not to be referred to as a godfor those reasons.

"You're a god!"

"I asked nicely," Cloak said.

"I don't know your pantheon, but it isn't mine," she continued, apparently obvious to how incensed she was making Cloak. Cloak didn't reply -- and his silence in moments like these were a clear danger sign. "But I know one thing -- no matter how strong you think you are, no matter how strong you actually may be, you cannot destroy this magic!"

"You think so, d'you?" Cloak said, wanly.

"I know so!" she exclaimed, sounding more and more like a doddering old fool, in Cloak's opinion. "There's no way! You may be able to contain it. You may be able to compress it to a finite point. But there's no way you can eradicate it!!"

Cloak said nothing. Bast laughed. It was an arrogant, conceited sort of laugh. Cloak hated it immediately, as it was too similar to Malice's only with a different timbre.

"All this effort of yours! This whole endeavor is futile!" she crowed, thinking she had won. "You will tire. Youwill drop the shield. The magic would not have deteriorated in its range or efficaciousness. You have just delayed the inevitable! It's just a matter of time now. You've lost. You've lost!!"

"Have I now?" Cloak said, quietly.

"Yes!!" Bast proclaimed, gleefully. "Yes!! There's no possible way -- absolutely no conceivable way -- that you can succeed at this alone!!"

Then she balked when she caught sight of Cloak's face.

[theyoungphoenix]

oh dear bast.

(I hope Saffa's okay.)

me too...

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Why Is He Smiling Like That?

"Yes!!" Bast proclaimed, gleefully. "Yes!! There's no possible way -- absolutely no conceivable way -- that you can succeed at this alone!!"

Then she balked when she caught sight of Cloak's face. He was smiling. Smiling in a way that didn't make sense to the cat-headed deity. He was beaten. He was so thoroughly defeated. Why would he smile like that?

"Really? You think so?" Cloak said, with mocking sarcasm.

Suddenly, what seemed to be an innumerable amount of blue beams lanced out to join the energy bubble, strengthening it, and weakening the magic within. Cloak's smile deepened so that he was in danger of looking like the Cheshire Cat.

"Well, then," he said, smugly, "it's a quite fortunate that I'm not alone."

Bast said nothing, being absolutely gobsmacked, as Cloak savored this reveal. His fellow RAFians, felines included, continued firing Unity Blasts at the sphere until the magic was clearly obliterated. It was done. It was over. And over a lot easier than Cloak would have believed initially.

However, Bast recovered more quickly than he would have liked as well.

"You are a miserable cheat!" Bast raged. "I won! There should have been no way for you outmaneuver my grand scheme!!"

"Oh, First Light, do shut up," Cloak groaned, seriously annoyed.

"I will not!" she countered as Cloak assumed she would. "I do not take orders from you, you meddling god!"

"This is now the third time I told you not to call me that," Cloak said scornfully, stemming his flaring anger. "I am not like you. I am no god."

"You can lie to yourself all you want," she snarled. "But I know a GOD when I see one."

"And that is now the fourth time," Cloak was rapidly losing his patience, as the others were approaching the two. "Before I hear that slur a fifth time, care to repent for your crimes? And your attempted forced mass transmogrification?"

Cloak strode so that the two were practically nose-to-nose.

 "Do you acknowledge that wrongdoing?" Cloak said, voice little more than a hiss. "D'you accept the responsibility of your actions?"

Bast tried to spit in Cloak's face, but his corona, blocked from proceeding further from his cloak had evaporated it into nothingness before it came anywhere close to touching his face. But Cloak had expected as much, and prepared for it.

"Go ahead, unknown god," Bast said.

"Fifth time," Cloak rankled.

"Go ahead, try to kill me. All you'll do is destroy this body, made from the Duat." she said, defiance in her every line, in all her body language. "Sure, I'll be forced to return to the dregs of the Duat. But I can -- and will -- come back! And, on that occasion, I won't make a body out of the Duat. I always thought the others were lazy, but now I see why they took bodies to be come the Eyes of gods. It was to have a hostage with them always, to dissuade interlopers the likes of you and your cohorts there. I will be back! I'm a goddess! Immortal."

"And immoral," GH added, roughly

"You can't kill me," Bast said.

"Perhaps not," Cloak said. "But you can be execrated."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Ruthless Execration

Several beats of silence met these words.

"You can't be serious," Bast said, serious now. All levity in her had gone. "You can't be."

"I'm deadly serious, Bast," Cloak said, showing a rarely seen ruthlessness. "You've done wrong. You've attempted to mass transmogrify people without their knowledge or consent. A permanent transmogrification."

"I would have made them better!"

"In your opinion," Cloak added, correctively.

"It's a fact!"

"No, it isn't."

"It won't work, anyway," Bast said, sounding a little hysterical. "You won't do it. You can't."

"Do you want to try me?" Cloak said, before addressing another RAFian, "Broken?"

A human in a red cloak -- the Cloak of Levitation -- approached, with the Amulet of Agamotto around his throat jingling distractingly. Who knows how many more magical artifacts he has stored? The human produced a small statue of Bast herself seemingly cut from obsidian or onyx.

"It won't work," Bast said, hoping that it wouldn't.

"How disappointing," Cloak said. "You have feline sense, I assume, Bast. It's rather shameful that you did not notice that Broken was behind you, absorbing your shadow into this statuette."

"WHAT?!"

"So," Cloak said, "I ask again. Do you repent for your crimes?"

"I did nothing wrong!"

It was technically true. Cloak knew this in the back of his mind. But the key here was her clear and undisputed intent. And her intent on doing it again if she should go free. This would be essentially a preemptive measure -- a cruel and heartless one, perhaps. But it was one that would have to be done eventually. Bast wouldn't stop until she got her way.

"But that was your intent," Cloak said, solemnly. "You were intent on this wrongdoing. You were intent of this mass transmogrification without consent of your potential victims."

Sure, Cloak would feel guilty about it, but execration was the only way to get rid of Egyptian deities. He doubted simply forgetting themand having them fade away was really an option. He might hate himself for the decision that he must make now, but he would do what he feels needs to be done.

"And you confessed that you would do again, given the option," Cloak continued, almost as if to assuage his own conscience. "And again and again, if met with repeated failures."

"Because it is right!" Bast insisted, fanatically. "Five thousand years ago, the humans were a good, hardworking --"

"Didn't you use slave labor back then? Forced slave labor?" GH asked.

Bast ignored him and plowed on. "-- hardworking people. They were good then. Now they poison the air with their machines' flatulence, they poison the water with their chemicals' defecations, they poison their land with radioactivity and other toxicities. They abuse my children. They lock them up in cages! Lock them up, gawk at them, and scream at them to perform for them as if they were nothing but toys! They rob them of any dignity and pride they once had!"

"And you think that this would be any different if we were cat-people?" Abby said, incredulous.

"Broken?" Cloak asked.

"Yes?" Broken asked, already seeing where this was going.

"Do it," Cloak said. He told himself that this was for the best. But later on, he began to wonder if this was the best recourse.

[Cloak]

New chapter. Sorry about the brevity.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
He Will Cut You

Dino was in the forest, in her compacted form, as to not attract any unwanted attention. It was hard enough not attracting any when you were an Ankylotyrannus, and decidedly not human.

Then she was attacked. She felt a glancing blow of her ankylosaurid-shelled back. It didn't hurt, but it did well to garner her attention. She immediately turned to eye the ugly creature.

The creature had horns atop his head rather like a male stag beetle, only these horns resembled more the legs of a pair of scissors. It was these scissors-like horns, made out of an organic ceramic zoodeitium, that it threw at her shell like a boomerang. It had a blue head shaped like a crystal vase with black "C"-shaped ears. Itsface was unnaturally smooth and it had no discernible nose.  The rest of its body was humanoid with blue hands and feet and a black body. Its circular eyes had brown pupils and black sclera. It was about the size of an Ewok, but more svelte.

It seemed to be highly well-aware of his surroundings and seemed to be very cunning, if not a bit overconfident and a touch incompetent. It was also very stubborn and appeared to have a tendency to not listen to others.

It threw the horns again, when it realized that she saw it. It glanced off her armored back, and returned to the cutter creatures head. It leaped far higher than it should have been able, and threw the horns again, with similar results.

Dino clubbed it with her tail for each time it jumped and threw its horns, before hearing a brief pop, and seeing it vanished. She never noticed the gray orb the size of a pingpong ball where the creature used to be.

***

Demos called this creature a kirusapien, revealing it to be a creature of his own design. Maul's "brother", so to speak. Demos declared that he was trying create a timber-felling beast to help the common man and it went rogue. No one quite believed him on this point, which left him rather disconsolate and moody.

Several RAFians, including Cloak, thought that he was playing god and suspected that doing this secretly gave Demos a rush, a feeling of being powerful. They didn't believe that he honestly had good intentions with this.

Also, he wouldn't admit to how many he made. Because, in all honesty, he had lost count. He was fairly sure that the kirusapien was part of the first series he created. He thought that there were at least six in that series. Maybe nine. He didn't know.

***

Meanwhile, a few hours later, Malice was revealled to have retrieved the ball from the battle as she balanced it on her fingers. "Pity. And I thought you would make the cut, kirusapien."

Malice had the pod. She could access all the names. But this was all a game to her.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

BOOK CXXXVI:
MIDAS DUCK
CHAPTER ONE:
Electrifying

Blaze had his wings folded up tightly against his back as he strolled to an evacuated power plant. They had received a report of a strange creature attack the employees working there. Blaze had decided to investigate this.

It wasn't long before he discovered it. The creature was very humanoid, with a green torso, covered by a white shield akin to the Mighty Morphin' Green Ranger's shield with a yellow lightning bolt on it. From its waist to its knees was white, with green knees and purple legs. It had green arms until its elbows where it transitioned into purple cuffs than back into green for its hands. It had four electrodes on its back, not unlike a Transylian. It was also the size of an Ewok. It had a rounded head with purple markings around its almond-shaped eyes. Its eyes had white pupils and purple sclera.

Its fingertips crackled with electricity at the sight of Blaze, and the creature revealed his human-like teeth in a smile. Blaze deftly unsheathed his sword, immediately not wanting to do this. There wasn't any room here to fly properly, as his wingtips would just manage to brush each side of the wall if he was to fully extend them.

The creature immediately fired a tri-directional blast of electrical energy. Blaze managed to block the brunt of it with his sword. He was relieved that it didn't snap the blade in two, he just got this replacement for his other one. He actually made this one himself, hilt, guard, and blade.

So, naturally, he flapped his wings as he threw it, slicing the side of the creature who didn't seem to care all that much. Blaze was elated as he easily retrieved his sword again, it having pulled a Captain America shield and bounced back to his hand after very nearly striking the creature again. Blaze decided that was an advantage to this small --

And the second tri-directional electricity beams nearly wreaked his right wing. He would have to stop getting so complacent and take this fight more seriously. So . . . he threw his sword again, scoring a shoulder shot, before his sword boomeranged back to him.

Blaze flared his wings as the creature jumped high. Higher than he should have been able to. Then he fired the tri-directional lightning beam and Blaze threw his sword again.

When Blaze looked again, after shielding his eyes with a wing, he saw that the creature had gone and his sword had fallen to the floor with a clatter.

***

Demos called the creature the ever-so-imaginative name of electrosapien. He claimed it was intended to be a back up for blackouts and whatnot. The fact the others still didn't believe him irritated him.

***

"How shocking," Malice said, having collected the yellow ball. "Poor electrosapien, I thought you'd do the job. Looks like I was mistaken."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWO:
Stealer in the Shrine

A sneak-thief who reeked of the orange light of avarice (so much so, it was lucky Larfleeze would not relinquish any orange rings) was running away from people he had slighted in the past. His crimes ranged from petty theft to pickpocketing. For all his crimes, he never killed anyone. He always managed to talk himself out of perilous situations using flattering language and flowery rhetoric, or generally outsmarting and outthinking his foes. Failing that he just ran -- and he was quite a quick runner, though nothing superhuman.

His name was Amin Rigtreble*. No, seriously. It was. He had a prominent, bulbous nose, a neat goatee, wide mouth, hooded eyes, cauliflower ears, and a svelte build. He wore loose fitting clothing in whites and browns.

He was running for his wrongdoing, and had lost track where he was. He knew he had washed up on some island. Crete or something, he didn't stop to ask where. He had to be careful that his creditors and thieving victims didn't find him. They would break him into pieces if they did. An all-together undesirable outcome for him.

He kept running, only competent in the basics of surviving in the wild. He traversed the hilly landscape, without any real destination in mind. He was a thief by trade, it was the only thing he ever knew. And he didn't always steal because needed to -- he was always greedy for more, mostly gold and expensive things.

Eventually, he came to a temple that appeared to be carved from marble with clear Roman-inspired architecture. He remembered his older brother Tharisno* talking about a huge marble temple, which was home to an order of monks hoping tor find enlightenment by distancing themselves from the earthly matters. Amin though it was called Domus Anas Aurea**, but he had no idea what the three words meant in English.

"Amin?" said a voice behind him.

He turned to find a bald monk with a thick, full beard. Yet, Armin saw through the years to see his big brother. "Tharisno?"

"That is me, baby brother," Tharisno said, a sense of calm radiating from him. Despite the two's falling out. "Have you lost your thieving ways?"

"Oh! Y-yes. Yes, I have." he said, not really all that believably. But his brother was naive, always willing to see the best in people, even when little to none exist. He was very gullible, unlike his brother.

"Then have you come to join our order?" Tharisno said, almost wistfully hopeful. He always had a steadfast belief in redemption. Amin thought that redemption was only a useful tool for manipulation.

Amin thought that this could be a useful cover and sanctuary. "Um, yes! Yes, I have, dearest brother!"

"You would devote your life to our goal? To the service of others?"

Amin hid his distaste well. He was always the bad boy of the family, the selfish and greedy one. Tharisno was always the good boy, the selfless and compassionate one. He could never tell when his brother was playing him.


*Anyone get this pun?

** Hazard a guess?

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER THREE:
Shrine's Secret

A few days passed, and Amin kept up his charade quite surprisingly well. While Blaze was dealing with the electrosapien, Tharisno and Amin were at the Domus Anas Aurea. Amin was hiding his boredom and disinterest well, not betraying his intention only to stay until the heat died down. He abandoned his family once without any remorse, he held no qualm about doing it a second time or third time.

Tharisno naively took this as validation at his brother's supposed desire for redemption. He was proud of his brother, who hid his indifference well. Amin never wore his emotions on his sleeve, feeling that they might contradict a con.

So, Tharisno Rigtreble took his brother into a secret room that was flanked by two monks who looked to be mountains in their own right. Only their square jaws and thin noses were exposed from the hoods on their monk robes. They wore only the sternest and grimmest of expressions. Amin found immediately that he didn't care for their nonverbal prognostication, which carried a very foreboding air around them.

The brothers moved through two kissing doors made of a thick, sturdy mahogany with inlaid gold and marble in decorative designs. The doors opened with a loud, drawn-out creak. It sounded ominous to Amin, but he skillfully didn't allow it to show.

"Dear brother," Tharisno said, proudly, "since you have made wonderful strides in you redemption, I think you have earned the right to know the purpose of my -- of our order. Step inside, Amin."

The room beyond was smaller and less extravagant as Amin was expecting. The walls were bare and a white marble with gold trim. The only thing of note was a small fountain in the middle of the small, but not cramped, room.  There was a small spout of water on which rested a solid gold statue of a mallard. It appeared to have a very tempermental and distempered look upon its face.

"All this security for a waterfowl bobble?" Amin asked, some contemptuous disbelief escaping him, unnoticed by his brother. "Seems like overkill."

"This isn't any ordinary bobble, dear brother," Tharisno said, grandly. He carefully lifted it from its resting place slightly above their heads, and produced an old forgotten knick knack. Then he touched it with the bill of the golden duck. "This duck was an idol that is said to have absorbed the curse from a very famous Phrygian king."

"King who?"

"Midas," Tharisno replied.

"You're kidding," Amin replied flatly.

"It has never been substantiated, of course," he said, with a smile. "All on has to do tap the beak to an item, and say 'gold', and, well, you see."

The knick knack was turned to solid gold.

"Is there any limit to what it can turn to gold?" Akin asked, trying to keep his greed from showing. It was harder now, as he saw the duck as potential for a vast fortunate. A fortune that would enable him to pull a Scrooge McDuck and get himself a money bin, and allow him to swim through it like water, despite the later being physically impossible for a flatscan human.

"That's not for us to say," Tharisno Rigtreble said, returningthe duck to the fountain and washing the knick knack in the running water of the fountain, returning it to normal. "We just guard it, to make sure it stays safe and secret."

Amin did not question why he showed him in just the span of a few days. He was just coming up with ways in which he could sneak the duck out, and make his fortune. Tharisno actually trusted him enough to get him to guard it for a shift.

This was a really bad idea on Tharisno's part.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOUR:
Quacker-Snatched

Amin was on sentry duty, but he had no intention on completing the shift. Ignoring the dangers that his overly-trusting, naive brother warned him in explicit detail about. To be honest, he wasn't even listening to his brother about it. He didn't even give any pause to consider things like familial loyalty. He felt no guilt or compunction. He was feeding a stereotype about the Rigtrebles being big trouble, but he didn't care.

He wanted to turn big things into gold -- not only would he paid of his creditors and victims, he would have plenty for him to live a comfortable life in a manner of a spoilt prince.

He reached up to the fountain and took the duck. He was practically a beacon of orange light with such an action. He just needed a way pass the guards, as thewould never allow him to sneak out of here. They had their backs to the wall in a literal sense, and were no unintelligent as one would expect of guards nowadays, though a stereotype in and of itself.

First thing he noticed about the duck was that it was inordinately lighter than it should have been. One could have easily expected it to be gold-plated, had they not known its secret. Perhaps Midas's curse made it lighter -- which got Amin thinking. Thinking about what if he accidentally turned his food to gold, making it inedible. Midas died of starvation, if he wasn't mistaken. He was adamant of not sharing the same fate, though he had more control over the duck's chrysopoeia than Midas with his own touch.

Amin took out a hidden flask (how he managed to hide this from Tharisno and the other monks was remarkable, really) and filled it to the brim with water from the fountain, remembering how it reverted Tharisno's knick knack. Amin would have to travelled without it, but in his life as a shady pickpocket and conman, he learned that one could never be too careful.

He already knew how he could escape the sentries, but it would involve burning some bridges . . .

***

"What's this?" Tharisno said, upon seeing the two mountainous sentry monks. They were turned to gold, and it was apparentfrom their gestures and positioning that they had no idea that their involuntary transmogrification was imminent. "Where's Amin?"

The gold sentries said nothing, of course. A consequence of becoming solid gold.

"He . . . he wouldn't," Tharisno said, not wishing the worse upon his baby brother.

"He did," another monk confirmed grimly.

Tharisno didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe such a betrayal of his trust. He trusted his baby brother so much . . .

"We must go after him," another monk said. "If the duck undergoes its first transformation . . ."

Then Tharisno recalled that Amin always did this to him. Ever since he was a boy. He could never have enough things. He was a glutton for materialism, and he was never happy with what he had. Tharismo had hoped that he had grown up . . .

"We only have a week until then, at most," another monk said, "and a few hours beyond that before the second one, and the end all that we know to be."

"We must mobilize, and quickly!!" the first monk said.

"We must notify someone that could help us first," said the head monk. "He may be able to help us with this."

"Who?" Tharisno Rigtreble asked.

"He goes by the name of Richard," the head monk said. "I have it that he and his RAFians deal with this kind of thing on a regular basis."

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIVE:
A Painful Dream and Gold Alert

It was shortly after GH had to run away from his old life. After Dimitri . . . he had to go on the run, and he sang silently to himself in an almost inappropriately jaunty tune:

It's time to get moving, time to have some fun.
There's no time to hang around, the adventure's just begun.
I'll be thinking 'bout my friends as I chase the setting sun.
But I'm leaving them behind, I'm on the run.
(I'm on the run.)
I don't care about what all the others say.
(I'm on the run.)
Well, I guess there are some things that will just never go away.
(I'm on the run.)
I wish that I could say that there's no better place than home.
But home's a place that I have never known.
That's why I'm on the run . . .

Then GH rather abruptly awoke, to find that he had slipped out of his bed and half fell to the floor. He was rolling in his sleep, he suspected. LH was still sleeping, undisturbed. GH swore that kid could sleep through an effing hurricane and not wake up once.

But once he did, GH began LH's training both musically and with his keytar halberd. "Alright, it begins with a string stance," he said, "Remember --

You do it for them,
And you would do it again.
You do it for RAF, that is to say,
You'll do it for them.
Keep your stance wide,
Keep your body lowered,
As you're moving forward.
Balance is the key!
Left foot; right foot,
Now go even faster!
And, as you're moving backwards,
Keep your eyes on me."

LH sang:

"Keep my stance wide --"

"Good."

"Keep my body lowered -- "

"Right."

"As I'm moving forward."

"Concentrate!"

"Left foot; right foot --"

"Yes, but put your whole body into it!

Everything you have, everything you are,
You've got to give . . .
On the battlefield,
When everything is chaos,
And you have nothing but the way you feel, your strategy and no more;
You just think about the life you'll have after the war!
And then you do it for them,
That's how you know you can win.
You do it for RAF, that is to say
You'll do it for them.
Deep down you know,
You weren't built for fighting,
But that doesn't mean
You're not prepared to try!
What they don't know
Is your real advantage,
When you live for someone
You're prepared to die."

"Deep down I know
That I'm just a boy."

"True."

"But I know that I can draw my halbred and fight!"

"But you know that you can draw your halbred and fight!"

"With my short existence -- "

"Good!"

"I can make a difference."

"Yes, excellent!"

"I can be there for them.
I can beat the Knights.
I can do it for them."

Both sang:

"You'd do it for them."

GH sang:

"Okay, now do that again."

"Yes, daddy." LH said.

"You do it for them, and now you say:"

"I'll do it for them."

Then there was a call for an emergency meeting just then, and GH told LH to continue practicing his forms, when he moved to come with. LH was not ready for any away missions yet, GH decided.

GH was less enthusiastic about this mission when he learned that they were just going to chase a petty thief who stole some gold duck. Sometimes the life of a RAFian is far from glamorous. Still --

At least he wasn't dressing up as Armadillo Anderson.*


Source Song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2HKnQVCE0oo and https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4yG8caPPY1Y

*