Memoirs of a RAFian

[Darth Revan]

Great chapters Cloak.

[Cloak]

Thanks, Parker.  Shortish chapter.

CHAPTER TEN:
Watch Your Step!

Cloak reappeared into the Fractured Nexus void.  He was severely tiring of this, although he could not hide his xenozoological interests in the creatures of these Fractured Realms.  They were so varied, so different, from what he's seen before in his life -- he was about 27 years old, if you used a Realm Dweller calendar, if you used a Dweller Earth one, he was roughly 270.  Cloak looked around and noticed a bright portal wiggling just the slightest bit.  He jumped into that portal.

Normally, he would have taken a moment to look around and acclimate to his surroundings.  But he could really do that at them moment.  Why?  Simply because he was falling.  Falling to a black void below where glowing red eyes of various sizes seemed to glare out of it.  Cloak quickly rolled over to his front, and formed his energy disc beneath his feet.  He managed to slow, and eventually stop, his descent.  Then he ascended back to being level with his entry point.

He was breathing a little hard after that crisis.  He had thought that he had gotten over his acrophobia . . . apparently, some lingered within him, like a stubborn vermin infestation.  Cloak wanted to wait a second to calm himself down, but he knew he hadn't the time to do as such.  Especially as he was having difficulty locating Malice's scent.

Cloak meandered about, looking for the set, and also looking around this realm, this realm called Floafly.  It's a place were the land, all of the land, is suspended in the air, as if some strange, spaced-out archipelago.  Cloak could see the Floaflier human, which appear to be quite similar to Blaze, with broad wings of every color and pattern imaginable.  Only all Floaflier humans possess golden hair.  This sky was also full of dragons, pegasi, hippogriffs, and whatnot.  Such a lively place.

Cloak proceeded to the nearest island . . . only stopping when he caught the scent of malice coming from the right of the island.  Cloak, using Toucan Sam's advice, followed his nose.  He landed daintily on the floating island.  It was one of the smaller ones . . . couldn't be more than fourteen, fifteen miles in diameter.  There was not much places for her to hide, although this island wasn't barren, it was quite overgrown.  Cloak pushed forward, but he wasn't going as fast as he would have liked.  So Cloak used his energy to slice through the dense vegetation and discovered another path was created, though hidden.  Malice was here alright.

Cloak dashed down the path, the scent becoming all that stronger.  Then he came upon Malice reaching for a gold-colored jewel, and Cloak had an image of this island plummeting down to that void with the monstrous creatures.  Cloak felt a stab of fear like a rusty dagger to the heart.

"MALICE!" he roared.  "STOP!"

She smirked, but didn't even bother to turn around, only saying, "You'd like that wouldn't you!"

Then she snatched the jewel, and swirled her cloak, vanishing, while Cloak flinched, expecting the island to fall.  But nothing happened.  Cloak glanced around and then he cursed loudly to himself.  And he swirled his cloak, going after her.

[Darth Revan]

Now you can't deny that Sonic & Knuckles didn't inspire that one.

[Blazing Angel]

I don't want to live.

In this universe anymore.

[Cloak]

Now you can't deny that Sonic & Knuckles didn't inspire that one.

Yes, Parker, but only in part . . . I remembered another show that flying islands on it . . . I can't remember the name of the program just now though.  Anyway, I'll post another chapter soon enough.

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
A Cold Start

This is getting SERIOUSLY OLD, Cloak fumed silently, as he reappeared in the Fractured Nexus, in a serious huff.  But, at least, the realms in which she could run are being narrowed down, as Cloak had long realized.  She wouldn't want to return to old realms, especially if she got what she wanted.  Cloak scanned the eight or nine other realms that they hadn't transversed yet.  He saw nary a wrinkle or ripple in any of them.

Cloak said a word in the Realm Walker language that would have made his mother slap him had she heard him.  Then he got wind of an extremely faint and horrid stench, Malice's scent.  Cloak wasn't aware that he could smell anything in this void, and Cloak followed it to the nearest portal.  Then he entered it without a second thought.

Cloak blinked as he landed in this realm.  His feet crunched, and he shielded his eyes against a noonday sun.  He soon realized his feet had crunched snow.  He looked around and saw a vast expanse of white.  It was the realm of Cryolacier* with chilling, howling winds.  Cloak didn't seem too terribly bothered by it, but he knew that it would come to annoy him (but not kill him) soon enough.  Horse may fit in very well here, but Cloak found the cold rather distasteful.

Cloak looked down and saw footprints in the snow, along with light drag lines.  Malice's tracks . . . excellent.  He could just follow these, as this stupid howling wind has made him lose the scent trail.

Following the trail of tracks, Cloak looked to his right, and saw the Cryolacite human males (all with snow white hair) on the ice, playing the Cryolacite version of hockey (which was essentially Prime Universe's hockey, but used with cryokinesis -- or, as it was called her, cryomagic).  But what was most astonishing was, though they looked identical to Prime Universe humans externally, but they wore clothing that was not appropriate for the weather.  Some were even shirtless and sweating.  How anyone could sweat in this cold, Cloak didn't know.

Cloak turned his attention back to his mission, as a bunch of arterns (tern-like birds that appear to be made out of snow -- their feathers even possess snowflake patterns, and no two patterns are identical) flew overhead, making quite a racket.  It was distracting as the cutting wind, but Cloak ignored it.  Well, he ignored it to the best of his ability.

He turned to his left and saw a huge herd of icamposaurus (camposaurus-like creatures that actually possessed white hair-like scales that made them seem to be living snow) crossed his path.  He had to yield, and waiting for a minute or two before just using his energy disc to float over the meandering beasts.  He continued onward, coming to a large, icy ocean at two o'clock.  There he saw a nolar (a polar bear-like creature which have icicle claws that can regenerate) pounding on the ice, trying to get at a seal.  Cloak hurriedly pressed on, not wanting to see.  The seal would probably remind him of Horse, and he doesn't want the image of the seal . . . torn apart . . . to surface in his mind any time he sees Horse.  Sure, the Pootang eats her from time to -- okay, okay, okay, it eats her FREQUENTLY -- but it swallows her whole.  It doesn't rip her apart . . .

With his feet crunching in the snow he pressed onward . . . then stopped.  He was plowing through snow.  The trail had ended about a yard back!  There was no marks that indictated that she swirled her cloak . . .  IT WAS A FALSE TRAIL!!  He'd been duped!  How could he have been such a condemnable, lamentable fool?!  He wasted so much time!  He should have taken the time and effort to get the scent trail back.

Cloak shook his head.  No time for beating himself up -- there'll be time for that later.  Should he backtrack?  No, that'd take too long.  She'd reach the jewel here before he could even get a quarter of the way back.  Should he go ahead and return to the Fractured Nexus?  Yes.  Yes, he'd do that.

Cloak swirled his cloak and left the frozen world, the icy realm, of Cryolacier.

---
*Cryolacier = Cryo- + glacier

[Cloak]

I'll see if I can post a second chapter today. . . .

CHAPTER TWELVE:
A Little D&D: Dinosaurs and Dragons

Cloak appeared in the Fractured Nexus, and saw Malice's back.  He said nothing, in hopes of catching her, making her relinquish the jewels. . . . Wow, that didn't come out right.  But Malice, on a sudden suspicion, turned around and saw Cloak coming for her.

"Ah, you didn't fall for my false trail?" she guessed completely wrongly.  Cloak didn't correct her on this.  "But you were still too late, boy!" she said, adding "Although the jewel was a worthless . . ." with a mutter.

Then she lifted her head and smiled broadly, "Well, never mind that.  Catch me if you can, pretty boy!"

Cloak blinked.  Was she . . . flirting with him?  She was old enough to be his grandmother!!  Cloak shook his head.  He was probably reading too much into that.  She was probably just being coy.  Or stupid.  Whatever.  Cloak followed Malice into a portal, being just a minute or two too late.

Cloak landed, and promptly fell onto his butt.  He jumped to his feet, expecting to see Malice no more that few feet away.  But a large, black tail was blocking his view.  Cloak looked to the left, and saw the creatures long head, fringed with golden horns.  It was snoozing in a deep slumber, and Cloak knew that it was a dragon.  Albeit a tad smaller than the RAFian dragons.

Cloak used his mastery over earth to basically give him a springboard to somersault over the sleeping reptile, and landed a bit roughly on the other side.  He stumbled a bit, but managed to not fall over.  Cloak stood a few feet from an overhanging cliff, and saw . . . saw the view.  Jurassic Park had nothing -- nothing -- on Drise, the name of this realm.

The view showed several pterosaurs flitting through the sky with what appeared to be Pernese dragons, which were chasing the smaller pterosaurs.  On the ground below was a herd of triceratops, a lone stegosaur, and a sauropod battling an outraged tyrannosaur.  The land looked quite lush and tropical.  Cloak could not help but wonder if this was life was like during the Prime Universe's Earth's primordial age.  Cloak smiled a little ruefully when he considered how Dino would easily fit into this Realm.  It might be kinder not to tell her about it.

But enough of this sightseeing.  He had to find Malice, and stop her from recreating the Forbidden Power. . . . He moved get back onto the forest path, when he heard a very nasty hiss . . . he turned to see what appeared to be a swan rushing at him.  Then he noticed the swan's lower body was rather like a gargoyle beast -- it wasn't a swan at all, but a dracygnus!  They had the temperment of a swan protecting a nest and a komodo dragon.  It must have a nest nearby.  Great.

Cloak formed his energy disc again, and soared from the cliff.  He breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he evaded the creature.  Of course, he had forgotten that the dracygnis had wings.  And soon realized that it was giving chase, by flying after him.  But, unlike true swans, dracygni are awkward fliers, and not that fast.  So Cloak just turned on the speed, and the dracygnus just gave up the chase, returning to its nest.

Cloak realized soon enough that the sky wasn't exactly a safe place to be, as Driser dragons are not all intelligent and capable of speech.  He dropped to the ground, and saw that there was a town of Driser humans -- who, unlike Prime Universe humans, must occassionally shed their skin all in one piece.  Cloak could see remenants of that.  All the humans possessed tan hair and wore clothing that seemed to be a hybridization of "The Flintstones" and weyrfolk.  Cloak looked around, and caught Malice's scent.

But it was strange.  It wasn't fading.  If anything, it was getting stronger and stronger.  That could only mean one thing.  She was getting closer to him!  He confirmed it with his Earthsight.  Finally, a break!  He stood resolutely in her way.  But Malice saw him standing in her path, said nothing, consulted a page, and then smirked.

"Pity, pretty boy," she sneered, "there's nothing here that I need!"

Cloak narrowed his eyes, well aware that she could be lying.  But then she swirled her cloak and vanished!  Cloak, startled, took a moment to react.  He swirled his cloak as well.

[Cloak]

Want another chapter?  Sorry, it's gonna be a bit short.

(Don't worry, more RAFians will appear in the next book, but . . . *deliberately leaves the sentence hanging  *)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Cough, Cough, Sputter, Sputter

Cloak arrived into the Fractured Nexus.  He was getting swiftly annoyed.  He saw Malice's cloak ripple as she leaped into a nearby portal.  Cloak followed suit, within seconds.

Cloak should have been prepared for this realm, the realm called Venoxica*.  He coughed and sputtered.  The air was poisonous.  The ground was poisonous.  Everything was horribly polluted.  The sky glowed a heavy purple.  There was no way he could track Malice by scent in this poisoned world.  Had he been a different species, it would have surely killed him within minutes.

With such a wasteland of a realm, you'd think that it would be devoid and barren of life.  But, to Cloak's astonishment, there were Venoxican humans (all purple-haired) running, yelling, and frolicking around their village.  They did not seem too bothered by the air or the ground.  They seemed to be revelling in their environment!  Amazing!

Cloak shook his head to clear it.  He had to get out of this world as soon as possible, as uncomfortable as it was.  As he trudged onward and forward, he couldn't help but thinking that this just may be what happens to the Prime Universe's Earth if some measures are not taken . . . except the only difference would be that nothing would survive.  It's just not how the physics of life in that universe works.  Granted, Cloak knew nothing of the physics of life in this realm, and he's not a bio-physicist.

Cloak hobbled his way forward, having no idea whether or not he was proceeding in the right direction, to whatever Malice was after.  After a few moments, Cloak cursed himself for being so stupid, for not having thought of it sooner.  He formed and bubble of wind around him to get the noxious vapors away from him.  It helped, but not as much as Cloak had expected.

Well, it'll have to do for now, Cloak thought to himself savagely, as he maintained the wind bubble with sheer force of will.  He forced himself to proceed forward, toward that stupid jewel, toward Malice.  He bypassed a lake of horrible looking sludge.  It bubbled and squished in a most disgusting way.  Cloak didn't like it.  It reminded him of that viral ooze.

Cloak couldn't maintain the bubble anymore, so he desisted, preparing for the horrid air and all the horrendous stenches that it contained.  Cloak tried to ignore this and trudge onward, only stopping when he realized that he was walking in circles and he may not even be going in the right direction.  Cloak wasn't sure where to go, what to do, and he was getting disorientated.

Cloak's body tensed with sheer willpower, he swirled his cloak and vanished from the realm, deciding to deal with the ramifications later . . .

---
*Venoxica = Venom + toxic + -a

[Blazing Angel]

But I'm going to die being personally tortured...again.

[Cloak]

Well, actually -- oh, silly me.  I nearly gave it away.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Land of the Machines

Cloak, still coughing and sputtering, entered the Fractured Nexus.  It was few minutes when he realized that he wasn't the only one coughing and puttering.  He looked up and saw Malice, looking like she was hacking up a lung.  She breathed in deeply, and exhaled in one long breath.  Then she snapped her head up and saw Cloak.

"Found that realm irritatingly inhospitable as well, boy?" She spat the last word as if an insult.  Cloak glared at her, and said nothing.  Malice, however, found this amusing.  "Still amusingly mute, boy?"

Cloak continued to say nothing, but slowly and carefully approach her while her head was turned when she was gloating.  But he couldn't get close enough, as she dived into another portal.  Sighing with resignation, Cloak followed after her.

Landing upon the ground, Cloak blinked and shielded his eyes as he looked around.  Everything apparently was of techno-organic nature, even the ground had a strange luster and smoothness.  This must be Ferrormor*, the realm of metal and machines.  Cloak knew that he had nothing to fear from the creatures here.  But he remembered something, a story, about the humans in this realm . . .

Ferrormor humans used to be flesh and blood, with silver-colored hair (regardless of the age).  But then a possibly-fatal disease with such potent virality became a global pandemic.  The specifics of this disease were lost in time.  Ferrormor humans were dying left and right.  There was a Ferrormor man who came up with the idea to escape the disease by transferring their minds into robotic substitutes, becoming androids.  Now the entire race of Ferrormor humans reside within these surrogate bodies, which had come to resemble their old bodies identically, but only after many years.  The original models resembled that of the Puttermans, with new upgrades being released every few years.

That's the story.  Interesting story, but, as Cloak shook his head, had nothing to do with him or his mission.  He couldn't allow himself to get so wrapped up in these worlds!  His own curosity, the bane of all felines and feline-form Realm Walkers, was why Malice had such a big lead!  Cloak dashed forward, attempting to focus on his goal, but this world keep throwing distractions in his path!

Like, there!  A crane or condor-like bird covered in what appeared to be armored plating, with six pairs of metal wings similar to those of Archangel.  It stood facing Cloak, with it's feet in a marshy, dark pond, surrounded by techno-organic trees.  It regarded Cloak imperially, and then calmly, confidently strode away from him, as if Cloak was beneath it's regal notice.  Cloak had stopped to watch it, but he attempted to quash this xenozoological interest he's always had, and proceed toward Malice.

It was easy to catch her scent, as the scent of these Ferrormor creatures were far more muted -- the humans didn't even possess a personalized scent anymore.  Cloak wasn't sure that they could even smell.

Cloak came across a group of metallic-armored triceratops heard that Cloak didn't know their proper names for.  They were in his way.  Sure, he could use his mastery of Metal to lift and throw them out of his way.  But that would be harsh and may cause undue harm or even kill these beasts whose only fault would have been being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

That's something Malice would do.  And it would amuse her.  Cloak was not Malice . . . so he just hopped over and dived under and so on, until he had bypassed the herd.  He looked over his shoulder and was amused that the herd seemed to simply not care or were blissfully obvious to his attempts to bypass them.  Cloak then snapped his attention onward, and ran towards the scent trail.

He saw Malice lending against a strange smooth, yet rocky wall, tapping her foot.  As if she was waiting for him to catch up.  Cloak narrowed his eyes as he well realized that Malice was toying with him.  She was tossing up a glass jewel up and down, carelessly.  Then she realized that he had arrived.

"Geez," she said, in a sneering, conversational tone.  "What in the name of the Void took you so long?"

Cloak glared at her, folded his arms, and said nothing.

"You givin' me the silent treatment, now?" she snickered.

Cloak remained impassive.

"Here," she said, tossing the jewel at Cloak's feet.  "I don't need it."

Then she vanished by swirling her cloak, and Cloak, ignoring the jewel, followed suit.

---
*Ferrormor = Ferro- + armor

[Cloak]

Okay, another chapter.  Another short one.  Really short.  Sorry.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Eternal Night

Cloak appeared into the Fractured Nexus, but Malice wasn't there.  He saw her cloak whip into a nearby portal.  He reached out to seize it, forgetting that if he were to grip it and tug, he might cause it to flitter off . . . and everyone knows that a Realm Walker cannot be in-universe without their cloak . . . if they want that universe to remain in one piece.  But no matter.  The cloak slipped from his grasp.  But Cloak pulled himself into the universe.

The first thing Cloak saw was a bright moon, that looked far too big to be real.  Everywhere else was dark, but Cloak's feline eyes easily penetrated the gloom.  Cloak momentarily worried that he had accidentally transferred himself into the Twilight universe*, possibly a fate worse than death.  Then his rational mind caught up with him.  Cloak knew that this must be the realm of Noctumbra, a realm of eternal night.  Cloak, having lost Malice yet again, turned back to her scent.  He prowled the Noctumbran forest, feeling irrestistably like a tiger in the Asian forests.

Cloak looked to his right and saw what appeared to be a Poe-era town, complete with streetlights -- which seemed to have some other purpose here.  He saw all the inhabitants possessed jet black hair, although their eyes were of a great variety, as usual for the inhabitants of the Fractured Realms.  Cloak had paused too long, he feared.  He ran along the forest path, ignoring the strange creatures which evolved in this permanent darkness.  It was easier to do here, with this dark making it difficult for even him to make out.

Cloak nearly fell into a chasm that he wasn't paying any attention to.  Cloak cursed this lapse of inattention on his part.  He created an energy footbridge and dashed across.  He saw a whip of a cloak . . . he was getting close!  He ran full tilt now, and he tackled Malice, but rolled too far away, and nearly down another cliff.  He held on to a jutting rock, he was at her mercy.

And Malice had no mercy.

"I underestimated you," she snarled.  "I would kill you were you stand -- and you'd stay dead this time -- but I have far more pressing concerns.  However . . ."

She didn't elaborate, but swirled her cloak and vanished.  Cloak dropped and followed suit.

---
*Just note, I've never read any of the books or saw any of the movies.

[Cloak]

'Nother chapter -- oh, and even though I haven't mentioned it yet, in-story, but you guys are dealing with a problem of your own will I'm dealing with this Malice thing.  That'll be addressed in Chapter Twenty or so, I think.  And I'll introduce another fictional RAFian (like Helen).  I hope I haven't given TOO much away.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
A Rocky Journey

"Oh, you didn't plummet!" Malice moaned petulantly and sneeringly, as Cloak emerged into the Fractured Nexus.  Cloak glared at the cloaked figure of Malice, and allowed a deep growl to emit from his throat.  She remarked with mock scolding, "Oh, now, now!  Where's your sense of fun?"

Cloak glowered at her, and said nothing for a few minutes.  "I tire of this cat-and-mouse game with you, Malice.  You need to be stopped.  The Forbidden Power is forbidden for a reason."

"And what reason would that be?  Hmmm?" Malice taunted gaily.  She waited for Cloak's reply but it didn't come.  "Ah, I see.  You don't know.  You don't know why it was forbidden.  Then allow me to enlighten you on the particulars --"

But she said nothing but vanished through a portal.  Cloak cursed himself not not seeing that one trick coming a mile away, but leaped into the portal after her.

He blinked and looked around.  It was a world of tall mountains and deep valleys.  This was Geolith, a world were no area was flat and the sky was gray, rain or shine.  Cloak felt a bit disconcerted as he took a moment or two to acclimate to this new geography.  After that, Cloak took off, carefully and cautiously, lest he fall down several hundred stories.  That would not be any fun.

Cloak saw that the Geolithling humans, all possessing gray hair, had built there cities and towns insided of the mountains.  It was only in these places that nearly-flat ground could be found.  Cloak ignored this and proceeded further, until he discovered that he would have to climb up or down.  He, after catching a whiff of Malice's scent, decided that he would have to scale this mountain.  But, instead of actually mountian climbing, he formed his energy disc and began scaling it that way.

He had to stop because he was cut-off by a drill roc, a woodpecker-like bird with a large wingspan, feathers colored like slabs of granite and drill-like beak.  They feet by drilling into rock for rock-boring insects and their grubs.  It would be interesting, but Cloak had more pressing matters to think off.  So, he blasted upward as fast as he could.

But then, something burst out from the rock face from his right that caused him to rocket and nearly tumble down to his left.  Cloak looked at the beast and found that it was a snakale, a serpentine creature whose scales were like slabs of stone.  It was trying to eat him.  Cloak cursed aloud.  HE DIDN'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!!!  Cloak could sense that there was actual stone in the snakale, so he forced it to back off, by manipulating the earth in the snakale.  And he made it shove itself back into its own hidey-hole.  Cloak hated having to do things like that.  It made him feel like a bloodbender.

After this, Cloak continued to charge upward, ignoring everything -- including more snakales of varying sizes.  He just dodged their strikes -- it was easier that you may think -- and blasted upward, as fast as he could possibly do such.  When he arrived at the top, he glanced around and saw . . . there was a trail for the way up.  And several styrockosaurs -- styracosaurs with stone horns -- were done grazing there and were making their way back down.  Cloak landed, saw Malice, and dashed toward her . . .

But she was already gone.  Cloak swirled his cloak and vanished while he ran.

[Cloak]

Okay, let's get this goin' again.  Who knows?  I might finish this book today.  Or I might not.  Depends on how I'm feeling.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Savage Brawlers

Cloak appeared back at the Fracture Nexus, saw Malice, and made to seize her.  She coyly batted his hand away, and Cloak made to grab her wrist.  But she was slicker than oil, and she managed to slip into the next portal.  Cloak let out a stream of Realm Walker swears, getting really frustrated.  So much so that he wanted to throw something.  Malice, for instance.

Cloak dived into the selfsame portal, and blinked at his new environment.  The sky was a dark orange color and every thing here seemed rather unnecessarily muscular and aggressive.  Ah, the savage world of Savawl*.  Cloak looked to his left, 'bout at ten o'clock, and saw a simple vision of Savawler humans.  All with orange hair, some more vivid than others.  He could help but notice that it had what appeared to be a wrestling ring in the middle of the village.  With two wrestlers already occupying it.  If Cloak was remembering correctly, this was the Savawler human version of an election, and the weakest Savawler humans were physically stronger to or equal to the strongest Prime Universe humans.  While interesting, in a xenozoological way, it was not important to Cloak's mission.

Cloak moved on, hearing a sickening thud and crunch about fifteen seconds after he passed by the village.  Cloak flinched at the sound, but moved on.  He hadn't any right to interfere with their, ah, electoral process.  Cloak pressed on, through a oppressive-feeling forest.  Cloak could swear some of the trees had fists and boxing gloves and whatnot.  He even thought he saw a Whomping Willow, a Bashing Birch, a Mangling Maple, a Judo Juniper, a Ranged Rowan, an Equalizer Elm, an Offensive Oak or two.  All fighting trees. . . .

Cloak decided it would be best to watch his step . . . and his arms, legs, head, tail, and torso.  While they couldn't kill him, it wouldn't be pleasant at all to be pummelled perfectly to a pretty little pulp by a pugilist tree.  Cloak shuttered a bit at this thought, but pressed on before the trees could decide to beat him up and find something or someone else to punch into submission.

Cloak had a sudden image of Malice finally getting her comeuppance from these trees or other pugilist creatures.  The image gave Cloak a comfort that Malice will get what's she's really earned.  He could even hear her yelps and curses.

Wait a minute . . .

He was really hearing something.  It was Malice.  She was shouting, screaming, and basically making a big scene.  She was obviously trying to get at something, presumably to the jewel, but was dodging the swinging branches of the Mangling Maple before her.  Cloak smiled inwardly, as he watched.  He could feel the jewel through the earth.  And using his mastery over the Earth Element, he slowly and cautiously brought jewel through the earth, though not breaking the surface once, and had pulled it to being just behind him.  He made the smallest stomping gesture and the jewel popped out.  He caught it with his hand behind his back.  He smirked.

"Getting beaten up by a tree, Malice?" Cloak said, scathingly.

"YOU!" Malice said, nearly missing a strike.  "Go away!"

"Oh, I don't think so."  Cloak said.  "Hand over the other jewels and I will help you."

"Never!" Malice said, forming an energy shield and dug at the tree's roots.  But she was finding nothing.  Cloak casually tossed the jewel up and down, humming a Weird Al song.  "Everything You Know is Wrong" specifically.

"YOU!" she roared.  "GIVE IT TO --"

Then she got a good look at it, and laughed raucously and obnoxiously.  Cloak looked surprised for a moment, but easily recognized what this meant.  This wasn't the jewel she was looking for.  She swirled her cloak and vanished.  Cloak dropped the jewel and followed suit.

---
*Savawl = Savage + brawl

[Cloak]

Bit more . . . well, I've planned about 24 chapters for this book. . . . Shortish chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Mostly Ghostly

Cloak arrived in the Fractured Nexus, and this time Malice didn't stop to goad or taunt Cloak.  Cloak knew why -- there were only two of the Fractured Realms not visited now.  The jewel Malice was looking for was in one of them.  Cloak didn't know which one, but it was a 50-50 percent chance that it would be the one that she just entered.  They were closing in on the final gem . . . with no trepidation, Cloak leaped into the portal.

Cloak quickly realized something wasn't right here, as he nearly fell through the ground here.  Cloak instinctively formed his energy disc to stand on, and floated back up to his previous position giving him a chance of looking around.

Everything was spectral.  The ground, the plantlife, the wildlife, the indigo-haired Necrectopolian humans -- yes, that's what this realm is called Necrectopolis*, the realm of ghosts.  The creatures seemed completely uninterested in Cloak, and Malice, wherever she got to.  It took Cloak a minute to realize that they couldn't see either of them.  Whether it was do to their immaterial state or something else, Cloak didn't know.  Really didn't matter.  He had to find Malice.  He had to stop her.  But he had to find her -- again -- first.

He leaned forward and really turned on the speed to catch her.  He passed through any Necrectopolian object, whether animate or inanimate, and he charged full-tilt.  There were no elements here for him to use against her, because his mastery over the elements did not grant him control over the spectral variations of those things.  So, he had no advantages over Malice here, other than his own energy.  But Malice can fling energy too, and she was older, thereby more experienced.  And Cloak had come to rely on the Elements, especially the Earth Element.

Cloak saw her, using a far slower mode of transportation -- an energy bubble.  She apparently hadn't mastered the energy disc technique.  Cloak easily outstripped her, and struck her in the flyby by actually using his claws -- yes, he has claws.  He just doesn't really use them.

"Ah!" Malice cried out, but having suffered no real damage as Cloak's attack only scratched her energy bubble.  "You again!  Why can't insufferable fools like you leave me alone?  Why must fools stand in the way of my greatness?!"

"You just want to rule the Prime Universe . . ." Cloak said, drily, giving her a heavy-lidded look**.  "And the Nexus, the land of our birth, as well."

"Of course!***" She shouted.  "Now get out of my way!"

"Sorry, Malice," Cloak said.  "I cannot do that."

"Then you will SUFFER!!" she roared, lashing out.  Cloak realized he knew that she knew that he hadn't the advantage here.  "Die, Cloak, spawn of the spawn of Sage!"

"I'd rather not," Cloak muttered as he dodged her energy tentacles.  "And I seriously doubt that you can kill me, you despot."

Malice was starting to lose all composure when she seemed to realize something as her eyes bugged out.  She took out a ripped page, and was mouthing words.  She muttered, very quietly, "It's the wrong one. . . ."

She was apparently oblivious that Cloak heard her, but seemed to come to this conclusion when Cloak broke off battle and swirled his cloak.  She screamed "NO!" as she did the same.

---
*Necrectopolis = Necro- + ectoplasm + metropolis

** This  -->

*** Get the Nostalgia Critic reference?

[Blazing Angel]

Finally caught up. Lots and lots of world hopping. When you mentioned twilight universe, I assumed you were talking about the twilight zone, which would have been awesome.

[Underseen]

Or it is the Universe of Bella Swan, which would suck