Chapter Fifty-one
Unable to approach the battle even briefly enough to talk to Cloaky and Estelore, the other RAFians instead decided to hunt down Estrid. It had been settled, despite some half-joking protests from Demos, that Estrid would make a mirror-wave call to inform the fighters that Seal was alright.
Seal had insisted that such important news not be kept from any RAFian, under any circumstances. Even if it meant that the RAFians might lose the advantage that they'd briefly had against Pootang.
Estrid stood at the edge of the battlefield, readying her mind to project her thought-speak across the distance. <GUYS! SEAL IS ALIVE!> she called out to all of RAF at once. A definite note of triumph could be heard in her voice, the joy of proclaiming good news in a time when there was so little to be had.
The reaction to the news, however, was immediate and shocking. Estelore's fire suddenly went out, and they fell from the air, plunging towards the ground as if they'd taken a hit.
Although it hadn't been obvious while they were fighting, it was now suddenly very apparent that the effort had taken an extreme toll on their human avatar. And so, as soon as they had lost the anger that had been keeping them going, they simply collapsed, spent.
"ESTELORE!" Seal yelled as she bounded forward, her heart pounding in her throat. But she couldn't get close. Cloaky's energy pulses were still emanating from that direction, holding back the RAFians like a blistering wind. Phoenix glanced upward, checking to make sure Estelore's star was still in the sky, and breathed a sigh of relief. The sun was there, burning as bright as ever.
"Estelore's okay, guys," Phoenix reassured the others. He pointed up at them to illustrate, and as each of the others nervously looked up, they seemed to calm somewhat.
Pootang was still reeling from the assault he had just endured. He was looking around in nervous confusion, wondering why his attackers had suddenly stopped. Yet, for the moment at least, he was still leery enough of his surroundings that he seemed unwilling to approach any of the RAFians. As though he now feared what they might do to him. Parker and the other Spartans were keeping an eye on him anyway, their guns trained in his direction, knowing that the momentary peace would not last.
Cloaky, meanwhile, had stopped moving when he'd heard Estrid's call. Simply stopped. He stood like a statue, as if in shock, slowly and incredulously looking around at the devastation around him. Like he was seeing it for the first time. Like it had been someone else who had caused it.
After a long pause he shook himself back to reality, and grabbed his cloak which was laying on the ground nearby. He loosed a snarl, but not at anything in particular. It was like he was cursing himself. He put his cloak back on, carefully adjusting it to cover every last inch of him. Then, he swirled his cloak and vanished, wanting to distance himself from the destruction of his own making.
The Realm Walker hadn't gone far. The other RAFians quickly spotted him again at the top of a nearby hill. But it was obvious that he was keeping his distance from the other RAFians, his back turned to them.
Seal wasted no time, bounding toward Estelore as soon as Cloaky had replaced his cloak. Logically she knew that they were okay, but it was still harrowing to see their human body fall like that. She kept telling herself that they were fine, that the human form was really nothing more than a convenient method of interacting with other RAFians without setting them on fire.
But as the RAFians approached the human Estelore, it was difficult to believe that they would be alright. They were barely conscious, and their body was an awful sight. Estelore's human body was designed with extreme heat in mind, of course. But nothing short of their actual star body could have taken those supernova temperatures and hoped to survive intact. Their skin was crisped from their own fire, with burn scarring so severe that in places their flesh resembled melted wax.
Even though they knew that the human form was only a tiny fraction of Estelore's true form, it was hard to look at that crumpled human body and not think that they were grievously hurt. It went against every instinct, to try to convince themselves that that human body, the 'person' that they had talked to every time they talked to Estelore, was just an expendable puppet of a much larger entity.
"We're fine," they reassured, their voice rasping but coherent, as they looked up at the worried faces of the other RAFians. They smiled brightly at Seal, still giddy that she was not dead. But then they sighed with resignation, as they quickly began to realize the full implications of their predicament.
"Well, this is inconvenient, isn't it? We'll have to design a new body, it seems. No idea how long that's going to take. This one came pre-made." They chuckled at the strangeness of that sentence, but went on. "None of us has ever built a body before."
They sighed a second time, liking their situation less and less the more they thought about it. 'Inconvenient' had been an understatement. "Needless to say, but we'll be on the bench until we can manage it. We can't exactly fight as a star. At least, not without destroying RAF. Our apologies, but you'll have to find a way to maintain without us."
Estelore winced, not in pain, for they could easily choose to tune that out, but because they realized just how much their friends needed them right then. But there was nothing they could do about it now. Several of them mentally cursed their earlier haste, their determination to overexert themselves in their anger. If they hadn't been so foolhardy, they wouldn't be in this situation.
The other RAFians shared looks of disappointment mixed with fear. They hadn't even considered the possibility that Estelore would no longer be able to fight. Estelore and Cloak's awesome powers had finally turned the battle in their favor, and now even
they were out of commission? What were any of them supposed to do now?
Seal tried, too late, to hide the disappointed look behind a mask of relief. "I'm just glad you're okay. We're all glad. Right guys?"
But this was no time for anyone to hold a discussion of their thoughts. Even as the RAFians spoke, Pootang seemed to be slowly coming around, returning to his former confidence. The monstrous apparition was already looking down at Estelore's broken human body, vengeance blazing in his eyes. Parker tensed as he realized that their brief window of calm was already closing. "Guys?" he said, tightening his grip on his rifle, even though he knew full well how little use it would be. "I think we should be somewhere else."
As Pootang continued to stare at Estelore, he opened his mouth as if to roar. But he remained strangely silent. Then, a slight reddish glow seemed to be building at the back of his throat. At first it seemed like a trick of the light, as though it was just glinting off his tongue, but soon it was impossible to ignore the fact that the inside of his mouth was actually glowing redder and redder.
Blue realized instantly what was about to happen, flared his wings, and urgently shouted, "MOVE!"
The RAFians moved. Blue picked up Seal as he flew, and the others hastily followed, scurrying quickly to a safe distance. From there, they watched as the red glow from Pootang's mouth grew brighter and brighter. The ominous red light seemed to shift inward on itself, like the monster was inhaling the glow from the air itself, as Pootang powered up what Blue had realized could only be the monster's massive laser.
But Estelore was not lying idle as they waited for the attack. They summoned the very last ounce of their body's strength, and lit themselves aflame once more. There was nothing left to lose, and they were not going to go down without a fight. They rose slowly to their feet, trying their best to recall the raw emotion that had fueled them before. It was wrenching, but as they thought of what could have happened, and how close Seal had come to . . . it wasn't hard to be angry at the monster that was responsible.
With that burst of rekindled strength, Estelore took flight. At the same moment, Pootang unleashed the power of his laser, the enormous bright red beam making a horrifying discordant noise as it exploded the spot that Estelore had been moments before. Nearby buildings cracked from the shock wave.
Estelore landed, unable to stay in the air for more than a few seconds in their weakened state. Pootang recharged his laser, the red light building much faster the second time. Estelore sent a burst of flame towards the monster, the unexpected attack interrupting his concentration and causing the stored red light to disperse.
Estelore fearlessly faced the towering threat, even as he refocused his wrath. They pointed their palms upward towards the monster, channeling all of their strength into their fire, the spout of flame flowing forth like a blazing bright liquid stream. Pootang grunted from the pain, but its fractured body glowed only slightly as it seemed to absorb the fire. Estelore gritted their teeth as they focused more and more fire towards the monster, the roar of the flames becoming nearly deafening as billows of bright white fire poured from their outstretched hands, engulfing everything in their wake. Pootang opened his mouth as he began to charge his laser once more, this time willfully ignoring the distraction of Estelore's attacks as he drew in red light.
Estelore felt no pain in their human avatar, but they could still sense that the fire they were channeling was quickly becoming far too much for their already-damaged body to survive. Their hands were charred almost black, but still it was not enough power to truly damage Pootang. Bright white fire shot forth from their hands, the thundering beam of flame now larger than their human form, blinding them as their eyes were filled with nothing but glaring white. They could feel their human body disintegrating, torn apart by the violence of their own onslaught.
Pootang screamed in pain as he was engulfed in white fire, a hundred screams issuing forth from one mouth. But still the monstrosity somehow remained on its feet, unbowed even by Estelore's fearsome might, as he continued to draw the red light into his mouth. He opened his mouth wide and fired his laser once more, the thick red beam piercing effortlessly through the billowing clouds of bright flames.
It was over in a flash, no time for Estelore to move or even think about moving. When the flash cleared, Estelore was gone, their body completely vaporized. Only a darkened crater was left where they had been.
Pootang was hurt, too. Estelore's final burst of flame had gone directly into his exposed mouth, and he choked and coughed for air as he inhaled superheated plasma. He stumbled, disoriented both by pain and by lack of oxygen. But as he drew a shaky breath, he seemed to recover his strength. And now he was angry. He roared, a sound that came out of his scorched throat like a savage hiss, and looked around for a target to take out his fury.
He saw the six remaining RAFians. And now there was nothing, no force that they possessed, that could keep his rage at bay.
