Starfire
By Shadow Flare
*First, a note. I reread Chapter One and realized I messed up Elen's physical description. As "she" is not what "she" seems, that's a big problem. To correct, the Healer-trainee has gray eyes. Make any more sense now? *smirks* This takes place at the same time and just after "Once Again". Next chapter all the big revelations start…*smirks evilly* And this chapter sucks. I didn't want to reveal who Elen really was too soon, and all the really third-person neuter pronouns (i.e., "this person") are really annoying.*
"___"-Common speech
'___'-Elven speech
***-change of scene/time
All alone cold fields you wander
Memories of it, cloud your sight
Fills your dreams, disturbs your slumber
Lost your way, a fallen knight
Hold now, aim is steady
An otherworld awaits you.
One thousand years--you ready?
The otherworld it takes you
Go into the sand and the dust in the sky
Go now, there's no better plan than to do or to die
Free me pray to the faith in the face of the light
Feed me fill me with sin now get ready to fight
~"Otherworld", Final Fantasy X
Chapter Three: Challenge
The Healer-trainee narrowed gray eyes and reached out with "her" inner eye, raising a slender hand as blue light glinted off the facets of the sapphire ring that was there, melding innate power with the power of the ring. And in moments, disjointed images and visions, emotions and knowledge, all real, flooded into unshielded mind, knocking the slender person off their feet to the ground. Hard.
Despair. Fear. And behind it all, shadow and evil. Images. Of the young Herald named Kris Valerian and another, a shadowy man with white hair…
The Shadow…a sick realization flooded through "Elen" as the healer climbed to unsteady feet. So many Ages had passed…and the feeling was still so familiar. And there is only one way left to me now. The only way to prevent this situation from growing worse then it already is.
This was folly. Not even all of the Three together-for those were all the Rings of Power that remained, for all the rest had been destroyed long ago-were strong enough to even put up a meager defense against this Shadow-Lord. Vilya alone could not put up more then a shred of resistance, and it was the third of the Three, the most powerful, and wielded by someone long-practiced in using its power. This was folly. Sheer madness.
But it was the only way that remained. Gray eyes closed in concentration, as the half-Elf began to chant softly, weaving the spell deftly, shifting gradually from spoken words to song, for the ability to wield magic through song was strong in this person's family line. It wasn't long before the Dark One responded.
:So, healer-child. You think you can challenge me and live? Turn back now and I will consider not killing you.:
But there was no turning back.
:Fool of a human, to challenge me alone and unaided!:
That was the way it was. Except that it was no human who challenged him…it was an Elf, or, more specifically, a half-Elf who did. And for some reason, he hadn't noticed Vilya. Yet.
:…One of the Three! The Ring of Sapphire…either you stole the ring, or…: The man was amused, for obviously good reason.
:You know who I am.: the Mindspeech was cold and hard, confirming the truth of the healer's identity.
And there was sudden pain, a counterspell that sapped the strength and knocked the slender healer from his feet-for the disguise was over now, and soon, he would have no strength left to maintain the illusion spell that had hid his identity for the months he had been here, masquerading as Elen. Vilya's light flickered and died completely, as did the rest of the spell.
But I bought the time needed for someone to help Kris…the darkness closed in and it was so hard to think now…That was the important thing.
The door was flung open. He fully expected that anyone and everyone with a trace of power to have Felt the mental battle going on, and come investigate.
Footsteps hurried into the room, and he looked up, and through his fading vision, he saw the person who stood above him. Even though the long golden hair was done in a fancy, very feminine way, and the slender form was dressed in woman's clothes, he was still very familiar to the healer who was falling into shadow, one last glimpse of the light before the darkness came.
'Glorfindel.' He managed to say before the darkness took him…and he felt no more.
***
Glorfindel fairly ran down the hallway, cursing the long, cumbersome skirt. He could definitely sense a major mental battle going on, and as he had dwelt both in the Blessed Realm and on Middle-Earth, he could See both the spiritual and the earthly-and he knew that one of the people involved was the man who was the Shadow, and the other…
Just as quickly as the battle had begun, it was over, and he almost stumbled into a door with the shock of it all. Glorfindel could still feel the aftershock of power still lingering in the room, the other of the two, and he yanked the door open and hurried in.
He saw the familiar figure in the uniform of a Healer-trainee lying on the floor. "Elen", though Glorfindel knew by now who this must be. His suspicions were confirmed when gray eyes looked up at him, barely focusing…as the illusion spell that had been cast all along began to fade, and while the facial features were still the same, they took on a decidedly Elven cast, while the "feminine" body wasn't that.
And everything was confirmed in one last moment.
'Glorfindel.' The familiar baritone voice called his name, no longer forced into a low alto.
Then his eyes closed and he was still.
No! Glorfindel thought, fearing that the half-Elf had passed into the Halls of Mandos, before seeing that the healer still breathed, though very slowly and shallowly. He was still alive. Barely, but still alive.
Someone tapped Glorfindel on the shoulder and he whirled to look down at a decidedly unhappy Queen's Own.
"I saw the whole thing." Talia informed him curtly. "The explanations can wait. Sh-He needs a Healer. Now."
***
Daven shook his head. "He's beyond our skill. As is Kris."
Glorfindel sat unhappily in the Healer's Collegium, Haldir right near him. The ex-guardian had managed, with Herald Dirk's help, to save Kris while the Shadow-Lord was still distracted from the mental battle, but the young man remained unconscious, as did "Elen", whose identity was somehow not a surprise. Both Elves already knew that both men were beyond the aid that Valdemar's Healers, no matter how skilled in healing mind and body. No one now could heal what affected them.
"I wanted an explanation." Talia said sharply. "Give it."
Haldir involuntarily gulped. As meek as Talia seemed, she had a strong spirit, and the steel will which she had had a long time ago as a Queen of Men was definitely present in this lifetime as well.
This was not going to be easy.
~End Chapter~