Ari awoke to a foot in his ribs and blearily wondered why he was on the floor. The day before had quite possibly been the worst day of his life, even topping the time he had spent being invisible to the world at large. Stan was downright dangerous when he got bored. He'd started out normally enough, picking fights with an increasingly irascible Rosalyn. After a while, even that started to bore him, much to everyone's mistaken relief.
After flipping through his tourist pamphlet for the umpteenth time, he threw it onto the floor and incinerated it. This gave rise to his last verbal sparring match with Rosalyn, an event that culminated into her parasol becoming a small bonfire. Thus began a rapier/magic battle that crashed into three different rooms before going through a wall and into the rapidly rising river that had previously been the street.
Forty-five minutes later found eight Hero's Club members in a sorely misguided attempt to stop the fight. They clearly didn't realize who they were dealing with, and only the raging downpour sparred them from sharing the fate of Rosalyn's parasol. Thirty minutes after that found at least fifty Heroes getting in each other's ways as every single one of them tried to single-handedly defeat what was without a doubt an Evil King. Another five minutes, and Rosalyn was the only one still fighting Stan. Ten minutes, and she was the only one left standing, much to Stan's humiliation.
Unanimously deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, Rosalyn, Ari, and a soundly defeated and surprisingly subdued Stan had fled Madril and spent the rest of the night in the entrance to the Escapeless Abyss.
Oh yeah.
When Ari failed to respond to the first attempt to wake him, he felt a second, slightly harder nudge, which was followed by a third.
"Stan, quit kicking him," said Rosalyn irritably. "Honestly, you are such a child." This pronouncement was followed by complete silence.
Ari rolled over and rubbed his eyes to see Stan now leaning half-heartedly against the cave wall. He caught Rosalyn's eye in a questioning glance, and she shook her head. "He's still pouting because I beat him," she said disgustedly.
"Shut up," Stan whined. Ari grinned and laughed quietly behind his hand. He was half-tempted to offer his sympathies, but that would have just made Stan pout even more.
"That'll make a great headline," said a familiar voice. Stan groaned as Mr. Big strode into the cave. "I can see it now. 'Evil King Stan Gets Beaten By A Girl.' We'll make a mint."
"Hey, I resent that!" Rosalyn exclaimed. "I'm a Hero, not just some girl."
Stan, continuing to sulk, did not try to defend himself.
Mr. Big laughed. "Easy, lady. I mean no disrespect. Of course, we'd print that; just not in the headline. But I'm here for a different headline."
"What are you going on about now?"
"How about 'Evil King Stan Apologizes To Rashelo: Helps Rebuilding Efforts'?"
"What?" Stan demanded, turning quickly. "How dare you even think about printing garbage like that? I'll-!"
"Stan, could you possibly be quiet for two seconds?" Rosalyn yelled, conveniently forgetting about past twelve hours. She turned back to Mr. Big. "What are you talking about?"
He chuckled self-importantly. "Well, now, I know what's true, obviously, but I also know how it looks when an exact copy of Stan here starts helping people."
There was a second of complete silence, then, "DAMN HIM! I'm going to kill that blasted Image if it's the last thing I do! Come on, slave. To Rashelo!" Without waiting for anyone else, including his slave, he stormed out of the cave.
"Well, at least he's not sulking anymore," Rosalyn muttered. "I better go after him. Thanks for coming out here."
"No problem, lady," Mr. Big said affably. "Better than you three trying to come back into town. Just try not to knock out the front wall of my building next time, hm?" He bowed ironically and left.
"Oops," Rosalyn said quietly, although she couldn't help but smile. "Actually, I think Stan did that. Oh well. Come on, Ari." The two of them hurried after Stan before he could do any more damage.
Illisaith wiped the sweat from his forehead and stared into the distance. He didn't really want to be here and was beginning to regret his offer. He had expected Stan to show long before now, but maybe the word was just taking longer to reach him than anticipated. A sound like a thousand tiny bells arrested his attention. Star's chiming was becoming increasingly discordant in testament to her increasing unease. She did not like being stared at.
Whole families had returned to rebuild Rashelo; the sheer number of tents and campsites made up a small city. They hadn't trusted Illisaith at all, and still didn't really. It was Star who swayed them. She had not spoken to them, nor had she done anything, really. It was something about the way she had peeked out from behind him like a scared child, the way she had clung to him for protection. Nothing so precious and beautiful could possibly be evil, they thought, so they had reluctantly accepted Illisaith's help. They continued to look at him as though they thought he might go berserk at any moment, but they were beginning to trust him.
Now, if they would just get it in their heads that he wasn't Stan…
Oh, they knew his name by now, but they still didn't seem to understand the difference. Or even that there was one.
Star chirped and drifted closer to Illisaith. "Part of me knows they mean no harm," she said quietly. "Yet another part commands me to flee. Do you understand that?"
"Yes," Illisaith agreed kindly. "I understand. 'Once bitten, twice shy.'"
"Yes, exactly." She looked around at the children who were trying to play, help, and gawk at the same time. "I used to love children…They are so innocent…" She shook herself and drifted a few inches in their direction.
Illisaith laughed quietly and started to go back to the bridge he had been attempting to assemble. He hadn't made much headway when something caught his attention; he looked up and smirked. "So there you are."
"Ah, your counterpart is arriving," Star noted. "Perhaps we should go to meet it."
"Don't worry; I'll lead him away."
"I do not believe I condone this part of the plan…"
They watched as a liquid black form raced across the ground. Far behind it, they could just barely make out two running figures, doomed to fail in their attempt to stop the grand war that was about to follow. A few villagers noticed the inky darkness accelerating toward them, but it still required Stan in his shadow form to tower twenty feet above everyone else before they realized they needed to scream and run.
"You!" Stan roared, shrinking back down to be eye-level with Illisaith. He gestured grandly as he shouted. "You would dare to make a mockery of moi, Evil King Stan!"
"Temper, temper," Illisaith replied with fiendish grin. He took his own shadow form and, sinking to the ground, sped back the way had Stan had come. Stan cursed loudly and colorfully before following suit, leaving Star to follow at a more sedate pace.
"Darn it, Stan!" Rosalyn yelled as the pair of shadows shot past. "Would you just calm down? Oh, why do I even bother? It's official. I no longer care." And with that proclamation, she sat on the ground and folded her arms.
"Uh…hey, Ros?" Ari said distractedly. As she looked in the direction he was pointing, she felt compelled to stand up again. Keeping one eye on the two humans, Star flew quickly past. She chirped and chimed for Illisaith not to bait Stan even though she knew he couldn't have heard. Suddenly, she stopped and turned quickly.
"I do not like war," she said tensely. "I do not wish the young one to be harmed. Will you not stop them?"
She sounded so childlike and desperate. Although she hated herself for doing it, Rosalyn shook her head. "Honestly, I don't think we can. Stan won't listen to either of us at the best of times."
Star made a noise like countless bells crashing to the floor and fled after the two combatants with Ari and Rosalyn just a few steps behind.
Illisaith could not keep running forever, nor did he intend to. Stopping, however, was a contingency he had failed to plan for. Finally, he simply pulled his three dimensional form back together and threw himself out of the way as Stan raised up to swipe at him. He, too, became solid again and started throwing energy shots. Illisaith grinned to himself; he might not have the experience to win a real fight, but he didn't need it to hold his own against Stan. He was, after all, the Shadow Evil King's reflection. All he had to do was what he did best: mirror his subject.
He dodged behind a rock to ready a shot and threw it at Stan, forcing him to stop momentarily. Now on equal footing, Illisaith ran back out. The actual battle had finally begun.
Stan belatedly realized that this might not have been the best plan he had ever had. As he began firing again, Illisaith started firing back. He dodged, but he needn't have since the shots simply met each other and exploded harmlessly. Illisaith would match whatever he did, which meant that he would be completely unable to do anything unexpected. Fortunately, this also meant that his reflection couldn't be unexpected, either.
Stan stopped firing and simply lunged at Illisaith, who met him half-way. They grappled for several minutes while he tried desperately to remember what that book had said. He decided to switch tactics ever so slightly and count on his own incessant need to have the last word throw Illisaith off. "Just give it up," he snarled. "A copy like you doesn't have a prayer against the original Evil King Stan."
He felt Illisaith falter slightly and managed to throw him to the ground.
Recovering quickly, Illisaith threw himself into Stan and pulled him down as well. "The Mirror Evil King doesn't need to pray anyway," he sneered. As expected, the title he had claimed sent Stan into an apoplexy.
"You…you…dare…!" Stan stammered, almost too angry to speak. "I am the one and only Great Evil King Stan! All others are fake, wannabe imposters!"
In order to not imitate everything Stan said, Illisaith had to switch between mirroring and not mirroring. Consequently, he slipped again and missed where Stan shoved power through him, blasting him several feet away.
"So that's how it's going to be?" Illisaith growled, standing. "Fine then. Tremble at the awesome power of Mirror Evil King Illisaith!" Illisaith was done playing games, but so was Stan. They began using exactly the same attacks in exact unison, and succeeded in nothing more than tiring themselves out.
"You begin to understand, now, don't you?" Illisaith said as they were both forced to stop and catch their breath. "I don't need to beat you to win. I just need to wear you down." Stan narrowed his eyes and said nothing. If Illisaith was announcing his grand plans, then he wasn't mirroring. He was chagrined to realize that it was his own faults he was seeing in his reflection and wondered if he was really that stupid. Not that he would ever have said that aloud.
So, keep him talking then. "That's a pretty stupid plan considering we're going to wear down at the same time," he said contemptuously.
"Not if you consider that I'm more interested ruining your reputation than salvaging my own." He scoffed, and it almost sounded mournful. "I don't even have one; everyone thinks I'm you. And I'll make sure you pay for that."
"You idiot!" Stan laughed. All during the exchange, he'd been gathering power. Now, he threw it. Illisaith was not expecting it, although he had to kick himself for that later. It's what he would have done, after all. By the time he recovered, Stan was back in shadow form. Now hopelessly out of sync with his subject, Illisaith tried to catch up by changing to his own shadow form. He wasn't quite fast enough.
Stan backhanded Illisaith and sent him sprawling, but he recovered quickly enough to avoid being caught in the small electrical storm Stan had cast. He returned with a blaze spell that caught Stan but did next to no damage to his incorporeal body. Laughing maniacally, Stan cast blaze back at Illisaith.
Illisaith belatedly realized that this might not have been the best plan he had ever had. Their power level may have been the same, but that was it. Apparently, there is no real substitute for experience. Stan swatted Illisaith and sent him flying straight into a rock, and that might have been the end of him if a deafening cacophony hadn't chosen that moment to intervene.
"You will not harm it!" Star exclaimed, imposing herself between them. Rather than wait for any kind of a response from either of them, she curled into a hovering ball.
Stan was confused for about a second, until he felt the energies being gathered in that small body. Egotistical as he was, he didn't think even he could survive the attack about to come. He was about a dozen feet away and back in his true form when Star suddenly threw open her arms and unleashed a wave of power that threw him to the ground. His first thought was that he was dead. His second thought was that he'd better not have to spend the rest of eternity listening to that voice.
Rosalyn was shrieking with laughter, doubled over and barely able to breath. Ari was making a valiant effort not to do likewise as he helped Stan to his feet. "I'm not an invalid, slave," Stan growled, pushing him away. He narrowed his eyes and glared at Star, but his words were meant for Illisaith. "So you need this overgrown firefly to fight your battles for you?" he sneered.
"Better than relying on a worthless human slave!" Illisaith shot back without thinking. He didn't notice Star cringe and shy away from him.
"ENOUGH!" Rosalyn yelled, startling both of them into actually shutting up. "That's it! I can't take it anymore. One of you is more than enough. You," she pointed at Stan, "go settle down. And you," she rounded on Illisaith, "go deal with her."
Illisaith started guiltily as he remembered Star. She was hiding behind the rock, chirping quietly. He tramped down the desire to save face in front of his audience and started whispering about being sorry and other, more nonsensical things while he tried slowly and carefully to draw Star back out. Stan snickered; Rosalyn smacked him.
Star continued backing away, and Illisaith was forced to pursue her almost all the way around the rock before he could convince her to calm down. Finally, she did, however, and the two came back out.
"What is she?" Ari asked quietly.
"Have you ever heard the story of a creature called the Eclipse?"
Stan scoffed. "That's the Eclipse?"
Illisaith glared but managed to restrain his comments. "No, this is the Radiant Star. The light half."
Rosalyn started to speak, but Stan cut her off. "You really expect me to believe that thing is half of the Eclipse?" Illisaith smirked in response.
"So if there's a light half, does that mean there's a dark half, too?" Rosalyn was finally able to ask. Illisaith started to answer, but Star put a restraining hand on his shoulder.
"It is my story," she said, shyly coming out from behind him. "Perhaps I should tell it."