We're well into the home straight now, and it's a Bunch of Fairies leading, closely followed by the Ifrit coming up fast on the rails. Lord Darkar's dropping back but he's still looking dangerous, and Trix has dropped right out of the picture. It's a three horse race here at the Fate of the Universe Stakes, and as we come up to the finish line it's...
And once again, it's a big thumbs up to Meg and Spongey who reviewed my last chapter. Please R&R folks!
Random Quote: C'mon baby - I'm a mouse in need! (the mouse, from Fonejacker)
Whilst Bloom and the others were left cursing their luck and fearing the worst at the hands of Darkar, Stella, Flora, Tecna, Anyuna, Mimi, Mirta, Delphi, Brandon, Helia and Timmy were at that very moment counting their blessings, and then counting them once again because they simply couldn't believe that they were still alive.
It seemed liked an eternity, but it had only been a few short minutes since they had been sprinting for their lives with the monstrous Ifrit following close behind, sending a fireball towards them just to keep them on their toes.
"Man, we can't keep running forever." an exasperated Anyuna shouted.
"Well we can't fight it neither. You saw the way that thing pasted Charlotte." Tecna replied. "It's just too powerful to take head on."
"I don't care how powerful he is," Mimi growled. "If that thing's hurt one hair on my sister's head, I'll rip his head off with my bare hands!"
"Yeah join the queue! Tecna's right though - we can't take him head on, but we do have to get back to the others... and I think I know how!" Anyuna said with a wink.
The others looked at her as she sprinted ahead.
"Hey Yuni, aren't you gonna fill us in?" Stella yelled.
"You'll see when we get to the next room, which should be just around the corner."
Sure enough, despite the panic and mayhem Anyuna's keen mind had indeed remembered there was a room just around the corner. It was a large rectangular room, strewn with rubble, craters and all sorts of battle scars, and towards the centre there was a large blood-red mark on the floor, slightly faded as it had soaked into the stone but still sickening fresh in their memories. Now they all remembered this room - it was the scene of their battle with the Trix, where their dear friend Tegryn had received those awful injuries.
"So what? Are we going to fight him here?" Stella asked.
"Nope," Anyuna replied as she motioned them towards a corner, "We're just going to hide and make it look as though we ran through that door over there."
"Umm... hide where exactly?"
"Just get behind me and don't make a sound." Anyuna replied as she conjured up a ball of energy in her hand and tossed it into the air. "Mirage Ball!"
As the ball reached twenty feet or so in the air, it suddenly exploded into a cloud of pretty little sparks which showered gently down upon them.
"I don't get it. What's happened?" Stella whispered.
"You'll see soon enough. Now shush! It's coming." Anyuna whispered back in hushed tones as the Ifrit's thunderous footsteps grew nearer and louder. It took a great effort for them not to squeal when his frightening form emerged from the doorway. Anxiously, they stood there as he looked around, giving a low grunt of frustration.
Suddenly, he looked in their direction. Brandon instinctively reached for his broadsword, only for Anyuna to grab his arm and signal him to be quiet. He reluctantly did so, and quietly waited, ready for action at a moment's notice along with his Red Fountain colleagues. It was a nervy few seconds as the Ifrit continued looking at them with those eerie glowing amber eyes of his before slowly trudging off towards the door. As his hulking frame disapperared from view, they group breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"Phew!" Brandon gasped. "That was too close!"
"I don't get it. Why wasn't he able to see us?" Stella asked.
Anyuna smiled. "Well, why don't you go over there and tell us." she said, pointing in front of them. With a confused shrug of her shoulders, Stella did as she was asked and walked off.
"I still don't understand, why..." she said before turning around and abruptly ending her question. She stared in their direction, frantically looking around. The others had vanished.
"What?! Where are you guys? Where did you disappear to?"
"Over here!" Anyuna giggled. Stella gave a startled gasp and stepped backwards as Anyuna seemingly emerged from out of the wall. "I'm really getting the hang of this Mirage trick!"
"Amazing!" Tecna said, admiring Anyuna's handiwork as it slowly faded from view. "That should buy us the time we need to get back and help the others. Come on!"
After casting a quick glance behind them, the boys and girls crept into the corridor heading back towards the throne room, but they had no further than the first corner when a sudden rush of fire slammed into the wall in front of them, sending showers of rubble flying in all directions.
"Yow! What was that?"
Warily, they peered around the corner, only to be conforted with the answer to Stella's question - it was the Ifrit, standing boldly in front of them with his arms folded.
"That's impossible! We saw you go out the other door!"
"Yes, and I saw that there was no-one hiding in that room. Of course, neither of those visions were real, were they?"
Anyuna sighed. "So you can cast mirages too, huh?"
"I haven't lived for 3000 years without learning a thing or two. Now then - shall we dance? I'll lead!" he roared as he fired off another fireball in their direction, watching with great satisfaction as it cannoned into the wall behind them and started yet another cave-in.
"Quick, back into the room!"
They sprinted back where they came from and hurridly made for the exit on the far side before being halted by a firey gust of wind as the Ifrit materialised in front of them. With they they came in partially blocked, and the Ifrit standing between them and their only other exit, they had nowhere left to run. As the fairies and specialists prepared themselves for battle, the Ifrit addressed Stella.
"Ah yes, you're the one who felt sorry for me because I was outnumbered. Allow me to even the odds!"
With that he raised his arms, and the ground started to shake. He bellowed loudly as a deep crack opened up in front of him.
"Yes! Come forth my dark minions! Come forth!"
On his cue, ten large shadowy figures clambered out and stood silently in a line in front of them. The Ifrit pointed at them.
"Destroy them!"
Without a sound, the shadows rushed our heroes, knocking them to the ground with no effort at all. The three boys quickly stood up, brandishing their weapons in a bid to protect the already weakened fairies as the shadows came around for another pass. With a loud cry, Brandon lept up and swiped his broadsword at the oncoming enemies, who made no attempt to defend themselves.
'Surely this is too easy,' he thought to himself as his blade homed in on one shadow's unprotected neck. His fears were realised when his weapon simply passed through. He gasped in disbelief before he was struck down by a vicious blow. Heavily landing on one knee, he looked one helplessly as Timmy and Helia were overwhelmed thanks to their equally-ineffective weapons.
"Snookums!" Stella cried as she ran over to him.
"I'm alright babe." he said, rubbing his sore cheek before his eyes opened wide in shock. "Look out!" he shouted, pointing at the shadow who had previously floored him.
Stella stood up defiantly, clenching her elegant fists as she readied herself to give this demonic figure a taste of Solaria.
"No-one slaps my man around except me!" she shouted.
"Yeah sugar, thanks for that!"
Stella couldn't help but smile at that retort as she charged herself up. "Solar Blast!" she cried as she unleashed a bolt of magical energy, hoping that it would have some impact on this featureless beast. Unfortunately for her, it didn't - the blast simply passed straight through it, and she had to duck to avoid being struck down once more. As she huddled together with Brandon, she looked on to see how the others were doing - they were doing equally badly.
"None of our attacks are having any effect!" Tecna cried in vain.
Meanwhile, the Ifrit watched on, deeply amused by their pathetic efforts.
"Of course they won't have an effect, you stupid fleshling! Have you ever touched a shadow before?" he gloated, filling the room with his unbelievably deep laughter which shook the floor. "Of course you haven't... but they can touch you!"
The attack carried on mercilessly, with each one of them trying hard to figure a way out of this situation without being knocked to kingdom come. After a while, the answer came to Stella in a flash.
"Shadows? Of course. We can't touch them, but I know something that can!"
She looked over at Anyuna, who just happened to be looking back at her.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" the Dream Fairy said with a knowing glint in her beautiful dark eyes.
"Sure am!" Stella replied. "Hey everyone, you'd better cover your eyes - we're about to show just how dazzling Alfea girls can be!"
With that she fluttered up off the ground and drew her arms and legs into her body as she msutered her energies one more time. With a cry of "Summer Sunlight!", her body was immediately enveloped by a glaring yellow-white light, exploding forth as she unleashed her full power.
"Aura Flash!" Anyuna yelled as she followed suit, adding her own illumination to the attack. With the two girls' powers combined, every inch of the chamber was filled with a blinding light, so blinding that even the Ifrit was forced to cover his eyes. After a few seconds, the light subsided and the gang were finally able to open their eyes once again. To their astonishment (not to mention their great relief), their attackers had vanished completely.
"Yep, nothing like a little light to banish a few shadows!" Stella said triumphantly.
However, while they were congratulating themselves on a job well done, the Ifrit was less than happy with the fact that these children had actually managed to defeat his minions. In fact, he was positively livid, and there was one fairy who annoyed him more than the others, even more than the Nahriina. With a snarl that was stright out of hell itself, he lunged forward, drew back his mighty fist and aimed an unstoppable punch at the Solarian princess. With a look of sheer terror on her face, Stella screamed and put her arms up in front of her in a futile effort to shield herself.
She screwed her eyes shut and waited for the inevitable bone-crunching blow...
And waited...
And waited...
As the seconds ticked by, she warily opened one eye. Her entire body shuddered as she was greeted with the sight of a dark green fist big enough to crush her body with the tiniest of efforts... and it was just... there, right in front of her, barely a few inches from her pretty little nose.
"Huh?!" was the only thing she could manage to say. It was then that the Ifrit drew himself back up to his full height and started laughing as he pawed at his neck, and it was then that Stella and the others noticed something - the tarnished gold collar that he adorned his neck had vanished.
The room became filled with a slow ominous chuckle.
"Yes, at last! I'm free."
"Free? From what?"
"It was Darkar," Mirta said as she stepped forward somewhat nervously. "Darkar had him enslaved, but now his hold's been broken."
As Mirta spoke, the Ifrit's attention suddenly switched from his own neck to the young witch. Like the others, he had noticed that the Spirit Rod which she now wore almost religiously on her hip was glowing.
"You!" he boomed so loudly, it sent a shiver up her spine, and indeed everyone else's. "You're different from the rest."
Mirta gulped. "Diff... different?"
The Ifrit jabbed a finger at the Spirit Rod. "Make sure you keep hold of that, little one - it's the only reason I'm not slaughtering you right now. In fact, as long as you keep it, you needn't consider me your enemy."
"Um... thanks?" Mirta squeaked, ever mindful of the fact that a year's worth of adrenaline was shooting through her body right now.
"And now, my time has come to gain vengeance on the one who enslaved me." and with that, the Ifrit's body glowed bright orange as though it was consuming itself in flame, burning ever stronger until he had completely disappeared, leaving our young souls standing in that eerily silent space, blinking, wondering just how they had managed to scrape themselves out of that hole. Eventually, it was up to Timmy to break the silence.
"Wait a minute... that thing said Darkar had a hold on him... so if that hold's been broken..."
Tecna's eyes opened up wide. "Then... Darkar's been defeated?"
A collective gasp rose up.
"Well, maybe not defeated, but it could mean the others have done some real damage."
"And now that Ifrit's rushing off to join them! Oh no - we've got to get to them, and fast!"