Chapter 94: Tim

When those amber-eyed Heartlesses left, I was relieved. "What were those, anyway?" I asked everybody, almost forgetting about-

MARIA! There she was, standing in front of us. "You're not dead!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, somebody was able to save me." Maria said, smiling grimly.

"Who?" everybody asked her.

"Kronos-" then stopped short when she saw our faces "Crow, no, I mean, Raven." Maria replied quickly, pointing to a nearby crow who was sitting on a tree, cawing.

"That's not a raven, that's a crow. You were right the first time." Ruidi corrected her.

"No, I mean the person who saved me was Raven's- I mean, Raven." Maria said, her face reddening.

"Raven? Who's that?" Shirley asked.

"You know who she is. She's the one who brought you here." Maria said.

"No, that was Alcyone." Pranu said.

Maria looked flustered. "But that's Raven's shadow's name, right?"

"A shadow's name? How can a shadow have a name?" Everyone looked more confused than ever.

"A shadow, indeed, can have a name." a voice said behind us. I turned around and saw... two Alcyones.

"That's it. I must be dreaming." Eshana said, and pinched herself hard. "OWW!"

"I KNEW it!" Ruidi screamed shrilly. "I KNEW Alcyone was switched!"

Everyone, including me, was panicked and shouting and generally in mass confusion.

The Alcyone who hadn't spoken yet waited for us to calm down and said, "Guys, this is my mistre-" but then the other Alcyone gave her the evil eye, so this Alcyone immediately corrected herself, "I mean, sister, Raven. I'm her shadow."

There were shouts of "What?", more pinching to make sure that we weren't dreaming, and yet more mass hysteria.

It took us about a few hours to get used to the idea. By then, the sun was rising, and it tinged the grey 'sky' of the Void a radiant orange of many hues.

Raven gave Pranu a yellow plastic square etched with the words P.V on it. "What you are now holding is one of very few Portal Keycards that I have distributed over the years. Apply pressure here-" Raven pointed to a spot on the keycard- "with your right index finger and you will be able to transport yourself and anyone else holding on to you in or out of the Void."

Well. I thought, This just shows how little of the world you know or understand.

Excerpt: Ruidi

I knew that there was something fishy about Alcyone the past few days. Now that this "Raven" turned up, everyone accepted it and believed that she was good, on their side, etc. But I didn't. In fact, I trusted her less than I did Nikita.

Caiyi, Tim and I tried to teach the flock Darklecovias. Raven quietly said that "I have no need to reinforce concepts already learned," and she walked away somewhere.

Maria was trying to stop us from teaching the flock Darklecovia's- "You'll only end up injuring them, please!" Her eyes were wide and frantic, "I don't want to see any more people hurt-"

Tim assured her that this was for self-defense only and they probably wouldn't screw up and be uncontrollable like I did-Gee, thanks, Tim- but Maria kept on insisting... and the flock wasn't really learning anything anyway...

It was getting kind of frustrating, trying to teach these- idi- I stopped myself in mid-thought, immediately aware that at least one person here could read my mind. I glanced at Alex, who was trying unsuccessfully to destroy a tree with her Darklecovia.

Suddenly Raven appeared behind me and gave me a shock. "What you need to do is improve your general aptitude and skill at your preferred weapon. Darklecovia's might be impressive and destroy a lot, but it doesn't say anything about how strong you are. In fact, almost anyone that uses it has to rest for nearly a week before recovering." she spoke, looking straight past me at Pranu.

"We're good enough at swords and weapons and stuff like that." Pranu said.

"Good enough is not enough." Raven replied. "You must achieve perfection..."

"Like you're going to be any better than us. Than me." I said angrily.

"Ruidi, you should not go around impulsively challenging others." Raven said to me, her eyes flashing.

"Well, I do think that I'm better at you in swordsmanship." I replied, twirling my sword around.

She did not reply. Pranu said, "Well, it's a really good idea..." and started pairing us off. I was with Maria, Shirley with Eshana, Bhavana with Alex, Pranu with Caiyi, and Tim was supposed to be with Raven but she had curtly told him that, thank you very much, but she'd rather practice with Alcyone. So Tim had to team with Pranu and Caiyi. How impolite.

Maria and I started off with some basic jabs and blocks. Pranu called that we should start going more advanced now, so we did some dodging, slices and spins. But soon everyone else's clacks and clanks of their swords died down. I stopped too, wondering what was going on.

Over in a corner, Alcyone and Raven were putting on quite a show. Their movements were a flurry- so fast that you couldn't even see them. However, they seemed evenly matched, because it went on for such a long time. Finally, there was a clank and Alcyone's sword, Starlight, dropped onto the floor. Raven had her sword poised over Alcyone's heart. Then slowly, she withdrew, breathing hard.

"Wasn't she supposed to be your shadow, and have just a fraction of your abilities?" Alex asked Raven.

"I lent her some. So that this practice would be... stimulating." Raven said, placing her hand on Alcyone's forehead, and withdrawing some purplish-blue wisps, then Alcyone immediately melted back into her shadow.

"So, guys." Pranu said. "After this practice session, anyone want to go back to the real world?" Everyone agreed, taking hold of Pranu- or someone who was taking hold Pranu, or someone who was taking hold of someone who was taking hold of Pranu... you get the idea- and Pranu pressed her thumb onto the keycard and it transported us to a small town where you had an excellent view of the canyon.

"We can fly from here." Alex said.

"We have six days left." Caiyi said shortly.

"Then we'd better get going." Pranu said, spreading her wings and zooming into the sky.