Page 7 – Dark Wings Spread
Yet again, Raven Queen faced most of the students of Ever After High. Staring up at her from endless rows of seats, waiting to hear what she'd say.
"Um, I'm…I'm Raven Queen, and uh…"
A voice from the side of the stage angrily whispered, "Hocus focus, Miss Queen. Remember, this is the most important moment of your life."
Over her shoulder, she saw the scowling face of Headmaster Grimm, waiting for her to deliver her acknowledgement speech. He wasn't the only one: beside him was the familiar, practically glowing face of Apple White. Offering a supportive smile and an affirmative nod.
Was that only because Apple's story depended on Raven being in it, though?
"I'm Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen—"
Half the audience recoiled in their seats at the mention of her mother.
But this time, she kept going, "—the most terrifying villain the kingdom's ever known. I'm asked to live up to her legacy, become every inch the villain my mother was. As of right now, I vow to seize my future!"
Behind her, Apple hopped up and down and clapped her dainty hands. Headmaster Grimm narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.
Her practice-declaration delivered, Raven Queen stepped back from the front of the stage. She was greeted by silence, liked she'd been expecting, but she'd also kind of been expecting someone to throw old tomatoes, and was relieved that hadn't happened.
Sparrow Hood passed her on the way to the podium, electric guitar in hand, and Raven heard him slam a power chord on it just before she realized a giant shadowy form was looming over her. "You're still off-script, Miss Queen," he informed her.
"I'm sorry, Headmaster Grimm!" the dark princess apologized, and took half a step back. "I kind of…flinch when I'm confronted? All those kids looking up at me, made me nervous."
"Well, deal with it," Headmaster Grimm warned her. "Whoever heard of an Evil Queen who's afraid of confrontation?" He sighed. "Unfortunately, the signing's tomorrow, so it'll have to do, and you'll have to pick up those better habits in the future. Do pay attention in class."
The headmaster looked her straight in the eye, and for just a moment, there was a flicker of light. Then it flared in Raven's eyes, just for a moment, and Headmaster Grimm walked past her without another word.
In his seat, Taylor Valiant couldn't focus on a word Robin Hood's heir was singing. He felt an extremely uncomfortable itch start at the back of his neck, then seem to drip inside, down to into his heart. Taylor almost reached down to try to scratch it, catching himself when he realized how pointless that would be, and might make the magic sword appear in his hand in front of the whole school.
Even from where he was sitting, Taylor could see Headmaster Grimm having a private word with Raven. It looked like the members of their little group still had enough drama to worry about, without any of their fellow students knowing about Taylor's sword.
Having some idea of what the sword was after talking to Giles Grimm reassured Taylor, but also worried him. If all the great stories had taught him anything, it was that having it meant he was supposed to undertake some great adventure. Which, Taylor was worried, would be beyond what Ever After High planned to teach him.
Their parents' stories were one thing. The students knew all about what to expect from those. What was Taylor supposed to do about monsters trying to terrorize or kill students?
They were just kids!
His eyes followed Raven as she walked down from the stage and behind the seats. Taylor tried not to track her while she made her way back to the empty seat next to his, but Dexter Charming had taken the podium, and the awkward prince was stumbling over his declaration even more than Raven had.
"Loosen up, man," Pyotr Lupus said quietly to his roommate.
"Easy for you to say," Taylor mumbled.
"Don't say that like you're the only involved in all this," Pyotr replied, and Taylor had to nod. "I'm saying, don't let your problems get bigger than they actually are."
Taylor snickered. "Got some family experience with that?"
Unexpectedly, Pyotr snickered along with him. "I need to know what to avoid if I'm not gonna end up like that."
That was another thing they needed to figure out. Taylor knew a pair of kids who didn't really want to live their parents' lives, and another kid who was hiding the fact that her parents hadn't lived out the lives they'd been assigned.
Just from the way Headmaster Grimm had been confronting Raven over it, Taylor was sure that was going to explode, too.
And he and his friends would probably be right in the middle of it.
He was glad when his thoughts were interrupted by Raven Queen sitting down next to him again. "Grimm's still not happy with your speech, huh?" Taylor asked quietly.
"Apparently, Evil Queens aren't supposed to be afraid of confrontation," she grumbled.
Pyotr coughed into his hand. "Let's head into town after Legacy Day practice is over," he suggested to the others. "Get away from all this depressing junk for a while."
Raven covered her face with her hands and sighed. "Yes. Please. I don't even care where we go, just away from…this."
"Promise," Pyotr promised. "I've got something great in mind."
"Wow. That kind of worries me," Taylor admitted.
"I may talk loud, but this tongue does not lie. I am not my dad," Pyotr stated, and Raven smiled a little, as if reassured.
It seemed to have faded once she realized where they were going.
Papa G's Game Den looked a lot like the gaming stores Raven had seen before. Seen, but never gone inside. In the tall windows facing the street, there were displays showing action figures of knights and gallant princes, posed as if locked in mortal combat with action figures of dragons and black-clad sorcerers. Above those, a dangling cardboard sign declared, "War Kingdom Saga played here!"
"…so, this is it, then?" Raven inquired. "A comic book store."
"That's not what we're here for," Pyotr assured her. "Ray, I promise I'll make you a War Kingdoms hero."
"The card game is?" suggested Taylor, pointing at the sign in the window.
He nodded and grinned like a demon.
"Oh, no!" Raven said and turned around, her cheeks turning the slightest pink of embarrassment.
"Hear me out, guys!" Pyotr said. "This game takes skill, and concentration. You have to learn a lot to get good at it. You won't be able to think about Headmaster Grimm or Legacy Day at all!"
Taylor laughed and rubbed his forehead, but realized Raven was laughing softly too. "You know what, yeah! Show me how to play," she answered, and swept past the two into the store.
The Game Den wasn't a particularly big place, with racks of comic books dominating most of the floor, while boxed games lined most of the walls. Images of monsters were stuck to the walls above the shelves, looking ready to do battle with whoever were the heroes of the comics their art was taken from. Behind the counter in the back, though, painting a miniature figure, was a dark-skinned, spindly-limbed man with a mop curly brown hair.
Seeing them, the proprietor set down his project and beamed a smile at them. "Welcome, esteemed colleagues!" the man said.
"Hi, Pino! How's it going?" Pyotr responded, before he looked over his shoulder at his friends. "Everybody, meet Pinocchio himself."
"Wow, no kidding?" exclaimed Taylor. "I…wow, well, I didn't expect you to be running a…"
"Place like this?" Pinocchio finished for him, smile undiminished. "I wanted to branch out after my girl left for school, and be close at the same time so she wouldn't get too overwhelmed. You've got to understand, she's not like the other girls there."
"We might know better than you think, sir," Taylor said quietly.
He laughed. "Don't call me sir, I work for a living! Now, you guys must be here looking for some fun! Who are your friends, P, and what are you guys looking for today?"
Pyotr leaned on the counter with one arm and extended the other toward his friends. "P-Hammer, meet Taylor, and Raven. I promised I'd make her a War Kingdoms hero."
Fixing Pyotr with a dubious stare, Pinocchio asked, "Is that exactly how you talked her into it? Telling her she'd be a 'War Kingdoms hero'?"
"Maybe," Pyotr replied.
The proprietor slapped the counter and let out a laugh. "You really did! That's a good one!"
However, Pyotr was giving him a confused look. "Are you sure you're really Pinocchio?"
"Why?"
"Your nose is still the same size after that lie."
"This way, heroes," Pinocchio said with a sarcastic smirk, over to a section of the wall where packs of cards in shiny wrappers hung from peg hooks. "Will the gallant Sir Pyotr Lupus be buying his fellow warrior a starter deck?" Pyotr nodded, so he went on, "What'll it be?"
Tapping his chin for a second, Pyotr suggested, "How about…sun, for her?"
"Good choice," observed Pinocchio, before he took a pack off its hook and headed back to the register to ring it up.
A very worried look settled on Pyotr's face when he looked down at his hand, and looked back up to see what card Raven had pulled from hers.
"Stone of Duality," she said confidently. "It says that means I get to assign a second element to my Cloud Dragon from it growing another head."
"…yeah, that's right," Pyotr conceded, and heard a snide little laugh from behind the counter. "What element you gonna pick?"
"Fire!" Raven automatically replied, but reached for her hand and laid down another card below the other. "And I also play this one, Winds of Providence. That makes my forces so fast, two get to attack in a round instead of one."
He didn't respond, and Raven took her opponent's silence as confirmation she wasn't breaking any rules. "So, that means," she went on, "I'm using both my Crusading Fairy and Two-Headed Cloud Dragon to attack."
"Black Iron Walls have a defense of 500," Pyotr said, but his voice was hollow as Raven started figuring out the math behind her attack.
"Blazing Sword takes off 150," Raven replied.
Taylor made another lap around the store. He picked up a comic book that looked halfway-decent, flicked through a few pages, and put it back in disinterest. With no other options, he went to the back counter, going around a couple of boys whispering excitedly to each other about something, and leaned next to the register.
"Not finding anything you like?" Pinocchio asked him.
"Pyotr said he'd play me next, but it looks like Raven's better at this than he was expecting, and the game's going a lot longer," Taylor explained.
Pinocchio shrugged, and when he did, Taylor could've sworn he heard the clatter of wood. He leaned over the counter and quietly said to the teen, "That one's pretty ruthless. Given her family, I'm not surprised she already knows a thing or two about conquering her enemies."
"Raven's not like that, though. She hates the idea of being like her mom," Taylor replied. "Hex, she's been in trouble with the headmaster over that."
Smiling teasingly, Pinocchio slapped Taylor on the shoulder. "It's just a game, kid."
Looking over at the table where his friends were playing, Taylor watched Pyotr take the cards of all his monsters out from in front of him and put them on his discard pile. Next he rolled the counter representing his life points down to zero, and threw the cards in his hand down on the table with a sigh.
Across the table, Raven smiled confidently. Taylor thought he could see a flicker of light in her eyes while she gathered up her cards.
And for the briefest of moments, he felt a painful itch right in the center of his heart.
A tense silence covered the school library like a blanket. Future heroes and princesses studied under the judgmental eye of the Wicked Step-Librarians, but around a distant table on the second floor, thoughts were on other matters.
Ashlynn Ella cast worried glances in the direction of the front desk every few minutes, since, after all, one of the librarians would be the antagonist of her story one day, and she was sure they were already looking for reasons to form a grudge.
Did they have to do it while she was still in school, though?
An alabaster-white hand reached across the table and touched hers comfortingly. "Relax, Ash. I won't let anything happen while we're here. That's a promise," smiled Apple White.
If anything, Ashlynn looked just as much the classic princess as her friend, Apple. Mesmerizing green eyes. Creamy pink skin. A cascade of pumpkin-colored hair hanging down to her waist, contrasting magnificently with the pale blue and pink of her dress. And, of course, glass slippers polished to perfect transparency.
She'd always wondered about those, and asked her mom about wearing them all the time, if it was supposed to be special when she wore the glass slippers to the royal ball. Cinderella had told her it was a great way for a young princess to learn poise. Considering the consequences, Ashlynn couldn't really argue…
Eager to change the subject, Ashlynn whispered, "You think she finally changed her mind?"
"What?" Apple whispered back. "I couldn't hear you."
"You couldn't hear me because Briar's snoring already."
Indeed, Sleeping Beauty's heir was slumped over her textbook, eyes clamped shut and snoring as only a master could. To her friends, the dozing princess appeared to be little more than a pretty face peeking out of a mass of luxurious auburn hair with the odd streak of rosy pink, and they were slightly glad for the noise, as it meant they wouldn't be overheard.
Although they might have trouble hearing each other, it seemed.
Carefully looking around to make sure the librarians weren't around, Ashlynn asked again, "You think she finally changed her mind?"
Apple beamed when she understood the question the second time. "Raven said she's going to seize her future!"
Sighing quietly, Ashlynn answered, "That doesn't mean she promised to sign the Storybook of Legends, though."
"What else could it mean?" Apple persisted. Without meaning to, it seemed, her fingers curled slightly around Ashlynn's wrist. Surprised, Ashlynn met Apple's eyes. They were wide open, quivering ever-so-slightly in fear.
"I heard what she said too, Apple. But I really don't think that proves Raven's decided to go evil after all," Ashlynn tried to explain to her friend. "Who are those kids she's been hanging out with? Taylor Valiant and Pyotr Lupus, right? No way they're in the villain curriculum."
"Ashlynn, I need her," Apple whispered. "I'm Snow White's daughter, everyone's going depend on me someday. I can't let everything go poof."
When she heard her friend say that, Ashlynn looked away. "Maybe it's not that bad," she said, strangely quietly.
"What?" Apple asked. Briar's snoring seemed to have gotten even louder.
Slightly louder, Ashlynn repeated, "I said, maybe it's not that bad."
"What do you mean?"
Their eyes met again for a second, and the look in Apple's eyes had grown even worse. From nervous, to desperate. Ashlynn was afraid to say what she felt needed to be said, with how dedicated Apple was to getting her story, and how hard it was turning out to get Apple's costar onboard.
"I just mean, maybe Raven has a point? Maybe it's not the end of the world if we do something different than our stories?" Ashlynn replied with a sigh.
Suddenly a ruler smacked down on the table between them, and Ashlynn and Apple pulled their hands back in surprise. One of the librarians was standing over them. Giving the two princesses an extremely stern look, she held up a bony finger to her lips and loudly shushed them. Then she skulked off into the shelves to find any other misbehaving students.
That was the end of that conversation.
Is your mother around?
No, dad, she's still out. You're asking because the girls in the story are talking about if Destiny's important, right?
Can't fool you, can I, Brooke?
Well, I mean, it isn't it? I looked ahead a couple times, and saw what the characters would do.
Let me tell you a little secret, honey.
…okay.
I asked myself about whether the stories can change when I was about your age. And I looked ahead too. But then I looked ahead again, and things were different.
…what?
It's the truth. The only time I've ever seen that stop happening, was after one of the characters signed the Storybook of Legends, and bound themselves to Destiny.
So that means things won't go poof, if someone doesn't sign the Storybook of Legends?
I don't know, sweetie. That's never happened since I started the same training you're taking now. But I'm sure of one thing: that not everything's set in stone. Not even in the world of fairytales.
Soon the students started trickling back into the dorms, some to tackle their thronework, some to ignore it. Raven, Taylor and Pyotr stopped in the entry hall.
"That was fun! We need to play again soon," Raven said, a slightly wicked smile on her dark lips. "See you guys later!" she said with a wave as she headed to the girls' side.
Pyotr just stared at her back until she disappeared up the stairs, chewing his lip and knitting his brow. Finally, he muttered, "I don't get it."
"Get what?" Taylor prompted his roommate.
Shrugging, Pyotr didn't say anything until the common room was a little emptier, then took Taylor to a table in the corner talk quietly. "Raven took to that game like it was nothing," he told Taylor. "I barely had to explain anything to her, and she couldn't have spent more than five minutes reading the rules."
"So? How long did it take you?" Taylor asked.
"It took me half an hour reading the rule booklet for it to start making sense," answered Pyotr. "And I didn't win a single time until my seventh game."
"Maybe she just learns fast."
Sighing and shaking his head, Pyotr replied, "Maybe man, but I don't know. When we were playing, after she started winning, I swear Raven started seeming just plain…vicious. I know it hasn't been long, but I've never seen her like that. Honestly, it kind of worried me."
Taylor folded his arms and looked down at his hands, making an uncertain noise in his throat. "Maybe you're right," he said under his breath. "When you guys were playing, I thought I saw something funny in her eyes. And there was this pain in my heart…just for a second, but maybe it was something after all."
They stopped talking when they saw someone coming over to them: it was Cerise Hood, a slightly worried look on her face. "Hey guys, what are you talking about?" she asked.
"We're…we're worried something might up with Raven," Taylor said behind his hand. "She seemed kind of…what was the word you said?"
"Vicious."
"Right, vicious, when she was playing a card game with Pyotr before," Taylor explained.
One of Cerise's eyebrows rose, dubiously. "A card game? Are you guys serious?"
Taylor shrugged. "Can we afford to just blow it off, with all the other stuff that's happened since the year started? Apple White got attacked too, didn't you hear?"
Cerise waved her hands for them to lower their voices, and pulled up another chair to try to look like they were all just having a normal conversation. "Okay, sure. Let's assume maybe that isn't Raven. Who is it, then? What's going on?"
"I don't know," Taylor admitted. "But the Dark Mirrors tried going after Apple White, and that didn't work. I've got a feeling they'll try something big next, to hit us back even harder."
He leaned back in surprise when Cerise suddenly thumped the table with her hand. "This is just another story, right? And the hero always figures out how to save the day just in time," she declared.
"That's the way Headmaster Grimm and that Keeper want it," Taylor replied.
"Why can't it be that way for us, too? Just, different," she smiled across the table at him. "These are our futures! Let's make them the way we want!"
Taylor asked, "You saying we should just rebel against the system?"
Cerise grinned and clenched her fists in front of her shoulders. "Yeah! Let's do it! Let's be rebels!"
XXX
Her door opened, and Apple White saw something that shocked her.
Right before she forced herself to hold in a squee of joy.
Sitting on the evil throne Apple had gotten for her was Raven Queen. Inscribing dark runes in the air, making the answers to her math thronework form on the paper in front of her.
"Oh, Raven!" Apple gushed, clasping her dainty hands together. "So…you like the throne, after all."
"I'm trying it out," Raven affirmed.
Apple bit her lip and tried to casually make her way over to Raven's side of the room. "Does that mean you're okay with your story now?"
The dark princess looked up from her papers, and a plume of violet fire covered her eyes for a second. "Wouldn't it be more evil to keep you in suspense?" she grinned like a demon. A real one, Apple thought.
It made a cold chill run up her spine.
"Uh, yeah, I guess," Apple replied. "It's, uh, good to see you embracing your role. What's that you're drinking?"
"Tea," Raven replied, holding up the mug of bubbling purple brew. "Want me to make you some?" she asked, just before a wisp of dark steam drifted up and curled itself into the shape of a skull.
"That's okay…I'll just let you get back to work." Apple slunk back to her side of the room to start her own thronework, looking the other way as hard as she possibly could.
The next day, a lot of the student body slept in. Classes were cancelled, since something huge was planned for that afternoon.
It was finally Legacy Day, where they were each expected sign the Storybook of Legends, magically linking themselves to their family's Destiny. To officially herald the beginning of a new cycle of all the great stories.
A time that a Destiny fanatic like the Keeper and his Dark Mirrors were unlikely indeed to ignore.
Everyone in the dorm got dressed up; when they passed Daring Charming coming out of his suite, a dozen gold-plated cans of hairspray rolled into the hall. Even Taylor and Pyotr had to admit he'd absolutely crushed his look: the prince's hair actually glowed gold.
Once again, the student body flowed out onto the open meeting area behind the school, and found seats while they waited for the ceremony to get started. Taylor and Pyotr looked around for Raven, only to spot her and Apple White already standing on the stage with Headmaster Grimm. Standing with them was a girl with waves of blonde hair, after which she was named: Blondie Lockes, the girl who'd basically made a career out of reporting on all the school news. Of course she'd be on-stage covering everything on Legacy Day.
Apple was wearing a white ballgown, looking appropriately radiant for Snow White's daughter, but Taylor had seen her everywhere since he was a teen and didn't really notice, in favor of the girl next to her. Raven was wearing a black and purple evening gown, and a platinum tiara studded with purple stones of three or four shades. She looked like a true princess, he couldn't help thinking. Something about her was off, though: that cunning smirk on her ebony-shaded lips was a little too real for Taylor.
"Move it!" somebody yelled behind him, and Taylor realized he'd just been standing in the aisle. He looked for an open seat, and spotted Cerise Hood waving the two of them over. Even she was dressed up, wearing a velvet hood with white fur trim, over a short, clingy red dress dangling with a lot of chains.
"Uh, hey, Cerise, I like your outfit," Taylor said when he slid into the empty seat next to her.
She shrugged. "I just have it for dumb formal things like this."
Pyotr chuckled, "You're not the only one, Cerise. We got held up because Taylor was checking out Raven on the stage."
"Oh?"
"It wasn't like that!" Taylor said defensively. "She had this really weird look on her face, and…"
Suddenly, Pyotr's face was serious. "Really? I can't tell from here. Maybe I need new contacts?" He held his hand over his eyes and squinted. "If something's wrong with Raven, then I bet that Keeper guy's got something to do with it."
"But what do we do?" Taylor asked.
"We keep an eye out for trouble and deal with it," Pyotr answered.
"That's easy for you to say," Taylor replied. Part of him approved of his friends' passion to fight for their future, but another part—the one that had not long ago been taking repeated jump kicks from a giant grasshopper—was afraid they didn't appreciate the dangers they were determined to face. Yes, Taylor's father had outsmarted giants and mystical beasts, but that had been with the benefit of a full education in doing that kind of thing.
No-one knew much about his power, or anything about the Dark Mirrors. They were figuring everything out as they went along, and they were just kids. They shouldn't be asked to deal with something like Dark Mirrors, should they?
"We're at school to learn how to do stuff like face evil, right, T?" Pyotr asked back.
"We haven't even started learning stuff like that!" Taylor hissed.
"Will you guys be quiet?" hissed another boy behind them. Taylor and Pyotr did shut up, focusing on the stage as Raven Queen stepped up to the podium where the Storybook of Legends rested, as she had many times at practice during the week. This time, she moved with an elegance her friends had never really seen before. She clutched the edges of the podium, and opened her mouth to speak.
"Hi, everybody!" she smiled. "I'm Raven Queen. A lot of you have probably heard of me, and my mom. Dragon Games champion of her class. Poisoned Snow White. Cursed Wonderland. So evil she was magically sealed inside a mirror to prevent her from making anymore conquests. Everyone's expecting me to live up to her legacy.
"Those are pretty big boots to fill!" the dark princess laughed. A long, sinister laugh and as she did the very sky above seemed to get darker. "If you think about it, I have to work a lot harder to make this story worker than my 'costar'! What does she have to do, besides eat an apple?"
That got an extremely uncomfortable laugh from Apple herself, and a few scattered across the audience. Moving quickly, Apple stepped forward from where she'd been waiting and whispered to Raven, "Maybe going a little overboard, there, Raven?"
"How are you supposed to get your Happily Ever After without an Evil Queen? I'm just doing what you wanted," Raven reminded her, grinning wickedly, and turning to face the other students again. Suddenly a pair of black feathery wings unfolded from her back, and a powerful flap launched her into the air.
For a long moment of painful silence, she looked down at the assembled students while hovering in midair, her body starting to give off a purple glow. Having savored it long enough, Raven suddenly dropped back onto the stage, where she picked up the Storybook of Legends. A black key formed in her gloved hand, and she smiled again, more subdued this time. Purple fire danced around her eyes as she said, "If you all thing I'm nothing but an Evil Queen, that's what you'll get! I Raven Queen, swear to uphold the legacy of my mother, the tyrant of the kingdom!"
She inserted it into the lock and gave it a twist. By magic, the book swung open to her page, and Raven grabbed the quill resting on the podium for each student to sign their name.
All of a sudden there was a flash of gold, and Pyotr saw Taylor holding his magical sword.
He was about to ask what Taylor thought he was doing, but he and everyone else saw it too. A shiny black shell was crawling over her arms and up her neck. As it covered her face her eyes became two glowing purple gemstones that burned with a purple fire. It crawled over her hair, which climbed into a towering up do.
Now, Raven Queen was almost the spitting image of her mother.
Even worse, she was transformed into a Dark Mirror.
"Raven, stop!" Apple screamed. "Something's wrong with you! This isn't how it's supposed to be!"
"This is exactly how it's supposed to be!" Raven laughed. "How did you expect to be a heroine without a villain?"
"Not like this!" Apple protested. She grabbed Raven's arm holding the quill, to keep her from signing under circumstances like these. Raven tossed a pair of Ride Books onto the stage, which surged up into a pair of Dark Mirrors: the Grasshopper and a Soldier Ant. Effortlessly, the giant insects grabbed Apple's arms and dragged the princess away from their leader.
Panic quickly descended on the area. Students fled back into the school, now convinced this wasn't just part of the show. Daring Charming and a few of his most diehard fans from the hero curriculum formed a rear guard that made sure everyone else made it back into the building before following, and having to drag Blondie Lockes off with them. Headmaster Grimm was still on the stage, cut off from the school by Raven Queen and her summoned minions. Looking on in awe, mouth agape, seemingly unsure of whether to be afraid or gratified he was finally getting what he'd wanted out of the Evil Queen's daughter.
With fingers that'd turned into long spikes of black glass, Raven grabbed the quill from the podium and was bringing it to the Storybook of Legends to sign her name. All at once a giant glittering needle whipped through the air, stabbed through the center of the book and whipped it out of her hands. She looked up with an angered snarl, seeing the magical book resting in the arm of a boy in white armor.
"The mighty Mendyr shows himself," she observed.
"I don't know who you are," he said quietly, "or why you keep terrorizing us, but I won't let this go any farther."
"You think you're some kind of hero, don't you?" Raven said, her voice almost completely hidden behind a monstrous buzz by that point. "You want the whole world to disappear, so you can save one girl from signing for her destiny?"
Mendyr quietly replied, "What good's a hero who'd save a broken system, and not a victim of the system?"
Worrying him, Raven smiled gently and stepped back from the edge of the stage. "Get the book," she ordered her minions. The other Dark Mirrors let go of Apple White before jumping down off the stage, and Raven grabbed her by the arm instead.
Mendyr surprised his enemies by charging right through the two giant bugs, then at the edge of the stage, he called out, "Cerise, go long!" Then he threw the Storybook of Legends with all his might. It sailed across the platform and a girl in a red hood caught it.
"What do I do with it?" she yelled to Mendyr.
"Take it somewhere safe! Don't tell me where, just go!" he yelled back. Cerise gave him the thumbs up, before dashing back inside school with everyone else. He hoped she was thinking of someplace far away from it, though.
He had his own problems to worry about, though. The Soldier Ant monster rushed him, mandibles dripping with acid. He stood completely still until the bug was almost on top of him, then lashed out with a kick against the Ant's waist. The Dark Mirror doubled over in pain, but Mendyr only pressed his attack, slashing his sword once, twice, three times into his enemy's torso. The Soldier Ant went down hard, gurgling pain through a mouthful of formic acid.
The kick had barely connected before the Grasshopper took an arcing leap at Mendyr. When Grasshopper came down, spindly leg aimed at Mendyr's stomach, suddenly the masked warrior held up a Ride Book and opened it. Charge Unicorn erupted out of it, catching Grasshopper on its horn and carrying the giant bug back the way it had come, pinning him to the edge of the stage.
"Not bad," Raven admitted. "But how long can you keep it up?"
"Try me and see."
Her expression was totally impressive as she said, "Deal with him, then find that girl with the book." Hearing that, her monsters pulled themselves upright and circled around Mendyr. Behind his mask, he whistled, and Charge Unicorn lived up to its name by dashing off the stage, knocking the Ant aside as it went, and stopping at Mendyr's side.
Hastily he threw himself into the glittering creature's saddle, just before Grasshopper had gotten to his feet and jumped at them.
"Let's see if you've learned anything since last time, friend," Mendyr whispered to the unicorn.
Just in time Charge Unicorn started its gallop, running in an arc to the side and his foot only smashed stone. As they passed, Mendyr made a ferocious slash, his narrow but sharp blade cutting deep into the Dark Mirror's armored skin.
The Soldier Ant had gotten up by then and was scuttling at Mendyr on all fours. His segmented body twitched horribly before he spat a glob of hissing acid. Charge Unicorn just lowered its head, horn glowing, and firing off a beam of radiant light that cut through the acid and sliced into the Dark Mirror's head.
A mighty leap carried Charge Unicorn and its rider over the stunned Soldier Ant. It skidded to a stop across, facing the pair of giant bugs. Mendyr slid the blade of his weapon into his belt, charging it for a great attack.
"Miracle Threading!"
He threw his sword, piercing Soldier Ant's torso, then Grasshopper's, before the tip lodged itself in the wall.
"DO YOU MIND NOT VANDALIZING MY SCHOOL?!" Headmaster Grimm bellowed, indignation breaking through his fear.
Mendyr ignored him for the moment, focusing only on the Dark Mirror monsters he was staring down. Instead he jumped high, and the spool in the hilt of his sword started reeling in the thread attached to his wrist.
"Threadwork Winding Kick!" exclaimed his buckle.
The thread being pulled in added speed and power to Mendyr's kick. First his foot crashed into Solder Ant's body, then Grasshopper's. There was a blast of light, and when it cleared after a second, the monsters were gone. A sizable dent and an even larger scorch mark was all that remained.
Headmaster Grimm clutched the sides of his head in horror.
"That was fableous!" Apple White cheered, thrusting her hands up in the air.
"Exactly like the prince you hope comes for you, right?" Raven taunted her.
The smile faded from Apple's face after being reminded.
Raven faced down Mendyr, who was silently staring at her too from the back of his mount. "You're not bad, Sir Knight," she said evenly.
"You'd know, Raven," he answered. "But I'm not talking to Raven Queen right now, am I?"
"Of course you are," she said calmly. "Raven Queen with nothing getting in the way of her full potential. Why don't I show you?"
Her hands started to glow with purple fire, but Mendyr had expected this too, and replaced the book in his belt with Apple of Passion. "Turn the page!" he yelled defiantly as he pulled his sword free from his buckle, unleashing the power of this new Ride Book. Red energy passed over his armor, and the blade of Sevener transformed into the chain of the mace named Apfel.
Mendyr whirled his mace above his head as soon as he held it. Power accumulated as it spun, turning the chain and then the spiked head white. Raven lowered her palms at him and a jet of dark flames flew from them, while he stopped spinning his weapon and launched it at her instead. The glowing mace slowly pushed through the clouds of flame, its glow gradually fading as the powers fought against each other. Raven was clenching her teeth as she poured more strength into her magic.
Just as suddenly as Mendyr's attack that destroyed her minions, there was a burst of energy and the conflict hand ended. At the edge of the stage, now blackened by the heat from Raven's fire, the dark princess was panting for breath. As fast as he could, Mendyr wound in his weapon and got ready to defend himself again,
It wouldn't happen that time, though. Instead Raven pulled another Ride Book out of her dress and tossed it on the ground, and it formed into a giant black bird. The dark princess grabbed Apple White and Headmaster Grimm by a wrist and she climbed on its back, then the bird beat its large wings and took to the air.
"You're a worthy challenge, Mendyr!" Raven called over her shoulder as the bird flew away from the school, toward the darkening forest. "But next time we meet, you'll see what an Evil Queen can really come up with!"
"I hope I can save the part of you that's not an Evil Queen," Mendyr whispered to himself.
Against that, the power of his heroic will suddenly seemed very dim…