Post Dreams of Stars: Sequels and Spinoffs

As I said before, Dreams of Stars was meant to be an origin story for Deborah, but I quickly found that writing new stories for her was, um, basically impossible.  The root of the problem was her nature: she was just TOO damn powerful.  There was never any danger for her, any drama.  The only way to tell any story with her was to reduce her power in some way.

Dreams of Stars was the easiest, because it was set BEFORE she was fully powered, and I found ways to limit L'lorne and Ritch 'arrd in the process.  After that, things got hairy.  One story had Deborah deliberately cutting herself off from her power and most of her memories, but really that was just interesting for moments, nothing more.  Any other story could easily swap out any member of the Order with Deborah and have the story work exactly the same, so there was nothing unique there.

I did come up with a sequel to Dreams of Stars, however, a direct one even.  Hawk Wings is the current title and it is not the same story as Dreams of Stars, at all.  So much so I suspect that if you really enjoyed Dreams of Stars as a story, Hawk Wings would probably be a disappointment.  Still, it's goal is very clear:  wrap up Deborah's life on Earth before moving on.  It fills in some holes, solves some mysteries and helps better define her relationship with L'lorne.  When I get to writing it is another story.

Of course, I never really viewed Dreams of Stars as a pure standalone story, it was meant to be grouped with two others.  The first is What We Leave Behind, Roxanne's story.  My problems with this story are many fold, but primarily attempting to fit the description of it that L'lorne and Ritch 'arrd each give, as it is meant to be a love story in a sense.  It is far more actiony than Dreams is, by a lot (Roxanne fights off aliens invading her version of Earth), but it also needs to be more subtile and emotional than Dreams.  Roxanne is NOT the same level as L'lorne in this story, as it is merely the first chapter of the the much larger in-universe book that is What We Leave Behind (the version I write is the "short-short" version).  I have found some ways to make it work rather recently, so I hope to be writing it soon.

The other is currently called Unconditional, and takes place far into the future.  Deborah is actually in this story, but isn't the main character, though she does play an important role, a mentor/parental figure to young Maia, who was born into the Order.  Maia describes herself as having "the body of an 8 year old, the mind of a 30 year old and the powers of a god" but she isn't happy, at all.  The story is how such a person finds how to grow up and be happy.  It is actually more like Hawk Wings than anything else, but not quite.

Then, of course, is the larger collection of stories about members of the Order, of which currently there's only one complete, and I'll post that in the coming weeks.  There are other ideas for stories, including ones that originally featured Deborah but really don't need her, stories about the philosophy and power of being part of the Order and other things like that.  World building stuff.  Don't expect to see much of that any time soon, it was hard enough getting Dreams of Stars out the door.

Finally there's the larger meta-universe in which the Order, Deborah and everything else takes place, the story of Quinn and Delphi and the grander journey they're both on.  It's all about the nature of immortality, multiple universes, alternate realities and how it effects the one person that has to suffer it alone.  Quinn's story is something that I can't really write as it is, effectively, a string of self-insert fanfictions (Quinn is a replacement for me) that takes place over a portion of time that makes Deborah's insanely long lifetime look short by comparison (seriously, her lifespan covers 1/12th of Quinn's).

But we'll get to some of those stories in the future.  Next time, I'll have something up in the story part, I've got enough bits and pieces to do it pretty regularly.  In the meantime, I need to get back to writing webcomic stuff.  Until next time kiddies and thanks for reading.

Post Dreams of Stars: The Writing Process

Dreams of Stars has been in the works for a LONG time now.  Well over a decade, perhaps more, which probably makes it seem like I'm a lazy writer or something.  Well I am to the point that sitting down and writing (even this thing) is something I really have to force myself to do, and be in the mood for.  It also helps if I have a computer with a terrible net connection, I get a lot of work done then.

That means, though, that the early parts of the story came LONG before the later ones.  Much of my work in editing it to the condition it is now is to bring one half of the story up to speed with the other half.  I think I've done a pretty good job of it so far, but there are things I do want to get back to.

For example, at the end of nearly every post I put here, I asked the question:   Does the setting seem fitting? Would you like to know more?  The reason for that question (pair of questions) is that I have issues with settings, and back when I started the story, it was even worse than it is now.  But I wanted the story to go through, so I made the decision to forgo writing details into the setting and leave it as, well, generic and empty as I could so I could focus on the action.  As the story went on, you do see more setting details fill in, but often it's very brief or not very detailed.  I could argue that its a stylistic choice, of course, as for L'lorn and Ritch 'arrd, the world around them really didn't matter and was unimportant, but mostly it was because I didn't want to get bogged down.

The result is the fact that there are no names for places.  The capitol is just that, and nothing more.  Hell, I don't even have a name for the city where Deborah, the character the entire story was built to support, was even born or lived.  There's no background and outside of a few references to places that might exist, for all practical purposes, the story could be anywhere.

The only real hints as to where is the clues to where L'lorne is from (the answer is Cahokia, BTW), and the fact that it's "out west" from where Deborah lives, but close enough to appear on a TV weather map.  It could be anywhere along the east coast of the United States, if there is a United States.  Eventually I did work up a quick alternate history for Deborah's world, but I have yet to decide whether or not to include it in the story, and if so, how.

As the writing went on, scenes developed almost independent of the plot.  The scene at the farm, the ghost, the CDPC (I love that name, BTW), all were built in my mind long before they went on paper and grew up as the scene went on.  There's several scenes that had to be rewritten from the ground up because they just weren't very good (including the last scene between Deborah and Delphi).  The fact that the story flows so well, thanks in no small part to the flashbacks to L'lorne's past, is amazing to me.

And I had fun writing many scenes.  The invention of Bar Theory, which starts the story, was a fun exercise (I was mostly thinking of Lord of the Rings there, BTW), but more fun was including little things L'lorne does long before the reader is told outright that she has amazing powers.  Her first act in the story is not freezing the poor drunk in place, for example, but looking through the floor of the bar and noting there was no basement.  The whole nature of L'lorne's power was gradually ramped up as the story went along, so that when the final description of it came through, it wasn't exactly a surprise, but still shocking how much more powerful she really was.

I also built mysteries into the story.  Who is Deborah's father is a good example that I don't even approach in this story (see next week for more on that).  Also who and what Quinn and Delphi are isn't really given more than a brief moment of conversation (again, next week).  The big mystery though, and one that really only stands out for me because even I don't know the answer is why did Ritch 'arrd die?

L'lorne is clear that they can only die when they want to, and it's pretty obvious a little pinprick like what the axe caused wasn't likely going to kill him, yet he died anyway.  I leave this as a mystery because I'm not quite sure of the answer, and in-universe it is just as much a mystery to those who are far more powerful and knowledgeable than me.  Only Deborah in her advanced years might know why, and she never says.

I took my time to write this, too much time perhaps, but even in it's current form, which still has several small edits to make (I want to switch a scene and a flashback during the deaths of the mothers), I am happy with it.  Will I write more?  Well, let me talk to you about that next week.

Until then kiddies.

Post-Dreams of Stars: Back to the Point

Back in May I brought up, briefly, the original point of my story Dreams of Stars, but there was always more to the story than that.  The grand quote at the beginning of that article was the original point, but not the sole point and in the end, not really the point of the story at all.

As I said,  the idea was to define the bounds of power, extreme power, power beyond what most people can possibly imagine, including me.  And it all began because of the forums for a site called Spacebattles, where they love to debate various fictitious elements fighting each other.  There's also a tradition of one-ups-man-ship, and people tend to add their own fictional creations to the pile in an attempt to outdo everyone else.  I decided I wanted to join the fray and started designing a character that was unbelieveably powerful, one that wouldn't even need to fight to win, but couldn't be beaten, ever.  Then I gave up on introducing it to the board because I realized it would be outdone by someone else.  Still, I went forward with the character and gave it a name:  Deborah Ignigus.

Which means, effectively, that Dreams of Stars is actually an origin story for that one character, but it was also meant to set up a baseline in which Deborah's full power could be established.  The problem is that as the story went on, I started thinking about what adventures Deborah would go on in the future and ran into a stumbling block:

She was too powerful.  Even if she was only at the same level as L'lorne (and she's much more powerful at her peak), what could stop her?  The only thing keeping L'lorne in check is the fact that everything else didn't work, but for Deborah, that wouldn't be an issue.  She basically could NOT lose, making any story featuring her kind of dull, with no mystery, no suspense, no danger.  Mary Sues face greater dangers than what Deborah would have faced.

So the point of the story was to establish a character with an origin story, a character I couldn't really do anything with without making some serious compromises and even then, it wouldn't work.  By the time the story was finished the point of it was, well, gone.

With the original point gone, what is the point of the story now?  I don't know.  I know what I originally intended, but it's not there much any more.  It's just a story, a story that really has no point other than simply being something I wrote.

Even without a point, I'm still glad I could finish it and share it with those of you who read it.  Next Wednesday I'll have more to say about Dreams of Stars, and the Wednesday after that, but in the future, I think I'll post some more of my writings.  Very little is as complete as Dreams of Stars, so expect half finished pieces, or fits and starts.

Next week, back to webcomics.  See you then kiddies.

Dreams of Stars Part 36

This is the end.  It'll run a bit long, but that's alright.  I'll have a few questions here, but I'll talk about it more on Friday.  Enjoy.

      The last week of accelerated time had been spent maneuvering into and within the pool itself. L’lorne frequently forced Ritch ‘arrd into the pool for short clashes then back out again, testing to see how much and how far he would follow her, and he had done the same. There was no more adjusting the way time flowed around them, they were moving at the same speed now and it was slowly becoming apparent that they were evenly matched.

      He could break the stalemate, one flinch and a release of power that would shatter the planet underneath them, cause gravitational tides that would scatter the planets and sun to the galactic void and crease then tear space and time itself. L’lorne wasn’t going to do it, she had decided that long ago now, she didn’t think she could win such a match anyway. Only Ritch ‘arrd could bring this fight to a final violent conclusion.

      Then Deborah had jumped.

      Perhaps he had expected that all along, and had been waiting for it. Now each knew the fight would break down to who could be placed under the falling girl first. Then what? The fight would end, that’s what L’lorne figured. What kind of ending would it be? Fractions of a second passed for Deborah, while L’lorne had days to think on it. There wasn’t a lot of time for thinking, though, between rounds of strike, parry and counterstrike. There was so much effort needed to focus on the moment, the battle, that it left little time for anything else. So what time L’lorne spent thinking on the next step was focused on the worst case scenario: that she would lose.

      She should have lost already, actually. Ritch ‘arrd was older, by far, and age meant experience and skill. Power, power didn’t matter, it never mattered, it was only how one used it that mattered, and he was much better at using it than she. She had gambits, methods she could use to win, of course, and plans on top of plans. Deborah had been her last plan, the one that could win this for her. Once she had abandoned it, however, the options of victory had been greatly reduced, to the point that only way out was to fight him, and lose. She would lose, she would die, and she only hoped that in her death, Ritch ‘arrd would know the pain of loss that she felt. That was the only revenge she had left.

      In their accelerated time frame, they had 10 hours left. In 10 hours, Deborah would fall far enough to make contact with anyone standing under her. The glasses, sensing the time dilation field, would grab it, drag it around Deborah’s body and she would join them in the time frame. Then the fight would end.

      The intensity of the battle between student and teacher had cooled considerably as the hours counted down. L’lorne felt more relaxed the last day of fighting than as far back as she cared to remember. A strange calm of knowing the dice had been thrown and fate had been decided had come over her. So odd considering she spent the majority of her life directing those dice to come out exactly how she wanted them. To have chance and fate actually working again had a calming influence, and though he never said it, Ritch ‘arrd must have felt it too.

      Weapons clashed in the pool, where they now spent the majority of their time. She held the axe tight against his light blade, the handle of the axe near the head pinning the blade. They held this for several minutes, a relatively short amount of time, each staring at the other. She looked into his eyes, remembering, briefly, how she had once marveled at them. Did he see the same thing in hers? They had time left, of course, they’d do this again at least once, but still, it could be the last time they ever did it.

      Had he ever really loved her?

      L’lorne shoved hard, forcing Ritch ‘arrd back. She pushed the thought of love out of her mind and swept the axe in front of her, forcing his counter strike to be aborted and him to pull to the left. Twisting around with the sweep, she spun the axe up and back down in a driving slash, the impact of which on the pool side wouldn’t be felt for another hour or so. Ritch ‘arrd dodged back to the right and as she brought the axe back up, he attempted a lunge at her midsection.

      Instead of attempting to pull the axe into to block, she dropped the head back down and vaulted over it, completely avoiding the lunge. She landed, the axe now held in attack position and did her own stabbing lunge at the slightly off balance Ritch ‘arrd. As it shot forward, L’lorne squeezed the handle just right, releasing the small, sharp blade from the very head of the axe, and pointing at Ritch ‘arrd’s chest. He recovered quickly enough to slap the axe away, and quickly rolled away and right underneath Deborah.

L’lorne smiled, the entire sequence worked better than she planned. Sadly, she’d have to work up another one in the next 10 hours to win. Still, the experiment worked well, and she fully expected Ritch ‘arrd to perform a similar one on her before time was up.

      Ritch ‘arrd for his part gave no sign of frustration at the fact that he had been placed into position relatively easily. Nor was there any sign that he was pleased his student had managed such a sequence of moves, something that L’lorne had been used to until this fight had begun. They had each stopped moving and studied the other for only a moment before he moved into an attack position, bending down low to avoid hitting the girl.

      Deborah twitched. That was impossible, and L’lorne only barely recognized it when it happened. That twitch almost instantly turned into full fledged movement and Deborah’s scream began to echo as she crashed down around Ritch ‘arrd’s head. Her arms wrapped tightly around him, pulling him off balance and causing him to throw his weapon to the ground where it deactivated. With a twist, he pulled Deborah’s arms from around him and tossed her across the pool. She hit with a grunt, the glasses flying off at the same time.

L’lorne thrust forward. She didn’t think about it, she didn’t process what had happened, only taken advantage of it. The sharp spike the projected from the head of the axe moved fast and true. Ritch ‘arrd had only just begun to turn as it hit him square in the gut.

---------

      There was an explosion of sound as all three returned to normal time flow. Explosions, only partially created just moments earlier, now erupted, debris falling to the ground with cracking thuds. Then there was silence.

      L’lorne still held the axe, its tip now embedded in Ritch ‘arrd’s gut. Once the sound was gone and stillness came over the room, she pulled back quickly and returned to a combat position.

      Ritch ‘arrd quickly pushed his hand onto the wound, causing some greenish blood to seep out through his fingers. “Well done,” he said with a cough. “You won.”

      All of his defenses dropped away and L’lorne instantly got a full scan of the man. It hadn’t been on purpose, and the surprise that it happened at all had only a moment to register before another surprise made itself clear. “What are you doing?” she asked more curious than anything else. It couldn’t be, it had to be a trap.

      Deborah was slowly getting back on her feet. She rubbed at the back of her shoulder and moaned slightly. “Sorry about that, I wasn’t expecting you until later,” Ritch ‘arrd said to her, coughing again. He tipped slightly to one side before pulling himself back up, but only to stand stooped over.

      Deborah snapped her head up and looked at him. “Wha?

      “Ritch ‘arrd,” L’lorne repeated. “What are you doing?”

      He didn’t respond to her, but grasped at his chest with his free hand, held it there, and then began walking towards her. His walk was slow, almost a touch meandering, the blood from his wound was now dripping on the pool floor, leaving green specks on the blue sealant. L’lorne folded up the axe and quickly slipped it back into its pouch as he came nearer, he wasn’t planning a fight, but why this? Why now? “Ritch ‘arrd.”

      He smiled, then stumbled a bit. L’lorne reached out to catch him, but he caught himself quickly. His free hand then shot out and clasped across hers. She knew what it was before she even felt it.

      “It’s all yours, L’lorne.”

      He fell to the floor. Deborah, now more or less out of her daze, rushed over and bent over him. “We need to get him to a doctor,” she started saying as she looked over the body. Her hands paused over him, hovering, undecided on the next course of action.

      “He’s dead,” L’lorne said simply. Her fingers worked over the object in her hands, a twisted, pretzel shaped circle of an alien metal, the symbol of the Ritch ‘arrd.

      “No no no,” Deborah said quickly. “Help me and we’ll. . .”

      “We choose when we die,” L’lorne said. “That’s the only way we can.” L’lorne reached to her chest and pulled off the pendant of the Tar 'nisl, pulling the string that held it around her neck through her neck as if it wasn’t there at all and held the two pendants in one hand together. She bent down and rolled him over, then carefully placed both on his chest, covering them with one of his hands. “Keep them,” she said.

Deborah said nothing as L’lorne stood back up and looked around the room. “We should go now,” L’lorne said.

      “Go?”

      L’lorne nodded, looking away from both the girl and the body. Debris started floating up around the room and moving in a carefully choreographed dance towards each other. She dug deep, her energies weakened from the extended battle, but she had more than enough to reverse the entropy in the room. “Someone will be here soon to check on him,” she continued. “I’ll have the room fixed up by then, but we really shouldn’t be here when that happens.”

      “But what about him?” As she spoke, L’lorne took a moment to grasp the body with her power. The blood, tinted green by the copper that transported oxygen, faded into red as she disassembled the copper atoms and rebuilt them as iron. Organs, mutated, and unrecognizable to human eyes reshaped and reformed, their natures redefined in terms of human anatomy. The wound was healed, and the newly forming lungs were being filled with water.

      “Minister Donalds drowned. His foot got caught in the vegetation of the pool, and he was unable to get free.” As she spoke, plants began to re-grow along the pool floor and up the walls. Above, a cloud had begun to grow larger, darker and more threatening. L’lorne glanced over to the far wall of the pool and a set of steps rose out of the floor so they could easily climb out. “The pool is going to fill soon, don’t want to be here when it does.”

      L’lorne moved up the steps, leaving Deborah behind over the body of the man she once loved. Most of what made him, though, was gone. The human shell had merged seamlessly into the newly developed human innards and that green blooded man she knew was truly gone now, his people truly extinct. Halfway up the steps she heard the tinkling of metal, first against each other, then against the side of a cloth pocket. Deborah stamped along the ground toward her after that. She considered asking the girl why she had done that, but realized even she might not know exactly why. Maybe L’lorne would ask some other day.

      The diving board had reassembled. There was a rumble of thunder and rain began deluging into the pool, filling it rapidly. The plants and algae that had begun re-growing found a burst of growth as the water filled in the pool, and one plant grasped out the man’s leg and wrapped around it just so.

      As L’lorne and Deborah exited the building, the last sign of any conflict, the cracked glass of the door, healed itself over and it was as they had found it an hour earlier, with one lone exception.

--------- 

      The glow of the capital hung just behind a small rise several miles away. A thin, and not particularly chilly wind rustled along the grass of the hilly rise and through their hair and clothing. Lcorn L’lorne and Deborah Ignigus laid out on the grass, their gaze fixed on the stars. Most were hard to make out, the red glow of the city overpowering the weak light, but the hill helped shield most of light from the city and let enough starlight through to see the major groupings.

      L’lorne’s hand reached up for a moment. She held it there for a bit, as if the hand itself were rethinking its decision to rise in the first place, and then she pulled it back down and swept it up behind her head with her other hand.

      “So,” Deborah said after a long silence. “What happens now?”

      L’lorne pursed her lips in thought. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I never exactly planned this far ahead.”

      “Oh.” More silence. Deborah shifted along the ground, moving the now much heavier pocket on her side so that it didn’t lay directly on her. A slight clinking noise came as she moved it, causing L’lorne to look over to her for a moment.

      She turned back to the stars and stared at them again. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done this.”

“I imagine.”

      Chirping insects echoed around them. Not too far in the distance was the sound of cars passing by on a highway, though they were getting fewer and fewer as the night grew older. “Are you going to go home?

      “Don’t exactly have one to go to.”

      "You could come with me, I suppose.”

      Deborah didn’t move. “I’m not going to be your daughter.”

      L’lorne’s eyebrows went up in surprise. She smiled. “That’s fair enough.”

      A few stray clouds floated over them, partially blocking the already dim stars. There was no moon, and so the only weak starlight and the glow of the city was available to see the cloud. “Could you really have saved my mama?”

      “Yes,” L’lorne said without hesitation. “I still could, if you want.”

      The girl sat up. “What?”

      “Bringing the dead back to life isn’t as hard as it might seem at first, I could even show you how to do it.”

      Deborah stared through the dark gloom at L’lorne for a bit, her breath increased to match the faster beating heart. Then she closed her eyes and laid back down. “I don’t know.” More silence as she calmed down from the initial surprise. “Would she even want to come back? Could I go back?” She trailed off in thought, leaving them with the silence of chirping bugs and rustling wind.

      L’lorne said nothing, let the girl think for a while. Finally she spoke again. “Well, if it’s that hard of a decision, we could go ask her?”

      Deborah shook her head. “Delphi said she moved on.”

      “Doesn’t mean we can’t still go ask her.”

      Deborah was still looking up at the stars, though even through her open, staring eyes, a racing mind was at work. “It would be that simple, eh?”

      “Simple as breathing,” L’lorne said.

      “Let me think about it.”

      L’lorne nodded. “Take your time, we’ve got all the time you could ever need.”

THE END

---------

Questions

1. What kind of person is Lcorn L'lorne? What does she look like (in your mind)?
2. What kind of person is the Deborah Ignigus? What does she look like (in your mind)?
3. What kind of person is The Ritch 'arrd? What does his human form look like (in your mind)?
4. Does the setting seem fitting? Would you like to know more?

5. What do you think the future holds for them?

Thank you for reading.  Friday, I'll have a bit more to say.  Until then kiddies.

Dreams of Stars Part 35

      Deborah shivered as she finally got up on top of the platform. A new family? Was she really that desperate? No, she wasn’t, at least she hoped not. In either case, she was still stuck without a clear answer to the problem. She pulled the glasses from her pocket and cradled them in her hands. The answer, it would seem, would have to come through another means.

      The actual diving board had been sheared off earlier, leaving the platform and a couple holes behind for the bolts that were also gone. There was no sign of the board either down in the pool or elsewhere. The pool looked strange now, and it took a moment for Deborah to realize why. Before, when she had first come in, it was not only full, but green and full of plant life. Now, though, it was completely empty, the few remaining plants had been cooked brown or black and the sealant material that was blue, but severely pitted and torn by the fight now raging.

      Deborah put inched toward the edge of the platform and looked down. Explosions were occurring everywhere, rattling through the building in an almost continuous rumble of thunder. Up now on her feet, but still crouching low, almost uncomfortably so, she put the glasses on and looked again. Now she could see L’lorne and Ritch ‘arrd in their static poses of combat. With a sigh, Deborah began to let her eyes follow the action on their own.

      The flashes rumbled across the floor, but Deborah held her head steady, trying not to follow the action with anything more than her eyes. She could only see them in glimpses as her eyes quickly moved to the next flash, but she could see their faces. L’lorne didn’t seem angry, but she was intense, in poses where her weapon was being swung, she seemed to be yelling. Ritch ‘arrd was almost calm, but stern, scrunching his face only when forced to hold back a blow as if it were a heavy weight.

      Back and forth across the floor they went, down into the pool, up onto the remains of the blocks Ritch ‘arrd had, long ago it seemed now, lifted out of the ground for cover. They barely looked like blocks anymore, just piles of sand that seemed to explode randomly. They weren’t randomly placed either, now that Deborah could see them from above, they were rather regular, almost looking like the pieces on a chessboard, though not quite.

      Actually, the whole thing looked like a game of chess in a weird way, and as Deborah thought about it, she realized she was looking at it very much like she did when she was playing. Like that day in the park with L’lorne, as she stared at the board, trying to figure out the next move and then suddenly knowing it and all the subsequent ones. All back to that again, chess in the park. What if she hadn’t done that? Hadn’t chased L’lorne through the city, what if she had simply never met L’lorne at all?

      Would she have been beaten up by that drunk in the ally? Maybe, hard to say. Definitely she would have gone for help, probably dragged to some orphanage or foster home somewhere. Dropped into the system just as Ritch ‘arrd said he had originally planned. A foster family would probably have followed, a relatively well to do one, and a higher class of education would come out of it. Her own aptitude for chess would probably come out soon after and off to schooling for that.

      Mr. Davis, the man who taught her chess in between sessions with her mom, often talked of tournaments for chess players, though never if he had ever participated. After a spell learning chess specifically, she could see herself at such a tournament, probably stunning the crowd with her almost unnatural talent. Would she see Mr. Davis at one such tournament? Would he even recognize her? Probably better if not, but even so, it’s unlikely either would say anything. A championship or two later she would likely be introduced to the Minister of Education, Malcolm Donalds. From there. . .

      Deborah grunted in frustration. Why was she still going over all this in her mind? She should focus on the now, not on what might be, what could be, and what might have been. In mere minutes none of that could matter, the world would be gone in a flash. Even as her mind had wandered, her eyes had not, and suddenly every muscle in her body tensed. She felt it and her heartbeat shot up in anticipation.

      Deborah jumped off the high dive platform.

      A split second later the surprise of having jumped hit her and she nearly screamed. Her arms shot out from her sides and she charged the ground at the speed of gravity. The wind of the fall blasted past her face, the ground shot up near her and all she could think of was if this was the end.

      Suddenly, it was all gone. The fast moving wind was replaced by a slight breeze, chilly but not terribly so. The oncoming floor of the pool was replaced by a view of clouds off into the distance. What was out there? As if on command, the clouds parted revealing a vast field far, far below. She turned around and looked up. A mountain, huge, dominate and vanishing into the clouds above her stood looking back. It seemed to go on into infinity, disappearing only as the cloud density grew tighter.

      She turned back to the field and looked out. From here, she could just see specs moving against the green hills. People, she supposed, going about their daily lives. How did she get here? What was this? Then she heard a voice from behind her. It was young, but old, oh so very old. She could hear his age in it, and knew, without knowing why, that she understood that age better than anyone else had ever understood it. She felt old now, so very, very old, older than she could ever imagine. Worse yet, she could feel that however old she felt, he was far, far older. Despite that feeling, it was the words that shook her most.

      “Are you going to jump?” Quinn asked.

      She turned to reply, but before she saw him, the mountain was gone and she was falling again. She knew to start closing her arms, and did so, but something else caught her attention. It vibrated beneath her, back and forth, and she stretched out for it with something she had never felt before. Catching it, she pulled it close and knew this was the answer she was looking for.

-------


Questions

Not this time.  Let's leave it for the finale.

Dreams of Stars Part 34

Long section, and a bit different.

       L’lorne didn’t notice Deborah until a mutually agreed break had started. Fighting for two weeks straight was a difficult slog and made for a rather boring fight on the whole. An agreement for a pause in the action was done silently, through the movements of the eye and position of the bodies. L’lorne estimated that she had three days before the fighting would begin again and was planning what to do when she saw that Deborah had reentered the room.

      She was maybe three steps in, which meant L’lorne had missed her entrance by a couple of days, and the door was just reaching the point of closing. Why was the girl in there again? Throwing her out had been, at best, a temporary move. It moved her out of the line of direct fire, but meant little in the long run. The plan had called for her to stay, but the plan had long ago been scrapped, and L’lorne had to wonder as to what Deborah was planning to do. Not that it mattered. The only change in L’lorne’s strategy for now would be to avoid Deborah as much as possible. She may die, but L’lorne wasn’t going to be responsible for it.

      It was warm in the natatorium, warm and sticky with humidity. So warm Deborah considered taking her coat off, but with the air around her swirling and explosions of tile rippling along the floors and walls, she was afraid of it being caught in a gust of wind and torn apart. No, she wasn’t going to let her mother’s old coat get destroyed, not now. It was all she had left of her besides the picture and the memory. Everything else had been traded for food, shelter and protection on the streets, and she wasn’t about to lose all this now.

      Though what she was doing exactly she wasn’t sure. She needed a place that was relatively safe for her to watch the battle. There weren’t many places like that left. The blocks were nearly all gone, the doorways to the showers were shattered and looked ready to topple over, and the furniture she had sat on only a few minutes ago was a pile of burnt dust. The only thing left standing was a high diving board over the deep end of the now empty pool. It looked alright, stable and intact even. Well, at the very least, she would get a hell of a view.

      Why hadn’t he said anything? L’lorne ran a combo strike, trying to catch Ritch ‘arrd with the axe head, but missed during the three attempts to connect. Normally having an attack like that, he would have commented on it, telling her how to do it better or why she had messed up, but this time he said nothing. He hadn’t said anything since the fight proper had begun, and it was starting to get a bit unnerving. It was probably part of his strategy to throw her off, and it was working. With a yell she swung up the axe and pulled it down hard into the ground, ripping a crevasse into the ground that would have kept growing if she were still moving at normal speed.

      It was what made using her time dilation effects so awkward. Momentum was a constant, but as soon as it left the time field immediately around her, it would settle into the natural time line of the universe. Explosions of concrete from the walls wouldn’t exist for hours in her time, making the effect of a massive strike seem pitiful. At least Deborah was getting a bit of a show.

      The sudden rip of concrete in the ground barely startled Deborah any more. The explosions of the walls were so common and typical now she could almost tune them out. Almost. The best she could do in the face of them was to focus on other things. Which was really better? L’lorne was a confessed mass murderer, had killed dozens even in the time she had known her, and had lied about all of it up until Deborah learned the truth. She also seemed to rather enjoy the act of killing, like it was a hobby of some sort. Killing for the sake of killing and a little bit of fun as well. It made her shiver to think that she had followed her for hundreds of miles.

      Not that Ritch ‘arrd was much better. He killed his own child, and indirectly her mother, and for what exactly? Because the child was too weak and humanity was too stupid? On top of that he taught L’lorne everything she knew, taught her how to murder a planet in cold blood. To him, it was all a game, and even now, as she stumbles through the explosions and chaos, he was still playing a game, treating her like another pawn. Another explosion rattled, but she was already turning toward it, half expecting it. A rather large piece of debris was heading her way, she would only have enough time to lift her arm and hope for the best.

      Their weapons were locked together and they held their ground. There was no grunting or grinding of teeth, but there was still that firm glare each held. They had been at this one for three days now, though that was rather short. Often, the only way these broke up was with an underhanded strike, to the crotch or a headbutt of some kind. Ritch ‘arrd’s eyes blinked over, looking over L’lorne’s shoulder and he raised his eyebrows. L’lorne ignored it, figuring it was just another attempt to throw off her concentration. Still, Deborah was behind her, and if he saw something interesting, then she would need to see it soon. Another day or so, however wouldn’t matter.

      Later the next day, they had switched sides, and now L’lorne could see what Ritch ‘arrd had raised an eyebrow at. A piece of concrete, about the size of a fist, was flying toward Deborah. The girl was just reaching up, probably having just noticed it, but there was not time to dodge. If it hit, she would be seriously hurt, she might even die, her skull crushed. L’lorne let herself fall backwards, then flipped Ritch ‘arrd over her then reset for another stalemate. The next morning, they had moved next to Deborah, and L’lorne managed to push Ritch ‘arrd away, then she reached out with the head of the axe and knocked the offending piece of artificial stone straight into the ground. Then she charged at Ritch ‘arrd.

      And suddenly it was gone, smashed into the floor with such force that it created a crater and spit out pieces of tile and concrete that flecked off Deborah’s coat. She looked at it for a moment, then turned back toward the diving board. One of them had saved her, or perhaps it was both of them. Which one? Ritch ‘arrd seemed most likely. Despite what he had done to her mother, he had made an effort, an apparently honest one, to apologize for it. He didn’t need to, he could have been like L’lorne and shrugged his shoulders at it, but he apologized. Deborah didn’t know for sure if he had ever done something like that before, but what he had seen of him indicated he wasn’t a straight up murderer. He even admitted to being against the policies of his own people, ones that would have mutated everyone on the planet into something resembling what her mother looked like. On top of that, she was his game piece, and if he wanted to win, he couldn’t just have the pawn sacrificed in such a non-productive way.

      That felt cold, cold and calculating, just like L’lorne had been. Had been, she wasn’t that way anymore. Could the knowledge of her child’s death have changed L’lorne for the better? It wasn’t impossible, Deborah had managed to get her to free the diner and its prisoners, so L’lorne could do good things. She also had thrown Deborah out of the room right before the real fight had begun, and why? To, in some way, protect her, that was all Deborah could figure. Delphi had said L’lorne might be trying to win before the end came, and that seemed possible, so keeping Deborah out of the way would protect her until then at least. If that were true, saving her now wasn’t unthinkable at all, though why she hadn’t thrown Deborah back out of the room was hard to say. There was a third possibility Deborah considered as she put her hand on the ladder: They both did it, together, for their own reasons but as a kind of team. Maybe there was hope for both of them, maybe.

      That last dodge was rather slow for him. L’lorne pulled back and tried to maneuver over a pile of debris and mid creation explosions. He had done that a few times now, that last time was most apparent. Slow was not like Ritch ‘arrd, so it meant something. She shot a quick scan across the room, trying not to make it seem obvious that she wanted a detailed power distribution of Ritch ‘arrd. As expected, he smacked it down quickly, but she had just enough information to build a hypotheses. He was moving slower, not just for immediate actions, but just generally slower. Time state was alright, set even with her currently, but his base speed had dropped by almost 20%. For all practical purposes, he was only minutely faster than she was now.

      Why? He was conserving energy. Actually, it was more like saving it up for another time state boost to match her next one. He generally stayed away from time manipulation, while L’lorne had practiced it frequently. That meant as the levels went higher and higher, it took more and more energy and concentration to push it up to the next level, and without practice, it could take even more. She had expected that he wouldn’t have let the battle go this long, he should have switched to a power setting, triggering the battle that would surly destroy this planet, but he hadn’t. Over next to the diving board, her foot just up on the first rung was Deborah. He was waiting for her, buying her time. Time for what? She didn’t get a chance to consider that as Ritch ‘arrd attacked.

      What about hope for her? What did Deborah have to look forward to after this? She hadn’t considered it much before, at least not since her mother had died. A quarter of the way up the ladder, a hard wind blew past her, fluffing out her coat for a moment. Going home wasn’t much of an option, not unless she wanted to “make a proper living” as Danny always said. She couldn’t and wouldn’t do that, not now not ever. That left either going off on her own, or going with them. Already she could see how L’lorne would treat her: As a replacement child. Maybe she wouldn’t have before, but now, most definitely, and Deborah did not want that. She had a mother, though now dearly departed, and she would be damned if she got another. Any relationship with L’lorne would have to be Deborah’s terms, and that would be very hard.

      Ritch ‘arrd was a different story. What would he need with a game piece if the game was over? More than halfway up the ladder of the high diving board, the obvious though occurred to Deborah: Promotion. The pawn in the game reaches the other side of the board and gets promoted. Deborah would be Ritch ‘arrds new student, that’s what he probably wanted. And what of L’lorne? Death, knowing what she did about him. She didn’t want that, L’lorne had done a lot of terrible things, and probably deserved it, but neither of them should die. No, death wasn’t the answer. Maybe, just maybe, they could all live together, almost like a family. As much as she didn’t want L’lorne to be her mother, or Ritch ‘arrd to be her father, if both were spared, maybe she could help them. As she crawled up onto the diving platform, she finally let her hopes get high. Maybe, just maybe.

---------

Questions

1. What kind of person is Lcorn L'lorne? What does she look like (in your mind)?
2. What kind of person is the Deborah Ignigus? What does she look like (in your mind)?
3. What kind of person is The Ritch 'arrd? What does his human form look like (in your mind)?
4. Does the setting seem fitting? Would you like to know more?

5. The formatting for this section is very different than previous ones, does it make sense or seem difficult to follow?

Dreams of Stars Part 33

      Deborah was slow to get up. She hurt all over, and it took a moment to orient herself. She had hit the side of a rather large planter box opposite the door they had come in only a few minutes earlier. With a grunt, she flipped over and propped herself against the planter, holding her head.

      “Are you alright?”

      “I’m fine ma. . .” She stopped herself. Delphi really did sound like a mother, and in the aftermath of being thrown out a door, she almost thought Delphi sounded like her mother. “I’m fine, thank you.”

      “Are you sure?” Delphi’s voice came from the glasses, still sitting in her pocket where L’lorne had placed them earlier that day. “If you want, put the glasses on and I will have them check you out to make sure.”

      Deborah chuckled slightly, triggering a wince of pain. With a sigh, she pulled out the glasses and put them on.

      “Nothing too serious,” Delphi said. “Still, you should not move too quickly right away.”

      “I figured that.” Despite the warning, Deborah still moved to stand up, causing another wince of pain and a little dizziness.

      “Easy now.”

      She ignored Delphi and moved to the window set in the door and looked inside. There were explosions of tile everywhere, small ones that consisted more of dust than anything else. Pieces of the floor floated up and shattered against the wall, craters forming in the wake of invisible impacts. The door rattled with a boom that forced Deborah to step back. The small window in the door cracked with the impact. Looking back inside, there was no sign of the source, but many of the blocks that Ritch ‘arrd had created to shield her were utterly destroyed, and the few that remained had been worn away, some losing pieces as she watched.

      Neither L’lorne or Ritch ‘arrd were visible. “Where are they?” she asked, her eyes scanning the room, even looking up towards the ceiling, to no avail.

      A buzz now began to generate, flashes, and then massive ERROR statements appeared in front of her eyes. The buzzing grew louder and forced Deborah’s head back. She had nearly forgotten how eager to please the glasses were, and they were trying to find L’lorne and Ritch ‘arrd for her, but something was desperately wrong and she reached up to rip the offending eyewear off.

      “Hang on, I will take care of that.” Suddenly the glasses went completely dark, the buzz halted so that the only noise was the occasional low boom and cracking coming from inside the natatorium. When the darkness faded away, Deborah was hesitant to move. “It is alright, I am processing the images now.”

      “What happened?” Deborah leaned back towards the window and looked inside. The first thing she saw was L’lorne and Ritch ‘arrd, standing next to the pool, their weapons locked together, but neither was moving, but even then the image began to quickly fade away and another, on the other side of the pool appeared. This time they were charging at each other, weapons held up in the air, L’lorne’s mouth open in a silent, unmoving scream, and it was gone again. Then one was jumping over a swipe of the other, and gone, then another with weapon’s close, but not actually touching, and gone. Over and over again, the images appeared and vanished. “What is this?”

      “Currently, L’lorne and Ritch ‘arrd are moving at very high speeds and in a separate time state. The glasses attempted to track them for you, but could not keep up, causing multiple errors. I took over for them, but even so, you are simply not moving fast enough to watch the battle in action. As such, I am displaying mere snapshots of every passing event. I will try to keep to the more interesting ones as most of this battle is rather dull.”

      An extra loud boom echoed out, startling Deborah back a step. “Doesn’t sound dull.” She stepped back to the window. “So what do you mean by ‘separate time state?’”

      “The way time is flowing around each of them is different than the way time flows for you and I. Right now, a second for us is nearly a day for them.”

      “Whoa,” Deborah said. “Why?”

      “Ritch ‘arrd is faster than L’lorne in general, so L’lorne is using the difference in the flow of time to allow her to keep up and even surpass him. However, he can do this as well, so she only gets this edge for a short time. He then matches it and thus regains the advantage. So, in effect, the passage of time is actually increasing for them incrementally as each takes and retakes the advantage.”

      “Okay, that’s neat. So, uh, who’s winning?”

      “Neither, it is currently a stalemate and one that will remain so for the next 23 minutes and 58 seconds, our time.”

      “So the battle will be over then?”

      “Only as far as you are concerned.”

      Deborah furrowed her eyebrows. “What do you mean by that?”

      “You will be dead.”

      She blinked. Then again. By the third time, what Delphi had just said had finally sunk in and now she could no longer blink. “WHAT?” She backed away from the door and bumped into the planter box, knocking herself to the ground. “How? Why?”

  

      “L’lorne has better skills with modifying time than Ritch ‘arrd does. In 23 minutes 3 seconds, he will be able to maintain a balance, but after that he will be behind and never able to catch up. The only solution for survival will be to rely on sheer power, and when he does that, you, this planet, and, depending on how much he thinks he needs, perhaps a significant chunk of this galactic cluster, will be destroyed.”

      “But L’lorne. . .” Deborah didn’t finish the thought, already knowing the answer even as Delphi recited it.

      “Her promise was for her not to destroy this planet, there was nothing in that promise that said she had to protect it.”

      Deborah bowed her head and felt tears beginning to form. “I know, I knew. But why? Why this?”

      “L’lorne decided she was no longer going to play whatever game she and Ritch ‘arrd had been playing. As of that moment, this sequence of events was inevitable, though perhaps she believes she can gain enough of an advantage to end it before this moment comes. I cannot say for certain.”

      She only heard part of Delphi said, and she pulled the glasses off and set them down on the ground beside her so she could wipe her eyes. The tears were flowing slowly enough, dripping down her cheeks at a steady rate. She sniffed and stuffed her hand into the inner pocket of her coat.

      Her mother’s picture looked back at her. They had gone to the park that day with a couple of the other girls. Deborah had learned to fly a kite, and it went so high into the sky, she could only just barely see it. When they had finally gotten it down, Mary had taken the picture of the two of them, Deborah holding up the makeshift kite and her mother helping. Both had big smiles.

      Deborah began to cry more. “Well,” she said choking out the words. “I guess I’ll see you soon mama.” Her mind suddenly went to David Engera, the poor ghost, killed eating breakfast. “Delphi,” she said still sobbing. “Will I be a ghost?”

      “No, I do not think so,” Delphi said in that motherly tone that made Deborah feel a bit better. “If you did, however, I can make sure you move on properly.”

      “And mama?”

      “No, you helped save her from that fate.”

      “Thanks,” she said. She looked back at the picture. They were happy then, and now it was all shot to pieces. Worse yet, no one else would be around either, it would all be over. All because of some stupid game.

      Game? Deborah’s head looked up and at the door. “Wait,” she said as she wiped away the tears and absently shoved the picture back in its pocket. “Wait a second.” Back on her feet, glasses in hand she moved back towards the door. The room was still in chaos, but without the glasses she couldn’t see Ritch ‘arrd or L’lorne.

     

      Ritch ‘arrd.

      “Wait, wait, wait.” The thought began forming quickly in her mind. She reached out for the words, the one that would make her thought form properly. “Why,” she started. “Why hasn’t he done it already?” She expected an answer, but Delphi remained silent, probably because it knew that she knew. “If they’re not playing the game anymore, why hasn’t Ritch ‘arrd done it yet? L’lorne isn’t because she’s trying to keep her promise, but Ritch ‘arrd never made that promise. So what is he waiting for?”

      The answer appeared. Her jaw dropped in surprise, not just at what it was but that she had come up with it. “He’s still playing the game.” She could remember feeling like a pawn between two players, and now one of the players had given up, which meant. . . “He’s waiting for me to make a move. But what move? How do I move? I don’t even know the rules!”

      “If I may,” Delphi said. “Though I do not know the specifics, I do believe I know what you were intended to do.”

      Deborah slid back on the glasses and watched as L’lorne and Ritch ‘arrd began their frozen dance in the natatorium again. “What’s that?”

      “They wanted you to choose between them. If you do, the battle will end.”

      “Choose? But how can I do that? Do I just go in there and announce it?” As she spoke, a new, more troubling thought surfaced. “Who would I choose?”

      “I cannot help you with that.”

      The glasses came off as she rubbed her eyes, still a little damp and swollen from only moments before. Despair had been replaced by hope, then confusion, and now a new sense of despair. Choose. Choose between a mass murderer and a killer. Was there really a difference between the two? “What would happen if I did choose one? I mean, to me.”

      “I do not know. I have never been able to accurately predict their motives and intentions. Even my suggestion that choosing at all would end the battle is a statistical guess. It may not affect anything at all.”

      “But doing nothing would be no better, right?” Deborah closed her eyes as Delphi replied in the affirmative. “I just don’t know,” she said. “Maybe if I knew more about them, I could choose.”

      “Unlikely. It would likely make the choice even harder. As it stands you have little time to learn more.”

      Another boom echoed from inside the natatorium. The walls shuttered with the explosion and the rumble lasted for a time. “I need more time.”

      “If your hypothesis is correct, then the best way to make more time would be to go back inside.”

      “In there?” Deborah looked in and shuddered at the thought. “Right, if I go inside, Ritch ‘arrd might think I was ready to move and hold off destroying the world for a little bit.”

      “Yes, I think that is most likely.”

      “But nothing is for sure.”

      “It is like trying to predict chaos; we can only go in based on probabilities.”

      “Chaos?” Back at the barn, L’lorne had talked about chaotic events. She said Deborah could see through them, predict them. If L’lorne and Ritch ‘arrd were chaotic, then that meant that she could see their actions. It also was obvious what Delphi wanted her to do. “You said that on purpose.”

      “Everything I have said has been on purpose, or else I would not have said it.”

      “Am I a game piece to you too?”

      “No, I like you, and I want you to live. I will not make you do anything, ever. I promise you this.”

      Deborah cradled the glasses in her hands, staring at them. “Then tell me next time, no hints or suggestions like that.”

      “Very well. Go inside and predict their movements. The answer will be there.”

      Deborah smiled. “Yeah, I kind of figured that out.” She put the glasses in her pocket and opened the door.

---------

Questions

1. What kind of person is Lcorn L'lorne? What does she look like (in your mind)?
2. What kind of person is the Deborah Ignigus? What does she look like (in your mind)?
3. What kind of person is The Ritch 'arrd? What does his human form look like (in your mind)?
4. Does the setting seem fitting? Would you like to know more?
5. Does Delphi's explanation for what's going on make sense?  Anyway you can see to improve it?

Dreams of Stars Part 32

      She hadn’t noticed the girl there before. Suddenly, though, with two words, L’lorne saw Deborah again, standing behind a block made of tiles, staring at her first in fit of anger, then in utter fear. In one swipe, she could cut that head from that body.

      “The plan.” A small voice, tiny, but hers, responded to the thought. “We need her for the plan.”

      As that voice spoke, L’lorne remembered the plan. She had known for some time that she would go wild if she let the block in her own mind dissipate. There was too much anger and sorrow leaking out from behind it for her to conclude she would do anything else. She would charge, she would attack, and she would do so without regard to any person, place, thing or promise she had or would have ever made.

      “She’s part of the plan,” the small voice was larger now, stronger, forcing the furious version of L’lorne to give up its control. “If we don’t follow the plan, we’ll never kill him.”

      That was the one thing the clam voice and the angry reality could agree on: Ritch ‘arrd had to die. He had killed their son, snapped his neck literally minutes after his birth. She nearly exploded then, if it hadn’t been for Delphi and Quinn, she probably would have ripped the universe apart right then and there, and in the process destroyed her teacher, her lover, the murderer of her son and probably herself, all in one single strike.

      Delphi had prevented it, to protect itself more than anything else, and Quinn had subdued her, dropping the initial block in her mind that allowed reason to take back over. By then, Ritch ‘arrd was gone, vanished into near infinite depths of the universe. Her quest began then, to find him and the reason she had to kill him. Now both were here, and she was still angry beyond all reason.

      Two words, though, pulled her back. Rational L’lorne was now reminding her of the plan, the details, the reason she had insisted on bringing Deborah here. She had set her up with the tools to be the perfect pawn, the will to help, and the knowledge to prevent Ritch ‘arrd from turning her to his side. The bump that was Patricia Ignigus’ death, and the fact that he had know L’lorne had let her die, was a minor inconvenience. She could still win this. . .

      The glow in her eyes dimmed away as she closed them. The heat and pressure emanating from her body relaxed as she pulled the power back into herself. However much she hated him, Ritch ‘arrd was right, she would never beat him without control. Quinn had said the same thing, and they worked to focus that control. The axe was his weapon, and he had taught her how to use it most effectively, and how to use it to focus her wild, angry power into a single point. With this, she could win. . .

      What would she win?

      Her eyes opened again, and she looked at Deborah. The girl’s fear was genuine, and very much justified. Those emotions she had felt not so long ago made sense now. She had been treating this girl as a surrogate child, replacing the one she had lost. Even now, she knew she would never harm her, nor would she let harm come to her. L’lorne would not lose another child.

      “The plan!” The voice, once so strong, suddenly took a blow and weakened. “No, the plan!” It faded away with that and vanished into the mists of her mind. Deborah had completed the first part of the plan, but the rest no longer applied.

      “Ah, good, I’m glad to see you’re under control again,” Ritch ‘arrd said, clapping silently. “Now we can begin this properly.”

      L’lorne glared at him, let a bit of the anger surface again, but kept it in check. He would be punished, but not the way she had planned. She swung back to Deborah. “Deborah!” The girl hadn’t taken her eyes off of L’lorne since she shouted, but still jolted when her name was called. “Get out of here, leave and go as far away as you can.”

      “What?” Both Ritch ‘arrd and Deborah responded simultaneously. She knew Deborah’s response was a confirmation, but his was one of utter disbelief.

      “I said GO!” Deborah looked ready to protest again, but L’lorne would have none of it. With a single push of her mind, she lifted the girl up into the air, arms and legs dangling out of her brown coat, and flung her at the door. Deborah grunted a protest, but the door flung open, the girl flew out and the door shut again before any coherent response could be generated. That done, L’lorne turned back to Ritch ‘arrd.

      He was staring at the door as it finished latching closed. “Interesting move,” he said, his eyes indicating that he was still trying to process the purpose. “I’m not sure why. . .”

      “No more games,” L’lorne interrupted him.

      “Lakinde. . .”

      “We’ve always played games,” L’lorne continued, moving the axe into a more proper attack position. “This is no longer a game.”

      Ritch ‘arrd watched her and moved into a defensive stance. “You can’t be serious about this. If you do this, whatever promise you made to that girl will be broken.”

      L’lorne smiled. “Only by you, and she knew that was possible from the beginning.”

      “This is foolish,” Ritch ‘arrd was getting angrier with every moment that passed. “You still won’t win, Lakinde and I will have to kill you if you insist upon this course of action.”

      “Shut up,” L’lorne lifted the axe up and braced herself. “And don’t call me by that name again!” There was flicker and she vanished. Ritch ‘arrd quickly followed and a crack of thunder ripped through the natatorium.

---------

Questions

1. What kind of person is Lcorn L'lorne? What does she look like (in your mind)?
2. What kind of person is the Deborah Ignigus? What does she look like (in your mind)?
3. What kind of person is The Ritch 'arrd? What does his human form look like (in your mind)?
4. Does the setting seem fitting? Would you like to know more?
5. Any idea what L'lorne's original plan might have been?

Dreams of Stars Part 31

      Deborah pressed her hands against her ears, trying to block out the noise, but it still pounded its way through, and it was getting louder by the moment. She fell to her knees, her eyes clenched in pain. The stone tiles under her feet were shaking, the sound of L’lorne's scream was so loud, the adhesive breaking down with the vibrations. She couldn't take it anymore, and she began screaming back, trying to counteract it somehow.

      She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, and the sound stopped. Looking up, she saw Ritch 'arrd staring across the pool, his hand touching her shoulder. She followed his gaze and saw L’lorne was still screaming, only silently, as if it had been muted. “I told you to run,” she heard Ritch 'arrd say, and when she turned back to him, a gust of air nearly knocked her to the ground.

      L’lorne was suddenly there, right there in front of both of them, her axe already unfolded and in her hands, dropping with deadly speed straight at Ritch 'arrd's head. There was no time to see his reaction, only the result: A blade of light there, blocking and holding back L’lorne's kill blow. “RUN NOW!” Ritch 'arrd yelled. Deborah didn't question the response this time, and ran.

      The far end of the pool had, when she had first entered, been empty of anything of interest. It was an empty area that would, if this had been a normal pool, been the haunt of tables, chairs, lounge seats and sun bathers. It was an empty area. Now boxes of various shapes and sizes were there, some obviously still growing out of the solid ground, covered in the same stone tiles as the rest of the floor.

      No time to think or plan or guess or anything, Deborah simply flung herself behind one of the seemingly more sturdy cubes and backed against it. A concussion of air suddenly blew around the cube, and another scream, though far shorter and more angry, came from L’lorne. A war cry.

      “YOU BASTARD!” The words were crystal clear, but the volume, the anger and even the intensity were far and away beyond anything Deborah had heard before from L’lorne. Curiosity overcame common sense, and Deborah popped her head up and over the cube to see.

      Ritch 'arrd was on the defensive, at least it looked that way. L’lorne would swing her axe at him and he would back up, holding the glowing light sword between himself and her. Occasionally he would physically block the blade, but most of the time it was a simple, light deflection, or he would step aside from the seemingly wild blows. “It had to be done,” Ritch 'arrd countered L’lorne's harsh words with vigor, but not with nearly the volume or anger.

      “HE WAS OUR SON!” L’lorne swung the axe level with the floor so fast Deborah only barely saw the movement. What she did see, however, was the sudden appearance of a sharp cut in the far wall. Nearly ten feet separated L’lorne from the wall, yet the force of the swing still made its existence known. Instinctively, Deborah began to duck every time L’lorne flung the axe even remotely in her direction.

      “He was weak,” Ritch 'arrd countered. He shifted the weight on his feet and thrust forward, but L’lorne blocked it and used the momentum of their blades to try to remove the light blade from his hands, unsuccessfully.

      “YOU KNOW THAT DOESN'T MATTER!” L’lorne swung the axe down, way down, digging right through the tiles without even the hint of a loss of momentum, and up at Ritch 'arrd who leapt out of the way and landed out on the water of the pool.

      “It mattered to me.” L’lorne joined Ritch 'arrd out on the pool and both began a more dangerous dance with each other. The blades swung high and low, both trying to get an edge on the other. Even so, it was becoming apparent to Deborah that it was going nowhere fast.

      “IT WASN'T YOUR DECISION TO MAKE!” L’lorne punctuated her remark argument with a flurry of slashes and jabs at Ritch 'arrd, the concussions sending waves of water out of the pool and onto the surrounding tiled surface. Deborah only just missed being soaked as she ducked behind another box. Slowly she was making her way towards the door they had entered through, though exactly to what end she wasn't entirely sure. Ritch 'arrd had told her to run, and from the current chaos of battle that was now rapidly splashing the pool empty, it seemed obvious why. Still, he hadn't said to leave, just run and hide.

      “He could never have lived up to his full potential,” Ritch ‘arrd pressed a weak attack against L’lorne, but held a steady defense. The water in the pool wasn’t merely splashing out any more, it was vaporizing as the heat of swinging weapons clashed. Above them, amongst the cooler air of the ceiling, a thin cloud had begun to form. “It was better this way.”

      “YOU KILLED HIM!” As L’lorne yelled, the axe swung about and flung an invisible blade of energy at the cloud. By the time it reached it, it wasn’t strong enough to disrupt the cloud, but it did cause a static discharge in the small thing. A shock of lighting lit out and struck one of the steel roof beams, and sending a rattling crack throughout the natatorium. All this happened in a fraction of a second, long enough that L’lorne’s yell was quickly followed by a flash of lighting and thunder, and shook Deborah to the core.

      Deborah banged her head against the back of one of the blocks that now filled the natatorium, except for a rather large gap near the door. For a moment there, she nearly thought of Ritch ‘arrd as possibly repentant in some weird way, and even as she thought about it now, he had never been directly aggressive. Now she knew the truth: He was every bit a monster as L’lorne. They were both killers, murders, with their own justifications for everything.

And she was a game piece, a pawn, in the battle between them. To what end though? What did either of them want her to do, and what did they each want accomplished? It seemed L’lorne wanted Ritch ‘arrd dead, that was pretty clear, but even she didn’t know exactly why up until a few moments ago. Ritch ‘arrd, on the other hand, had no reason to want L’lorne dead, or anything like that, nor did he appear to want any form of forgiveness, not that L’lorne was ready to offer it. Deborah was at a loss as to what to do next, deciding that closing her eyes and wishing it all away was the only option she had left.

“You’ll never even hit me if you don’t exert some control Lakinde,” she could just hear Ritch ‘arrd say. He was so damn calm about the whole thing it made Deborah want to cry. If only she could be that calm right now.

“I’LL RIP THIS PLANET APART IF I HAVE TO!”

Deborah shot up at that statement and glared across the block at the battling couple and could only scream. “YOU PROMISED!”

L’lorne swung around and glared back at her, her eyes glowing with an unearthly, hellish light. Deborah decided in the next moment that she had done something very, very stupid.

---------

Questions

1. What kind of person is Lcorn L'lorne? What does she look like (in your mind)?
2. What kind of person is the Deborah Ignigus? What does she look like (in your mind)?
3. What kind of person is The Ritch 'arrd? What does his human form look like (in your mind)?
4. Does the setting seem fitting? Would you like to know more?