A little of this and a pinch of that where two shall become one!

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 23475

Mirage

"Okay," Astra begins. "We know what we are facing and that, but while we might know perhaps hashing it out in detail might give us possible clues as to a way out."

Now, while I am....actually touched that my new friends think enough of me to actually include me in such a discussion, I.....

....

I'm scared.

Wonderful thing to say, is it not? Not becoming of a princess, I'm sure to be scared that the very decision made tonight could very well determine the fate of the world. While I admit that Aladdin and I have faced our own share of dangerous situations, the implications NOW!....

Well, let me just give you, oh listeners, the basics of the situation. While Astra herself has given a listing that pretty much sums it up, I must admit it is rather detailed and....long. Mind you, I am hardly faulting her that! Allah knows that laying it out thus actually did help with discussions. However, it's just too long for here and now, right?

Okay, here are the basics. This world is being faced with a situation that makes the chaos so far tame by comparison. It is facing a living hell that would have no end. A living hell called Game 3. This world and it's people would be exposed to the whims and dark wishes of whatever Author (deity like beings in their own right) until the end of time....which is to say forevermore since I am led to believe that time never ENDS there.

The key to this world's salvation or damnation lays within the one known as Rebecca, a woman with no memories of her past. My friend Jarlath seemed to be on the verge of explaining exactly what that business was about, suggesting that he knew more about that than what little he'd told me. However, the woman in question came up and Jarlath quickly change the subject, so to spare Rebecca the shock.

Honestly believe that eventually the young woman will be told the truth, but now with everything else going insane around us we just do not need any more problems than already we face!

Basically, the Champions' job was to keep Rebecca safe and sound for a prescribed set of time. At the end of the time, this Challenge (the details which seem to revolve around some kind of dispute that had happened between Celestrials of various factions over the very Rebecca in question, I'll find later) will be either won then....when time expires with her safe. Or it shall fail with the death of Rebecca. Success or failing, of course, being relative. From the demonic viewpoint, having Rebecca dead would suit them would count as a success, I am sure. If she should die before the Challenge time expires, then this whole world gets thrown into a rift into Game 3 where all shall suffer, including Rebecca (who'll be raised back and killed...played with and abused forever and ever).

Chilling, in a way....but that's what the demons want to happen....

Should know, remembering how that demonic bitch....that other Mirage thought and acted over such matters.....

Hrmph....

Now, that is a fine overlay of what we are facing. How about what we are facing as far as physical threats? Well, the list is a bit short, but still dangerous. There still are those out there who might see Rebecca as somehow responsible for the New Amazons (miraculously arisen from the ashes like a phoenix) defeating and killing her husband. Might feel that she gave inside information or something that lead to his defeat and death, or something like that. Nasty if that should be thought, I feel, for Rebecca would serve as a scapegoat for defeated male ambitions (who'd put so much hope that Samuel's plans a subjugating women would succeed). Then we have an unknown number of mages, working in the shadows, who might try to strike out at US for the similar reasons....or perhaps out of the mistaken impression we are responsible for the chaos storms sweeping the face of this world. Must admit that Synizn's bluff had worked wonders in scaring them into releasing Eric, but now I fear it might well blow back at us....now that Eric is...Erica. If the mages did think we were responsible for the chaos and hoped that by complying we'd....stop..... Fear that they might now think us either arrogantly irresponsible and untrustworthy....or mad. Either way, if that is the case, I fear that we shall not get a clear cut, open attack from them. However, they might feel a sneak attack (a knife in the dark or a poisoned meal or drink) would or could succeed where a more direct (if honorable) approach would surely fail. It would be done in a secretive, quiet matter, in the shadows.....and the fear is that Rebecca would get killed in the fallout if the Champions are attacked....

Hmm....

Aladdin and Jarlath suggest that whatever we do decide, that perhaps the best counter for such a danger would be to be "public and big time". Meaning that instead of hiding and running for the remote hills and mountains, we should instead seem to embrace the public. Have the public eye, "the spotlight" on us all so not a shadow would remain to allow for a sneaky, shadowy attack. But how to actually do that in a realistic manner? There lies the rub, I guess. Haven't figured out how to do that, really, in such a way that won't get us either stoned or run out of town by panicked villagers.... We want POSITIVE public attention, you see. That, while seeming insane, has some sense to it. Those (like thieves and assassins) do NOT strike out in plain sight, for obvious reasons. Too public means they're face will be seen (not good for long term job security). That and by now with all the "mage storms" that have swept the area (ten villages alone today got changed into either Amazons, foxtuars, centaurs, humanoid cats, or humanoid foxes)....means that the odder members of our group hardly will stand out, now...

It's an idea, anyway, incomplete as it stand right now.

....

Hmm, at this rate I feel that this world will soon, if all goes well, will soon be facing a future with several viable sentient races BESIDES humans. Synizn says that the gene pool population of non-humans has reached the point of viability (what with such magically created races exhibiting a much smaller tendency for bad recessive genes (?) and such), but still....

....

Right, back to the problem at hand...

That and for now on we ALL stay together....not even going off alone to take a bathroom break. Privacy has just died for now until the time limit expires, folks. Using a "buddy system" with help near at hand through the other Champions is the name of the game!

We still are facing the political fiasco with Erica perhaps not being able to legitimately prove who she is and for a LONG time it looks hopeless until....

....

Why didn't I think of this earlier.

I suggest that perhaps the best way to handle both problems is to address it with a solution that SOLVES both at once.

See, both nations right now are rather...down on defensive forces except for our ever seeming increasing numbers of those who've become enchanted with the lure of the New Amazon cause. Either because of the changes wrought upon the people by the chaos or because even before (because they were women) they felt a need for....change, they come. Illura (a leader that has an....aura to her that draws even me) keeps them and..... It's almost as if they were religious converts, really.

Equality of women, men, and now non-humans.....

....

Pardon, kind of drifted off there in the glow of that....warm thought....

Yes, might actually seek to join and try to lend my services to Illura if I cannot get myself and my family home (something that I fear is likely, considering the eldritch means we all arrived on this endangered world)! Is not like I could continue to be a princess if such should be my fate!

One has to make their way in the world, right? Worse ways to do it than an visor or such, right? Right?

Well, that's for later....long term. Long term as in what I propose.

I propose that we publicly seek support with Erica....and form a pact that would combine the armed forces of both Daria and Zendara. In effect, it would unite the nations into one....in the end. Erica would get the support of a relatively powerful nation, recognizing her as the legit ruler (and giving some considerable weight to such an assertion, considering that our side has the bigger army, all considered). This move also is needful because in the game of international politics, I feel that both nations might have....greedy neighbors who might like to grab some land (if not all of the land) of both nation and absorb it into their own.

United in self interest and defense, you see...

That's for the immediate future.

Oh, a lot of details (big ones) will need to be hammered out (and dissent quieted in one way or another in the coming years, I foresee), but that's for later. The involved parties shall have more pressing problems, you see.

What we're going to be doing is playing the advisor to the king apparent of Zendara in this crisis with the mage storms. The Champions say that we are mages, but instead wisemen or such seeking a means to quell the storms and bring order to chaos! Any show of magic can be played off as some kind of benefit from an otherwise unsettling experience we (falsely) say will have had with a mage storm. Who will know enough to gain say us except Samuel's mages, eh? Maybe not even them! We'd be very near both Rebecca (a guest of the king) and soon to be crowned ruler (who'll fake his own death....they let me in on that secret....amazing) of Zendara.

Oh, it's dangerous, but seems to be the best choice amongst a lot of unwholesome ones.

Thus Rebecca (and us) will be in the limelight (a positive one). . . . until the right time . . .

But for this to work, we'll need to use that magic carpet of Jarlath and the other mages. Will mean that the centaur servants will be left behind for a while, but....what is to be done? This is serious business, after all. Life and death....

  1. You see, for this to work means we need to talk with Erica, naturally, so we can make this work!

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2/4/2003 5:02:42 PM

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