Some cookies are necessary to make this site and our content available to you. Other Cookies enable us to analyse and measure audience and traffic to the site. Cookies are also used by us, advertisers, ad-tech providers and others to develop and serve ads that are more relevant to your interests. To consent to the use of Cookies and proceed to the site, click Accept below. If you wish to withdraw consent later you will find a link in the footer Cookie Choices. For more information: Privacy Policy.
Storytelling Competition - (click for the map) | (printer friendly version)

If you have any questions about the competition then read our awesome FAQ!


Week 444
You are on Week 445
Week 446

Every week we will be starting a new Story Telling competition - with great prizes! The current prize is 2000 NP, plus a rare item!!! This is how it works...

We start a story and you have to write the next few paragraphs. We will select the best submissions every day and put it on the site, and then you have to write the next one, all the way until the story finishes. Got it? Well, submit your paragraphs below!

Story Four Hundred Forty Five Ends Friday, January 22nd

Night and day, rain or shine, the lamp sat glittering in the window. Joi sometimes wondered why the owner of the Neohome would leave the lamp turned on at all hours, but at the same time, walking past the window every day on her way around town and seeing it glistening there was kind of a comfort. She'd honestly never seen another lamp like it anywhere in Neopia -- its shade was dome-shaped and made mostly of glass that was as golden and translucent as a light faerie's wings. Sparkling red and green glass cut into the shapes of roses adorned the shade, and strings of crystals dangled from its edge. Just looking at the lamp glowing in the dark window made the young Lupe feel warm and safe.

When she'd first noticed the lamp, Joi had asked around a little, trying to find out who lived in that Neohome, but nobody seemed to know. The room where the lamp was displayed was always dark -- even when she tried to peer inside from over the fence of the front garden, she couldn't see a foot inside. The garden of the Neohome was a wild, jungly place, tangled with twisted vines and unkempt, overgrown shrubs and plants. All of the windows other than the one where the lamp sat were covered with bars made of metal scrollwork. Whoever lives there, Joi thought, they obviously like their privacy. Sometimes Joi liked to make up fanciful stories about the Neohome's owner; maybe it was a handsome prince who had run afoul of one of Neopia's many witches and been trapped in the lamp. Or perhaps the Neohome was inhabited by a faded beauty who would rather stay indoors than show the world her aged visage.

All that Joi knew for sure was that every day she looked forward to seeing the lamp burning bravely in the dark window. One day, though, on her way to the Marketplace, as she passed the Neohome and looked at the window as she always did, Joi was shocked to see that the lamp was turned off. The surprise was so great that she nearly tripped over her own feet and just missed sprawling foolishly on the pavement. The Lupe could still vaguely make out the lamp's shape in the window, but instead of being bright and glistening gold, it was just a dim, grey form that barely stood out from the black room behind it. What was stranger still, though, was that the large metal filigree garden gate that was usually locked tight now stood ajar...

Author: A Bright Idea
Date: Jan 19th
A morbid curiosity drove Joi closer, until her paw rested on the cold metal of the gate. She gave it a slight push, expecting great resistance and a rusty creak, but it swung noiselessly open. Somehow, this was even more unsettling.

The Lupe took a few timid paces into the garden, following the brick path that was just barely visible under its thick covering of moss and the weeds that had forced their way through the cracks between the stones. For no discernible reason, a shiver went down her spine, and she clutched her light jacket tighter around her. She glanced backward; the gate was still open, and there was nothing to stop her from retreating to the brightly lit street, from continuing her trip to the market and forgetting all about this house.

But something drove her onward. She turned back toward the house and once again began walking toward it. She hadn't gotten very far before her paw hit something hard.

She looked down and saw that she had accidentally kicked a stone that was sticking out of the ground. Joi knelt down to examine it, brushing the moss and vines off of it to do so. It seemed to be a perfectly normal stone; no markings, no sign of being chiseled or carved. Just an ordinary stone, other than the fact that it was firmly planted upright in the ground.

Joi was about to walk away when something else caught her eye: three bright red roses. Their vivid colour contrasted starkly with the muted green tones of the rest of the garden, and they seemed to have been freshly cut. Lying next to them was a half-full bottle of a brownish fluid. The Lupe picked it up carefully; the bottle was entirely unmarked, but when she removed the cork and gave it a sniff, she smelled the unmistakable odour of strong apple cider.

She quickly re-corked the bottle and returned it to its place next to the roses. This is all too strange, she thought. What am I doing here? Trespassing on someone else's land? Whoever left the flowers and that cider here probably wouldn't be too happy to find me poking around. Really, I ought to just go.

Yet there was an inexplicable pull toward the house. Was it just the Lupe's adventurous spirit? The thrill of the unknown? Or was there something in the house, something supernatural, that was drawing her toward it?

She nearly ran the rest of the way to the house, until she stood breathlessly before the window that framed the now-dim lamp. She was disappointed to find that she could not see into the room: the curtains were drawn, and the lamp sat in front of them. Still, she was finally able to get a close look at the lamp of which she had so often thought.

If anything, it was even more beautiful than it had seemed from afar. The cut glass of the shade looked absolutely pristine, and the roses created by the red and green stained glass were immaculate. Joi couldn't imagine how even the most skilled glassworker could have made them. From this close, she could see that the crystals dangling from the rim of the shade also followed the rose motif, with one perfect flower etched into each crystal. Still, as wonderful as it was, without a light shining from inside it, the lamp seemed hollow and imperfect, almost macabre, offensive to the senses, like a lifelike-mannequin that seems almost real, but is rendered obscene by it dead glass eyes.

Joi finally tore her gaze away from the lamp. This window holds no answers. But I didn't come here just to be turned away.

The Lupe padded to the Neohome's front door. The house, in contrast to the garden, was well-maintained. No peeling paint, no rotten wood. The door itself was made of a solid slab of mahogany, polished until it gleamed. The only adornments on it were a stately, ornate brass knob and a matching knocker in the shape of an Eyrie's head. Joi took the knocker in one uncertain paw and struck it against the door three times.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

Joi could hear the noise echo loudly inside the house. She withdrew her paw and waited for an answer. She glanced back over her shoulder at the flowers, bottle, and stone in the garden. When she returned her gaze to the door, she was surprised to see...

Author: rosabellk
Date: Jan 19th
...that it had noiselessly opened before her. A chill ran down Joi's spine, and she shuddered involuntarily, rubbing the fur on her arms that had stood up in her surprise. The open entryway gaped before her, and Joi felt as if someone were beckoning her in. Slowly she stepped over the threshold and entered the house, its dark interior swallowing up her small frame with ease. The door slid shut behind her, but Joi hardly noticed; she was far too curious to be truly nervous.

Squinting in the near-perfect shadows that filled the house, she walked onward. Once she had entered the home, she had decided to do one thing: find the lamp that had so enthralled her. It seemed such a tragedy that it wasn't glowing anymore, and she felt an overwhelming urge to make it right again.

The Lupe shuffled her way through the hallway, walking to the closed door of the room that led to the beautiful lamp. She couldn't explain how she knew this was the one; she'd walked past other doors and not spared them a glance. It felt as if someone were guiding her, though, pointing her in the right direction -- or perhaps the wrong one. She turned the knob and walked inside, and what she saw stopped her dead in her tracks.

The room was beautiful but dead-looking; the walls and the ceiling glowed in the same glass perfection as the lamp she knew was sitting in the closed window. Inlaid roses danced along the walls, frozen forever in a swirl of crimson petals and emerald leaves, and bits of crystal hung from the ceiling, mutely pointing to the polished wooden floor. However, it was all empty, all lifeless and dark, and a deep sense of mourning filled her. There was all this cold beauty and no light to warm it up with, all this graceful art with no soul. Joi walked toward the curtained window and pulled it open, letting blades of golden sunlight into the forlorn and empty room.

The lamp stood there in front of her, and Joi stared at it, wishing it would burn for her again. As she looked at the dark lamp she noticed something she hadn't seen before: there was a tiny silver plaque mounted on its base, and there was something engraved upon it. She bent down and squinted at the tiny calligraphic script and read what was written upon the shimmering metal:

'Ere I look upon the blooms,
As I live within the gloom.
Trapped watching 'til someone sees
The beacon I was meant to be.

The words puzzled Joi and also frightened her a little; the message read like something prophetic and that didn't make her feel safe. She suddenly felt very aware that she was trespassing within someone's home and was standing in a room that was probably very precious to them. However, the curiosity still ached inside her, and she still wanted that lamp to glow again, if only one last time for her.

She looked out of the window she had opened; truly, she had intended for it to only be a glance before she walked away from her foolish venture, but something caught her eye. From the window she could see where the cider and the roses lay in the garden, but now instead of being red, the roses gleamed cold and crystalline in the sunlight, glass where there had been life and soft petals; the jug that had held the cider was empty upon the ground as if someone had consumed it all during her short journey through the house. The stone, however, still just sat there, looking as grey and ordinary as the first time she had stumbled upon it in the garden.

She looked back at the lamp, biting her lower lip nervously, heart beginning to pound. She didn't know a lot about magic, but there was something otherworldly and fantastic about this place, something she sorely wished she hadn't crossed paths with. Even now, though, when she wanted to turn tail and run, she wished the lovely dead lamp would glow again.

"Won't you gleam for me again, just once more?" she said sadly to the empty glass beauty in front of her.

Then echoing through the room like a distant breeze came a reply...

Editor's Note: Thanks for all of the great entries, everyone! Keep them coming!

Author: scarletspindle
Date: Jan 20th
"A wanderer through the quiet street
Through a single window saw
The golden blush of light and heat
Of the Evershining Lamp withdraw."

Joi turned to find herself looking at an emaciated, aging Techo, so thin and gaunt that he looked barely alive, save for a feverish gleam in his eye.

"I -- I'm sorry to have barged in like this," stuttered Joi, thrilling with embarrassment and not a small amount of dread. "It was a mistake -- I only wanted to see why the lamp had stopped working..."

"Shhh!" shushed the Techo in his ghostly, papery voice, clutching at his head with both of his hands and shutting his eyes as though in acute pain. "Not so loud, please... it hurts me."

After a moment of hesitation, Joi took a step toward the frail figure and spoke again in a near-whisper. "I did not mean to disturb you, I only wanted to --"

"Stop stomping like that!" hissed the Techo with a look of pure horror upon his face, and he feebly pushed Joi back to where she had been standing. "It pains me..."

Joi stood back, now more perplexed than afraid, and favoured the strange Techo with a quizzical look.

"Sensitive constitution... too sensitive..." he whispered in explication.

"I see," answered Joi in a breath. "Is that why you never go outside? And all of the doors and windows are barred? And why you live in a glass house with all of these roses --"

"Real flowers smell too sweet for me to bear," answered the Techo with a gesture toward the carved ones in the wall.

"Speech is painful, save for that spoken in whispers... though verse, spoken verse I can endure."

"What about... what about the lamp?" asked Joi, eager to have her curiosity satisfied and anxious to cut off a further listing of ailments.

"The lamp..."

"Yes," breathed Joi.

"It will shine no more," said the Techo, his eyes glittering with large tears.

He pointed to the nearest fantastically carved glass wall, with its roses blooming riotously in pink and red bliss. Joi followed the Techo's finger and saw a barely perceptible crack that ran, disappearing now and then in its own elusiveness, all along the wall of the room

"The House is falling. The roses delivered last night... will be the last."

Joi's nose twitched at a sudden whiff of cider...

Author: larkspurlane
Date: Jan 20th
...and she turned instinctively toward the open window, hoping to pinpoint its source. The elderly Techo winced visibly at the sudden sound of her pivot.

Nothing but three impossibly fragile glass roses. Nothing but an empty, upturned bottle. No one stood waiting and watching from the carelessly tended garden as her wild imagination had expected. Passersby beyond the now-closed gate spared no attention to the structure on their left, not a single one displaying a morsel of the compelling curiosity to which Joi had succumbed.

It was then when it struck her that she had not been the one to shut the gate.

"Ah, so you've noticed," came the Techo's frail, sun-dried voice. "No one passes through the entryway, save at the House's choosing. And it had held the held the gate ajar for you, guided you to venture forward and meet its sole occupant... you are the only one, other than him."

Him? Joi wanted to ask, but then remembered a more urgent matter. "You said something just now about this same House falling," she whispered instead. "What exactly does that mean?"

The Techo did not respond right away. He ran his long fingers along the curve of the beautiful lamp. His crinkled eyes were half-closed, and when he spoke, his cracking voice braided poetic strands with whisps plucked from air.

"He of midnight to me swore
That save the House, he would; with
Roses three and flask half-poured.
Twice centuries he did herewith --
Alas, but nevermore."

Having uttered this, he then tapped the Lupe's shoulder with the gentlest of taps and motioned feebly toward the glass wall for her to see.

Joi's eyes traced the streams of borders that separated and converged to dance together the waltz that was the rose motif. The utter perfection of the way these strokes had been etched was undeniably splendour itself. But that wasn't it. She was missing something, something the Techo wanted her to perceive...

"His promise is done. Now that he is gone, the House will be no more," he murmured, so quietly that Joi wondered if he was merely thinking aloud.

And then she finally saw.

It was beautiful. It was clever, ingenious, nigh indiscernible, save for those who had already found it.

An engraving of a Pteri in flight, mingled so craftily with the overlap of roses that Joi could not be sure what she was seeing at first. With every sweep of her searching stare, she uncovered more and more of the pattern's true luminary -- feathers disguised as leaves, the tapered wingtips, beak clasping the stems of three of the many roses.

He of midnight...

"You are inquisitive and daring," the Techo breathed, as Joi pulled her gaze away from the wall at last. "In you, there is something the House sees. Won't you stay awhile? We could paint together, and read... and in return, I'll tell you my story. The House, the roses, who the Pteri was..."

There it was again -- the teasingly faint, unmistakable scent of apple cider.

Perhaps it was just the light, or were the Techo's eyes pleading? "Stay and ease my burden, and you'll discover that a glass lamp is but the beginning..."

Author: _razcalz_
Date: Jan 21st
Joi hesitated, casting a glance through the window; the sky was softly turning red, eerily mimicking the scarlet of the roses that adorned the walls. It'll be dark soon, the logical voice inside her whispered, but she ignored it; it was much too far away too reach her, now. Joi figured she had made her decision the second she had walked through the rusted gate and across the mossy pathway. Or perhaps the decision had been made much earlier, when she had first laid eyes on the magnificent lamp that now stood lifeless and dull in front of her, the hairline fracture seemingly thicker with every forlorn glance.

There was only one thing left to say.

"Tell me everything," Joi breathed, sinking to the floor and curling her legs into her chest, like a child waiting to hear a bedtime story.

The Techo stood where he was, staring at the Pteri and the roses -- or perhaps some other image she had yet to discover -- staring intently as if his memories were there, frozen in the glass.

"Oh," Joi gasped suddenly, flinching an apology when she realised her outburst was too loud. "Sorry, I never got your name..."

The Techo's lips quivered, as if he were trying to smile but couldn't quite remember how. "A name... I remember having one, but I don't remember what it is." He twitched again and this time managed a smile, but it was so bittersweet and heartbreaking Joi immediately wished he hadn't. "It's the first thing they take away from you, you know..."

No, she didn't. Her throat was burning with questions, but Joi kept silent. They would all be answered soon, she told herself.

"My name is Joi."

"What a pretty name..." the Techo mused. Joi wasn't too sure if he heard her or not.

They lapsed into silence again. The hush of breathing was all that existed. That and the sound Joi thought was the ticking of a clock, but realised with a start that it wasn't -- it was the sound of glass, glass slowly breaking as fissures broke apart like Spyder's webs, lightning bolts.

Time was running out...

"Where to begin, a story such as this?" the Techo began, as if sensing her thoughts. "You always seem to think a story has one beginning, and only one, but it's not so. There are several beginnings and several winding paths... they all reach the same place, though, that's something that never changes..."

"The lamp. You can start with the lamp."

"Yes... the lamp. I can not recall where I first encountered h-- it." Joi couldn't help but notice the melancholy in his voice, as if he were lamenting a long-lost friend instead of a piece of furniture. "An attic? A basement? An antique shop? I do not know... all I know is that the air was thick with dust -- or was it mist? smoke? -- and the light filtered through, it was so beautiful, you know, like a beacon, calling me...

"All of a sudden, I was found. Found without even knowing I had been lost in the first place..."

He trailed off, eyes heavy in past memories.

"And then what happened?" Joi whispered, eagerness in her voice making it come out as hiss.

He didn't answer at first and was rubbing his temples as if in great pain. "I can't... remember... those... they... taken away... gone, now... no longer... mine..." He drew a raspy breath.

"H-hey," Joi stumbled, reaching out a hand, but then hesitating. "It's... okay if you don't remember."

Another reminiscent smile. "Thank you but... it's not. Memories are who we are. And if we don't have them, then who are we really?"

His hands fell from his head like autumn leaves. "Enough of this. There's no point in remembering what isn't mine anymore. What happened after that, I do not recall... all I know is that who I used to be, I wasn't anymore. I awoke in a glass castle, every room empty except for the one the lamp resided in. Surprisingly, I wasn't scared, and I wasn't lonely. For everything I wanted -- everything I could possibly want -- was there, waiting for me to summon it. The world... I had the world at my fingertips.

"This lamp, you see, is special."

"In what way?" Joi asked. She already knew it was special.

"Wishes. It granted wishes."

Silence, again. Gossamer cobwebs seemed to cover the crimson glass petals.

"That must've been -- "

"Wonderful? No... it wasn't. It's something everyone thinks would be wonderful, but it isn't. They only think it is because it's never happened to them.

"Wishes, you see, come at a terrible price.

"Of course, I never realised that until it was too late, much too late. Foolishly, I wished and wished and wished. And no matter how much I wished, I was never happy, I could never reach that feeling of utter completeness I had experienced the first time I saw the lamp. I should've realised, then, that things were wrong, terribly wrong. But no, I didn't. The only thing I did was wish more, hoping that those wishes would bring me the clarity I searched for..."

"I was so consumed by my wishes that I didn't notice that the world around me was changing. Closing in. The castle was shrinking, and the glass walls were staining with colour, painting my very existence. Or rather, what I had become. I wasn't myself any more. I hadn't been for a very long time. For every wish I made, it took something away. A name, a face, a memory, everything that I once was -- something I discovered when it was too late. Too late to escape. Too late to even wish. Years of solitude, living alone with just my wishes, heightened my senses, made it unbearable for me to return to the real word, the world without wishes. The glass castle I once found so beautiful was a cage, its fragile walls too thick to break down. It was still beautiful, so beautiful... but it was a snowglobe of a paradise. A jewel birdcage. Inescapable, yet glorious...

"One day I woke up to find the castle had shrunk to a house, with windows looking out to a world I was no longer a part of and memories that were once mine hidden behind roses and thorns. I never knew why it was roses. I figured it was because roses were precious to me, once. But alas, just like so many other things, I no longer knew why..."

Joi wiped away tears she hadn't realised she'd shed. "Wow..." she whispered. "That's..." She glanced at the lamp, not quite knowing what to feel. Even in the darkness, glass petals framing a light that no longer shown, it was magnificent. But it felt so wrong to think it.

"How can you stand it?" she mused. "Living here with the very thing that took everything away from you?"

But the Techo only smiled. "It wasn't the lamp that took everything away, it was me. And besides," he reached out, fingers hovering above the glass, not quite touching it. "How could I hate something so beautiful...?"

A sliver of glass fluttered down like a snowflake, sparkling like a star falling from the sky. Just another grain of sand in an hourglass that was caving in around them...

"And then?"

"And then? I don't know what I was waiting for... the end, I suppose? For the walls to cave in and the glass to shatter around me, bury me in my mistakes?" A dry chuckle. "I suppose that was how things were going to happen, were supposed to happen, but something changed the course of events. Something stopped -- no, maybe not stopped, but slowed..."

"What?" asked Joi, even though she already knew.

"He came..."

Author: reveirie
Date: Jan 21st
"The Pteri?" Joi asked inquisitively. "Who was he, and how did he slow the House's demise?"

"Ah," the Techo began, his voice quieter than ever. "He did so by giving up everything he ever had to look after the falling structure that is the House."

"Everything?" Joi murmured in surprise, a paw fluttering to her mouth. "He gave up his life to save a stranger?"

The Techo nodded, but he did so as if the movement gave him great pain.

"He even gave up his best friend, his sister, to make sure the House didn't collapse."

Joi's gaze flickered back to the lamp as a red fragment fell to the windowsill. A piece of crystal that hung from the ceiling also fell with a sickening crunch to the floor beside the Lupe.

"Why did he do it?" Joi asked, her curiosity burning like an ember inside her stomach.

The Techo sighed. "He did it because he was greedy; he thought if he saved the House, then the lamp's wishes would all become his... in a way, he did the right thing for all the wrong reasons."

"What happened to him?" Joi found herself now flinging questions without a second thought.

"He thought he had won, so he tried to make a wish," the Techo said, pausing to wheeze at the end of the sentence before continuing. "He didn't learn a thing from my story.

"He was curious the first time, just like you. He told me his feet moved through the gate without his say-so, that it was fate that brought him here. Unlike you, his curiosity quickly developed into greed upon learning the lamp's secret. For all the years he shared my horrible fate, he never once asked me why I never left, yet it was one of the first things you asked me."

"I... I don't know what you're trying to say," Joi responded, a shiver running up her spine.

Though the Lupe had no idea what the mysterious stranger was trying to tell her, something at the back of her mind told her she wasn't going to like it.

"The Pteri's sister knew where her brother was. She did all she could to convince him to leave, but though he saw her from the window she never saw him again once he entered the House.

"Every day she brought roses and his favourite drink, apple cider, to try and coax her brother out. But the House didn't want him to leave, and every day it turned the roses to glass. Every day when he reached for them, the glass would cut his wing and the cider would spoil. In a way I think he may have regretted his choice of greed over his sister's love, but he sure didn't show it."

"What was his wish?" Joi whispered, her voice just loud enough for the aged Techo to hear.

"Ah, that is an integral part to this story," he began. "He wished..."

Author: sadinei
Date: Jan 22nd
Editor's Note: Due to the shorter contest this week, I've given it multiple endings. Please enjoy and thank you all for your great work!

"...to lock his deep-buried guilt behind glass bars... forever. He wished for his sister to forget."

The Techo closed his eyes. His mind was elsewhere, wandering in a withered meadow of reveries.

"Seeing her coming every day to offer her gifts, to offer her faith in him, something he could not return -- it pained the Pteri beyond what words can convey. But he was bound to the House for two centuries, as he had vowed. That was what these glass walls needed to stay alive, to keep the lamp burning for just a little longer..."

Joi's eyebrows met in a perplexed frown when she heard this. "Then... then the two hundred years are up, right? So now he can finally leave to join his sister."

At that, the Techo broke into his quiet chortle -- a humourless, sandpaper laugh. "That's what he thought, too. It'd only work that way if things were simple and utterly predictable; they never are, where the lamp is concerned. His presence kept the House standing, but the price... was everything. These crystal foundations are not of this world -- all this, I had misused the lamp to create. The House is an insatiable appetite, and the wall lived on at the expense of the Pteri's soul. He lost more and more of what made him him with every passing year."

He paused, then shifted his downward, mournful gaze to fully meet Joi's eyes for the first time.

"Today marks the end of two hundred years. He has but a sliver remaining to give. When the House falls, he will cease to exist, as will the lamp and I. That was what should have happened long ago had he not intervened."

For a while, Joi did not speak. Stepping carefully and soundlessly on the burgundy carpet, she sidestepped the quivering line of falling sand and reached for the glass wall. The Lupe halted a hairsbreadth from the actual gleaming surface, slowly tracing one of the veins that marked a feather of the Pteri's wing, feeling the impossible flawlessness and the pain that greed had caused. It was strange when she realised that, despite having been stunned by the wall's beauty, she had known all along that all this was could never be a paragon. It was... entirely false, a mask of beauty to hide the grief beneath from those who had paid the terrible price.

With her paw still outstretched, she turned back to the gaunt Techo and asked quietly, "And his sister never forgot, despite his wish?"

He shook his head. "The lamp is cruel, like a queen who acts on whim and fancy alone. Sometimes, it will grant a desire, but take away something of equal importance to the wisher. And what it has no interest in granting, it will not grant at all."

So the lamp never gave him what he wanted, Joi pondered. He gave everything he had... for nothing? And his sister, still waiting, still hoping...

Troubled and moved to pity, what Joi uttered next seemed to be more like words spilling out on their own accord -- or perhaps the House's accord...

"I'll take the Pteri's place," she breathed. "Then he can be free again..."

The Techo stumbled forward, alarmed. "No!" His papery voice was a hiss. "I have born this burden for too long. Please... just... just let it end..."

And then... and then there was an immense "Crack" -- and the entire floor began to tremble. Glass fragments of all sizes crashed tumbling down in an angry hailstorm, and the fissure in the wall that had been thread-thin moments ago was widening rapidly into a crevice of despair, a furious chasm...

Now time was truly up...

The Techo heard nor saw none of this. His furrowed eyes were scrunched, his arms clasped around his head. "No," he moaned. "Make it stop..."

Joi didn't think. She touched the shattering wall, and closed her eyes -- she willed the House to listen...

Let me save you...

And it stopped.

The Lupe's eyes snapped open.

Her first thought was that she was no longer in the glass room.

She didn't question. She tilted her head upward and saw flags frozen in motion, shimmering, translucent parapets...

Welcome, Joi.

A drawbridge winking in the sunset haze...

I am the Lamp, the House, and I have heard you.

She was standing before the very castle the elderly Techo had wished for.

It seems I have not misjudged you. You did as I expected and wanted... ah, but you cannot save me. That I had not foreseen. You acted out of pure compassion and desire to protect, and in you there was not a morsel of greed...

I am well pleased with this turn of events, even though it now spells my demise. You are the first. The House is falling, the lamp no more -- but because I am satisfied, I will grant your request...

Joi could not speak. She merely stared as the castle, the sky, and everything faded to black, and the voice's final words echoing through an unseen tunnel...

You are the first and the last, Joi...

***

She didn't have to open her eyes to know she was back.

The hubbub of the street, the conversations of those passing by, the thud of carts along the path -- they welcomed her return.

Joi found herself in the precise spot on which she had been standing not too long ago: a patch of gravel in front of what had been an open gate, between the bars of which she would have seen the glow of a beautiful, rose-patterned lamp.

It was then when she realised the House had not yet entirely gone -- there it was, glinting in the sunlight. But it was a House no longer, for it had cracked entirely in two -- and as she stared, the two halves gave way to each other's weight, and everything shattered. Shattered into nothingness.

The faintest shadow of a Pteri in flight sailed over the fading shards as it did so. Sailed away and away to join the one who had been waiting...

Joi gripped her paw in surprise and immense joy. Something pierced her palm, very gently...

A chip of glass etched with the image of a thornless rose, on which nineteen carved words recited:

That same wanderer now hath
Repaired this crooked path.
In peace do live the troubled four --
Remember this
Forevermore.

The End

Author: _razcalz_
Date: Jan 22nd
A tear came to the Techo's eye. "I can't remember what it was that he wished. It was important, I know that. It was so very, very important..."

The old, wizened pet shuffled over to the lamp and gently stroked it with one finger as tears flowed freely down his face. He turned to face Joi. She could not distinguish the tears on his face from the glittering shards of glass that had fallen upon it.

"He was greedy," whispered the Techo, as a larger section of the ceiling fell behind him and shattered on the floor. "I remember that much. So greedy... and selfish. Inconsiderate. When I saw him, I could tell immediately. But he was, in a way, noble. He thought he could save me. And he could; he did. He was the one I needed to take."

Joi snapped her head up at this. "'Take'? What do you mean by that?"

The Techo shook his head sadly. "You haven't figured it out yet, have you? I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." The old pet knelt slowly, with crystals and baubles crashing down around him as he did so. "I wish I could stop. I wish there were another way..."

Joi looked around her fearfully and rose. "The house looks like it's going to come down any minute now." She pointed at the ever-widening crack in the wall. "Even if you can't leave here, I think it would be best for me to go. I'll be sorry to leave, of course, but --"

"It's too late for you to leave me now." The Techo suddenly snapped his head up. "I remember..." he hissed. "His wish. I remember it now. There were two of them. The first was simply to live. We all made that wish."

"'We'?" asked Joi, backing away now, fallen crystals cracking beneath her feet.

"But his second wish, before it was too late -- that was his one considerate act. He wished to spare his sister the pain of losing him. He wished for her to forget." The Techo coughed, causing his whole body to shake. He looked up at Joi with wet, pleading eyes. "He wanted the best for her. He only wanted the best... for his sister Joi."

Joi's eyes grew wide. "What? What are you talking about? I've never had a brother!"

"See how well the lamp works?" the Techo said, with a slight smile. "But even it had is limits. You kept bringing me the flowers."

Joi held her head in confusion, scattering several pieces of glass that had fallen into her fur. "You're out of you mind! I've never set foot on this land before today!"

The Techo pointed weakly at the pocket of Joi's jacket. She tore it open. Her mouth grew dry with fear when she saw what was inside it: a rose petal and a cork. Slowly, the memories began to trickle back to her. She remembered how, every day for the past five years, she had done more than just stop and look at the lamp on her way to the market. She had gone through the gate, placed three roses and a half-full bottle of cider in front of the stone in the yard, and then continued on her way. "How did I not remember?" she gasped, as a large section of the ceiling fell to earth beside her, showering her with slivers of red glass.

The Techo looked too exhausted to answer. He was now on his hands and knees, panting with the effort of keeping his head up. "We admired his compassion. None of us had ever wished for such a thing before. Yes, we were glad when he became a part of us."

The memories continued to flow into Joi's head. Her brother. A shadow Pteri. The walks they had gone on together, the jokes they had shared, the million shared moments. Then, the last: the day when he had ventured into a strange house to see why the lamp in the window was no longer lit. The Lupe closed her eyes against the onslaught.

"And now it is time for you to join us," whispered the Techo. "I'm sorry, Joi. I truly am. But the rest of us aren't. We need to live. So make your wish. Stay alive. Become a part of us." The Techo reached a trembling hand out and grasped Joi's.

The contact between them opened a mental floodgate. Joi suddenly understood, understood it all. The lamp and the house were one and the same. The Techo she now saw before her had been its first victim, hundreds of years ago. But before long, the lamp drained him. It required a new victim. And so the house drew in another. This one heard the story, saw the house crashing down around him, and made the wish to live. He was absorbed into the house, into the lamp, and into the Techo's body. This process repeated, time after time. By now, dozens of souls were trapped within the Techo's frail frame, all of them having forgotten nearly every detail of their former life.

The most recent pet to have been trapped was her brother. Edgar. He had made his last wish before losing his sense of self in an effort to protect Joi. If she did not remember him, he figured, she would never come to the house again, never put herself in the same situation he had. But even the lamp could not completely erase the bond between Joi and Edgar. And so she had visited him every day, unknowingly, bringing him tokens of her affection that she was not even consciously aware of.

"Make the choice," the Techo whispered, looking at her beseechingly with his large, wet eyes. "Let us keep living. Return the flame to the lamp. Stop this house from crumbling. Please. We need you, Joi..."

The Lupe wanted nothing more than to sit down and cry. "I don't know what to do," she muttered. "I can't let this continue. I can't willingly save my own life knowing that it will mean the loss of dozens of others in the future. And what sort of life would it be -- drifting through the hallways of this house, without my memories, without my own body? It would be better to die here, crushed under a mountain of glass." As if to punctuate her point, the largest chunk of ceiling yet crashed down behind her.

"But what about me?" pleaded the Techo through dry lips. "What about us? We want to live. Half a life is better than none."

"I don't believe that's true," Joi said haltingly. "I won't do it. I won't make the wish."

"Would you leave Edgar to die?" asked the Techo, pulling at Joi's paw. "He's in here with us. Unless you join us and revive the house, he will be no more."

Joi hesitated.

Suddenly, the Techo released her hand. "Don't, Joi!" he shouted, though it came out as no more than a croak. "Don't let this house continue to hold its sway any longer!"

"Edgar?" Joi whispered.

A grimace crossed the Techo's face. "That one is hard to control. He does not speak for us. Make your wish now, Joi. Will you let Edgar live on? If you love your brother, wish to live."

As the glass house continued to fall around her, Joi turned to the lamp and picked it up. The Techo gasped as she raised it high over her head, preparing to smash it on the ground.

***

A lone Techo wandered through the empty house. He trod lightly, since loud noises hurt his ears. He had few memories, very few. He could not even recall his name. While thinking on this, a word popped into his head, but he immediately dismissed it. There had never been any joy in his life.

He shuffled past the beautiful lamp that he always made sure to visit once a day. Intricately entwined in its pattern of roses, there was a small etching of a Lupe. The Techo stroked the lamp fondly with one finger and continued on his circuit of the house.

At the base of the lamp, there was an inscribed plaque:

Though I chose the fate I shunned,
I still have hope one day to see
The evil of this lamp undone;
To see my brother and I free.

The End

Author: rosabellk
Date: Jan 22nd
"He wished for the hardness of diamond to embed itself into these glass walls -- for the agelessness of glaciers to sustain them intact -- for the might of our planet's very core to keep them from ever splintering...

"Thought he could save the House that way, you see -- make it eternal, a glass fortress to protect the Evershining Lamp forever, so that he could become its master.

"The House... it has not been the same since. Minutes pass and I feel the very foundations shake. The Pteri chose wishes over love. He chose fancy over reality, speculation over what existed, he chose -- I can't bear to speak it -- he chose mere possessions over his own blood."

At this, Joi felt a tremor through her paws, as of some enormous entity quivering in wrath.

The smell of apple cider lay heavy on the air, and Joi's sensitive Lupe nose could finally track the scent: it led to the lavishly carved Pteri forever flying toward unknown shores, entombed in the glass wall. Cracks radiated, white, thin as webs, from his wingtips to his tail. And somewhere under the heady smell of cider, the perfume of roses in high bloom rolled out in slow wafts, like a memory of gardens, and summer days.

"The House took his very essence," rasped the Techo, "that is the last of him... and this is the last of the House. It is over. You must leave this place --"

The floor seemed to lift under Joi's feet and then sagged as though expelling its last, long-suffering breath. The Pteri on the wall shattered into a thousand pieces that exploded outward in a blaze of light as all around him the gorgeous glass roses dispelled in puffs of powdered glass, songs too sweet for singing, suddenly bursting free.

"The roof is caving! It's too late!" shouted the Techo brokenly. He wildly pushed Joi out of the door, his frail frame shaking from exertion and fear as jagged peaks of glass fell like daggers from the ceiling. Joi reached for his arm to drag him along with her, knowing hopelessly that they would never make it outside in time, but --

"No," said the Techo, and he whirled and made his way to where the beautiful lamp stood on a windowsill that would soon be naught but broken glass.

The house was collapsing around their ears, and all Joi could do was watch the Techo advance on his uncertain legs toward the lamp. He reached it at length and held it to his thin chest as though it were his very heart.

"Please," he whispered into the beautiful lampshade as the entire eastern wall crumbled away, "one last wish -- save the girl -- make the glass into snow --"

The Evershining Lamp had taken the Techo's name, his memories, his happiness, and now took the last thing it could take from him -- his very self: the Techo was enveloped in a cocoon of light as soon as his wish had been spoken.

Joi blinked. And he was gone.

***

The ground around her was thick with snow as Joi made her way back to the road. A shadow caught her eye: there in the pink and golden glory of clouds above flew a petite Pteri, warbling a song that was liquid-sweet and mournful and so full of grief that Joi's heart clenched and her eyes filled with tears.

Joi took her last look at the House, now a quiet snowdrift marred only by her departing footprints.

She thought of the Techo, and his caged life, and what he had lost, and what he had finally given her.

And all around her drifted translucent snowflakes, each catching the light of the dying sun like so many Evershining Lamps.

And the snowflakes whispered, "Peace."

The End

Author: larkspurlane
Date: Jan 22nd



Quick Jump

Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6
Week 7Week 8Week 9Week 10Week 11Week 12
Week 13Week 14Week 15Week 16Week 17Week 18
Week 19Week 20Week 21Week 22Week 23Week 24
Week 25Week 26Week 27Week 28Week 29Week 30
Week 31Week 32Week 33Week 34Week 35Week 36
Week 37Week 38Week 39Week 40Week 41Week 42
Week 43Week 44Week 45Week 46Week 47Week 48
Week 49Week 50Week 51Week 52Week 53Week 54
Week 55Week 56Week 57Week 58Week 59Week 60
Week 61Week 62Week 63Week 64Week 65Week 66
Week 67Week 68Week 69Week 70Week 71Week 72
Week 73Week 74Week 75Week 76Week 77Week 78
Week 79Week 80Week 81Week 82Week 83Week 84
Week 85Week 86Week 87Week 88Week 89Week 90
Week 91Week 92Week 93Week 94Week 95Week 96
Week 97Week 98Week 99Week 100Week 101Week 102
Week 103Week 104Week 105Week 106Week 107Week 108
Week 109Week 110Week 111Week 112Week 113Week 114
Week 115Week 116Week 117Week 118Week 119Week 120
Week 121Week 122Week 123Week 124Week 125Week 126
Week 127Week 128Week 129Week 130Week 131Week 132
Week 133Week 134Week 135Week 136Week 137Week 138
Week 139Week 140Week 141Week 142Week 143Week 144
Week 145Week 146Week 147Week 148Week 149Week 150
Week 151Week 152Week 153Week 154Week 155Week 156
Week 157Week 158Week 159Week 160Week 161Week 162
Week 163Week 164Week 165Week 166Week 167Week 168
Week 169Week 170Week 171Week 172Week 173Week 174
Week 175Week 176Week 177Week 178Week 179Week 180
Week 181Week 182Week 183Week 184Week 185Week 186
Week 187Week 188Week 189Week 190Week 191Week 192
Week 193Week 194Week 195Week 196Week 197Week 198
Week 199Week 200Week 201Week 202Week 203Week 204
Week 205Week 206Week 207Week 208Week 209Week 210
Week 211Week 212Week 213Week 214Week 215Week 216
Week 217Week 218Week 219Week 220Week 221Week 222
Week 223Week 224Week 225Week 226Week 227Week 228
Week 229Week 230Week 231Week 232Week 233Week 234
Week 235Week 236Week 237Week 238Week 239Week 240
Week 241Week 242Week 243Week 244Week 245Week 246
Week 247Week 248Week 249Week 250Week 251Week 252
Week 253Week 254Week 255Week 256Week 257Week 258
Week 259Week 260Week 261Week 262Week 263Week 264
Week 265Week 266Week 267Week 268Week 269Week 270
Week 271Week 272Week 273Week 274Week 275Week 276
Week 277Week 278Week 279Week 280Week 281Week 282
Week 283Week 284Week 285Week 286Week 287Week 288
Week 289Week 290Week 291Week 292Week 293Week 294
Week 295Week 296Week 297Week 298Week 299Week 300
Week 301Week 302Week 303Week 304Week 305Week 306
Week 307Week 308Week 309Week 310Week 311Week 312
Week 313Week 314Week 315Week 316Week 317Week 318
Week 319Week 320Week 321Week 322Week 323Week 324
Week 325Week 326Week 327Week 328Week 329Week 330
Week 331Week 332Week 333Week 334Week 335Week 336
Week 337Week 338Week 339Week 340Week 341Week 342
Week 343Week 344Week 345Week 346Week 347Week 348
Week 349Week 350Week 351Week 352Week 353Week 354
Week 355Week 356Week 357Week 358Week 359Week 360
Week 361Week 362Week 363Week 364Week 365Week 366
Week 367Week 368Week 369Week 370Week 371Week 372
Week 373Week 374Week 375Week 376Week 377Week 378
Week 379Week 380Week 381Week 382Week 383Week 384
Week 385Week 386Week 387Week 388Week 389Week 390
Week 391Week 392Week 393Week 394Week 395Week 396
Week 397Week 398Week 399Week 400Week 401Week 402
Week 403Week 404Week 405Week 406Week 407Week 408
Week 409Week 410Week 411Week 412Week 413Week 414
Week 415Week 416Week 417Week 418Week 419Week 420
Week 421Week 422Week 423Week 424Week 425Week 426
Week 427Week 428Week 429Week 430Week 431Week 432
Week 433Week 434Week 435Week 436Week 437Week 438
Week 439Week 440Week 441Week 442Week 443Week 444
Week 445Week 446Week 447Week 448Week 449Week 450
Week 451Week 452Week 453Week 454Week 455Week 456
Week 457Week 458Week 459Week 460Week 461Week 462
Week 463Week 464Week 465Week 466Week 467Week 468
Week 469Week 470Week 471Week 472Week 473Week 474
Week 475Week 476Week 477Week 478Week 479Week 480
Week 481Week 482Week 483Week 484Week 485Week 486
Week 487Week 488Week 489Week 490Week 491Week 492
Week 493Week 494Week 495Week 496Week 497Week 498
Week 499Week 500Week 501Week 502Week 503Week 504
Week 505Week 506Week 507Week 508Week 509Week 510
Week 511Week 512Week 513Week 514Week 515Week 516
Week 517Week 518Week 519Week 520Week 521Week 522
Week 523Week 524Week 525Week 526Week 527Week 528
Week 529Week 530Week 531Week 532Week 533Week 534
Week 535Week 536Week 537Week 538Week 539Week 540
Week 541Week 542Week 543Week 544Week 545Week 546
Week 547Week 548Week 549Week 550Week 551Week 552
Week 553Week 554Week 555Week 556Week 557Week 558
Week 559Week 560Week 561Week 562Week 563Week 564
Week 565Week 566Week 567Week 568Week 569Week 570
Week 571Week 572Week 573Week 574Week 575Week 576
Week 577Week 578Week 579Week 580Week 581Week 582
Week 583Week 584Week 585Week 586Week 587Week 588
Week 589Week 590Week 591Week 592Week 593Week 594
Week 595Week 596Week 597Week 598Week 599Week 600
Week 601Week 602Week 603Week 604Week 605Week 606
Week 607Week 608Week 609Week 610Week 611Week 612
Week 613Week 614Week 615Week 616Week 617Week 618
Week 619Week 620Week 621Week 622Week 623Week 624
Week 625Week 626Week 627Week 628Week 629Week 630
Week 631Week 632Week 633Week 634Week 635Week 636
Week 637Week 638Week 639Week 640Week 641Week 642
Week 643Week 644Week 645Week 646Week 647Week 648
Week 649Week 650Week 651Week 652Week 653Week 654
Week 655Week 656Week 657Week 658Week 659Week 660
Week 661Week 662Week 663Week 664Week 665Week 666
Week 667Week 668Week 669Week 670Week 671Week 672
Week 673Week 674Week 675Week 676Week 677Week 678
Week 679Week 680Week 681Week 682Week 683Week 684
Week 685Week 686Week 687Week 688Week 689Week 690
Week 691Week 692Week 693Week 694Week 695Week 696
Week 697Week 698Week 699Week 700Week 701Week 702
Week 703Week 704Week 705Week 706Week 707Week 708
Week 709Week 710Week 711Week 712Week 713Week 714
Week 715Week 716Week 717Week 718Week 719Week 720
Week 721Week 722Week 723Week 724Week 725Week 726
Week 727Week 728Week 729Week 730Week 731Week 732
Week 733Week 734Week 735Week 736Week 737Week 738
Week 739Week 740Week 741Week 742Week 743Week 744
Week 745Week 746Week 747Week 748Week 749Week 750
Week 751Week 752Week 753Week 754Week 755Week 756
Week 757Week 758Week 759Week 760Week 761Week 762
Week 763Week 764Week 765Week 766Week 767Week 768
Week 769Week 770Week 771Week 772Week 773Week 774
Week 775Week 776Week 777Week 778Week 779Week 780
Week 781Week 782Week 783Week 784Week 785Week 786
Week 787Week 788Week 789Week 790Week 791Week 792
Week 793Week 794Week 795Week 796Week 797Week 798
Week 799Week 800Week 801Week 802Week 803Week 804
Week 805Week 806Week 807Week 808Week 809Week 810
Week 811Week 812Week 813Week 814Week 815Week 816
Week 817Week 818Week 819Week 820Week 821Week 822
Week 823Week 824Week 825Week 826Week 827Week 828
Week 829Week 830Week 831Week 832Week 833Week 834
Week 835Week 836Week 837Week 838Week 839Week 840
Week 841Week 842Week 843Week 844Week 845Week 846
Week 847Week 848Week 849Week 850Week 851Week 852
Week 853Week 854Week 855Week 856Week 857Week 858
Week 859Week 860Week 861Week 862Week 863Week 864
Week 865Week 866Week 867Week 868Week 869Week 870
Week 871Week 872Week 873Week 874Week 875Week 876
Week 877Week 878Week 879Week 880Week 881Week 882
Week 883Week 884Week 885Week 886Week 887Week 888
Week 889Week 890Week 891Week 892Week 893Week 894
Week 895Week 896Week 897Week 898Week 899Week 900
Week 901Week 902Week 903Week 904Week 905Week 906
Week 907Week 908Week 909Week 910Week 911Week 912
Week 913Week 914Week 915Week 916Week 917Week 918
Week 919Week 920Week 921Week 922Week 923Week 924
Week 925Week 926Week 927Week 928Week 929Week 930
Week 931Week 932Week 933Week 934Week 935Week 936
Week 937Week 938Week 939Week 940Week 941Week 942
Week 943Week 944Week 945Week 946Week 947Week 948
Week 949Week 950Week 951Week 952Week 953Week 954
Week 955Week 956Week 957Week 958Week 959Week 960
Week 961     


IMPORTANT - SUBMISSION POLICY! By uploading or otherwise submitting any materials to Neopets, you (and your parents) are automatically granting us permission to use those materials for free in any manner we can think of forever throughout the universe. These materials must be created ONLY by the person submitting them - you cannot submit someone else's work. Also, if you're under age 18, ALWAYS check with your parents before you submit anything to us!