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Light shimmered through the windows. A ray strayed from
the rest and fell upon Jade's face. She stirred slightly and sat up, rubbing her
eyes as she did so. She yawned and stood up.
Knock, knock, knock
Jade craned her neck so that she could just
barely see the door and called, "Come in." The door opened and a Shoyru guard
stood to attention.
"The Queen desires to see you Jade!" he shouted
and banged his spear against the stone floor.
Jade turned to him and bowed, "Lead the way..."
The guard turned on his heel and Jade followed
behind silently. They walked from the room Jade had stayed in down to the entrance
hall. Then the guard quickened his pace and went straight ahead. Jade scampered
behind him.
As they went, she saw numerous portraits and
pictures in gold frames. Below each was the name of a Faerie. Jade guessed they
were the past rulers of Faerieland. She stopped for a moment and read some of
the names embossed below the portraits. She gently read names under her breath,
such as Fiona, Fellian, Fian and many more.
She spent many minutes staring at the pictures
of some of the fairest Faeries from the past. She was nearing the end of the
long line of portraits when she came across a picture that caught her eye.
"Who is this picture of?" she asked and stared
at it. It showed a picture of a teal coloured Shoyru with an arm wrapped around
the fairest Faerie of all. The Faerie had violet hair cascading down her back
and shoulders. She wore a soft blue dress and held a bundle of flowers. The
teal Shoyru wore a white tunic and her eyes sparkled a deep jade-green.
The guard turned around and walked over to her,
"That was a picture of Queen Latine of Sakhmet and Queen Fellian of Faerie Land.
That picture was taken after the Great War. Sakhmet was failing and they had
lost thousands of warriors when the Faeries came to aid them. With the thousands
of Faeries that came they defeated the Shadow Army."
Jade nodded and turned to the large oaken doors,
"I can take it from here..." He nodded and strode off to take up his position
on the wall. Jade raised a paw to open one of the doors when both swung open,
revealing a throne room at least twice the size of the entrance hall. To sets
of short stairs led down to a floor for dancing. The railings of the stairs
were made of oak and the room itself of white marble. In a semi-circle, an oaken
banister connected to the banisters of the stairs to prevent falling over the
edge. A short wall connected the bottom floor and the small platform.
Jade strode forward and looked over the banister
before her. Upon the floor was a huge sun and moon of gold. A crescent moon
was inside the sun and upon the left hand (facing Jade as was) triangles represented
the rays of the sun. Beyond this a stone staircase lead up to a marble throne.
Behind the throne was a teal and white banner. There was a white border around
a teal background. Upon the banner in the center showed a Shoyru with Faerie
wings upon a Uni. This Uni had Faerie wings instead of feathery wings. The center
of the banner was teal and the rest white.
Jade stepped down the stairs and noticed a door
hidden away in the right corner. She ignored this door and put a foot paw upon
the straight flight of stairs up to the white marble throne. Paw after paw she
ascended the stairs and came to the top. She stopped and stared gaping at the
banner, "Wow, this is amazing."
"Ah so you found the marvelous banner of Faerie
Queen Fellian, made just after the Great War," came a voice behind Jade. The
Shoyru whipped around to see the Faerie Queen.
"Hello Fae-" she began but was hushed by a wave
from the Faerie Queen.
"Call me Fyora," she said. Jade nodded.
"The Great War... this war was of the time of
Fellian and Latine, both great in power. Twas started when Felandor found out
about the amulet and went after it..." Fyora said and stared at the banner.
"Yes, but so many questions to ask, yet so little
time to have them all answered... where to start... ah yes I know!" Jade mused,
"Who was Felandor? I have never heard of him, though I've read numerous history
books."
"That is because Felandor had a different name,
feared greatly throughout the land. Wherever he went he would bring fear and
destruction. After he gathered thousands of evil and dark creatures he created
a refuge deep inside the Haunted Woods. It grew and became a place of evil.
After his kingdom had been established he adopted the name 'The Shadow Lord'.
Over the years his kingdom became unstoppable and soon he unleashed an attack
upon the neighboring land, The Lost Desert. Because Sakhmet Place was big and
a better kingdom than his own The Shadow Lord made a large attack on it. He
sent more than a thousand of his large army to Sakhmet. Palace and seized it.
Fortunately Sakhmet had numerous creatures and killed all of Felandor's troops.
Then the Shadow Lord became very angry and sent his full force against Sakhmet,
he was leading at the head atop a midnight black Uni. Then the Great War took
place and thus Sakhmet won using the amulets that were torn in half. Of course
only the descendants of Latine can read it, but Neopets and Faeries alike have
lost track of where they have gone. Now, enough on the history of the Great
War. What brings you here to Faerie Land?"
Jade was brought back to reality at the sudden
question. She shook her head, pushing back the thoughts of the war for the time
being. She retold her journey, beginning with her past ordeal, searching to
find her sister and friend, finishing with the arrival to Faerie Land, "I come
here to find potions for the coming onslaught on Sakhmet and maybe a sword or
magical weapon..."
Fyora nodded respectfully, "Then you have come
to the right place. There is no finer smithy in all of Neopia than that of the
one in Faerieland. Please come with me to the Hidden Tower."
Jade stood up. She had been sitting upon the
stairs beside Fyora as they spoke. Silently Fyora walked up to the banner and
put her hand on the Shoyru upon the Pegasus and pressed. The sound of stone
grinding against stone echoed throughout the throne room. Jade looked around
wildly and saw the left corner, where what had appeared to be a solid wall was
now a large door swinging open slowly.
Fyora walked down the stairs with Jade in her
wake. Silently she slipped in the door and Jade did likewise. Just after she
had stepped in, the door slammed shut behind her. Jade looked, but noticed Fyora
was quite a ways ahead and dropped to all fours to catch up. They were in a
long, gray-stoned hall. Torches lined the walls, a few feet of space between
each. The floor had large boulders and rubble scattered everywhere. She looked
all around and then up at Fyora, "Why is this tunnel strewn with rubble?" she
asked.
"Once long ago this palace was a temple. It
looked much different. It had a sandy hue and this was a tunnel that led to
a beautiful tower of the same colour. But the Shadow Army had other plans and
destroyed it the temple and most of the tower. The Faeries removed the rubble
but they never thought to look in this tunnel, where parts of it collapsed.
Over time the damaged ground above re-grew and by that time the incident with
the Shadow Army had been forgotten."
They continued trekking the underground passage
for what seemed like hours. Jade's paws were sore but she continued to follow
the Faerie Queen. Eventually they came to a dead end.
"Where to now?" Jade asked. She wondered if
there was an alternate route, as there had been many dead ends with alternative
routes. Fyora shook her head and pressed her hand against a gold block, standing
out from the rest of the dim gray stone blocks. A door slowly opened before
them, revealing a set of white marble stairs.
Fyora walked through and up the stairs and Jade
followed as swiftly as her legs would carry her. She came to the landing of
the spiral staircase and was amazed at what she saw. Before her were shelves
upon shelves of Battledome weapons. There were even dolls. She saw the ice dice,
jade scorchstones, swords of the Air Faerie and much more. Before all this there
was a counter where Neopets could purchase these expensive items.
"Come forward Jade and take a look..." the Faerie
Queen said and Jade started to walk forward. "Oh please close the door behind
you." She did as she was bid and walked to the counter.
She stood, stared and studied each and every
weapon when she saw a dagger-like blade, "What's that?"
"That's the fire and ice blade. Do you want
to see it?" Jade nodded and Fyora took the sword down from the wall and unsheathed
it. As soon as it was taken from its sheath the Fire and Ice Blade unleashed
its magic. One half was on fire while the other half was frozen solid. Jade
gaped at it.
"How much!?"
"It's two million Neopoints."
Ger gaze became unhappy as she stared at the
weapon, "I can't afford that..."
"Maybe you could come back after the war..."
Fyora said and sheathed the blade and hung it on the wall. Jade sighed and saw
a door.
"You can exit out that door." Jade nodded and
opened the door. She looked down and then spread her wings and flew from the
semi-transparent tower, into the afternoon sky.
To be continued...
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