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Believe in Me
I eventually landed in the Haunted Woods. I don't know
why I picked that place. I guess I just wanted to be alone. No one would disturb
me here. I settled myself at the base of one of the trees and wrapped my wings
around me. I had given up on the tears, there was no stopping them. I just buried
my face in the feathery softness of my wings and sobbed. I cried until it hurt,
until my breath was strained and my body ached. I clenched my hands and gasped
with sudden pain as my claws came out and pierced the skin. I reluctantly folded
my wings and healed my hands, the tears gone now for I had none left. My heart
seemed to ache and Fyora's words kept circling through my mind.
"She's right," I said out loud, "I can't
do anything right. Why am I the Essence? A miserable little girl that can't
even care for her own pets. I don't deserve them."
"Oh, a pity party. May I join?" a familiar
voice asked from the shadows.
I tensed as Count Von Roo stepped out
to stand just behind my shoulder.
"Go away," I snarled.
"Not yet. This pet then, he is yours?"
"My Aldrai. Yes."
"So Aldrai has allowed the light magic
to overtake him. And this is your fault?"
"Yes."
"Of course. Because everything in the
vorld is your fault. It's because you can't take care of things, because you
are too irresponsible, correct?"
"Stop mocking me!"
"I am not mocking you. I am merely repeating
vhat you said earlier."
"Stop it!"
"You honestly believe there is nothing
you can do? Aldrai must ve stopped. I do not know vhat he vill do but I am fearful.
Vampires are not looked kindly upon by anyone."
"Hurrah for you. Stop him yourself then."
"Because you can't?"
"Because I can't and won't."
He moved then, with lightning quickness.
Before I knew what has happening I felt his paws tangle in my hair and jerk
my head back to expose my neck. His fangs brushed my skin. But I moved just
as fast. I seized his cloak and threw. He smashed into a tree, shattering the
wood, and fell heavily to the ground. He then picked himself up, brushed himself
off, and surveyed the smashed tree.
"Very good. You see, you vere able to
protect yourself and not harm me."
"But you're a vampire."
"And Aldrai is more than vhat he vas."
"Fyora said that the only way to stop
him was to kill him or strip him of his power. And I won't do that."
The Blumaroo snorted.
"Fyora overreacts. There are other vays.
Find one."
"What would you suggest?"
"I do not know. He is not my pet. But
vhatever you do, do it fast. For ve creatures of the night are vorried and vill
move to defend ourselves. I believe you, the Essence of Neopia, vill be able
to do something. Not all share my views."
"Great. So the only person who believes
in me is a vampire Blumaroo," I said sarcastically.
He smiled softly, his fangs glinting in
the faint moonlight.
"Is that such a bad thing? A creature
that has seen more darkness and evil in his very long life than any mortal believes
you are strong enough to overcome this new threat? No, I vouldn't consider that
a bad thing if I vere you…"
He trailed off, a strange and worried
look appearing in his eyes. Then he gasped and staggered back. I leapt to my
feet.
"Roo! What's wrong?"
"Ahh… he… the fabric of-"
And then he collapsed. I rushed over to
his side and checked his pulse. I found none.
"No no no no no…" I whispered.
A nagging thought finally broke free of
my subconscious. He was vampire. Vampires don't have pulses. They're undead.
Feeling like an idiot I placed one hand
on his forehead. The fur was cold beneath my hand but I now realized that was
normal. The ties binding Von Roo to whatever life he had were still intact.
And something else was there too. Light magic.
I studied it closer. Aldrai's doing. Von
Roo wasn't hurt, just… in an unnatural sleep. Just the same as the one Jhudora
was in. What was going on? Aldrai wasn't anywhere nearby.
First things first. I could rationalize
all I wanted: Von Roo was evil, he was a vampire, he had hurt others many many
times, etc. But the nagging little voice in my conscience would not let me just
leave him here or anywhere else the sun might possibly reach. Besides, he said
he believed in me.
I flew him to Sabreur's house. My basement
had a window in it so I couldn't leave him there. Sabreur met me at the door,
a strained look on his face.
"I'm all right, Von Roo here bullied some
sense into me," I said to stall any questions.
I carried the vampire into his living
room and towards the basement.
"Kiddo? What?"
"Aldrai is doing something to all evil.
I can't leave him where sun will get him."
"But my house?!"
His eyes were slightly bugged and frantic.
"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure he'll
appreciate the fact that I didn't leave him to burn enough to not hurt you when
he wakes up."
"But - I - no… Would he mind titanium
reinforced doors welded shut?"
"I thought you already had that!" I called
up the stairs as I found a corner of the basement not already taken up with
stuff.
"Not the welded shut part!"
"Whatever," I replied irritably and lay
the vampire down.
As an afterthought I found a blanket and
lay him on that. No sense on leaving the poor thing on the concrete.
"He's gonna hate us for this," Sabreur
said gloomily.
"Maybe. Maybe not. Before he collapsed
he said something about the fabric. I'm not sure what that meant though. I think
we need to find Aldrai fast though."
"Your pets are at your house. Shall we
go have another meeting then? This time one that won't be interrupted by faeries
with the temper of a hornet?"
"Sounds good to me. You drive?"
"Certainly."
Darkness in All
It seemed everyone who looked at me did so with pity in their eyes. I had
to reassure everyone at least three times that I was fine, that Fyora hadn't
upset me too badly. And that we were going to do something about Aldrai that
would not hurt him. Once the preliminaries were over Lady MoonFall broke the
bad news.
"Terraile collapsed. She's in her room
right now and we can't wake her. She seems otherwise alright though."
I nodded grimly and walked over to her
room. Sure enough, she was laying on the bed in a coma, the same as Von Roo.
Aldrai's magic was evident within her.
I returned to the living room.
"He seems to be doing something to everyone
that's associated with darkness…" I said slowly, "Un-eairkagh. " Although it
was nearly one in the morning, the newspaper was already being delivered.
"No cause as to these comas has been located
as of yet," the reporter said, "The collapses seem to occur without warning
and at random. Police say they are attempting to contact the faeries but Faerieland
has shut itself to outsiders."
I nodded at my Eyrie and he put the newspaper
down.
"At random. Hah," I said bitterly, "Betcha
ten to one every pet and person in there has some sort of criminal record or
trace of dark magic."
"That's why Terraile collapsed, isn't
it?" Un-eairkagh asked.
"Yep. He's doing something to anyone with
a trace of evil in them. But the only problem is: no one is without evil. Everybody
has that little urge to do something wrong. And Aldrai is blinded to that fact.
So blinded he can't even see the darkness in himself."
"Too much magic," Netsuko said softly,
"You sure you can't cut him off from it?"
"Not without severing the connection completely.
And I'm afraid the shock will destroy him or burn the talent for magic right
out of him."
"I think we need to find him first," Padiglione
said, "Since no one seems to know where he is."
I nodded in agreement.
"So far no one has been hurt. We've been
running on no sleep for a long time. We can't keep this up forever. I vote we
get what rest we can then meet back here at eight to discuss our next course
of action."
No one protested and we slowly broke up
the meeting to head to our respective homes. I wished Melody and Sakuko goodnight
before facing my brother.
"And what if Von Roo wakes up hungry?"
he demanded.
"Oh, just go home," I said with a roll
of my eyes.
I shoved him out the front door and locked
it behind him. Give him a taste of his own medicine for once. I then slowly
climbed up the stairs to my own room. Un-eairkagh called after me as I was halfway
up.
"I think you're the best owner in the
world. I don't care what Fyora says."
"Thanks," I replied wearily.
Sleep came hard that night. The thoughts
just wouldn't leave me alone. How had this all happened? Was it really my fault
or was Von Roo right? Was I just blaming myself out of self-pity? Could Aldrai
be saved? How had he lost control, anyway? Would I ever get my pet back? Would
Terraile and the rest wake up?
Like vicious winged birds the questions
chased me through the night and into my sleep. My dreams were haunted by a Darigan
Zafara with white eyes. Fyora stood nearby, reciting over and over the words
"You've failed. Failure. Child. You've failed." Von Roo made an appearance.
"The fabric. Look what he's doing to the
fabric. I believe in you."
Their voices melded together.
"I believe in you failure. Look at the
fabric. Child of a dragon. Save them, can't you? Can you? Will you? Won't you?
Why?"
Then Aldrai again, spotted this time.
"She's nice," he said dreamily and I saw
the hazy outline of Shi'kly, the guardian of the light Elemental Spear shard.
"She's nice," he repeated, "Don't you
understand? Everyone should be nice. That's Neopia. Everyone will be nice. They'll
all understand. The price to pay. I don't care about my wings. You shouldn't
either. Just understand for me."
His voice merged with the others.
"Failure. Child. Will you? Fabric. Understand
me. Can you? Price. Failure. Wings. Essence. Failure. Failure failure failure…
Kiddo… Kiddo… KIDDO!"
I was jerked awake by the last shout.
I blinked and blearily took stock of my surroundings. The sun was rising, the
clock showed almost eight, and MoonFall stood by my bed.
"You were sleeping," she said reproachfully,
"I had to wake you. Sorry, but I've got some bad news."
"The fact that it's morning is bad news
enough," I grumbled.
"Well, this is worse. Get dressed and
I'll tell you."
I sighed and reluctantly found something
out of my closet to wear. Nothing like being woken up to bad news. I felt like
I hadn't slept at all. The dream still clung to my mind like wisps of a noxious
fog. I shook my head to banish them and headed downstairs to hear MoonFall's
bad news.
"Okay, tell me," I said as I entered the
kitchen where she was cooking breakfast.
She glanced guiltily at the floor and
dropped the egg she was holding.
"I watched the news this morning," she
said, "Apparently Aldrai has found himself a base. He's at the top of some ruined
castle in Meridell. No one can get near it due to the extraordinary amount of
magic gathered there. Plus he's shielding it somehow."
"Do they know who it is that's doing all
this?" I asked fearfully.
"No. No names yet. The Faeries are being
rather close-mouthed about all this, thank goodness."
"Alright. We'll see if we can get to him
after we gather."
"That's not all. Apparently the spell
Aldrai has launched is getting worse. More pets keep collapsing. That Mynci
that likes to break windows down the street fell into a coma sometime last night.
I fear that soon only people like Melody will be unaffected."
"But even Melody has some wrong in her,"
I replied, "Everyone will be hit by this eventually."
"I know. That's why we've got to figure
out what's going on and stop it. Oh, one last thing."
"More bad news? I don't think I can handle
much more…"
"Yes, I know. And this is the worst."
I groaned.
"Alright, let's get it over with."
She looked at me steadily.
"Un-eairkagh is gone. He left sometime
in the night. I think he's gone to confront Aldrai. Alone."
To be continued...
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