| Also by luvinnemiousis
Every Time I Hit Bottom...Somebody Throws Me a Shovel
Luvin tensed, "Alkuna...? Are you all right?"
"Kuna hun, what happened to you?" I walked
hesitantly over to her.
Alkuna shook off as though shedding water
from a swim. Abruptly her fur smoothed, she raised her head and she stopped
baring her teeth. She now looked like the classy, if normally grumpy Lupe she
always was.
"Nothin's wrong with me Mum. I just got back
from prowling the rough part of town like I always do. That's how I look when
I go out there. It keeps the thugs from messin' with me." Alkuna tossed her
head, "And funny, but I heard you two talking about the darkest place in Neopia
Central. Well I just came back from there. If there's ever a creepy, largely
unexplored place in the whole lot, I'd say I found the best."
Alkuna sat down, grinning slightly, knowing
she had our full attention. She scratched an itch lazily, enjoying the attention
then looked each of us in the eyes, "The Art Centre," she said simply.
"Of course," I breathed, "Only a fraction
of those catacombs are being used. Think of how many caves are just left in
total darkness and silence."
"Any evidence that the Wraiths or the Shadow
Usul are there?" Luvin asked warily.
"Which would you like? The unnatural hissing
or the shadows that move and creep around when you're not looking?" Alkuna asked
sarcastically.
***
Indeed, the shadows really did seem to move as we made our way into the darker
recesses of the Art Centre. We stepped carefully, armed only with two lanterns
and our weapons.
HIIIIIISSSSSS-SSSSSSS
A Kougra Wraith separated from the shadows
to block our path. "Sssstand away mortalsssss. You are in way over your head..."
Luvin took a deep breath and growled, "We've
come to send a message to the Shadow Usul; the time has come. We will not allow
her to continue."
The Kougra Wraith turned away slowly and melted
into the shadows again, "I will go deliver the messssssage..."
Silence descended. Luvin and I traded looks
and then made our way deeper. The walls of the tunnel vibrated briefly and we
ducked as dirt and pebbles rained down on us from the ceiling above.
"I don't think she's happy about the message,"
I muttered.
Slowly the slick tunnel walls changed and
gave way to shiny black rock. If I hadn't known better I would have said we
were in a cave of obsidian; which meant that there was an extinct volcano under
Neopia central. A closer look reassured me that it was not volcanic but I couldn't
tell much more than that. It was almost as if the shadows had been turned solid.
Very creepy. The narrow walls opened out to a massive cavern.
What we saw next was enough to drop my stomach
down to somewhere around the pads of my feet. The Wraiths were everywhere. And
there was no counting them. Row upon row of "lightless" Neopet heads
appeared above their formless bodies. Black eyes oriented on us as we stepped
into the cavern. A slow soft hissing rose to that of a loud whisper and continued
as we made our way down an aisle that cleared for the two of us.
And there she was, on a raised dais at the
other end of the cavern; the Shadow Usul herself. She was so solid looking that
it was a relief to see a normal form of Neopet after so many floating pools
of darkness.
Glowing golden eyes glared at us from pitch-black
fur and a wild looking purple ruff of hair ringed her neck.
"So, this is the duo who are supposed to be
the Guardian's of Neopia? Not much to look at." Her voice was completely different
from the hissing voices of the other Wraiths. It was flat, emotionless...and
hungry.
Luvin's ears plastered themselves to the sides
of her Kougra skull and she growled deep in her throat.
The Shadow Usul flicked a glance at Luvin
and twitched her tail in amusement, "You think you can threaten me kitty cat?"
She slunk slowly down the steps, her eyes never leaving Luvin's. "Tell me, can
you truly think that a little light will stop all of us? You may stop a dozen,
but even a flame can be overcome by the darkness if there is enough of it."
"Darkness is not a solid entity Shadow Usul,"
I sail coolly, "Thus darkness alone cannot quench light. It merely makes the
light seem brighter."
I could swear the Shadow Usul smiled, though
there was no real way to tell on that black on black face. She turned to me
and slowly circled me, eyeing me up and down, "Can't it?" she purred, and rubbed
against me like a cat.
I shuddered. That creature was COLD. There
was nothing solid in that form, just darkness and a burning cold. She flicked
her bushy tail across my face, making it ache and forcing me to retreat from
the cold.
Then she was away and rubbed against Luvin,
who's eyes widened and she too shuddered at the feel of the Usul's icy touch.
"How can you control the Wraiths...or do you..?"
Luvin asked, her paw sliding to her Million-degree sword warily.
"Ahhh. How cliché. The 'hero' tries
to get the 'villain' to unmask her whole plot." The Usual slid away from Luvin,
her tail flicking in an almost cheery manner.
"Well, for the sake of conversation I shall
answer your question." She paced among and through the other Wraiths, and they
seemed to gaze at her with an almost worshipful awe. "I am disappointed in you
though. Haven't you figured it out? I AM a Wraith. But not just any... no. I
am the first of them all. And the only one who can form my body to resemble
what I looked like in life."
"What made you all come back into active status,
as it were?" I asked, remembering what von Roo had said.
"I am the strongest of the Wraiths, so I never
went inactive. But I became concerned when the faeries came to Neopia to tame
the lands and the pets for the arrival of humans. The Light and Fire Faeries
obliterated half of my people before I could lead them into the safety of the
Catacombs. I studied you humans and was in for a surprise...you're all weak."
"So that's why you started turning your people
loose," I said softly, "You think we can't stop you. And with so many Ghosts
and other undead to feed upon you think it's paradise."
***
Luvin slowly and quietly backed her way to the wall while the Shadow Usual
and I had our conversation and climbed above us all until she was as close to
the roof of the cavern as possible. I hoped she knew what she was doing or we
were all in trouble. It was true; with so many Wraiths about, there was no way
that I could see for the two of us to make it out alive.
Luvin narrowed her eyes and touched the wall,
invoking her Earth powers. A tremor shook the walls slightly as an earthquake
passed through the solid stone...and found the open air of the tunnels at each
end of the cavern. Tension built instantly, and slowly the ground began to crackle
and creak. It would take a while, but soon the energy would collapse the tunnels
leading to this cavern.
More time was needed. Luvin crept back down
to the floor and touched my shoulder, whispering softly, "When you hear the
rock start to collapse, teleport us out of here and fast..."
***
I nodded ever so slightly and Luvin sat next to me, her narrowed eyes taking
in the arrogant swagger that the Shadow Usul had built herself up to.
"Oh a paradissse indeed little Eyrie," she
said, her voice starting to hiss softly with emotion.
I scowled. I was short as a human, and only
a few...very few... were allowed to call me "little." I saw Luvin's eyes widen
slightly even as my own eyes narrowed and took on a dangerous gleam.
A powerful rumble was building quickly and
a fine dust began to sift into the cavern as the pressure started to pulverise
the rock around us. Just a little more time...
My wings exploded open and I lunged into the
air, hovering high above the startled Wraiths and the Shadow Usul. I shrieked
an Eyrie cry and splayed my sharp steel covered talons, "Well come on then!
If we are so weak and small then take me if you can! Face me Usul, if you have
the power!"
"Careful Alkuna," Luvin breathed, her words
impossible to hear over the rising rumble of stone, "I'm supposed to be the
one with the temper..."
The other Wraiths shifted restlessly as small
rocks began to take the place of the powdered dust that was falling on us now.
But the Shadow Usul was paying too much attention to my display. She gave a
hissing laugh and leaped into the air at me.
My gauntlets darkened to pure black as I met
shadow with darkness. And suddenly my grasping paws had her! She was solid when
faced with more darkness. I gave a caw like a Crokabek and the steel claws dug
into the shocked Usul's hide and began draining her power. She screamed in pain
and surprise and swiped at my face. I hurled her from me and plunged to the
floor, seizing Luvin in my powerful paws and hauling her off the floor as I
pulled out of my dive.
The Usul shrieked in rage as the rumble escalated
to a roar and the tunnels collapsed, bringing down boulders at either end. "Destroy
them!"
The Wraiths hissed as one and rose in a mass
of freezing darkness.
"Teleport!" I shrieked above the roar and
we disappeared even as our flanks burned with the touch of the first ice cold
Wraith.
To be continued... | 
