I have seen fate turn. And it happened in the wreckage
of a once grand country.
I was on the battlefield when the last shots
of the war were fired. I saw flickers of Rainbow Guns and Wands of the Light
Faerie flash across the darkness. I heard the battle cries of raging Grarrls,
Ixis, Scorchios and other pets. I felt the rain pour down, soaking the courageous
soldiers to the bone, getting in their eyes, hindering both sides. I saw lightning
streak from the sky, illuminating the faces of those champions. I heard the
thunder roll, booming eternally in the back of night. And in the last stand,
I saw Darigan alone, triumphant on a hilltop. The very image of victory.
But what becomes of valiant Meridell, the land
that fought so hard for its freedom? I talked with King Skarl to find the answer.
I found the noble king in his throne room. He
was a wreck! His hair was mussed and his robes were wrinkled as if they had
been worn for several days. He looked thin and pale, as if he hadn't eaten or
slept much at all. And he was crying, "It's all my fault." He wailed
to himself as my Eyrie and I tiptoed through the door. "The suffering, the poverty,
the war, the loss. I wish I had never stolen that blasted Orb. I just want peace
again. I want my people to be happy again."
"Calm down, sir!" I said in shock. A grown male
Skeith was bawling like a baby! Then again, I don't blame him. I'd be bawling
like a baby too if I were in his position.
"I guess I should have listened to my advisors.
'You're taking the easy way out, my lord.' 'There's no way you can cheat at
the game of kingship, my lord.' But I didn't listen to them and now I have to
pay the price."
"Slow down!" I said, trying to comfort the Skeith.
"Quit crying, please!"
My Eyrie, SapphireCloud777 is incredibly compassionate.
She brought a box of tissues to the king and sat down beside him. "There, there.
It's okay. I'm sure you had great intentions. No one blames you. Now, will you
back up and explain the story to us from the beginning?"
Skarl blew his nose several times. Then, "I
was a young king, I hadn't been on the throne more than a year. Everyday I saw
despair around me. Famine, disease, poverty. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore.
I met with my most trusted advisors and asked them about the issue.
"One advisor, a Lenny named Professor Myst,
told me about a legendary Orb that lay south of his homeland. 'Great power,
it has.' He said to me. 'Power to ward off misery and despair. Power to make
the sick well and to give the starving food. Limitless power. Power that no
one item should ever have.'"
"My other advisors didn't like the Professor's
idea. They thought I was taking the easy way out. But the Professor talked more
and more about this Orb. He had me spellbound. He could have told me that Mortogs
fly and I would have believed him. So, I ignored all of my other advisors and
sent a fellowship of daring knights and soldiers to, er... retrieve the Orb
from Darigan."
"Retrieve?" I asked sceptically.
"Okay, they stole it. They snuck into his castle
and stole it! I'll admit it! I'm nothing but a lowly thief."
"You're not a thief, sir," Sapphire murmured
reassuringly. "You were trying to do what was best for your people. I'm sure
you love your people."
"Aye," Skarl wailed. "More than anything
else in Neopia. But I didn't do what was right for my people. I did what was
right for me. I wanted them to love me, to see me as some sort of daring champion
who rid our land of despair forever! But in the end, I was a crook. I deserve
to be locked in one of my darkest dungeons. Which is probably what Darigan will
do to me, once he comes. He'll take the land of Meridell as his own! He'll take
the Orb as his own. I wish for only one thing. That he would spare my people.
They may flee the land that Darigan has clamed. Perchance they'll find a better
life in some other region of Neopia. One without so many turnips."
"So you'll make yourself Darigan's prisoner,
if only to free your people," I whistled long and slow. "That's brave."
"It'll probably never come true, though. The
monster Darigan will probably force the people to stay in his lands, to work
his fields, and to pay his taxes. As for the young lads and lasses who fought
in the war, well, I wish them luck and the courage to face their fate. However,
I happen to know that Darigan has had his eye on the young lass Lisha. He wants
to imprison her, use her as a bargaining chip. And as for young Jeran, Hubrid
Nox has plans for him. I shudder to think about his fate.
"Meridell is lost. Its people are lost. All
is lost."
Sapphire and I left the desolate king to cry.
As we went home, we walked through fields of burnt crops and destroyed farms.
Cheeses from the Cheeseroller game melted in the hot sun, making the streets
sticky and yellow. Mortogs and Turdles ran rampant. And I even saw the shallow
depression in the ground where the Turmaculus once lay.
And so ends another chapter in the story of
Neopia. But just because one chapter ends, does not mean that another isn't
going to begin.
The End | 
