The Newcomer

by Muas

"What is it, Dijin?" asked Johnra, inching closer to me as he stared at the thing.

"I don't know," I replied, just as breathless as he.

We studied it, thinking it was probably very important.

"It's longer than me," said Johnra, "and it's a lot more pinkish-tannish than anything I've seen before."

"It's got eyes, a nose, and a mouth," I added, "but it only has hair on top of its head. And it's wearing cloth."

"Maybe we'd better go get one of the grown-ups."

"Oh, Johnra, you're always so cautious. Let's try an' wake it up!"

"Wake it up? What if it's dangerous?" "This thing? Come on! We can always fly away!"

"Well, if you do try to wake it up, I'm not going to be anywhere around here." He started to back up, and hid behind a tree.

I sighed - Johnra had absolutely no sense of adventure.

I flitted down to the ground so I could look in the thing's face, and slowly reached out one of my fingers to touch it.

I poked it and its eyes flew open! "What the-" it yelled, jumping up and staring at me. From behind, Johnra gave a little squeak of terror.

From way down on the ground, it looked very, very big - bigger than we'd estimated from when it was on the ground!

It was about two times as big as a Grarrl and its hands were as big as my head!

Quickly I flew up so I was face-to-face with the new animal. "Who and what are you?" I demanded in as loud a voice as I could muster.

"What's that?" it asked.

"WHO AND WHAT ARE YOU?"

"I'd like to know the same thing about you! Where am I?"

"You're in Lupe Valley, Neopia."

"Neopia? What is that?"

I stared at it. "How can you not know what Neopia is?"

"Easily. What is it?"

"The place all of us have lived our entire lives! Except you, apparently. I've given you answers, now you give me some!"

"All right. My name is Sam - it's short for Samantha - and I'm from Earth. I must be hallucinating or something."

"You're not hallucinating, but maybe we are. I never heard of anyplace called Earth before." It ignored me, staring. "What are you, some kind of bat?"

"I'm a Korbat, and my name's Dijin. Hey, Johnra! Come out here! This thing seems okay."

"I'm not a thing! I'm a human, and I need to sit down."

"There's a rock right over there."

As I went to coax Johnra out from behind the tree, the "human" sat down on the rock I'd pointed out. She held her head, moaning, probably having a hard time grasping all of this. I was beginning to be worried. Normally if some Lenny or Jubjub had come claiming to be from Earth and not knowing what Neopia was, we'd all think it was crazy and send it to the Hospital, but we'd never seen anything like this before!

"It says it's a human," I said, "whatever that is, and its name is Sam. It doesn't know what Neopia is or what we are. Maybe we should go tell some grownups."

"But we can't leave it out here alone!"

"We'll take it with us, then. Come on!"

Johnra steeled himself and emerged from behind the tree, but didn't get the reaction he was expecting.

Sam jumped up higher than I'd ever seen anything do before, with a loud scream that would make any Jubjub envious. "What is that?"

Unfortunately, the scream had sent Johnra back behind the tree.

"Thanks a lot," I said sarcastically as I went to get him out again.

"Sorry," she said, "what was that, a dragon?"

"A Scorchio."

"Scorchio..."

"Yeah, a Scorchio." I walked behind the tree. "Oh, come on, Johnra. It's not going to hurt you. It's scared."

"That scream!" he muttered. "I can't believe anything can scream like that."

"Oh, come on. I don't think it's used to seeing things like you. Or me."

After some more convincing, he finally came out again. "Hi," he said timidly, and the human didn't scream.

"I don't know where I am," Sam said in a soft voice, "but I'd appreciate help in getting back to Earth."

"Earth?" asked Johnra. "What, is that another town or something?"

"No - a whole 'nother planet."

"Another planet?" He repeated. "Wow! A real live alien right here!"

"Hey, come on, stop gawking," I said to Johnra, and then said to Sam, "come with us, and we'll tell the grown-ups. Maybe they know how to get you home."

"Okay," she said.

We started walking in the direction of town, and as we walked, Johnra asked, "Don't you know how you got here?"

"No, all I remember is going to sleep and then waking up right here!"

"Nothing else? Darn."

"Old Nechron might be able to use the Remember spell on you, and then you can remember what happened even if you were asleep," I said. "Old Nechron's a Nimmo who uses all sorts of spells to heal people and help them."

"A Nimmo? What's that?"

"They have triangle-shaped faces and long arms and legs and really fast tongues," I explained.

"Like a frog!"

I looked at Johnra, but he obviously didn't understand the word either. "Yeah, I guess," I said, playing along.

We reached the outskirts of the small village we all lived in. It was called Yanno, after its founder, a Lenny. There were only about 100 Neopians living in the village, but they were of every size, shape, color, and species. We had Nimmos, Scorchios, Jubjubs, Grarrls, Skeiths, Korbats (my family was the only one of Korbats around, so we got some recognition), Lennies, and Wockys, but none of us ever fought.

Most people lived in the middle of town now and worked in stores and other desk jobs, but I remembered when I even smaller than I was now and a lot of people worked on farms to make a living. My dad, Tabrok, said farm-living was much better because you could support yourself, but you made more money working in town, so that's why we sold our farm when I was just a few months old and moved to the center of Yanno.

To get into town you passed two farms, the Yennos' (Lennys) and the Ornins' (Wockys). They both had huge families and I was a good friend of Halli Yenno and Nikk Ornin.

Luckily, no one was outside either farm right now, so Sam wasn't spotted. I could just imagine the ruckus that would cause if one of the little Yennos or Ornins saw this monstrous being and alerted the whole town to it! By the time we get to Old Nechron's, people would be saying that little Srin Ornin saw 5-Grarrl-high Nimmo-like animal with glowing red and orange eyes and fangs that stuck down to its chin!

"What will we do if someone asks what it is?" asked Johnra.

"Umm, I don't know..."

"Any way we could sneak around the buildings where no one ever goes and get to Old Nechron's?" suggested Sam.

"Hey, good idea!" I said. "Let's go!"

I led the way around to the back of the first building, the Fire-Prevention House. From there we could run in the back alleyways until we got to the Magic Shop; then we'd have to dart across the Square and into Old Nechron's tent.

All went well until the dash across the Square. We told Sam to hunker down and run on her hands and knees, hoping we could cover her if we ran on either side, but a Jubjub spotted her and yelled, "HEY! What's that?"

"Keep going!" I hissed to both Johnra and Sam, and they did, but a Wocky named Blurn and a Grarrl named Klarra blocked our way.

We skidded to a halt in front of them and they stared at us angrily. "What is that?" asked Blurn in a deep voice.

"That," replied Sam angrily, "Is a human, thank you very much. From what these two - who've been nice enough to help me - say, you've never seen a human before. So I don't blame you for being frightened or surprised or whatever you are, but I want to find my way back home and I'm not going to let a dog and a miniature T-Rex stop me."

They looked angry at her last comment, but shrugged and said, "If you want help you can go on through. But if you cause any trouble..."

"Oh, I won't. Thank you," she said, straightening up and walking with supreme dignity into the tent.

We both followed, glaring a little at Blurn and Klarra, who looked embarrassed.

The tent was small and dark, filled with glowing objects and vials. Old Nechron sat in the middle, on a velvet red pillow, wearing a piece of glowing yellow and black cloth around his shoulders.

"Hello, Johnra, Dijin," said Nechron, smiling, "and who's this?"

"My name's Sam and I'm a human," Sam said. "Johnra and Dijin tell me you can help me remember how I got here and maybe help me get home."

Nechron looked very nervous all of a sudden. "Both of you know that the only spell that can help a person recall what has happened, Remember, is one of the most dangerous I've ever tried. It's only been successful two out of the ten times I've done it."

"Oh...I didn't know," said Johnra.

"I didn't, either," I said. "I'm sorry, Sam."

"It's all right," Sam said. "But if it will help me get home, I still want to try it."

"You do? But it's dangerous!" Johnra said.

"What's the danger?" she asked Nechron.

"Your mind could theoretically become closed forever, and you could lose all your memories. That's worst-case. Best-case is that you simply can't remember what happened." Sam sighed, and said, "You're absolutely sure I couldn't get home unless I figured out how I got here in the first place?"

"Yes - we don't have space travel."

"Oh."

"If you'd like to think it over for the night," I suggested, "My mom owns a hotel that you could stay in."

"That would be nice, thank you," she said gratefully. Then she turned to Nechron. "I'll think it over and tell you my decision in the morning."

"Take all the time you need," he said, "although remember that often it becomes harder to remember as time goes on. This was the problem with one of those others I tried to use the spell on; no problems, except that it had simply been too long."

"Yes, thank you."

She walked outside, and we followed her. A Jubjub named Pallit, one of my friends, ran up and asked, "What's going on?" Soon, a lot of others had joined him. They all demanded to know just who this newcomer was.

"HEY, be quiet!" I shouted. "This is a human named Sam, who comes from a planet called Earth. Right now we're trying to figure out how to get her home, and she has a lot on her mind right now, so I'd be quiet!"

As soon as I said 'figure out how to get her home', though, everyone started clamoring to make their suggestions heard. "We can build you a spaceship!"

"Tried any spells yet?"

"Johnra could fly you home!"

"QUIET! Did you hear a word I said? You can all help as soon as we figure out what we're going to do, okay?" That made them all shut up, and I led Sam to my mom's hotel (Diamond-Ruby Living). Inside, Mom quickly agreed to let Sam stay for the night, and for free, since circumstances were obviously unusual.

I went back to my house, deciding to leave Sam alone so she could think it out herself. A Lenny family, the Beakrins, lived right next door to me, so the instant their four kids (Balli, Calli, Ralli and Galli) saw me come home they bolted out the door and pounded me with questions about the "new one".

I pushed them all inside my house so I could try to talk to them rationally, wondering if this was what I'd have to put up with until Sam left...if she stayed, would I have to live with this the rest of my life?!

"What'sit?" Balli asked, and then everyone started asking so many questions I couldn't keep them all straight.

"A human."

"Wazzathat?"

"Another species of animal."

"Wheresitfrom?"

"She's from Earth."

"Wazzat?"

"Earth. A planet."

"Whatsername?"

"Sam."

"Whatkindanameisthat?"

"A human name, I guess."

"Shegonnagostay?"

"Huh?"

"Isshegonnagoorstay?"

"Not sure yet."

"Where'sshenow?"

"Diamond-Ruby Living Hotel, mulling it over."

"OhokaythanksDij,seeya!"

And they were gone.

I sighed and went to get a Red Apple. I sat, muching on it and thinking. How much impact would our new visitor have? How had she gotten here?

Suddenly the door flew open and I heard pounding footsteps coming through the living room. "Who's there?" I called warily.

"It's me, Johnra," shouted my friend. "Sam didn't have to take all night after all. She's decided, but she won't tell me what. Come on!"

I jumped up, leaving the apple on the table, and joined Johnra, who'd already started running to the hotel. In thirty seconds flat we were opening the room's door and yelling, "Sam?"

"Hi," she said. She was seated on the bean bag that was the bed for this room, head in hands; it was obvious she'd really been thinking these past few hours (or minutes!). "Hi, what'd you decide?" I asked.

"I decided to try the potion," she said. Hearing our gasps, she quickly added, "Of course, Neopia seems like a great place to live. It's just, you know, Earth is my home, and I don't want to give that up. I'd feel like a failure if I didn't try every option available to me to get home." Of course, I understood Sam's position. After all, if I'd been the one who came to Earth from Neopia, I'd want to get home, too, and I told her this. "If only there was some way you could be in both places at once, or visit 'em both," I added sadly.

"I do, too. It would be great," she said. "But when I do get home, no matter who calls me crazy, I'll be sure to tell my story. Even if it's in the form of a novel or some fiction type of message, I'll get it out."

"Okay," I said. "Want to go to Nechron's now?"

"Yeah," she said, gulping.

She got up and led the way out, down the stairs. In the lobby, Mom hovered, greeting people; when she saw us, she asked, "What did you decide, Sam?"

"I'm going to try every way possible to get home," Sam said with confidence.

Mom nodded, smiling. "Good luck, although I have a feeling the boys will miss you."

"I'll miss them, too. Good-bye."

"Good-bye."

We headed for Nechron's tent, and they parted so we could pass. It seemed like we were celebrities!

He was sitting down, mixing some liquids into a boiling pot. His face glowed a greenish tint over the pot, and he didn't look up as we entered.

"Ah, I knew you would return," he said, giving us a grin. "I've been mixing the spell ever since you left."

"Is that the spell? How do I take it?" asked Sam, glancing at the slimy, bubbly liquid in the cauldron.

He grinned again. "You have to drink it."

"Drink it? Yuck!"

"It's not as bad as it looks." From his broad grin, I could tell it was as bad as it looked...and probably more!

She gulped. "When will you be finished?"

He stirred his ladle in the mixture again, dropped in a few flecks of a dark brown dirt-like substance, stirred again and finally looked up. "It's done."

She looked even queasier than before. "And you couldn't give it to me intravenously?"

"Intrawattedly?" he repeated, puzzled.

Sighing, she said, "Never mind. Well, if the stuff's ready, and you're ready, and everybody else is ready, I guess I'm ready."

"Are you sure?" Nechron asked. "You have to be completely willing to turn your mind over to the spell - or, rather, the Earth Faerie, since she is the one who created the spell - and cannot be hesitant, at all."

She nodded. "I am definitely ready. Just one question."

"Yes?"

"How will I be able to tell what's happening around me if I was asleep when I came here?"

"Don't ask me for the mechanics - I'm just the conduit, and besides, whoever said magic had any mechanics?"

"Sorry. It's just that where I come from, there's nothing like magic. Most people don't think it exists. We go for more scientific explanations."

"Pft! We don't worry about scientific explanations here! It works, that's the main thing, right?"

"Whatever you say," she said, shrugging.

"Now, sit down on those blankets over there, keep your eyes closed, and do exactly what I say. You can't hesitate or the spell stands no chance of working."

She nodded and sat down on the blankets. Nechron motioned Johnra and I back, and we crept to the corner to watch the whole thing.

Nechron poured some of the mixture into a flask and grabbed a wooden spoon. He moved over to Sam and said, "After you drink this, you will remember all that happened during your coming to Neopia...you will remember even what you did not see with your own eyes..."

He poured some of the liquid onto the spoon and held it out for Sam to drink; she did so and immediately convulsed for a second.

Instinctively I moved out to protect her, but the convulsions stopped quickly. Nechron said, "Now, Sam, tell us what happened and how you came to Neopia."

Her eyes flew open, but they looked past us. "I'm asleep," she murmured. "In my own bed. The blanket's down by the foot of the bed and I'm curled up, my head under the pillow. The windows are closed and latched and it's completely dark."

"Yes, good," Nechron murmured. "Go on."

"I sleep for five more minutes and then suddenly there is a burst and ray of light as if something has exploded on my rug. I open my eyes for a few seconds but see nothing but two glowing red eyeballs. I think they are my computer monitor and doze off again. "But slowly the figure is illuminated. It's a woman, with transparent wings that look too weak to lift even a fly but keep her suspended in the air. She is smiling and chuckling at me as she murmurs in some strange language I'm not familiar with. As she moves her hands, I rise up from the bed and hover over it as if all gravity has suddenly left the Earth.

"Still I do not wake up. This is part of her chant - I can't open my eyes or even move but I do know that something is happening.

"She begins speaking faster and faster until she reaches a peak and all her words slur together, no longer making any sense; a huge shaft of light suddenly opens as if someone had thrown open the window, but the window is still latched shut. The light streaming out of this other window glitters beautifully, and the woman recoils from it as if the light hurts her.

"Now I can understand what she says, although it's still in that strange language. She's speaking slower as she says 'I'm sure all of Neopia will be so pleased to see a human,' but it's sarcastic, as if she thinks Neopia won't be pleased at all. 'Humans - wretched creatures that exploit and pollute at every turn. Neopia will be perfect for them!'

"I begin to move towards the window, the shaft of light, as the woman moves her arms and begins to chant again. 'You will be in Neopia at the first light of dawn,' she says. 'May you cause only havoc among the good animals and create only terror and despair - but not know why, for let her forget all that has occurred.'

"Then she disappears and I float through the window.

"For five hours I remain in limbo, in a world of only light. I can move now, but only in a circle. It's as if it's a bubble that I just can't break.

"Then I fall asleep again, and float out the window onto a sunny patch of grass, where I sleep until Dijin and Johnra find me and wake me up."

During her entire narration, Nechron had been silent. I found it impossible to speak. The Dark Faerie (surely that was the woman with the wings who recoiled from the light that Sam spoke of!) had stolen Sam from Earth to wreak havoc in Neopia! The human girl suddenly gave two jerks again, screwing her eyes closed as she let out a silent scream, her mouth opening as if something was being ripped from her!

"It's the Dark Faerie," Nechron shouted. "She's realized we're trying to find her out and she's taking Sam away from us! Hurry, go get help!"

We burst out into the bright sunlight - a far cry from the spooky interiors of Nechron's cave - and shouted for help. The people, who had only seconds before been going about their normal lives, came rushing in to command all their abilities to fight the evil Dark Faerie.

We used all the powers of the Light Faerie to blind the Dark one, and used Bind, Rope and Freeze to slow her down a bit. Still, nothing seemed to be doing any good.

"Sam!" I shouted even as I summoned forth Catapult to knock the Dark Faerie back where she came, "Listen to me! You can't be lost to her! She's evil! You're stronger than that, I know it!"

No response, and no letdown of Sam's convulsions, silent screams and jerks.

"It's not doing any good!" shouted a Chia.

Nechron shouted back, "I won't give up! This can't happen again!" Again?

I didn't have time to process the implications of the statement; I was too busy trying to remember all the Abilities I had. All the ones that could be used against the Dark Faerie, I'd used already, and the others had multiplied them.

Only one thing could save Sam now.

The Light Faerie!

The Dark Faerie recoiled from light. It hurt her more than anything else. And the Light Faerie was the most "light"ed creature in Neopia. It was the only thing that would help her! "I've got to find a Light Faerie," I shouted to some others. "Someone come help me!"

Three pets - BuckBeak_2000, InnocentBunny132, and Nathusta - bolted out with me. We ransacked the town and gathered up all the captured and free Light Faeries we could find.

We explained the situation, and they were extraordinarily happy to help.

I wasn't sure what we'd find as we returned to Nechron's tent. The tent was shaking wildly and it was almost in tatters from the beating it was taking - the force of about fifty creatures all using their most powerful abilities, and a Dark Faerie fighting back.

As soon as the ten Light Faeries were added to the fray, the tent expanded wildly and contracted in on itself. As each faerie fought the evil darkness, it seemed to grow weaker. Sam's convulsions faded away and she finally stopped those horrible screams, until finally she was left shaking and sobbing on the blankets.

"I-I-" was all she could say as all of us gathered around to help. "It was terrible. I want to go home. I want to go home!"

"You will, Sam, you will," said Nechron. "I can find a more powerful Light Faerie to use the same spell the Dark Faerie used, only reversed, to return you. You don't ever have to come back. You can forget that all of this happened!"

She stared up at him, eyes still wide and red from crying. "But - besides the Dark Faerie, it's such a nice place...I couldn't leave forever!"

"Well, I don't see how you could ever come back. Either you go or you stay. Want my opinion? You should go. Most definitely go...the Dark Faerie can probably find you again."

So, after Sam calmed down, Nechron summoned a hugely powerful Light Faerie to send Sam home.

Our good-byes were tearful. Johnra and I had broken down long before we even realized Sam was going and we'd never see her again; I'm afraid we lost control and started begging her to stay. But she gently insisted that she had to go, but she promised this:

"When I get home I'll spread the word about Neopia. I'll write stories and tell people about it as if it's a fictional place, but I won't ever forget it's real. If I spread Neopia's stories around, people can visit it, even if it's in their minds."

Two months after she left, more humans came to Neopia. They were like robots, and we soon learned that these were "computer users" logged in to the NeoPets "Web site". After these concepts were explained to us, most of us started finding owners. Life was good.

Except for Johnra and me. We just couldn't take another owner, not with the memory of Sam. We traveled all over Neopia but couldn't find her or anyone who had seen her anywhere. She was gone, disappeared. She probably had no idea that the Web site existed or that she could visit Neopia safely again.

Until two weeks later, when a shy figure appeared at our front door. "Dijin? Johnra?" it asked, and we knew in an instant who it was.

She'd had to take a different name since someone already had the name Sam, but it was her. Within a day she'd adopted us both, and we've been her best friends ever since.

Like I said, life is good.

The End