The Darkest Secret of Neopia: Part One

by Phifi

For us NeoPets is only a game. We visit the world of Neopia just for fun and whenever we want. But for the NeoPets Neopia is their life... they cannot leave it and join our world for fun. We are able to take only a single thing from Neopia into our world - our memories. -AS

It was a nice and warm day in the faraway World of Neopia. Shamathia, the yellow Aisha, was in her comfortable living-cave and waiting for her owner. Andy, that is the name of her Owner, had birthday today and Shamathia had prepared a beautiful present for him: She had drawn a picture that showed Neopia in a sunset scene with a howling Lupe on a rock in front of the orange sun. It was really a great picture, one of the best she had ever drawn and Shamathia was good at art.

When Andy finally came in, Shamathia gave him a big hug and kiss, congratulated him and gave him the picture. Andy was really surprised, he had neither thought that Shamathia would remember his birthday nor that she would give him a present. He unpacked the present quickly and was totally fascinated by the beauty of the picture. Wow, what a picture! He thought, Just a pity that I cannot take it with me....Andy thanked Shamathia very much and suggested to put it on a wall in the living-room. Shamathia wondered if Andy would not like to take the picture with him to put it into his own room. Andy replied that he would love to do so but unfortunately only memories were supposed to leave Neopia. That was new for Shamathia and she had suddenly found interest in that fact and ask if really only memories could leave Neopia because Andy could also leave Neopia whenever he wanted to. Andy explained Shamathia that owners could leave Neopia because they were not descended from it. Then he suggested to put the picture on the wall next to the fireplace. That night, long after Andy had gone home again, Shamathia had to think about his words again. Only memories are supposed to leave Neopia...but why? Why could Humans visit Neopia but Neopians not visit the humans' world?? Shamathia decided to go to the official Neopian library the next day and look for answers.

The next morning Shamathia got up early and went to the library. Here she thought she could find answers to her questions. The library supervisor, an old and wise Jubjub greeted her because she visited the library regularly. Shamathia started with the newest encyclopedia but she could not find anything useful. Than she studied all books about Neopia and about the humans' world she could just find. Everything she could find out was that what she already knew - only memories can leave Neopia, nothing else.

Shamathia had spent several hours with reading books and was now very hungry. She decided to go to a restaurant and eat something and then go on to study the books. She left the library and went to the restaurant where she usually went to. When Shamathia was enjoying her lunch, she suddenly had a great idea: Why not search all the historical books for facts that other things than memories did leave Neopia? And she wanted to find out more about the time when the first owners came to Neopia. Shamathia nearly swallowed the food and went back to the library quickly.

There she asked the supervisor for the historical books of Neopia. The supervisor said that these books were so old that they were only taken out for very special occasions. But when Shamathia begged him a little bit he allowed her to have a look and them but for only half an hour. Half an hour is not much, but Shamathia was happy that she had got permission. The historical books were kept in a special room with no windows and a strong metal door. Shamathia wasted no time in enjoying the atmosphere of the room but started reading the books at once. After about 20 minutes Shamathia had learned much more about the history and stories of Neopia but nothing that helped her with her question. Maybe I should just accept the fact that one cannot leave Neopia? She thought when her eyes fell on a big, ancient book she had not read. The title was 'Mythicism of Neopia'. Shamathia wanted to take it out quickly because she had a little time left but unfortunately it slipped out of her hand and fell one the floor. When she picked it up again, and small sheet of paper fell out. Oh no! she thought Now I have destroyed that ancient book! She looked on the sheet.

It was the beginning of a summary about the life of a Cerpul called Cos'Anuján. He had lived over 700 years ago and had been a mighty wizard. Unfortunately he had completely become a slave of dark magic. Stories say that he got so powerful that he left Neopia one day and traveled to another dimension [...]

The rest of the sheet seemed to be burned. Wow! That is just what I was looking for! One can leave Neopia!!! Shamathia thought, put the sheet into her pocket and opened the book about the Mythicism of Neopia. She looked at the register of the book but she could not find the name of the wizard anywhere. Soon the supervisor came in and said, that Shamathia's time would be up and if she had found what she was searching for. Shamathia thanked him for the time she had been allowed to look into the books. When they were about to leave the room, Shamathia asked the supervisor incidentally if he had ever heard of a wizard called Cos'Anuján. The supervisor froze and looked at Shamathia completely surprised, but than he replied that he had never heard of someone with that name. Shamathia could feel that he was lying but she did not want to ask for her as she could also feel that he was afraid. But afraid of what?About the stories of Cos'Anuján? Or maybe about the fact that I know about him?!? Shamathia thanked the supervisor once again and left the building.

On her way home Shamathia had the idea to search the NNN, the Nice Neopian Network, for more information. The NNN was quite slow but sometimes one could find better information than one had expected.

When she entered her cave, she just threw her thick winter-jacket on the rack and sat down at her desk, in front of the computer right away. She almost could not wait until the operation software, magic fields 97, had completely loaded. She started a connection to the Neopian Internet Provider and started to search again. After a little while Shamathia had found what she was looking for, but it was a site of the government and her access was denied. Hmm, why should the site be restricted? Shamathia wondered. The government of Neopia had almost no secrets. Up to now... Shamathia had found real interest in Cos'Anuján now and wanted to find out just as much as she could. But where to start? She decided to stop for today because it was already getting dark outside and a strong wind blew. Sure there would be a heavy snowstorm this night. It was better to go on tomorrow. Maybe she could also ask Andy then. He had said that he wanted to visit her on Saturday.

There was a heavy storm that night and when Shamathia got up the next morning everything outside was covered with snow. And it had become pretty cold.

After Shamathia had eaten a small breakfast she put on her warmest clothes and walked out on the street. There were hardly any other creatures on the street, due to the cold. Shamathia made haste to reach the house of Mr. Spencer who she wanted to visit. Mr. Spencer was an old and very wise Chia. He lived in the same street as Shamathia and they were good friends. Shamathia often helped him with the garden and housework and he taught her many interesting things. Someone knows about the stories of Cos'Anuján? Shamathia thought. When she finally reached his house her longs ears were almost frozen. She knocked and some moments later she could hear the steps of the old man as he came to open the door.

They had tea together, Mr. Spencer loved good and strong tea. Every time is tea-time he often said. When they drank tea together they usually had very interesting conversations and discussions, but today Mr. Spencer was a bit quiet. The cold was annoying him, he liked it more when it was warm outside. After they had talked a bit about unimportant things Shamathia asked him if he would know something about a wizard called Cos'Anuján. Mr. Spencer was surprised and also a bit scared when he heard the name but he tried to not betray it. "I am sorry..." he said, "you know that I have few secrets, but I cannot tell you about him. It would not be good for you!"

"But Mr. Spencer," Shamathia begged, "you know that I am quite skilled and very experienced. I should be able to understand it and..."

"No, you know nothing! If I would tell about that incarnation of evil you could not resist the sweet temptation!! I needed years to get over it and even today I am not sure if I really did! No, I won't tell you no. No!"

To be continued...