The Lost Knight

     That was why when I heard that I could train myself to be a knight in the Lost Desert, I went away before telling anyone I knew at my home town.

     "Things are going to be different and I will not be a nobody anymore!" I told myself.

     * * * * *

     Two years had passed, and I became a knight, or so called a warrior with a sword. I wished I could do something really famous to let people know of my existence. I began searching for certain villains or items, and I tried to be famous by killing lots of monsters.

     I met a friend called Wydura. Wydura was a mage-in-training from Darigan and she was the only person who would talk to me besides the teachers.

     Wherever I went in those two years, Wydura would follow me. The last time when I went to Mystery Island to collect some berries from the natives, she followed me and had a fantastic conversation with everyone on the island.

     Wydura often spoke of her family when there were some spare time. When she was very young, she lost her family in a fire accident, and she believed that her sister was still living somewhere.

     "Why did you leave your family? I lost my family and I hope that I can find them," the Darigan Aisha asked while she was shaking her staff to remove the dust. "I wish I could find my sister back."

     I nodded and didn't really listen to her words. In my hands, there was a notice of quest, asking knights to get hold of a special rare item. I looked at the picture on the parchment: It looked liked a shining golden orb. The description said that the orb contained a huge amount of power and was the only orb in the world that contained pure light power from a powerful light faerie who was a member of Fyora's secret order. It seemed to be attracting me.

     I told Wydura about the orb and the mission. "What? I bet it is the protecting orb of Darigan. I have seen it before I came here," she gasped. "Taumik, I hope you're not going there. If you take the orb, Darigan will suffer famine and drought. Come on, forget about this mission!"

     I promised not to think of that mission to her, yet I kept the notice secretly.

     * * * * *

     "Are you sure you're going on that mission?" Ember, the fire faerie of the training area of Lost Desert, asked me seriously. I nodded my head firmly. "Well then, may the fire element bless you," the faerie said solemnly. "There have been knights who were found dead at the hands of Dariganians. We don't know who started this mission in the Lost Desert, but we are losing our knights. Be careful."

     I stepped out from the tent and saw Wydura running towards me with her eyes fulfilled with tears.

     "Why?" she cried hoarsely. "Why do you choose to accept this mission? Why?"

     I pushed her aside. "This is a mission and not a war. I won't kill anyone in this mission, so this is safe," I said coolly. "So get off me. I'm on a grand mission that many people had been fighting to get in."

     "You have changed, Taumik," Wydura sobbed solemnly. "Hope we will meet again after you have finished the mission. I'll pray for you."

     "Then thank you," I replied and left the Dariganian.

     Apparently, my name was no longer found in any other records since that day I got the quest of that golden orb and left the Lost Desert. My story, which had started from there, had become a mystery to the ones who knew me before.

     * * * * *

     I began searching for Darigan after I left the Lost Desert.

     "Where exactly is Darigan? All I know is the location of Meridell," I said as I looked at the huge plain and was confused.

     An earth faerie with purple hair went out from a forest nearby and observed me carefully. "Are you confused about where Darigan is?" she asked. "Darigan is that way, if you insist on going there."

     "Who... who are you?" I asked curiously.

     The faerie looked at me, surprised; that made me feel uncomfortable. "How come there are still people in this world who do not know me? I'm Illusen!" she gasped and squealed.

     I looked at her with my mouth open. Who would have guessed that the famous Illusen was an earth faerie who painted her hair color from brown to purple?

     Illusen laughed after I asked her that question. "I didn't dye my hair. It's Jhudora who dyed it for fun last April Fools and I haven't dye it back to normal yet. Now, be gone!" She giggled and pushed me away. "Visit me next time in the forest!"

     After wandering in the plain for a while, I arrived at Darigan. "Why are you here, stranger?" one of the guards asked.

     "I... I'm a close friend of Wydura Fate, and she told me to come to find her sister." I quickly thought of some reasons and started making stories.

     "Wydura Fate? That poor little child who lost her parents? Oh fine, you may come in." The guard's face changed expression quickly and let me in friendly.

     The citadel of Darigan looked small when I was far away in the Meridellian plains. But now, after I went into the citadel, I realized that it was actually really big. I had been wandering in the citadel, but I seemed to have lost my directions in the maze of corridors.

     "Need a guide?" A green Moehog appeared in front of me. She was young, yet her hair was a kind of silvery white that made her looked old. "I'm Morguss. If you give me something I like, I'll get you to where you want to get to."

     "Name's Taumik," I said and shuddered. "Can you lead me to the room that..." I lowered my voice, "contains that shiny golden orb'?"

     Morguss smiled slyly. "You are one of the knights from the Lost Desert?" she said gloomily. "You're the only one who was able to enter here, congratulations."

     "Er... well, thanks. So can you help me to get to the room?" I asked and was a little afraid that Morguss would tell the others about my real target.

     "Give me something that I can be satisfied with," Morguss kept smiling. "Or I'll report you to Lord Darigan and you will be pushed away with an arrow on your body."

     I started searching the bags on my shoulder. There was nothing good enough to let Morguss feel content. I started to feel anxious and didn't know what to give her. Suddenly, my hand touched a little amulet in one of my packets. I took it out and wondered where I had gotten this.

     Morguss' eyes lit up. "Fine, you've found the thing that I will be content to have," she said and took the little red amulet away. "Follow me."

     I looked around curiously and followed behind the Moehog.

     * * * * *

     "I'm not going inside; the lord will notice me." Morguss stood in front of a huge red curtain. "It's your own road to choose now: Go in and get the orb or leave."

     I said, unfriendly, "Of course I'm going in!" I pushed the Moehog aside and pushed the curtain aside.

     The room behind the curtain was dusty and small. In the middle of the room, a golden orb floated on the top of a stone column. I breathed in deeply and stepped into the room.

     The golden orb was shining strangely under the dim light of the torches in the room. I raised my hand and tried to touch the orb, hoping that I could finish the mission as soon as possible.

     But the truth was that nothing in the world was easy to deal with. Just as I tried to touch the orb, it suddenly vanished in the air. A shady faerie appeared in front of me, looking at me curiously. "Stranger, get out from here and do not dare to touch this!" she snapped.

     "What then? It's not yours." I laughed and observed her appearance. From the shape of her wings, she seemed to be a light faerie. But could light faeries look purple? After seeing the purple-headed Illusen, I was not that sure.

     The faerie looked gloomy and her eyes turned rather red. "My life is equal to its life. Get your nasty hand off!" she snapped again and stepped closer to me. "Now, BE GONE."

     I ignored her warning and took another step closer to the orb. "I'm not frightened by any light faeries. They are weak, silly, and crazy," I said proudly.

     The light faerie suddenly laughed. "I'll tell you how to distinguish a light faerie and a darkness faerie!" she growled. That was definitely the behaviour of a light... wait, did she speak of darkness faeries? The next thing I saw in front of my eyes was just a lot of purplish sparkling flashes. Then everything went black.

     * * * * *

     A New Villain out from Darigan!

     There was a new villain that came out from the shadows, staying in Darigan with a dangerous golden orb and a ghostly darkness faerie. Every report about them concluded the same thing: They were searching for a new member.

     What was the name of the new villain? Nobody knew. Every Neopian only knew one thing: The new villain was a ghost Gelert with sharp red eyes and armour. Nobody could ever guess who he was, and those who guessed correctly? They just hoped that they could survive until the next day.

     I looked at the newspaper I found in the Citadel. "That so called 'newspaper'? It is nothing new to me!" I said to my new companion, Kaelie the fallen faerie.

     Kaelie laughed. "Because you ARE the one who is the new arrival, dear. Once we are famous, your dream will all come true," she said.

The End

Author's Note: I want to thank a user in Neopets who gave me the idea of writing all these things. Although I had already forgotten your username, but I have to thank you a lot. This is also known as a sequel of "The Fallen Faerie," which was the first story I submitted into the Neopian Times.