The Lament of Darigan

Hundreds of years ago, in a land found on no map, even today, a people lived in peace and harmony. No disease or famine touched them, no war threatened their expansive borders. Their ruler was a wise Korbat, robed in white and gold, and ruled with a just hand and a trusting heart. His name was Darigan, and the people loved him so that they named their nation after him, despite his protests.

      The secret to their tranquility was an Orb of Prosperity, created by the scholars and Lord Darigan, himself. The orb glowed with an inner light, filled with radiance and a desire to see its people thrive, as was its purpose. The makers of the orb also imbued in it a sense of self-protection, to keep it safe from outsiders, always. It was placed on a pedestal where all could see it, and became sure of its power to do good for its people. After long years, the people of Darigan learned to become as loving and trusting as their great Lord. The orb grew bored.

      Meanwhile, a far off kingdom was doing poorly. Plague ripped across the land of Meridell, killing crops, livestock, and Neopets alike. King Skarl, the ruler of Meridell, was at a loss. Without food, he could no more feed his own bulk than he could feed his own people. He sent a contingent of his bravest knights out of his castle to seek aid from neighboring kingdoms.

      Skarl’s knights did not find aid. Instead, they found a wizened old seer, a Kyrii of indeterminable age. Bowing low and offering what scant coins remained to them, a white Lupe prayed his assistance. The Kyrii told the knights of an artifact created by another kingdom that kept the plague at bay. The knights set out, determined to win this prize for their dying land.

      The Meridell knights arrived in Darigan and were greeted warmly, with flowers and feasting. When they asked Lord Darigan about the orb, he showed it to them with alacrity and delight, relishing the chance to show off the pride of his people. When the knights saw the orb, they were ensnared by its power. It was horribly bored in this lush land and wanted to prove that it could help other kingdoms, as well. Surely it could help their plagued land as well. It also whispered to them, promising the knights fame and honor for bringing back such a noble prize.

      Lord Darigan led them away, exclaiming over their frailty and starvation, and led the knights to a second round of feasting. He gave them as much food as they could carry, along with several cartfuls of food and caskets pure water to take back to the land of Meridell. He promised them peace, and that the knights could return to claim more food for their deprived people.

      Upon their return, however, King Skarl demanded to hear of the orb. Thoughts churned in his head, unbidden, and one knight wondered aloud and what having such an orb would do to help the land. Skarl latched onto the idea like a tick on a Wocky and sent his men back with direct orders to seize and capture the orb so as to have it for Meridell.

      The knights did not so much as greet their families before racing back across the world to capture the alluring artifact. King Skarl himself joined them, and invited all of the soldiers he could muster to help them in their endeavor. The army of Meridell marched on Darigan.

      And retrieve the Orb of Prosperity, they did, without so much as a hand raised against them. The people of Darigan were unused to such a show of force as the Meridell knights laid on them. The orb betrayed Lord Darigan and its makers to seek more desperate fields to expand its power. It spoke to its new King, luring him to its pedestal. The orb knew the mind of Lord Darigan, and knew that he would one day reclaim it. The orb spoke to Skarl of this, and suggested the Skeith lay waste to the nation of Darigan, putting a mighty curse on the land. After all, it said, why should Darigan have hoarded all of prosperity when it might have made many orbs for all?

      King Skarl needed no second urging. He laughed and held the orb over his head, willing it to curse the entire land around him. The orb glowed brightly, shining and beautiful as the dawn of a new era, and placed a plague mightier than any ever seen on the face of Neopia on the land. Darigan had been defeated, utterly. King Skarl and his army marched in triumph back to Meridell, where the land of Meridell grew lush and beautiful.

      But back in Darigan, Skarl‘s curse corrupted and warped the land. Over the course of a year, every lush plant grew thorns, every crystal stream turned rancid, and every carefully pruned flower wilted and died. The peace-loving people were twisted, sprouting horns, growing long fangs, graining blood-hued eyes, and becoming unrecognizable as anything seen on the face of Neopia before. Some died, but most, perhaps unfortunately, lived.

      Lord Darigan and his people wept for that first, horrid year of change. Slowly, slowly, their grief morphed to anger and then to wrath at those who had plunged them into darkness and cursed them--those who they had offered to help! The nation of Darigan, so impossible to offend, had been roused to revenge to retrieve their stolen orb and to avenge their fallen families. Not a single Neopet would be left behind to guard their cursed land, and yet the people must have sanctuary upon their return from Meridell... and so the scholars who built the orb worked on a new achievement, one that would soar above the old.

      A score of years after the Orb of Prosperity was stolen, a dark shadow slunk towards the thriving nation of Meridell. The shadow belonged to a flying citadel, the remainder of Darigan in one vast, floating city. Skarl’s great army could not reach their home in the air, and so they threw themselves at Meridell with a will. Driven mad with hunger and pain, they fought like the beasts they had become, and the once-pacifists of Darigan were victorious.

      Once again, the Orb of Prosperity whispered to its conqueror. Lord Darigan arrived, driven to near madness by engaging in a war that killed his people and those of another nation. “Why only rule one nation,” the orb beseeched him, “when, with me, you can unite the entire realm of Neopia under your one, peaceful flag?” Lord Darigan was enthralled by the orb he helped to create, and it granted him such power that he became a Spectre of himself. He locked himself away with the orb and began plotting a way to take over the entire world.

      Lord Darigan’s generals met with Meridell’s fallen giants, and discussed at length what to do about the Spectre of Lord Darigan. They knew he had gone mad, and they gathered their forces to confront him together, to stop his mad scheme of taking over all of the world. No single Neopet should have such power.

      In a rush, the Darigan and Meridell heroes threw themselves in a circle around Lord Darigan. The mighty Korbat stared at them, to see what they had become: his old friends and his old enemies, ready to fight against him. He paused in his madness, and a trickle of his old self came back. Lord Darigan realized in an instant what must be done, before the Spectre took hold once more.

      The Orb of Prosperity, which once whispered to him, now realized its peril. It shrieked in his mind, demanding that he do as it commanded. It yelled promises, promising cure all of Darigan’s people, to curse King Skarl for stealing it, to destroy the land of Meridell as it had done the land of Darigan. The Korbat would not wish such a curse even on his greatest enemy, and he dare not use the orb now, even to help his own people. Lord Darigan tore his ears at the sounds no one else could hear. “NOOOOOOOO!” he screamed, defying the artifact, and he entered the orb, leaving the generals stunned and at a loss as to where he had gone.

      Inside the orb, Darigan fought, wresting his control back from the orb, using his knowledge of its creation to make an attempt at placating it. Outside, he heard friend and foe fighting over the orb, and he knew what must be done. The Orb of Prosperity was no longer secret. All would fight over it, now, wars would break out for eternity to control it, and it would curse all of those who tried to defy its will. Inside of the orb, Lord Darigan wept, knowing that his people would never be whole again. With a crack, Lord Darigan broke the orb, casting himself and the radiant object into nothing.

      Lord Darigan was vanquished, and the orb, which he had brought his people to retrieve, was lost. Meridell cried out that they were victorious, and the people of Darigan retreated to the skies to find a new leader. All lamented their fallen lord, and many thirsted for revenge, thinking it was Skarl‘s doing. Lord Darigan‘s generals took control and kept the Citadel at peace. With this uneasy truce, the first war of Darigan was finished, to the sorrow of all.

The End