The Darkest Faerie Tale: The Beginning

     Take a moment. Sit back and relax, for what I am about to tell you was always only believed to be a story- a Faerietale, something considered as a light story but never to be taken as truth, for it feels to be almost blasphemous to our ruler, King Altador himself.

     Growing up, my grandmother always told me about the Darkest Faerie, and about how at one point, she was good. Crazy, right? Well, that's what I thought until I stumbled across a strange book in the Archives in Altador. The cover had been so worn down and faded, along with the spine of the book, that the Archivist, Finneus, had tossed it off to the side to be thrown away. I decided to purchase it, in hopes of saving the poor old thing.

     When I got back home, the story I read was the same one my grandmother had told me as a wee filly. Well, parts of it. Most of it is agonizingly incomplete, though the story does shine through- as the truth is wont to do.

     ~~~

     " Today,my friends and I were to have a picnic on a new island, fairly new anyhow. When we arrived at what we thought were the docks, we realised we had just put ourselves in grave danger."

     ~~~

     The next bit of the journal was unreadable due to water damage and age, so I skipped ahead a few pages until I found something I could actually read.

     ~~~

     "Today, I heard a noise outside my window, and it sounded, strange. I had the urge to flee, because I had never heard such a noise, and was terrified. But alas, I ignored the urge, got to my feet and slowly crossed the floor to my window. It was a strange little Petpet, with an eye patch. I giggled to myself, thinking how cute the little thing was. I went to tell the others, but they dismissed my claims, as they have been. I am deeply saddened by this, as it happens so often these days. I try so hard to contain my powers, but with things like this, it makes it so very---"

     ~~~

     The next part is also unreadable, which is frustrating, but there’s a bit of untouched text in the corner that catches my eye.

     ~~~

      "I... I have no choice... They will not listen.. I have tried with all my strength to continue to be good, as I have a bad image as it is, being a Dark Faerie. I wanted to prove to them that the stigma that came with my kind was wrong so very, very wrong. But they leave me no choice...."

     ~~~

          My frustration grows as more of the text becomes unreadable. What was so important? We don’t have the same stigma about Dark Faeries as we used to. They’re generally accepted members of society. I’m also further baffled when another piece of the journal seems to be… out of place, somehow. Like a page or two had fallen out and someone had hurriedly placed them into a section of the journal that wasn’t as damaged as the part it belonged to?

     ~~~

     " Today, Jerdana and I decided to go have lunch in the old fields. It was such a beautiful day!! Honestly, I am quite elated that she is my best friend."

     ~~~

     A charming bit of insight, I think to myself.

     " Jerdana and I, along with Siyana, decided to talk about what we wanted to do with the decorations in our wing of the castle. Honestly, Altador does not have a good sense of style when it comes to us ladies- not all of us want gleaming portraiture of the King Himself plastered all over the walls of our bedrooms, after all. We are torn between doing a Celestial theme, a woodsy theme, and a nature theme. Florin offered his help with the woodland theme, if we had decided to go along with that one. Siyana said that if Florin brought trees in she'd be angered, as she sneezed any time she was near trees. So it looks like a woodland theme is out of the question. Just as we finished talking, Psellia floated into the room as she always does. We awkwardly stopped talking just as she came in, and her airy presence scattered the satchels of decoration examples that Sasha and Florin had brought in for us to peruse. She simply said "Oops!" in that way she does, and we all chuckled at her expense. I feel, as I often do, blessed and lucky to have such wonderful friends as I do."

     ~~~

     Okay, so she doesn't seem as bad as everyone made her out to be. I wonder what could have caused such a rift between the lot of them that they nearly destroyed the Altadorian empire? I'll have to continue reading on to find out.

     ~~~

     "Today is a day filled with terror. Marak is down in the ocean trying to calm the seas, and is having no luck. The skies are darkened to the extent that we cannot tell the time. Altador and the others have laid blame on me, being the Dark Faerie of our group. I am filled with great terror and sorrow, as I do not have enough evidence to redeem myself. I fear that this day will end with tragedy.

      Fauna and Kelland are trying to calm the Petpets, as they are all agitated and terrified. They still think I am to blame for all of this, but I am not. I myself do not know what could have caused such a disturbance, but I do promise to find out.

     Oh, I do love to read about ancient dramas! I need a good Neocola and a large popcorn, this is just getting so intense!

     " I awoke with the skies darker than ever, and as I took in a deep breath, it was rather musty- almost thick with what I now know as deception. I discovered that sometime in the night, Altador and the others had completely sided against me, and had Torakor throw me into the dungeons. I cried and screamed at the top of my lungs for hours on end. Maybe even minutes, or seconds. I do not know.

     What I do know, is that my friends or what I thought to be my friends, have made a dire mistake with their decisions. My hand has been forced to use my powers. I must escape. I have to prove that they are wrong! I do not care what it takes, but I must do what is necessary to save myself and this land.

          ~~~

     Save the land? I thought she destroyed it out of jealousy and rage and wanted all the power for herself? I guess there really are three sides to every story.

          ~~~

     " Hours have passed now, and my power is growing. I never wanted to have so much hatred inside, but this is a necessity. By the mighty Thyora, I will be FREE!!!"

     ~~~

     Huh, so that’s how part of the castle exploded. Probably an incident lost to the annals of time.

     ~~~

      "I have finally freed myself, leaving destruction in my wake. I do not have feelings for my former friends anymore. I do not care about the consequences any longer. They fear me? They do not know true fear, they can only imagine fear. If they wish to know fear, then I shall wage war upon them. I shall have my revenge. They shall scream in abject terror as they scream my True Name for forgiveness."

     I think we know the rest... But I have the feeling, that this isn't the end of the Darkest Faerie’s story. I need to ask Finneus about this.

          ~~~

     "I’m afraid I don’t know about the book you’ve got there, Miss Mermaid. But it’s best you keep quiet about it," the Lenny says with a dire look in his eye. "You mustn’t speak about it to anyone save Queen Fyora." He began locking up the Archives. "She’ll issue Royal Protection for you. With everything that’s been going on, who knows what could happen."

     I see a book that looks awfully similar to the journal I have in the corner, and a look of warning crosses his eye that tells me to leave it alone. That pretty much made up my mind for me- I’ll be breaking into the Archives tonight. I need to know more, even if my plans may be halted by the curious sight of dark, rolling, purple clouds in the distance. I am almost fearful of what I might have stumbled upon, for no single Neopet can handle something like this.

     As for the other pets under Zero’s, my owner, protection… Sins is being a scared-Ogrin, refusing to leave her room for fear of ‘what may come.’ Peadackle. Panic is also living up to her name, quite well, actually. And Aerwyyn is hiding behind the couch, cowering with her wings over her head any time someone even bumps a piece of furniture or makes a loud noise. I’m going to start charging her rent if she doesn’t come out. But despite their fear? I remain unafraid. (Nearly.)

     These truths must be revealed.

      To be continued...