Voice of the Neopian Pound Circulation: 195,602,701 Issue: 866 | 24th day of Hunting, Y21
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Isolde and the Faerie Statue


by tsiegred

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     The next week, after the disappearance of the statue, there was another article on the front page of the Neopian Times by Claudia Greenbate. It covered the story of the Dark Faerie statues around Neopia that appeared and disappeared almost at random.

     “Isolde, honey! Come here. Take a look,” Gertrude said, smiling, tapping the issue of the Times with her paws. Isolde crept behind her and looked at the article over her shoulder.

     *

     Since the fall of Faerieland many years ago, statues of an unknown Dark Faerie have been appearing around Neopia irregularly, often in half-deserted groves or caverns. The first documented reports of these statues are in the Haunted Woods, which is where I encountered one for the first time. Shortly after the monarchy in the clouds tumbled to the ground, these statues began to manifest and cause minor havoc among the denizens of other lands. Neopians living near the statue often reported nightmares detailing widespread destruction of some unidentified world, vast conflagrations, a city’s infrastructure crumbling, meteors descending from the sky, and sharp screams. The signature of these nightmares, however, is that the Neopians would often lie catatonic in bed for hours, physically unable to move because of the terror these nightmares induced in them. Less notably, the residents also complained of headaches and vision problems. The statues posed a particular danger because they temporarily petrified Neopets, seemingly at random.

     No one, not even the most vile vandals Neopia has to offer, wanted to destroy the statues, however. The reason for this is twofold: first, the statues were so beautiful, so lifelike, that few dared to even touch them; second, statues of faeries are commonly held as a way to honour them. If one were to destroy the statue, the entire land might incur the Dark Faerie’s wrath. Few even dared to investigate the issue further. First, because the statues disappeared eventually—the nightmares stopped, the Neopets turned into stone returned to their normal forms, and, after a while, there was no sign that the statue had ever been there. Second, curiosity can often be dangerous. Perhaps one might learn something that was not meant to be known, and the Dark Faerie—or whatever powers are behind the statue and the strange happenings attendant to it—could punish them for it.

     In a previous article, I detailed a few bizarre Neopian phenomena and attempted to tackle their origins. The subject of the mysterious Dark Faerie statues fascinated me because I was unable to pin down much information about them. There was no pattern nor any rationale for their placement then sudden disappearance. My article ended with me grouping these statues with other Neopian curios, such as the trenches of Scamanders, Spyders, Gebs, etc. drawn in the Lost Desert. This decision to classify the Dark Faerie statues as part of a larger phenomenon—as part of a group of bizarre Neopian wonders—turned out to be erroneous. The statues were an oddity unrelated to these other occurrences. Sometimes a series of bizarre phenomena may happen and there is no larger sense of order that interconnects them. Sometimes trenches show up in the desert. Sometimes faerie statues appear and disappear in an instant. That does not imply any sort of relation between the two.

     A young Shadow Aisha, who has chosen to remain anonymous, decided to come forth and discuss the issue with me. She, unlike many other Neopians beset by the nightmares caused by the statues, was able to determine a location for the events that happened in these nightmares. She attests that everything in her dreams occurred in the vicinity of Faerieland, in both new and old Faerieland. “I looked up at the sky and saw the position of one of the constellations, The Sleeper, and knew that I was somewhere near Faerie City,” she claimed. “I lived there for a few months and I’d recognize the constellation anywhere.”

     The Shadow Aisha was alone. She confronted the Dark Faerie in her nightmares with a sword at her hip, but was surprised to realize that the faerie was not actually seeking conflict at all. In fact, if anything, she was engaged in her own strange form of mourning. She, years after Faerieland’s fall from the clouds, was still completely distraught over the loss of her old home and still frightened by the fire and the meteors that descended upon Old Faerieland. Staying in the Faerieland in its current state brought her too much distress, so she would sometimes disappear for weeks at a time. The statues were set up as markers so she could know where she was. The dreams, as it turns out, were an unintentional consequence of the statues’ manifestation—they were caused by energies inside of the statues that emanated out into the world, especially around unhappy Neopets. The Dark Faerie avers that she meant to cause no malice and did not realize the statues caused such mayhem around Neopia.

     In Neopia Central, the statue has been destroyed. Madame Eloise Norris and the unnamed Chia have both been restored to their former selves. Business at the Traveling Plushie Company can resume as normal; the site has been assessed and has been demonstrated not to pose any danger to Neopets anywhere. Residents of Neopia Central should feel at ease buying and purchasing items from the company.

     The Dark Faerie herself, Gisele, has reportedly returned to Faerieland, her exact whereabouts unknown. She has promised not to place any more statues throughout Neopia, so the trouble caused by disappearing statues should be over. One only hopes that, in time, she will find a way to be happier. The anonymous Shadow Aisha who confronted the Dark Faerie has stopped having nightmares. All seems to be normal again in Neopia Central. The Aisha is now free to pursue an ordinary life in the city.

     She mentioned that she often wondered about the Dark Faerie and what had happened to her. She said that she often felt like the brief connection she’d had with Gisele was one of the most meaningful ones she’d had in a very long time. After a long conversation with her, Isolde told the Dark Faerie she had to leave, even though she sympathized with her and wanted to know more about her.

     “I’ll be going, but thank you for talking to me. And who knows? Maybe you’ll look up at the stars and find your way back to me one day,” she whispered. The faerie smiled, flapped her wings, and took off in the night.

     *

     “It’s a lovely article, isn’t it?” Gertrude said. Siegfried came in after getting the mail and he looked at the article and smiled.

     “You’re amazing, Isolde,” he said. “And I’m so proud of you. Also, I just wanted to say that I have more good news: we’ve started selling the Halloween plushies! We’ll make a huge profit off of these, if sales continue like this. The business is going to do amazing here. I can already tell. And I hope you’re ready, because we’re going to cook some Sentient Stew to celebrate.”

     ~

     Neopia Central slowly began to feel more like home, though it still felt strange sometimes navigating around the land; the way buildings and businesses seemed to shoot up almost overnight never stopped surprising her. But she became used to the place and its bustling atmosphere. Sometimes, while walking through the plaza on the way home from school, she’d see Neopets crowded together and hear them whispering things. Even though she didn’t know for certain, she was pretty sure they were talking about her. Maybe it was the way the older Neopians would stop talking for a moment when she passed by them, maybe it was the gasp she got when she had to partner up with a Neopet on a project for class, but there was a way in which she felt like people knew what happened. She still felt like an outsider, but that didn’t feel like a bad thing anymore. She felt like she’d found her place, even if it was a solitary one.

     Slowly, she made friends. It wasn’t easy, but it happened. They weren’t like Gisele—they were happier and not always ruminating over the terrible things in the past, mostly because there weren’t terrible things in their pasts. They were happy, normal Neopets. She thought about the Dark Faerie a lot, though she wasn’t sure how to contact her and, even if she were sure, she had no idea what she would say. She wrote letters, sometimes. Asking Gisele how she was settling in Faerieland, if she was there; if, in all of her time away from New Faerieland, she’d actually found a way to consistently feel more at peace; or if Gisele thought she’d ever stop feeling like she’d lost a part of herself when Faerieland fell to the ground. None of the letters seemed right, though. So she wouldn’t send them. She’d just keep them in a box underneath her bed. Before bed every night, though, she’d hope the Dark Faerie knew she was thinking of her.

     And, from then on, Isolde would lie in bed every night and sleep peacefully, dreaming of Kreludor and its dark, rocky surface. Sometimes, in her dreams—she couldn’t be sure, but she believed it to be the case—she saw the silhouette of a faerie flitting from place to place across the moon.

     The End.

 
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Other Episodes


» Isolde and the Faerie Statue
» Isolde and the Faerie Statue:Part Two
» Isolde and the Faerie Statue:Part Three
» Isolde and the Faerie Statue:Part Four
» Isolde and the Faerie Statue:Part Five
» Isolde and the Faerie Statue:Part Six
» Isolde and the Faerie Statue:Part Seven



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