Altering Destinies

     "Sylvia?" The chirpy voice woke the young light faerie from her doze. Sylvia yawned and stretched.

     "What is it?" she asked grumpily.

     Sylvia was rarely grumpy, except in the morning, but everybody who knew Sylvia knew about her early morning behavior.

     "Remember Timmy from down the street?"

     "How could I forget that little twerp?"

     "He's in trouble."

     Her mask of grumpiness falling, she slipped into action.

     Sylvia was a light faerie whose sole duty was to protect other Neopians. Little did she know about her true destiny. Perhaps if she had known about it before, she would have not reacted the way she did...

     The young faerie flew towards the troubled red Shoyru who was apparently stuck on his new electric blue bike. Sylvia stifled a laugh and waited for Timmy to say something.

     "I was going to go ride my bike and- and I got stuck. You see?"

     Giggling softly, Sylvia pulled the bike and Shoyru apart with massive strength. She then turned to give Timmy back his bike.

     "Here you g..."

     She stopped, realizing she had somehow ended up sitting on the small bike and that Timmy had disappeared! Before she had another thought, there was a small pop and she had vanished.

     "Welcome to the Faerie's Council," was the first thing Sylvia heard as she reappeared.

     Realizing she was looking down, she raised her head up to face whoever was talking to her. It was an unfamiliar lanky fire faerie. Behind her, were a group of various faeries sitting at a large picnic table.

     "What am I doing here?" Sylvia quietly asked. There were other faeries with the fire faerie who seemed like the spokesperson of the group. You were only brought to the council for some reason, and you could only be summoned into the room. But, why was she here? Questions buzzed the young light faerie's head and the fire faerie chuckled.

     "You're here to learn your destiny," simply answered the fire faerie.

     "Destiny? What?" wondered the youngster.

     "We have been watching you, and we have decided it's time."

     "What's time? Who are you? Why me?" asked Sylvia. Another faerie, a water faerie, stood up.

     "Sylvia, you are a one of a kind light faerie. You possess powers, powers that no other light faerie will ever possess. You... it's time for you to realize your destiny," spoke the faerie as she twirled a curl of her platinum blonde hair.

     "You see, Sylvia, all Neopians, Neopets, Petpets, Petpetpets, and even faeries have destinies. Yours, however, includes the fate of part of the world!"

     "P-p-p-p-part of t-the world?" stuttered the light faerie.

     All the faeries nodded in agreement.

     "Your destiny is to guard a place called Maraqua. You must help and guide them- it is your duty. We will prepare you, but rest now." The fire faerie pointed to a soft cozy looking bed that had been in the corner of the room. With that, all the other faeries left the room.

     "This is really big," thought Sylvia to herself as she sat on the bed prepared for her.

     "You can always choose not to do it," interrupted a voice as cold as ice that stabbed through Sylvia's thoughts like daggers. She looked up. It was one of the faeries on the council. A darkness faerie.

     "My name's Jemina. I've been watching you especially. You... don't want to do this. You don't want to be obliged to do this duty, am I correct?"

     "It's not that..."

     "No, no, deary. It's the fact that you've been ordered to chain yourself to a life that was assigned to you. You can't decide your own future. It's already been chosen." For some odd reason, Sylvia had to agree. She didn't want to do this. Surprising herself, she nodded.

     "So then, this is what you can do..."

     That night Sylvia fell into a dreamful night. While in real life she was tossing and turning, she was caught between two worlds.

      It's your destiny...

     You can always choose not to do it...

     Just like a chained animal...

     Duty...

     Two faeries appeared in her dream, both terrifying Sylvia. One had a magical staff with Neopets trembling at her feet. That one laughed and laughed with power steaming in the air. She was a darkness faerie. The other faerie was a light faerie like Sylvia, but much older. The faerie was beside a Koi with a crown on his head, apparently guiding him. Outside the window of the room that the faerie and Koi were in was water, and only water. But what was it that Sylvia recognized in both of them? They were different elements, but somehow Sylvia felt as if there were some kind of connection...

     Sylvia awoke with sweat dripping down her face. Squinting her eyes at the clock on the wall, she read 12:00 pm.

     "It was just a dream, just a dream..." murmured the light faerie to herself, trying to calm herself. Flicking a switch of a lamp on, she took a mirror from a table and stared hard at it. Her eyes seemed red from exhaustion, and her moist face was also red. Taking another curious glance at her eyes, she couldn't help but remember the faeries' eyes. They were an identical shade of green, like hers! A knock on the door disrupted her thoughts.

     "Come in, it's not locked," answered Sylvia. A blue Grarrl poked his head through a crack.

     "Miss Sylvia? We're ready for your escape..."

     Sylvia stood on the boat, clothed in a blue bathing suit, letting the cool sea breeze whip her hair across her face. She was unsure how the Grarrl was rowing so fast, but she didn't bother asking. The Grarrl suddenly stopped.

     "This is where you jump off. Remember, swim directly down," the Grarrl instructed.

     Sylvia nodded and dove into the warm water.

     She thought her vision would be blurry under the water, but instead it was clear as if she was walking on land. She could breath with gills she didn't know she had, and she swam as easy as she usually walked. She was like a water faerie, only better.

     She swam for what seemed to be hours, but Sylvia did not once get tired. It was like she had interminable energy.

     She saw many things on her way to the bottom, ranging from the beautiful Maraquan Shoyru to the menacing Maraquan Jetsam. She knew she was almost at the bottom when it seemed like thousands of swimming pets were swimming around her. It seemed every way she turned a new Koi or Maraquan Uni was in her way. Irritated by all the annoying pets, she broke free of all the pets who crowded around her. Pushing a Koi to the side, she saw what she was coming for.

     A magnificent underwater palace. She gasped at its beauty, causing several bubbles in the water. But, she remembered the darkness faerie's words...

     This is what you must do...

     Would it really be that bad just to help this palace and its residents? No, she'd be trapped here forever. Trapped like a helpless Gelert on a leash. Well, it was time to destroy the leash. If there is no leash, the Gelert won't have to be helpless and chained. With a snicker, Sylvia swam towards the palace.

     When Sylvia finally got to the bottom, she stood on the gold colored sand, not being swayed at all by the water. Surprised at how soft the sand felt, she walked easily to the palace and knocked on the door. There was no answer. With a sigh, she knocked again harder and louder. This time a Flotsam with a long wooden spear opened the door with a glare..

     "Who goes there?" he asked.

     "Sylvia, a light faerie from Faerie Council. I have business to see the king," she promptly replied.

     The Flotsam guard grunted and nodded.

     "King was expecting you. Come right in." The large steel door swung open, and the faerie stepped inside.

     She followed him down a hallway that looked perfect in a palace. A regal red rug went down the middle of the floor, with armor on the sides, seeming to stare at Sylvia as she walked by. Behind the armor, several portraits of old Koi kings hung from the walls. They all seemed to look almost exactly the same, Sylvia thought boredly. Cocking her to another side, she saw intricately embroidered tapestries hung on the walls as well.

     The hallways seemed to go on forever, and when they finally reached a set of wood doors Sylvia felt out of breath.

     "We're about to meet King. I'll warn you, though. He doesn't like to be disturbed, and he is hard to please," informed the guard.

     "Um, okay, thanks," graciously said Sylvia.

     "Who is it?" A booming voice asked. The faerie bent over and bowed on the large wool rug.

     "W-well I am the light faerie, Sylvia, sent to guard and ai-" She started to explain nervously as she raised her head to look at the king. The king was a peachy Koi who was wearing a glistening gold crown.

     "To aid us? Ppffft. We don't need any help around here. You faeries and your little tea parties think that we need help. Well, you're wrong. Go back home, go away. We don't need help," argued the king as he pounded a fin against the pure gold armrest of his golden throne. Sylvia froze, not knowing what to do. The darkness faerie's words had been simple.

     Destroy Maraqua, and you will be freed of this destiny.

     "W-well, sorry to disturb you, your Majesty," stuttered the light faerie as she took another bow and rapidly backed out of the room. When she closed the door, she could have swore to have heard him wailing in horror, but she ignored that.

     The Flotsam guard led Sylvia back outside without a word. The metal door slammed shut, leaving the faerie outside to dwell on her thoughts.

     Two days, and Sylvia had finally perfected her plan of abolishing Maraqua. She would use a spell of dark magic to turn the castle into a pile of rubble. It was easy, too easy. If Sylvia hadn't been so caught up in her desire, she might have seen a group of faeries watching her from the shadows.

     It was dark when she swam to the castle, which was to be expected since it was night. Sylvia's plan was the king would be asleep while she cast the spell and destroyed the castle. She didn't want the king to be buried alive, but if he was that would be an extra bonus. She grinned evilly at the thought of him laying in bed happily and then boom! His castle would be gone.

     Once there, she said the spell. In a matter of seconds after the spell was done the castle was in rubble on the ground. The king was not buried, but was still sleeping in his bed, now exposed for everyone to see. "Snowbunny pajamas? That's so funny," cackled Sylvia. Still grinning, she turned to swim away, but faced about ten furious faeries.

     "Why did you do it?" hissed the one right in front of her, a fire faerie. "You had the perfect destiny lined up, but you just had to go and destroy it. Why, Sylvia, why? Destiny isn't meant to be altered…"

     Sylvia knew she should be sincere. She should probably grovel at the faerie's feet; all the faeries probably had the power to turn the young light faerie into dust. But Sylvia did not feel like groveling. She felt strong, like she was on top of the world. Stronger than any foolish Maraquan king. Groveling meant that she actually felt… sorry for what she did, which she didn't feel at all.

     "Because I could," Sylvia replied nonchalantly.

     The fire faerie sighed. Producing a blood red amulet from a leather pouch beside her brown dress, the faerie showed it to Sylvia.

     "Sylvia, destinies are meant to be lived, not altered. If you fulfilled your destiny, well, you would have things beyond your wildest dreams. We, the faerie council, know this because we had foreseen the future. I'm sorry, Sylvia, but this means you have a new destiny. Not all destinies are good, and you should have embraced yours." With this said, the fire faerie clasped the amulet onto the young faerie's neck. Feeling her legs start to turn numb and icy cold, Sylvia was mute, staring at what used to be her legs. It was no use running; the magic had taken its toll in a few seconds. It was really happening.

     Finally realizing her fatal mistake in listening to the darkness faerie from the first day, the young faerie managed to utter, "Jemina," before her head became completely frozen. She was now a stone statue at the bottom of the Maraquan water.

     The fire faerie turned to the rest of the faerie council. They all nodded solemnly.

     "She used to look so innocent when we brought her to the meeting. What happened?" They all gazed at the former light faerie. Strangely, she resembled more of a darkness faerie than a light faerie. Her eyes gave a leer of evil, and her hair twisted like snakes.

     "She had beautiful green eyes," commented an air faerie. They all nodded in agreement.

     "Jemina…" The fire faerie looked over at the only darkness faerie in the council.

     "Yes?"

     "Never mind… let's just go back to Faerieland." With this, they all disappeared, leaving the faerie who tried to alter destiny, down, down in the depth of the waters of Maraqua. Forever.

The End

Authors' Notes:

     Hu: I hope that you enjoyed this story.

     Rachel: If you have any comments, please Neomail Hu or me.

     Hu: Yes, comments are a must. *sticks a fork in a passerby*