"But they are wandering places, you see, scattered amongst all the clouds in the sky, floating aimlessly, rogue magics.

"And there are things hidden amongst those fantastical mists, those dew shaped caves, that carry great treasures. Ones lost to the faeries. I myself, have no wings, and cannot fly, have no way to reach them, but you, my child, you can.

"I have a favour to ask of you..."

"Ask, ask me anything I want to help!" He replied with excitement.

"There is one particular cloud, home to a magical cave. The treasures inside are priceless and have great great powers, powers I do not hold."

The Grey Faerie paused as she reached for a scroll from a shelf.

"Follow this map, but be wary, You will not be the only Neopet in search for these treasurers."

The Eyrie clutched the scroll as he flapped his wings and took flight.

Landing on a tall mountain David thought this would be the perfect place to scan the map. As he unraveled the scroll an unfriendly voice began to shout...

David flew back into the sky in shock, only to realise that he had been standing on a gigantic Halloween Grarrl.

"Sorry to disturb you, Mr Grarrl, i would just like to read my map", David stuttered.

"It seems to be encrypted, can you help me?"

David unveiled the scroll to reveal a twirl of ancient and strange symbols which gives off an eerie blue glow.

"I see, hmm, thats a treasure map written in the language of the ancient scholars of Brightvale" replied the Robynn the Grarrl.

"I have lived through many centuries, and slept through many others, you have indeed found the right person!" replied Robynn.

"But..."

The Halloween Grarrl chuckled deeply. "You would be searching for many lifetimes! But there are several things you do not know." Robynn held his hand up and turned it towards the sky, and opened it. A flame lit and danced above his palm for a few seconds and then went out. "The clouds you seek are formed in /magic/."

David had stepped back at the flash of light, but looked at Robynn again. "I - I'm not a magician! Can I still do this???"

Robynn's eyes twinkled. "With help, it can be done. First, know that the caves in the clouds hold their formations. Like the constellations in the night sky, these caves hold to their groups. The map shows the groups. Find the right group, and the map points to the one you seek."

David felt strongly that Robynn was holding /something/, some secret, back from him. Growing impatient of Robynn's long pause, he asked, "And? What else???"

Robynn looked out on the mountain below. "As I said, you have to find the right group first. Not an easy endeavor for someone who knows nothing about the clouds. Nor someone without magic. Luckily for you, you've found someone who knows as much as a Neopet can."

"Great!" David exclaimed. Could this be his quick ticket to finding the cave the Grey Faerie explained? "Then let's get going!"

The Grarrl let out a long, bellowing laugh. "Not so fast, Eyrie. You see, I don't work for free. If you want my help, it'll cost you." David gulped. He was afraid to ask.

"Half of the cave treasures," the Grarrl continued, "to start. Then a few more taxes depending on the length of time spent, the amount of effort involved... It will probably end up going to three-fourths."

"Three-fourths!" David squeaked. There's no way he could bring back what the faerie needed, if he could only take a small share. "Forget this, I'll just find it on my own."

David began to fly away, but was halted once more by the Grarrl's grinding laugh. "Sure, kid, if you want to spend the rest of your life flying among the stars. This is the best deal you'll ever get."

David paused. He didn't want to spend forever looking, and the Grey Faerie wouldn't be willing to wait that long. But the largest share would go to Robynn... maybe it wouldn't be too much.

The Eyrie touched down in front of Robynn. "Fine," David grumbled, holding the map out. "Where do we go first?"

Despite every fiber of his being screaming at him not to trust the Grarrl, David trailed behind Robynn as they took off in search for the treasure. While David flapped his wings to remain airborne, Robynn cast a spell which allowed him to float around easily.

"This is going to be a rough ride," the Grarrl shouted before making a sharp right turn and diving straight down.

David followed suit, flying and swerving this way and that to avoid the many clouds. After what felt like hours, he began to suspect the Grarrl and his many detours.

"Are we there yet?" David yelled, heading skyward to try to maintain the distance between them. He was starting to find it hard to keep up with the Grarrl, who didn't seem one bit tired.

There was no response from Robynn. Just as he was about to ask again, David spotted the outline of a cluster of caves sitting on a thick cloud far ahead of him.

However, no sooner had the Eyrie registered the location of the treasure than a barrage of energy balls of light hurtled at full speed towards them.

"Keep up if you can," Robynn yelled scornfully and sped straight ahead through the onslaught ...

After going through several waves, he relaxed some, thinking that the worst was over, but when he turned around, he saw that the ones he had avoided were now following him!

"What the...!" He shouted out, and nearly crashed right into a large one. He managed to loop-the-loop to avoid crashing into it, but when he did, he saw that it was no ordinary energy ball.

It had a face.

"These are Motes!" He thought to himself.

This changed a few things. Motes don't normally just attack someone out of random. Usually, the majority of Motes were rather friendly. But if they were ordered to protect or defend something, then they would...

David looked over towards Robynn again, and saw that he was just plowing right through the cloud. Almost like he wasn't worried at all about them striking him.

"Something's not right here..." David thought to himself, but picking up speed to catch up to the Grarrl.

"In here!" Robynn said, pointing to one of the cave entrances, "This is the spot..."

"I warned you it would be a rough ride," Robynn said with a raised eyebrow as David glared at him, still holding his singed wing gingerly.

"Let's just get moving," the Eyrie grumbled. His enthusiasm for the task had dwindled greatly. He knew the grey faerie was counting on him, but at this rate, he would wind up getting attacked by the horde Motes gathered at the ward on the way back and having nothing to show for it, as Robynn clearly intended to take the Noil's share of the treasure.

"These passages used to be lit with faerie magic," Robynn said as he conjured a small ball of fire in his palms and led David through the twisting tunnels. They were probably gorgeous in their day, glittering in all the colors of the rainbow, each hue unique to each individual faerie. Although, David noted, the dark passages still retained a certain haunting beauty.

Robynn continued speaking, "now that the Faeries have left the sky, that magic has run out. I bet that grey faerie who sent you here didn't bother telling you that."

"No, she didn't," David replied before shock caused him to stop in his tracks. Wait a minute... I never told him I was doing this for a grey faerie. How did he know? The faerie's words came back to him: be wary, he was not the only Neopet in search of the treasure.

"Now wait just a minute, Robynn, how -"

But before he could get the words out, Robynn's magical fire disappeared, leaving David blind and disoriented in the dark caves... How does this story end?

"It came from the stars and it rests in the sky, and Faerieland fell because there was no longer enough of it to keep everything together, what was once a place of pure energy became so diluted that a mere Neopet was able to bring it crashing to the ground. Faeries have no magic of their own, they simply harvest it."

David's heart was pound, and he reached out blindly in the dark, trying to find a wall, a huff of cloud, anything, to reorientate himself. "What are you talking about?"

"There are a lot of things," Robynn said, suddenly sounding very far away. "That the faeries don't tell you."

Strangely enough, he sounded quite sad.

"Magic, you see, is not a sustainable resource. There is only so much of it, and faeries are not able to create it themselves, they can only gather, and harness. You and me, we are like butterflies. As we move throughout this world, magic collects around us, festering, and in some small way, it grows, it spreads, but only in microscopic ministrations.

That is why faeries came to this world. They need us."

David squeezed his eyes shut tightly, hoping that would somehow clear his mind and help his vision, but when he opened them, there was still nothing but darkness.

"Have you ever wondered," mused Robynn, "Why the faeries ask us to go on quests? When with all their power, it would be so simple to just find things on their own?

"It's because they need us for another reason."

"WHY!" David shouted, clawing at the darkness. This was all too much, the grey faerie, she couldn't be -

"There is no treasure, David," said the Grarrl. "There is only rogue magic, intangible to us, but swirling all around every fibre that we are, that the faeries wish to harvest."

"Why are you telling me this!" David stopped his wild flailing, suddenly, afraid of what would happen. "Unless...are you going to kill me?"

Robynn chuckled from a place very, very far away. "No," he said. "I simply wanted you to learn as I had, long ago. The truth."

And as if by cue - as if by magic - the cave disappeared, and David found himself in a deep blue sky, completely alone. So he did the only thing he could. He flew.

The End...