“Quit fidgeting,” Delma playfully nudged him in the ribs with her elbow.

“I can’t help it,” the Shoyru replied with a slight edge to his voice. “I’m sooooo nervous.”

The Faerieland team had been waiting in the palace lobby for twenty minutes now, and some members were dealing with it better than others.

Valtonous smiled kindly. “We all are, kiddo. Meeting Queen Fyora is kinda a big deal.”

Elbin gulped and turned to his other teammate. “Ciona, how are you feeling?”

The Kyrii, who was almost infamous for her lack of concentration, nearly didn’t hear her anxious teammate’s question. She had been too focused on how to make a good first impression for when Fyora finally arrived.

“Uh…”

“A-HEM, Ciona isn’t worried either,” Kakoni spoke up. “Look, team. I know this pre-opening audience with Queen Fyora is nerve-wracking but we’ll do great. We’re the best team I could ever ask for and no matter what I’m always proud of you guys.”

“Yeah, the Captain’s right,” Valtonous added. “We are in this together. Plus, I heard Queen Fyora is super nice.”

“Look, if we can’t even handle meeting the Faerie Queen, what hope do we have of winning –,” Delma was cut off.

The room was suddenly silent and all eyes turned to the door as it creaked and began to open…

"Baelia?" Kakoni gasped. "Where's Fyora?"

Baelia looked to be on the verge of tears, but then, she always did.

"She... we..." Baelia's words were punctured with sobs and sniffles. Valtonous silently offered her a handkerchief that Baelia blew into, loud and wet.

"Thank you. We were on our way here, to meet you all, and suddenly there was a flash of lightning, and these horrible dark clouds!" She paused to sob into the handkerchief once more. "The queen was gone so quickly, and I have no idea who took her! But the magic was so dark and angry." She turned to Kaknoi, setting her large grey eyes on hers.

"The dark magic has already reached everyone else. I need you all to help me save her."

After what felt like an eternity, Kakoni finally spoke up. "Friends, we have been met by an enormous tragedy. Unfortunately, our queen has been stolen by some wicked force. And as Faerieland's representative, nay as the heroes of Faerieland itself, we must do everything in our power to punish whoever committed this most heinous deed"!

Soon, cheers of "Yeah!" and "Let's do this!" rang throughout the room. Kakoni was certainly proud of herself that she was able to change the mood so quickly. Though, it might be added, the uncertainty in her voice, as well as the shaking as she spoke was painfully obvious to everyone in the room.

However, the joyous mood came to an end when Elbin spoke up.

"How could we go up against such a force though? Not even Fyora herself could defeat this foe. How could we possibly win?"

Once again, the room went silent as they suddenly realized what they were up against.

This time, the silence was broken surprisingly by Baelia.

"Why don't you ask Aethia for help? She is the Battle Faerie after all." she eventually managed to sputter out before breaking down into tears again.

Given that they had no other option, the group decided to make their way to Aethia's house in Faerieland, the ever-looming black cloud above their heads a reminder of what they were facing.

"Oh no no no," she said, sitting up and lowering her sunglasses as she saw the group approach. "Baelia you know this is my day off."

"I know miss Aethia," Baelia said, her eyes still red and puffy. "But this is an emergency. Fyora's disappeared!"

"What is it this time?" Aethia asked, not moving from her lounge chair. "Bandits, thieves, or was she turned to stone again?"

"It was a puff of smoke," Baelia said. "We don't know who or what caused it, but there's no sign of her anywhere."

"That is unusual," Aethia said.

"Please Aethia," Kakoni spoke up. "We need to find Fyora."

It seemed to dawn on Aethia that the Faerieland Team was in her yard. She perked up a bit.

"Alright I'll help you," she said. "Baelia you saw this happen?"

Baelia nodded.

"Excellent, then you likely still have some trace of magic left on you. Magic always leaves a trace. Go and see Illusen, she's a gifted tracer; she'll find out where this magic came from."

The group erupted in "thank you"s, which seemed to cheer Aethia considerably. She stood, retrieved something from the willow tree behind her, and turned to face Kakoni.

"Here," she said. In her outstretched arm was a magnificent sword, with a jewelled sheath and an impressive leather strap. "Take my sword with you. Whoever did this will be powerful, but the magic in this sword is strong. It will protect you all from whatever is to come."

"Aethia suggested you might be able to trace some magic for us. Please, it's very important," Kaknoi said, clutching the Battle Faerie's sword. That he carried it didn't escape Illusen's notice.

"She didn't send you here because it's her day off, you know," Illusen said, taking a few steps toward Baelia and examining her. Well, not exactly her, more the edges of her, the air around her. "She sent you here because there's nothing she can do about the sorcerer who cast this spell."

Team Faerieland looked uneasily at her."Would you have come if the Battle Faerie told you she didn't stand a chance?" Illusen asked. "Or would you have flown back to the Colosseum and pretended nothing happened?"

"We would not have run," Elbin said softly.

For a moment, Illusen studied him, then she smiled. "No. I see that you wouldn't have. Clearly my sister did too. And that's all for the better. Running back to the Colosseum wouldn't have gotten you away from this."

This time, the members of Team Faerieland looked uneasily at each other.

"I don't know who conjured that terrible cloud, but I can tell you they were in Altador when they did." She reached above her head and plucked a flower from a tree branch, a bright orange one with petals like the rays of the sun. "You'll this in addition to that sword, if you want to succeed. Breathe in its scent. You'll know when the time is right."

"This is totally crazy," Elbin couldn't help sighing aloud to his teammates.

"I know," Valtonous said with a rueful smile. "Remember when we thought seeing Fyora herself was the scariest thing that could happen today? And surely she only wanted to encourage us before the games."

"Well, that's a good point!" Kakoni exclaimed, turning to the Grey Faerie. "Baelia, why did the Queen want to see us? Do you know?"

"We weren't talking long," Baelia admitted. "She mentioned she needed to give you a warning. I had no reason to think it wasn't about the Cup. She... she did say something else. Something bad about plants withering... It didn't strike me as out of the ordinary because, well, something bad is always happening, isn't it?" She sniffled again and wiped away a tear.

"Plants withering," Ciona muttered, homing in for once on one of the many trains of thought running through her mind. "That rings a bell... Baelia, didn't that happen when the Betrayer returned? Could it... ?"

"The Betrayer?" Baelia shook her head violently. "No. Not a chance. But..." Baelia stopped, her face turning greyer than anyone would have thought possible. "There was one in Altador sympathetic to her cause..."

How will this story end?

Once they’d had a chance to catch their breath, they took off again, flying as fast as they could. As soon as the city’s walls were in sight, they knew something was very, very wrong. The dark storm clouds that had marred Faerieland’s sky were here too, circling over the Colosseum. Lightning streaked down, striking the stone structure again and again with streaks of pink and purple and blue—the magic stolen from the Faeries.

As they neared, the air became so filled with smoke that it became hard to breathe, hard to see.

“The flower!” Kakoni choked out. Elbin withdrew it from his uniform and breathed in its sweet scent. The air around him cleared, and he passed the flower to his companions. It cleared their noses, their throats, and their sight—as if, just for them, the sun was shining over the ancient city. They made for the Colosseum.

“We’ll go in through the locker rooms!” Kakoni called. He drew Aethia’s sword as they landed. This wasn’t the entrance they’d hoped to make to this year’s Cup, but it was a spectacular one.

It took only minutes to navigate the labyrinthine underbelly of the Colosseum and reach the door of the announcer’s box. The door itself was scorched, hanging off its hinges, and Kakoni held up his hand for his teammates to pause.

He didn’t want to believe that the announcer they’d known, the one they’d been friends with for at least a decade, would be part of such a plot. He looked into the eyes of his teammates, and he could see the same hesitation in theirs. No, if the Grarrl was involved, it wasn’t by choice.

Kakoni peeked around the corner of the battered door frame, clutching Aethia’s sword. The magic from Illusen’s flower let him see things as they really were, see the spinning dark magic possessing the Grarrl, see that it was coming from a ruby pendant he had wrapped around his fingers.

Deftly, Kakoni stepped into the room and, with a single stroke, sliced the pendant from its chain. The announcer gasped and lunged to retrieve it, the darkness already retreating from around him, but Kakoni was faster. Of course he was faster. He was the captain of Team Faerieland. He drove the point of Aethia’s sword into the cursed gemstone, shattering it.

The announcer collapsed. The world grew quiet. A soft light rose from the shattered stone, pink and purple at the same time. Elbin began to fidget. Delma elbowed him in the ribs. Valtonous smiled. Ciona stared at the light, entirely unprepared for the form that was manifesting in it.

It looked like they were going to meet Fyora today after all.

The End,