Neopets and Faeries alike were always coming to her with issues both large and small. Today alone, Fyora had been called upon to stop three separate potential catastrophes from happening. All of them had been described to her as threats to the whole of Neopia! Now she was tired, hungry, and didn't want to do any more work for the next week at least!

After surreptitiously checking to make sure that there was nobody around to see her, Fyora relaxed her royal composure for just a minute, and slumped with exhaustion. She took her personal Everlasting Apple out of its hiding place behind a cushion on her throne, took a bite, and put it back as it reformed over where she had bitten. That helped a little bit with her hunger, and for the rest, she cast a quick spell to alert the kitchens to start preparing dinner.

While she waited, Fyora moved to a window to look out over Faerieland, and sighed with dismay. Rebuilding a city took time, of course, but destruction was still so visible across her beloved city even though so many years had passed since the Faeries' Ruin. She hadn't made any progress with Xandra either. She still hoped that one day the Xweetok could be redeemed.

A week was too long for her to ignore her work, Fyora knew, but... Maybe taking a short vacation actually wasn't such a bad idea! She could come back afterwards refreshed and ready to tackle her royal duties with new energy!

Fyora was beginning to think that this was a wonderful idea. A day off! In the meantime, she could have a Neopian that she trusted watch over the throne, and handle her duties.

During dinner, Fyora thought hard about the details of her plan while making polite small talk with the royal dignitaries from Brightvale and the Lost Desert. After bidding those guests a good night, she sent out her fastest messenger to the Neopian that she would trust to handle things on her day off.

And that Neopian was...

Her twin blades flashed in her hands as she performed her battle dance, slashing and swiping at imaginary enemies. The Korbat kept a respectable distance, choosing to wait until Aethia was finished before speaking.

"Miss Aethia, er, the Battle Faerie," the Korbat said tentatively after clearing their throat, "Her Majesty the Queen has a message for you."

"What is her message? Does she need anything from me?" Aethia frowned. "Is Faerieland in danger?"

"Oh, no, no, no," answered the Korbat, pulling out a scroll from their messenger bag and proffering it to the Battle Faerie, who sheathed her swords to take the scroll. "Nothing like that. Queen Fyora wants you to take over for her while she's on vacation."

"The Queen wants to go on vacation? More importantly...she wants me to watch over her throne while she's gone?"

"That's right, Miss Battle Faerie, ma'am."

Aethia furrowed her brow further as she continued reading the scroll. "I am the Faerie Queen's blade, her general and her knight," she said, "but what she asks of me, I'm not worthy of it. Surely there are better candida - "

She gasped quietly, staring at the scroll.

"What is it?" the Korbat asked.

Wordlessly, Aethia showed them the scroll, which...

"What does it mean?" the Korbat asked.

"A curse of some sort has been placed upon this parchment," Aethia explained as she carefully re-rolled the scroll. "Of its nature or its origin, though, I do not know. There is none more knowledgeable than I in the art of the blade and the shield, but of magic... well... we all have things that aren't our things." The Battle Faerie shook her head. "Now is not the time for that. How was Her Majesty when you spoke to her?"

"Ah, I mean... good?" the Korbat said. Realizing how non-reassuring they sounded, they added, "She seemed tired, hence the vacation, but she didn't seem, you know... cursed."

"This scroll will need to be examined by someone who is more familiar with curses. Seshatia perhaps, or maybe Jhudora if she can be talked into helping," Aethia said. "But first, we must check on Queen Fyora immediately."

Aethia shot through the trees with an impressive agility, dodging through the branches and brambles that blocked the path. It was all the Korbat messenger could do to keep the Battle Faerie's boots in sight.

Aethia sped all the way to Fyora's throne room, where she fluttered to a halt and rapped gently upon the door, registering the Korbat's laboured breathing somewhere behind her. Gentle knocks yielded no results, so Aethia's hand became more insistent, until finally the door relented. Aethia was shocked the door had been left ajar. "Queen Fyora? Your Majesty? Is all well?" she called, as she slowly opened the door to reveal...

The room was empty. There was no sign of Queen Fyora anywhere.

Aethia gently pushed the door open, the Korbat in tow. Something felt...off.

The Battle Faerie soundlessly drew a blade from its sheath and walked around the room to inspect the scene.

"Where...where is Her Majesty, Miss Aethia?" the Korbat asked with a sense of confusion. "Surely she didn't leave for her vacation already?"

The Battle Faerie responded by putting a finger to her lips, as if to signal for the Korbat not to make a noise.

Aethia began to walk gingerly around the room, looking for any kind of sign, a clue. The Korbat, still in tow, tried to match Aethia's footsteps.

Until they heard a thud.

The Korbat had accidentally kicked something across the room. It rolled and rolled until it came to a rest on the other side of the throne room. Light from a nearby window shone in just the right spot for the pair to decipher the object.

It was Queen Fyora's Everlasting Apple!

Aethia sheathed her sword and began to reach for the magical object when the cursed scroll began to writhe in her pocket.

A mysterious shadow blocked the light from the nearby window, and a sinister giggle emitted from it. As the shadow walked into the light, Aethia froze. She recognised the ominous figure as...

“Vira, are you behind this curse?” the Battle Faerie cried out, placing her hand back over the sheaths of her twin blades.

“Why else would I be here, Aethia?” she asked, her eyes turning to slits. Vira floated in the ethereal ray of light that bathed the throne room, her outline infecting the golden glow like a dim, dark disease.

Aethia could see now that the smoke that curled around the edges of the parchment was the same as the tendrils of darkness that engulfed the malicious and powerful Acara. She drew her weapons.

“I guess we’re skipping the pleasantries,” the Battle Faerie spat, matching her adversary’s venom. “Where is Fyora and why have you cursed our Queen?”

“Haven’t you heard? She’s on vacation,” Vira purred, laughing sadistically. “That’s why I’m here to step in as interim Queen of Faerieland.”

At that proclamation, Aethia’s blood ran cold…

Vira raised her hands and unleashed a jet of green magic at Aethia, which she deflected with her twin swords.

“Hahaha, such a delightful playmate,” she cackled. “Besides, reread the scroll again. I doubt she actually appointed you.”

Aethia and the Korbat’s eyes widened as they re-read the scroll.

“It can’t be!” Aethia gasped.

“I swear it said your name when I gave it to you!” the bewildered Korbat exclaimed.

Vira grinned ear to ear. “See, I told you. Now you’ve both overstayed your welcome. Be good guests and leave when you’re told.”

She cackled again as she continued to shoot magic at them, nearly overwhelming Aethia. Aethia shielded the Korbat, and the two of them fled the throne room.

“Now what?” Aethia wondered.

“You must go see Seshatia. She must know something about cursed scrolls,” the Korbat replied. The two of them headed down to the library. As they opened the door, though, they noticed…

Aethia pressed her fingers to her lips, shot the Korbat a meaningful glance, and then slowly and quietly drew her swords from their sheaths. She took a deep breath and stepped into the library.

The papers weren't the worst of the mess. At Seshatia's work table, a stack of books had toppled onto the floor, ancient pages crumpling against the floorboards where they landed.

Aethia swallowed. The Library Faerie would never let such calamity befall the books in her care, not if she could help it.

She moved past the work table and into the stacks, moving carefully, her footfalls silent as she rounded the end of one bookshelf and turned down new row after new row. 

A few gut-wrenching moments later, Aethia cleared the last stack.

Empty. The library was empty.

The Korbat fluttered anxiously near Seshatia's work table, poring over the fallen books and scattered papers. Aethia began rifling through them too, hoping to find some hint of what had happened here, though the lists of titles and handwritten notes in the margins didn't mean much to her. She hoped that Seshatia had long been gone from the library before whatever had caused all this damage, but if the Library Faerie was captured to keep her from helping them--

"She left us a clue!" the Korbat half-squeaked excitedly, and held out a loose leaf sheet on which Seshatia had written...

"What meaning do you think it is designed to convey, Miss Battle Faerie, ma'am?" the Korbat inquired as they handed the loose leaf to Aethia.

The faerie narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized it. And then a wave of realization washed over her. "She's signalling there's a trap in the basement underneath the Library!"

The Korbat gasped. "What should we do? If there's a trap there, we should do our best to avoid it!"

Aethia frowned. "Unfortunately, we must investigate," she declared resolutely. "It's the only lead we've got."

***

Aethia and the Korbat made their way down the creaky wooden stairs to the basement of the Library.

They passed dusty tomes lining dilapidated shelves, the magic within the books long since fading away. "Be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary," Aethia whispered as she wielded her sword. "We were told to be on guard."

The two walked on in silence as the basement gave way to a large cavern -- the entrance to the Catacombs under Faerieland. Some believe the Catacombs under Faerieland to extend all the way from those under Neopia Central!

"Hey wait, I see a light up ahead!" the Korbat said excitedly as she flew into the darkness ahead of them.

"Wait up!" Aethia called softly. "At least take one of my torches!" But it was too late -- the Korbat was too quick, and too quickly disappeared.

And then a steel cage fell over Aethia...

"Help!" she called out, no longer caring about keeping quiet. "Fyora's messenger, please come back!"

And as Aethia squinted in the dimming light of her torches, someone was indeed coming back. Aethia exhaled in relief as wings rustled and the large ears of the Korbat messenger emerged from the gloom. But wait... there was another faint sound of wings, another pair of bat-like ears. It was Vira!

"Stay back!" Aethia barked, pulling out her twin swords and glaring at Vira. "Don't you dare hurt that poor Korbat!"

Vira's musical laugh bubbled freely, and Aethia realized that the Korbat wasn't cringing back from Vira. Instead, they stood calmly at her side.

"No," Aethia whispered. "It can't be. Are you really betraying your queen and your homeland?"

Vira tilted her delicate face to the side. "Why, Aethia, I'm surprised at you," she purred. "I thought I was supposed to be the vain one focused only on one's outward appearance. Yet here you are, judging my darling friend Muno based only on their looks. Muno isn't from Faerieland, you realize. Your queen and your loyalty mean nothing to them."

Aethia looked at the Korbat in shock and felt the realization slam into her. "You were never the one sent by Fyora," she breathed. "You intercepted her messenger and posed as them, knowing you could lead me here." Stupid! she berated herself silently. She had taken the Korbat's Faerie colour and earnest expression at face value. She was the Battle Faerie- she should have known better.

Vira smiled nastily at her. "You're the last piece of the puzzle, Aethia. With Fyora, Seshatia, and yourself all captured, there is no one who can stand in my way! Faerieland is mine!"

But Aethia wasn't listening to Vira's ramblings. She had just noticed something...

How will this story end?

"...and once I rule Faerieland with an iron fist, the rest of Neopia will fol- AHH!" Vira's monologue cut off with a scream as Muno tackled her from behind. The Korbat and winged Acara fell to the ground in their scuffle.

"Quick! The release latch is in the wall to your left!" yelled Muno, holding down Vira to the best of their ability. The evil Acara was already beginning to channel a spell.

Aethia had no idea what was going on, but luckily, her well-honed battle instincts kicked in. She thrust her sword into the wall, hitting the lever and causing the cage to rise back into the air.

She quickly dove into the fray, and with the help of Muno they managed to hold Vira down long enough for Muno to bind Vira's arms in manacles. As soon as the chains locked, Vira's spell fizzled out.

"What is going on!? Unhand me!" yelled Vira. She tried to invoke her magic again and cried out as her spell failed.

"She won't be casting anything with these magic-sealing manacles," explained Muno. "I'm sorry for the duplicity, but my mission had to come first."

"Who are you, really?" asked Aethia. Vira continued to struggle as the Battle Faerie and Korbat walked her out of the catacombs.

"My name is Muno, and I am with the Defenders of Neopia. My mission was to keep an eye on Vira. Once I caught wind of her plan, I warned Fyora and together we worked to trap the vile Acara."

Aethia's eyes widened in surprise. "So the Queen is okay? What about Seshatia?"

Muno nodded. "They are both with the Defenders awaiting news of our success."

***

Hours later, Aethia found herself in Fyora's throne room once more.

"I'm so sorry for not being honest with you," said the Queen. "Muno came to me days ago to tell me their plan."

Aethia bowed before Fyora. "I understand, my Queen. Honestly, I'm quite glad it turned out this way. I wouldn't have even known what to do if I was left in charge of the entire kingdom."

Fyora made a face. "Well, actually, I *was* thinking of visiting Meridell..."

The End.