| Before the elder DeepMirage changed the past giving his
counterpart a nice life, things progressed in his life after the events with the
shadow Usul. This story is set 2 years after these events, where things are just
getting back to a normal routine for Dae. He was now happier than ever with his
family and he had almost forgotten about the shadow Usul. I say almost because
if he had completely forgotten about it then this story would never happen…
***
Mikey lay on the sofa admiring his new home. Being a hero sure came with its
rewards. A brand new house made of clouds on Faerieland, it was a change compared
to the tiny cabin on Mystery Island he was used to.
"DeepMirage!!" Merlinarose flew down the stairs,
or shall we say hovered down the stairs (her new wings were proving difficult
to work). Mikey looked at her. In her mouth she carried a broken yellow Poogle
toy, the very toy that had changed her into a Poogle long ago. She would never
get rid of it, much to the pleas of Mikey, even after being changed into an
ixi. Having a doll for 2 years without washing it once, not exactly the thing
he wanted his pet to do.
"Merlina?" Mikey jumped up from the sofa and
stopped her before she opened the basement door.
"He broke it! IT broke my doll!" Merlina was
fuming and tried every way to get around Mikey and get to the door.
"It? I assume you mean Dae? Before you are so
eager to blame Dae, remember that there's another pet down there!" Mikey opened
the door and was pounced on by a mutant Kougra and a robot Kougra. "Dae, Toby…
GET OFF!!" Mikey jumped up and looked at the two pets.
"Grrrr!" Dae arched his back and glared at Merlina.
"Dae!" Mikey shouted and Dae, Toby, and Merlina
all sat quietly on the sofa, "Now, which one of you two broke this horrible
thing?" Mikey held the Poogle toy by the ear letting it dangle down.
"Him!" Dae and Toby both pointed to each other.
"Meriner, who did it?" Mikey glared at the robot.
Toby looked at the toy, and then at the floor, and then he pointed at the Kougra.
"Thank you, Dae get down in that basement and stay down there, and seeing as
though you'll be down there for a good month, you can think about cleaning it
up!" Mikey watched as Dae dragged his feet across the floor and shut the door
to the basement. Tobieras was laughing, so was Merlina. "Something funny, don't
think you're getting off easily, Merlina go upstairs and take care of your brother,
Toby make dinner!"
"I'm sick of this. I was a hero and you wouldn't
know it!" Dae paced his bedroom looking at his little petpet that was sat on
his bed.
"You better tidy up, Dae, or you'll get grounded
for even longer!" The mutant Puppyblew jumped up and started picking up rubbish
and failed experiments from the floor.
"What are you doing, Fang? I'll just open the
door and shove it in the hole!" Dae walked over to the wall and pushed it in,
it swung inwards revealing a large opening in the dark cloudy walls, it was
a space filled with nothing, it seemed to be endless, yet there was something
that would make you believe there was an end. "Fang, can you remember there
ever being a light in there before?"
"No!" The Puppyblew looked in amazement.
"Get me that torch!" Dae stuck his head into
the space and reached out for the torch, Fang ran over with it and handed it
to him. Dae turned it on and shone it around the hole, it was no longer a hole,
it was a corridor, the light appeared to be coming from an opening at the end
of it. Dae put his paw on the floor in front of him to test whether it was sturdy.
He decided it was and ventured inside…
"Dae, dinner!" Mikey knocked on the basement
door. "What's taking him so long? Toby go down and get your brother!" Mikey
had decided long ago that it was best to leave the inhabitants of the basement
to go into it. After a near miss with a lab ray Dae had been experimenting on,
he thought it was best, too.
"Dae?" Toby looked around the room and focused
on the opening in the wall, "Dae?" Tobieras examined the opening again, he wondered
whether or not Dae had gone into it. But why would he? The opening where they
hid everything was next to it. Tobieras watched in amazement as the clouds on
the surrounding walls filled in the gap. If Dae was in there, he was staying
in there. "Mikey, you need to come down here quick!" Toby ran to the staircase
and yelled up, his eyes still fixed on the wall. Mikey, Merlina and Kaweo all
ran down the stairs and looked at Toby.
"Tobieras?" Mikey saw he was staring at the
wall and walked over to it and put his hand on the wall, it swung inward revealing
the opening again, he placed his foot inside and placed it down…
"NOOO!!!"
Mikey turned around to see Fyora stood behind
him.
"Don't go in there, it's too dangerous!"
"What's in there?" Mikey looked puzzled.
"That's the realm of Jenifyuri, an evil Faerie
that worked for Jennumara, perhaps the most evil of them all. She helped her
capture the Grey Faerie, who has only recently been freed by the courage and
outstanding wit of a young Kyrii," Fyora said, and then sat down on the bed
and bowed her head. Mikey could tell this was deeply upsetting for her, the
loss of a Faerie and banishing a Faerie from this realm.
"But Dae's in there, we can't leave him!" Toby
protested -- Dae had made him, but that's a different story.
"There is one way we can get him back, with
the help of the Grey Faerie, but ever since she was freed she's been living
in solitude. I doubt very much she would want to face one of her captors," said
Fyora.
"Well, she will help him. I didn't risk my neck
two years ago to defeat the shadow Usul and save Dae just to lose him again!"
Mikey yelled as he stood up and got ready to leave.
"And how do you expect to find her? Only I know
where she has gone!" exclaimed Fyora.
"You better get ready to take us there then!"
Merlina stepped forward; strange how she wanted to find Dae now that it involved
the faeries.
"Okay, but I'm not walking. It's such a primitive
means of transport, arms out!" Fyora picked up her wand as Mikey and Toby lifted
up there arms. She then looked at Merlina, she already had wings so she left
her. Then she looked at Kaweo, who had fallen asleep, he too already had wings
of his own so left him as he was.
"Now where to?"
"Just follow me. If I tell you, I can risk endangering
Baelia!"
"But we're going there, we'll know where she
is," said Merlina looking puzzled.
"Don't be too sure about that!" Fyora laughed
and flew up through the floor leaving a hole in the clouds. She then proceeded
to fly out the door while the others followed.
There were very few clouds in the sky as they
flew above Neopia. It was a nice day, but there was no time to enjoy it. Dae
was in trouble.
"Where are we going?" "I'm tired!" "Are we there
yet?" Fyora got frustrated from the shouts coming from behind her.
"NO! We are not there yet, it's tough if you're
tired. Seeing as though you won't remember any of this anyway, I suppose I can
tell you! We're going to the other side of Neopia."
"The other side of Neopia?" Mikey asked in a
shocked tone. He didn't know what was on the other side, no one did, only the
faeries. Everyone knew of the other side, but everyone who had tried to get
there disappeared. "What's on the other side?"
"Same as this side -- lands, pets, faeries."
Fyora smiled, it was nice to be able to talk about the other side of Neopia
for once, instead of pretending it didn't exist.
"Then why aren't pets or humans or faeries,
for that matter, allowed to go there?!" asked Mikey.
"You shall see, you shall see!" Fyora smiled
as she took a last look at the Haunted Woods before she entered the other side.
To be continued...
Authors Note: Neomails will be replied to ASAP, although I cannot promise
anything.
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