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"Yakynaza, wake up!"
Yakynaza's silvery-blue eyes snapped open. Florpiedra,
Fiousa and a very old Lupe with graying fur stood beside Yakynaza's bedside.
"Yakynaza, sir!" Florpiedra exclaimed. Her face
was pale and shocked. "Sir, the Council has decided what to make of you!" She
glanced anxiously at the elderly Lupe, who was robed in black. He had a rather
twisted smile playing upon his lips.
"I am a representative of the Council of Ten.
You will be sent into the Chamber of Tribulation," the aged Lupe explicated.
"It is to justify your claims to be the Wolf of the Midnight Sun."
"What? I made no such claim!" Yakynaza threw
back his bedcovers, hackles raised.
"Please, sirs!" Florpiedra squeaked, but her
words made little difference between the two now growling Lupes. Sorcerer Fiousa
took charge, his voice deep and rich for someone so young.
"Enough!" he ordered, as Yakynaza felt the tingle
of what could only be magic wrap around his joints, preventing him from moving,
as it also did to the Council Lupe. "Council Member Kaldraan, please let us
speak with the Wolf for a few minutes, alone." Fiousa released the two from
his magic with a wave of his staff, and elderly Kaldraan left them in peace.
"Where did you two get off calling me the Wolf
of the Midnight Sun?" Yakynaza demanded as soon as the door was shut. Fiousa
gave Yakynaza a warning look before explaining.
"We are not Lupes from Reino de Lobos," Fiousa
began.
"Well, I can see that!" Yakynaza exclaimed, still
angry, referring to the pair's red and green colouring.
"We come from a family of sorcerers," Fiousa
explained. "We had hoped to gain insight and knowledge from this kingdom, which
is supposedly vastly magical. So we disguised ourselves. I, being having a gift
in magic, cast a spell that allowed us to look like whatever pets we were surrounded
by. Being both Lupes, I only had to change our colour, and add flames for tails
to our appearance."
"What does that have to do with getting the idea
that I'm the Wolf of the Midnight Sun?"
"Please Yakynaza, have patience!" Florpiedra
cried out, surprising Yakynaza with her sudden firmness. "Do you know where
you come from, Yakynaza?"
"I - I was born into Neopia, like anyone else!"
Privately, however, Yakynaza didn't feel so sure anymore.
Florpiedra shook her head. "No, sir, you weren't.
When we came to Reino de Lobos, we witnessed a strange figure save a yellow
Lupe baby from certain death when it was blasted out of the volcano. We learned
later that the rightful heir to the throne had been painted yellow and thrown
into a river of lava, by his brother, with the intention of destroying him,
in order to gain the throne of Reino de Lobos. A human came and took the puppy,
I suppose, to the pound in Central Neopia. That puppy was you, Yakynaza."
"How -- how can you be so sure?" Yakynaza challenged
weakly.
"When you came to this kingdom as a traveller,
Fiousa and I immediately recognized you. No other Lupe in the kingdom, or anywhere
else, had ever had silver eyes, sir, and we had seen the silver eyes of the
young baby Lupe."
"Then how did you know I was the Wolf of the
Midnight Sun?" Yakynaza asked, eager yet anxious of the answer.
"What you must understand, sir," Fiousa said.
"Is that I had learned about the legend of the Wolf of the Midnight Sun, and
set the spell of our colours so that if the Wolf of the Midnight Sun came and
fulfilled the prophecy, we would know, for he would be the only one who could
know our true colours."
Yakynaza sat on his bed, stunned to the core.
A single, shaken tear fell from his silver eye. He was only a kid, really. He
couldn't be Wolf of the Midnight Sun, he just couldn't! He just wasn't ready
for the responsibility of the world on his shoulders.
A knock sounded on the door, but before anyone
had stepped forth to answer it, Kaldraan had thrown it open, a cold smile on
his lips.
"It is time."
***
"Young master, it is time for your awakening."
The Lupe's eyes fluttered open. He lay spread
eagle on a primitive sleeping mat.
Rubbing his head, he looked around. Last thing
he remembered, Kaldraan had shown him to an old stone doorway…Wait a second
-- Kaldraan? Who was Kaldraan? And why was he remembering an old stone doorway?
His memories were trickling away from him faster than he could fully grasp them.
The Lupe shook his head. What was his name? Yakyn… something. It was like trying
to grasp onto water. He couldn't remember a thing.
Looking around, the Lupe saw that he was inside
a tent large enough to be a house. A cloaked figure was kneeling beside him,
prodding him awake. The Lupe got up.
"Hareb, son of Haeban," The voice from under
the figure's hood was female, and reminded the Lupe of the peaceful night air.
"Is thy courage and sinew yet prepared for thy task?"
Hareb. Yes, it was familiar. Yes, he was Hareb.
"Yes," he answered resolutely. "Lady of the Midnight Sun."
"Then go, Hareb,"
Hareb knelt on one knee and put a paw over his
heart. He then looked up at his mistress.
"Thank you," Hareb said to the Lady of the Midnight
Sun. "For giving us this chance to destroy our oppressors and to earn our freedom.
Thank you, my lady, for bestowing upon me this honour."
The Lady of the Midnight Sun was beautiful. Her
fair skin had the glow of a full moon on a starry night, her long silver hair
shining with the sereneness of moonlight on gently rippling waters. Her silver
and black robes glistened as she raised her hands.
"Ynit sedru oyli fluf dna, Nusth gin di Meht Foflow,
og!" The Lady spoke in the Old Tongue of the Ancient World. Moonlight shone from
her hands, and surrounded Hareb, enveloping him in armour wrought in black metal
and worked with silver. A gleaming sword, Clairdelune, fashioned of the light
of each and every Pangean appeared at Hareb's belt.
"Thank you, my lady," Hareb uttered. In a flash
of blue flames, Hareb set out to take back his people's freedom.
The battle was one of loyalty to the Lady, for
though Hareb's people only numbered five hundred, they kept faith in her and
slew their enemies mercilessly until their enemies surrendered. Raising Clairdelune
high above his head, Hareb cried, "Ots knah tevig dnae cio jersu tele romone
rasei mener uo Enulede!"
***
"Our enemies are no more, let us rejoice and give thanks to Enulede!" Yakynaza
whispered as he opened his eyes. He was inside the Chamber of Tribulation
once more, lying on the ice-cold stone floor. Slowly he got up, his memories
flooding back to him.
Looking behind him, he realized that Kaldraan,
Florpiedra and Fiousa were standing there. Kaldraan looked disconcerted for
the first time since Yakynaza had seen him.
"You survived… come with us," said Kaldraan,
adding softly, "Hareb, son of Haeban."
Kaldraan, Florpiedra and Fiousa escorted Yakynaza
to the Great Chamber, where the whole kingdom, seated in raised seats, still
sat. Yakynaza noticed that the monument that he had seen in the king's chambers
had been placed before the audience, except that two seemingly carved out paw
prints now were below the picture of the Lupe. The subjects of Reino de Lobos
whispered excitedly to each other and shot furtive glances at Yakynaza. Florpiedra,
Kaldraan and Fiousa stopped short of going onto the platform where the monument
was placed.
"You must go alone," Florpiedra whispered to
Yakynaza. Yakynaza, utterly bewildered with what was going on, stepped up on
the platform, where the king was waiting, beaming at him.
King Reyilíci motioned Yakynaza to kneel beside
him, and said to his people, "The day of the Rebirth of the Wolf of the Midnight
Sun has come at last, people of Reino de Lobos! The young outlander Lupe, I
have been told, is the Wolf of the Midnight Sun reborn, and the heir of Reino
de Lobos!" King Reyilíci turned to Yakynaza. "Yakynaza, place your paws on the
monument."
"Yes, your majesty." Yakynaza turned towards
the monument and lay his paws, one by one, on the stone paw imprints.
Suddenly, light burst from the carvings of the
Lupe on the monument, a blinding light that filled the whole chamber and seemingly
burst through the doorways and lit the whole of Reino de Lobos in dazzling light.
When the light cleared, Yakynaza slowly opened
his silver eyes. His owner, Zyranyx, stood before him. Yakynaza's eyes widened
in immense surprise and he exclaimed, "Mom? What are you doing here?" The audience
seemed just as surprised as Yakynaza, muttering things like, "A human?" and
"What happened?". Zyranyx sighed, inexplicably quieting the people of Reino
de Lobos.
"It is time," Zyranyx said, her quiet voice spreading
around the entire room. "For me to reveal my true identity, Yakynaza." She closed
her eyes, and silver light glowed around her in a dazzling cocoon until she
could no longer be seen. The people gasped in amazement as the shroud of light
drifted away. Yakynaza felt his jaw drop.
Where his owner had been stood a Faerie with
fair skin which had the glow of a full moon. Her ears ended in graceful points.
Zyranyx's short black hair had become long and silvery like moonlight on rippling
waters. Her silver-white robes rippled though there was no wind. She had whitish
wings veined in grey. When she spoke, her voice was no longer the excited trill
of Yakynaza's owner, but deep, resonating and powerful.
"I am Enulede, Lady of the Midnight Sun, Faerie
of the Moon," she proclaimed. Standing beside Yakynaza, she added. "And this
is my son, the Wolf of the Midnight Sun, with whom I am well pleased."
The End
*If you want to know the full story of how Yakynaza went from Reino de Lobos
to Neopia as a baby, go to Yakynaza's homepage.
**Look out for more series about the Wolf of the Midnight Sun!
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