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After Star picked up a tardy slip from the office, she headed
to her first period class -- gym.
"Star, wait up!" Star turned around to see her
best friend DarianKu running through the throng of other students rushing to
their classes to catch up with her. The gray Shoyru stopped to catch his breath.
"Hey, Darian," smiled Star.
"Hey," panted Darian. He stood up. "So, what's
up?"
"I'm having a crummy day, that's what," Star
grumbled. "First it starts to rain, then I'm late, and then I get caked with
mud! I missed my entire homeroom class because I had to go to the nurse's office
to get all the mud cleaned off, making me EVEN MORE late!!"
"Sheesh, calm down, Star," said Darian patting
his friend on the back. "You're just having an off day is all." Typical Darian
-- always looking on the bright side of things. Its times like this that Star
really liked him.
"So, I'll see you during gym?" asked Darian
turning to leave.
"Yeah." Star waved goodbye as she bounded down
the hall.
~*~
The rest of the school day was a blur. It was as if nothing had even happened
that morning. Darian was right -- she was just having an off day, although she
still felt a little crummy. The Shoyru was walking home down Guild Street when
a paw touched her shoulder.
"Howdy there, Star!" said a beaming fire Wocky.
"Hey, Zukoni," Star sighed.
Zukoni's grin suddenly faded. "What's your deal?"
"I just kind of had an off day, that's all,"
Star explained.
"Oh, I see. But that's nothing a little game
of Pyramids can't fix!" smiled Zukoni as he opened the door to their NeoHome.
"Now come on, let's go find your deck of cards - "
But when they walked inside the door they stopped
and stared. On the couch next to a Khnum who was hungrily munching on a bag
of chips, was a white Zafara with silver and blue stripes. Steph walked in carrying
a bowl of nachos. She looked up at the two Neopets standing in the doorway.
"Oh, hi guys! You have some guests -- and they say they want to talk to you,
Star."
~*~
A ghost Draik gingerly opened the big wooden door in front of him. It's creaking
echoed in the darkened room, making the Draik cringe. The Draik walked in, and
the door slammed with a heavy BAM behind him. The room was silent, except
for the Draik's heavy breathing and rapid beating of his heart. Suddenly the
room was bathed with light as the dark torches on the walls flared to life.
The Draik's eyes blinked at the sudden brightness and looked around the room.
Statues of a particularly malicious-looking
Chia lined the walls in different poses. In the middle of the room was a throne
made entirely out of black onyx with dark red rubies carved into the onyx. The
legs of the throne were made from the skulls of Lupes. The throne was turned
away from him, but he could tell someone was sitting in it.
"Um -- my Lord? I have some rather unpleasant
news..."
The figure in the throne remained silent.
"Well my Lord, it's about the Mage - I'm afraid
someone got to her before us - "
"Who?"
"I beg your pardon my Lord?"
"Who found her?"
"I-I don't know... but we'll find out -- "
The figure dismounted his throne and grabbed
the Draik by the neck. The Draik wretched to get free, but the figure's grip
was too strong. His demon-red eyes burned into the Draik's with an icy cold
stare.
"Do you realize what this means, Lambert?"
the figure hissed, tightening his grip on the Draik's neck, making him wretch
in pain.
"Um -- no my Lord, I can't say that I do,"
Lambert gasped.
"It MEANS that my chances of taking over Neopia
now are less than they were before! We have to do something before she reaches
her full potential and my chances are slim to none!"
"But my Lord," squeaked Lambert. "We don't
even know who the Mage is..."
"True..." said the figure scratching his chin.
"It could be anybody..."
The figure loosened its grip on the Draik's
neck. Lambert slowly inched his way towards the doorway. "Wait!"
Lambert nearly jumped out of his skin. "Yes
my Lord?"
"Don't leave just yet -- I have a job for you..."
~*~
"Who the heck are you?!" demanded Star. "And what are you doing in my NeoHome?"
The Zafara stood up. She grinned at Star, seeming
to be slightly amused by her anger. "We have reason to believe you are the person
-- er, Shoyru -- we've been looking for."
"What are you talking about?" asked Star giving
the stranger a quizzical look.
"Allow me to explain," the Khnum said. Star
stared. Wait -- did that Khnum just speak English?
"You see, we come here from a distant time
in the past - "
"Phfft, yeah right!" scoffed Zukoni.
"Please, let me finish." The Khnum cleared
his throat before continuing on. "We come here from a distant time in the past
to ask you of your help, StarDustie."
"MY help? What in Neopia do you need me for?
I'm just a 13-year old Shoyru! What could you possibly want from me?" Star asked.
"You're the one we've been looking for -- you're
the Mage of Neopia."
Zukoni raised a brow. "The what now?"
"Maybe it'd be easier if I explained it this
way. Well, many years ago in our time, this planet was ridden with evil - "
"Oh, it's one of THOSE stories," said Zukoni
rolling his eyes.
"A-hem, as I was saying, many years ago in
our time, evil prospered throughout Neopia. Fyora was saddened by this, so she
gave Neopia a Mage to act as a guardian angel to protect Neopia from evil. The
Mage befriended two warriors, and with the help of them, the Mage destroyed
all evil in Neopia. But during a clamorous battle, all three lost their lives.
Thus without the Mage and the warriors to protect Neopia, evil beings began
to make their home in Neopia. That explains why there are evil creatures like
the Swamp Ghoul and the Pant Devil."
"So, what does this have to do with us?" Zukoni
queried staring at the Khnum skeptically.
"Well I WAS getting to that..." the Khnum snapped.
"Oh, sor - ry," Zukoni said sarcastically.
"Right, well Fyora couldn't bear to see the
three die, so she reincarnated them into another body. Throughout the centuries,
the Mage and the warriors were born reincarnated into other bodies, but they
all had the same soul purpose - to protect Neopia. It was Fyora's way of making
them immortal, so they could live forever, keeping Neopia safe. We came here
- nearly a century into the future - to tell you of your true destiny, so you
can change what has happened in the past. You see, you think of time as a river,
because that is how we experience it, but it really exists all at once. That
is how we learned to travel from one time to the next."
"Okay, so let me get this straight -- I, StarDustie
-- am supposed to protect Neopia from evil?" asked Star.
"Well -- yes," replied the Khnum.
Star stared at the talking Khnum for a moment,
then fell to the floor in a laughing fit. Zukoni fought to hold back a chuckle.
"And what is so gosh darn funny?" asked the
Zafara, who was quiet through most of this.
"You're joking, right?" Zukoni sniggered. "Yeah,
and if I WAS supposed to be some kind of 'Mage', wouldn't I have some kind of
powers or something?" Star said holding back her giggles.
"You have telekinetic powers," the Zafara said.
Star stopped laughing and her eyes widened. "How do you know about -- "
"Woah woah woah! Wait just a second!" Zukoni
interrupted. "Didn't you say that there were two other warriors that helped
the Mage also?"
"Yes, and one of them is you," nodded the Zafara.
Zukoni's jaw dropped. "But wait!" Star acknowledged.
"Then who's the other one?"
Nerakos the mutant Scorchio walked into the
room munching loudly on a box of trifle mix.
He looked over at the two strangers, then over
at Star and Zukoni who were still standing in the doorway. "Uh, would someone
like to explain what's going on here?"
~*~
"And so that's the whole story," finished Star.
Nerakos stared, then broke into a smile and
whooped. "This is so totally awesome! You're saying I'm supposed to be some
kind of reincarnated warrior?"
Zukoni rolled his eyes. "Yes, Nerakos -- that's
what we just finished explaining."
"Wow, this is so cool!" yelled Nerakos. "What're
the odds of that?"
"I wouldn't start celebrating yet, Nerakos,"
Star said. "First of all, we don't even know who you guys are! Second of all,
this is a MAJOR decision! We can't just waltz out there and start beating up
bad guys, I mean this isn't something that happens everyday you know. I say
we think about this - "
"We don't have a choice! It's our destiny!"
retorted Nerakos.
"Ahem, I don't mean to interrupt, but I think
it's time we began your training," said the Zafara.
"And who are you to order us around?" Nerakos
snapped.
"Azuxah the sorceress, that's who!" the Zafara
snarled. "And I am Zahi," added the Khnum.
"Okay, now that we all know each other, can
we start training for -- whatever we're training for?" inquired Zukoni.
Unbeknownst to them, a ghost Draik was sitting
just outside the window, listening to their every word...
To be continued...
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