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Prologue
Sure, a trip to the museum sounds like a relaxed but
boring afternoon... But both me and Viper will find that it is anything but
that... Especially when you've been blamed for a crime that you didn't commit...
Oops! ... Said too much, didn't I? ...
The route to the museum was a long one-and a
dangerous one, at that. For quite some time, large, bushy trees shielded them
from the cold rain, but that added the danger of lightning hitting one, having
it crash down and burst into flames. However, the small family turned out to
be luckier than that, and made it out of the forest without a scratch. They
ran down Main Street for a while, occasionally getting splashed by a car zooming
past them, then they took a short-cut through some back alley before finally
making a right turn down Logan Avenue.
At the end of the road, the trio could (not
so much in the rain) clearly see the fancy building that was the museum. Giant
stone pillars held up its domed roof that was made entirely of glass. Standing
on each side of the wooden doors were two guards, both of which were Grarrls.
They wore blue uniforms with shining silver badges that read: Neopian Museum
Security. They ignored Raven and the two pets completely when they dashed up
the stone steps and swung open the door.
Once inside, the threesome was greeted by a
gush of warm (and thankfully dry) air. The museum was quite crowded but not
as much as anywhere else. Right now, they were in a well-lit hall that connected
to about eight different hallways that connected to the different exhibits of
the museum. The main room was furnished somewhat like a living room, with an
electric fireplace at the far end, surrounded by maroon leather furniture. On
the right side of the main room were the hallways that led to the Lost Desert
room, the Mystery Island room, the Gallery of Evil, and the Portrait room. On
the left side, there was the Medieval room, the Native Neopian room, the Prehistoric
room, and finally, the Battledome room.
Just then, a young Kacheek and her owner walked
out of the Lost Desert room. She pointed at Viper and screamed. "Wook, Momma!
One o' da mummies comed to life!"
The owner just shook her head. "No, no. That's
just a very badly injured Lupe."
Abashed, the mutant lowered his head while Einstein
doubled up with laughter.
"Okay, guys," said Raven, pulling the little
electric Eyrie off the ground. "Where should we go first?"
"The order that it's already in is fine for
me," replied Viper. Einstein nodded his head in agreement.
So the trio figured, 'What the heck! Let's go
check out the mummies and cursed relics!' and went first to the Lost Desert
room. Inside the room there was only one other family, made up of two Pterii,
an Usul, a Wocky, and a teenage boy. In the centre of the room there were two
golden sarcophagi; one closed, one opened. Lining the walls were all sorts of
ancient treasures, most of them supposedly cursed.
Einstein padded over to the coffins. He peered
into the open one. In it was a rotting mummy. Its shape suggested that it was
once a Techo, and crossed upon its chest were a Crook and Flail. In the world
of humans, the represented the kings' and gods' power. Einstein turned to the
sealed sarcophagus and examined its lid. It was almost completely covered in
jewels, all except the very middle. In the middle were several rows of odd symbols.
Einstein turned to Raven and Viper who were
looking at a clay bowl with a stone Wadjet coiled around it. "Hey! Dig these
hieroglyphics!" Viper and Raven left the 'Bowl of Wadjet' and came towards the
coffin.
The Lupe looked at the symbols curiously. "Do
you know what it says?"
Einstein studied the strange symbols for a bit
before finally saying, "Tacky."
Viper cocked his head. "What? It says 'tacky'?"
The electric blue Eyrie chuckled. "That's a
good one. No, no, it reads: All those who uncover thy sarcophagus shall be cursed
for eternity, their soul doomed to never find a resting-place in the Underworld."
Figures, thought Viper.
Einstein continued to examine the mummy case,
but Viper lost interest and walked over to something else that caught his eye.
It was a blue and gold mask of some sort. It must have been used only for ceremonies,
because it would be impossibly to see through it. There were no eyeholes. Viper
gazed at its label. 'Mask of Coltzan III, it read. Beside the Mask of Coltzan
was a bizarre object. It was a scarab carved out of black obsidian. Its ruby
eyes seemed to be staring right at Viper. It was called the Darkness Scarab.
"Reckon we should move on?" asked Raven.
Einstein and Viper nodded in agreement, and
the triad proceeded to the Medieval room, across the hall. When they got there,
they found it was completely empty. Well, of people that is, not artefacts.
Lined up on the back wall were various suits of armour. Two of them were silver,
one was bronze, one was a gleaming gold, and one of them might've been originally
either one of those colours, but it was now charred black. Viper guessed that
the knight who wore it probably got into a bad scrap with a giant Scorchio.
Two giant glass cases were on each side of the
room, both of them containing weaponry of all sorts. Here there was a battle-axe;
there, a bow and quiver of arrows. Here, a long sword; there, a spiked mace.
You get the picture.
Easily the most impressive thing in the room
was sitting on a stone pedestal, inside a glass case (like everything else)
in the centre of the room. It was a golden shield. For a bit, the family examined
it. Its label read: 'Shield of Krawne-the first king of Meridell. After looking
at everything else for a few minutes, the trio found no more of interest and
left.
The next room they entered was the Mystery Island
room. This room was empty too. Raven was sure right about the museum being deserted,
but she was wrong about it being the dullest place on Neopia. Far from it.
In the back corner was a wax sculpture of a
Coco. This one in particular was Tiki-Panago-the famed chief of the Pogo-pogos.
The statue wore a feathered headband and held a spear in its right hand. Hanging
on the wall beside it was the Ancient Manchu Bow, its sleek grip gleaming in
the light. Inside a glass case that ran along the left wall were several weapons,
and on the opposite wall, there was the first ever found Codestone. RavynnWolfe's
and her pets' attention wasn't held for long though, so they exited the room.
The Native Neopian room was supposed to be next
on their list, but it was closed due to renovations, so the threesome skipped
ahead to the Gallery of Evil. Marking the entrance was a bronze plaque in the
shape of some sort of horned beast that looked a bit like an evil Kau. Beneath
it was a piece of parchment with the poem entitled 'The Jabberwocky' written
on it.
This room was crowded compared to the others.
There were paintings of all sorts of terrifying beasts lining the walls. Most
of them were blocked by crowds of six or sometimes even more people.
"Forget this joint!" moaned Viper.
Raven nodded. "Next!" she called in the manner
of a director rejecting parts for a movie or play.
Viper, Einstein and Raven went over to the Prehistoric
room. As they neared it, they heard voices and saw repetitive flashes of light.
When they got to the room, they noticed that there was a velvet maroon rope
barring the entrance. Inside, the threesome could see reporters, photographers,
journalists, and a large crowd. At the far side of the room, standing behind
a microphone was a blood red Lupe with brown stripes and messy dark red hair.
He was tall and muscular but he couldn't have been more than fourteen. In a
glass case on a small table, was a bracelet of some sort. Of all other artefacts,
the room had been emptied.
"What's happening in there?" asked Viper, watching
the Lupe who had just made some sort of joke about how he was never good at
speaking in public.
Raven tapped a poster attached to the wall beside
the entrance. It said: Fell_77 Huttser Vargol auctions off the legendary Bracelet
of the Shang-hai. Today at 4:00 PM.
"An auction!"
"Guess we're not wanted here, then," muttered
Raven, unconsciously referring to their lack of Neopoints. Suddenly it occurred
to her that, because of the tournament, they were no longer poor but quite average.
Realising that if the auction was taking place
and the auction was to be at 4:00, Raven noticed that the repairs would be done
in little more than a half hour, so they decided to skip the Portrait room and
went straight to the Battledome room.
The Battledome room was crowded but it was far
bigger than the other rooms. Einstein hopped around the room, examining all
the well-known Battledome objects and then taking digital pictures of them with
a little contraption built into his laptop. There was every weapon imaginable,
including the Shield of Pion Troect, the Sword of Skardsen, Jhudora's Bewitched
Ring-also known as the One Ring by some humans, the Fire and Ice Blade, the
tiny Attack Pea, and the Golden Butter Knife.
All those were very interesting, but something
else got Viper's attention. It was an amulet, very famous, called the Rainbow
Swirly Thing. The amulet was clearly under the highest security. It was at the
very back of the room in a bullet, fire, and liquid nitro-glycerine proof glass
case. The lock on the case was fingerprint activated as well as key and padlocked.
On the ground around it, there were little metal panels that released powerful
laser beams after closing time. If anyone touched the beams, the alarm would
go off and the thief would get fried. Because of this high security, no one
had ever been successful in robbing anything from the museum.
Viper pressed his nose and paws against the
glass, trying to get as good a view as humanly possible of the treasure. The
glass began to fog up as a memory began to wake in his mind. He couldn't get
a clear memory, but he remembered bits and pieces of things. Viper remembered
seeing the Rainbow Swirly Thing before. He then remembered a time when it was
a cold summer night. He could remember a dock and an ocean with towering waves.
Then it all went black.
The Lupe abruptly snapped out of his trance
when someone tapped his shoulder. Viper pulled himself from the case and spun
around. It was Raven.
"Don't scare me like that!" snapped the startled
mutant.
"Well, sor-ry, Mr. Jitters, but it's time to
go."
Viper nodded and without telling either his
owner or brother about the memory, they started home. Thankfully, the rain had
stopped so it was a dry trip home.
When the trio got to their newly renovated shack,
they found only the construction Eyrie in charge of the project still there.
He greeted them and handed Raven the bill.
To be continued...
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