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Neopia's Fill in the Blank News Source | 28th day of Running, Yr 26
The Neopian Times Week 129 > Continuing Series > Deep Six II: Part Four

Deep Six II: Part Four

by brains03

Shadow was groggy. She sat up and stared foggily around the room. The shadow Shoyru was mystified. She was wet and it was dark. As her senses slowly gathered to her, Shadowflame slowly realized where and when she was. It was night, obviously, and a great storm was gathering above her.

     Somehow most of the house had survived her battle with Darigan (predictably ending with him running away), but the kitchen was crushed and blown to pieces. There was no longer a need for her to stay amongst the ruins of one shard of her life, where Galahan and Feines no longer lingered. Feines was lying in a corner, and stirred as Shadow shook him.

     "Goodbye Grandpa," she cried, tears flowing freely now. "You've been good to me and I'll never forget you!"

     Feines nodded, sitting up, amazingly unhurt from his ordeal, and told her one of the most touching things she'd ever heard.

     "A friend once told me that destiny was the world's choices in disguise. He said that one voice made destiny a whole other person. BE that person, and you have affected the world."

     Shadow nodded, and Feines continued.

     "I loved you... you knew that. You know that... you were the daughter I had never had, the friend in times of trouble after me wife died... this will probably be the last time you ever see me, but I will live on. Take the loves and hopes of everyone -- me, your team, Gilden- and do us proud..."

     Feines groaned and fell unconscious. Shadow's heart jumped, but she quickly took a pulse and sighed in relief. She then dug a small whistle out of a trapdoor underneath the kitchen. Taking a deep breath, she blew. The silhouettes of a dozen neighbours appeared, knowing what the whistle meant. Shadow took a moment to carve a message to her team with a sharp edge from the porcelain sink.

     It was time to stop the destruction.

     The hill sat more or less right at the edge of the forest, the back facing endless trees. A large citadel was on the other side of the hill, facing the kingdom and inspiring awe and fear in all who beheld it. Shadow took refuge under the dripping trees and gazed up at the castle of evil, hoping everything went according to plan.

     She was just about to fly up to the tower she'd marked as a good entrance when she heard a shout.

     "Sentry! Fifty yards!"

     A small dart wended its way through the trees at lightning speed and Shadow jumped out of the way, her reflexes flinging her out of its path. Grabbing a few pebbles and rolling up in the same motion, she whipped the stones in all directions, a small muffled groan rewarding her toss into the forest.

     Amazing, she thought, they managed to see me through a black cloak and black skin!

     A strange creature stepped out of the forest. She started.

     "A human!" she gasped. "Your a NEOPIAN!" She introduced herself as Shadow and the human did likewise, introduced himself as Brains03, and told the knights behind him that she was a friend. Two creatures, taller than Brains, also stepped out.

     "Faeries," Shadow breathed, "you're just - only -- legends!"

     The prettier one smiled.

     "Come sit with us little one and we will talk."

***

Shadow had to laugh. The Neopians had come for the orb with intentions for peace but Darigan had made them seem evil, forcing war for some reason which he alone was sure to benefit from. Not only that, but the Neopian Faerie Queen had snuck along without anyone but the knights knowing. Shadow knew that the Faerie Queen and her assistant, the Battle Faerie, just wanted to have some fun, but everyone (including the knights), found the whole idea of a queen fighting in a battle very serious business indeed.

     Aside from learning about the so-called Neopians, Shadow told them about herself and her quest. They had great interest in Gormball and the politics behind what was about to take place. Fyora (the Faerie Queen) took immediate attention to the prophecies and had a small conference with Brains, who obviously was the army commander, quickly returning to hear the rest of the story.

     Not to long after Shadow finished, Brains motioned Fyora and the Shoyru warrior into the soaked woods.

     "So... it has come to this," he said grimly. "We team with a Wild One for peace. This could be good, this could be bad."

     Fyora frowned, "Wild One? I'm not the only one who noticed?"

     Shadow shot them a questioning look.

     "Prophecies don't apply to you. Your fate is yours to control and yours alone. It's a sort of legend with us..."

     Shadow shook her head grimly. Wild one. A hero. It was all the same to her. A hero, a sword, a great evil. Her life suddenly felt transparent, like glass. She was transported far, far away; her thoughts vapour, actions, air. She imagined that far off an eerie tune she'd once heard down the road was playing in the distance...

     Brains knew that he would be betraying his newfound ally tonight. She would live, but an oracle they had met along the way wasn't cryptic in telling them a chilling verse:

Maiden fair for country lost,
Betrayed for greed and land to save,
Not once been told of her soul's own cost,
But will not be sent to the grave.

And that wasn't even all of it. Fyora, however, had volunteered to take the blame of the "Country Lost" and Shadow's betrayal.

     Shadow, who had been standing silent, stirred and narrowed her eyes. She knew what was happening now. Meridell, the orb, her. It all tied together in one large web.

     "Oh what a wicked web we weave," she sighed out loud, "for but we were pawns in our own game."

     "What's that supposed to mean?" asked a puzzled Brains.

     Fyora smiled knowingly through soaked and tired eyes..

***

Glass, thought Shadowflame angrily, They have installed crystal GLASS WINDOWS!

     Darigan had indeed installed a hard crystal glass window set in the stone arch holes that were considered windows. Shadow was quickly becoming tired of every detail of life, and accordingly slammed the keystone out of the nearest arch window. A slow rumble reached the Shadow Shoyru's weary ears, and two monoliths crashed together in a resounding BOOM! that caused Shadow to pause. She flew over to the next window and broke the glass, fluttering inside.

     Guards came running from all directions and Shadow waited until she was surrounded. Aiming a perfect fist, she obliterated another keystone, the one which held up the window she'd entered from. The guards made a mad dash for the stairs. First, the window frame clattered down. Then, with a low, deep, grinding noise, the tower began to crumble. Shadow simply floated as everything collapsed around her, though she wasn't touched once by falling rocks.

     Now to find Darigan.

     The rain had not let up at any point in the last hour, and Brains was soggy with the moisture by the time he reported the battle ready. Fyora nodded and the battle began.

     Shadow had found a small door that lead into a hallway. She entered the hallway, cautious of guards, and was hit with a reeling shock. Her brain twisted for a moment, and then restored itself.

     Meridell's perfidy has begun she thought, satisfied in a strange way. The shock must've been fate trying to realign itself with her. Well it wouldn't work. She was separate.

     Shadow turned her thoughts to where Darigan's quarters were. A large door deep within the citadel soon solved her question, and she prepared to enter. The large oak door, which was painted purple, creaked open slowly and Shadowflame found herself on the threshold of the very room in which evil was sure to lurk...

     Darigan's quarters were empty. Completely empty. She boiled. The sword wasn't there! She looked around and spotted some creased receipts. Darigan had sold her sword! The papers said "Treehorn Tribe, South Lujen."

     There was also a pedestal where Shadow guessed that the Orb sat at night or during bad weather. But strangely, the Orb wasn't there! A funny thought struck the black Shoyru. It was Darigan's personal nightlight!

     "I guess monsters are afraid of the dark!" she chuckled to the pedestal.

     "Actually, I'm deathly afraid that a hero is going to come out of my closet and smite me," came a voice from behind her.

     Shadow whirled.

     "Darigan? The great evil? Afraid of the dark?"

     Darigan hung his head in shame, "Yes..."

     Shadow laughed and turned serious.

     "You shouldn't worry about heroes in your closet. There's one right in front of you!"

     Darigan's complexion changed and he began to look angry.

     "You're not mommy!"

     Shadow flew over to the only torch that lit the chambers and blew it out with a draft from her wings.

     "Ack! HEEEEeeeeeelp!" Darigan retreated down the hallway into a central atrium in the middle of the castle. Lo and behold, there was the orb. It hung in mid-air, high above the floor. Darigan had regained his composure in the brightly lit open room. "Well, well. It seems we have a problem now don't we?"

     Shadow grinned and shook her head, "You've seen me play Gormball. And when I was four hours old you still couldn't beat me. What makes you think you can do anything to me now?"

     Darigan gestured to the sheathed sword by his side, gracefully drawing it out.

     "This."

     Shadow gasped. The ploy with the sword receipts! He'd had it all along!

     "I really sold it. They just failed to bring the proper... identification for my guards. And if it hadn't been for you finding my greatest weakness, you need not have found out about the sword. Pity you never made it to Lujen. Jahbal, if he's still alive after being attacked by all those guards, holds a great hatred of you!"

     Shadow frowned. She hadn't trusted the receipts, but it was still a little unfair that Darigan had to rub it in that he had her sword.

     "And your daddy's still alive to! Your family has proven very hard to eliminate from the beginning. Mommy's gone running to that "Faerie Queen" from Neopia, and you... I'm going to enjoy destroying you with your own birthright. Mwahahahahah!"

     Shadow drew a small saber she'd found in an alleyway..

     "You weren't so confident in your scramble from your room!" she laughed cruelly, anger driving her every word home, "You're not mommy! Ack! HEEEEeeeeeelp!"

     Darigan shrunk back.

     "You will PAY for that remark!"

     "Cash or credit?" she quipped back.

     "PAIN!"

     "I don't have that," she told him cooly, floating to the left as he charged, waving her family's sword aloft.

     The shadow Shoyru flailed on him with the saber and drifted across the atrium, her face hardening. Darigan charged again, anticipating her drift to the side. She knew what he was thinking, and dropped suddenly. Shadow kicked out and his sword flew into the air.

     She shot up in a brilliant uppercut, knocking Darigan for a loop and jarring the long sword from her grasp. Shadow used the momentum to swoop to the right and grab the Ancient Gildean Shoyru Sword that rightly belonged to her. She felt energized.

     "ANGEL WIRE!" she shouted, the magic in her blood flowing again.

     Lights from the heavens streamed through the roof, blasting holes and letting in the rain. They struck Darigan, who was reaching for the saber in hopes of regaining control. He screamed in pain and was thrown into a wall, which crumbled. The castle was collapsing!

     A rumble rang from the floor and cracks began to appear. There was another rumble and a starry Shoyru was thrown through the floor roaring. The hole widened and an eight foot tall red Scorchio burst through.

     "Hath Saintess..." Shadow breathed.

     The monster turned and roared, fire shooting into the air. Shadow tackled the monster and began to slash at it. It shouted and attacked back. But quickly Shadow overpowered it and Hath Saintess fell defeated. She looked around. The entire Atrium had collapsed, rain pouring in. Her father, for the Starry Shoyru had been he, had disappeared.

     Shadowflame flew up and grasped the orb in her hands. Lightning flashed and she drifted down to the atrium floor, stowing the orb in a zippered pocket on her black hooded tunic. It was time to get out of here, away from the sounds of battle and carnage, symbolic of Meridell's betrayal. They weren't supposed to start a battle with the guards! Now, true to the prophecies, Gilden would destroy itself.

     The castle gave a low guttural roar of distress, the age-old stones finally giving in to gravity. Shadow raced into the sky.

     Down below, the Meridellians saw Shadow leaving the falling castle against a flash of lightning and their human leader called a retreat. Fyora and the Battle Faerie looked at him questioningly but he just shook his head, water spraying from his tousled hair.

     "The battle's over. Let's see who won in the end," he told them.

     Fyora nodded.

***

"The Council of Faeries is going to absolutely flip over what we did," Fyora laughed, Shadow and Brains giggling at the thought of the Council's reaction.

     Shadow turned serious, a smile still dancing on her lips, "Actually, they would have had you lost. But you won, so history will call you brave instead of foolish and crazy."

     At this, she drew the orb from a small backpack along with her sword and sheath. She ceremoniously passed it to Brains, who gave it to the Meridell knights, who cheered. Then Shadow strapped her sword to her back, listening as Brains apologized for the battle.

     "S'okay," she told him, knowing what he was going to say, "Gilden was destined to fall at some point, because several of the lands around us were gearing up for our destruction anyway."

     And it wasn't a lie. Lujen was after them, and so were most of the islands,

     Shadow became silent. Brains had drawn her aside and told her that her father had told him to tell her "The Silent One is the Key" and disappeared into the rain. She hadn't had time to look for him, just grab the sword belt and sheath from Darigan and run. But her parents were alive! One day she would find them, some day...

Epilogue, Present Day.

Shadowflame woke up, covers flying. It seemed so real, so- vivid. So that's what had happened to her. She'd never had any recollection of the past before. Fyora had promised one day she would learn the truth; just yesterday in the Hidden Tower, in fact.

     Fyora stepped from the darkness into a beam of moonlight.

     "Do you understand now?"

     Shadow wasn't at all surprised to see Fyora. She nodded. Bound by destiny to save Neopia. But that of course didn't mean that when the second of the two evils she was bound to defeat came calling, that wouldn't be her last adventure!

     "I'm a chosen one, and outcast then?" she asked.

     "Yes, I'm afraid so. It's going to have to be that way forever."

     "Who's the second evil I have to defeat?"

     "It is written that you will not know until all around you is lost. Your owner knows this. Albert and Fetch having left a long time ago to find their fortunes, he came to me and discovered that if they had stayed they would have been isolated from everything, locked in a dream. After you defeat the second evil, fate has plans for you. Good luck..."

     Fyora vanished. Shadow thought about Albert, the yellow Kacheek and Fetch, a blue Blumaroo which she had rescued a while back. She absent-mindedly scratched the belly of Akala, her Doglefox. Fate would indeed be surprised if it felt it could hold her within it's grasp. Shadow was a wild one, bound by nothing, and held only by her own will.

     Prophecies it seemed did not apply to her. Things were going to be very different indeed. One day she would rediscover her parents.

     Shadow laughed and Akala awoke growling, gnawing affectionately on Shadow's leg. He jumped on her and they wrestled, thoughts of evil and doom forestalled by friendship and good.

The End

Previous Episodes

Deep Six II: Part One

Deep Six II: Part Two

Deep Six II: Part Three

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