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A pair of crimson, glowing eyes belonging to a Ghost Lupe
by the name of Vrandir, watched a blue Eyrie and a brown haired girl playing from
the shadows. The girl was Luna, who was the owner of the blue Eyrie, Torkkin.
Vrandir had been living with Luna and Torkkin in their small neohome in Neopia
Central for the past few months; he wasn't a pet, he was the resident spirit who
had come to live with them after Torkkin had helped break a curse that Vrandir's
previous school had been under.
Vrandir sighed as he watched his two friends
playing in the sunshine, How I envy them, he thought to himself. They
aren't bound to the shadows as I am. He was unable to ever step foot into
the light due to his ghostly state which somehow brought him to a halt as soon
as he tried to enter any lighted area. Vrandir shook his head sadly and turned
around and walked through the walls of the neohome and into the dark living
room beyond it.
"Aiieeee!!!" Torkkin's small Whoot, Ridge was
charging at Vrandir arms outstretched and wings flapping about behind him.
"Ridge, no!" Vrandir cried to the oncoming Whoot
who leapt right through the Lupe and headfirst into the wall behind him.
The Whoot had never gotten it into his head
that no matter how many times he tried to tackle the Ghost Lupe, that he could
not and would only end up running into something.
"Ridge my friend, will you ever realize that
you can never touch me, much less tackle me. I'm a ghost; I have no substance
and therefore can never be touched; I'm bound to darkness and shadows, and yet
why do you refuse to accept that?" Vrandir asked Ridge, looking down at the
Whoot sadly.
Ridge cocked his head to the side and looked
up at the Lupe imploringly, with paws outstretched towards him and looking mournful
and chirping to be held. Vrandir felt horrible, he couldn't even begin to offer
condolences to the Whoot as to why he couldn't hold him in a way that he could
understand. Vrandir backed away helplessly from the small petpet and turned
his gaze to the ceiling and half leapt, half floated through it to the bedroom
above.
Vrandir padded through the dark streets of the
empty neighborhood to his favorite spot; a dead and blackened garden that never
taunted him with the reminder of the sunshine that live flowers always did with
their vibrant colors. He cast his head towards the moon overhead and gazed at
it for a good amount of time.
"Why am I denied the simple pleasures of the
sun that so many enjoy?" he asked the sky.
Vrandir laid his head between his transparent
paws and drifted into memories of the past when he still had the blessings of
the light. The horizon began to show pink streaks through the sky as dawn began
to encroach upon the darkness of the night, forcing Vrandir to leave his beloved
garden and return to the shadows within Luna's neohome. The Ghost Lupe plodded
into Torkkin's room and curled up into a ball and drifted into sleep. An intense
pain, if a ghost can feel pain, awoke Vrandir with a start; Ridge had accidentally
opened the blinds to the room when he became entangled in the draw chord and
was struggling to get away.
Scrabbling to his feet Vrandir searched frantically
for a shadowed corner and found none; he howled in pain as the light penetrated
right through his very being. Pounding on the stairs and the door to the room
flying open revealed Luna, who's eyes grew wide as she saw the Lupe writhing
on the floor in agony as the light covered him, and she dashed to the windows
and quickly closed the blinds. The pain ceased and Vrandir lay panting on the
ground, stunned.
"Vrandir, are you okay now?" Luna asked worriedly.
"I'll be fine in a little bit," Vrandir panted.
Ridge hopped over to the weary Lupe and gazed into Vrandir's crimson eyes with
his yellow and warbled sadly, resting his head right over the spot where Vrandir's
muzzle was. Vrandir lifted his head and his muzzle passed throught Ridge's body
and gazed at the petpet.
"I accept your apology, Ridge," he said as he
walked into Torkkin's pitch-black closet to rest.
A few hours had passed since Ridge had accidentally
hurt Vrandir and night was falling. Torkkin was curled up on his bed with Vrandir
sitting next to him.
"I'm really sorry about Ridge, I know that he's
a handful but he doesn't know what he's doing. As you already know, he's not
like ordinary Whoots; they are quiet, shy, and nervous. Ridge, well he is….
Odd, he's loud, annoying, outgoing, and doesn't have enough sense to be afraid
of anything really," Torkkin said, trying to apologize in his own way.
"I know Torkkin, I don't have anything against
him, and so you don't have to worry," Vrandir told Torkkin who looked relieved.
"Well anyways, good night my friend," the Eyrie
said, yawning. Vrandir watched Torkkin fall asleep before he hopped down from
the bed; he passed through the wall and floated down to the yard below, and
headed down the road to his garden. He sat amongst the dead flowers and gazed
through the tangled and withered briars that surrounded his dark garden when
he sensed a new presence nearby. The Lupe pricked his ears foreword and listened
intently for whatever had made the sound; hearing nothing, Vrandir turned around
and saw a dark shape dart by.
"Who's there?" Vrandir called out, not worrying
because there weren't many things that could harm a ghost.
"Another fellow creature that has been forsaken
by the light," a soft, and velvety voice whispered.
Vrandir whirled around and came face to face
with the Shadow Usul, her pupil-less yellow eyes glowing, and ebony tail swishing
ever so slightly.
"What do you want with me!" the ghostly Lupe
growled.
"You resent them. Do you not?" the Shadow Usul
purred softly.
"What are you talking about?" Vrandir asked
the dark Usul.
"The ones you live with, you resent them and
their ability to live in the light while you cannot. You long to feel its warmth
on you once again like you did in life. How very foolish of you to wish for
something you can never have; give up on your dreams, they will only fail. Do
you honestly think that your friends will tolerate a creature that can't even
tolerate the light that they live in?" The corners the Shadow Usul's mouth curved
upwards, revealing long, silver fangs.
"Why are you here? Why do you tell me these
things?" Vrandir cried.
"Simple, I enjoy your suffering and pain as
you realize that all that I say is true. Nothing is sweeter to me than the despair
of those who blindly search for the light that they can never find," the Usul
said chuckling cruelly.
What if what she says is true. I know she
only wants to make me suffer, but what if I can never regain the light? Vrandir
thought. No, I may never find the light again but I will never let her feed
on my pain. The hair on Vrandir's haunches stood on end as he snarled in
contempt of the Usul, "I may never feel the light again but I won't give you
pleasure in it!" Vrandir snapped, as bright blue flames began to flicker at
his paws.
The blue flames grew in intensity and brightness
as the fury within Vrandir grew at the taunting of the Usul. He charged at it,
the blue flames engulfing his entire body and growing brighter by the second.
The Shadow Usul backed into the brambles behind it in fear of the light coming
from the Lupe; it retreated into the darkness that it had loved for so long,
now a prison and fled.
The blue flames cast a light that Vrandir just
now noticed and it instilled in him a warmth that he had not felt for a great
length of time. He had found his light that he had searched for, for so long;
smiling, Vrandir turned into the rising sun and headed home, no longer harmed
by the light.
The End
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