"Oh no!!!" cried out Misty miserably.
"But what if it's my sword?!?" yelled Shane.
"Trust me," said Midnignt, "it's the Ancient Sword.."
Then there was another very loud roar that rose above the sound of the fire.
Then, Midnight's paw slipped! She was suddenly engulfed by tremendous flames!
Then there was complete silence, save the sound of the fire roaring. The three
Neopets just stared at the fire. Then, they heard something.
"I'm ok!" it was Midnight! "The fire isn't even hot!"
Shane then slowly and cautiously flew down close to the fire and put his paws
close to it.
"She's right!" exclaimed Shane.
Then the fire disappeared. Misty let go of Jen's tail, and she fell to the
ground with a thud. There was Midnight with the Ancient Sword.
"You mean, it was all an illusion?" said Jen as she looked around where the
fire had been.
"I guess so..." said Midnight. "And look what they left behind! The Sword,
perfectly saved and untouched!"
"How could they forget something so important?!?" yelled Jen. " Don't you
think it's some sort of trap?"
"Jen is right," said Shane. "They wouldn't forget the Sword like this! They're
up to something..."
"Well, either way, we got the Sword back," said Midnight as the gripped the
hilt of the Sword. "You think the Kougra twins are close by?"
"Hard to say," answered Jen. "They could be miles away, or they could be behind
some of these rocks like last time... what do you think we should do?"
"I say we keep going," said Misty.
"I wasn't asking you.." said Jen.
"But I can answer if I want to."
"Nuh uh! I asked Midnight! She's the oldest, and she knows best!"
"But we're supposed to be a group! We have to decide things together!"
"Yeah, but Midnight should answer first."
"What difference would it make?"
"Well--"
"Stop!" interrupted Shane. "Remember the last time you two did this? Leon
heard you, and decided that while you were arguing was a good time to jump out!
And the Kougra twins, too!"
"It won't happen again," said both Jen and Misty at the same time. "What could
jump out at us now?"
"The Kougra twins!" said Shane firmly.
"Bah. Even if they were far away?" said Misty.
"But what if they're close by?"
"Oh, forget it. We weren't arguing anyway."
"Right." said Jen.
"At least you two agree on something!" laughed Midnight. "Let's just walk
until it gets real dark. Then we'll find a place to sleep."
Midnight looked at the ground and found their bags that the Lupes gave them
and Shane's sword. They must have dropped them in all the excitement. They each
picked up their bag, and Shane picked up his sword.
"Blaze and Daze are really something, aren't they?" said Misty after she picked
up her bag. "Making illusions like that!"
"It was pretty amazing," said Shane as he looked at the ground. "It felt hot
to me at first!"
"I think that some of their stuff are illusions, but not everything," said
Jen. "I think when Daze, or Blaze, or whoever blasted that huge fireball, it
was real."
"I think so, too," said Midnight.
"I noticed that you were scared over there, Misty," Jen said with a huge grin
on her face. "I thought you feared nothing..."
"I do fear nothing!!" Misty exclaimed. "I was just acting like I was scared
to fool you guys, that's all. Guess I fooled you! Haha!"
"Wow, you really fooled me," Shane said slowly. He scratched his head in a
bit of confusion.
"Shane, all I can say is that you have one of the slowest minds I know of,"
laughed Midnight.
Just then, the Sword in Midnight's hand started to glow yellow. It tugged
again, like it did when it floated into the air. Midnight let go. Once again,
it floated into the air, only higher this time. Then there was a flash or green
light like before, and when the flash was gone, there stood the Faerie Queen.
"You were right about Blaze and Daze trying to trick you with the Sword!"
she said quickly. "You won't like this, but it has to be done. You'll have to
go through a cave that few travelers go into. It's very dangerous, but it's
currently your only choice."
"What kind of trick are they up to?" said Misty. "And what's so dangerous
about this cave?"
"You will know what they are up to before too long," she replied. "And the
cave is so dangerous because of the thing, or things that live in it. There
are beasts and shadows, traps and secrets in there that nobody knows much of."
"Why do we have to go there!?" exclaimed Jen.
"You need something from there. You'll need it for reasons that you do not
yet understand, but you will soon. It will be at the very end of the cave. It's
a Golden Staff that you'll need to find. I cannot say what it does."
"Why didn't you tell us about this the first time?" asked Shane.
"I didn't know about it," she said. "This is something I just learned about.
You do NOT want to go the way you're heading now! Not without the Staff! All
the stuff that has happened to you so far is nothing compared to what could
happen soon. This is where your journey truly starts." she sighed.
"Fine, if we have to," said Midnight. "What do we have to lose anyway?"
Then there was a short silence. Finally, Jen spoke.
"We aren't in Neopia, are we?" she said. "I've never heard of anything of
the sort in Neopia.."
"No, you aren't," she answered. "You aren't in the world of Neopia at all.
But you will know where you are... eventually."
Midnight looked at the Sword questionably. She then returned her glance to
the Faerie Queen.
"Is there anything you can do to help us?" Midnight asked.
"The most I can do is take you back to the forest that you were in," she replied.
"Trust NO ONE in that cave, you hear?"
"We understand," Midnight said.
"And while you search for the cave," added the Faerie Queen, "you'll want
to hold the Sword in the air and say 'The Staff'."
Then, without a sound, the pets had magically appeared in the forest by the
rock they hid under. The Sword was back in Midnight's paw.
"Why is the Faerie Queen so mysterious anyway?" Misty said.
"It's just like in the movies," said Shane. "The strong wise people are always
very mysterious, and tell the heroes nothing!"
"Don't blame the Faerie Queen," said Midnight with a grin on her face. "Blame
the writer of this story, Vaporeon_fan!! She's the one who made the Faerie Queen
so mysterious!"
Midnight held the Sword in the air.
"The Staff!" she yelled.
Blue electricity shot from the tip of the Sword and started to form a box.
Like it did when you wanted to find the Tree, only blue electricity instead
of yellow. Inside the box an arrow formed and pointed left of the pets. Jen
looked at one of the trees.
"That way is north," she said, "because the moss is growing on the same side
of the tree that the arrow is pointing."
"Let's go!" shouted Misty as she jumped in front of the others. "Adventure
awaits us! All of Neopia lies in our hands! If we die, all of Neopia dies. But,
oh well!"
"Gee, you're very comforting.." Jen said quietly.
Then they started off north. Again, the electric arrow disappeared when they
took their first step.
After walking a good while, it became pretty dark, and the Sword was not lighting
up like it did in that tunnel. Midnight looked up at the top of the trees high
up above them, and stopped.
"It's getting real dark," she said. "We have to find a place where we can
sleep."
"Well, we shouldn't sleep anywhere close to the cave," said Jen. "The Faerie
Queen said that there are things in there that could kill us. I'm sure there
are things close to it that can hurt us, too!"
"Yeah, you're right," said Shane. "So I guess we should stop now, before we
get too close to the cave!"
"Right," Misty said. "And I'm exhausted.. I don't wanna walk a lot further
tonight anyway."
So then it was settled. They walked again for a short time when they came
across a very large oak tree. They took shelter under it and put a few leaves
over top of them, so it would be harder for things to find them. They decided
that Midnight should keep lookout, since she was a shadowed Kacheek, and almost
impossible to see in the dark. She was to watch an hour, and then wake up Jen
to be lookout. Midnight sat down and leaned up against the tree. The others
slowly one by one fell into a deep sleep.
As Midnight held the Sword tight in her hand, she also after about 30 minutes
started to fall into slumber. She felt her head nod, and her eyes slowly starting
to shut. She slowly lost the tight grip she had on the Sword, and fell into
a deep sleep, just like the others.
Later that night, she woke up very suddenly from a pleasent dream. She heard
something moving around close to them. She rubbed her eyes, grabbed the Sword
which was close by at her side, and got up to see what it was. She walked around
to the other side of the large oak, when she heard it again. This time, there
was a thud in the leaves, and a faint "Ow!".
"Misty," Midnight thought. "She loves to go out at night.. but she shouldn't
in a place like this!" She then walked towards the noise. But once she had gotten
to where she thought she heard the noise, there was absolute silence.
"Misty!" Midnight said in a low voice. "It's just me, Midnight!"
Still, there was nothing to be heard.
"C'mon Misty, I'm losing my patience! I know you like to play tricks, but
this is just wrong!"
Still, no sign of anyone. Midnight shrugged, and turned around. But when she
did so, there was a loud "HIYAA!" coming from behind her, and then something
jumped on her. Midnight dropped the Sword.
To be continued... | 
