Shadow Angel by oddhatter |  |
MORE THAN ANYTHING else, they all know that she is an outcast. Sometimes, they
catch a glimpse of a blackened wing and they wonder - why? Surely she must have
done something horrible to deserve such a mark. Yes, the other Angels were white.
They had white wings, gleaming in the sunlight, symbolising their loyalty and
devotion as companions of the Faeries. Foremost amongst them was a powerful,
handsome Angel Lupe, with a gorgeous coat of light blue fur and piercing, honest
amber eyes. His wings were the whitest of them all.
But this is not his story. No, it is the story
of a young Angel named Ally, sworn into the protection of the Faeries by a treacherous
mother. Her mother was an Angel too. Her story, though, is a sad one. Before
she left the Order of the Angels, she made sure that her new-born and only child,
Ally, was apprenticed, bound if you will, to a Light Faerie. She then threw
herself off the highest cloud in the Faerie Realm, forsaking her immortality
to serve the Dark Faeries. Ally, who was only a day old at the time, never knew
her mother.
She did, however, show many of her traits.
As a child, Ally was a typical Gelert pup. She
loved reading, and devoured book after book, rejecting few and always asking
for more. The Light Faerie that Ally was bound to treated her as if she were
her own child, the difference between fur and porcelain skin not withstanding.
As Ally grew older, she was trained in all the skills of an Angel. She studied
as a scholar, learning to be articulate in all the Neopian languages. She would
often visit old Coltzan, absorbing bits of ancient wisdom. She trained as a
warrior, learning to protect her master with her life. On her graduation from
the training school, the Light Faerie presented her with a pair of Grand Lightning
Beams, marked with her personal blessing.
Ally's closest companion, aside from the surrogate
mother she found in the Light Faerie, was an young Lupe. He too was an Angel,
and bound to a high-ranking Air Faerie. They would often be found running through
the clouds, stopping only to catch a gust of wind to float on. The Lupe, being
trained in the magics of the Air Faerie, tamed the winds and had them float
the pair gently to their next cloud. Ally's contribution was the eternally sunny
days that they spent together. They were inseparable, and one would never see
one without the other... but the Faeries had decided that he would not be her
mate.
The reason for that was fairly simple; they were
incompatible species. But, nevertheless, Ally was crushed. She did not want
to think of her companion's future mate, whom she knew would absorb the time
that she'd rather he spent with her. On the day of her Lupe companion's marriage,
Ally was nowhere to be seen.
She was perched on the highest cloud in the Faerie
Realm. Little did she know that her mother had done this once.
As she fell, she felt the winds that she had
once rode on give way. They lent her no support this time. Ally however, was
not to have the same fate as her mother. As she plummeted to the ground, the
Dark Faeries did not catch her.
Broken and bruised, Ally stared up at the clouds
above her. They were so far away now. She could not remember why she had leapt
in the first place. She did not know who she was. Only two things remained in
her barely conscious mind, the face of a powerful, handsome Angel Lupe, and
the complete and utter knowledge that she was mortal.
The Light Faerie that Ally was bound to searched
everywhere in the Faerie Realm for her. But after having done so, she realised
that there was only one other thing she could have done. She begged the other
Faeries for help, though they were hesitant to help a Fallen Angel. So the Light
Faerie descended into Neopia alone.
When the Light Faerie found Ally, she was no
longer the gorgeous Angel that she once was. Her wings had been broken, and
all that were left were tiny stumps with ragged feathers. She was scarred and
limping, and the Light Faerie knew that Ally had led the life of a scavenger
for a while. It was a far cry from the many comforts of the Faerie Realm. She
brought Ally back.
Ally was pardoned by the Faerie Queen and King.
She was given wings again, though as a mark of her attempted treachery, they
were blackened. Perhaps regaining her immortality was not worth this humiliation.
Ally retreated into the deeper, darker clouds of the Faerie Realm, having been
given her freedom by the Light Faerie. Those who had the occasional glimpse
of her called her the Shadow Angel. Her Lupe companion rose to the higher ranks
of the Angels, and Ally would look on at him, hiding in her clouds. Yes, he
was still beautiful.
Years later, the Faerie Realm would fall into
chaos. The Dark Faeries had amassed a sizeable army and the borders of the Faerie
Realm was no longer as secure as they used to be. Many Angels passed on in the
subsequent battles, for they were immortal, but not invincible. With the crippling
injuries they incurred protecting their masters, they were allowed to give up
their mortality, and die in whatever peace could be salvaged from the time.
The Faeries too, were wiped out slowly. Without their Angels to protect them,
their powers were drastically reduced. Soon, many Faeries, unable to fight any
longer, gave up their immortality as well.
Ally was not there. She hid in her clouds, detached
from the Faeries that she once loved and knew.
One day however, in a particularly vicious battle,
Ally looked out of her cloud. She saw her Light Faerie and her Lupe companion
fighting side by side. They were fighting a losing battle, she knew, but she
could not go to protect them. What would they think of her? She had betrayed
them once.
She would not betray them again.
Conjuring up the pair of Grand Lightning Beams
that were once and still were her prized possessions, Ally dashed into the fray.
Standing in front of her Light Faerie, she glanced at her Lupe companion. The
Lupe stared at her with cold eyes. She had betrayed the Faeries once, he could
no longer trust her this time. Ally stared back. She knew who she was. She would
stand in front of her Faerie and protect her, blackened wings and all.
As the wave of monsters conjured up by the Dark
Faeries drew closer, Ally stood strong against them. Her Lighting Beams struck
down more than a few of them, and she did not even hesitate to look at her many
wounds. Her companion stood too, but he was tired and his weary gusts of air
were no barrier against the incoming evils. The Dark Faeries were closer now.
There is no happy ending here. The Lupe died
first. Ally protected her Faerie until the very end, when they tore out her
wings and ripped her Grand Lightning Beams from her. The Light Faerie passed
on cradling Ally's limp body.
Many, many years later, the Faerie Realm no longer
was. Neopia now had a bustling, fairly industrialised economy, and the remaining
Faeries made their home in an enchanted playground called Faerieland. It was
an amusement park more than it was a magical home, now. The Faerie Queen, having
lost her King in the ancient battles, was now the sole ruler of the small kingdom.
The Dark Faeries were in an awkward peace with the others, and their leader,
Jhudora, while undeniably malicious, was also generally harmless. The Order
of the Angels had disappeared.
Then a remarkable thing happened. Young pets
were born that soon sprouted feathers from their backs. This was the mark of
an Angel. Often though, this scared their owners and the pets were often put
into the pound. Some were adopted by the Faeries themselves, who kept them mostly
hidden, as they knew of their incredible power. Others were adopted into loving
homes, and cared for by owners who never knew why their pet had wings. It is
rumoured that the Angels survived as ghosts, and after coming to terms with
their pasts, were then recreated as young pets. Some say that the infamous Ghost
Lupe is Ally's old companion.
Months ago, I adopted a young Gelert pup from
the pound. She was a dark brown, a rather unique coloration for a Gelert. In
a month, I started to notice that she had small, fine, dark, feathers sticking
out her back. I doubted that it was a mere encounter with a rogue down pillow.
Curious, I asked around, and it was finally old Coltzan at the shrine who told
me the story of the Angels and the Shadow Angel, whom I firmly believe was recreated
as my Ally. Some documents written by the wise Alstaf Poogle documented the
history of the old Neopia as well. It was through long hours of research and
numerous letters to the Faeries that I finally unearthed the story behind my
young Gelert. She knows little about her past, but I suspect that she holds
much of it in her subconscious. She is visited often by the Ghost Lupe, more
often than most other pets, and I can't help but feel that they know each other
somehow.
Ally asks sometimes about her wings, and I tell
her that they are a gift from the Faeries. I equipped her with a pair of Grand
Lightning Beams, sadly diminished in power since the olden times, but still
fairly powerful. Sometimes, watching her fight in the Battledome, with her lightning
beams, I see an odd gleam in her eye. When she forces the next monster into
submission, that glint in her eye seems to suggest redemption of a sort. And
when she returns to me, proud and beautiful, I know that she is an extraordinary
Gelert.
I know the Shadow Angel lives.
The End |
