Shades of Darkness: Shadow is Arising - Part Two

Yoco Tanzin was a Tyrannain Techo that lived in the slums of Neopia Central. He barely had a hundred Neopoints, and only had one small room made of cardboard for a Neohome. Yoco mostly spent his days wandering the streets in search of food, but Yoco did have one valuable possession. It was the dark orb medallion that he had found in the alleyway only a day before. It was the most precious thing that he ever owned and he was proud of it.

Yoco found a note on his front door step (which was actually a piece of cardboard) the next day telling him that he could have that medallion and one hundred thousand Neopoints a week if you talked about how nice and friendly this group of pets called Shades were and convinced people to join their army. He, of course, had no idea who they were, but who cares? He was going to be rich!

Today was a bright and sunny Tuesday and Yoco was asked to meet the leader of the Shades, Borono_Lightshadow or something. He didn't care; this meeting was probably over his paycheck or something. How very wrong he was.

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Torono_Darkshadow sat proudly in his office waiting for a certain Yoco Tanzin. He was getting tired of waiting, but he needed Yoco. Yoco was not worth possessing, but he could do other things that were very useful. Or so he thought.

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Yoco knocked on the door to Torono's office, daydreaming about his glorious paycheck. The doors opened, but Yoco just stood there, unaware of what was happening because he was too busy dreaming about Neopoints.

"Yoco. Yoco! YOCO!" said Torono.

"Ahh! Oh, sorry, just thinking," answered Yoco, startled.

"Come in here NOW!" yelled a frustrated Torono.

"Yes, my lord," Yoco walked into Darkshadow's office, still thinking about money.

"Yoco, I called you here because your progress in expanding my Empire is small, very small. Lets see here, you convinced fifty people compared to the millions of Pets and humans in Neopia."

The vision of money faded from Yoco's mind. "Do I still get paid?"

"Paid, PAID! YOU WANT TO BE PAID! OKAY, BUILD ME AN ARMY WORTHY OF MINE AND YOU'LL GET ALL THE MONEY YOU'LL EVER WANT! NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

Yoco ran from the room and all the way out of the tower; he didn't stop until he reached the forest. He then sat down on a rock and thought about his present situation. How could he create an army equal of Darkshadow's? He might as well just give up now.

Suddenly, a loud bang sounded through the forest like a cannon. Purple and black mist floated in the air next to Yoco. A dark faerie appeared in front of him. "Well, this is sure a sight," said the faerie in a very sinister accent.

"Torono_Darkshadow wants me to build him an army equal to his, and I can't do that," answered Yoco. "And my name is Yoco."

"He wants YOU to build him an army? You don't look like the domination type, so, I'll help you, but just because my buddy Torono and I aren't in best terms with each other. And besides, his army's rather small at the moment," said the Faerie. Yoco nearly fell over when she said this.

"Are you serious?"

"Yep, and I know exactly what to build an army of. Now follow me," and before he even knew the faerie's name, they were off.

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"We've been traveling for hours, so can we please stop and eat some food. I'm starving!" complained Yoco.

"Hey, you're the one who decided to follow me. So don't complain," replied the faerie. "And call me Celestra."

"Okay Celestra, can we please stop and eat something!"

"We don't have any food!"

They pulled back a tree branch to find themselves in the beginning of a street. Up the road there were a few buildings and pets.

"It's a village," said Yoco. "Well, let's find an Inn and see if we can get some food. Celestra, do you have any money?"

"I have about five thousand Neopoints," answered Celestra.

They walked up the road towards the town. The villagers paid no attention to them whatsoever. They walked through the crowds until they came to an Inn called The Green Uni. Yoco and Celestra walked through the door to find a cheery little room with two Kougra's sitting at a table eating a plate of mashed potatoes. The innkeeper was a cheerful brown Gelert who was polishing some glasses.

"Let me do the talking," whispered Yoco to Celestra. They walked up to the Gelert.

"Do you have a room for two travelers?" asked Yoco.

"Sure I do. The cost per night is fifty Neopoints," said the Gelert. "By the way, my name's Harbreth."

Harbreth led the two up to a small room that had two beds, a window, and a small wooden chair.

"Hope you enjoy your stay. You may pay when you leave," he said and left the room.

"So, what now?" asked Celestra.

"We get something to eat," said Yoco.

They left the room and went down to the central room. They ordered some food and sat down at a table. Yoco noticed a green Zafara, dressed in black with a hood concealing his face, was sitting in the back of the room. Yoco however, took no more thought to the Zafara and happily went to bed after he finished eating.

They paid and left the inn the next day. Celestra bought some food and supplies for their journey, too, for wherever Celestra was taking them.

They walked through the forest for days, following Celestra's directions, which weren't very good, causing them to get lost several times until they finally found the right path. But that did not hinder the figure following them in the shadows of the forest.

"Let's stop for the night," said Yoco.

"Alright, I'm tired anyway."

Yoco set up a small tent while Celestra started a fire. Yoco had some problems, so Celestra ended up helping him.

"Where are we going?" asked Yoco after camp was all set up and he and Celestra were sitting by the fire. "And what are we after?"

"Our destination is the cave of Crossbridge, home of the Bladack. We will create a Bladack army, which will impress Darkshadow very much. You will be able to control the Bladack with that medallion around your neck."

"This medallion does WHAT?" asked Yoco.

"It controls the Bladack, demon-like creatures. The Bladack are very strong, but stupid. They will obey your every command. How do I know this? That medallion was confiscated by the Faerie Queen many years ago. A faerie stole it from her care, and took it from the city, but I have no idea how it ended up in your hands."

"Who was this faerie?"

"She was a traitor and was cast out of Faerieland after she was caught, but by then the medallion was long gone, lost it to the unknown during the great battle to bring it back. So she was exiled and stripped of her powers, but a Dark Lord decided to help her. He helped the Faerie gain more power then before, but even then, she still wanted the medallion. She is still searching for it. Now I've had enough for today, I'm going to bed." And Celestra went into the tent, leaving Yoco on his own.

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The stranger was watching Celestra and Yoco through a very thick clump of trees. His black tunic allowed him to blend even better in the darkness. His green fur moved slightly with the breeze as his Zafara paw touched the hilt of his dagger.

"No," he reminded himself. "I must wait till they are asleep, then I will take it."

The Zafara listened to the Faerie talk about the medallion, and spat on the ground several time during her talk with disgust. Finally, both Yoco and Celestra went to bed inside the tent. He would wait till they were asleep, then he would complete his assignment.

After a few hours, the stranger knew that both of them were asleep by the mass amount of snoring coming from the tent. He quietly left the shadow of the trees and approached the tent. He unzipped the door and quietly entered. Yoco was sleeping on the right side, Celestra on the left. He pulled on some black gloves and pulled his hood lower over his face. He drew a vile of black stuff from his pocket and uncorked it. He walked over to Celestra and carefully poured the stuff on to the tip of his dagger. He stabbed the Faerie on the arm, but she did not stir. "Good, she won't know a thing," Her power was temporarily gone. He wiped the dagger clean, as the stuff only worked on Faeries, and approached Yoco. He put the dagger up to the Techo's throat. With his other hand he grabbed the Medallion. He began to remove it from the Techo's neck.

To be continued...