Defenders & Artefacts: Broken Rules

     Time: Four years before the betrayal

     Blanca arrived at the coffee shop earlier than they had agreed. Her stomach was a knot and she thought she would feel better if she was there beforehand to ease herself into this. She was sitting at the table, reading the back of the menu again and again, reciting the ingredients that each coffee contained but she didn’t feel any less anxious. Butterflies kept flying in her belly, asking her why she was here in the first place. She knew why she took this enormous decision, though. She would soon be starting her Defender Camp, and she hoped to check one more thing off her list before her life changed forever.

     This was the first time she would meet her brother whom she hadn’t seen ever since he got adopted by a rich couple, many years ago. Their parents had met these fellow archaeologists during one of their excavations when they first got their first job and quickly became very good friends at the time. Blanca’s family was not rich - unlike the family that he got adopted into - and their busy schedules didn’t even allow them to take care of one young Neopian, let alone two of them. Over the years, in spite of their efforts to keep in touch and experience their young boy growing up under the roof of their great friends, the two families inevitably drifted apart until Blanca entirely lost contact with her brother.

     Trying to get her mind to relax, she was paying close attention to the baristas over the counter. The technique used to prepare the different coffee beverages was mesmerising and how the order of each ingredient mixed together achieved the desired result. She was immersed in the detailed work of each coffee maker, when she heard a familiar grunt.

     “Blanca,” she heard his deep voice call her name and she saw Albugineo enter through the door. She would have recognised him anywhere, if not from the bright green eyes, from the black symbols that graced his mane.

     “I haven’t seen you in so long!” Blanca replied and stood up from her chair. She ran and forced him into a hug, which he returned reluctantly. When she let go of him, she continued “Come have a sit,” and pointed at their table.

     They both moved together back to the table. Albugineo floated through the coffee shop and sat on the chair that Blanca had occupied a few seconds earlier.

     “Get me a coffee, won’t you? Single shot, no sugar,” he ordered her as he floated inches above the actual seat. It seemed to Blanca that he much preferred to float and let his aura touch the surface, rather than actually sit. How strange this whole encounter felt!

     She was taken aback by his attitude. She was staring at this Wocky, with her mouth wide open in surprise, someone who resembled her brother but his mannerisms did not. When she realised that she had frozen in place, she swiftly moved to the counter to place their order. While waiting to collect their drinks, she kept looking back at Albugineo for a quick second, taking in his new, older face and then quickly turning back to the counter. Once the barista had prepared their drinks, she carried them back to the table.

     They spent the rest of the afternoon catching up after all these years, although Albugineo barely provided any updates. Blanca dominated the conversation, informing him of her upcoming adventure with the defenders and how excited, as well as anxious, she felt. The next step of the process was Defender Camp and she was looking forward to meeting her new colleagues, which she hoped to call friends by the end of the strenuous training.

     Blanca

     Time: Three days before the betrayal

     Blanca arrived at their usual coffee shop, where they had been meeting ever since their reconnection a few years ago. She pushed the glass door and the small bell rang to announce her arrival. She entered and quickly moved to the counter to place an order, like she always did.

     “One latte and one single shot, neither with sugar,” she ordered at the Gnorbu cashier who was behind the counter, and she saw the Blumaroo barista start preparing their drinks. As she waited, she glanced around the shop to check if he had already arrived. Today was the day they would finalise their plans. They had refrained from discussing the specifics and they had been using code-words during their meetings to avoid a very troublesome Ogrin from interfering. She knew how closely Orion worked with the defenders and it was of utmost importance he didn’t suspect a thing. This would be their last meeting however and there wouldn’t be any need for code-words.

     She picked their order from the counter when it was ready and moved to their table. As soon as she sat down, she saw him enter the shop. His aura had significantly grown since the last time she saw him a few days earlier, shining brighter than ever. He glided through, his white light reflecting on the floor, and met her at the table.

     “I am here, let’s get this over with,” he declared as soon as he floated above the chair, reaching for his coffee. He had become rude and arrogant but Blanca understood she could use this to her advantage. She had prepared a well crafted plan to destroy the defenders, one by one.

     “Enough with the code-words,” Blanca said abruptly, “Today we discuss everything in detail, with an actual action plan in order to avoid any confusions.” She was exceptionally good with details and the ploy they - mostly she - had come up with would soon be set in motion. She had finished with Camp. These days, they were going through the training at the headquarters, but she was already tired of them; and their attitude towards her.

     Orion

     Time: Three days before the betrayal

     Orion O. Ophiucus was sitting in his favourite armchair, spreading tarot cards on the coffee table in front of him. He was in a cosy environment with low lighting and essences burning, filling the room with a citrus aroma. All in all, a prime setting to interpret the cards. He laid the starting cards in front of him, face down, and gave the rest a good shuffle, placing them next to the drawn cards in a pile. He continued by turning each card face up. Upon making contact with the final card which was face down, he fell back into the backrest of the armchair, his head jerked backwards and he went into a trance.

     Orion excelled in three arts of divination. The study of the past, also called retro-cognition, allowed him to see events which had already happened. The study of the future, also known as premonition, allowed him to tap into upcoming events which were set in stone. The most difficult art though was the study of the present, most commonly referred to as clairvoyance. This allowed him to transfer his mind into another setting and perceive events and conversation that were happening at the same time, without being noticed. As he sat in his cosy armchair, his mind flew and landed into an unknown coffee shop.

     “Albugineo,” he heard a white Wocky say, “It is important you give an anonymous tip to the defenders tomorrow. Don’t make it too serious though. Paint it as a simple exploration mission. I know them. They will surely assemble a squad, most probably composed of novices given the low severity, in order to search.” She was briefing another white Wocky sitting opposite her, while she was sipping her drink. He, whom Orion assumed was called Albugineo, was looking at her with his eyes full of malice, and a gleam of excitement, as she spoke.

     “Allow us some time after we enter, so that they all scatter in the house and go on their exploration mission. Then you may enter; the mighty Albugineo. Once you are in, you can start wreaking havoc and destroying them one by one,” the female Wocky continued. He knew her, she was a defender, although he couldn’t remember her name. What did she mean by wreaking havoc? What were her intentions?

     “I will take care of that annoying Ogrin,” the assumed Albugineo sitting opposite her replied, with a deep, rough voice that made him sound like a brute, “He will soon catch on to our plan. I will not allow him to inform them of our schemes.”

     At once, everything changed. Customers and tables swirled together in a frantic pool of colour, weaving into incomprehensible images before unrolling again. He was no longer in the coffee shop, rather he was standing inside an unknown room. There was a carpet on the floor and in front of him in the distance, he could make out a wooden staircase. There were two doors in the room, one on his left and one on his right. He couldn’t recognise where his mind had visited now.

     Suddenly, he saw himself slowly floating through the door on his left. He was unconscious, his glasses barely hanging from his head. He was taken aback for a second. As this other Orion got closer and the images became clearer, he noticed that he wasn’t floating. He was being carried by the brute white Wocky, Albugineo, he had seen moments earlier in the coffee shop.

     Orion’s heart skipped a beat as he realised that he was taking a peek into the future. He was living experiences which were set in stone and couldn’t be tampered with. Having had a premonition, he knew he couldn’t change the course of time, which was running out. The white Wocky was getting nearer to the conscious Orion standing on the old carpet and, even though Albugineo couldn’t see him, he still made him uneasy.

     He turned around to try and understand where he was. The Entrance door was behind him. He pulled it open and ran outside, looking for an address. Outside it was afternoon, the golden hour was upon them bathing the desolated garden in shades of orange. He ran across the paved path and found an abandoned post box at the entrance of the garden that read: 235 Traicion Road, Haunted Woods. As the white Wocky exited the Entrance door still carrying the future unconscious Orion, the present conscious Orion mentally scanned the house as well as Albugineo himself. He peeked into each room and catalogued each hidden artefact, making mental notes and hoping he would remember all of this information if needed. From Albugineo, he extracted his magical footprint, the one responsible for his aura and his powers. His magical footprint reeked of rotten desperation, inflated ego and blinding arrogance.

     Orion jerked his head forward and he returned back to the safety and warmth of his armchair in an instant. In front of him still lay the tarot cards which felt useless at this moment. He had already seen enough, an abundance of information that he didn’t know how to handle. He stood up, panicking. He knew too much but felt powerless. Such was his gift of divination; a surplus of knowledge for such a small vessel as himself. He strode back and forth in his living room thinking of his next steps. There should be a solution to help the defenders while not interfering with the predetermined flow of time. It was crucial to let Albugineo provide the false tip, he had to allow the defenders to enter the house and, most importantly, he was obliged to let himself get kidnapped.

     His mind felt like a foggy room, each information a different puff of steam that clouded the mirror that was his clarity. As if a summer breeze blew, clearing the mirror, so did the judgment of Orion. He realised that there was still one action he could take, albeit dangerous. Enchanted artefacts.

     The defenders would embark on an exploration mission, as the white Wocky whose name he couldn’t remember said. That eerie house guarded a copious amount of artefacts with immense power - he had felt it during his scan. If he could somehow reach the house before Albugineo, he could enchant a variety of artefacts with some form of weak magic. That enchantment would lay dormant until a defender discovered one and interacted with it, tapping into its magic. Orion wasn’t able to determine the exact time Albugineo would be entering the house to attack, thus he had to enchant a vast amount of artefacts and hope that a defender would react with one at the precise time. His idea was to use Albugineo’s magical footprint and combine it with the enchantment. Once Albugineo was close to the house to begin his attack, the enchantment would couple with the vibrations from his magic, activating and informing the defenders.

     Or so Orion hoped.

     Albugineo

     Time: Three days before the betrayal

     It had been a few hours since they finalised their plan and Albugineo was on his way to guard his old house in case anyone had the stupid idea of interfering. After his first shift at the house, he was going to pay Orion a visit to take care of a few loose ends. Blanca had provided him with his address through the confidential files of the defenders.

     Albugineo had grown up in this house, which he used to hate. In a peculiar twist, it would be the best front for Blanca’s scheme. He was adopted by a couple, both archaeologists, who lived there and owned a myriad of artefacts, hidden or placed in plain sight inside the vast house. His adoptive parents were incredibly interested in magic and unexplained phenomena, always tinkering with an exciting new discovery. Growing up in that house was horrible. No one could understand the resilience required to not get startled when walking into a new room. Rooms were constantly enchanted by his parents who were testing new artefacts or spells, which scared Albugineo, causing him to be alert at all times. He never knew what awaited him behind the closed door of each new room he visited. He couldn’t visit the Kitchen or the Game Room without a rabid Petpet attacking him or a colony of sentient cooked beans assaulting his face. Living in constant vigilance and never able to lower his guard, that house broke him. It was the catalyst that made him who he was today.

     He passed through the garden and got near the Entrance door. It had been years since he last visited and well buried memories rushed back to him. Memories of floors unexpectedly giving way to slides that led to the basement, memories of flying books and creaky hallways. He grunted, breathing forcefully through his nose to remind himself who he had become and the power he possessed. His aura would protect him now, from anything that scarred him as a child. He would share part of this aura with Blanca as soon as he arrived for his attack. Although it wouldn’t make her stronger, it would protect her from the unexpected phenomena. But she had to wait and endure the hardships of that wretched house until his arrival. It was impossible to share the aura with her beforehand as it would raise too many suspicions and her distance from him would diminish its power in any case.

     He entered the house and remembered the location of each and every room. It was a big house with unpredictable rooms in unorthodox locations. He glided through the Entrance Hall and went straight ahead to the Foyer. He checked around for unexpected visitors, before continuing straight into the Grand Staircase, always vigilant for intruders. He glided up the stairs to reach the Upper Hall. A good chunk of his time was spent scanning the whole top floor although no one was hiding there. He entered the Mystic Jelly Room, found on a branch off the Dusty Hallway, and asked for it to transport him to the Basement Landing. After a few seconds of suction and breathlessness, he exited to the basement, turning left to enter the Maze.

     He stopped for a moment at the entrance corridor of the Maze, to marvel at his portrait hanging on the left wall. He looked ferocious in that portrait, even if the artists hadn’t captured the full potential of his aura. After all, it used to be weaker. He easily traversed the Maze, as he had done countless times in the past, reaching the Soundproofed Room at the end. He continued scanning the whole basement floor, one room at a time, before returning to the Mystic Jelly Room and ordering it to take him to the ground floor.

     He exited into the Junk Room and he saw him. Orion was kneeling in the middle of the pile of junk, with his eyes closed and his mouth muttering something in a low voice. As soon as he perceived him, Orion dropped whatever he was holding and turned to face him. The tiny speck which was almost invisible, fell back into the centre of the pile and Albugineo thought he saw it emanate a faint white light. Unbeknownst to Albugineo, Orion had dropped one of his visions.

     “Pesky fortune teller, you shall not interfere,” Albugineo shouted at him and attacked. From his aura ejected two mighty knuckles which lunged straight, towards Orion. The Ogrin didn’t barge, he stood, frozen in place in the middle of the pile, not making any move to defend himself. He only closed his eyes again and accepted his fate. The knuckles met Orion and knocked him backwards, rendering him unconscious.

     “Pathetic,” spat Albugineo, as he glided over the pile of forgotten items, to pick up Orion and carry him away to his lair. The downfall of the defenders had begun.

     Verde

     Time: Four days after the betrayal

     Verde finished writing his application and stretched his arms while sitting in his office chair. So many things had happened since they emerged victorious from that house on 235 Traicion Road. After defeating Albugineo once and for all, Verde administered him a Potion of Good Dreams, which calmed him and made him fall sound asleep. Shortly after, Purpura found them, coming from the Library. While she stayed behind to keep an eye on Azul, Blanca and Albugineo, Verde ran back to the headquarters to inform them of what had happened and to call for reinforcements.

     After the whole squad of the Defenders of Neopia arrived at the house, everything else happened in the blink of an eye. Blanca and Albugineo were taken in for interrogations, while a big celebration was set up to honour Verde, Azul and Purpura. They three young trainees had upheld the standards of the defenders, never drifting the moral compass and had defeated a great evil. They had received medals and Judge Hog conferred the title of Honorary Defenders upon all three - which didn’t really mean much as it was only a title. They still had to succeed in their future training courses, in order to become actual defenders.

     Verde stood up from the chair to stretch his legs by pacing a few laps around his office. He was at the headquarters, polishing his application. He wanted to apply and partake in the upcoming leadership training, led by Judge Hog himself. He knew that his calling was to become a leader and guide the defenders to success in the field, and this mission had proven as much.

     Verde had also prepared a second application to retake Lightning Lenny’s cryptic clues course. He had vowed that to himself while trapped inside the house, and he had to stay loyal to his promises.

     Purpura

     Time: Four days after the betrayal

     Purpura stashed the last piece of equipment onto its designated slot on the shelf. They were the two throwing stars she had retrieved from the Library, while Verde and Azul were defeating their enemy. Her gold medal was hanging from neck and it clanged as she accidentally hit it on the metal railing of the shelves. She had been working hard at her new post, as Head of Artefacts in training.

     The throwing stars lay motionless on the shelf, drenched in a grey colour. Fortunately, they were not necessary during their last fight, thus Purpura hadn’t needed to decode their cryptic clues. Even though she knew that an attack weapon wouldn’t magically provide a solution to her personal struggle, she still meant to crack their code soon, and convert them into their deep black colour, similar to the string-less bow. The bow lay next to the stars and both weapons were labelled as highly effective against the evilest of evil.

     After the events of the house, she took the decision to speak to Judge Hog and explain the situation about her parents, expecting the worst reaction from their leader. On the contrary, the Moehog promised her his full support during her search, as well as allowing her reign - within reason - in the artefact vault at the headquarters. She now had an arsenal of magical items and spells to help her in her personal quest. They had already discussed a future mission to collect the rest of the items left behind in the house and, thanks to Azul’s crystal ball, their work was going to be much simpler and they would be able to know exactly when they had collected them all.

     “Could you translate this parchment for me, please?” she asked her and passed her a piece of crumpling paper, which seemed to be written in Old Maraquan.

     “No, thank you,” Blanca replied ironically, as she grabbed the parchment and started translating it. After Blanca’s recovery in the infirmary, she underwent an interrogation, admitting to all the accusations and pleading guilty, unlike her brother Albugineo who remained under high security guard. She did not confess though without sprinkling some brutal truth regarding the lack of respect she had experienced in the past. Blanca was eager to provide information about Albugineo’s lair, which allowed the defenders to rush and save Orion, whom they found in good health.

     To honour Blanca’s attitude and sense of remorse, although she was not allowed to continue her training, she was permitted to help Purpura in the artefact vault. They had recognised her expertise in ancient artefacts and long forgotten alphabetaries and, at the same time, Purpura was granted access to an even more vast bank of knowledge through her colleague. Even though their relationship was still strenuous, through methodical work and shared interests, Purpura hoped to mend this alliance and call her a friend once again.

     Azul

     Time: Four days after the betrayal

     Azul petted the baby Vandagyre while the Cirrus floated around them, ever so gleefully. They were sitting on a bench, in the gardens of the headquarters, basking in the sun. His last memory of the house was in the Abandoned Room. He was falling rapidly towards the ground while the Cirrus rushed to cushion his head. He clutched the medal around his neck and felt happy at that moment. He remembered when his own father had awarded them the medals just yesterday. That look of pride that could be deciphered in his eyes, as he draped the circular gold piece of metal around his son’s neck, was priceless and Azul kept repeating that scene in his head.

     Both the Cirrus and the baby Vandgyre were also honoured during their celebration. The defenders had deemed them as exceptional allies in the fight against evil. The Cirrus was adopted as the official Petpet of the defenders, something that made it extremely happy as it meant that there would always be a free hand to pet it, squeeze its fluffy body and scratch its soft head.

     Echo, as the baby Vandagyre was now called, became the youngest defender in training, surpassing - or rather underpassing - in age Cherise, the young Acara. Its potent sonic abilities were slowly being trained with the aim of helping it use them efficiently to fight any future enemies. Of course, training was scheduled around its feeding and nap times, otherwise it would blast them with its high pitched attack which had once rendered Blanca incapable of taking any actions.

     This last mission had proven to Azul that he could become an exceptional trainer himself, thus he had already prepared and sent his application for the trainers’ training. During the speech given at their celebration party, Judge Hog had talked about Azul’s quick wits and smart thinking to make use of his partners’ - the Cirrus and Echo - abilities in precarious situations which did not allow time for carefully laid out plans.

     The experience had provided Azul with a newfound courage. His plan was to open up to Blanca and get to know her more. Given her recent change of heart, he felt that she deserved to know the truth. This was a new Azul, moulded by that wretched house. He was finally on track to writing his own story.

     The End.