The Curse of Talador: Part Two

     Tryssa could have still moved. She didn't. She just stayed there, looking deep into my eyes as my heart cried out to her. She couldn't hear me, of course.

     "I'm ready," she said. "If Talador is to end, then this is how it must be." I screamed in pain as I fought with all my might. ZOOM! The shot flew towards her.

     It missed - barely - by millimeters. I collapsed and was freed from the spell once again. The stone had crept up to Tryssa's shoulders.

     "You fought for me," she said quietly. "time is running out, my friend. for me...and for you. I need you to promise me something."

     "Anything for you."

     "Siyana...Talador's light is gone...you must return the light." A tear trickled down my cheek.

     "Save our city...save Lina." Within a second, Tryssa's face hardened into stone.

     I guess she will always be stone.

     I remembered her words and everything that had happened. Those happenings were because of me.

     I am immortal. And as long as I live, I would remember those happenings.

     For Reader...my curse will live as long as I.

     *

     This was the end of Talador. Lina, Tryssa, Jerdana, Thyora - all petrified. The other Council members and the rest of my people were stone as well. My fault.

     That sticks in your mind even if you aren't cursed.

     There strode the Darkest Faerie herself. The abomination. "You-"

     Without hesitation, she shot a stunning spell at me. I didn't know why she didn't just kill me on the spot. That would have been easier to bear than knowing that I had destroyed my family and friends.

     At that moment, her reasoning was evident. The faerie stepped up and surveyed the destruction. Her lips curled into a sneering smile. Then she raised her arms and summoned an eerie scepter containing an orb. Swirling within the orb was a shadowy mist with streaks of lilac and black. The Darkest Faerie swiped her hand through the air, calling forth the clouds of darkness and despair.

     They blotted out the light, and then she raised her scepter and directed the clouds around the castle. The wind whipped harder than I would have thought possible. At first the clouds hesitated, then they whirled around the golden towers. It was enveloped in her curse. The curse of a Dark Faerie.

     When the once-proud castle was revealed, I nearly screamed, but being stunned I could not utter a word. The castle had been turned a dull, colorless grey. Grey. Grey! I did not even know what it was at the time. Nothing, not even stones, were grey in Talador, and by saying nothing I mean it.

     The clouds turned on the mountains, the forests, and even the houses. Those who had been shielded from the petrifying curse by their homes were now helpless statues. Lakes were drained of their sparkling beauty, and the sun could not be seen through the clouds.

     It was utmost torture to watch this, unmoving, as the Darkest Faerie stole and wrought all the glory and pride for herself. Yes, my friend. Everything I once knew and treasured would soon cease to exist.

     The final part of Talador to be destroyed was the light of the sky. I watched, helpless, as the scepter itself began to absorb the light. The sky dimmed slowly from lavender to pale blue, and from that to grey. And finally, my friend, the sky of Talador turned to black forever.

     The Darkest Faerie laughed so horribly it sent chills up my spine. She formed the clouds into a dome around the city of petrified people and yelled one last incantation. It transformed the clouds into a swirling dome with patterns that moved in a circular motion. With a noise that echoed across the barren landscape, The Dark One, the abomination of all faeries, disappeared to elsewhere.

     She had other places to visit. Other places to destroy and annihilate.

     My name is Siyana, meaning "bright one." I come from the land of Talador, where the light has been turned to eternal darkness.

     And I am the last of the Light Faeries.

     'How can this be?' you may wonder. 'I see Light Faeries every day at the Wheel of Excitement.' Wrong. They are not true Light Faeries. When I appeared in Neopia as the only Light Faerie, I explained my plight to Fyora. She, knowing what would be best, taught magic to about fifty humans to conceal my presence. Just simple spells, that is all. I can now perform complex spells involving incantations that your human tongues would never be able to pronounce. If I had to, I would even be a match for Fyora in one-on-one combat. It compares to the days when Lina, Tryssa and I could only perform spells simpler than the ones Fyora taught to the humans.

     As I was saying, the Darkest Faerie had vanished off my world - for now. She would be back someday. She would return to finish off Talador for good.

     I guess she favored tormenting me, though.

     My eyes were sorely unaccustomed to the black void of darkness. I lay there on the ground, the stunning spell not having worn off yet, and memories of my past came rushing back at me. Some memories I didn't even know I had.

     ...I was seated with my other restless classmates in the academy. I would never complete my education. Not that it mattered anymore.

     "Our homeland as you know it today was established in the year 400 B. H. meaning before humans," my history teacher droned on. "It took 100 years to build..." And ten minutes to destroy, I thought grimly. My thoughts shifted once again.

     Tryssa and Lina appeared mentally. We were younger, laying in a golden field where the dewdrops glistened in the morning light's sun. The blissful calm of the meadow soothed the aching guilt forming in my stomach. I realized that what was to come would come, no matter how much I resented what the future had to bear. Things would change for the better, and for the worse. I could only wait and hope the tides would turn in my favor.

     In the memory, the sun poked above the horizon, yet the opposite side of the sky was still dark violet.

     "I like days like these," Tryssa said quietly, careful to leave the setting undisturbed. "Just laying here, only the three of us to keep each other company."

     "We'll always be together, right?" asked Lina. We all smiled knowingly. The answer was clear.

     "Always."

     "Forever."

     "Until the end of time."

     Hearing my own voice startled me. Even though I was remembering, it seemed that the past was so long ago that I had changed. It was true. I had changed in those few years come to pass. With a sudden flash, I could move once again. The city was no longer suitable for any being to live within.

     I knew what I must do. The time had come to leave Talador.

     If I must leave, I had to gather the few belongings that had been spared from the curse, if any. It would be hard moving on. Everything would be different, times changed, and ultimately heartbreaking to be the last Light Faerie, the only one to carry on the burden of tradition. Beneath my feet crunched the dead grey grass. The plants may have revived even the smallest bit. Their color was still dull, yet somehow there was a slight sparkle to them.

     My home was a sorry sight. Once a pale gold that shone like the sun, it now carried the mark of the Darkest Faerie's curse. I stepped inside the house I had been raised in. The only visible objects were grey stone. And there in the midst of all the ruins lay my mother. Petrified.

     I turned away, tears streaming down my cheeks, the salt causing my cuts and scrapes to smart. I could hide from my past, yet the future would always find me, somehow, some way. I salvaged two posessions from the wreck of my room: a locket with moving pictures of my mother, Tryssa, and Lina, and my hooded black traveler's cloak. Before closing the door I turned back to the statue form of my mother.

     "I love you," I choked.

     Maybe someday my love would reach her. I would find a way to reverse the spell for all of my people. The only known way so far is to kill the Darkest Faerie.

     I ran silently and swiftly from the scene, my head down, and finally came to a halt. A single tear slipped down my cheek onto the dead ground. There in the grass were three tiny lilies my tear had touched. I smiled, an expression that is now so infrequent, and gently picked them, preserving them with magic so that they may always be vibrant lilac flecked with gold. Then I padded over to the statues of Tryssa and Lina.

     "I promise I'll come back for you."

     The lilies were placed gently near their forms. "We will always be together.....until the end of time," I quoted from my memory. It was time to leave.

     I draped my traveler's cloak around my shoulders and wove the last remaining lily into my hair.

     Have you ever feared something and never been aware of it? That was what I felt that very moment. I was afraid, my friend. Afraid of an uncontrollable future in which I could never belong. Today that fear is confirmed. My curse of remembrance haunts me wherever I go, forcing a barrier between the other faeries and me. I have much wisdom beyond my years, for it was then that I decided to complete my training in magic so I could one day avenge my past. A past long gone in a forgotten world.

     The heart of Talador, the last remnant of the magic of the city, marked me as I stepped outside the dome surrounding it. Beside the crescent shaped mark standing for darkness now lay a single star, just one, symbolizing light and hope. My name means "bright one." I was the star...she was the crescent mark. That magic would help me to pull through the days to come.

     I conjured a golden portal to Faerieland. But before I stepped through it, I turned one final time at the home I had lost. Talador. That memory still lives in my heart and mind, and so it shall forever. Eternity can be a long wait for those who are immortal.

     My name is Siyana. I am alone, so terribly and hopelessly alone. The last of the true Light Faeries.

     And I will never forget it.

The End

Author's note: Ah, another story ended. Of course, it is never truly the end. Those two little words merely mean "Until next time." Thanks so much for making my work successful. Until next time, readers. -Skye