The Shadows: Part Seven

     *

     Faerieland was bustling with life, even in the night. The stars looked so close; even Kreludor looked within reach from here. I looked around in amazement, trying to take in the night look of Faerieland ingrained into my brain. I’d never been here before, never having traveled to any place except the Haunted Woods and Mystery Island. This place was beautiful.

      I walked along the soft clouds gingerly, trying to get rid of the feeling that I might fall any moment. I needed my wings back; I didn’t like being a Gelert at all. I felt so insecure and helpless without my wings. Oh well, it’d just have to do.

      I looked around the bustling city and then spotted what I looked for. Towering above the city of Faerieland was the Faerie Tower, elegant and seemingly glowing to me. This was it; I was finally going to get rid of the shadows that plagued my life.

      I was so excited that I jogged up to the tower, streaming through the crowd.

      I stopped as I reached the tower, feeling small next to the large tower that was guarded by impenetrable walls and large faerie Grarrls. I looked down at the clouds and walked up to the huge doors. “Can I see Fyora?”

      The Grarrls looked at me with a scrutinizing look that made my insides squirm. “Do you have an appointment?” growled one of the Grarrls in a low voice.

      My mind went blank. I don’t think that I could handle waiting for any longer then I already had. Plus, the shadows were now so close I could feel them breathing down my neck. Their voices were beginning to become audible in my long ears, Give it to us.

      “No,” I murmured, “I don’t. But this is urgent.”

      The Grarrls smirked at each others before looking back at me. One Grarrl raised his spear and poked me in the shoulder, “Good. There are no appointments, I just wanted to see if you would lie or not.” He laughed a deep, throaty laugh that sounded awkward and choppy. “You can enter, just make it quick.” He nodded to the other Grarrl and the two guards opened the large doors.

      I was into Fyora’s Palace and it was amazing. The ground was marble which caused me to slip a few times as I walked on my padded paws. The walls were tall and purple with huge portraits of famous Faeries decorating them. Chandeliers hung from the arched ceilings, shedding light on all below. Staring at the chandeliers only made me wish more that the light could dispel of the shadows that hung over my back.

      I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going which was probably the reason that I ran into somebody. One moment I was walking and the next I had bumped into somebody so hard that I fell to the ground.

      “Oops,” laughed the other person, hovering above me.

      “Sorry,” I muttered shyly, looking up to see the person I wanted to see most. Her hair was long and purple, flowing about her pale face. Her curved, purple eyes smiling along with the rest of her as she extended a delicate hand to me. Fyora.

      “Oh, it’s okay,” Fyora said, chuckling as I apologized. “I should have been watching where I was going as well.”

      I stood up, still staring at her. I couldn’t believe that I was actually here, talking to the Faerie Queen. On any other day I would have been overjoyed and ecstatic but that circumstances for which I was here made my mood a little less then enjoyable. “I have a problem, Fyora, and I heard you could help me.”

      Fyora shrugged her shoulders, still smiling. “That’s what I generally do. What do you need?”

      I cleared my throat and looked around me. I could see the shadows, drawing closer to me, wrapping their cold arms around my neck. I felt like I was suffocating in the darkness, inside the cold that enveloped me. “My problem is a little odd,” I started, hesitating as I tried to breathe. It was hard; my mind was getting foggy and unclear as the shadows worked their magic on me. I closed my eyes and started again. “I have these shadows that are following me. Sophie said that that they are from a monster the Dark Faeries let loose a long time ago. She made me a potion to get rid of it, but I need a touch of the Ultimate Faerie magic and... something else. The page got ripped out there.”

      Fyora studied me for a moment, looking from my pleading eyes to the key around my neck to the lump that was the potion and my waist. She nodded slowly. “I know what you need. Follow me.”

      Fyora turned and hurried down the halls, her purple dress trailing after her. I scurried to follow her as well, trying to look at the shadows as little as was possible. I didn’t know how much time I had but I didn’t want to have to explain to Fyora what was going on again. Plus, every time I was changed I could feel the shadows getting more and more real. Last time they attacked Ari, after all.

      Fyora stopped at a pair of doors that looked identical to every other set of doors in the whole tower. How could she tell what went where? I shook my head and slightly smiled; waiting for whatever surprise Fyora would have for me.

      Fyora placed her hand on the door and the doors swung open, exposing a near empty room. “When we locked up the monster,” Fyora explained, “we expected it to want to come back out. We had a back up plan for the unlucky pet to actually get rid of the monster.” In the middle of the room was an item that Fyora picked up and looked at almost affectionately. She paused her explanation for a moment, just studying the item.

      Fyora turned around suddenly and looked at me seriously, “The only way to get rid of the monster is that potion, correct? That potion creates a monster more powerful than the monster we had. The only way to control the monster we are about to make is to give it a meaning, a personality. That personality is made by affection from its life, or from hatred. The fact that you used items that represented the monster we are trying to rid ourselves from makes a sort of tag to the monster we are creating. It will only destroy that monster and then it will return to normal, almost. We are dispelling the monster, though, not the shadows.”

      I felt confusion run over me as Fyora explained the process to me, especially the last thing that she said. “How are we going to get the monster then?”

      Fyora looked at me and smiled sadly. “Give it to them.”

     *

     The shadows were gone immediately after I gave them the key, hissing happily to each other. I shuddered to think of what they might do with it but my fears were soon replaced with joy as I felt the coldness rush out of me. I turned back to Fyora.

      “What is the item we are using for our monster?” I asked, smiling confidently.

      Fyora held up the item she was holding in her hands and showed it to me. “This.” It was a little blue Grundo plushie.

      “Are you kidding me?” I asked, giving the plushie a doubtful look. “It’s a toy.”

      “Exactly,” Fyora said, cuddling the plushie tenderly. “It’s my plushie that I had when I was younger. It had a lot of affection, so it should multiply the effects of the potion by three or four times. I got it taken from me when I was younger and it got placed in here; it was the back up plan.”

      I still felt doubtful, looking at the Grundo plushie smile at me almost mockingly. I shrugged my shoulders, though, and started to unwrap the potion from the sack. “Alright, whatever you say, Fyora.” I handed her the potion and took a step back.

      Fyora stared at the jar for a moment before her hand started to glow purple. The whole jar was encompassed in purple light for a few moments before turning back to normal. She looked up at me and winked. “A little Faerie magic to start the potion working.”

      A little drop of the liquid was dropped on the Grundo plushie and the reaction was instantaneous. It grew and it grew big.

      I looked up at the Grundo, still plushie looking and still smiling, with a smile on my own face. The smile lasted only a moment before an earsplitting screech broke my happy moment.

      “And so it begins,” Fyora muttered beside me, looking off into the distance. I followed her gaze and saw what she meant. There was a black gap in the clouds of Faerieland with a single claw poking through. The claw was at least as big as me.

      I trembled to know what the rest of the monster looked like.

To be continued...