Stones of Power; Water: Part One

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     She was choking, struggling in a sea of darkness. Every where she turned, there was a murky thickness blocking her way to the light. She sank down father and farther, away from her goal. Falling, falling, falling...

     Two strange faces exploded in her vision, pulling her out of the darkness. She had just enough time to think, this has never happened before, before she slipped back into her body, and into sharp awakeness.

     Her room stared at her. No darkness, but for the night. She felt unsure. Could it be a trick of the darkness, the evil? No, nothing could get her room right. Too messy.

     She padded softly to the door that connected her room to the room of Marina, her mother. Marina lay sleeping in her bed, snoring lightly. No. she could not wake her up, she looked so peaceful. She turned to leave, and was suddenly in her mother's lap.

     "Did you have that dream again, Saora?" Saora nodded, feeling guilty. You couldn't open a door in her mothers presence, she some how always knew.

     "Don't worry baby, it's only a dream."

     The blue Shoyru sobbed rather loudly. Saora did well in school, was really athletic, and had a great family. It was the dream that ran her ragged and raw, caused her to lose sleep, and focus.

     Marina rocked the small girl gently, back and forth...back and forth...back...and forth...

     They had no idea how long they stayed there, but Marinas alarm started to beep rapidly. She needed to leave to her job, helping out the Soup Faerie. She set the now quiet Saora at the table in front of Fluffy Faerie pancakes, and dashed out the door in her pink outfit.

     Saora hadn't mentioned the faces she had never seen before. And didn't all day. Only to Glenda, her best of best friend.

     "That's odd, it could mean something. Maybe you should take sleep tablets so that you sleep better?" was all Glenda could suggest.

     Saora knew sleep pills were out of the question. She walked to the Central after school, peering into shop windows. Everything was out of stock, so Saora turned to the road that took her home.

     She was met by an astonishing sight. A medium sized Shadow Lupe shot past her into the dark underbrush to the side of the road. An Island Uni cantered by as well.

     Lupe and Uni burst from her memory, from her dream, the two faces she had never seen before had just ran right by her!

     The Lupe actually crouched in the shadow of a tree, barely visible in Saora's sight, and the Uni's horn popped from some shrubbery. And she saw what they were running from.

     A looming, shadowy creature wafted toward, heavily cloaked, and reeking of the horrid blackness of the dream. Saora felt paralyzed, unable to escape from the menace. The thing seemed to turn its unseen gaze to her, for she could hear its ragged breath.

     Something (or some things) realized her predicament, and lurched from the under growth. The Uni jabbed from the air at the evil figure, dancing 'way from its wildly flung blows. The Lupe took it upon him to gently tug on Saora's wing, bringing her to herself.

     "Come with me! Lanai will catch up!" Saora followed the strange Lupe. He was her only clue to something she had no hope of understanding. Her only hope of escaping the thing behind them.

     Saora, a blue Shoyru, struggled through the dense forest behind the Shadow Lupe, thinking very hard. She just hoped that she was doing the right thing. A stranger from a dream, now why was that logical? Better yet, why follow some thing that you saw, and were probably only a vision from your head? Hah! There you have it! Complete proof that she was insane.

     They came to rest under a majestic oak tree with strange symbols carved round its sides. The symbols whispered safety. She trusted them. Could anything else be more wrong?

     Breathing hard, she could hardly whisper to the Lupe, "Who *pant* are you? And what the heck was that thing?!"

     He didn't glance at her, but answered, "I am Shadow_flash12, call me Shae. And that beast thing? Me and Lanai don't have a clue."

     Though disappointed her last question could not be answered, Saora mentioned, "Reminds me of *pant* my shadow dream*swallow*"

     Now Shae jerked to look at her sharply. "What dream? What is it like I mean?" He sounded urgent beyond belief. Lots of thing seemed to be beyond belief these past few minutes.

     "Well, it is rather unrealistic..."

     "Just tell me!" He was frantic now, gesturing wildly at her and the sky.

     "Okay! Calm down before you hurt yourself. In the dream, I'm kind of drowning in a sea of darkness, and when I can't see this light to the last prick, I wake up."

     He replied, "You are not telling it all." Very calmly, not a trace of anger. That might be a bad sign.

     Saora continued, "The last one-only this last time-Two faces kind of popped outta no where and saved me. Erm--" Should she mention this"-they looked like you and Lanai!"

     There, she had said it, the one part of the dream that would get her mauled. Or worse, left to the demon back there.

     Surprise abounded when Shae slumped to the ground, head in his paws. She could barely make out his words, but they sounded like, "no. no...Not another Seer...nooo..." He was moaning audibly now.

     "Why is it bad? Huh!!!??? What is happening?"

     Before the Lupe could reply, the duo was blasted by shrieking and whistling winds that tore at their fur. A bright light shone from somewhere above them and blinded Saora until all she could see was a hazy symbol like the one on the tree that had once been towering over her.

     This symbol whispered of teleport...

     When the wind cried itself to sleep and the great light flickered from her vision, the symbol stayed in her vision. She felt unreal, ephemeral, held back by a wall of rainbow lights. Saora witnessed Shae slowly melt from the air into reality. The rainbows were the dazzling wings of the many Faeries surrounding them.

     Slowly, her arm shimmered through the wall around her, and the rest of her followed. She fell from 4 feet in the air. When her legs touched the solid earth, they gave way, and she felt no strength at all.

     Shae trotted over to her, and pulled her to her feet. "Sorry. They did not give any warning whatsoever, extremely rude. First time through the Dreaport World does that to you."

     Saora wobbly straightened up and proclaimed, "Just as long as I don't have to do that again!" She collapsed once more.

     "Please Shae! If they pulled you away from Tree of Peace, this is urgent!" The island Uni Lanai clopped over to them.

     "You are right. This is urgent!" A light Faerie said. Saora noticed there was no sign of Fyora. "Is she another?"

     "I think. She was sent a dream-charm by Chorine, and she sees the Shaowy People."

     "Then I guess we can be sure she is a Seer."

     Saora couldn't hold back: "Alright, who ARE you people!? Or better yet, WHAT are Shaowy thingies!? And what the heck is a Seer?!"

     Murmurs of polite laughter rippled through the small group of Faeries, and the Leader explained, "We are an elite force of Faeries trained by Fyora to detect and stop any unseen menace to Neopia. Shaowy are things from the World of Drea controlled by Chorine. And a Seer is a pet, petpet, or owner who can see the Shaowy and our symbols."

     "And why did that thing attack me?!"

     "It's target was technically Shae because he is a super sensitive, you got in the way and happened to be able to see the Shaowy. Any thing that sees it is a threat."

     Saora was inwardly astonished at the Faerie's calmness, but outward she managed to keep her face under control. A door burst open from the other end of the room. A fire Faerie blew in with the strong wind.

     "Madame Benicia, I have news from the labs!" she announced proudly.

     Illusen stepped from the shadows, and snatched the report. Her eyes widened (they never looked greener) and her jaw dropped dramatically. "This cannot be right! What are these power jewels? Why would they not be catalogued?"

     Saora caught a glimpse of a part of the parchment paper. It held many different strange words and equations they would never ever learn about in school.

     The scroll was rolled up abruptly and Illusen carried reverently over to Benicia. Her eyes, too, widened.

     "Well, Shae, you will have to stay a little longer than expected. Please sit down." One of the earth Faeries waved her hand and three plush seats sprang from the air.

     "You will have to explain what you already know to Miss. Saora here, later on. But now, it seems something much more horrid is coming." That was all the Light Faerie stated. She backed off and the Fountain Faerie took the stand.

     "According to these notes, Chorine has discovered a way to call up stronger Shaowy. Like the one today. At a touch, they could harm you seriously. Fortunately for us, calling up such powerful creatures leaves a trace of a trail. A trail that could be followed." She looked pointedly at Shae. "If we could follow a fresh trail, we could uncover where Chorine is hiding himself."

To be continued...