To Come

     They have taken over.

     They started with Kreludor. They ended with me. I am writing this now, and I will use the last of my weakened power to send this back in time. I am sending this to warn you. Heed my warning, friend. If you do not, then there is nothing else to do. You will someday be annihilated. It’s not my fault.

     I remember Neopia as it was. Beautiful, undamaged, and peaceful. There was the occasional conflict, nothing serious. All that will change if you don’t listen to me. You may be able to save Neopia.

     There was a Lupe. A Lupe named Ermin. He betrayed us all.

     They infested him. They infested him, but not against his own will. Oh, Ermin. He was a little escapee from the pound, a Lupe with unnatural strength, a beggar on the street. Anger at the world soon turned to hate, and he let them infest him. He was the ground base of their army. He made them real.

     They started with Kreludor, as I said. The Grundos are defenseless and weak. Soon they moved on to take over the Virtupets Space Station. We here on Neopia didn’t suspect a thing. It was quiet in space, true, but that wasn’t too unusual. Then people started to disappear.

     We first noticed it when we didn’t see so many people in the streets. Then the streets in some parts of Neopia started to have absolutely no people strolling through them at all. This worried us, but we thought it was maybe one of those cute little things that resolve in the end. We were foolish. We were immature, with no idea how to recognize, or fight, a real menace when we saw one. Oh, we were such fools. I know that now.

     We became more worried when Cosmia didn’t come to the counsel on our assembly day. But still we ignored it. We ignored it! What stupidity! How could we remain so blind when one of our own numbers had disappeared? We were unfit to rule, unfit to even advise our people!

     Cosmia never came back to our counsel.

     I remember the day they came. The day the sky went black, the day the wind came up with full force. The day of the downfall of Neopia.

     The sky blackened, and a hush came upon the city of Faerieland. The wind picked up slowly, and then more and more quickly, until the wind was blowing a gale. Then, suddenly, it stopped. I stood there at the fountain and gazed at the sky, waiting for whatever was to come. It was not long in coming.

     A bolt of lightning flashed across the heavens and landed at my feet. It silently spiraled upward, and I stepped back. Out of it came Ermin.

     Ermin was hateful. He looked bitter, and my faerie senses confirmed that this poor Lupe had had a miserable life and was full of hatred for the world and especially for me. But he spoke calmly, as if he had not a care in the world.

     “Step aside, Fyora.”

     I stood my ground. “Why?”

     “Why, Fyora? Because I have more power than you think, and you are in my way of becoming their king.” He gestured toward the neopets huddling close together on the streets.

     “How do you have more power than I do? I have all the weapons of the Hidden Tower at my command, and you think you have more power than I do. How is that possible?”

     He looked me in the eyes. “I have the power of hatred, evil, and greed on my side, Fyora.”

     “But I have love, compassion, and friendship on mine, Ermin! How can you defeat the power of those virtues?”

     “In two simple ways, Fyora. First of all, is there more love in Neopia at this moment, or is there more hate? More hate. Neopia was once a place of love, back in Year 14; it is true! But ever since then, we have slowly dwindled in the numbers of people who love, Fyora, dwindled, and whose fault do you think that is? Yours, all yours. Second of all, you are not fully pure. I have lived twelve years, Fyora, twelve years! And once, before you were chosen to be the queen, you turned me out. You cast me from your home, all because I was a beggar, and you, the mightiest dark faerie of all, you were higher than me! Oh, and that was not the last time we met, Fyora. Think back; think back to before you were the queen, before, when you were dark! You are not pure, and so I shall defeat you easily!”

     I paled. How could he know? But he did, and I remembered the small urchin I had cast out of my house, back, way back, before the day when they chose a dark faerie to become queen. He was right.

     “You do not have to die, Fyora. You can live. You are a mighty faerie queen, and an even stronger dark faerie. Why, if you were to return to the dark arts, you would be greater than the Darkest Faerie ever was! A million times stronger, Fyora. But I am stronger. They have given me power to equal them. Can you join us? You would be greatly appreciated in this new regime.”

      I looked into his eyes. “I can’t, Ermin. I’ve sworn an oath on my powers of darkness that I wouldn’t go back unless I was forced to against my will. If I go back willingly, I will have no powers at all.”

     “Then we will force you to.” He smiled an evil smile. He grabbed me by the arm and held me tight. “I’m truly sorry, Fyora,”

     “You’re not,” I said. “You’re not. You are glad to cause me pain, glad to be avenged, glad that that I will suffer, glad that you will be the one to make me suffer. You are thrilled.”

     “I might be,” he said, “but who knows?”

     Here I am now. Alone in this dungeon, without a prayer, without a hope, except this letter. I know their plan, for I too was once a dark faerie of great power. They are not faeries, but all evil has one mind, one cold black heart, and one intention. Kill.

     They will force me to become subservient. They will force me to become dark once more, and they will not let me know anything they do. They might not even let me see them. They will wreak havoc on Neopia, they will destroy it, while letting only the most powerful survive. With these most powerful, they will move on to other worlds, destroying and massacring along the way. They will soon be supreme.

     I am sorry for Ermin. He will die; he will be killed. He is but a pawn like the rest of us, though a more important pawn. Still, he knows too much. Too much for his own good. They will kill him.

     But now I can hear the screaming, and the cries of the dying, and the shrieks of the tortured. I can tell they are coming for me very soon. So I must say this now.

     Build up your defenses. Let no one be unguarded. Make sure there are more who love than who hate. Hate will be the downfall of Neopia.

     Remove me from the throne, and put a completely unblemished faerie in my stead. Research hard into her history; make sure she has done no evil deeds. Even better, take a newborn and raise her to be queen. I will not kick up a fuss if I read this.

     Finally, seek out Ermin the Lupe, and all those who have been wronged by me. The past me will tell you who they are. Take special care of those in the pound. You will escape the dreadful fate which is to come.

     I can hear them coming for me. This is my last moment as the queen of Faerieland. I shall spend the rest of my life a dark faerie, and a slave to them.

     Good luck, Neopia.

     Fyora