Flower

     Everyone except him.

     These thoughts came to Zyx one day, as the green Shoyru stood within his secret room reserved for the potions he was constantly brewing. His Gikerot, Krynne, was perched faithfully on a nearby bookshelf, chirping encouragingly every so often and sometimes fetching textbooks and ingredients when needed.

     The room, dark and damp, seemed to reflect Zyx’s current mood. He grumbled to himself, absorbed in equations and techniques, and Krynne almost had to bite his owner in order to notify him that it was time to add something else to the potion.

     “Thanks, Krynne. It’s almost finished,” Zyx muttered, seeping several ingredients into the cauldron. His thoughts began to drift once more. What did it matter, that he had no magical talent? His potions were beyond what the rest of his family knew. Magic came easily as ability; but true potion making was an art, a skill that had to be learned through analysis of complex formulas and technique...

     Lost in his own thoughts, Zyx didn’t realize that the potion he was stirring had begun to smoke.

     “Krynne, please bring me the Spectral Essence.” As the Gikerot raised its wings and flew off towards the storage cupboard on the other side of the room, Zyx once again turned his thoughts to his inferiority when compared to his brothers and sisters, while still stirring the potion.

     They were so lucky, to be able to bend the elements to their will. These potions were things to be proud of, but controlling magic would be so different, so much easier, so much better... Zyx sighed.

     And then the potion blew up in his face.

     Krynne, from across the room, fetched a towel.

     “Too many counterclockwise stirs. My thanks, Krynne,” Zyx mumbled, wiping ash off his face.

     ---

     There came a time, however, when it became known that a rare ingredient, the Destiny Flower, was rumored to be growing within the Haunted Woods. Coveted by all potion makers, the Destiny Flower was rumored to possess healing abilities so great that it heal any injury. It was truly valued, though, for how long it would bloom, even when picked—forever.

     It was said that the Destiny Flower would show the path of truth in one’s life.

     Naturally, once Zyx heard of it, he assembled all of the potions he possessed and headed off for the forbidden glen behind the Brain Tree in the Haunted Woods.

     It was only through a tiny entrance that one would be able to reach the sanctuary where the Destiny Flower bloomed. Overgrown with black thorns and littered with spiked rocks, the entrance place seemed as repelling as ever. Not to mention that the sanctuary was buried deep within the thorns, and it was believed that only through destroying the protection could one enter within. But Zyx was determined to obtain the Destiny Flower.

     Zyx and all the other potions masters, that is.

     ---

     “This is ridiculous...” Zyx groaned, watching all the other neopets and occasional faerie blasting away at the thorny vines with some magical ability or another. Krynne, on Zyx’s shoulder, chirped in agreement.

     “At this rate, we won’t have a chance, even with my potions...” Zyx fumbled in the bag he brought with him. Speed potion. Strength potion. Invisibility potion. But could they stand against the magical abilities of everyone else?

     “Come on, Krynne, I guess we’ll have to wait until next time...”

     As Zyx began to trudge away from the glen, with neopets and faerie still trying to destroy the protective growth surrounding the Destiny Flower’s sanctuary, Krynne looked back.

     A plan was beginning to form in the Gikerot’s head.

     ---

     Zyx had made a detour around the Esophagor’s swamp to collect a few potion ingredients. He had just picked a handful of Sharpgrass when he realized Krynne had found his way into the potion bag.

     “There’s no food in there...” Zyx began, but then he realized Krynne was gone. An empty potion bottle lay on the ground next to the bag.

     “Oh no...”

     The potion bottle was labeled “Invisibility”.

     ---

     Meanwhile, Krynne was having an adventure of his own. The Gikerot, now having turned temporarily invisible, flew off towards the glen where the Destiny Flower grew.

     There was still a commotion going on; the entrance to the Destiny Flower’s sanctuary remained resolute. It seemed that no matter how much magic was thrown at it, no one was to be allowed entrance.

     Krynne knew that. And as he slipped invisible and unnoticed through the tiny opening in the thorny sort of gate, he also knew that not even Zyx’s potion would be able to protect him from where he was headed...

     ---

     Zyx darted through the Haunted Woods, dodging left and right through brambles, rocks, and the occasional undead zombie neopet.

     “Krynne!”

     No answer. Zyx ran faster, spreading his wings.

     “Krynne!”

     Still no answer.

     Zyx flew on, almost tangling himself in the overhanging branches of an overgrown tree. Where in Neopia was that Gikerot? This would be so much easier with magic...

     After going through the Deserted Fairground, Haunted Marketplace, and even Eliv Thade’s house, Zyx was beginning to lose annoyance and develop worry.

     After trying to ask Edna where his petpet was (and almost getting turned into a Moach), Zyx was beginning to think that Krynne was gone for good.

     The last place that remained to check was the glen behind the Brain Tree, which both Zyx and Krynne had visited not too long ago. It was now deserted... perhaps the other competitors had given up, or someone had already found the Destiny Flower.

     “Krynne!”

     Something in the bushes rustled. But no answer.

     “Krynne!”

     Again, no answer—wait. Was that a chirp?

     Zyx looked at the thorny, tiny opening, and caught his breath. Krynne was crawling out of the opening, scratched all over and looking half-dead.

     But his eyes were shining.

     In his mouth was not one, but two Destiny Flowers.

     “Krynne!”

     The Gikerot flapped into the air and then dive-bombed at Zyx’s head in exhaustion. He deposited the flowers in his master’s hand, and then curled up on Zyx’s arm.

     Zyx breathed in. Just one Destiny Flower was priceless, but two? That left one for his experiments; and one extra.

     Extra...

     “One for me.” Zyx held the flowers, breaking the petals off of one and brushing them to Krynne’s scratches and wounds.

     There was a flash of light, and the Gikerot’s injuries vanished, along with the petals.

     “And one for you.” Zyx offered the final Destiny Flower to Krynne, but his petpet simply shook his head and pressed the flower back into his owner’s palm.

     Staring at the glowing blossom in his hand, Zyx eased Krynne onto his shoulder. In the green Shoyru’s hand, the Destiny Flower sparkled with a brilliant white light, almost as if it were made of diamonds or perhaps even starlight.

     “...Thank you.”

     Zyx spread his wings, Destiny Flower in hand, Krynne on his shoulder, preparing to fly home.

     “I guess I didn’t need magic after all.”

     ---

     It was said that the Destiny Flower would show the path of truth in one’s life.

The End