A trip to the Seven Wonders of the (Neopian) World: Part Three

     As the hot air balloon drew closer to Faerie City, Seamus felt and uncontrollable wave of excitement rush over his body. The quiggle pilot had barely touched down on the ground when Seamus threw himself over the side and set off running to the centre of the city.

     "Thanks for the ride!" He shouted back to the Quiggle as he continued to run.

     The Quiggle shouted something back to him, but by this point Seamus had gotten so far away he couldn't make out what he was saying.

     "He was probably just made that I jumped over the side," Seamus thought to himself. "Oh well, I'll probably never see him again."

     Now usually to find the Hidden Tower it is advisable to hire a tour guide, someone who knows exactly where the tower is and can point it out to you as it is, as the name states, 'hidden'. But Seamus had read so much, and heard so much, about the Hidden Tower he was sure he could find it himself. He made his way to the Faerieland Employment agency as he knew the entrance to the tower was just around the corner from there. He passed the agency, ran around the corner and then... nothing. There was nothing there except a brick wall. Seamus knew he hadn't taken a wrong turn, just like the directions for the Rainbow Pool, he had studied them every night since he was a child. There was no way that he was wrong. Seamus looked all around the wall, looking for a secret passage way or something of the sort. He tried for a good hour.

     He was just about to give up when he saw something appear with the sunlight. The sunlight cast a shadow against the wall and in what looked like an illusion, a door suddenly appeared.

     "This is it!" He thought whilst excitingly rushing towards the door. He reached out and pulled the door open.

     He was faced with a set of stairs. As he looked up the staircase, he saw they seemed to be never ending. He had read about the staircase, no-one quite knew how many steps there were, but the authors of the books had certainly not been exaggerating when they spoke about the seemingly endless stairs. Seamus took one last look up the staircase before deciding the climb would definitely be worth it in the end.

     He decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to count the stairs so there was finally an answer to how many stairs there were. As he took his first step he began his counting.

     "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7... Huh, this isn't as bad as I thought." Seamus continued up the stairs, eyes focused on each upcoming stair, the numbers rising higher and higher.

          **********

          "... 1892... 1893... 1894," Seamus softly spoke, almost out of breath.

     "1895.... 1896..."

     THUMP! Seamus had been so busy focusing on counting the steps, he hadn't realised that he had reached the top and walking head first into a great wooden door.

     He had finally made it to the entrance, extended his arm ready to knock on the door. Just as he was about to reach the door, the door opened.

     "Come in," said the most beautifully spoken voice Seamus had ever heard.

     He made his way towards the voice, he had been so excited about coming to the Hidden Tower he had almost forgotten he would be in the presence of Fyora herself. He was suddenly a little star-struck, with his knees beginning to jitter.

     From behind the old, wooden door Fyora appeared. Seamus had read about her beauty before, but it was just indescribable. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, with a soft glowing light surrounding her all the nerves he felt seemed to just leave his body. He stared at her in awe. Suddenly he snapped out of it.

     "Hello great one, I have heard of the wonders you hold inside this tower and have travelled a long way to be here. Please may I enter?" Seamus respectfully asked.

     Fyora took one look at Seamus. "I'm sorry young one, you have to be over four months old to enter the tower. It isn't up to me, there is an enchantment on the room that will not let you enter."

     "Huh?" Seamus was confused. It took him a minute to remember about the incident at the Rainbow Pool. "No, no. I know I look like this, but this is just an accident, I'm definitely over four months old. Look..." Seamus reached for his wallet to grab his identification card. That's when it struck him, the Quiggle shouting after him, he had left his card with the Quiggle. In his excitement to find the tower he had completely forgotten to get his card back. Seamus tried to explain the situation to Fyora.

     "I'm sorry," she responded. "There is nothing I can do to lift the enchantment. Your baby colour must be confusing the spell, if you just become blue again you will be permitted to enter."

     "I didn't have the time to buy a Blue Paintbrush though."

     "Here, take this," Fyora handed Seamus a Turnip Tonic. "It has been sat on my shelf for a while, so it may take a while to work. If you drink this you will turn blue again."

     Seamus took the tonic and without hesitation gulped it down. He felt bubbling in his stomach and became a little light-headed, but, nothing happened.

     Fyora apologised. "I'm sorry, I've had it sitting there for a such a long time the magic has probably all gone."

     "It's alright," Seamus sadly responded, turning round to begin his descent down the long staircase.

     Fyora couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "Is there anything else I can do to help?"

     Seamus stopped in his tracks. A thought suddenly came over him. "Is there anyway you could help me get to the Lost Desert? There is no point me waiting around here if I cannot enter your tower, I may as well visit Coltzan's Shrine."

     "Of course, give Coltzan my best wishes," Fyora replied, and with a wave of her hand a bright light surrounded Seamus. Suddenly Seamus was no longer in the tower.

          **********

          The bright light had temporarily caused Seamus to lose his sight! As he blinked, trying to adjust his eyes, he looked around at his surroundings. He certainly wasn't in the tower anymore. He was surrounded by sand dunes. In fact, all he could see was sand and sand dunes, he had no idea where he was! He decided the best course of action would be to climb to the top of one of the dunes to try and get a better view of things.

     As he made his way up the dune, he struggled against the falling sand. For every step he took forward it felt like he was taking two steps back. But finally he made it to the top. To his surprise he could see the shrine! The shrine was no more than 50 yards away. He couldn't believe his luck, after two unsuccessful previous attempts he could finally see one of the wonders with no hitches. With a smile on his face he headed towards the shrine.

     Just then he got this awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. The same bubbling and sickness feeling that he had felt in the hidden tower swept over him. Then a tingling started in his toes, it spread to his legs, then his torso, then his arms and his head! His sight went black for a few seconds, then as quick as the sickness feeling had come on, it left. In a struggle to understand what just happened, Seamus raised his hand to check his forehead's temperature. Perhaps the desert heat had made him overheat? As he was raising his arm he saw his hand. Blue!

     He examined the rest of his body, the Turnip Tonic must have finally worked! He looked like himself again, his normal blue self. He was so relieved. After everything that had happened, Seamus felt that his luck could only be getting better. With a new-found sense of relief, Seamus continued to the shrine.

     He passed the gates to the shrine, nodding at the guards on his way.

     "No-one is going to stop me this time," he thought.

     He made his way to the shrine and saw a Kyrii stood next to the shrine. Seamus presumed at first that he was just another tourist, but on closer inspection he saw his badge which read 'tour guide'.

     "Hey man!" The guide shouted to Seamus. "Do you want to know some facts about the shrine, for just a small feel of 2,000NPs?"

     Seamus sniggered, "no thank you, I've read all about the shrine, thanks for the offer though!"

     "Are you sure man? Business has been slow lately, I could really do with the custom... Wouldn't you like a chance to see Coltzan's ghost?"

     Seamus's ear pricked up. "Coltzan's ghost you say? I thought that was just some old wives tale?"

     "Nope," the tour guide responded, glad to have Seamus's attention. "I've seen him myself and I can tell you how you can as well... How does 5,000NPs sound?"

     "5,000? You just said 2,000 before?"

     "Ahh, but that didn't include the information about how you can see Coltzan's ghost."

     Reluctantly Seamus handed over 5,000NPs.

     "Come this way," the tour guide said.

     Seamus followed until he found himself standing straight in front of the shrine.

     "Alright, close your eyes and whisper Coltzan three times," the tour guide explained. "Once you open your eyes, his ghost will be there."

     Seamus followed the guide's instructions. Eyes closed he whispered, "Coltzan, Coltzan, Coltzan." He opened his eyes and nothing had happened. He turned to the tour guide for an explanation, but just as he did he felt the wind pick up. The wind picked up so dramatically that the sand around him started to block his vision to the shrine.

     "This is it!" he thought.

      To be continued…