A Yurble stole my cinnamon roll! Circulation: 195,379,961 Issue: 848 | 16th day of Storing, Y20
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I'm a Faerie in a Bottle


by grimmbones7

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     It was a crisp October morning. Leroy the Shoyru put on his coat and headed towards Kauvaras Magic Shop excited for his first day. As he walked up to the iconic pointed magic hat shop he felt that it was going to be an adventurous day. He swung open the door and immediately came face to face with Kauvara herself.

     “Oh, good morning Kauvara! I’m ready to start mixing up all the potions I’ve been studying up on and help you out!” Leroy beamed..

     “You know what would really help me out first? Cleaning out the storage room.”

     “You want me to clean? Not mix any potions?” Leroy said slowly.

     “I promise once you’re done cleaning the room then I will teach you many potions and let you make some. Who knows, maybe you will find something special in there. It’s been quite a while since I went through it all”.

     With that Kauvara turned and walked away leaving Leroy with no other choice than to start the process that lay ahead. He approached the storage room with a determined stride.

     “I don’t even clean my own room so this should be... fun.”

     He went to work but it seemed like the clock wasn’t moving at all. Leroy sorted boxes of old transmogrification potions and Battledome potions for several hours when he saw an old, dusty box in the corner under a vintage claw-legged table.

     “Hmm.. I wonder how long you’ve been here..” Leroy said aloud.

     “How long has what’s been here?” Kauvara asked from the door.

     “Oh! Kauvara! I was just thinking aloud.. Do you know what’s in this ratty old box?”

     “Hmm.. if it is what I think it is then I didn’t even know that I still had them! You can have them if you like” Kauvara replied with a slow smile.

     “Really? Wow thanks!” Leroy answered quickly before she went back to the shop.

     Leroy opens the box slowly and finds several palely lit glass bottles fitted with corks. He pulled each one out carefully and lined them up along the wall to take stock of his new prizes. Two red bottles, three yellow ones, a purple bottle and four green ones.

     “I wonder what these do...” Leroy pondered to himself as his continued his cleaning..

     At the end of the day he gathered up his box and went to head home.

     “Thanks again for the bottles boss! I’ll put them to good use”

     “You are very welcome Leroy, I hope I didn’t bore you on your first day”

     “Not at all, I’m learning a lot! See you tomorrow Kauvara.”

     As soon as Leroy got in his door, he ran for his computer and started researching his new bottles on Poogle.net. He shortly realized he had a box of Fading Bottled Faeries and after a few more searches, he found they were unusable. Leroy sighed deeply and almost gave up, but realized Kauvara wouldn’t have given them to him if he couldn’t do anything with them. After several more hours of searching he found an interesting recipe on a well-hidden magic blog.

     “Add 3 of the pale bottles together at the height of night and say the magic words...

     ‘Faerie magic burning bright, in the fire of the night. Sister, sister come together and break from your mortal tether. Hear my voice calling you, as you finally join the brew.’ while waving a feather over the cooking pot. Be careful to enunciate the words clearly.”

     “Seems simple enough” Leroy stated reassuring himself as he gathered the necessary supplies.

     He set up his pot, ingredients, and found a Whoot nest in a neighbouring park to get the feather. Then he just sat and waited... Watching the moon rise slowly until it shone brightly at its peak. Leroy uncorked the bottles and poured them in with one hand while waving the feather with the other as he repeated the magic words. All of a sudden a thick, grey smoke poured from the pot to cloud his vision and he fell to the ground.

     Leroy carefully picked himself up off the hard dirt ground. He slowly rubbed his eyes unable to process what he was seeing. He definitely wasn’t in Neopia Central anymore. There were lush green leaves on tall towering trees everywhere around him and the scent of a fresh rainfall lingered in the air. The trickling of water could be heard in the distance. He heard a familiar groan come from a few steps away.

     “Oomph. What in Neopia was that!? What in Fyora’s name did you do? Mom is so going to ground you… Wait .. why is it so green and tropical? EW, is that a Gratlik? It’s so creepy” Simone said exasperated.

     “Simone how did you get here?“

     “I was watching you do some kind of weird witch magic in the backyard and I heard you say sister so I came outside and watched as the smoke came out. I started to back away and ended up here.”

     “I … I have no idea what happened. I was just trying to mix up some potions Kauvara gave me and I followed all the right steps down to the finest detail.” Leroy pondered while still trying to get a grip on his new reality.

     “Okay, but something obviously went wrong otherwise we wouldn’t be stuck… here. Wherever here is…” Simone trailed off in thought. After staring out into space for a few minutes, she cleared her throat, “Okay so from what I’ve learned in school this looks like Mystery Island, except there’s no sign of life I can see so far … which means we must be on one of the little islands off the coast.”

     “That’s great.. But what do we do now?”

     “Well probably gather supplies or try to find someone or why don’t you just check what you brought in your backpack?” Simone replied sassily.

     “Uh, what backpack? I didn’t have one on when I was brewing the potion…”

     Leroy slowly takes off the backpack and peers inside. He finds 2 canteens of water, a treasure map piece, rope, a few nps worth of currency, a few charcoal sticks, and a piece of parchment.

     “That’s weird” Leroy mumbles.

     He pulls out the parchment and reads it aloud.

     “Welcome to Raiders of the Archaic Isles. The game testing your wit, strength, and courage! Your objective is quite simple, finish all three levels are restore peace to the land. Be careful as even though it may feel strange, your time here is very much real. You each have 3 lives, if either one reaches 0 it is game over and you won’t return to Neopia. Goodluck adventurers.”

     “Wait what?! Are you telling me we are in a stupid video game? Please tell me this is all a terrible joke and we can just go home now” Simone pleaded.

     “I’m sorry but apparently somehow when I mixed that potion it put us in this game and now our only way out is to finish it.”

     “Just perfect. When we get out I am so telling mom on you.” Simone huffed.

     “We better start moving I guess.”

     Leroy pulls out and examines the map. “It looks as though it wants us to follow the path over here. I bet we will find something once we start moving.”

     “It’s a good thing I’m awesome at video games. Maybe we won’t die.”

     They started walking down the path. The trees were thick and the wind rustling the leaves could be heard. It had been an hour of walking when suddenly there was a break in the trees and a small mud hut was standing in the center.

     “Looks like we finally made it somewhere!” Leroy exclaimed excitedly.

          “We just have to use caution.” Simone said baratingly. “Nothing is in this game by mistake so keep your eyes peeled for clues. Let’s approach it slowly.”

     They slowly crept up on the hut. No one could be seen. They pushed on the door and it swung open.

     “I guess we go inside?” Leroy said.

     Suddenly a figure appeared from the shadows. Standing there was an older looking Kyrii with a wooden staff and interesting markings on his body. “Welcome travellers to the mystical hut of wisdom. I have 3 pieces of important information for you, but decipher them you must do. Firstly, your direction in life will cease in a strange way.”

     “Well that’s already happened” Simone scoffs quietly.

     “Secondly, your ability to fly will alter without your noticing. Lastly you will be taunted by scores of rampaging Tapira. These are my wisdoms for you. Use them how you see fit and good luck.”

     The Kyrii turned and hobbled back to the corner of his hut and started meditating.

     “What do these mean? Where do we go?” Leroy asked.

     “I have only the wisdoms not the answers you seek. May your map guide you to the edge” the Kyrii said with his eyes closed shut.

     “Alright let’s get out of here Leroy. He can’t tell us anything else.”

     They left the strange Kyrii’s hut puzzled but one step in the right direction. Once outside Leroy opened up the backpack and pulled out the canteen and took a swig of water. Simone leaned over him, removed the map and began to study it. Suddenly a strange noise was heard coming from the jungle.

     

To be continued…

 
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