Chronicles of the Darkside: Keys to Fantasia:Part Two

     Chapter 2: So the Faeries are WHERE?!

     As the gates to Faerieland are thrust open, the girls look around them in awe. Even without the faeries, the glorious glow of the missing beings still remained. The purples and pinks of the opulent city were as shimmery as ever. The Neopets living here now took great pride in making the city no less beautiful than it has ever been.

     "WELCOME LADIES TO THE ONE AND ONLY FAERIE CITY!!!" Iggy proclaims as she makes her best attempt to sound like a tour guide. Iggy may be gruff, but she can make things fun from time to time.

     "So many things to see and do!"

     "Oooh!"

     "What beautiful lights everywhere!"

     Aside from Iggy, who traveled all over, none of the other three girls had ever been to Faerieland. In this day and age Faerieland had long since been rebuilt, and the whole city was lit with a magical majestic glow, while the mists of the clouds that once held the city in its place in the sky ebbed and flowed from the surrounding rock face of the crater created at its falling.. But something was... Oddly missing.

     "Iggy, if this is Faerieland..." a confused Spahrks chortled, "Where are the faeries?"

      Spahrks was right. The Faeries were nowhere to be seen. Tons of Neopets everywhere but a not a single member of the flutter-winged folk to be seen anywhere. The only sign that non-Neopet faeries had ever even been here was the statues at the healing springs, as well as the occasional ages old painting that could be spied through windows looking into the interior of buildings.

     "Haven't been any for ages, sadly." Iggy muttered, completely losing her fire on the end of that statement.

     The girls hurried onward, Ikufumi pouring over a book she had with her.

     "Says here that the Faeries mysteriously disappeared after a massive pulse of energy had let loose from deep within Moltara." Ikufumi explained, ever resourceful as she read from a small pocket guide to Neopia she kept in the folds of her robes. "Apparently it was since then that the wraiths appeared anytime it was dark, and this strange glowing, creepy group of Neopets started appearing in high energy places. Spooky."

     "Yes, the Glamour and the Shimmer. Which is what you girls will aim to stop." a soft spoken Woodland Usul appeared as if from nowhere wearing royals robes. "They are essentially an ultra-pure form of wraiths, possibly made from concentrated amounts of magic. The shimmer is more akin to the Oracle of the Obelisk."

     :"Uh, who are you?" Vitaqui demanded, "how do you know what were' here trying to do?"

     The Usul giggled softly and responded "I'm your guide to the beginning of this situation, you all have wandered all the way around me so I came looking for you. We are heading to Faerie Palace." the Usul motioned to them to follow her inside the palace. Everything was pristine the way Fyora had left it upon her disappearance -- even with the faeries gone and the mysterious "fates" ruling now respect for the Faerie's is upheld in the highest regard.

     The group continued up multiple staircases, until they came to a staircase with no door at the end. "Now if you'll just wait here, the Gemstone will be with you shortly."

     The group was clearly confused, were they just to wait there? And what was this gemstone? After a few minutes Vitaqui began getting bored and started oddly knocking on the walls.

     "Whatcha doin' VIta?" asked Ikufumi.

     "Checking for hollow spots. I've never been here but this Palace is riddled with passageways or so I've read." in that moment Vitaqui pushed on the wall where the staircase ended and found much to her surprise her hand when through and grabbed a smaller person on the shoulder! Startled, Vitaqui drew back her hand squealing and sputtering by the person's appearance before she could see them.

     "No really, it's fine." a robot voice called out to comfort Vitaqui, the being was oddly lacking in robotic-ness though... She was a Chocolate Draik. "I am Diamond. I am the one you wish to see."

     "Honey you ain't no robot last I checked..." Iggy growled.

     "Ah, I see you hear only my tone. Let me explain." The robot sounding chocolate Draik beckoned them into what was apparently the Hidden Tower.

     "I am a Gemstone Fate." The Draik said as she motioned toward a rather large gem seeming stuck on her forehead, but now it can be seen that it is actually part of her head! "I am one of four. There are four of us and four of you. I am here to give you your task. Your task is to go from gem to gem, each like myself, and take the power you align with." The dump of information was being swiftly delivered, but so far at least Iggy and Vitaqui were able to follow what the odd Draik was saying. "There are four magic keys to enter a hidden part of the Heart of Neopia. What we as fates call 'Fantasia'. Decadia. Centuria. Millenia. Eternia. You must collect these keys in this order and access the Heart of Neopia with them. Qasala, Shenkuu, Tyrannia, Faerieland. These places hold those keys in that order. Simply accessing the location will fix the error the other gemstones and I are receiving messages about. This should also free the faeries from their trapped state within the Heart of Neopia."

     "Whoa, wait, back up." Iggy laughed, "that didn't really answer my question but the Faerie's are where? My goodness it's hot down there! I would uh.... Know. I'm Magma ya know."

     "Not funny, Iggy." Spahrks whispers.

     "O-KAY." Vitaqui interjects in order to break up the madness, "So we get these keys, go to Moltara, use them, bam there are FAERIES AGAIN?!" Diamond just simply smiled and nodded. "WOOO! OKAY FOLKS FIELD TRIP FOR THE GIRLS!" Vitaqui squealed and jumped, knowing that the faeries would certainly ensure that nothing like this can happen to two children like her sweet Echo and that Spahrks girl again.

     "Wait." Ikufumi whispered. "Does it have to be in that order? I mean, we're already in Faerieland? And Shenkuu is closer! If we go all the way to Qasala first we HAVE to take a ferry going to the next one and that is so terribly slow! This will take months to complete!"

     Diamond nodded again, and a look of deep concern crossed over Ikufumi's face.

     As they leave Faerieland and the doors open on their new adventure, another door slams in the Faerie Place. "You didn't tell them Shimmer and Glamour were already on their tails?" another, different robotic voice states. :"Why should I?" The now more emotional and animated robotic voice of Diamond sneered into her communicator.

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           "You know, she never told us what those "Keys" actually do." muttered the unusually quiet Ikufumi as they were coming into Qasala. Diamond had been nice enough to order them a ride to Qasala from Faerieland, and once Iggy was done removing it of "suspicious additions", like anyone knew what she was talking about, they headed on their way.

     "My guess is that they're spells, but that would be stating the obvious I think," Iggy said."

     "I've heard the Heart of Neopia has the essence of the ultimate magics in it." added Vitaqui, "the Power to Destroy, the Power to Change, the Power to Change the Future, and the Power to Pass. Whatever that's supposed to mean I don't actually know. The names of the keys is pretty interesting though. They're all plays off of time spans, and she wants us to go in order of the length of time."

     "I studied a lot of Magic in Shenkuu," Spahrks whispered, "Time-Space has a huge effect on Fate magic, I almost guarantee, though, this 'us saving the faeries' thing has a lot more to do with the fates than it does the Faeries themselves."

     "I personally don't like fixing other people's mistakes," sneered Vitaqui, "and that honestly is what it sounds like we're doing but here we are.,,"

     The ride to Qasala lasted a couple of weeks, and at first the ride was silent and tense but as time marched on the girls all began to relax and enjoy each other's company. At least no individual pet was alone on this journey and Vitaqui quickly found herself friends with all of them as they warmed up to each other.

     "I wonder... How we got chosen for this." Vitaqui pondered to herself as their carriage arrived at its destination. Once in Qasala they were greeted by droves of Neopets, anxiously awaiting their "heroes" arrival. It would seem that they knew they were coming.

     "As someone who knows a thing or twelve about magic, the fates, and whatnot I could." A voice from outside of their carriage stated.

     "Who...?"

     "Ugh, him again."

     "YAY!"

     "Who is right, as in who invited you ?"

     The girls responded with mixed reaction to the Gold Draik standing outside. His name was Skyfor and he was a long time acquaintance to all four of the newly dubbed "heroes", even being Ikufumi's long time caretaker. Savvy and with a penchant for mischief this Draik had known all four girls basically since birth and was almost the entire reason they all knew at least two out of the other three (discounting themselves in this figure of course). His blonde cherub-like curls glistening in the sunlight as he antsily shifted positions, it was apparent his sky blue trench coat was a bit warm for the Lost Desert weather. Suave, gentile, and always giving off an aura of gentle but fearsome power you couldn't miss that there was something different about him. Skyfor was a fate.

     What are the fates? Some say they tell the future, but others, such as Vitaqui and her growling repulse of his presence believes firmly that they juresdict and choose the future as they please. Therefore, people in some more superstitious areas tend to appeal to them harder in the belief they will make the world greater than the faeries ever could. A few famous fates include The Three of Meridell, Mr. Krawley of Neovia, and Masila of Krawk Island. Oh, but there's a theme there isn't there? They're all inherently bad . Evil even. In this day and age the fates try to do good in the world, especially with the lack of faeries to do it. which. Even though there is the misperceived idea that fates benefit from faeries being gone that's not true at all, they (as in the fates and faeries) mutually rely on each other as much as any normal resident of Neopia does. Though there are a few that are more.... Chaotic. A few have reputations for making trouble or taking the generally unpopular side. In the modern Neopia, most pets are on one side of the aforementioned line, either appealing to the fates or trying to repel them, with very few not having a clear cut opinion of the ultra-powerful Neopians. Regardless of which side of the line you fall on Fates are possibly the only beings that are not faeries to be as strong as the flutter-winged folk, so respect is usually not something most Neopians would consider optional.

To be continued…