Tales of Neopia: Two Against One

     In this issue, we journey back to the kingdom lost to time. Altador. A gorgeous city by the sea that fell to one of its own rulers. Twelve rulers, three faeries, one betrayer. What did Psellia and Siyana think of the Sleeper’s dark plot? Why didn’t they fetch Fyora immediately? Why didn’t they stop her?

     All those answers and so much more in

     Tales of Neopia:

     Two Against One

      The afternoon sun was bright and hot in the sky, sparse clouds floated lazily around the blue sky. A school of Flotsam splashed along the surface of the sea, breaching and diving back down. The city of Altador lay just beyond the shore. It stood majestic, it’s tan stone and relatively low buildings didn’t disrupt the seaside landscape but complemented it rather well. The largest building, intended for the citizens to gather for events, was proud with its columns and sun motif. However, from the top of the roof poured a thick, rolling smoke that was beginning to choke the sky.

      Inside the Council Chamber, the twelve stone thrones that had once stood in a semi-circle were destroyed, bits of stone and earth were flung all around the room. The back wall had an enormous hole in it, from which the smoke was rising. It had filled the top of the room unable to escape through the small hole in the ceiling quick enough. At the large entrance door, a Grarrl was shoving against the wood repeatedly but it didn’t seem to budge. He kept throwing himself against it. On the wall closest to him, leaned a beautiful, young Acara. Her face was stained with grief and in her lap she cradled the head of an Aisha who had been knocked unconscious. The Acara wept over her injured friend.

      From the hole in the wall shot two streaks of light, they flew past the Neopets and the door burst into thousands of tiny splinters with a thunderous crash. The streaks of light, one yellow and one blue, turned sharply and rocketed high into the sky where they came to an instantaneous stop. Siyana, the light Faerie, regarded her companion Psellia. Her blue skirts were torn to tatters and her face and arms were marked with ash. The air Faerie turned to meet her friend’s gaze.

      “Where is she?” Psellia asked nervously. Her cobalt eyes flickered all around the clear sky around them but there was nothing.

      “I-” A fast moving bubble of dark purple energy burst on Siyana’s chest. It stung like hundreds of tiny Buzzers were stinging her all over. It hurt like she were burning from the inside. She let out a small cry and dipped in the air a bit before regaining her balance. The air began to shimmer with magic just a few meters away from them.

      The Sleeper stepped out of the pocket of the invisibility spell and floated in the sky in front of them. The dark Faerie wore a black dress that billowed in the wind like the flag of a nation. Psellia wanted to say something, to figure out what had caused this betrayal but she couldn’t find the words. She’d never expected something like this. Something so horrible, so-

      “You traitor! Why? Why?” Siyana had no such trouble finding her words. The Dark faerie grinned back at them.

      Siyana threw a beam of light without warning but the Sleeper anticipated it somehow and curved slightly to the side. She made no move to strike back, just hovered there with that sharp smirk pulled tightly across her face. Siyana’s hands glowed a brilliant, blinding yellow but she made no move to fire again. Psellia didn’t know what to do, her heart raced in her chest but she was frozen with fear. She kept hoping it would just go away somehow, that it was some kind of twisted joke.

      “We trusted you.” The light Faerie said quietly, mournfully.

      “That was your mistake. Well, your first mistake.”

      “How dare you!” Siyana’s emotion flared and so did her light. She shone bright as a star hanging in the coastal sky. Her brilliant light blinded Psellia for a moment and she blinked away spots as she tried to see what had happened.

      It appeared Siyana had missed again as the Darkest Faerie shot away through the sky. A sickly purple streak that twisted and turned on the clear blue horizon. Siyana looked back at her wispy friend and opened her mouth to speak. Psellia cut her off.

      “I’ve got her, just keep up.” Psellia reached down deep within herself. She accessed every ounce of joy she had stored in her memories. Her time with her family, with the other Faeries, when King Altador asked her to join his council. Most of all, she remembered how it felt to run and jump and play with the wind in her hair and the sun on her face. Her magic grew inside her like a bottled storm about to blow the cork. A high whistling pierced the air and Siyana looked all around for the source. Then, a gust hit them harder than any storm or trade-wind. Psellia practically melted away with the wind. She flew so fast that the world around her became streaks of colour and only her goal remained. The black dot grew ever closer to her as she sped through the sky. She could see the folds of the gown the dark Faerie wore, then her hair whipping in the wind, then Psellia overtook her.

      She whirled a tight spiral in the air to put herself directly in the dark Faerie’s path. The Sleeper stopped just a few meters away and regarded the air Faerie with what may have been respect. Psellia didn’t care, she opened her mouth to finally address the villainous Faerie.

      “You won’t outrun me.” Psellia said softly but held the Sleeper’s gaze. The dark Faerie nodded but said nothing. “Then answer my questions. Question. Why?”

      A brilliant streak of light zipped between them and Siyana hovered in the blinding wake. Her face was flushed and she looked back and forth between the two Faeries. She opened her mouth to speak and instead let out another sharp cry of agony. The light Faerie dropped from the sky, her blonde hair whipped around her light frame as she fell. Psellia gasped and stared down at her friend growing ever smaller against the verdant green earth below. A hot, quiet voice suddenly whispered in her ear.

      “Because I can.”

      Psellia folded her wings in to her body and plummeted toward the ground. She thought she could hear the vicious sound of laughter above her as she raced toward the falling light faerie below. Psellia’s fingers curled and twisted as she worked the winds around her lithe body, she pushed herself faster and faster toward the surface but she’d used so much of her speed earlier that she didn’t have much left now.

      The light Faerie was just barely out of reach, Psellia extended a hand and her long fingers strained against their own length as she reached. Siyana reached out too and their fingers brushed just briefly, allowing a surge of magic to flow through to Psellia who immediately used it to burst forward in the air. She wrapped both arms around Siyana’s body and pulled up with all her might. Her wings ached with the strain against the air and she banked right, just narrowly avoiding a large tree. Psellia began to slowly descend toward the earth. They got low before their strength failed and they tumbled over each other as they rolled along the ground with their momentum. When they stopped, the two Faeries stay where they lay aching with emotion and exertion. They’d been beaten.

      The Sleeper had known exactly how to deal with the two of them. She hadn’t needed to defeat the two Faeries, just distract them long enough to escape. She’d even managed to exhaust Psellia’s power before even mounting a true attack. She’d been learning their weaknesses whilst pretending to become their friends. She’d played them all for fools. The Darkest Faerie the world had ever known was loose on the world. Could anyone stop her?

     The End.

     Thank you so much for your purchase of this issue of Tales of Neopia.

     The Tales of Neopia series is a product of the Lutari Island Institute, licensed and distributed by Booktastic Books. This program was made possible by Wishing Well donations by viewers like you!