Sometimes the greatest heroes are the unknown ones, and sometimes they aren't
heroes at all, but people trapped in events beyond their control. I must warn
you, this series is an intense one, and I do not gloss anything over. Very few
people know of the nature of the unspeakable evil that threatened all of Neopia.
Even fewer know of the price that was paid to defeat it. And only one knows
of the true darkness, and what the heart of love is. As all stories have a beginning,
and so this one starts simply. It can take a single snowflake to start an avalanche,
and so, the greatest battle between good and evil begins with an Eyrie.
Pals
To start this story, I'd better introduce myself. My friends always tell me
I get too excited when telling a story, and jump ahead. So before I start leaping
all over the place trying to get this told, I'll let you know who I am. Technically
my name is child_dragon, but I'm Kiddo to everyone, a shorter version of my
name. My pet is Un-eairkagh, and he's an Eyrie. A rather cocky and spoiled Eyrie
I might add. Anyway, before I drift too far off the track, Un-eairkagh and I
have been trying to get something from the Snowager for quite some time. But
every time we trekked up there, Un-eairkagh complaining all the way (he doesn't
like cold), the Snowager was awake, and we couldn't get close. Till one especially
freezing day, so cold that even I admitted it was a bit chilly, we made our
usual hike up to the caves. Un-eairkagh was complaining bitterly like usual,
I merely ignored him and pulled my jacket closer.
"It's gonna be a blizzard," he said sourly.
"Hey now," I retorted. "I told you, I know about storms and stuff. We're not
going to be stuck in a blizzard."
"Sure…" he said sarcastically. "Sort of like how you said that one Kougra
would be easy."
"That wasn't my fault!" I protested. "You missed twice."
He sniffed irritably. I shook my head and trudged on. My Eyrie isn't a coward,
he's never backed down from a fight, he just complains too much. I could see
the ice caves up ahead. There was a startled squawk from behind me and I spun
around, nearly losing my footing in the snow. All I could see of Un-eairkagh
was a tail tip and the top of his wings. I dove forwards and frantically started
digging. His head quickly emerged from the snow, the rest of him following.
He shook himself off, vainly trying to rid his fur of the clinging snow.
"Are you all right?" I said breathlessly.
"Quite fine," he said dryly. "The drifts here are too deep for me."
"Can you make it to the caves?"
"Yeah… you go first though."
"Sure."
I picked my way through the snow and entered the ice caves. We walked along
the massive cavern, giving the crevice a wide gap. I could see the cave leading
to the Snowager up ahead.
"Here goes nothing!" I said cheerily.
"Easy for you to say," he grumbled from behind me. "I hope you brought that
healing potion?"
"Yes, I did, and stop being a pessimist! We'll be fine."
I went in first, sliding around the ice wall and peeking into the chamber.
The Snowager was sound asleep, curled up on top his treasure.
"We're in luck," I whispered to Un-eairkagh.
"Luck?"
We cautiously made our way into the cavern, sliding along the floor until
we reached the bottom of the mound. The Snowager stirred slightly, and Un-eairkagh
let out a small squeak. I froze, petrified with fear. The Snowager twitched
a little, and then was still. I let out my breath slowly in one shaky gasp.
"Okay, that was close, let's go," Un-eairkagh said, sidling towards the exit.
"Not so fast," I hissed, grabbing his tail. "It's asleep, I'm not missing
this opportunity."
"We could be destroyed!" he replied, slightly panicky. "It's not sleeping
that hard! Don't be stupid, Kiddo."
"You can stay here if you want. I'm going for it."
I inched up towards the pile.
"Kiddo! Don't!"
I ignored him. A couple more feet. Almost there. The treasure was within my
grasp. I reached forward and plucked the nearest item from the pile.
The Snowager woke with a roar, shaking the ceiling of the room. I staggered
back, dropping the treasure as its eyes fixed on me. It hissed angrily.
"KIDDO!!!"
The Snowager lunged forward, and I saw the end heading for me. Then a blue
shape slammed into my side, throwing me out of the Snowager's path. I scrambled
to my feet and saw Un-eairkagh lying halfway across the cavern, struggling to
rise. The Snowager was preparing to strike again. I ran towards Un-eairkagh,
grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and hauling him to his feet. We took
of running down the tunnel, the Snowager's roars dwindling behind us. We collapsed
to the ground once we were safely away.
"You have the potion?" the Eyrie asked weakly.
"Yeah," I said, digging through my backpack. "I wrapped it up pretty well,
so hopefully… oh no."
The potion has shattered.
"We'll just have to walk to the healing springs," I said softly.
There was a soft thud from behind me. I turned around. Un-eairkagh had passed
out cold.
"Oh no!" I wailed, crying. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't of been so stubborn,
this wouldn't have happened. I'm so sorry…"
I rocked back and forth, berating myself for ever doing something so stupid.
My pet was hurt, and it was my fault. No use crying, I thought angrily, and
dried my eyes. Let's see, what to do now? Well, I need to get him warm. I took
off my jacket and wrapped it around him. I then took hold of the ends and managed
to hoist him onto my back. I staggered under his weight, and but didn't drop
him. He wasn't that big, but then, neither am I. I started plodding for Faerieland.
By the time I reached the springs, I probably needed healing also. But I stood
anxiously by as the faerie healed my pet. Un-eairkagh staggered to his feet,
blinking at the sudden change of surroundings.
"Oh, the springs," he said blearily.
"Yeah," I muttered from where I had collapsed on the ground.
"Hey, ummm…." Un-eairkagh began, shuffling his feet. "Thanks for saving me."
I laughed.
"Thanks for saving me. I thought I was a goner there."
He grinned at me.
"What are friends for?"
"Indeed," I replied happily.
"Time to head home?"
"You bet."
Un-eairkagh got a thoughtful look on his face.
"I'll glide us home!" he said, bouncing to his feet excitedly.
"Oh no you don't!" I exclaimed. "You can't fly carrying me!"
"Yes I can, I've done it before!" he said indignity.
"And ran me into a pine tree, breaking my wrist! I couldn't practice flute
for months!"
"And that's a bad thing?" he said solemnly.
I shrieked and curled up into as small a ball as possible as Un-eairkagh bounded
towards me. There was a sharp tug in the back of my shirt, and we were airborne.
Un-eairkagh let out a whoop and went into a steep dive towards home, leaving
my stomach behind at 10,000 feet.
***
Please feel free to Neomail me. I'm child_dragon, you can call me Kiddo or
CD or whatever, there's a ton of variations to my name that people have thought
up.
To be continued... | 
