Disaster!
SandFlash the desert Kougra stirred in her sleep, trying to ignore the voice
that echoed through her dreams. "SandFlash, get up! You must not sleep any longer.
Awake! Awake!"
Daeron couldn't sleep; he was bothered by a constant nagging feeling that something
was wrong, something was missing. He rolled over on the sand, yawning sleepily
as his thoughts slowly collected themselves. In an instant he was wide-awake,
sitting upright and staring at his empty palm in sudden realisation.
"Flash! Wake up!" he shouted, leaping to his feet and shaking his Kougra awake.
SandFlash rolled to her feet, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "What's wrong?" she
asked instantly, seeing the expression on Daeron's face.
"The amulet's gone," he rumbled disgustedly. "I can't believe it, someone must
have taken it while we were sleeping..."
Flash thought quickly, recognising the urgency of the situation. "Well, the
only place they could have gone is Sakhmet City; there's nothing around for
miles and miles, and I don't think they would be foolish enough to try to make
their way through the Lost Desert alone," she pointed out.
"You're right," conceded Daeron. "The only option we have is to go to Sakhmet
City and try to find the thief there."
***
Daeron wandered through the familiar sunlit marketplace of Sakhmet City, gazing
into the crowd and hoping for a glimpse of a suspicious face or the amulet.
Glancing across the market, he saw Flash standing beside a wooden booth and
caught a slight shake of her head.
They had been looking since the early morning, yet they still had seen no sign
of the thief. Whoever it was had been certainly keeping hidden.
Daeron continued walking down the cobble stoned streets, scanning the people
and Neopets. He was just about to turn around and head back the other direction
when a thunderous noise came from directly above him.
His green eyes widened in fear as he saw the top of a nearby building explode.
In an almost impossibly slow movement, it started to crumble, raining stone
debris onto the screaming crowd below.
Daeron and SandFlash turned and started to run along with the rest of the hysterical
crowd just as three wooden booths in the marketplace mysteriously erupted into
flames. A group of Neopets and their owners edged away from the chaos of the
rush and ran over to the booths, frantically trying to beat out the fires.
There was a general mood of panic in the air, and the scenes of chaos seemed
to be taken straight out of a disaster movie. A huge pillar of black smoke curled
into the sky as the fires raged.
***
Clambering to the top of a rubble pile in a small side street of Sakhmet City,
Daeron scanned the crowd again. He saw SandFlash running through the crowd,
her tan striped coat glowing red in the light of the fires. Suddenly the building
next to her started to crumble also. Daeron shouted a warning, but was too far
away to be heard; he could only watch as his companion was buried under a large
stone block.
Daeron ran over, his breath catching in his throat as he lifted the stone off
the Kougra. Flash's glazed eyes focused on him. "Daeron, get out of here before
you get hurt," she whispered faintly.
Blinking away the tears filling his green eyes, Daeron shook his head. "No,
I'm not going to leave you here!" he protested. Flash simply smiled and licked
his hand before her head sank back onto the street.
Daeron looked up, his eyes blazing. "We've got to get help! Somebody, anybody,
is there a doctor?" He shouted desperately, but there was no reply, except for
the alarmed shouts as Neopets and owners alike tried to beat out the now-spreading
fires in the marketplace.
Daeron was left alone, kneeling on the cobblestones and gazing at the smoke-filled
sky. "Who could have done this?" he whispered, and hugged the crumpled form
of his Kougra to himself.
***
The red Usul stood on the top of a rocky cliff, overlooking Sakhmet City. The
amulet in her paw pulsed slightly with a sinister red glow. All she had to do
was look at a building, direct her mind to it, will its destruction...
She hissed in malicious glee as the building collapsed, throwing more showers
of stone rubble down onto the screaming crowds below. Dark, thick curls of smoke
wafted into the sky.
The Usul no longer looked cute, and her fur had turned a dark grey colour.
She stood above the chaos... and laughed.
Visions of the Future
Daeron's hands by now were very sore, but he rewrapped the strips of cloth
around them and lifted the last shattered stone block onto the wooden cart.
A pair of muscular yellow Skeiths strained against their harnesses, and the
cart rumbled off down the ruined streets of Sakhmet City.
It had been only a day since the strange explosions in the marketplace, yet
much of the rubble had already been cleared away, the fires had been put out,
and life was returning back to normal - for the survivors, at least.
Daeron felt a lump rise in his throat as he thought of his loyal desert Kougra,
SandFlash. The two had always gone everywhere together; now Daeron felt incredibly
lonely without Flash at his side.
He shook his head sadly and continued walking for a few more minutes in silence
until he came to a row of cloth tents where the injured were still being treated.
Daeron pushed aside the flap of the tent where he knew Flash had been the night
before. His eyes went to the first bed, and his heart thudded in fear as he
saw a red Korbat lying there instead of his Kougra. Fearing the worst, he looked
wildly around the room.
"Looking for someone?" A familiar voice at his side made him turn to see SandFlash
standing at the entrance. "Flash!" Daeron cried, relieved. "You're awake! How
do you feel?"
The Kougra adjusted the cream-coloured bandage around her head and smiled.
"A bit dizzy, and I have some pretty nasty bruises, but overall I'm not nearly
in as bad a shape as I could have been. The doctor says I was lucky I wasn't
standing about two inches to my left, or I wouldn't be here now."
Daeron wordlessly knelt on the ground and hugged his companion.
***
Later that day, Daeron and SandFlash were sitting on the top of the tall stone
ramparts that marked the boundaries of Sakhmet City. The setting sun steadily
dipped closer to the horizon, turning the evening sky flaming shades of bright
yellow, deep orange, and the soft pink of a new rosebud.
Daeron could feel a deep sense of serenity wash over him as he watched the
spectacle and reveled in the glory of nature.
"Beautiful," a voice murmured beside them. Flash turned her head away from
the view to see a tall figure clothed in a long lilac dress, now splashed with
various hues from the setting sun. "Are you -?" she gasped.
"Yes, little Kougra," the figure replied. "I am the Faerie Queen."
Daeron's quick mind had recovered from its initial surprise and was already
one step ahead. "You're here to talk about the amulet we found, aren't you?"
The Faerie Queen Fyora inclined her head in a graceful nod. "Indeed I am,"
she said, "but I am also here to remind you why you came back to Sakhmet City
in the first place."
"To get the amulet back before anyone uses it," the Kougra said impatiently,
but the Faerie Queen held up a hand. "I see you have not figured it out yet,"
she chided gently. "It has already been used."
Daeron stood, sudden realisation dawning upon his face. Indeed, the amulet
had made him do outside the ruins of Ankhmet much like what had happened in
Sakhmet City the day before, but simply on a much smaller scale.
"Yes," said Fyora. "You have seen yourself the devastating effects of the amulet.
Anyone who possesses it must be of very strong will indeed if they are not to
fall into shadow and use it for evil. If this amulet comes into the wrong hands,
it could destroy entire civilisations."
Now it was Flash's turn to brighten. "Entire civilisations," she whispered
hoarsely. "Then the legends were true - the Lost Neopians were destroyed
by the darkness, and now it has returned in the form of this amulet."
The Faerie Queen nodded, her musical voice now sounding incredibly old and
sad. "The Kougra has uncovered the truth; that is exactly why the Ancient Neopians
disappeared, and all their buildings and cities reduced to ruins. The real danger
now is that Neopia itself may be destroyed unless the amulet is recovered."
She pulled out a small crystal ball and held it in her cupped hands. The purple
mists inside swirled and sparkled, slowly resolving themselves into images.
They were scenes of the possible future, but one with horrible violence and
suffering. Cities were burning, crumbling, being reduced to charred ruins. Owners
and Neopets like were fleeing, screaming, only to be struck down, one by one,
with jagged bolts of dark lightning. In the sky, across the land, the black
cloud of evil was spreading, swallowing the light, slowly gaining...
The crystal ball went black. "Do you see now?" Fyora whispered. Daeron closed
his eyes and nodded. "Tell us what we need to know."
"The one who has the amulet is a lone Usul, once red but now black as a shadow,
a creature of the darkness. As the Queen of Faerieland, I have been watching
this one closely for some time now, the one that some call the Shadow Usul.
I warn you though, retrieving the amulet will be no easy task; her mind has
been twisted by evil, and she will destroy anything and everything in her path
to satisfy her insatiable craving for revenge. Be on your guard at all times,
especially at night." Fyora paused for a moment and looked the two companions
directly in the eyes. "Good luck. Neopia is counting on you."
The Faerie Queen disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, leaving Daeron and
SandFlash alone on the ramparts. The sun had set, and the darkness of night
had come.
To be continued... | 
