Paranoia
Inside the painfully hot volcano, Viator landed softly on a large chunk
of molten rock.
"Redecorating Ignus-sama?" she sang loudly to the depth of the volcano.
"My Dragon Knight, you are just in time!" came the rumbling voice of the fire
Dragon, as it's great head flew out to greet Viator.
"Goodness!" she cried, as she fell off the rock, and caught herself with a
claw.
"I am in need of your service immediately!" said Ignus, blinking at the Shoyru.
"Really? What is it now? Mazoku uprising?" said Viator, crawling back onto
the rock.
"No, worse. Marina was watching her Dragon Knight train in the ice caps of
Tyrannia, and it appears that the Dragon Knight of Darkness his risen!" grumbled
the Dragon, and great claw bolting out from the depth of the volcano, and gripping
onto the wall beside Viator.
"But? Dark Dragon... no dragon knight? I... am... what? WHAT?" cried Viator,
eyes widening at the claw beside her.
"No. All the elemental dragons had Sages and Dragon Knights in the war of
the Mazoku. Light and Darkness included. We had figured that the light and darkness
disciples had also fallen as ours had. It appears we assumed too quickly,"
sighed Ignus, his claw scraping down the wall, leaving a large gash, which only
succeeded in freaking Viator out more.
"Ack! That's not really a problem though, I mean. One Dragon Knight against
4? Psssh," scoffed Viator, waving a hand in dismissal.
"Wrong again young one," said Ignus, lowering his head to eye level with the
small Shoyru. "Back in the war, dragon knights had much more power, as they
had been training longer. Plus they had the sages to aid them with the Dragon
armour and Weapons. Add to that the fact that Darkness is one of the strongest
elements, and we have a large problem on our hands..."
"WHAT?" yelled Viator, beginning to get worried. "What can we do? We aren't
even half strong enough without Sages and armour!?"
"Which is why we dragons have decided, to find new Sages," said Ignus. Closing
his eyes in thought.
"So suddenly? How will you find them?" asked Viator, scratching her head.
"Not I," said the dragon. "You shall find them. As our messenger..."
"ME? How should I know what a Sage looks like!" Yelled Viator.
The dragon reared it's head back, and closed it's eyes in thought once again.
"You should be able to feel a strong elemental essence from them. Once you find
the first of the pair, they should be able to point to the location of the second.
After you find the two of their element. Bring them to the Dragon corresponding
with that element. We shall instruct them from there, and then you shall battle
the Dark Knight."
"Well..." said Viator, scratching her head in confusion. "Where should I start?"
"Wherever you feel you should..." rumbled the dragon.
"That… doesn't help..." muttered Viator, narrowing her eyes in frustration.
"I can't put it in a clearer way," said Ignus. "Now, my trusted Dragon Knight,
you must hurry. The dark Knight is on its way to destroy Ethine, and I fear
that the other knights can only hold him off for so long."
"WHAT?!" yelled Viator, jumping to her feet. "I'M the only one that can bust
on Ethine, DURNIT! HAH! You'll see, you stupid Dark Knight! My Dragon armour
will be 10 TIMES COOLER AND STRONGER! FUWAHAHAHA!" as she laughed maniacally,
she leapt into the air and set out though the mouth of the volcano. Leaving
behind a somewhat confused, and proud Dragon.
As Viator zipped into the air above the volcano, she stopped briefly to identify
her surroundings. Which was tough, since the moon was her only light. Her eyes
searched over the gaping Neopian ocean, and trailed back towards the rocky coastline
of mystery island. Suddenly, she felt a quick twinge of a magical presence.
Looking back towards mystery island, she could feel the distinct aura of an
Air elemental essence.
"Hm..." she pondered silently, and then took off towards the large island.
As she whizzed over the palm trees of the island, she took time to try to
isolate the energy to find it's source. She landed in front of a large island
resort, and checked to make sure she was getting closer.
"I don't feel anything else around here..." muttered Viator, "Yup, it's a
distinct Air essence..." and she began walking into the resort.
Randomly climbing the staircase inside the resort, she stopped at the level
that she felt the essence stronger at. Walking up to the third floor door, she
tapped her knuckle against it, and wondered how she would explain this to whoever
was inside.
While she was deep in thought, a familiar voice snapped her back.
"Hey Via!" said the purple Shoyru at the door.
"Sholady?" said Viator, her jaw dropping in surprise.
"What's up Via? It's odd of you to come all the way out here to visit me on
my vacation," said Sholady, smiling broadly.
Silently, Viator wondered if she had found the right place. "Is anyone else
here with you? A big, strong warrior type?" she asked.
"Nope, just me. And the rest of the tired, vacation wanting citizens of Neopia
who are staying in this resort!" smiled Sho.
Viator blinked twice, and closed her eyes to concentrate. In her mind, she
pictured the essence to be a large blue ball of light, and as she opened her
eyes, her jaw dropped again to find the light surrounding her best friend.
"What's wrong?" asked Sholady, tilting her head to the side.
"Sho…has anything weird ever happened to you when you were in trouble?" asked
Viator, frowning in thought.
"Well...there was that one time I was attacked by that Lupe. He must have
been 10 levels higher then me...I can remember yelling, and then I passed out.
But when I came to, the Lupe was in a tree, as if a wind had picked him up and
tossed him around," said Sholady, rubbing her forehead as she thought.
"Wow. And I thought you weren't the fighting type..." mumbled Viator.
"What?" asked Sho.
"Nothing!" laughed Viator, waving her hands. "I think, we better have a little
chat..."
"Chat? Surely! Come on in!" said Sholady, opening the door wider for her friend.
To be continued… | 
