Mizu and the Koi - A Story from Koi Tales

by leslie_83

Who is Mizu, you ask? Mizu was the Uber-Water Faerie. Yes, I know that the Uber-Water Faerie's name is Myrri now. Mizu was a different Faerie. Don't look so surprised. Faeries aren't immortal, even the Uber ones. Listen and perhaps you will learn something.

Mizu existed about a thousand years ago, when Neopians had yet to venture out of Neopia Central and knew nothing of Terror Mountain, let alone Tyrannia. As for Faerieland, no Neopians had heard of the city on cloud nine, although they knew much about faeries. Not that Mizu was the first Uber-Water Faerie--oh, no! There were dozens before her and hundreds to come.

Mizu's faithful servant Liandra, the only purple Flotsam on the planet, could fly through the sea even as faeries flew through the air. Mizu and Liandra were as owner and pet, always together. Liandra was tiny but still too large to be a proper steed for a Water Faerie, so Mizu, when traveling through water, folded her finlike wings to her back and swam next to Liandra.

Yes, Water Faeries had wings back then. Stop interrupting me with questions or you'll never hear the end of the story.

Mizu was soaring through the deeper waters one day, Liandra at her side, when a small Lightbulb Fish shot past her. Puzzled, Mizu turned to see a large flock of sharks approaching. Although she could and did shield herself and Liandra, Mizu wasn't worried but curious. This particular type of fish, called Shark Pirates, were not gregarious and only came together to attack.

"Come, dear heart," said Mizu, kicking her tail. "Let's see what they're up to."

The pair followed after the Shark Pirates, staying in the shadows of the deep. They were quite tired when Liandra said, "Look! It's only a hunt for a large fish."

A large, and rather strange looking, fish was swimming ahead of the Shark Pirates, bleeding from a cut on the side. It was yellow with pale teal fins and stripes. The fish seemed to be making for a large protrusion of rock in the ocean floor, where Mizu realised there was a hole cut. A head belonging to a similar strange fish poked up out of the hole.

Now, one of the tricks which many faeries have forgotten is the gift of languages. A few faeries today still can, as all could in Mizu's time, understand anything with a meaning. The song of a bird which means Joy, the speech of an alien which means Welcome, or the bark of a wild dog which means Danger. The injured fish shouted something, and the fish in the hole replied. Mizu understood what their speech meant, though the words were unfamiliar to her.

"Help!" shouted the pursued fish.

"Hurry, %+)'!" the red fish in the hole replied. There is no translation for %+)', except that it is a name. So don't ask me what it means.

Now, Shark Pirates chasing a dumb beast is all right, but Mizu couldn't stand them attacking an obviously sentient fish. Neither could Liandra, for she kicked her tail and cried, "Help is on the way!"

%+)' turned, and in that moment the Shark Pirates moved in for the kill. But Liandra attacked with multiple Water Jets which fended off the creatures. Water Jet is an ability which is most often used in the Battledome. Don't look so surprised. The Battledome wasn't built recently, only discovered, so it must have been built before now.

"Thank you," %+)' said. "Who are you?"

"I'm Mizu, the Uber-Water Faerie, and this is Liandra, my companion Flotsam." %+)' looked extremely confused, so Mizu explained about Faeries. "Now, tell me about you. How did you come to be, such a bright fish?"

"I can show you better than I can tell you," said %+)'. He took Mizu's tiny hand and pulled her through the hole in the ocean floor, where Mizu and Liandra were completely astounded. The waves of Neopia's seas hid an underwater city of rock and water, in which the self-named ^^# (pronounced 'Koi') dwelt.

"This is amazing," Liandra said as she dove through a window. "Do you know about Neopia - the world above the waves?"

"If anyone knows," %+)' replied, "it would be our king's scientist, ~`*. I'll take you to him." He led Faerie and Flotsam through the waterways to a large cavern decorated with living ornaments: sponges, shellfish, and coral in bright but not random colours. In fact, when Mizu looked at it from a distance she realised that it formed a picture of a large green Koi. "The colours form a picture of our king," explained %+)'.

Mizu and Liandra swam after %+)' into a room lined with lightbulbfish. "~`*?" asked %+)'. "This is Mizu. She's a Faerie, and she has a question for you."

"Hello, honored ~`*," said Mizu timidly, holding onto Liandra for comfort. "I was only wondering...do you Koi know about Neopia? It is a civilization which exists on dry land, above the ocean."

"You can abandon the formalities," ~`* said cheerfully. "It is you, as an Uber-Faerie, who deserves the honor. Yes, we know of your overwater city. However, very few ^^# know or care that it exists. However, we do not want the citizens of - Neopia, did you call it? - to know of our existence. Do you promise not to give us away to those on land?"

Mizu hesitated, but Liandra said, "Indeed we will," and the Uber-Water Faerie nodded. "This is a fascinating place," added Liandra.

"It is indeed. This city, ^^#&_) we call it, is connected throughout by periscopes and echoers. Periscopes connect us by sight; echoers by sound." ~`* paused and listened for a moment to a tube which came out from the wall. A series of clicks was coming from the tube. "Oh dear," said the scientist. "There's a group of Shark Pirates at the entrance of ^^#&_). They're large, and seem bent on getting in."

"We can stop them!" said Liandra cheerfully.

"Are you truly powerful enough? These are abnormally large."

"There's no shark who can stand up to a Faerie," said Mizu. "Come on, dearest." Mizu was smaller than the Koi's heads, and Liandra only twice her size, but they swooped out of ~`*'s room swiftly and came quickly to the hole which led between city and sea.

Another battle ensued, and this time Mizu was helped by ^^#&_)and with spears, but suddenly the warriors scattered. The remaining Shark Pirates also swam away as fast as their fins would carry them. "What's that?" cried Liandra as a shadow fell across the fighters.

"I don't know, but I assume the warriors left for good reason," Mizu replied.

"Swim for your life!" called %+)' from the entrance to ^^#&_). "It's the Terror of the Deep!"

The Terror of the Deep is a long-ago forgotten legend among the Koi No one is quite sure anymore just what it was, although varying accounts say a giant Shark Pirate, a monster called into being by the massive amount of energy involved in the creation of Neopia, and even an embodiment of the ocean itself. Whatever it was, it was huge and it was terrifying.

The Terror of the Deep slashed at Mizu with sharp, needle-fine claws. She dodged, more agile than the great beast, and attacked with her power. Now, I am not the best at describing battles, but realise that the general opinion on shore was that a particularly violent hurricane had descended.

And then it was over, and the Terror of the Deep was destroyed.

Dozens of Koi swam out of ^^#&_) to surround Mizu and Liandra. The small Flotsam was at Mizu's side supporting her. "Mizu? Will you be all right?" asked %+)' worriedly.

"Probably not." The delicately tiny Faerie was leaking tendrils of silver life juice into the ocean waters. "Take care of the Koi, Liandra. Stay with them."

"You saved all of us," a brown Koi said weakly. "You can't just leave now."

"Oh, but I can," whispered Mizu through the water. "You'll be all right. I'm glad I could save your civilization. %+)'..."

"What? What is it?" asked the yellow Koi, swimming closer as the others parted to let him through.

"Liandra will keep your secret. Here is my thanks...for letting me see everything..." She reached out with one elegant arm and touched %+)''s hand, closing her eyes to concentrate. Slowly the yellow Koi turned blue, and as he watched in confusion a set of fins rather like wings unfolded from his back. "Have a good time as a Faerie Koi"

Of course %+)' was the first Faerie Koi! Mizu was the first Faerie ever to meet the Koi

And then, as she took her last breath and fell limp onto Liandra's supporting tail, Mizu used her final energy to think one last thought, a name: OCEANA!

All the Water Faeries in Neopia felt Mizu's destruction, as did all the Uber Faeries and the Queen. There was a week of mourning, a week of inducting the Faerie Oceana as the new Uber-Water Faerie, and years of searching for Liandra and Mizu's body. Neither were found, until the search was given up. But Mizu was given a heroine's burial in the city of ^^#&_) and Liandra lives there today, a clever little Flotsam, the King's messenger.

Mizu had sent Oceana the secret of the city along with the title of Uber-Water Faerie From then on every Uber-Water Faerie knew of the Koi, right up to the current one, Myrri. The Water Faeries protected the city from the underground cavern to the dome of silicon and plastic from that day onward. And since there is no more to tell, the tale is done.

The End