The Lost King of Geraptiku: Part Four

     "Where-" he began, but the Cybunny cut him off.

     "Come, King Donis! Get off the ground! We haven't got all day!" She grabbed Donis' paw and pulled him out of the dirt. "Follow me!"

     The Cybunny started to skip down a path that was to the right of the huge clearing in which Zar and Donis now stood. As she skipped, she sang a song:

      "The King is back to save the day!

      People of Geraptiku rejoice and pray,

      That King will ne'er again leave us here,

      To wait with pain, neglect and fear!"

     "Is she off her rocker?" Donis asked Zar, who hummed merrily along to the old Cybunny's spur-of-the-moment song.

     "She is very off her rocker. Come, King Donis, we must not stall within these woods. Danger may lurk around every corner."

     Just as he said this, their Cybunny leader rounded a bend in the path and exclaimed, "Ta-da!"

     Donis jumped in surprise, but calmed down when he saw it was just a house.

     "Welcome, King Donis, to my humble abode," she said. "Won't you come inside?"

     Donis stared, wide-eyed, at the Cybunny's 'humble abode'. The building that stood before him was like none he had seen before. The walls were made of a wood that Donis could not identify. The wood seemed to glimmer a dark grey in the moonlight, and Donis wondered what it was that made it do so. The other parts of the house were somewhat in disrepair compared to the marvelous wood it was made of. The window shades hung off their hinges and moss and ivy crawled nonchalantly up into the eaves. Some of the roof shingles had blown off and were scattered across the mangled front lawn where hundreds of different mushrooms and plants grew within the maze of weeds scattered there.

     "Come! Come inside! I've baked cookies."

     The Cybunny beckoned Donis and Zar inside. The inside of the old lady's house was much more organized and colorful then the outside. There was what seemed like thousands of books. Books on the tables, books in the chairs, books on the mantelpiece and books on the stairs! Donis had never seen so much literature in all his life.

     "Wow..." he said, and the Cybunny chuckled.

     "Just a small collection of magical medical books really... I used to have more before..." She paused, and leaned closer to whisper in Donis' ear, "Before Lord Vagio became king. This land was more peaceful before poor King Donis disappeared. I do miss him so... "

     She stared reminiscently up at the ceiling, where twenty or so plants hung from in-between the rafters.

     "Well, enough about the old days! Would you like some cookies, King Donis?"

     Donis raised his eyebrows but reached out towards the plate that the Cybunny offered him, and sat down in one of the chairs that wasn't full of reading materials.

     Zar hopped up beside him and Donis asked, "Er- Mrs. Cybunny lady?"

     The Cybunny sat cross-legged on a cushion in front of him, and grabbed five cookies for herself before asking, "Yes, your highness?"

    "Who are you? Where, exactly, are we, and how did I get here?"

     Donis took a bite out of the cookie, which tasted slightly off, and handed the rest to Zar, who gobbled up the cookie as fast as he could.

    "Hmm... So many questions, my king," she said, flattening the wrinkles out of her velvet purple dress. "I am Torinia, the village Magick Maker... if you will."

     "You're a-" Donis began, but Torinia cut him off.

     "A witch, yes. Neopians come to me to get treatments for ailments the doctors cannot treat. Such ailments include, but are not limited to, jealousy, anger, fear, and the strongest of all... love. That's what the mushrooms are for!"

     Torinia smiled, and took a huge bite out of her cookie.

     "Ash fer your shecond kweshtun... " she mumbled as bits of cookie came spewing from her mouth, "Yoush are in Gewaptikoo."

     "Gewaptikoo?" Donis asked as he raised his eyebrows at the strange, old Cybunny.

     She swallowed her cookie, and said, "No! My dear child, Geraptiku! Geraptiku! The land which you rule! Hey... that sounds pretty good... "

     She began to sing the song again, and added in the lines she had just spoken.

     "Hem hem!" Zar cleared his throat, and stared at Torinia.

     "Oh... excuse me, Sir Zar. Your third question: How you got here... yes yes yes. Well, you did open a strange door, did you not?"

     Donis nodded.

     "Well," continued Torinia, "I created that door as a portal between your world and ours, not Vagio. Oh no. He's not that stupid! Anyways, as soon as I had heard that your court assistant's assistant had hit you over the head and stuffed you in a burlap bag, I began to think of all the possible places where Lord Vagio could have hidden you. All of a sudden, it hit like a ton of bricks-"

     At that exact moment, something fell from the ceiling and landed right on top of Torinia's grizzled hair.

     "Goodness gracious, me-oh-my, what in Fyora's name was that?!?" she said, reaching up towards the top of her head.

     The thing that had landed on her mewed, and peered at Donis with eyes the exact shade of purple fabric in the old Cybunny's dress was made of.

     "Oh! It's only Jada, my Tasu familiar! She helps me with my Magick, you know... " Torinia winked as she plucked the little petpet from her hair and placed her on her lap. As Torinia stroked her petpet's light blue speckled fur, she continued with her tale.

     "So where was I?"

     Jada purred as Torinia scratched the Tasu's belly and her head at the same time.

     "Ah yes! Lord Vagio had bought a book about time travel from my shop a few months before your disappearance. There was only one possible answer-he had taken you to... the future!!!"

     Torinia threw her arms up for dramatic effect and Donis rolled his eyes and asked, "Yes yes yes... I know that part... but how did you know to create the door at Hana's house?"

     Torinia smiled coyly at him, and her Tasu jumped onto the cluttered coffee table next to her. The little petpet curled around a very small glass ball that rested atop an intricate golden stand. Torinia reached for the ball and began to roll it between the knuckles of her long paw, carefully balancing it on each finger before passing it to the next.

     "Do you know what this is?" she asked Donis, who shook his head.

     Torinia continued to smile and passed the ball onto Donis who took it carefully in his two small blue paws.

     "It is a crystal ball," Torinia said, "to see the future in. I saw the location of where you would be sent, and since I now had an image in my mind, I could create a time portal. That was exactly what I did, and look! It worked! I'm quite pleased with myself if I may say so..."

     Torinia smiled and Donis stared into the crystal ball. All of a sudden, soft grey clouds filled the ball and Donis was staring at himself. He was standing in a hall filled with hundreds of doors. He chose one that was made of dark brown wood and slowly opened it. The ball filled with a soft red light and then became suddenly clear again. Donis acted like nothing had happened, and passed the ball back to Torinia.

     "That's a very interesting piece of magic. Is it... " He paused to search for the right words. "Is it always correct?"

      Torinia nodded her head fervently and said, "Oh yes. Always. However... " Torinia suddenly looked saddened by something but said, "Sometimes it leaves out very important pieces of information. You should never trust what it says unless you know how to use it."

     Donis thought about what he had seen and asked Zar with his mind, "Did you see what I saw in the crystal ball?"

     "Yes... but should we trust it?" asked Zar.

     Donis stared at the glistening crystal sphere that was now lying back on its stand.

     "I don't know... " he said. "We should see if it applies to anything that happens from now on and go from there."

     Zar nodded and Donis said to Torinia, "So... what now?"

     Torinia sprang up from her cushion and said, "Dinner time!!!"

     ***

      Donis, Zar, Torinia and her Tasu, Jada, ate a dinner of some strange food that Donis could not identify, but ate anyways as he was starving.

     "Do you like it?" Torinia asked.

     "Oh yes... very much," nodded Donis, shoveling the rubbery substance into his mouth.

     "Good. After dinner, you should sleep. We have a long day ahead of us and you will need your rest."

     Torinia got up from the worn wooden table and walked across the cluttered kitchen to some checkered kitchen cupboards on the opposite side of the room. She reached way into the back of one and pulled out a vial filled with a florescent blue liquid.

     Torinia set the vial on the table and said, "I would also highly suggest that you drink this before going to sleep. It will help with your nightmares."

     Donis looked at Torinia, confused, and asked, "What nightmares?"

     Torinia smiled again and said, "The nightmares of your past. Now that you are in Geraptiku again, the air will affect your nighttime breathing, letting the bad memories of your past enter your sleep. Here." She passed the vial to Donis and wrapped it into his paw. "Take this and go upstairs. Your bedroom is the first door on your right."

     Donis took the vial and headed upstairs with Zar following close behind him. He reached his bedroom door, and opened it. Inside, the room was an exact replica of his room back in Neopia Central.

     "Another spell of Torinia's," said Zar.

     "Kind of makes me homesick..." Donis thought out loud.

     He crossed the room, set the vial on his nightstand and crawled under the sheets.

     Donis gave a sarcastic look to the vial and said, "What good will that vial do me... I don't believe what Torinia says. Who ever heard of 'nighttime breathing' anyways?"

     "Torinia is always right..." Zar said, curling up beside his little blue King.

     Donis scoffed and laid his head on the soft pillow. Donis fell asleep immediately, unaware of the things he would soon see.

To be continued...