The New Prophecy: Part One

“It’s so good to catch up on everything every once in a while.”

      “Yes. We must do it more often.” The Queen of Faeries, Fyora, sipped her Strongberry Tea and smiled her perfectly white smile at the Kau sitting across the table from her. Fyora looked as perfect as ever, complete with her white gold tiara perched on top of her cascading hair, a long light purple dress that had been fitted to her measurements exactly by the finest tailors in all of Neopia, and light wings that added grace to her overall appearance. Normally she would have been busy doing all of things that were required as the Queen: making public appearances, running her shop in the Hidden Tower, helping out poor neopets, etcetera, but today she had taken one of her very, very rare days off and had decided to spend it with none other than her good friend Kauvara.

      Kauvara gave a goodhearted smile, one that wasn’t as perfect as Fyora’s, but suited her overall appearance well. Her fur was a deep blue speckled with golden stars that perfectly matched her black magician’s hat and cloak, and, just like Fyora, she was taking one of her very own days off from the hectic life of brewing magical potions and selling them to the public.

      At that moment, they were sitting in Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe. It wasn’t the most glamorous place, located in the deep catacombs under Neopia Central and complete with crude rock walls, but they both had to agree that there was just something homey about the place (and it helped that they were good friends with the orange Shoyru shopkeeper, too!)

      “So how is everything at the Magic Shop?” Fyora asked, her voice as light and as airy as her violet eyes.

      “The same as usual.” Kauvara wasn’t the biggest fan of coffee or tea, but she had to admit that Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe stocked some really good Tigersquash Swirly Cake. “Neopets come in left and right wanting picked eyeballs or Healing Potions and you can count always on some requests for my very own potion.”

      Fyora nodded, stirring her tea with a silver spoon. “Of course: Kauvara’s Potion. It is quite popular. Well, then how are the arbiter berries this time of season? If they aren’t growing well, those neopets will be wasting their time asking for that potion. They are, after all, the main ingredient.”

      “Actually, I just went to Roo Island last week and found some nice ripe ones, enough for several bottles. I brewed the potion once I got back, settled in my chair behind the counter in the Magic Shop... and the bottles were sold within five minutes!” She took a bite out of the cake, enjoying the sweet taste of the baked Tigersquash. “Speaking of shops, who’s watching over the Hidden Tower for you today?”

      Fyora smiled. “Illusen. She’s such a sweet faerie, always ready to help out, but I’m afraid she won’t have that much to do. Not many people can afford the items and to be able to find the tower is an achievement in itself.”

      Kauvara smiled. “Ah yes... the Hidden Tower. I remember when I first found it! I was a young Kau at the time, not Starry yet, but a decent shade of blue, and I was wandering around Faerieland when I suddenly...” She paused for a moment and her face became expressionless.

      Fyora put down her Strongberry tea. “You suddenly what?” she asked interested, but the Kau didn’t appear to have heard her. In fact, she looked as if she wasn’t even capable of hearing anything at all. Her eyes were glazed and she was very still, almost as if she was unconscious... and when she finally spoke her voice sounded different, musical and poisonous at the same time:

     “A green-eyed fiend reflection makes

     Upon a hill that always wakes

     Some cunning words, a tale they spin

     And nighttime dreams among us dim

     For soon the light will start to fade

     And dark will set into the day

     Reversible? It may be done

     If two bitter enemies can become one.”

      And as soon as it was finished, Kauvara’s eyes lost the strange glaze and her voice was back to normal as she continued, “...hit something I couldn’t see. It was the Hidden Tower, of course, invisible to the naked eye! But I didn’t know that at first; I thought that I must have fallen on the ground tripping over my own four feet! My head still hurts when I think back...” She suddenly stopped, catching sight of Fyora seated across from her, and her face furrowed in confusion. “Fyora, are you okay?”

      Fyora, in fact, was not okay. Her creamy complexion had turned pale, her eyes were wide, and she was gently shaking. No, not today, she thought. Not a prophecy on my day off! She had dealt with many prophecies before. In fact, there was an entire vault filled with them back in one of the rooms in the Hidden Tower, but she had never witnessed one being made, and now that she had, she found herself a bit breathless and utterly frightened. She knew what the standard rules and procedures were for witnesses; they had been written many years back by one of the first Queens: write the prophecy down (making sure to include the seer’s and witness’ names), place protection spells on the paper (non-decayable, nonflammable, etcetera), place the prophecy in the hidden vault, and finally hold a conference with representatives for each type of faerie to discuss the solution. Some prophecies really didn’t need to be dealt with, mainly because they weren’t going to come true for a long time, but this new prophecy clearly stated “soon” and Fyora didn’t know how soon that was.

      “I... I didn’t know...” she mumbled fervently to Kauvara, “that you have seer blood in you!”

      Kauvara face opened in shock and then settled into a look of confusion. “Well, that’s an abrupt change of subject, but yes. Someone on my mother’s side was a seer, one of my great-great-grandmothers or something like that. But how did you know? I normally don’t shout it out.”

      “Don’t you remember?” Fyora asked restlessly, raking her fingers through her long hair. “Two... two seconds ago you said something, a pr-prophecy... and your eyes were weird, glazed and vacant, and, and... I need PAPER!” she suddenly shouted and, grabbing a napkin that had been situated besides her cup of tea, she pulled her slender wand out from her pocket and used it to jot down whatever words she could remember.

      “Green-eyed? Hill that always wakes? Enemies become one?” Kauvara read over the Queen’s shoulder. “What is up with you?”

      “Blasted!” Fyora cursed. “I can’t remember it all!” Although she was great at spells and diplomacy, she by no means had a photographic memory and she found it hard to recall all of the words, even though they had rhymed.

      “Breathe!” Kauvara said, looking around the coffee shop anxiously. Neopets were beginning to notice the Queen’s strange reaction. A blue Nimmo had paused from paying at the counter for his coffee at the commotion. A green Uni sitting at another table had stopped reading her book and was staring at Fyora, bewildered. Even the Shoyru who owned the shop had stopped fulfilling orders and was leaning over the counter to get a better look at the Queen! “Do you want to go to the Neohospital?” Kauvara asked worriedly.

      Fyora shook her head and closed her eyes, trying to remember the words with all her might. She was able to write down a few more before she was calmed down enough to make a logical thought.

      “Okay,” she said nervously, looking up at the Kau and taking a deep breath, trying to explain. “I... I need to go. There’s a major problem...”

      “Problem? What problem?” Kauvara asked nervously, fixing her magician’s cap out of habit. “Do you need my help? Should I brew some potions?”

      “No,” Fyora said quickly, shaking her head. “You need to stay here, right here in this coffee shop, until I can get help. You just made a prophecy and I need to figure it all out.”

      “I said a prophecy? But, that’s just about impossible! Are you sure...”

      “Yes, I am quite sure,” Fyora snapped. Normally she was good under pressure, but everything was happening too fast and she found herself quickly losing her temper. “Just... stay,” she said, grabbing the napkin that she had scribbled the words on and leaving some spare neopoints on the table to pay for her tea. “I’ll be back as quick as possible. But just stay here and be calm... have some Tigersquash Cake or something.”

      “But...” Kauvara started, but it was too late. The Queen of Faeries had already rushed out of Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe and the catacombs and had taken off into the late springtime sky.

     ***

      Fyora was very thankful for the nice weather. It had been a long and harsh winter and she was glad that the sun was shining strongly and that a faint wind was cooling her off as she frantically flew.

      She had already decided what she needed to do. A conference was out of the question; it was too short notice to gather a representative from each kind of faerie and choose an agreeable date for them all to meet up at the Hidden Tower. No, instead she was just going to head to the one faerie she knew that would be able to help her solve the prophecy in a limited timeframe, just like before.

      And so, when she spotted the massive purple cloud spewing noxious green smoke, she prepared for landing.

     ***

      Jhudora, the infamous dark faerie, was spending her day inside of her lair situated on a cloud at the edge of Faerieland. Her great purple wings were folded on her back as she sat in her intricately carved throne by the roaring fire, reading a book entitled “101 Ways to Speak Evilly,” in the flickering light. At the moment, she was on Chapter 41: Being Falsely Sweet, which she found quite intriguing. Who knew that you could be considered evil just by being too nice? But she honestly didn’t think that it was for her; it involved too much smiling and happiness. No, her own favorite methods were in Chapters 7, 19, and 25: Shouting, Scowling, and Sarcasm.

      As her dark violet eyes scanned the small black print, she suddenly heard a knock on her door.

      She sighed angrily, slammed the book shut, and got up from her chair. The sign on her door had clearly stated that there were to be absolutely no quests given out today. (It was, coincidentally, her day off, too.) But when she irritably opened the heavy front door, she didn’t see a cowering little neopet like she had imagined, but the Queen of Faeries herself: Fyora.

      Beside Illusen, Fyora was her least favorite faerie in all of Neopia. In Jhudora’s opinion, she was nothing more than a goodie two shoes who put her little nose into everyone else’s business way too often, but today she was pleasantly surprised to see her disheveled. Her normally perfect hair looked as if she had raked her hands through it multiple times, her tiara was crookedly placed on top of her head, and her long flowy dress was wrinkled.

      Jhudora was about to make some harsh comment when she suddenly stopped herself. Let’s put this falsely sweet technique to the test, she thought, and with some trouble, she somehow managed to twist her mouth into a huge, overly happy grin. “Hello, Fyora, Queen of Faeries,” she said nicely. “What brings you to my humble abode this lovely afternoon?”

      Fyora’s eyes widened at the sight of Nice Jhudora and her distorted “happy” face, but she quickly shook her head, dismissing the question marks in her head, and looked into Jhudora’s eyes. “Listen, Jhudora, I really need you to help me with something.”

      “Well,” Jhudora said, still smiling (her cheeks were beginning to hurt), “I’m not sure if I can help you. I have oh so many things to do today!”

      “Right,” Fyora said sarcastically, gesturing to the sign that was on her door declaring NO QUESTS TODAY in giant purple letters. “But really, Jhudora, I don’t have time to argue with you. There’s a prophecy and I really need your help to decipher it.”

      “Prophecy?” Jhudora asked confused, dropping the Falsely Sweet technique. (It really wasn’t working that well.)

      “Yes,” Fyora said wearily, holding up a napkin that had scribbles written all over it. “And I need your help. I don’t have time to gather a conference and you’re the only one I could think of who would be able to solve a prophecy in a short amount of time. I mean, after all of your help with the Crystal Eye Prophecy a few years back...”

      “Crystal what?” Jhudora asked blankly. As far as she could remember, she had never helped out with a prophecy.

      “The Crystal Eye Prophecy!” Fyora said, pronouncing it clearly, but Jhudora continued to look lost... And then Fyora remembered.

      She put her hand to her forehead and mumbled wearily, “I almost forgot. I wiped your memory at the end.”

      “YOU WHAT?” Jhudora shouted, temper flaring up inside of her. She had known that the Queen was meddlesome, but the fact that she had actually tampered with her mind was unbelievable. “Let me get this straight,” she said sharply. “I somehow helped you with a prophecy and in payment you WIPED MY MEMORY?!”

      “I’m sorry,” Fyora pleaded. “It had seemed the best thing to do at the time! But I really need you to focus on the present right now. There’s a new prophecy...”

      “No,” Jhudora said defiantly. “No, no, no, no, no! There is no way I’m helping you with your little prophecy now.” She fixed her purple and green hair and turned her back on the queen, ready to reenter her home. “That is,” she said slowly, “unless you’re willing to make a little deal. Help with the prophecy in exchange for my memory...”

      “What?” the Queen asked, appalled. “That’s out of the question! It was for everyone’s sake that we all forgot the incident and I can’t just give you back your memory because you ask for it!”

      “Well,” Jhudora growled, “then you’re not getting any of my help. Let Neopia burst into flames for all I care! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a book I need to finish reading.”

      And with that she went inside and slammed the door.

      Fyora sighed. She didn’t have time for this! So, she knocked on the door again, reluctantly shouting, “Fine! I’ll give you your memory back.”

      It was obvious that Jhudora had been hiding behind the door waiting for those magic words the entire time when the door opened immediately and she came back out.

      “You know what I’m doing is completely against protocol,” Fyora warned as she pulled out her wand, “and that you are never to tell anyone about it whatsoever...”

      “Yeah, yeah,” Jhudora said impatiently, waving her hand at the warning. “I get it, I get it. Just make with the magic... and try not to mess up my thoughts while you’re at it.”

      Fyora took a deep breath, gathered her magic, and waved her wand. A burst of white light shot out and enveloped the dark faerie in front of her and eventually faded away.

      “Do... do you remember?” Fyora asked hesitantly as she re-pocketed her wand. Mind wipes and recovery were a tricky business and there was a huge possibility that the entire thing had gone horribly wrong.

      “Do I remember?” Jhudora asked herself sarcastically, her mouth twitching in anger as she recalled all of the memories that had been taken from her. “Let’s see. Do I remember the fact that you wouldn’t let me come to the meeting to discuss the Crystal Eye Prophecy even though it’s mandatory that a representative for each type of faerie is present, that the thirteen of you all ran around frantically deciphering the prophecy in all the wrong ways, that it was I who realized the truth only to be confronted by you, that the fire faerie received the Crystal Eye orb despite my warning, THAT SHE ALMOST TOOK OVER NEOPIA AND THAT I WAS THE ONE WHO SAVED US ALL BY ALMOST GETTING BLASTED BY A MIRROR? AND DO I REMEMBER THAT IN GRATITUDE YOU WIPED ALL OF OUR MEMORIES BECAUSE YOU CLAIMED IT WOULD ‘CAUSE TOO MUCH PAIN TO BE REMBERED’?” Jhudora was shouting by the end, breathing heavily and her arms flailing all over the place, and when her spiel was done, she crossed her arms over her chest and said, “Yeah, I remember.”

      “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Fyora apologized hastily, “but now isn’t the time to dwell on the past. If there’s even the slightest chance that Neopia’s going to survive, you need to help me with this new prophecy. And besides, we made a deal.”

      “All right, but it better be worth it,” Jhudora said, using her own wand to place the standard protection spells on the door to her home to stop intruders and whatnot. “I’ll have you know that this happens to be my day off.”

      “Mine too,” Fyora muttered grimly, “but Neopia must come first. So, I say we head to the Hidden Tower and start working on this.”

      “Fine, let’s get this over with,” Jhudora said, pocketing her wand, opening her wings, and kicking off into the blue spring sky without giving Fyora a second glance.

      Fyora sighed and followed the dark faerie. “Here we go again.”

To be continued...