The Darkest Faerie Returns: Part Three

      Siyana was doubled over on the floor in excruciating pain. She just gasped and was barely able to respond, “She’s back.”

      Fyora helped her to her feet and was staggering a bit herself. “What are we going to do?”

      Siyana gasped a little bit more and looked into Fyora’s eyes. “I don’t know.”

      Fyora stared at Siyana for a moment before she found her voice again. “We must warn everybody and urge them to hide until we have permanently stopped the Darkest Faerie. Hurry - I, too, feel faint, but this is too important to ignore.”

     ~*~*~*~*~*~

      The Darkest Faerie sat down quietly on the Mystery Island beach while she contemplated her revenge. She knew that it wouldn’t take long. She had lived in stone for one thousand years, and she had plenty of time to fantasize her revenge. Four horrid Neopians and Taladorians had defeated her, and she wanted revenge on all four.

     As she ran her finger through the sand she repeated over and over in her mind, “Siyana, Altador, Tor, Fyora.”

     ~*~*~*~*~*~

      Fyora called everybody in Neopia together after Siyana had returned to Altador to warn the King and the Altadorians. Fyora stood on the steps that led to her enormous castle as she spoke to her subjects.

      “As many of you are aware, the Darkest Faerie has returned. If you have any ideas for defeating her, please speak up.”

      A young light Faerie spoke up in front of the large audience. “If you please, your majesty, I’d like to help you in every way possible.”

     Fyora looked at her with compassion. “Very well, please come up here.”

      The light Faerie staggered through the crowd as she approached Fyora.

      When she got to the steps, she bowed before Fyora. Fyora lifted her up.

     “What is your name, young Faerie?”

      “Well...” the Faerie hesitated, moving one of her feet back and forth over the ground, “I don’t know what it is. I was abandoned when I was very little and had to live on my own, so I don’t really have one.”

      Fyora looked at her with a mixture of sorrow and compassion. “We should call you Hope because you give us hope.”

      Instead of cheers, however, many light Faeries spoke up.

     “But, my queen, we’ve never seen this child before. How can we believe her? Evil loves to clothe itself in innocence.”

      Fyora would hear none of it and with a slightly biting tone she responded, “Hold your tongues. We have no reason to doubt Hope. She will help us defeat the Darkest Faerie.”

      When Fyora tried to gather more help, however, most of the light Faeries left, as well as a few water, earth, and fire Faeries. Many of the dark Faeries already couldn’t care less.

      When Hope retreated to her new room in the castle, she locked her door and recited a simple saying that kept anybody from entering her room or hearing anything that she would say inside of it.

      She seemed to step out of her own body while she muttered to herself, “It’s a good thing that I was in disguise before I was called to Faerieland. If I had been myself, that would have ruined everything. Fyora is setting up my plan for me, however. Once she trusts me, I can switch my identity with hers so that everybody will think that I am Fyora and that poor little Fyora,” Hope twisted her face and made a mocking smile as she said it, “is the Darkest Faerie!”

      She laughed her evil laugh as she spread her enormous purple and crimson wings in her room. She set her light Faerie disguise on her bed. She thought that her room was too bright and cheery, but there was nothing that she could do about that. She couldn’t believe that some of the Faeries could see right through her disguise. As far as she knew, her disguise was flawless. She just shrugged and continued wallowing in her pride and accomplishment.

     ~*~*~*~*~*~

      Siyana approached King Altador. “She’s back. We must hide the people. They don’t deserve to go through this again, but they didn’t deserve to go through it the first time, either.”

      Altador nodded and went out of the arena and into the city. He started singing again, but this time it was a different song. He was singing a nostalgic kind of song.

      Tor watched in amazement as the people, almost in a trance, left their homes, shops, and land as they all stopped in front of the stadium.

      Siyana, during Altador’s song, changed the interior of the stadium. Plaques and pictures were replaced with sturdy homes for the various families. A ceiling started to appear to cover the vast, open space.

      Siyana and Altador stopped simultaneously.

     In a deep, rich voice, Altador spoke to the neopets, “Enter the stadium and live your lives there until you are called out by me. You will not be able to leave, but neither will you want to.”

      Altador stepped aside and let the neopets go in. Tor noticed Grimmig and wanted to stop him, but his heart told him to let his friend enter so that he wouldn’t have to worry about facing the Darkest Faerie’s wrath.

     ~*~*~*~*~*~

      Fyora was pleading with the various Faeries and pets that remained, “I beg of you to help our cause. We are positive that the Darkest Faerie is back and I’m sure that she is wasting no time in attempting to get her revenge.”

      One particularly obstinate Faerie retorted, “Why should we believe that she’s back? Where’s our proof?”

      Fyora was desperate with her reply, “I can feel it. Siyana felt it too. I bet that if we asked King Kelpbeard, he would tell us that the statue in Maraqua is gone. That statue was inhabited by the Darkest Faerie.”

      The Faerie muttered, “I’m still not so sure...”

      Fyora said nothing as the Faerie flew off to Maraqua to check on the statue.

      When the dark Faerie dove into Maraqua’s clear, blue water, she never expected what happened to her. She saw some heartless, empty eyes and purple smoke. Then she saw some bits of stone and dust off of the sea floor grow and shape themselves around her. Then she could see nothing as the Darkest Faerie completed her job, setting the doubting Faerie into stone. As the cracks slowly disappeared, all the Faerie could hear was rushing water and an evil cackle.

     ~*~*~*~*~*~

      Fyora looked up at her castle in exhaustion and desperation and she saw a smear of purple across the bright blue sky. She frowned as she wondered what that could have been.

      Hope flew immediately back to her room in the castle. Then she entered her disguise again so that nobody would suspect her. What she didn’t realize was that Fyora had seen her shape rushing into the castle.

      Fyora couldn’t think about much other than that purple blur for the rest of the day. She knew that there were no dark Faeries in her castle, as it would take a great work of kindness or bravery for a dark Faerie to be welcomed into the castle.

     ~*~*~*~*~*~

      Tor, Siyana, and Altador sat in a small circle as the entire stadium slowly dissipated in the sky so that the Darkest Faerie couldn’t get anywhere near the inhabitants.

      When they couldn’t see even a speck of it on the horizon, they started to speak to each other in hushed tones.

     “So should we return to Fyora this moment?”

      Siyana almost gasped at Tor’s statement because she thought that the answer was obvious. “Of course we are, what else would we do?”

      Tor shrugged. “Well, nothing, I guess. I do tend to state the obvious sometimes; I guess it’s a bit of a habit that I have.”

      Siyana also shrugged as she walked with the two Lupes to the portal that led to Fyora’s chambers.

     ~*~*~*~*~*~

      Fyora was finally asleep after much tossing and turning when she was once again awoken by the portal, but this time it was by a flash of light and the sound of three grunts as Tor, Siyana, and Altador landed on her floor.

      Siyana looked up at Fyora sheepishly. “Sorry for waking you up, my queen.”

      Fyora shrugged. “I probably would have had a nightmare anyway; ever since Hope showed up, I’m getting less support from the Faeries. The neopets are still helping me and so are some of the humans, but as it stands, we don’t have a chance.”

      Siyana nodded. “We hid away the Altadorians; they’ve had to face her wrath before and I don’t think that they should be forced to endure it again.”

      Fyora also nodded this time. “That was the right thing to do. Never doubt that. You are a very wise leader, Siyana. If I hadn’t been queen, you could easily have become queen. You are wise and strong; thank you for being here for me.”

      Siyana responded only with a smile as the group gathered together to make their plans.

To be continued...