Faerieland: Fallen but Unfettered

It was just a couple of days before the holidays in Neopia. The Advent Calendar was churning out wonderful prizes for Neopians. It seemed like a perfect holiday, except for one thing. The land of all things pink and shiny was not in the sky.

Several weeks ago, dark magic conjured by Xandra caused Faerieland to fall out of the sky, and a massive crater appeared east of the Haunted Woods. For a moment, all hope appeared to be lost. Our heroes, Hanso and Brynn, were left alone, without their Neopian allies. Everyone near the evil spell was turned to stone.

Xandra then gave a reason for destroying the faeries and their homeland. She became convinced that the faeries ruled with iron scepters, trying to control Neopians and force them under their apparent tyranny.

However, Xandra’s cockiness became her downfall. She was strongly convinced that she was right and that nobody would question her verdict. Therefore, she chose to spare Brynn and Hanso, in hopes that the two heroes would join her in creating a new Neopia. At first, it seemed like Hanso was going along with Xandra’s scheme. Instead, however, Hanso gave Xandra a taste of her own medicine – betrayal. Shortly after accepting Xandra’s offer, Hanso turned his back on Xandra. Being his own daring self, he took up the task of insulting Xandra. The angrier Xandra got, the more powerful her spells. The more powerful her spells, the more magic the infamous artefact used for the crime absorbed.

Of course, at the same time, Oblivion once again reappeared, this time larger and stronger than ever. With Brynn holding off Oblivion, Hanso continued to insult Xandra, defending himself with the artefact.

Then suddenly, the unthinkable happened. Hanso used the artefact against Xandra, but in the process, also turned himself into stone, leaving poor Brynn wondering what to do.

Fortunately, Hanso’s brave and selfless act destroyed the artefact itself and reversed its spell on the faeries and the rulers of Neopia. With King Altador, King Hagan, Prince Jazan, and Queen Fyora all restored, the rulers set out on a search for Brynn. They did not have to look very far, however. Brynn stood just ahead of them, mourning over the loss of Hanso. At the same time, there was also a pleasant surprise, her majesty, Queen Fyora.

The tired and weary queen was curious about the events that had occurred, but she also seemed very aware that Xandra had turned the faerie population into stone. This does not come as a surprise, as Fyora is a very wise queen. As Brynn told everyone the story, Fyora restored Hanso back to his normal self, humor and all. Shortly after, the rulers returned to their respective kingdoms to survey the damage done by the shadows.

It appears that the destruction did not cause too much havoc in Altador. Most of the damage is isolated to Brightvale and the Haunted Woods. The populous areas of the Haunted Woods remain unaffected by the shadows. Major damage to infrastructure and the Brightvale castle has been reported. It appears that it will take a few months to repair the roads and bridges leading into central Brightvale. Construction there is already underway.

Meanwhile, the faeries have already begun repairing Faerieland. Although Faerieland is now in a massive crater east of the Haunted Woods, the faeries have not given up on the place the call home, regardless of location and condition. We at the Neopian Times were able to catch the Faerie Queen out and about, trying to provide encouragement and aid to those devastated by the tragedy in Faerieland.

The transcript of the interview with Queen Fyora:

NT: Your majesty, may we have a moment?

Queen Fyora: Sure, I do have a lot on my mind right now.

NT: Alright, well, we were told that you knew about Xandra and her powers. We were just wondering, if you knew something this tragic was going to happen, why didn’t you stop Xandra from the beginning?

Fyora: Xandra was a tricky one. She fared well in the sorcery exams and her power was known to be great. Unfortunately, such a power comes with great responsibility. At the same time, it is impossible to simply assume that Xandra’s powers were going to be used to commit crimes against Neopia. Just like it is impossible to simply assume that Hanso was untrustworthy due to his thievery. We could not just imprison Xandra just for being too powerful. That would be tyrannical. I was simply giving Xandra a chance, and that unfortunately, wasn’t the best idea.

NT: Ah, well, here’s another tough question. Some Neopians have wondered why it takes so long to rebuild Faerieland if you faeries have the power of sorcery on your side.

Fyora: That is a common misconception that I am willing to patiently correct. We faeries do not have a magical solution to everything. Magic is not a panacea to all problems, but rather it can be the root as Xandra has demonstrated. Therefore, a simple wave of a scepter isn’t going to rebuild Faerieland overnight either. The most we can do is levitate the materials we need to rebuild.

NT: So how long do you expect the recovery efforts to last?

Fyora: At the pace we are going, probably months. We already have a good start.

NT: Will Faerieland ever float in the skies again?

Fyora: As of now, not likely yet and we are fine with that. Floating or not floating, Faerieland will always be our home.

NT: In that case, we were wondering, how will you keep Jhudora and Illusen from quarrelling? They are practically next door to each other now.

Fyora: *sighs* Those two will never grow up and set aside their differences. I suppose I’ll just have to deal with the arguments and the quarrelling myself. They’ll just have to deal with me first if they want to quarrel.

NT: And Xandra? Will she remain a statue forever?

Fyora: Probably so. We could try to bring her back and convince her that we faeries mean no harm and all that but the risk of that not working is too great. I do have some regret though. When I had that feeling that Xandra was going to be trouble, I should have called her into my chambers and talked to her. Maybe something could have been worked out. Why did I hesitate? Because I wasn’t sure if my convictions were right, that Xandra was indeed going to try and destroy us. What if I was wrong? I should have acted sooner nonetheless. Then Xandra might still be with us. I guess some things just aren’t meant to be.

NT: Anything else you’d like to tell Neopia, your Majesty?

Fyora: I would like to thank all the Neopians that laid their lives down in order to rescue us. We faeries will be forever indebted to you all. I know, fighting the shadows led to quite a few casualties and those will not go unnoticed. These Neopians have done a noble thing and will be honored. And of course, thanks to all the leaders, Brynn, and Hanso for coming to our aid when we needed it most. Now, is there anything else you need before I get back to my faeries and their rebuilding efforts?

NT: No, your majesty, thanks for your time.

Fyora: Farewell. *disappears in a cloud of pink smoke*

So there you have it. The destruction has left Faerieland in ruins, but the faeries will not let that destroy their spirit. Reconstruction efforts in Faerieland have been moving along quite nicely and the city and the surrounding suburbs are now inhabitable again. Many residents have already come back and are aiding each other in their recovery efforts. It appears that for this holiday, all is not lost. It will be about giving each other the gift of time and effort so that Faerieland may once again stand as a prosperous kingdom.

Reporting live from inside the New Faerie City.