The Ballad of the Tears

     'Where are we?' asked Miyoka, rubbing her eyes. The sun was bright and shining, and there wasn't a single cloud in the crisp blue sky.

     'I don't know,' replied Liyon, now standing up with her friend. 'I can't seem to remember anything at all!'

     Miyoka was mystified; now that she tried to think about what they had been doing, she couldn't either. There was something strange in her pocket; pulling it out the Acara discovered a beautifully carved wooden flute made from the finest elms and the most expensive type of crystal for the finger holes. She didn't know why in the world she had it, but she pocketed it once more.

     'Well, I suppose we might as well look around and explore,' said Miyoka, looking towards a gap between the strange trees. 'How else are we going to get off this island?'

     And so, the Island and Skunk Acaras brushed the sand off themselves and headed for a path made out of the strange coloured sand. Looking through the trees towards the shore surrounding the rest of the island, they assumed that the island was a perfect circle. Ahead, they could hear strange splashing noises, so they ran down the path.

     In the dead center of the island, there was a small, shallow, perfectly circular pool about the size of the Turmaculus's stomach. In the very center of the small body of water there was a statue of a beautiful Maraquan Aisha, its hair flying out from her head as if she had received a static bolt and then became the statue. Its eyes were hollow, and water was flowing from them, as if it were crying. Around its realistically carved neck was a beautiful pendant, as bright blue as the sky and as large as Miyoka's fist. It was evidently a -

     'Oh my goodness!' said Liyon, stepping into the pool. The water level only reached her ankles, and before Miyoka could stop her friend she had already reached the Stone Aisha and had placed a paw upon the Thyora's Tear.

     Suddenly, the sky darkened, and the wind rose into a sudden shriek. The waters of the small pool had risen to form an impenetrable but transparent column around it, so that no one could enter. Miyoka screamed, but could only watch as the walls of water slowly surrounded Liyon. There was a great flash of light, a loud splash of water, and Liyon was gone.

     Miyoka sank to the sandy ground, astonished at what had just happened. She crouched down like a Snowbunny Loaf and closed her eyes, thinking, 'Please let this all go away, please let this all go away...'

     She sat there for what felt like hours, but it was truly only minutes. She didn't notice that the clouds had disappeared from the sky, nor did she notice that the wind had settled back to a normal, gentle breeze. However, she did notice as a wet something placed a hand on her back.

     She looked up, blinking tears out of her eyes. There was the Maraquan Aisha statue, but it didn't look like stone anymore; on the contrary it looked as if it were a real Aisha - as if it was alive!

     'Hello, stranger,' said the Aisha. Miyoka had expected something like a hiss or even a growl, but she was proved wrong; her voice was a strangely pure note, like music, that filled the air. 'I am Latiniyana. What is your name?' She talked as if she had always been an Aisha, and they had just met at NeoSchool.

     'I'm - I'm Miyoka,' said Miyoka, rather cautiously. She wanted to ask, 'What are you?' but she refrained from doing so and asked, 'Who are you, exactly?'

     'My Aisha tribe has lived on this Island, Teardrop Island, for centuries,' said Latiniyana. 'We were always peaceful and enjoyed life to its fullest, never once going into more of the populated areas. However, our existence was disturbed when a beautiful gemstone dropped from the sky, and our hearts were filled with greed. It transformed us, until we are now only just a shadow of our old selves. The Gemstone was unlike any other; it had amazing healing and defensive powers, and it controlled us until we became spirits; non-living, heartless guardians destined to keep the stone safe.'

     Miyoka was stunned after hearing this. 'That's - that's horrible!' she stammered. 'But why were you turned to stone?'

     Latiniyana turned her head sadly. 'I tried to overcome the stone's evil grip on all of us, so late at night I took the stone and attempted to destroy it. However, the elders found me, and by using dark new powers acquired from the gem they turned me to stone and placed me in an enchanted pool, and hung the stone around my neck. When ever anyone, out of the greed of their heart, attempted to take the stone from my neck they would be taken by the guardians, and...'

     She broke off, real tears now streaming from her eyes. The Acara could only presume that whatever would happen to Liyon, it would not be good. 'Listen, my friend Liyon -'

     'I know about your Acara friend,' the Aisha said, cutting off Miyoka. 'There is but only one way to get her back, but it is difficult...'

     'I'll do it!' replied Miyoka, with a fierce look in her eye. 'She's my best friend! I don't know how in the world we got on to this island, but if I have to spend the rest of my life here then I might as well have someone else with me!'

     Latiniyana smiled. 'Well, come with me!'

     And with that, she turned around and dived right into the pool. Miyoka hesitated for a second: the pool was so shallow, she'd hit her head on the bottom. Nevertheless, she trusted the Aisha, and dived in after her.

     To her great amazement, the pool wasn't actually that shallow. Opening her eyes, she could see that it was about the size of the entire island and about that deep. A great mountain loomed in the almost completely clear water, its summit, where Latiniyana was as a statue, was completely flat as if it had been chopped off. The shadow of the Aisha was near the base of the mountain, where there was a small opening. Diving down, she cut through the water like a knife through hot butter, her new swimming skills surprising even herself.

     It only took seconds to reach the bottom, where there was a litter of strange shells that all looked like teardrops. Now that she looked up, the opening into the mountain was actually larger than she had presumed.

     'The inside of the mountain is hollow,' said Latiniyana, gesturing towards the cave. 'It is also completely dry and is a prime factor to what we must do in order to rescue your friend Liyon.'

     Gesturing towards Miyoka, she swam into the mountain. The Acara followed close behind.

     Inside, there was an unnatural glow that lit up the walls; they appeared to be made of coral, changing in colour from pink to orange to yellow and to all sorts of different colours as they swam. When they reached what looked like the Heart of the Mountain, Latiniyana got on to a floating, round, gigantic piece of stone extremely gracefully for someone with no legs. Miyoka followed suit, looking around. They were in what appeared to be an interior of a sponge; little holes lined the walls, some the size of potholes on the road and others the size of a mouth. Water gushed out of them, crashing down upon the little ring of water that surrounded the small stone island they were standing on. Another large hole on the opposite of the entrance led off into darkness, just like one right above them.

     'This is the Rainbow Chamber of Infinity Mountain,' she said, her voice echoing off the walls. 'There are other chambers, but this is the largest and most mandatory one. As you can hear, sound echoes through little holes in the walls and goes outside, fading into the water...'

     Latiniyana hesitated for a moment, but went on. 'There is an ancient song that has been passed down in our tribe for centuries. When the stone came it drove it right out of everyone's minds, for this song, entitled the Ballad of the Tears, is a song about joy and happiness, but when greed and envy filled all the hearts of the Aishas it was forgotten...'

     And the Maraquan Aisha, looking a little sad, opened her mouth and began to sing. It was an unearthly sound that filled all the room, and what she sang was in a strange, ancient language that was like water, but it was evidently describing sadness, though it was yet happy at the same time.

     When Latiniyana closed her mouth, it was like the fading of a chime; something appeared to be missing.

     'I seem... to have forgotten it...' Latiniyana said sadly, bowing her head. 'In order to get your friend back, we must fill the hearts of my fellow Aishas with love, joy, happiness, and kindness once more, and the song is the only thing powerful enough to break the spell.'

     'Well, how can you remember it?' asked the Acara sympathetically. She didn't want to push Latiniyana; she was the only hope for Liyon.

     'Only powerful magic can restore the song's contents to its original form...' began Latiniyana. 'The power of music!'

     'Music... music...' The word echoed inside Miyoka's head. Then, she suddenly remembered.

     'My flute!' She hastily pulled out the instrument from her pocket, now realizing what a stick of wood with holes could do. 'What if I played my flute to the rhythm of the song?'

     Latiniyana's eyes seem to ignite like a fire; she didn't know whether it was from intense happiness at something good or evil, because her face was basically unreadable. 'I think that just may restore the Ballad to its original form! Quick, play this...'

     She opened her mouth wide and let out four magnificent notes. Miyoka blew into her flute, putting her fingers over the holes and changing the sound each time, so that they matched what Latiniyana sang. When they reached the part where the song had been cut off earlier, the Aisha just kept going, as if she had remembered the words.

     As they played, the walls of the cavern began to glow with a strange phosphorescent light. The colours shimmered and reflected off the ring of water, and water began to gush harder than ever from the little holes.

          When they reached the last note, instead of the noise fading away like ripples from a stone thrown into a pond as Miyoka had expected, it was as if the music had become sound, air, and water all at the same time; it was an indescribable feeling.

     The two Neopets were at peace for a moment when an unearthly sound suddenly filled the entire Chamber. Strange, non-transparent, colourless shadows swept from every single opening in the room except for the top. When Miyoka squinted to get a better look, she realized that they were all Aishas: their eyes were bloodshot as if they had often cried, and a look of greed was permanently etched upon their faces. Water gushed from their strangely solid bodies, though they could still float through walls.

     'These must be those - those spirit guardians of ultimate evil and greed you were talking about!' said Miyoka, her voice shivering in fear.

     'You are correct,' said Latiniyana. 'Now that we have driven them from the Deep, we must ascend into the Light Chamber. They cannot harm us there.'

     She pointed upwards, where a curious light had begun shining down on both of them. Without warning, the light shimmered and changed to fast moving golden water (not THAT type of golden!!!) that gushed upwards, along the hole.

     'Well, come along,' said the Aisha, beckoning towards Miyoka. 'The current is fast enough to pull us up into the next Chamber.'

     She stepped into the water, and with a flash of golden light she was gone. Cautiously remembering about the seemingly-shallow pool, Miyoka half-heartedly followed.

     It was like filling your lungs with water and then getting stuffed in a tube that steadily grew narrower and then wider. When Miyoka thought she would pass out from lack of air, she was on land again. Spluttering, she took a quick glance at her surroundings.

     The walls, floor, and ceiling were a solid sheet of shimmering gold that strangely did not blind her eyes, even though a small ray of sunlight came in from a small hole in the ceiling. The room was cone-shaped except for the flat tip, and Miyoka guessed that they were at the top of the mountain. The strange pillar of water they had come through, which now seemed like a geyser, suddenly shot up through the hole of sunlight, explaining how the water had come through the Aisha's eyes when she had been a statue. A healthy amount of light still streamed through the opening.

     'Only those that are not yet a guardian can enter the Light Chamber, for there is too much light here,' explained Latiniyana. 'We should be safe here... along with your friend.'

     Miyoka twisted around as if there were wheels on her feet, and she ran to a shadowy, wispy figure sitting in the corner before just as fast too.

     'Liyon! LIYON!!!' she screamed, shaking the lifeless body of the Skunk Acara. 'Liyon, wake up, WAKE UP!' Her face was a deathly pale, and her breathing seemed to be fading.

     'She won't wake; she is in an enchanted sleep because of her great deed of greed,' said Latiniyana. 'It is lucky that she only touched the Stone; if she tried to take it off from my neck she would instantly become a spirit guardian.'

     'Well, won't that song thing help her?' shouted Miyoka in desperation.

     'We can try... but I'm not sure if it will work,' said Latiniyana, and she instantly began singing, quickly joined by Miyoka. When the Ballad of the Tears was finished, Liyon looked slightly better; her breathing became normal and colour returned to her cheeks, but she still hadn't woken.

     'We must get her out of Infinity Mountain, and quickly,' said the Maraquan Aisha, a note of urgency in her voice. 'The only way we can get out by not meeting the spirits is through the light in that hole...'

     Her voice seemed to fade away and waver for a small moment, but it returned back to normal. 'However, we have to stop the flow of water being controlled by the spirits...'

     Miyoka looked at Liyon and then at the hole, and an idea struck her. With a big heave, she lifted up the Acara and threw her directly at the water.

     'What in the name of Fyora do you think you're doing?' shouted Latiniyana, but she calmed almost instantly; instead of floating down back towards the Rainbow Chamber, she had merely blocked the water. Some strange, angry noises issued from underneath their feet.

     'It worked!' exclaimed Miyoka. She ran towards her friend, but before she could the sunlight that was protruding from the hole and bathing her friend turned into a shade of lemonade-pink. Astonished, she watched as a glowing, transparent pink ring appeared, levitating oddly above Liyon.

     'But no... could it be?' The Aisha was obviously amazed at the strange circle. 'The Platform of the Sun?'

     She leapt on to the platform, inspecting it. There was an odd design on it: there was a glimmering sun that filled the entire Platform, and from its eyes gushed crudely drawn tears which flew in all sorts of different directions. Miyoka, curious, asked Latiniyana, 'What is this?'

     'This is the Platform of the Sun, created by light and happiness,' said Latiniyana, tears now forming in her eyes. 'We must perform the Ballad of the Tears upon it, and with great haste. Quickly!'

     They performed the song yet again, and the three Neopets began to glow; the Acaras pink but the Aisha grey. They were slowly rising, and Miyoka looked Latiniyana: she was turning back to stone! She tried to get to her, but she couldn't move, and with a loud PANG she found herself with Liyon standing beside her, stirring, on the edge of the pool in the center of the Island. Once again, there was a statue of a Maraquan Aisha, with a beautiful blue pendant around its neck.

     'Miyoka!' came a voice from behind, and the Acara twisted around at the sound of her name. There was Liyon, sitting up, rubbing her head and brushing back her hair with her paw. 'Miyoka... what happened? All I remember was a Thyora's Tear around - Miyoka, what's wrong? What are you doing?'

     Miyoka had splashed into the pool. The water only reached her ankles as she ran up to the Latiniyana frozen in time.

     'Latiniyana!' she shrieked, shaking the statue. It did not move, but started to gush water from its hollow eyes once more. She quickly got out her flute and shouted to Liyon, 'Sing along to this!'

     Controlled by the power of music, Liyon sang the Ballad of the Tears while Miyoka played it. When they finished, Miyoka ignored Liyon's questions and looked at Latiniyana. Nothing had changed, except that the gemstone was glowing a magnificent blue.

     'Oh, this is all your fault!' said Miyoka to the stone. 'None of this could've ever happened if you had never come here!'

     And wiping away her tears so that they fell into the pool, she reached out and ripped the stone from Latiniyana's stone neck.

     The gushing sound of rising water and strong winds erupted around Miyoka, and she fell to her knees, but when she looked up she saw that no water column had appeared, and that Latiniyana had come alive once more.

     'Miyoka! You must run as fast as you can! The sea! You must go to the ocean!'

     And with that, the Acara grabbed the other Acara's hand and darted through the forest path, back the way they came. They reached the shoreline, where the strange coloured sand and water were, and when she got to the ocean she threw the stone, with all her might, right into the ocean. It landed a good deal away from the beach, and with a loud SPLASH and a strange gurgling noise, the water began to froth and bubble. The stone did not float back to the surface, and sank, with a strange clunking sound, all the way to the bottom.

     Instantly, the odd, screeching noise that they hard heard from the Rainbow Chamber emitted from the forest, and large shapes emerged from the trees. They were not the spirit guardians from Infinity Mountain, but more like zombies; they were solid and petrified a person so that they stood motionless at the sound of their screeches, so that they could move in...

     'The Ballad of the Tears!' came a voice from the ocean, and Miyoka emerged from the waters; apparently she had ran another direction into the sea and had swam all the way to the other side of the round island to find Miyoka. 'Quickly!'

     And with that, all three of them began playing the song; Liyon and Latiniyana sang as hard as they could as the flute played with an unnatural force. When they finished, the last note was fuller than ever, and the frightening zombies had stopped advancing towards the threesome. To the contrary, they had stopped doing anything at all, except float into the air and glow with a shimmering, golden light.

     At that moment, Miyoka felt an unnatural fatigue overtake her, and she fainted on to the beach and knew no more...

     ***

     'Miyoka! MIYOKA!!! You're missing band practice!'

     The Island Acara awoke, rubbing her eyes. 'Ugh, what happened? I seem to remember... something about tears...'

     'What are you talking about?' asked Liyon. They were right on the shores of Mystery Island. The calm, blue waves splashed against the sand, which was a glorious, sparkling yellow. 'You fell asleep on the beach, didn't you?'

     'Well... I think that's what happened, yeah,' said Miyoka. 'Is it time for band already?'

     'We're already late, thank goodness I remembered I left my ruler on the beach during maths class... come on, we'll go together!'

     'Okay then... but boy do I have a song for the conductor!' Miyoka said, and laughing she played the Ballad of the Tears on her flute while Liyon sang along to a song by the 2 Gallon Hatz.

     Neither of them noticed a sparkling, magnificent blue gemstone lying, half-hidden, in the sand under where Miyoka had been lying on the beach.

The End