Of Lights from Within: Part Six

"MADDI! MADDI! WAKE UP!"

     Maddi was awoken by those words. The Kougra groaned, and rubbed his eyes blearily.

     "What?" he snarled in reply.

     "We've arrived."

     Maddi jumped into full alertness. "A-arrived?" he stammered. "How long have we been flying?"

     A chuckle. "I don't know. "Three or four hours, maybe."

     Maddi lifted his head and looked around. The cloud surrounding he and Kylan was not the usual pinkish-white shade, but instead an awfully threatening dark purple. "W-where are we?" the Kougra whispered.

     "Don't you recognize it, Maddi?" Kylan inquired.

     Maddi shook his head slowly, and hoisted himself down onto the puffy cloud. "No," he said, "I don't."

     "Why, it's one of the most infamous places in all of Neopia! The color - doesn't the color mean anything to you? Dark purple! Doesn't that color strike close to your heart?"

     "I don't understand, Kylan."

     "You should."

     "Why?"

     "Have your memories already faded?"

     "What do you mean?"

     "Before Nora; don't you remember anything before Nora?"

     "I still don't get it. Before Nora… where was I?"

     "You know that you were adopted from the pound, don't you?"

     "I know that."

     "Don't you have any memories of what happened before Nora adopted you?"

     "No… I don't. You're confusing me, Kylan."

     "It's a simple word, Maddi. A name."

     "W-what do you mean?"

     "Jhudora."

     Maddi gasped sharply, his eyes narrowing into thin slits. "What are you talking about, Kylan?!" he began yelling. "Why aren't we at Fyora's Castle?! And how did you know I was adopted?"

     Instead of chuckling, this time Kylan cackled. "Jhudora told me everything, Maddi. It's because she knows everything."

     Tears began welling up in Maddi's eyes. "What is this?" was all the Kougra whispered.

     Kylan abruptly dived down into the thick, purple fog and pushed his body towards a rather abnormally large cloud. Maddi immediately knew this was Jhudora's Lair.

     "What are you going to do to me, Kylan?" Maddi screamed down to him.

     Kylan grinned evilly. "Jhudora will tell you the things that you need to know."

     Tears were now dripping freely down Maddi's ruffled cheeks. "Stop it; oh please stop it, Kylan. You're scaring me!" the Kougra cried.

     "Good. You'd better be scared."

     Maddi's tone grew louder and more anxious. "STOP IT KYLAN!! STOP IT!!!"

     "NO!" Kylan barked back.

     ***************

     "STOP IT!!!!!"

     "Maddi! Are you all right?"

     "Huh? Who is that?"

     "It's me… Kylan."

     "NO!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!"

     "Maddi, stop it! You're freaking me out!"

     Maddi's eyes swiftly fluttered open. Catching sight of what was around him, the Kougra abruptly sighed. "It was just a dream," he whispered to himself. He was presently soaring in the pinkish skies, lying on top of Kylan's comfortable back.

     "What was a dream?" Kylan inquired, his tone full of anxiety.

     Maddi sighed. "Nothing Kylan." He did not feel like explaining the horrible nightmare that he had just experienced.

     "Okay, I just hope you're feeling well. Oh, and guess what? We're actually really close to Fyora's Castle! If you look far ahead, you can actually see the outline!"

     Maddi squinted his eyes and peered off into the distance. For an odd reason, the baby Kougra couldn't see the castle. No, not a castle at all, but instead the vague outline of… of something unidentifiable. There were green stacks of smoke shooting out of the ground, drifting…

     "It wasn't a dream Kylan. It was real. I know it was."

     "Maddi, you're making things up. It was a dream - you even woke up from it. Screaming. It must've been pretty nasty, Maddi, but it wasn't real."

     "You were there. You should know. You were THERE Kylan! YOU WERE THERE! You told me that Jhudora knew everything."

     "Listen to me. It was a dream. I promise."

     "It was too vivid to be just a figment of my imagination."

     "Dreams can be convincing, Maddi, but that doesn't make them real."

     "I know Kylan. I KNOW! You know too! YOU DO!"

     "Maddi, calm down…"

     "CALM DOWN!? You told me to be scared, Kylan! YOU TOLD ME! AND I AM NOW! I AM!"

     "We have to get you to Fyora quickly… something's wrong with you."

     "Kylan, you were there. You must know. It wasn't a dream… I know it wasn't. It wasn't a dream."

     "Shh… it'll all be alright."

     "NO IT WON'T!"

     ***************

     "Maddi, Maddi, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

     Maddi shot up from his slumber, panting heavily. He had awakened already… from another horrible dream… but now he was waking up again. The Kougra took in a deep breath. "Where am I, Kylan?" he asked.

     "We're at a hotel… I didn't want to wake you. Fyora is currently unreachable… we're supposed to come back tomorrow to see her."

     "TOMORROW!?" Maddi cried. "If Hubrid's so dangerous, than why are we waiting? Why isn't somebody taking us to safety?"

     Kylan chuckled bitterly. "Oh, ask the little faerie who shooed us away from the castle and told us to come back later."

     Maddi wrinkled up his nose, groaned, then flopped his head back down onto the pillow.

     "Kylan," the Kougra began, "I think I'm going crazy. I've been having terrifying dreams and they just won't stop. I'm not even sure if I'm in a dream right now!"

     Kylan frowned at the abrupt comment. "What kind of dreams, Maddi?" he inquired.

     Maddi moaned. "I'd rather not tell you."

     "Suit yourself," Kylan said, shrugging. "Now come on, get some rest! You really need some after everything that's happened! I'll wake you up tomorrow early in the morning to go take you to Fyora's Castle."

     Maddi nodded. "All right. Good night, Kylan."

     "It's only the afternoon, Maddi," Kylan chuckled.

     "Whatever."

     And seconds later, Maddi was asleep.

     ***************

     "Wake up sleepyhead!"

     "Urgh!!" Maddi moaned. He slowly opened his eyes, and gazed idly upon the room. Standing alongside the bed was Kylan, looking completely prepared for the trip.

     "Come on, Maddi!" the Gelert exclaimed.

     Maddi groaned and slid his body off of the comfortable bed. Luckily, he had had no dreams that night, and overall, it had been a peaceful sleep.

     "Okay, I'm up, I'm up."

     Maddi rubbed his eyes clean with his paws, and quickly made his way towards the bathroom. He washed his face, and groomed a bit of his disheveled fur. After a few minutes, he was prepared as well.

     "Come on, let's go see Fyora," he told Kylan. "I've been dying to talk to her."

     The two made their way out of the hotel, stopping for a moment so that Maddi could hop onto Kylan's back. Kylan then soared high in the air, and began flying through the fluffy white clouds that were scattered around the cerulean sky.

     "Fyora's Castle is over there!" Kylan exclaimed, thrusting his finger toward the faint outline of a large castle.

     The Gelert swooped down, positioning his wings to land safely on the ground. He quickly pushed down his legs, and slid smoothly in front of the guarding gates.

     "Finally, we're here!" Maddi said excitedly. He hastily scrambled off Kylan's back.

     "Yes, but we're not inside yet. We gotta get passed security," Kylan sighed.

     "We'll go into the Hidden Tower entrance, then," Maddi said. "There's no security there."

     Without even waiting for Kylan to reply, he inched his way over to where the invisible tower stood. When he found it, he searched for the door, instantly discovered it, opened it, and he and Kylan stepped inside. The Gelert quickly shut the entrance behind them.

     "Queen Fyora! It's me, Maddi!" Maddi called.

     A few seconds after shouting the comment, Maddi could perceive the familiar sound of soft wings fluttering throughout the air. The slim figure of Fyora suddenly appeared at the top of the staircase, and she immediately made her way down to the first floor.

     "Oh, hello Maddi!" Fyora exclaimed joyfully. She flew up to the Kougra, and embraced him in her warm and long arms. "It's so good to see you again," she added in a whispered tone.

     "It's good to see you again, too," Maddi replied.

     The Kougra then let go of Fyora's hug and peered up at her face. "Fyora," he began, "there are many things I need to know, and I sincerely hope you have the answers for these questions."

     Fyora smiled slightly and nodded. "I will try my best to answer all you wish to know," she said.

     "Good," Maddi responded, relieved. "Now first thing's first, what is the deal with this puzzle box?"

     Fyora sighed at the query, and gazed at Maddi's oblivious eyes. "It is a very big deal, young Kougra," she proclaimed. "A very, very, very, very long time ago, Hubrid Nox contained powers that many had never even seen before. With these powers that he possessed, he could do almost anything that he pleased. This included destroying cities, changing pets into objects, making shops invisible, etcetera.

     "Now, us faeries knew this was much too serious to just ignore. We had to do something about the problem as rapidly as possible, before Hubrid Nox began unleashing his powers into Neopia. Luckily, Hubrid Nox's powers were still not strong enough to defeat the Faeries. We were the ones who still contained the strongest powers in the world, and Hubrid Nox was aware of this. He knew that the Faeries could take his powers away with an extremely complicated spell that is now considered ancient in this day.

     "So, he decided to build a Puzzle Box, a box where he could place all of his magical powers inside. He made sure to always keep it locked, so that no one could take the powers away from him. He created one of the most complex puzzles that most of the Faeries had ever heard of, and they instantly knew that they would not be able to unlock this puzzle. Even I, the great Faerie Queen, had no clue on how to unbolt the box. The Faeries knew that it would have to take the strongest magic in the world to destroy it. And who else better than Jhudora, the Faerie of supreme magic, to help us create a spell?"

     "But wait!" Maddi suddenly cut in. "Isn't Jhudora the Faerie of EVIL magic, not SUPREME magic?"

     Fyora frowned. "Well, yes," she said. "But, after a lot of bribery, we finally got her to agree. Now, this is when you come in.

     "You see, Maddi, Jhudora had tried spell after spell to create the right magic to defeat Hubrid, but alas, everything had failed. It seemed as if nothing would ever work. She had tested what she had thought to be her strongest magic ever. But, then she had a new idea. And that's where…"

     "I was created," Maddi whispered.

     "Yes, you were created. In the typical way, actually… at the Create-a-pet center. When I first saw you, Maddi, just a tiny little Kougra, I was horrified. Jhudora was practicing all this magic on you,and I thought she had gone off the deep end. You were so innocent, so small."

     "Then she got sick of me and abandoned me," Maddi said.

     "No, actually, that's not quite what happened. You were weak, still young, and I had had enough. I couldn't stand seeing Jhudora doing such things do you… practicing so many spells on you. She was trying to turn you into something that just could not be done. I ordered that she stop, and when she said that she wouldn't, I took matters into my own hands. I took you to the pound, Maddi. I wanted you to have a normal life. I didn't know that Hubrid would eventually find you…"

     "And now he has,and what is there to do?"

     "All we can do is destroy the box. But I do know that our dear friend Hubrid will have it under close supervision."

     "How do we get it then?"

     "You and your friend here," she gestured to Kylan, "will have to work that out yourselves. I do wish I could come along, Maddi, but I'm much too busy. My city desperately calls for me. If anything goes wrong," she paused, "please play along with it. Hubrid might… Hubrid will… I mean, just do whatever Hubrid wants. Except, in no circumstance, unlock the box. Everything else is okay to do. All right?"

     "Okay," Maddi whispered.

     "Oh, and more thing," Fyora added. "When you are in possession of the box, bring it back to Faerieland. But do not bring it to me. Bring it to Jhudora."

     Maddi gulped, trembling. "Why?"

     "You will find out," she proclaimed. "Good luck, Maddi. Good luck…" she stared at Kylan.

     "Kylan," the faerie Gelert finished.

     "Yes, Kylan."

     Maddi gulped again and stared up at Fyora. "Are you sure the Puzzle Box requires this much… risk… to destroy?"

     "I'm positive."

To Be Continued…