A Day of Infamy: Part Three

      "Any luck, you guys?" AJ asked the girls.

      Both shook their heads. Samantha sighed, and collapsed to the ground, sending dead leaves flying. She then took the time to look at the trees surrounding the clearing. Samantha noticed something rather odd.

      "Sapphire," Samantha said.

      "Eh?"

      "Do you notice something a little odd about the shape the trees surrounding the clearing make?"

      Sapphire arched an eyebrow, and then looked around at the clearing. It took a few minutes to get what Samantha was trying to point out, but she soon got it. The trees started out making a sharp point, then a curved, slanted line, two humps, and then another curved, slanted line that closed off the sharpened point.

      "A heart," Sapphire whispered.

      She directed her attention to a rock about the size of a basketball in the center of the clearing. AJ and Samantha followed Sapphire's eyes and took notice of the rock. The trio walked through the clearing and stopped as they reached the rock.

      "AJ," Sapphire spoke. "You're the male here. Help us out by pushing that rock aside."

      "Excuse me?" AJ nearly laughed at the command.

      Sapphire glared at AJ with cold, hard eyes. "Now."

      AJ gulped and kneeled down beside the rock. He placed both hands on the rock, and began pushing as hard as he could on it. The rock slid easily across the forest floor, revealing a patch of dark, fertile soil.

      Sapphire dropped to her hands and knees and began digging furiously at the dirt. She flung dirt in all directions, yet managed to keep a straight and serious face while doing so. Finally, the three pets noticed a small, orange object beginning to break through the dirt. Sapphire continued to dig, and Samantha and AJ began helping.

      Once the orange object, which turned out to be spherical, was halfway dug up, the soil began to shift. The object was moving slightly, making slight, twitching movements. Then, the orange sphere slowly began to rise out of the patch of dirt. It broke out of the dirt and drifted upwards, floating in mid-air.

      "It's a Faerie Bubble!" Samantha stared in wonder at the orange bubble.

      "Amazing…" Sapphire was dumbfounded.

      She extended her arm and grabbed the Faerie Bubble, yet it did not pop. As Sapphire held on to the bubble, it began to rise, lifting Sapphire off the ground.

      "Quick!" Sapphire yelled. "Grab my leg!"

      Samantha acted quickly. She lunged forward and grabbed Sapphire's leg with both paws. Once Samantha was high enough off the ground, AJ grabbed her leg.

      The bubble took the three pets high into the sky. They rose past the treetops and headed straight for the clouds. They watched the supposed ever-peaceful Times Street disappear behind the clouds.

      You'd think it would have been very cold once you've gone past the clouds. But the temperature was neither too cold nor too hot. To the three pets attached to the Faerie Bubble, the temperature was just right.

      Higher and higher the trio rose up into the sky. Soon, an extremely large, light purple cloud came into view above the pets.

      "Here we are…" Sapphire tightened her grip on the bubble.

      The Faerie Bubble took the pets higher and higher. And then, they broke though the light purple cloud, finding themselves on the other side of it.

      As the trio rose straight through the cloud, the Faerie Bubble popped. The three pets dropped to the cloud, but did not fall through. Samantha gawked, wide-eyed at her surroundings.

      "Faerieland!" She squealed in excitement.

      Tall, purple and blue buildings lined the city. Several Faeries soared through the skies; hurrying pets ran through the city, desperate to get to a certain destination. The sun shone down on the city, but wasn't that hot at all. The temperature was just as perfect as it was before.

      Sapphire turned to face AJ and Samantha and sighed. At first, Samantha did not know what was wrong with her. But she then remembered what Sapphire had said to her earlier.

      "Oh," Samantha said. "Right."

      "Yes," Sapphire spoke. "We must now go our separate ways."

      "I understand," Samantha smiled. "Good luck in life, Sapphire.

      "Thanks," Sapphire smiled right back. "I'll need it."

      And at that, Sapphire turned, her back to Samantha and AJ. She trotted down a long, cobblestone path, her tail swishing from side-to-side. Samantha watched her until she disappeared behind a group of tall skyscrapers.

      "There goes one interesting Kougra…" AJ crossed his arms, watching Sapphire depart, as well.

      "Yeah," Sapphire sighed and turned away. "Well, we're safe, now!"

      "Mm hmm," AJ nodded. "There's no virus or deadly, infected pets up here. But, what can we do up here? We can't really just stay here forever. I guess we just wait until someone destroys the zombies or something?"

      Samantha thought about that for a minute. "AJ, why should we sit around and wait? We can easily stop the infection!"

      "Easily?! Samantha, we don't even know why this infection began!" AJ flung his arms in the air.

      "No, we don't," Samantha shrugged. "But I know how we can find out."

      Furrows appeared in AJ's brow. "Eh?"

      "Well, at the CAP Building, there were these posters on the wall," Samantha explained. "And they had drawings of the Light Faerie that created the CAP Machine. Under one of the drawings, it said something about the Light Faerie living in the highest tower in Faerieland."

      "Uh…"

      "Hello?! The Hidden Tower!"

      "So… you're suggesting we interrupt some Faerie's average day to pester her into telling us how we can stop a mob of zombies who are destroying the world of Neopia and erupting from the machine she spent years developing?"

      "Basically,"

      AJ grinned. "Well, if that's what you feel would be best."

      "It is what would be best," Samantha corrected AJ.

      She turned to face the large city that is Faerieland.

      "Only problem is… where could the Hidden Tower be? It's, well… hidden!"

      "You seek the Hidden Tower?" Came a soft, raspy voice.

      AJ and Samantha whirled around to find a tall, shady Faerie. Her face and most of her body were veiled behind a brown, raggedy cloak. All that was visible were her arms and her legs from the ankle down.

      "Er… yes," Samantha answered the Faerie.

      "Then come," she snapped. "We must move quickly."

      The Faerie then tore down the same cobblestone path Sapphire had walked down, running surprisingly fast. Samantha and AJ took a second to stare in shock at the Faerie, and then ran down the path after her. Instead of going behind the skyscrapers as Sapphire had done, the Faerie took a sharp turn right and ran down a path surrounded by tall oak trees.

      Samantha, AJ, and the cloaked Faerie sped down the path, which proved to be much longer than Samantha had expected. They ran for about five minutes straight, not stopping at all. Right before Samantha collapsed to the cloud Faerieland sat on, the Faerie stopped.

      The two pets ran into her and fell backwards. The Faerie did not turn to help them up. She simply stared off into space.

      "Here," she said.

      "Here?" AJ repeated, rubbing his head.

      "Yes," the Faerie replied. "Follow,"

      The Faerie took one step to the left, and then one step forward. She extended her arm, and there came the sound of a wooden door creaking open. The Faerie took one more step forward, and vanished in thin air.

      "Oh!" Samantha gasped when the Faerie disappeared.

      "It must be the Hidden Tower!" AJ exclaimed.

      He stepped in front of Samantha and followed the Faerie's footsteps. He, too, disappeared right before Samantha's eyes. Samantha took a deep breath, and stepped forward, standing right where the cloaked Faerie once stood.

      The Aisha took one step to the right. She took one step forward, and extended her arms. There came the sound of a door creaking open, just as Samantha had heard before. Samantha slowly lifted her leg, and then stepped forward. The long, cobblestone path faded to darkness as Samantha stepped forward, and a wall made of stone came into view.

      "Welcome," came the voice of the cloaked Faerie.

      Samantha turned to find AJ and the Faerie standing behind her. By this time, Samantha had realized she hadn't studied her surroundings. She was in a small, circular room. The floor and the walls were made of stone, and a single window with iron bars attached to it let sunshine into the room. A tall, spiral staircase lined the walls of the room, which extended so high that you couldn't see the ceiling.

      Samantha was in the Hidden Tower.

      She turned to face the mysterious, cloaked Faerie.

      "Wh-Who are you?" Samantha asked. "Why did you help me get here?"

      The Faerie inhaled, beginning to speak. Yet, she hesitated. Then, slowly, ever so slowly, the Faerie brought her arms to the cloak covering her face. She grabbed hold of the cloak and removed it.

      Samantha and AJ gasped in shock. The once cloaked Faerie who stood before them was none other than the queen of Faerieland: Fyora herself.

      "Someone wanted to see you," Fyora said.

     ***

      "Here we are," Fyora motioned for Samantha and AJ to hurry down the hall to her.

      She had taken the two up the huge, spiral staircase to the top floor of the Hidden Tower. Fyora hadn't said much to them. Whenever Samantha asked her who wanted to see her, Fyora simply replied, "Someone."

      The Faerie Queen had taken Samantha and AJ into a long corridor. She was waiting at the end of it, standing by a wooden door surrounded by gold-coloured jewels that were attached to the wall around it.

      "Come!" Fyora became impatient.

      Samantha and AJ raced down the hallway. They skidded to a halt when they arrived before the wooden door. Fyora grabbed hold of the doorknob, getting ready to open.

      "Before I let you in," Fyora began. "I must warn you. She who you are about to meet isn't very much the sanest creature out there. Over the years of being locked up in this tower, she's gone a bit… crazy, shall I say."

      "Who? Who is it?" Samantha demanded.

      "And why was she locked in this tower?" AJ added.

      "Find out for yourselves," Fyora replied to the questions.

      She turned the doorknob and swung the door open, stepping to the side to allow Samantha and AJ to walk in. The two hesitated as they stared at the open doorway. Fyora groaned and forcefully shoved the two inside the room, slamming the door shut and locking it. The pets could hear her walking down the hallway, and then down the spiral staircase.

      This is when Samantha noticed what kind of room she was in. The walls, floor, and ceiling were covered in mattresses. A single, white bed mattress laid in the corner of the room, covered in a small, green blanket. A barred window much like the one Samantha saw on the first floor of the tower allowed very little light into the room. In the corner of the room was a Faerie, hunched up in a fetal position.

      And that's when Samantha noticed who it was. How could she possibly forget? That's who she came to the Hidden Tower in search for: the Light Faerie who created the CAP Machine.

      "H-hello…" Samantha gulped.

      The Light Faerie lifted her head to look straight at Samantha. She got out of the fetal position, stretching her arms and legs out. Samantha got to see her face. And it wasn't pretty. The Faerie looked more like a Grey Faerie than a Light Faerie.

      "Samantha… AJ…" The Light Faerie spoke with a very soft whisper.

      "How did you know our-?" Samantha began.

      "Shush!" The Light Faerie hopped up, bringing her fingers to her lips. "Not so loud! The walls have ears!"

      "Er… okay…" Samantha spoke in a whisper, just as the Light Faerie did.

      "I knew you'd be coming," the Light Faerie sat back down. "I had a vision… a foresaw your arrival. Both you and the Kyrii."

      AJ waved.

      "Well… Miss Light Faerie… we need your-" Samantha tried speaking, once again.

      "My help? Of course you do," the Light Faerie went on. "I am quite aware of what has happened to my machine."

      A tear formed in the Faerie eye's. She hopped up once more and stared at Samantha, her face looking rather worried.

      "All my hard work! Years of hard work!" the Faerie was no longer whispering. In fact, she was downright screaming. "All gone! All gone! All because of her! Her! Chaos! Madness!"

      The Light Faerie wailed in horror and spun around, beating vigorously against the mattress-covered wall with her fist. And then she stopped. She stared at the fist she had made, pressed hard against the wall. The Faerie flung her arm backwards with a slight gasp.

      "The walls… they are angry with me!"

      "Excuse me? Miss?" Samantha interrupted the Faerie's rant.

      "Yes… yes… you are still in need of my assistance," said the Light Faerie. "Perhaps I should introduce myself? Or would that be unnecessary? I don't care for things unnecessary. Oh no, not at all. In fact, they rather annoy me! Take for example, THE RUINING OF MY MACHINE! Was that necessary?! Oh no, not one bit necessary!"

      "Lady!" AJ exclaimed.

      "Right… right… well, my name is Adalia. I'm sure you are aware of the fact that I am indeed the creator of the wondrous CAP Machine: the only foreign object in the whole of Neopia with the ability to literally create a pet!"

      "Adalia…" Samantha smiled. "That's a pretty name."

      "I bid thanks to you, dear Samantha. Now, no more speaking from either of you two! I know good and well what you're here for. You are here to stop the monstrous virus sweeping the world. You want to rid Neopia of these zombies once and for all! And that is your purpose! It is what you are here for!"

      "Yes," Samantha nodded.

      "I said no talking! Well, to begin to understand the situation, you most certainly should know the prologue. You must know who has caused this day of infamy! It… was her: Ferra. You most likely have never heard of this Dark Faerie, but she most certainly is a rather nasty one: banned from Faerieland for all eternity! Exile! Exile! And to get back at those who requested her ban, she took it out on my machine! She presented her powers to it: to my baby! And what is just awful is that she has found a way to transfer her powers to a machine, but still be able to use them! She can do basically all that I can't! She can fly, cast spells, the works!"

      "Anything and everything that came out of my machine… would be forever evil. And unlike you two, these creatures are born… dead. Yet, Ferra's powers give these pets the ability to regenerate after death. The worst part of it all is that the regeneration disease is contagious! It can be spread by breathing in the breath of a regenerated character, but not by nose, but by mouth. The disease had spread throughout our world in a matter of hours. If we do not do something, these creatures will inhabit the whole of Neopia. And that includes Faerieland. No one is guaranteed safety. Do not believe these silly advertisements of a one hundred percent zombie proof shelter! We are not safe! We never have been safe and we never shall be safe!"

      "We must stop the disease and eliminate the zombies! We must! Wait… no… not we. You! Samantha! You must venture to Ferra's lair. You must use her magic against her! Her plan will backfire on her! It will! This is your purpose, you have been chosen! You possess the free soul!"

      "Wait!" Samantha stopped the speech. "You're making no sense, Miss Adalia! We don't know where this Dark Faerie's lair is! And even if we did locate it, how would we use her magic against her?"

      "I was getting there!" Adalia exclaimed in a whisper. "Ferra resides in a cave deep under the sea. I, myself, can get you there-wait, what am I saying?! I have no magic left in me! You must go completely on your own, then!"

      Adalia tugged at her hair, no longer whispering.

      "To the heart of Faerieland shall you go! Let yourself free. And you shall fall… and you shall fall…"

      "Er… what?" Samantha scratched her head in confusion.

      "The walls… they speak, once more!" Adalia shouted.

      She pressed her ear against the mattress-covered wall. "Yes? Hmm… you don't say?"

      And at that, Adalia dug her fingernails into the mattress and ripped it clean off to reveal a wall made of stone blocks. Adalia grabbed hold of a block in the center and tugged hard on it, straining. The stone block popped out of the wall, and out climbed several Spyders.

      AJ and Samantha gasped and drew backwards as the horrifying petpets crawled along the floor and surrounded Adalia's feet. Adalia bent down and selected a Spyder off the floor.

      "Take it!" she offered the Spyder to Samantha.

      "The Spyder?" Samantha tilted her head.

      "If ever you and your friend are ever infected, the bite of the Spyder shall cure you," Adalia explained. "But you must allow to Spyder to bite you before the actual death and regeneration takes place. And remember, the Spyder will not cure those who have already become… zombified."

      Samantha approached the Light Faerie, keeping her feet away from the swarm of Spyders. She took the lone Spyder out of Adalia's hands and eyed it. The Spyder took one look at Samantha and smiled gleefully.

      "Aww… he's kinda cute!" Samantha admitted.

      "Spyders, return!" Adalia demanded.

      The Spyders around Adalia's feet stopped their chattering and crawled up the wall and back into the hole. Adalia reached her arm into the hole and began fishing around for something. What she pulled out was a glass jar and a metal lid complete with holes poked in it.

      "I highly doubt you or the Kyrii would very much enjoy carrying that Spyder around all day so that it might be able to climb up your arm or bite you without a reason." Adalia handed the jar to AJ.

      "Thanks," AJ sort of smirked.

      He popped the lid off the jar, and Samantha dropped the Spyder inside. Adalia lifted up the stone block she had removed from the wall and jammed it back into its hole. She then covered the bare wall with the mattress, previously ripped off the wall, too.

      "Now go! To Faerieland's heart!" Adalia motioned for the pets to leave her room.

      "Yes ma'am," Samantha smiled.

      She and AJ turned and pushed open the door leading into the long corridor. Before they departed, Samantha looked at Adalia.

      "Adalia? If this door is never locked, why don't you leave?" she asked the Faerie.

      Adalia blinked. "I am safe in here,"

      "From what?" AJ arched an eyebrow at Adalia. "There are no zombies in Faerieland,"

      "Their spirits rise," Adalia sat down. "Their ghosts break through the clouds, but cannot advance any further. Those ghosts are angry, for their lives have been cut short."

      "Wait… what?" Samantha stepped back into the room, eying Adalia in confusion.

      "There is more to the process than the living dead," Adalia sighed. "Samantha… you let the dead roam free,"

      Furrows appeared in Samantha's brow as she scanned Adalia skeptically. She stepped into the corridor and allowed Adalia's door to close behind her. Samantha and AJ briefly exchanged glances, and then tore down the long corridor.

To be continued…