Uncovering the Mysteries of the Wraiths

     Day Twenty Three

      I am no closer to discovering the mystery behind these nightmarish beings as I was three weeks ago. The threat has faded, as far as anyone else is concerned. More important things to tend to, like tending to the hundreds made homeless by the destruction of Faerieland. Mouths to feed. Houses to build. Faeries to assist, faeries that offer promises of answers or rewards for assistance. The work never seems to end and there is little respite in the hot Neopian sun.

      I gave assistance to an Air faerie today, but she was a smart one - told me to be patient. Queen Fyora would address my questions when the time came. Queen Fyora would explain everything once everyone had a house over their heads, once Faerieland had healed and its citizens strong. Those who were patient and selfless would be rewarded.

      I couldn't be patient or selfless for much longer. The nightmarish beings that invaded my home never left my sleep. They darted into corners unseen and tickled my spine and threaded my throat with dread and my breaths come in terrible shallow gasps. They even over the pages of this journal, leaping out at me like excitable Kougras. I'm writing with my right hand because my left has a tremor. My patience and sanity are running thin. I will not sleep well tonight.

     Day Twenty Nine

      They do not leave me when I wake. The sun does not scare them away as it once did. They grow stronger, better, faster. I only grow weak from the little sleep I manage. They seemed to crawl along my skin as though they are Spyders and there only so much that shuddering can do before I get strange looks. Why does it seem as though I am the only one to fear these beings?!

     They chitter and chatter in a tongue far beyond my understanding. They laugh at my attempts to communicate, jeering and sneering as though they are children but with far more danger. It is hard to know if they are a delusion of the mind or if they really do scurry about. I can no longer tell the difference. Is it the mind or is it real? I see and feel no difference now.

     How strange I must look, being guarded and frightful around faeries. I suspect they know why I am afraid. I am the only who still demands answers from the faeries. Most consider the matter closed. Why can I not let this go?!?

     Already a young looking White Shoyru approached me and asked if he'd like me to have him fetch a glass of water. Or perhaps a bit of a Slumberberry Potion. Or if I needed a faerie.

      But I could not answer for I was horror stricken at the scene before me. The Shoyru's face seemed to sway and flicker as it morphed into a gruesome imitation of the almost sickly innocence I had just seen - mocking me with a terrible grin that stretches far too wide and shows too many teeth. The eyes are beady obsidian, like shards of glass. The worst offense, is when this thing spoke with the young Shoyru's voice. I took no more.

      I shrieked and shoved the horrid thing away and make for the hovel that I call my home. I fear I will not sleep well tonight. That Shoyru's face haunts me even now.

     Day Thirty Eight

      I could stand it no longer. I ran errands for an Earth Faerie all afternoon but she rebuffed my questions. I could not be told to be patient anymore. I am at the end of my rope, watching all I talk to morph into a terrible monster once I speak to them. It is a clear delusion, but it is too taxing. I cannot take it.

      I broke into the library.

      The librarian Xandra hasn't been seen since the fall of Faerieland and the shelves are still untouched and scattered over the floor. The faeries were insistent that library be taken care of once the residents were taken care of. I slipped through one of the windows as the entrance was splintered and in pieces. It was easy work, considering the value that the faerie's placed on knowledge.

      The library was so still and removed that I could hear the hoarse rasp of my own breath and the terrible beat of my own heart. My claws shook and rattled and bit into my skin. The nightmares crawled along my spine and it took everything I had to slip further into the library to find the answers I sought.

      I found them in a single written piece titled only, Animi Terrores. The author was one Piper L. Salvo. I didn't know what the title meant, but I recognized the terrible figure of the nightmares that plagued my sleep as a seal in the corner. The parchment shook in my hands as I tenderly brought the text closer to read.

      My breath caught in my throat, but I read on. Sweat beaded on my temple the further I read and the library was chilly enough that I could see my misty breath as a swell of terror built up in my throat. I curled myself into a tight ball as I shook so bad I feared I would rip this precious piece of information. The final few passages - I do not believe they will be anything but etched into my brain for the rest of my days. I was a terrible mess as I read,

      It was with these findings that I brought my concerns directly before Queen Fyora herself. These beings that could only be demons - horrors far worse than the imagination could conjure - could not be beyond the Queen's notice. I hurried to her chambers - running far faster than my little legs should have been able to handle - arriving breathless to witness a shimmering dark form wink out of sight from the Queen's chamber. Writing this now I could not tell you if what I saw was a delusion or not.

      But the Queen already knew of my findings. She knew of the horrors in which I spoke. Heinous beings not limited to the borders of the Haunted Woods. She helped me correct the truth in my findings. I must say, I much preferred my terrible truth over hers.

      Nakts Murgi. Wraiths. Beings twisted so far beyond their original form that there is no correcting them. They live and die for nothing - not even the spread of their kind, for there is no need. They are the manifestation of all that Neopians were once and what they could become. They rise from the heinous acts of betrayal and war - sometimes even from the Neopian walking the wrong path for too long. They bow to only the wickedest of hearts, to one who would see nothing but ruin and suffering for all of Neopia.

      May the Faeries keep us safe.

     ---

      The scream that wrenched itself from my throat did not feel like mine.

The End