The Dream Quest

     She could feel the relief show on her face when Xantan called for a break. “We’re almost to the Ruins, but it’s almost dusk, and I’d rather take my chances camping outside than risking whatever we’ll find inside,” he said.

     Starting a campfire was easy with Xantan’s fire magic. They nestled into their sleeping rolls as the sun set and the air grew chill, munching on bread and hard cheese Xantan had bought back in Neopia City. Her feet were aching from their trek, but since Xantan didn’t complain, Solanza didn’t, either.

     They were still hurting when she woke up the next morning, but she bit her tongue and powered through. Maybe she should have spent more time exercising and less time playing video games in the real world.

     “Ready?” Xantan asked once they had finished repacking their bags. His wand was holstered in easy reach.

     The Xweetok nodded as she slung her bag over her shoulder.

     “I’ve never been to the Jungle Ruins before, but I’ve heard it’s overrun with monsters of various kinds. Do you know anything about it?” he asked.

     She tried to remember as they started walking. “There are a lot of floors, all full of failed scientific experiments. Elemental lizard-people in one direction, I think. We might run into some of the scientists who were too afraid to leave. They might be able to give us directions.”

     “Experiments?” He shook his head. “Poor creatures. It seems that is one area where science and magic can both be twisted.”

     Solanza had been too focused on the task at hand during her game to focus on the morality of battling creatures created by corrupt scientists, but as she reflected on it, it didn’t sit well with her. None of them had asked to be turned into monsters by the scientists or Jahbal. And yet she was supposed to fight them, the victims? She felt ashamed.

     “This must be it,” Xantan said in a low murmur. Ahead of them loomed a gray tower draped heavily in vines. The clearing they stepped into was eerily devoid of the rustlings and chirps of the forest. It felt like the tower was drawing in a deep breath.

     Solanza shivered. “This place is way creepier in person.”

     “I concur,” Xantan said. He squared his shoulders. “All right, it might be narrow inside, so stay behind me so I can fend off any surprise attacks.”

     “There’s a lot of twists and turns inside, and you have no idea where to go,” Solanza objected. “I’ll go in front.”

     Xantan shrugged. “Well, you do know where we’re going. If you think that’s best, then lead the way.”

     She had a few misgivings about her decision as she peered through the crumbling stone entrance into the dimly lit room beyond, but she refused to let them show on her face. Steeling herself, she stepped inside.

     They weren’t immediately swarmed by monsters like a part of her had been expecting. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, what she could see of the room was dusty and long-neglected, but there were no footprints visible in the dirt and dust strewn over the floors. All was still.

     Xantan moved to her side and scanned the room. “Where to?” he whispered.

     “Down the stairs in that corner. The upstairs tower has many locked rooms and nothing that we need.” She was whispering, too. Something about this place seemed to demand quiet.

     Xantan nodded and fell in step behind her as the passageway narrowed.

     Soon they reached the staircase. Solanza looked down but couldn’t see the bottom. “We should have brought a torch,” she murmured to Xantan.

     He shook his head. “Fire attracts monsters. We’ll just go slowly.”

     They went slowly down the stairs. Strangely, though there was no obvious source of light, it wasn’t much darker than it had been upstairs. Solanza squinted at the paths before them and tried to remember the route. “This way, I think,” she said, starting down one of the hallways. Xantan followed quietly.

     It wasn’t long before Solanza had the sensation that they were being watched. The fur on the back of her neck stood on end, and though she looked around, she didn’t see anyone.

     “I feel it too,” Xantan murmured from behind her.

     It felt like they were walking into a trap, but what other choice did they have? Solanza continued onwards, scanning the rooms to either side- they looked like dormitories, how strange- was that a flash of pink?

     A scuttling sound to her left. A flurry of movement to her right. Xantan unholstered his wand and held it aloft. And then, standing directly before them, she saw it. It looked like an overgrown Meepit. “A pygmy,” Xantan breathed.

     With no warning, the pygmies attacked.

     The pygmies swarmed them from all angles, armed with spears and teeth. Xantan hurled fireballs with abandon and Solanza threw stones gleaned from the ruined floor, but they were quickly overwhelmed. Solanza’s hands were seized and tied behind her back with abrasive rope, and through the chaos, she could see Xantan disappear beneath a pile of screeching pygmies. One of the pygmies emerged from the pile waving Xantan’s wand, and the crowd seemed to jeer as the pygmy hurled the wand far across the cave.

     Rough hands hoisted her in the air, and she lost sight of Xantan. “Xantan!” she screamed, writhing as the pygmies started to carry her away.

     “Solanza!” she heard him call, muffled but still intelligible. Relief washed through her. At least he was still alive for now.

     The pygmies dropped them unceremoniously on the ground. Solanza winced as the rough stone scraped against her fur. She lifted her head and saw they were surrounded by dozens of pygmies, most of them pointing spears at their captives. There was even what looked like a baby pygmy brandishing a blunted stick, war paint smeared across its cheeks.

     A hush fell over the horde, and the ground shook beneath her. An enormous pygmy lumbered into the circle and stared coldly down at them. “I am Gors the Mighty, and you have trespassed on our home.”

     “We are very sorry-” Solanza began.

     “SILENCE!” Gors thundered. “Your kind is not welcome here. You have used magical spells against us, injuring three of my people. The penalty for your actions is death.”

     “No!” Solanza gasped.

     Gors spoke to the pygmies in their language, and they readied their spears. Xantan was wild-eyed beside her.

     “We know what they did to you!” Solanza shouted. There was a sudden, terrible silence. Gors fixed his beady eyes upon her. In a quieter tone, she continued, “We know they kidnapped you from your homes and kept you here as their captives. We know they forced you to become soldiers to fight their battles for them. We know your treatment has been cruel and unfair.”

     Gors snorted air through his nostrils. “How do you know this?” he demanded, stepping closer towards her. She felt the earth tremble beneath his heavy footsteps.

     “I learned of it from the scientists who once dwelled here,” she said.

     His face contorted with rage. “So you have conspired with them? Kill them now!”

     Beside her, Xantan turned incandescent. His very fur rippled with flames, and the ropes fell away. He lunged to his feet and seared the rope from Solanza’s wrists before facing the pygmies, who had halted their advance in confusion. Xantan snarled at the pygmies, fireballs simmering in his paws, diving forward erratically to drive them backwards. Solanza could see how this would end: either Xantan or a pile of pygmies dead on the ground.

     “Xantan, stop!” she shouted, laying a paw on his shoulder.

     Xantan whirled on her, teeth bared. “These pygmies destroyed my home! I was the only one to survive. I was a child!”

     Solanza faced him unflinchingly. “I’m sorry that happened to you. I can’t even begin to imagine how horrific that was, and no one should have to experience what you did. But where does it end?” She pointed at the baby pygmy, who made a high-pitched squeak and hid behind one of the adults. “Do these children deserve to go through what you did? To grow up without parents and without a home? You didn’t deserve it. They don’t, either.”

     Xantan hesitated, emotions waging a fierce war on his face. He looked at the baby pygmy, who had mustered the courage to peek around the adult, and then he looked at Gors.

     “Show them the mercy you wish you could have received,” Solanza urged.

     His face twisted, but after a long moment, he lowered his paws. “You are right. Thank you, Solanza, for helping me to see clearly.”

     Gors made a gesture, and the pygmies lowered their weapons, too. “You are not like them, then,” he said, his tone grudging. “And we are not like those who destroyed your home. Our people have always lived in harmony, but some years ago, some of our group sought revenge against those who had wronged us. Kreai led them into the aboveground world, and we never heard from them again. Here, we seek only to defend ourselves.”

     “Why have you not returned to the surface?” Solanza asked. “Surely this place with its tainted memories cannot be your home.”

     “There are many monsters above ground now. Our scouting parties have returned bloodied or not at all. We are safer here.” The pygmies around him were nodding in agreement.

     “Our purpose- our entire reason for trespassing on your territory- is to defeat the one who created the monsters in the first place,” Solanza said, leaning in. “Jahbal has corrupted the ordinary inhabitants of this world and turned them into monsters. If we defeat him, his hold over them will be broken, and there will again be peace in this land. You will be free to return to the surface and establish your home without fearing attack from monsters.”

     “But we will still be vulnerable to the free-thinking people who wish us harm,” Gors growled, gesturing at Xantan. “Or are we to believe that they can forgive the destruction they suffered from our cursed brethren?”

     Xantan appeared to be waging war within himself. Finally, his shoulders slumped. “I am well-respected by the people of Neopia City, and I have the ear of Eleus Batrin, the elder. I will tell them that they are to leave your people alone, and I will enforce it myself if I must.”

     Gors must have heard hundreds of false promises and lies, but even he seemed struck by the simple sincerity of Xantan’s speech. Around them, the pygmies were murmuring in their own language.

     Finally, he said, “Very well. We accept your offer and hope that you will prove more honourable than those before you. What did you come to us for?”

     “Thank you, Gors the Mighty.” Solanza dipped her head. “We came to seek a stronger weapon to use against Jahbal.”

     Gors eyed Xantan, as if weighing whether it would be a terrible idea to give him a stronger weapon. Finally, he barked an order to one of the pygmies, who ran off deeper into the ruins.

     The pygmy soon returned with a piece of carved wood in its hands. Beside her, Xantan gasped quietly. “The Staff of Ni-tas… long thought lost to the ages.” The pygmy handed it to him and jumped when it started to glow in his paws. Magic blazed in his eyes, and for a moment, even Solanza was afraid. Then he bowed his head low. “Thank you, Gors. I am in your debt.”

     Gors then stepped forward and pressed something into Solanza’s paws. She looked down at it and saw a medallion entirely covered in rust. “This was among Rollay Scaleback’s possessions that we found when we defeated him several years ago. It may be of some use to you,” he said.

     Solanza felt almost giddy as she gazed at the rusty medallion. “Xantan, use your magical flames on this medallion.” She quickly set it on the floor and stepped back.

     Xantan looked perplexed, but sent a thin stream of fire from the Staff of Ni-tas pouring over the medallion. The pygmies murmured in confusion and awe as the rust melted away from the medallion, leaving the metal shining in all its glory.

     “What is this?” Xantan murmured.

     Solanza picked up the medallion and marveled at how cool the metal was to the touch. “This is the Keladrian medallion, and it will help us to reach Jahbal.”

     They thanked the pygmies again and returned to the surface, this time guided by an escort of pygmies who helped scare away any monsters that drew too near.

     After dinner that night, as they huddled near the campfire, Xantan looked at her across the flames. “Do you think power always corrupts?”

     Solanza poked the fire with a long stick and watched sparks arc up towards the black sky. “I think that’s a question that philosophers have been puzzling over since long before your time and still haven’t answered in mine. What makes you ask that?”

     “The scientists in the ruins grew greedy in their search for knowledge and used their power to subjugate their test subjects. Jahbal was once a great wizard, but he fell into darkness in his search for more.” Xantan hesitated, and when Solanza looked at him, the flames were reflected in his eyes. “I… I worry that the more powerful I become, the more I will start to use my magic as a weapon.”

     “I don’t think you would do that,” Solanza said gently.

     The leaping flames cast strange shadows over his face. “I think I would have, today. If you weren’t there to stop me.”

     “Except I didn’t stop you. All I did was talk to you.” She smiled. “You stopped yourself.”

     He looked surprised at that, and a little thoughtful.

     In the silence, she continued, “You felt the temptation of evil today, and you chose good instead. That’s who you are. If I could snap my fingers and make you more powerful than Jahbal, I think you would still choose good. So no, I don’t believe power always corrupts. I think it can corrupt, but only if there is fertile ground for it to take root. I don’t see that in you.”

     Xantan lowered his gaze to the flames, and Solanza thought she could see tears well in his eyes. He was quiet for a long moment as he forcibly composed himself. “You’re a good person, Solanza,” he said finally. “Thank you. I’m really glad I met you. I think I was meant to find you.”

     “I think so, too,” she said.

     They didn’t speak for the rest of the night, but they didn’t need to. Everything had already been said.

To be continued…