Chronicles of the Darkside: Keys to Fantasia

     Author's Note: This story has been rewritten for the Neopian Times from its original state, it is Book One in a six book tale of saving the world as we've never known it. To learn more about the original story and setting, please check out www.neopets.com/~Qetsia .

     Chapter 1: The Meeting

     "Any excuse to flee this pathetic village I said" the Maraquan Mynci uttered her grievances at the accursed village of Ether, a small town on the riverside hidden deep within the confines of the forests of Brightvale. "THIS WAS NOT WHAT I MEANT!" She screamed to the wind. The Mynci, adjusting her Goldy blonde buns and beret and pulling at her tossed-on peacoat as she stomped angrily toward Faerieland, was now part of a massive and dire quest... One that quite obviously she did not wish to be part of, assuming you were within earshot (which to be honest did not require being close -- the screaming in anger would continue for some time down the path).

      The quest in premise was quite simple -- her, with three additional allies she would be meeting on the path just a bit further, were chosen by the whims of the fates to gather the power of four mysterious "Gemstones" and restore balance to a bizarre energy sequence resonating from in the Heart of Neopia, which could be found in the deepest reaches of Moltara. She and her comrades were believed to be unassumingly yet adeptly proficient with the elements, each one of these allies and herself having prowess with one of the four "core" elements: Earth, Wind, Fire, and in Vitaqui's case, Water. Her name did mean lifewater after all.

     "FIghting a fight that is not my own is not my style," she continued to fume. "We've been at war for centurie--" Vita gasped at the sight of who was aimlessly wandering around up ahead... Certainly her little "Echo" had been chosen for such a challenge?! She's just a baby!

     Ikufumi, who can be best categorized as "Short and Small" was a Clay Aisha. You could still smell the scent of the Rainbow Pool off the freshness of her "big girl paint". Ikufumi might have been twelve (though easily could be lying given her timid and childish nature), with choppy, patchy-in-color black and white hair, and an odd black patch over her left eye where it was apparent her previous shade of Shadow had not been properly covered.

     "Kya?" Ikufumi turned to Vitaqui startled.

     Vitaqui was a medicine woman with a proficiency for healing children with water -- Ikufumi had been to see her a number of times before. "What are you doing here?" Vitaqui asked Ikufumi.

     Ikufumi was hesitant to answer, and upon her hesitance pressed further, "Please tell me you are not part of this group I'm looking for?"

     As Ikufumi's ears perked up with excitement, Vitaqui's comfort from her younger friend quickly faded to heartbreak. "I sure am Vita!" Ikufumi grinned ear to ear. "I'm going on the adventure with ya! The funny visitor from WAAAAAAY out of town said so!" Excited to for once be aloud to leave home on her own, the little Aisha hopped eagerly from one foot another, her red pirate-themed dress swaying side to side. "And I already found one of our other friends," Ikufumi stated, motioning to the top of a highly piled group of rocks on the outcropping of Faerieland's crater. "Meet Spahrks!"

     Confused for a moment, Vitaqui was wondering how a pile of rocks was the new friend of her sweet "Echo" (as she called the child) only to see an equally as small Dimensional Aisha clambering down from the top -- the glow of the magic of her paint completely giving away her hiding place and element: wind. If this "Spahrks" girl was wind (and it really was very apparent) then Ikufumi was likely Earth, a deduction Ikufumi quickly confirmed by growing a tree to help the other Aisha down, who was now stuck with no further footholds down. Swift as the northwind the little Aisha bolted to Ikufumi's side, brushing her vibrant blue bob out of her face and greeting Vitaqui with a bizarrely yet accurately performed salute.

     "I am Spahrks! At your service!" The eager little Aisha proceeded to bow in the ways of Shenkuu but it struck Vitaqui as odd -- the child was dressed in a suit more so from Kreludor and her haircut was frosty like that of a pet from Terror Mountain. Just who was she? "I am the daughter of Corona Cosmoluxe and Riju Shiroyuki. I'm sorry if my appearance seems a little odd, but since Riju is not of noble blood in Shenkuu, part of his family being from Happy Valley, and my mother... Well, she's a princess of Kreludor and has seen some serious wars with Dr. Sloth in her time and we decided that it was better that they lived on Kreludor while I attended school in Shenkuu..." The Aisha rambled on and on, explaining and re-explaining what was obviously a rehearsed statement she may have forgotten part of. Sensing her aura Vita realized she had ran away from home, or at least had not given and word to anyone. She was no mind reader but the child gave off an unmistakable sense that she should not be there or worse, neither of her parents knew she was even gone.

     "Child, your. Age." Vita demanded between clenched teeth.

     "Oh uh... Hehe." Spahrks was visibly uncomfortable, "Sixteen, miss... Vitaqui was it? Hehe. I know you know my parents don't know I'm here, I mean c'mon, mind reading is wind and you already know that .part too. But neither Mum nor Dad would AB-so-LUTE-ly not be cool with this and the fates said jump and in Shenkuu you ask how high..."

     Obviously not a child of few words, Vitaqui knew she was right. In this time, the world was under control of the fates -- not the gentle and benign faeries. Where were the faeries when we needed them now? Driven to forlorn, Vita collapsed into tears at the feet of the two girls. "THEY. ARE. CHILDREN!!!" She cried out again and again.

     "Vita my girl, we are not in the age of the faeries. This is the age of the Fate, where even a standard Neopet like us's opinion is hardly valid." A soft but firm voice chimed in from behind Vitaqui, comforting her. "We are now more than ever expected to stand up and fight for ourselves if we have the power. And I'm sorry, girl, but that's at any age." Wheeling up and around she came as close to face to face as she could with the super tall, muscular, scaly, fiery, powder-pink-haired warrioress of a magma Draik Vitaqui had called her friend since childhood: Iggy. Or Iggy, Lady of the Halloween Lizark if you were from her home in the Haunted Woods. Iggy doesn't really explain how she got that name, though apparently it has something to do with a raid on the Deserted Tomb in Geraptiku. Iggy was older and stronger than even Vitaqui, the two of which just perfectly apart in age so that they were both 25 at the same time this was happening. But Vita was wiser and with a one-hundred fold more commanding presence than meek and emotional Vitaqui.

     "I had already met up with them." Glancing at Spahrks with unease, "that child's wind magic has a bit of a bite, safe to assume I scared them earlier or we would have met up sooner."

     "If you hadn't've tossed fire at me firs--" Spahrks quipped.

     "ENOUGH OF THAT!" Iggy barked.

     "..."

     "I will have very little arguing and none of the princess bossy-breeches-ness you have already shown. I am older, I am stronger, and me and Vita together are certainly wiser--"

     "Oh yeah, real wise, like when you stole my lance.". Spahrks taunted, as if you could hear the eye roll in that statement.

     Iggy, a reputably noble thief, had a bad habit of introducing herself via what she called the "snatch and chat" method. Her clothes were riddled pockets and she was always prepared to stay somewhere overnight, always carrying a sack with at least a tent and provisions in the instance they were needed.

     "You two quit it! Quit it now!" Vita commanded. "Iggy, stealing from people is not exactly the best way to break the ice and this poor Aisha is pretty far from home! You should have known better. And Miss Spahrks, I don't even know you but where I come from lashing out is never the answer." The Mynci huffed and puffed with frustration, "We have to work together to do this thing and then go home don't we? So then, how about we do this thing and GO HOME."

     "What is the thing, exactly?" confused little Ikufumi puzzled. "The funny Krawk that visited my home didn't really say for sure."

     "We'll find out for certain when we get to Faerieland." sighed Iggy. "Now you two please stay with me? You're both so... Little. Vi... Viiita... Viiii... I mean WE don't want you getting lost." Iggy stated nodding vigorously as Vitaqui was giving a look of scolding to the much taller draik, "you, me, girl, WE got this!"

      To be continued...