Book of Wisdom: Part Two

     Awohi had thought it would be fun to take a vacation to Tyrannia during the summer. He soon discovered that he was sadly mistaken. It was hot and humid, bugs swarmed the air, and everyone talked in “ughs” and “uggus.” Awohi didn’t have a clue what anyone was saying. Worst of all, the inn that he was staying in was a cave with stone furniture. He had lost his luggage on the boat that he took to Tyrannia, so he had no entertainment whatsoever.

     Lazily, he stood, and started walking. He wanted to find an inexpensive shop where he could buy a book or something. Unfortunately, all he could find was food, furniture, petpets, and weapons. A Tyrannian Usul walked up to him, carrying a large, dusty book with a leather cover. Scared, he asked, “What do you want?”

     The Usul stared at him, then held the book out. “Uggtep.”

     There was a long pause, then Awohi said, “That’s very generous, thank you.” He took the book, and the Usul made no move to stop him. It just stood there, staring at him with no expression at all. Awohi felt two hard eyes drilling into his back as he walked away. Relief seeped through him as he sat in the stone chair in his room. He hoped the book could be some entertainment.

     He tried to open it, but a small steel lock held the leather cover together. When Awohi looked closely, he saw that it was a small piece of metal shaped like Neopia. A tiny keyhole was driven into the rusted metal between Faerieland and Meridell. Frustrated, he tried to break the lock. The metallic band that held the two cover pages together looked frail, but it held without bending.

     After that failed, Awohi tried to rip the leather cover where the lock stuck out of it, but even with a sharp rock, he couldn’t even make a scratch. On the leather cover, there was a picture of Neopia, but it looked different. There was no space station, or Kreludor, Neopia’s moon. Meridell did not have even the slightest hint of a castle, and Neopia Central was entirely unmarked.

     Bored, Awohi stepped outside into the morning air, feeling another swarm of bugs surround him. He walked until he saw the Tyranu Evavu stand. A Tyrannian JubJub said, “Jarbjarb invites you to play Tyranu Evavu.”

     Awohi tiredly consented that he would play for thirty neopoints. He might as well do something while he was here. He guessed the first card he was presented with wrong. A few hundred neopoints later, he decided that it would probably be best to play something else. So far, he hadn’t earned any neopoints. He walked some more, and stopped at the Wheel of Mediocrity. He gave the Flotsam money, then spun the wheel hard. It slowed, and stopped on a picture of a faerie. Awohi grinned.

     It was good to finally have some luck. His smile dropped however, when he saw that a black question mark had been hastily painted over the picture. He was presented with a wooden cube, with one word written on the top: ugh.

     “What?” Awohi exclaimed. “This is what I get?”

     The Flotsam’s expression did not change. “Look, I don’t make up the prizes. Be thankful that you got anything at all, and get out of here.”

     Annoyed, Awohi started back toward his cave in the inn. He heard a call of, ‘Jarbjarb invites you to play Tyranu Evavu,’ but this time, he said nothing. He stormed into the cave and threw the wooden cube against the wall. It hit, and landed on the ground with a clink. He sat in a stone chair, and picked up the book he had received.

     The lock still refused to break, and the leather would not rip. His bright eyes scanned the room for something to do. He picked up a rock, and tossed it against the stone wall. The chunk of stone ricocheted off of the wall, then tumbled across the floor to stop under his paw. He threw it again, but this time, it rolled and hit the wooden box that rested quietly on the floor.

     There was a resounding clink, and Awohi looked at it, surprised. The box was made of wood, yet he was sure that he had heard the sound of metal being jiggled around coming from the box. He strode across the room and picked it up. It made no sound at all. He stared at it inquisitively, then cautiously moved it up and down, as to shake it a little bit.

     Something small and metal was definitely inside of it. It was hollow! He shook it again, and the sound once again reverberated through the room. Awohi became excited. There could be some neopoints inside it! He imagined opening it to reveal a pile of gleaming gold coins. That would be a nice surprise, he thought to himself. So far, his vacation hadn’t gone very well. Maybe he could spend the money inside to go somewhere nicer, like Meridell. Or maybe, he would get home to Mystery Island early, then get a refund for the money he had spent to schedule a boat in a few days.

     He would be at home, with an extra chunk of change. Maybe he would buy a new toy for his petpet. Mossy, his meturf, wasn’t very happy to see Awohi go to Tyrannia without him. But now, Awohi could come home early, and buy him something nice to make it up to him. Now, in his boredom, he wished that he had brought Mossy with him. He had decided what he wanted to do with the coins.

     It was too tempting an idea to resist. Unfortunately, as he stared at the wooden cube, he could not figure out how it was to be opened. He shook it again. Mind racing, he wondered if he could break through the wood. It looked like bamboo, but he didn’t know how thick it was. He picked up the rock that he had been using for some entertainment. Now, he realized that it might serve a greater purpose than a makeshift ball for him to kick around the room.

     He slowly set the wooden box on the floor. Taking a step back, he lifted the rock above his head, and plunged it downward. The stone connected with the bamboo, and a giant crack split the wood. Awohi tossed the rock over his shoulder. He had gotten the box cracked open, and it did not provide anything more for him. Excitedly, he picked up the box, and dumped its contents onto the floor.

     In it was not a single neopoint, nor anything that seemed to be of value. All that was in the box was a necklace. It was leather, with a charm at the end. Awohi inspected the charm, and saw that it was actually a tiny key. Dismayed, he stuffed the charm into his pocket, grumbling to himself. He picked up the book off of the floor of his cave, then stared at the lock.

     Alarmed, he pulled the necklace out of his pocket and fit it into the lock. It slid in noiselessly, before coming to an abrupt halt. Slowly, Awohi turned the key. The mechanism flew into action, gears turning, until finally, there was a loud click. The lock fell from the book. Excited, he opened it. On the first page, there was one word: Uggtep.

     Awohi groaned. The book was written in Tyrannian. He turned the page and was surprised to find words that he could easily understand. The puzzle of the creation of Neopia is only of three pieces. Secrets guarded by three great beasts, serving their sole purpose. Interested, he read on. Some secrets should never be learned, but some wait for discovery. There were three illustrations which seemed to be photographs, but Awohi knew that there wasn’t photography when this book was written. It was definitely old.

     The first illustration was of an icicle. The second was of a rope, hanging in the darkness. The third was an image of grass. Awohi stared at the icicle in the first picture. Amazed, he brushed it with his finger, and was startled to find that he could feel something cold and wet. He jumped back. Confused, he looked at his paw. It was a blur, as was the rest of his body now. It seemed that his body was being dragged into the picture itself, because the blur that was Awohi was flowing into the picture.

     Awohi blinked, and the blurriness had gone away. The first thing he noticed was that he was freezing. He felt snow under his feet. He looked down. A soft white layer covered the ground. No bugs swarmed around his head. He felt something cold touch his chest, and jumped. The tiny key to the book, attached to a leather string, was around his neck. The book lay a few feet away, the lock once again clasped onto its edges.

     Above him, Awohi saw the icicle in the picture. It was broken, so it was not pointy at all. The tip had been snapped off, but Awohi knew not how. He jumped as he heard a scraping noise. He froze, and hid behind a lump of snow a few feet in front of him. The scraping was replaced with a patting noise. All sound stopped.

     The sound of footsteps came near, and then they stopped. A white blur shot through the air. Awohi’s keen eyes darted up, and saw that the white blur was a snowball. The ball of snow was destroyed when it hit the icicle, which was now directly above him. He watched in horror as the icicle wiggled. There was a crack, and it wobbled, threatening to break off.

     Awohi tried to run, but his legs wouldn’t let him. The icicle plummeted towards him, and he realized how lucky he was that the tip had been broken off. If it had not, he probably would have died. He felt a rush of pain on his forehead, then lost consciousness.

To be continued...