Dark Tower Down

      The fact that the tower had stood, unharmed, for so long was a huge source of pride for the Darkness Faeries. After it stayed airborne when Faerieland crashed, the Darkness Faeries were even more proud, saying that their magic was stronger than all over Faeries' magic combined. Why Fyora never moved to get the tower taken down perplexes me to no end. Of course, the other Faeries were mad as can be about the Darkness Faeries' gloating and superior attitudes.

      I was angry too. I'm a Speckled Uni mare, but I'm an elite warrior and a True Hero of Light, capable of things even the Light Faeries can't do. And the more I heard about the Phantom's Tower, the more determined I became to bring it down at any cost.

      So one day, I sought out my guardian Light Faerie, Kouren.

     "Kouren, I'm going to take down the Phantom's Tower," I announced when I found her.

      She didn't look all that surprised.

     "You know that no one has ever come back from assaulting it, right?" she asked me.

     "Only Faeries have ever tried," I responded. "Neopets never have. And even though you gave me most of my magical powers, when Faerie magic is used by a Neopet, there are significant changes. I may have the edge your lost sisters never had."

      Kouren nodded, yet she still looked worried. That never bothered me; she ALWAYS worried about me.

      Now that I had her blessing, I sought out my owner, an adult man called BG.

     "BG, Kouren said it's OK to attack the Phantom's Tower," I told him. "So I'm going to need a ride."

      BG has a Virtupets starfighter, the Desert Guardian, that he stole from the Space Station years ago. It's the best way to get around Neopia quickly. Also, since the tower was currently floating over the ocean, and I don't do well flying over water on my own power, using the fighter was the ideal way to reach it.

     "All right, I can do that," my owner replied. "I'll stick around for support if you need me."

     "Hopefully it won't come to that, but I'd never turn down some extra firepower from you," I said.

      Though Kouren taught me magic and trained me in its use, BG saved me from the Pound and trained my physical abilities. He's a blademaster, capable of using swords like no one I've ever met before.

     **********

      A few days later, BG and I flew out in the Desert Guardian to attack the Phantom's Tower. We found it easily enough.

     "It's like the Darkness Faeries want Neopians to find the tower," BG said under his breath.

      I heard him quite clearly.

     "They're showing off about it, so yeah, I'm sure they want everyone to know about it," I grumbled. "Don't get too close; I'm not sure how that dark fog will affect the fighter."

      Luckily, there was enough magical cloud that we could land a safe distance from the tower.

     "Kouren said the entrance was to the south side," I mused.

     "Can you hold your breath long enough to get through?" my owner asked.

     "I'm going to use a shield of Light," I answered. "But if worst comes to it, I'll hold my breath as long as I can."

      I gave BG a loving hug before hopping out of the fighter, raising my shield, and galloping towards the tower.

      No sooner had I reached the fog than I felt it swirling around my shield, probing for a weak spot to get through and get at me. But there was no such thing. In fact, when I made my shield glow with the brilliance of the sun, the fog shrank back, letting me see clearly. Finding the door was no trouble at all. Blasting it down with a ray of concentrated sunlight was even easier.

      The fog didn't follow me into the tower, so I could drop my shield. It was cold, rather dark, and completely empty inside. No sign of any guards. I looked all around the room I was in, taking note of any places that a trap could have been set. But there didn't appear to be any. The tower was, for all intents and purposes, completely unguarded!

      This made me nervous. Was I walking into a trap? Was that why the other Light Faeries never returned? Did the Darkness Faeries, in their insolence, WANT Neopians to enter the Phantom's Tower? Nervousness was shoved aside by disgust as I started up the spiral staircase towards the top of the tower.

      There were no other rooms. No nothing. Just the stone staircase leading upwards. Though I was being very careful, I made good progress and soon reached the top of the stairs. There was a warded door there, but my own Light magic was so much stronger than the Darkness magic on the door that I had no trouble opening it. On the other side was one large, circular room, but this was clearly the heart of the tower. There were bookshelves full of sinister-looking books, random artifacts in warded vaults, and a familiar symbol engraved on the floor.

      But still no sign of any guards.

     "Come out, cowards!" I bellowed, lighting up the chamber with a powerful flare. "I'm here to stop you once and for all!"

      It worked. My challenge caused a shadowy figure to materialize in the center of the room.

     "So, another slave of the light made it here," it hissed. "Pathetic. Everyone who ever got here before suffered the same fate. Do you really think you can escape it?"

     "Psh, words are cheap," I spat back. "Show me why the Darkness Faeries are so proud of this dumb tower before I blow it to tiny bits!"

      The shadow responded quickly, firing a beam of darkness at me. I was faster, though, shooting a beam of Light magic back at it. The two beams collided and began to push against each other. It seemed to be a stalemate, but I wasn't exerting my full power yet.

     "Is that all you can do?" the shadow asked, sounding annoyed.

     "Is that all YOU can do?" I retorted. "Because I'm about to step it up a bit!"

      I added some more power, and now my beam began to shove the shadow's beam back towards it.

     "Grrr, that really makes me mad!" the shadow bellowed.

     "Then look out for THIS!" I shouted back, pouring on the power.

      My beam ripped right through the shadow's beam and hit the caster at full power. The shadow sagged to the floor, weakened.

     "How in Neopia did those Light Faeries lose to you?" I snorted, amused.

     "They didn't," the shadow retorted. "It's my blessing: I cannot be defeated. I only consume!"

      Just like that, I saw why no one had ever returned from storming the Phantom's Tower. This shadow was meant to be defeated, and each time it was finished off, it consumed the one who slew it and was reborn.

      NOW I was worried. I knew that if I tried to flee, the shadow would be able to get me. If I struck it down, it would get me. I was stuck!

      The shadow must have sensed my confusion and fear.

     "So, you finally get the point," it snickered. "You have no other options, so you can surrender and I'll consume you quickly, or we can drag this out and make it painful. Either way, I win, you lose."

      As I tried to think up another way to fight my way out of this, the shadow got up again. But as I readied a shield to block it, it suddenly cried out in pain and clutched at where its heart would be. Then it sagged back to the floor and melted away!

      I quickly raised my head to see who had struck the final blow. To my absolute shock, it was BG! My owner stood behind where the shadow had been, his 8 foot long greatsword in fighting position.

     "BG! Are you... You're not..." I cried in fear, realizing that losing my owner would be even worse than the shadow consuming me!

      He smiled at me, and in that smile I saw all the familiar love and warmth I knew. And in that smile I saw no darkness. I relaxed instantly: BG was uncorrupted.

     "You know as well as I do, Urasina, that humans are unaffected by Neopian magic," he said kindly, slinging his sword on his back and crouching down to hug me.

     "So since you finished off that shadow, and it couldn't consume you, then it's really gone for good," I sighed happily.

     "Exactly," BG responded. "As for how I got here, there are large balconies outside each of the four windows in this room. The fog doesn't touch them, so I flew right through it in the fighter and landed on the north balcony. But the fog is dissipating; soon it will be safe to approach the tower."

      I looked out the window behind him. Sure enough, the fog was a lot less thick and a lot less menacing.

     "Well, we did it," I said. "We cleared out the Phantom's Tower. I think we're safe, so let's loot the place. There's bound to be lots of stuff that the Light Faeries can use against their dark sisters."

      BG and I spent maybe fifteen minutes looting the tower. My magic easily broke the wards on the artifact vaults, and the books were unprotected. I used a special spell Kouren had given me before I set out to contain all the artifacts and books and send them back to my guardian's own tower, near BG's Neohome in the Lost Desert.

      Once we had cleaned out the place, Kouren's voice sounded in my head.

     "Urasina, are you OK?" she asked.

     "I'm great, Kouren!" I mind-sent back. "Did you get my gifts?"

     "I did. Thank you! We'll make good use of this stuff!" she responded. "But you and BG need to evacuate the tower. I'm bringing in a team of Light Faeries to destroy that abomination."

      I turned to my owner.

     "Kouren's coming to destroy the tower," I said.

     "I figured as much," BG replied. "The Desert Guardian is over there. Let's fall back and watch the fireworks."

      I giggled as the two of us climbed out the window, boarded the fighter, and flew back out of the fog. My owner landed on the far edge of the clouds.

     "The fog is almost gone," I noted. "The tower actually doesn't look so ugly in the daylight."

     "The tower is being affected by the daylight too," BG pointed out. "See? It's starting to crack."

      Sure enough, I could see large cracks starting to creep across its surface.

      Just then Kouren and four other Light Faeries landed beside us. I quickly climbed out of the fighter to join them.

     "All right, this is it, girls," my guardian said. "We're going to hit that tower so hard every Darkness Faerie in Neopia will feel it!"

      Then she turned to me.

     "We'll take out the tower, but we need you to shield us in case something goes wrong," she told me.

      I nodded eagerly.

     "Let's do this!" I cheered, raising a powerful Light shield over all of us.

      Without another word, all five Faeries unleashed powerful beams of Light magic right at the peak of the tower. Magic roared across its stones and the cracks multiplied, getting deeper and deeper. Then, with one massive whooshing noise, the tower crumbled.

      No explosion. No massive rush of magic. Nothing. It just crumbled to dust. I was disappointed.

     "So, apparently the Phantom's Tower only relied on its all-consuming shadow guardian and its foggy shield to survive," I remarked.

      Kouren nodded.

     "At least it's down now," she replied. "That will shut the Darkness Faeries up for a while. They'll never be able to accept the fact that their precious tower was brought down by one Neopet."

      I giggled happily.

     "Well, they'll have to," I added. "And I think we sent them a very important message: their time is coming. And we'll all be there to see it, one day."

The End