Greetings!

I know it's been a while, but here's a completed offering I finally got round to admitting I was never going to submit to the Neopian times, but I was told that people would like to read, so here you go, enjoy!

Set in Neopia, species, places, previous plots etc copyright to whoever owns it. Kriasa is mine though, and the subplots (SO MANY SUB-PLOTS) are mine also. This also threads into other stories into the Neopia fandom, I will mention them once I've er, actually remembered what the names of them are...

Enjoy!

The starry Pteri panted, looking over the edge off the cliff she had been pushed to. She'd been chased so far... for so long... how long could she keep doing this? How long would she keep singing the prophecies they hated so much? Singing the songs that needed to be sung?

She turned and saw them close behind, her weary wings stretched and she jumped off the cliff, dipping to swoop out over the sea, climbing in altitude as her wings caught the currents of air with the whoosh that every flyer lives for.

Her body shuddered as she felt her fire fade slightly, then rise, brighten. New strength entered her and she soared upwards, she needed height for this... Her mind wasn't exactly guiding her, more working with her instinct as the need to sing rolled up her throat.

She suddenly turned and face her pursuers as the golden mark in the middle of her forehead glowed brightly, light expanding. The crowd faltered at the defiant Pteri challenging them with power. A slight trace of worry crossed the bird's mind, she was burning too hotly, too brightly, too vivid to last. Then her mind cleared of worry, giving itself over to the power of the song.

She spread her wings out to their fullest extent, suspended in the golden glow around her as she threw her head back, tail hanging straight down as she started to sing, barely noting that she was standing on air as her words spread out, louder and clearer than ever, spreading further than they should be able to, bourne on magic.

A story told by gold star's sight

Shall weave its way through endless night.

Through skies so high and caverns deep,

From those who wake to those who sleep.

All are touched by what I say

All tied in that fateful day.

Take a circle, watch it spin

'Tween the worlds of thick and thin.

Watch it bend and lose its shape

See the chaos in its wake.

Take some seeds and when they've grown

Then they shall reap what I have sown.

The bird felt her flame falter and continued to sing, feeling the life-force burning strong in her chest, spiralling out into the song, but sapping her. The glow remained as she felt herself start to slide downwards and fall.

She knew now that this was her last song. She couldn't help but think back, how had it come to this?

The paw of earth who worked the land.

The soaring air lost in the sand.

The water sees with clear blue eyes.

The hidden fire just walks on by.

The stifled light must flee, and fast.

The heart of dark must face their past.

All of this shall come to pass...

The time is coming.

The golden glow was still shining around her as she shut her beak and relaxed her body, accepting her fate as her wings and tail folded upwards. She could feel the flame fading from inside her and the light surrounding her was fading too.

As she fell she started to remember.

It had been a year ago now, not that long, she had only been a simple green Pteri then, eager to read all of the books she could find and when there was an author's talk she'd always be there.

There was one that was different from the rest though, she seemed to be part of the story rather than separate from it, she seemed to be living magic herself. She'd read a story and it had woven itself inside their minds. She had been enchanted as the light itself clustered round the author's golden coat...

And then she'd laid a finger against her forehead. The light had blazed through her mind, swamping her thoughts as she felt something shine from her, feeling more than alive.

The touch had left a golden spot on her feathers even after the finger had been taken away, and the woman's eyes had shone in a spark of kindred spirit. She'd only noticed the mark when she returned home and never been able to explain the feeling when that fire danced in her mind. The Pteri knew why the woman had done it though, the magic had decided it by itself, just like when it decided she should sing.

Since that time she'd been questioned constantly and eventually got painted starry to hide the golden oval on her forehead. It was then she had started singing, the fire welling up and telling people about the future.

In the beginning the songs had been pleasant, but one after another the disasters had come. Just like Caylis she had been rejected and even attacked, it seemed people never learnt.

She'd been running from them for a month now as the situation in Neopia got more desperate, everyone could tell something was going badly wrong, and even if she could say what was happening she couldn't explain why. Another reason for people to turn against her.

Still, she was almost glad those times were over now. The flame of her magic was fading with her strength. She didn't know what would happen if her magic, her life force, ran out, would she even live long enough to die? Or would she fade and not even leave a body behind?

I hope they find them, she thought with a smile, closing her eyes to the sky one last time. The world needs heroes.

The people who had chased her watched the starry Pteri plummet like a comet towards the ocean, feathers rippling until the glow had faded. With a small splash the Pteri struck the ocean, sending a plume of droplets into the air that held for a moment before breaking apart, leaving only ripples to show the seer's entry into the water.

Far away the pearly pink portal shone against the expanse of space. Letting people walk through from somewhere else to Neopia, as it had done for years, unchanged. But recently it had been, wavering, wobbling, cutting off some people from entry.

Suddenly the gently spinning edge of the oval wobbled, the crowd around it froze, staring as with a non-existent 'thunk' one side buckled inwards, as if someone had punched the edge inwards. It still spun on itself in space, holding on...

Another thunk, another. The portal was crumpling as a swarm of people rushed through from nowhere, shepherded by anxious faeries appearing with more batches of humans. Various types of faerie clumped together, forming rings to make straining mini-portals from which humans flooded in a race for the rapidly failing exit.

Panic raged as everyone crowded towards the exit, jamming in their haste, many spinning round the edge in the crush as more and more came through and vanished in.

The tide was forced to slow as another dent appeared, humans crazily forcing themselves through as the faeries panicked, could they get everyone out in time? The crowd lessoned out after the initial surge, stragglers and gamers flying at top speed to reach the portal before it shrank again, a high whining sound ringing through everyone's mind.

Suddenly there were no more humans and Fyora was free to step up to the portal and raise her wand, feeding her magic directly in to try and sustain it. Her face suddenly paled as the wand started shaking, forcing her to let the spell go as she staggered back into supportive arms with a shake of her head, every magic user knew when you couldn't stop the inevitable.

So she simply watched with the others, helpless, as the portal shrank to the size of one person, a normal window, the window in a door, a ring...

Neopia was cut off entirely.

Anarchy descended. Pets had no owners, faeries were struggling for answers, others were looking for the cause of the portal's collapse for clues.

The normal pets dissolved into tribes and gangs. Neopia Central found tightly knit groups of friends working together to gain food, making do with what territory they could find. As time went on and the inevitable wars passed each group gained their own function and name, leading to clans and guilds formed out of mutual skills. Other groups pointed members and their children to the right group for them.

Further out there were also tribes and though Meridell and Brightvale managed to survive relatively unchanged Skarl had never had to work so hard in his life as when the riots came. Faerieland also maintained civilisation as the entire city searched for answers. The prophecy was much talked of and the obvious answer to the problems was to find the pets mentioned? After all, they could solve this.

Queen Fyora folded her arms with a frown as she surveyed her kingdom, pondering what the small Poogle messenger had said. "They wish me to launch an expedition?"

"Yes your Majesty, the prophecy..."

An elegant hand waved them into silence, "I know. That is why I was thinking. The circle spinning is obviously the portal. I could not stop this happening." She lapsed into silence for so long the pink creature spoke up,

"Your Majesty?"

"Take this message to the counsel."

"Yes your Majesty."

The faerie Queen looked out of her window for a long time before answering.

"A notice is to be passed to all of Neopia. The prophecy shall not be talked of openly and the pets not searched for. Any who do not know of the prophecy will not be informed of it, if there is a suspicion that a pet may be of the prophecy then they shall not mention it, but give any assistance that is asked for."

Her gaze turned to the messenger, "To my council only tell them that I shall not openly try and help it, interference will only cause more suffering, direct our efforts into discovering the cause of this and giving aid to those who need it."

"I shall tell them at once your Majesty,"

"Do well."

The Poogle left at a run, leaving the Queen alone in her room to continue looking out the window pensively. Just six people to bear the weight of a whole world. Fyora sent her best wishes out to them, they would need it.

The time was coming...