When I woke up, it was to see a humanoid face staring into mine. I instantly reared my head up, getting prepared to envelop her in a ball of fire.

"That won't be necessary, young one," she said. I hesitated. Her voice was too melodious to be truly human. I looked over her again and was both shocked and relieved to find that she had long, pointed ears and purple butterfly wings sprouting from her back. She was a faerie. I lifted my head higher and looked around, confused. There was no sign of a forest anywhere.

"What happened? Where am I?" I asked.



"I found you lying half dead in that forest. I couldn't just leave you there where you would be in constant danger from the humans, so I brought you here. I am Fyora, Queen of Faerieland, where you now find yourself," the faerie replied with a smile.

"Faerieland? I've never heard of it," I said wonderingly.

"Of course not. You are no longer on Earth. You're in a world called Neopia," the faerie named Fyora said.

"Wh-what?" I stammered, "I-I-I'm in a different world? B-but... how?"

"I teleported you here. I am a faerie, after all. I can do magic like that," Fyora explained.

"So, can you tell me more about this... Neopia?" I wondered out loud.

"Of course. Neopia is an extremely diverse world. Here you'll find everything from underwater cities to floating citadels. The inhabitants range from those who wouldn't hesitate one second to lend a helping hand to those whose only intent is to harm everyone and everything. There are draiks like you, although they are by far the least numerous. Oh yes, and there are humans here too."

"WHAT?? There are HUMANS here?!"

"Yes, of course. Our very existence depends on them."

I was stunned. How could she say such a thing? Humans couldn't even handle their own existence, let alone the existence of an entire world! I wasn't given long to think over this newest piece of information, however, because just then the faerie said, "Come on, it's time you saw the rest of Neopia. You can't spend the rest of your life in my living room."

I nodded and numbly followed her down countless flights of stairs and through numerous hallways until we finally came to a set of huge doors. She threw them open without a second thought and led me through a city teeming with activity. For some reason, I attracted a lot of strange looks. We came at last to the edge of the cloud. I looked down and saw a large expanse of water. I spread my wings and growled, "Thanks for your help. I'll be going now."

"Oh no you don't. Like I said earlier, your kind are extremely rare. If you go down there without someone, you'll practically get killed. I'm going with you."



"No, you aren't. I don't need anyone's help. I can take care of myself," I said, once again preparing to take flight.

"Oh really? Then what's this?" She asked, floating up beside me and touching the scar over my eye. I winced. It was still tender. Too late did I realize what she was truly doing. Too late did I pull my head away. I had allowed her to get close to the only place that magic could affect me; the only place not protected by scales. I felt a shiver of magic run down my spine.

"What did you do?!" I roared. I twisted around to get a better view of what was happening to me. I lost my footing, and fell. I tried to spread my wings, but, to my horror, found I no longer had any. I twisted and turned, trying to get myself upright for the collision. It wasn't easy, especially without wings. As I came closer and closer to the crystal-clear water, I picked out a speck of brown among the blue. A ship! Luckily for me, it wasn't directly underneath me. If I had hit that ship, I would have been dead in an instant. As it was, I only hit the water. But hitting anything at that speed hurts. I had the wind knocked out of me, and that's a bad thing when you're underwater. I didn't have to worry long, for I heard a splash and in an instant, I felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around my middle section and start pulling me up. I broke the surface, gulping in cool, refreshing air by the lungful. I turned to thank my rescuer, expecting to see Fyora, but to my surprise and horror, I found myself staring into the face of a human. She had long, bright red hair, tan skin, and hazel eyes.