For those of you who read the first chapter when this story was originally posted and haven't seen its most recent edit, I just wanted to mention that the prologue has been taken down and will be reposted as a "bonus chapter" later. That's why the story still says it's at two chapters when you might have been expecting three with this update.


Chapter 2: To Faerieland

A shimmering dome of concentrated magic tinted the overhead sky pink as Brynn surveyed the land below.

It was an organized mess, with pets and faeries alike scrambling to find homes for the refugees that had been pouring in ever since Queen Fyora had opened her gates to them. Guards patrolled the walls and the protective shield around the kingdom, and kept post at the gates and openings to ensure that none of the brainwashed mutants snuck in. Brynn would have been out there as well, but somebody needed to stay behind for the others to report back to, and in any case the cavalry Uni she normally patrolled with had disappeared in the initial chaos following what people had begun to call the Transfiguration. Whether he'd been one of those gone mad or had been captured by the others, she wasn't too keen on finding out.

And so the Captain of the guard kept to her perch on one of the inner city walls, ringed tail swinging aimlessly, awaiting news from her subordinates and scanning the streets for any recognizable faces.

Below and a little ahead of her, one of the guards led a Gelert up to the faerie in charge of assessing those who wished to join the resistance force. Brynn gave the Gelert a curious look – he was bulky for his species, unusually so, and seemed more warped from a normal state than mutation alone should have caused.

"Your name?" the faerie asked.

"Bruno, ma'am," the Gelert replied in a rough voice.

"Place of residence?"

"Neovia, in the Haunted Woods."

"Fighting experience?"

"I've never had any formal training, but I lived alone in the wilds of the Woods for ten years. I had to build up a lot of survival skills for that – including fighting off dangerous spirits and creatures."

The faerie paused for a moment. She gave Bruno a hopeful look. "Neovia in the Haunted Woods, you say... You can't be the only one out there with such experience. Did you come with anyone else?"

The Gelert's eyes were downcast. "No. The earth faerie Illere told me about this place, but she refused to leave the Woods herself. Everyone else is..."

From up where she stood, Brynn winced inwardly. She wouldn't have expected a small town like Neovia to be able to send much support, but for only one of them to have managed escape was cruel, for Bruno himself more than anyone else.

Faerieland was lucky in that regard – if the word "luck" could be applied to any person or place in this situation. Thanks to Queen Fyora's power and the hope that she if anyone might be able to prevent or weaken the affects of the Transfiguration, the realm had been Maraqua's first contact after it was finished warning the other undersea settlements of Caylis and Isca's visions. It had had a decent amount of time to prepare, and because of that and because so much of its population consisted of a race unaffected – or at least, not directly affected – by the Transfiguration, what was left of the guard in the aftermath had managed to chase out or capture the brainwashed mutants before they could overrun the kingdom or run off with too many prisoners. Faerieland was a beacon of hope in a world ruled by chaos.

Not that the kingdom had it easy. It was the one that had to maintain as much order as possible and keep that beacon lit, and it seemed like for every Faerielander who had managed to keep their freedom there were a dozen loved ones, whether within the realm or elsewhere, who'd been lost. Their situation was certainly better than most, but it wasn't quite enough to keep Brynn and the others from feeling betrayed and somehow alone, especially when –

No. She wouldn't dwell on that. There were more important things to worry about.

As if to confirm that final thought, a Grarrl knight flew up to the wall and landed carefully beside her. "Have I mentioned how thankful I am that this colour let me keep my wings?" he asked, stretching the appendages; like most of his fellow citizens, the Grarrl had originally been faerie.

Brynn ignored the comment for the time being. "Do you have anything to report, Sir Caiden?"

The Grarrl nodded. "There's a rumour going around that the Space Faerie has escaped the Virtupets Station and is headed for Faerieland with information that can help us in the resistance, although you'll have to speak with Queen Fyora herself to see whether that's true or not. What I do know for a fact is, there's a big group about to come in from Altador. It seems that the entire council managed to pull through and round up a small chunk of its population. There are about a half dozen guards led by the Battle Faerie escorting them now."

Brynn allowed herself a relieved smile. "That's the best news I've heard all day. Bring them in through the south gate; there aren't too many people coming through there right now, so it should be able to handle a large group."

Sir Caiden nodded once more and took off to carry out her orders. Brynn took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the hot summer wind play along her fur.

The entire Altadorian council. It hadn't escaped her notice that there seemed to be a pattern to those who had resisted brainwashing – a disproportionately high number of knights and honoured guards, for example. She briefly wondered whether Sloth knew of this particular flaw in his design, but she certainly wasn't complaining. Even so, for all nine of the pets among the Heroes to have actually pulled through...

...It must be nice for them. Brynn scowled and tried to push the thought from her mind – now wasn't the time to be getting preoccupied with melancholy. Still the wistful feeling persisted. After a few moments, she finally sighed and let her gaze wander toward the south. She'd been standing alone on that wall for too long.

Wordlessly, she ducked into the nearby guard tower and descended the stairway. As she exited onto the city grounds and through the gate into the outer kingdom, she called out to the faerie stationed by the entryway.

"If anyone comes looking for me, tell them I'm by the south gate. A big group from Altador including their king and the Protector and Gladiator is coming in, and I want to speak with them personally."

While that statement was true, it also helped that one of them was something of an old friend. The guard saluted in response, and Brynn took off at a brisk pace down the streets of the outer district.

It wasn't difficult to spot the Altadorians. As she came up to the gate, Brynn found that not only did they indeed form a sizeable collection of refugees, but a small crowd had gathered around them. King Altador stood at the front with the other Heroes, and she could see Aethia speaking with Torakor not far away. Despite his new look, the King kept as regal and determined a bearing as ever, and the Kougra felt her spirits lift as she began to approach him.

That was when she realized that Altador wasn't the one the lingering Faerielanders were gawking at. Her pace slowed as her gaze drifted from the Lupe king to the small blue Aisha, bent over slightly and half-concealed by a hooded cloak, standing beside him.

The small, blue Aisha.

0 * 0 * 0

Jerdana could feel the eager fascination in their stares.

The Aisha scowled a little to herself and tried to pull the hood tighter around her face, but she knew that the gesture was pointless. The Faerielanders and the other refugees had already realized that her fur colour was not simply the deep cobalt associated with mutants of her species. And here she had wanted to slip by as many people as possible unnoticed and avoid having to dash their false hopes.

Jerdana straightened up and cast a hopeful glance of her own toward Altador, but he was busy greeting a vaguely familiar Kougra who had stopped staring at her long enough to speak with him. She would have to field this on her own.

Taking a deep breath, she reached back and let her hood fall around her shoulders. Immediately every eye, including those of the other council members, trained on her. She turned to address the crowd.

"I know what you all must be thinking, but I'm afraid it will be of little help. My colour is not due to any sort of countercurse; it was simply my attempt at using a shield spell to protect the city." She let her gaze drop for a moment, and a rare bitter edge crept into her voice as she continued.

"As you can see by the state of our people, it wasn't very effective. The only reason I was able to avoid the ray's effects is because I was at the heart of the spell. We still do not know how to reverse the mutation."

Jerdana glanced up again to see that many people were still giving her curious looks, though disappointment was etched on most of their faces. She sighed.

A hand rested on her shoulder, and she turned to see Altador smiling gently down at her. Despite this, she could see the concern in his eyes.

"You sound as though you blame yourself for what happened," the Lupe king said.

Jerdana looked away. "May we have this conversation another time, my Liege?" she asked. "I'm afraid there are more pressing matters at the moment."

She could hear Altador sigh behind her. "Very well. Don't think I will simply forget about this, though. Your peace of mind is still important to me – to all of us, perhaps now more than ever."

Jerdana nodded a bit distractedly, her attention suddenly caught by something she thought she'd just seen in the air beyond Farieland's protective barrier.

It appeared as though a few of the other refugees had spotted it as well, and some were beginning to point it out to their companions. The sky was nearly overcast, so it was difficult to make out, but – there! Another flash of silver-grey appeared through a gap in the clouds.

Jerdana tensed. She didn't like the looks of the looming shadow that seemed to be forming behind the clouds, and as they finally gave way to some colossal thing she took an involuntary step back and reached out with her magic to get a sense of what it was. Its power felt metallic and foreign – electricity-based, with only a trace of magic to keep the technology running smoothly.

Virtupets equipment, to be sure – a starship of some kind now that she could see it properly, and she doubted it was piloted by the Space Faerie. It was more massive than any ship she'd ever seen, likely rivalling the Hall of Heroes for sheer bulk.

Somebody in the crowd shrieked. The ship turned slowly, deliberately it seemed, until it faced the enclosed kingdom. The huge windows lining the front remained dark for just a moment before flickering to life as a massive screen, which revealed the sickly green face of a being not of this world.

Dr. Sloth glared over the pets and faeries gathered below as he asked, "And just what do we have here?"

Jerdana became aware of how eerily still the streets of Faerieland had become when they quite suddenly burst into motion again. The Kougra from before, whom Jerdana now realized must have been the Faerieland guard captain Brynn, disappeared into the crowd, shouting orders to the other guards to get as many newcomers behind the protective shields as quickly as possible. Pets screamed and ran from the sight of the ship, and the turned mutants outside the barrier took advantage of the panic and redoubled their efforts to slip through and flood the inside or to capture their sane brethren.

In spite of all this, Sloth didn't seem to be focusing much of his own attention on the happenings below. When Jerdana took a moment to look up from helping her fellow councilmen urge the Altadorians further in to avoid crowding the gate, she found out why – Queen Fyora had shot into the air and was swiftly becoming little more than a speck of light in the sky as she approached the edge of the barrier nearest the ship.

As the last of the Altadorians came in and began heading for the city, the Faerie Queen's magic-enhanced voice boomed out over them. "You are not welcome here, Dr. Sloth," she barked. "Leave this place and reverse what you have done to our peoples if you wish to see another day."

With their citizens taken care of, Torakor was now leading a group of his soldiers back to the barrier to aid the Faerielanders while Altador and the others dispersed to offer whatever help they could. For her part, Jerdana stood firmly and began pouring her magic into the kingdom's barrier, allowing her power to mix with and strengthen that of the mages and faeries already feeding into it.

Dr. Sloth bellowed with laughter. "Do you really think you are in a position to be making demands of me, little faerie?" He sneered. "You are just one puny kingdom. Any outside stragglers you may have picked up by now will have done little more than fill in the gaps left by the pets who have abandoned you, while I have nearly the entire planet at my side. You can do nothing but delay the inevitable!"

While Jerdana couldn't see Fyora's face, she could imagine the hardening of the faerie's expression by her voice as she said, "We will find a way to take you down. You cannot hold the minds of a world's population by force forever!"

Sloth rolled his eyes. "Really now, must we begin making assumptions based on my past mistakes?" He shot her a malicious grin. "What you fail to realize is that I have already won. Honestly, I would have just ignored your little city and moved on to conquer the rest of the galaxy with my new army, but you happen to be keeping a few of my most prized warriors from me and I'm here to pick them up." He waved to her over the monitor. "Goodbye."

That was when the energy cannons on the ship came to life. With an immense amount of power their twin beams blasted the shield, and the assault lashed at Jerdana's very body and forced her back a step as they nearly shattered her part of the barrier.

From up above, she thought she heard Fyora let out an involuntary cry at the attack pounding at her own magic. When she steeled herself and looked up, however, the queen was regaining her composure, her sceptre glowing white-hot with power. Slowly the energy of the cannons began to die down, yet the barrier still held.

Dr. Sloth practically growled. "So you want to play this the hard way? Fine," he spat. "Just let me remind you that Faerieland's protection is also its prison. My guards will keep their patrol around this pathetic barrier of yours, and in three days I will be back with a strong enough assault to tear through your greatest defences and take every puny Neopet that tries to stand against me!"

The alien forced himself to adopt a sense of calm, and his expression turned smug. "If you want your little faerie city to remain standing, you would be wise to hand them over before then. Who knows? I might just take the warriors and spare the weaklings for you to keep playing hero with."

Before Queen Fyora could retort, the screen flickered out. The ship began its slow ascent back through the clouds, leaving Sloth's threat lingering over the kingdom below.