Ancient Evil

Chapter Two

"You okay, Hannah?" Fernypoo said as she helped her to her feet. Using her shirt sleeve Hannah wiped her teary eyes and hugged the princess. Returning the embrace Fernypoo comforted her for a few moments before letting her go so they could leave the restaurant. It was one in the morning and both of them desperately needed some sleep.

"We'll meet again in a few days to get started. I'll send you another letter with the when and where but until then you should settle any lingering business. Once we begin it will be quite a while before you see home again." Fernypoo told Hannah as she nodded humbly in reply and started down the gravel road heading east.

It was nearly two am when Hannah finally opened the front door to her own place, locked it back, and fell into her large recliner with a dull thud. She still had an intense migraine from having her mind temporarily hijacked and she could only imagine what else would happen to her in the coming days.

As for Fernypoo she did not have the luxury of being near her home. Heading south she worked her way towards the small cutter she had left on shore. Her plan was to call on her friend Captain Threelegs' hospitality until she could arrange for a ship to carry her back to Meridell.

Easily finding the boat hidden under some camouflage she had prepared to prevent the theft of her craft, Fernypoo slowly rowed northwest. It was a short distance but the fatigue in her muscles made it seem like she was trying to reach the Lost Desert under the cover of night.

"I can't believe that I had to do that with all of them!" Fernypoo said to herself since she was completely alone in the open sea. It was a valid statement of frustration as she was learning just how skeptical her revelations were to pretty much everyone in Neopia. On the plus side her recruitment was now over and she could concentrate on other matters. The most poignant being just how she was going to keep the presence of five of the most famous Neopians at her castle under wraps.

Three days later...

Hannah, to Fernypoo's great surprise, was the first to arrive at her castle with a heavy backpack slung across her shoulders. Dropping it with a dull thud Hannah sat down on the short cut grass that surrounded the moat and waited. Fernypoo, who was in a yoga-like sitting position across from her, closed her eyes and took deep, repeated breaths and encouraged her friend to do the same.

"So when are these others you refer to going to arrive?" Hannah said interrupting the peaceful quiet of the meadow.

"Impatient as ever, I see." Fernypoo replied with a chuckle. "They will be here shortly. As I explained in the letter I sent you they have to come up with some excuse for being here continuously for several weeks. Your alibi was pretty easy, I assume?"

Hannah responded with a nod, as she had simply told people she was going on another treasure hunt on Terror Mountain, before closing her eyes in an attempt to recover some of her strength.

As she followed the princesses relaxation technique she suddenly felt the atmosphere heat up around her. Looking back she was surprised to see a Tyrannian Scorchio flying above her, wearing a spotted animal skin, and trying very hard not to sneeze.

"Relax, Magnus the Torch, you're not going to incinerate anything around here." Princess Fernypoo assured him as she gave Hannah a tissue from the small box in her pants pocket. Giving it to Magus, he nodded his thanks and blew his nose before burning the paper with a small breath of flame.

"These allergies are really getting to me this year." Magnus said as he sat down next to Hannah in a similar position to her and Fernypoo. "I assume that you are to be the NeoGuardian of Ice Magic. Obviously it is no surprise that I will be your opposite element-wise."

"Yeah, I guess...I'm sorry if I'm a little bit aloof but I'm still quite overwhelmed at all this. Besides, I don't have any experience with magic." Hannah replied quietly as Magnus reminded her that he didn't either with a smile and a hearty laugh.

Another half hour passed before their next guest, who needed no introduction, arrived with sweat dripping from his chin. He was clad in shiny, steel armor and carried a heavy shield on his back and a sword sheathed on his belt.

"What took you, Jeran? One would think you would've been here first!" Fernypoo laughed. Jeran took it in stride as he stood on Hannah's right side and finished drinking the cold water from a flask on his belt. Hannah couldn't help but smile at having two very handsome gentlemen next to her. It reminded her of the popularity she enjoyed with the male customers at The Golden Dubloon.

Jeran, meanwhile, told them all of how he had nearly been caught by King Skarl in trying to come up with a convincing excuse to leave. This brought forth a belly aching round of laughter from his companions as King Skarl was not known for being the sharpest tool in the shed.

"He's smarter than he lets on, trust me." the Meridell knight replied with a grunt as he started to take off his armor. Laying the nearly thirty pounds of protective gear, not counting his heavy shield, in a neat pile behind him he sat down and assumed the same position as everyone else.

This time the wait was not as long but they were surprised that not one but three individuals were together not to mention their identities. Jeran in particular was shaken out of his tranquility and stood up before Prince Jazan of Qasala, his companion Nightsteed, and Magax commonly known as the Destroyer.

"I didn't know villians were invited to this meeting." he said with a snappy, confrontational tone. Without even a slight hesitation the Kyrii prince and the Wocky renegade both summoned magical energy to their palms in anticipation of a fight. Hannah, Magnus, and even Jazan's Uni companion quickly moved in between them to try and prevent a brawl. Ultimately, though, it was the act of Princess Fernypoo rising to her feet that got their undivided attention.

"ENOUGH!" Fernypoo shouted in a voice that sounded like it had came from the heavens. "Jeran I don't recall making you the authority on who I was destined to summon here. May I remind you that I myself am also stained with a sordid past." she barked as Jeran sat back down with a huff. The other guests, with the exception of Nightsteed who had already began his journey back to Qasala, followed suit before Fernypoo herself joined them.

"Seeing that all of the alpha male posturing has run its course..." Fernypoo quipped while she retrieved the aged tome Hannah had seen days before from the cloak laying next to her. "...I'd like to get things going. For starters, I want you to hold each others hand and close your eyes. We're about to take a little field trip."

With a little reluctance the five guests did as they were told. Fernypoo grasped Magnus and Jazan's hands and they all focused their minds together. A few seconds later they found themselves in the midst of a large temple surrounded by a very familiar group of spirits: the Guardians of Magic.

Each of them stood like giant sentinals and cackled with intense magical energies relevant to the sphere they represented. Hannah and the others couldn't help but be in awe of the ghostly apparitions as they were told by Fernypoo to only speak when directed to so as not to offend the ancient beings.

"Finally you have come, descendant of the hero. We do not have any time to waste if Neopia is to be saved from the horrors that nearly decimated it utterly so long ago." the Guardian of Life Magic spoke in representation of the group. "We offer our unconditional assistance to you. Consider it our way of atoning for being used as pawns by Jahbal when your ancestor journeyed to defeat him."

"So you will allow your essences to infill my companions here and empower them with your magic?" Fernypoo asked as the Guardians each smiled almost in unison.

"My dear it would be our great pleasure. We will, of course, have to test each of them to determine that they are worthy to become the vessels of our great power. But I speak for all of us when I say that a better group for this task one could not hope to find in a thousand years." the Guardian of Life Magic said with a little sarcasm in his deep, haunting voice.

This statement of praise brought smiles of their own to the five potential candidates who sat quietly behind Princess Fernypoo. The royal Acara quickly ordered her charges to stand as the apparitions walked towards them. The Guardian of Fire Magic placed his hand on Magnus' head as the others stood waiting patiently.

"Magnus the Torch you shall be the first to be tested. Do not be afraid as you enter a strange place never seen by mortal eyes. Instead focus on the goal that will be laid out before you. As the Guardian of Fire Magic I loan you a portion of my magical energies for this task. Succeed and you shall bear all of my strength to use against the armies of Jahbal!"

The others and Fernypoo could only look on as Magnus was then literally sucked into the Guardian itself. Whatever trial or tribulation the Tyrannian Scorchio faced, they hoped, would be one he could overcome...so he could help convince them that they could do the same...