Luvin tensed, "Alkuna...? Are you all right?"
"Kuna hun, what happened to you?" I walked hesitantly over to her.
Alkuna shook off as though shedding water from a swim. Abruptly her fur smoothed, she raised her head and she stopped baring her teeth. She now looked like the classy, if normally grumpy Lupe she always was.
"Nothin's wrong with me Mum. I just got back from prowling the rough part of town like I always do. That's how I look when I go out there. It keeps the thugs from messin' with me." Alkuna tossed her head, "And funny, but I heard you two talking about the darkest place in Neopia Central. Well I just came back from there. If there's ever a creepy, largely unexplored place in the whole lot, I'd say I found the best."
Alkuna sat down, grinning slightly, knowing she had our full attention. She scratched an itch lazily, enjoying the attention then looked each of us in the eyes, "The Art Centre," she said simply.
"Of course," I breathed, "Only a fraction of those catacombs are being used. Think of how many caves are just left in total darkness and silence."
"Any evidence that the Wraiths or the Shadow Usul are there?" Luvin asked warily.
"Which would you like? The unnatural hissing or the shadows that move and creep around when you're not looking?" Alkuna asked sarcastically.
***
Indeed, the shadows really did seem to move as we made our way into the darker recesses of the Art Centre. We stepped carefully, armed only with two lanterns and our weapons.
HIIIIIISSSSSS-SSSSSSS
A Kougra Wraith separated from the shadows to block our path. "Sssstand away mortalsssss. You are in way over your head..."
Luvin took a deep breath and growled, "We've come to send a message to the Shadow Usul; the time has come. We will not allow her to continue."
The Kougra Wraith turned away slowly and melted into the shadows again, "I will go deliver the messssssage..."
Silence descended. Luvin and I traded looks and then made our way deeper. The walls of the tunnel vibrated briefly and we ducked as dirt and pebbles rained down on us from the ceiling above.
"I don't think she's happy about the message," I muttered.
Slowly the slick tunnel walls changed and gave way to shiny black rock. If I hadn't known better I would have said we were in a cave of obsidian; which meant that there was an extinct volcano under Neopia central. A closer look reassured me that it was not volcanic but I couldn't tell much more than that. It was almost as if the shadows had been turned solid. Very creepy. The narrow walls opened out to a massive cavern.
What we saw next was enough to drop my stomach down to somewhere around the pads of my feet. The Wraiths were everywhere. And there was no counting them. Row upon row of "lightless" Neopet heads appeared above their formless bodies. Black eyes oriented on us as we stepped into the cavern. A slow soft hissing rose to that of a loud whisper and continued as we made our way down an aisle that cleared for the two of us.
And there she was, on a raised dais at the other end of the cavern; the Shadow Usul herself. She was so solid looking that it was a relief to see a normal form of Neopet after so many floating pools of darkness.
Glowing golden eyes glared at us from pitch-black fur and a wild looking purple ruff of hair ringed her neck.
"So, this is the duo who are supposed to be the Guardian's of Neopia? Not much to look at." Her voice was completely different from the hissing voices of the other Wraiths. It was flat, emotionless...and hungry.
Luvin's ears plastered themselves to the sides of her Kougra skull and she growled deep in her throat.
The Shadow Usul flicked a glance at Luvin and twitched her tail in amusement, "You think you can threaten me kitty cat?" She slunk slowly down the steps, her eyes never leaving Luvin's. "Tell me, can you truly think that a little light will stop all of us? You may stop a dozen, but even a flame can be overcome by the darkness if there is enough of it."
"Darkness is not a solid entity Shadow Usul," I sail coolly, "Thus darkness alone cannot quench light. It merely makes the light seem brighter."
I could swear the Shadow Usul smiled, though there was no real way to tell on that black on black face. She turned to me and slowly circled me, eyeing me up and down, "Can't it?" she purred, and rubbed against me like a cat.
I shuddered. That creature was COLD. There was nothing solid in that form, just darkness and a burning cold. She flicked her bushy tail across my face, making it ache and forcing me to retreat from the cold.
Then she was away and rubbed against Luvin, who's eyes widened and she too shuddered at the feel of the Usul's icy touch.
"How can you control the Wraiths...or do you..?" Luvin asked, her paw sliding to her Million-degree sword warily.
"Ahhh. How cliché. The 'hero' tries to get the 'villain' to unmask her whole plot." The Usual slid away from Luvin, her tail flicking in an almost cheery manner.
"Well, for the sake of conversation I shall answer your question." She paced among and through the other Wraiths, and they seemed to gaze at her with an almost worshipful awe. "I am disappointed in you though. Haven't you figured it out? I AM a Wraith. But not just any... no. I am the first of them all. And the only one who can form my body to resemble what I looked like in life."
"What made you all come back into active status, as it were?" I asked, remembering what von Roo had said.
"I am the strongest of the Wraiths, so I never went inactive. But I became concerned when the faeries came to Neopia to tame the lands and the pets for the arrival of humans. The Light and Fire Faeries obliterated half of my people before I could lead them into the safety of the Catacombs. I studied you humans and was in for a surprise...you're all weak."
"So that's why you started turning your people loose," I said softly, "You think we can't stop you. And with so many Ghosts and other undead to feed upon you think it's paradise."
***
Luvin slowly and quietly backed her way to the wall while the Shadow Usual and I had our conversation and climbed above us all until she was as close to the roof of the cavern as possible. I hoped she knew what she was doing or we were all in trouble. It was true; with so many Wraiths about, there was no way that I could see for the two of us to make it out alive.
Luvin narrowed her eyes and touched the wall, invoking her Earth powers. A tremor shook the walls slightly as an earthquake passed through the solid stone...and found the open air of the tunnels at each end of the cavern. Tension built instantly, and slowly the ground began to crackle and creak. It would take a while, but soon the energy would collapse the tunnels leading to this cavern.
More time was needed. Luvin crept back down to the floor and touched my shoulder, whispering softly, "When you hear the rock start to collapse, teleport us out of here and fast..."
***
I nodded ever so slightly and Luvin sat next to me, her narrowed eyes taking in the arrogant swagger that the Shadow Usul had built herself up to.
"Oh a paradissse indeed little Eyrie," she said, her voice starting to hiss softly with emotion.
I scowled. I was short as a human, and only a few...very few... were allowed to call me "little." I saw Luvin's eyes widen slightly even as my own eyes narrowed and took on a dangerous gleam.
A powerful rumble was building quickly and a fine dust began to sift into the cavern as the pressure started to pulverise the rock around us. Just a little more time...
My wings exploded open and I lunged into the air, hovering high above the startled Wraiths and the Shadow Usul. I shrieked an Eyrie cry and splayed my sharp steel covered talons, "Well come on then! If we are so weak and small then take me if you can! Face me Usul, if you have the power!"
"Careful Alkuna," Luvin breathed, her words impossible to hear over the rising rumble of stone, "I'm supposed to be the one with the temper..."
The other Wraiths shifted restlessly as small rocks began to take the place of the powdered dust that was falling on us now. But the Shadow Usul was paying too much attention to my display. She gave a hissing laugh and leaped into the air at me.
My gauntlets darkened to pure black as I met shadow with darkness. And suddenly my grasping paws had her! She was solid when faced with more darkness. I gave a caw like a Crokabek and the steel claws dug into the shocked Usul's hide and began draining her power. She screamed in pain and surprise and swiped at my face. I hurled her from me and plunged to the floor, seizing Luvin in my powerful paws and hauling her off the floor as I pulled out of my dive.
The Usul shrieked in rage as the rumble escalated to a roar and the tunnels collapsed, bringing down boulders at either end. "Destroy them!"
The Wraiths hissed as one and rose in a mass of freezing darkness.
"Teleport!" I shrieked above the roar and we disappeared even as our flanks burned with the touch of the first ice cold Wraith.