Dar peered out of a polished window, nestled into the burgundy leather seat of the Faerieland Uni Express. The rhythmic bumping of the train knocked him into the glass, startling a yelp out of him.
"What's the matter?" Lilicah inquired gently, peering over her shoulder at her Neopet.
"Nothing." Dar was content, with the ceremony approaching and Lilicah appearing to regain her health, her alertness. Though her skin was stretched tight over her sharp cheekbones and gaunt frame, the silver eyes were intelligent and watchful, taking in everything and shining down on him with their own light.
Lilicah nodded. "I suppose we should get off at the Wheel of Excitement and ask the light faerie attendant for transport to the Nimbus," she decided. "We'll show her the Fyora's message- surely she is aware of it already."
"Okay," Dar agreed amiably. "It sounds good to me."
"Now approaching the Wheel of Excitement," a voice announced over the intercom. "All passengers stopping there should wait until the train as at a complete stop before disembarking." With a ear-splitting whistle and a subtler hiss, the vehicle ground to a halt. Passengers clambered onto the tiny cloud, Dar and Lilicah among them.
The light faerie attendant was admitting tourists to the wheel, looking harassed. "Excuse me?" Lilicah called to her. "Could you provide us transport to the Nimbus of Secrecy?" she asked in quieter tones.
"Lilicah?" the faerie asked. The mage nodded. "Very well. Go with Chanandra," she replied, beckoning to an earth faerie.
Chanandra sighed, looking none too pleased with the task. "The Korbat will fly," she announced brusquely. "I will take you with my wings." Without a further explanation, the faerie grabbed Lilicah by the shoulders and kicked off the cloud roughly. Lilicah gasped in awe- the two of them were flying, Dar at their heels. The Nimbus loomed before them, enshrouded in a golden aura of mystery.
The earth faerie flew off as soon as she saw her passengers had landed safely. Dar observed the cloud, empty but for him and his mistress. It was, he noticed, golden in color, with amber and bronze sparkles that gleamed like the sun, rather than lilac-tinged and cool like the other clouds.
"No one is here yet," he remarked. No sooner had the words left his mouth when faeries, dozens of them, some carried by their own wings and others astride faerie Unis and Peophins, come flying toward the Nimbus, halting at its shores. Dar squinted at the airborne crowd, spotting Illusen, Jhuidah, Taelia, Marina, and of course the faerie queen.
Fyora dismounted her Uni steed gracefully, stepping onto the cloud. "My fellow faeries," she announced in a regal commanding voice, "we are gathered here today to welcome the Mage Lilicah into our society. This is a great honor, granted only to those pure of heart and noble of purpose."
"Yes, my queen," the faeries intoned, melodious and husky, deep and delicate, resonant and quiet voices blending together to form a single, spine-chilling sound.
"The initiate should sit in the center of the cloud," the queen continued, as ceremony deemed fit. Lilicah obeyed, unable to hide an apprehensive shudder.
"Do not worry," Fyora responded in a kinder tone, though she was still quoting the ancient faerie texts. "The ceremony is not dangerous and not to be feared. Now, assemble!" she commanded.
The faeries began glowing, not in the rainbow-hued, jewel-toned shimmers of their own elements but a universal, sunlit luminescence. The light surrounded the cloud, bathing Dar, Lilicah, and Fyora in a pure, golden glow. Still alight, they spread out around the Nimbus, ringing it in their radiance.
Fyora joined them, surrounded in lavender brilliance. "Proceed."
Dar squinted at them, blinded by the light that was somehow beautiful and haunting at the same time. The faeries began chanting in an unknown tongue, their wings fluttering and their light-cloaked forms swaying in an eerie dance. "Allia," they chorused, "Chantal du bien, fae. Anayara. Dreya."
Lilicah began to glow as well, her frail form shimmering in an almost unbearable brilliance. The faeries continued, "Dansa tell mortsche. Ganshemah, tel danc aeris. Mesce." Wings began sprouting from Lilicah's shoulders, iridescent golden ones that swayed in the breeze. Her blonde locks were becoming glossy again, the wrinkles smoothing out of her skin. Her face began to lose its ashiness and a healthy rosiness appeared on her cheeks. Dar couldn't see her eyes- they were closed. The faeries just kept on chanting.
"Daneskara, namishel. Huh!" The chanting stopped suddenly as each of the faeries paused for breath at the exact same instant. Fyora blanched, a sure sign of something gone wrong.
What? Dar wanted to ask, what's wrong? But somehow his voice would not obey. Fyora, however, sensed his anxiety.
"I-I don't know," she stammered, not at all the confident ruler he had talked to in the palace. "Our magic is gone, suddenly, but she's not one of us yet. That means it- it can't be done."
"What?" Dar exploded, finding his voice.
Marina approached them on a faerie Peophin. "The orb took up too much of her power," she explained gently, "so we didn't have enough to replace it. We could have, had she been an average person. I'm sorry." Marina had went on to explain that this ceremony, though it would give her faerie power, was never ment to give her faerie immortality and elemental control. It was more of a healing measure than a transformational one. She was never ment to be a true faerie.
"We didn't tell you," Marina explained gently, "because we felt you would protest."
But what does it all mean? Dar thought.
Suddenly, Lilicah rose slowly, her eyes opening wide. "I'm sorry," she whispered before sinking to the ground again. "Goodbye." Her silver eyes closed, and Dar had a feeling they would not open again.
Fyora touched the Korbat's shoulder gently. "She hasn't died," she told him, voice a haunting mixture of rapture and sorrow. "Not truly. She will be reborn, as a light faerie, a true faerie, immortal. The highest honor." Tears flowed from her violet eyes, tears of both joy and grief.
Dar nodded. A strange kind of ecstasy was swirling inside him. Lilicah would be reborn as an individual of almost limitless power, power enough to do far more good than she could have done otherwise. It was her dream to help others, and she could do that far better as a light faerie. It's a gift, really, Dar thought, She will be able to live two lives, help others, be a true faerie, as Fyora said. But she would not remember him.
Dar felt the joy inside him, but it could not completely submerge the sorrow.