Remembrance
It was indeed a full week before I was finally released from the hospital. I'm not sure if they were sorry to see me go as Un-eairkagh received quite a few dirty looks as we exited. Sabreur drove us all to my house. No one broached the topic of what we were going to do next. I was grateful, I needed time to rest some more before tackling our next quest.
The house was just as I'd left it. MoonFall had done extra work keeping it stocked with food and clean for my arrival. Sakuko mentioned that she'd helped with the shopping and Sabreur had managed finances while I was gone.
"He nicked your ownership papers shortly after," she explained, "So he had all the rights to your stuff and pets. I think he's put them back now so they'll be where you usually keep them."
"Which is…?" I prompted.
"Beats me. Just because he knows where they are doesn't mean he's not careful with them.
I nodded. It was good to know I had a brother that was trustworthy with my pets and house.
The next day, at my pet's insistence, we headed out to the castle where I had fought Aldrai. Our first stop was the lake I had fallen into.
"One of the nearby pets dove in after you," MoonFall explained, "it was a peophin. She drug you out onto shore and from there the faeries took over."
I stared at the lake with a disquieting feeling in my heart. We didn't linger there long.
Our next stop was the castle itself. The thing was nothing but rubble now. Collapsed entirely to the ground. Much of the rock was scorched, as if a fire had burnt there.
"It fell shortly after Aldrai's spell was lifted," Un-eairkagh said softly, "Here. There's one more spot you should see."
Not too far from the lake and castle was a section of ground where no grass grew. It was blackened and blasted for about a ten foot radius. In the center was a scar on the earth's surface.
"This is where Aldrai fell. The earth just split apart and then sealed itself back up. No grass will grow here."
I walked forwards and knelt near the scar. There was power soaked into the soil. I could feel it saturating the soil nearby and burrowing deep into the earth.
"We can find him," I said sharply, "I can feel the trail of power he left. We'll just follow that."
"It's still there…? After all this time?" MoonFall asked in a hushed voice.
"It's 'cause there's so much power," Terraile said, "Remember, Aldrai lost all control over his magic. He was trying to rework the very fabric of Neopia. The remains of that attempt will probably be etched here forever."
"Magic is like the landscape," I explained, "When a volcano erupts, it changes the surroundings around it. The same is here. This spot is not only a hot point for light magic now but it's also affecting the nearby currents. I wish I could've seen the currents before this place settled out…"
"It was wild for a couple days," Terraile said, "Some areas have been totally reworked. Sent the faeries into a tizzy."
"I can imagine."
It was then I noticed a couple candles set in the dirt nearby. Some were burning. Flower petals also lay near the candles.
"What's this?" I asked, walking closer.
"Remembrance," Terraile said softly, "No one is really sure what happened with the zafara, but they do know that he regained control of himself and went into this dive before he lost it again. They pity him now and seek to honor the sacrifice he made to save those he had hurt."
"And what do they say of me?" I asked.
"You are not even mentioned," Terraile said with a worried expression.
"For the best, I imagine," I said with a sigh, "Heroes are always better as a memory than as a real person."
We returned home after that. Sabreur and Sakuko were in my kitchen, drawing up plans of what we'd need for the journey underground.
"Who all is coming, anyways?" I asked.
"Everyone," Sabreur replied.
"Everyone? Then who is going to watch the house when we're gone and all…?"
"We won't need to. Just lock the doors and ask the neighbors to bring in our mail. Nothing different than a vacation."
I sighed and joined the two at the table. Sabreur was sitting there with the accumulated info about the underground about him. Sakuko was writing up a list of supplies.
"What do I need to do?" I asked.
"Head to Neopia Central with Melody and buy all this junk when we're done," Sakuko replied.
"And I'll head over to the Virtupets Space Station to buy all the equipment I'll need," Sabreur added, "Got some new inventions I think will help."
He shoved a pile of papers towards me. I picked one up and started studying the diagram.
"Capacitors… wiring… resistors… I know that symbol… that's batteries… but I don't recognize that one from my high school physics class. What is this exactly?" I asked.
"A really big flashlight," Sakuko said.
Sabreur gave her a put-out look.
"No, it's a lamp. One powerful enough to suffice for all twelve of us. I call it the Halogen 3000."
"It's a really big flashlight," I said and handed the design sheets back.
"It's not a really big flashlight! It's going to be the size of a wristwatch."
"So it'll be a really powerful flashlight."
"Yes!"
"Big, powerful, what's the difference?"
"Big refers to size. Power refers to voltage. There IS a difference."
Sakuko snorted in laughter and I rolled my eyes. Sabreur looked mildly annoyed and returned to his planning.
Melody and I took an entire day to shop. We brought along all our pets to help. Sakuko and Netsuko went with Sabreur and Infernus to the space station. We were planning to leave in two days time. Sabreur affirmed that that would be long enough to allow him to build what he needed built.
"Okay, so we've got the backpacks for everyone, the food supplies, and the canteens for water," I said, "Weaponry is already taken care of so we need healing potions now."
"Are we going to be able to carry all this?" Melody asked.
"Certainly. Just think of it as a camping trip. Without tents. We won't need those underground."
"I don't camp much."
"That's okay. You'll be fine."
"Isn't there a book along the lines of what we're doing?" Terraile asked.
"Yes. My dad read it to Sabreur and me when we were in kindergarten," I replied, "Journey to the Center of the Earth. I didn't like it much."
"Kindergarten…" Lady MoonFall spluttered.
"I was an odd kid growing up…" I replied softly.
"We've always known that," Un-eairkagh chimed in.
I tactfully ignored him and moved on to the next item on our list.