200 years later…
A girl with brassy blond hair that skimmed her shoulders sat at the computer in her bedroom typing at a frenzied pace. The data on the screen reflected in her pale blue eyes. She had fair white skin and was wearing a black t-shirt with the words 'Normal People Scare Me…' in white letters on the front. She was also wearing baggy blue jeans and white socks that were covered by fuzzy light-blue slippers. She wore black fingerless gloves. She was about fourteen and was pretty and tall for her age.
Creak…
Her typing slowed slightly. She was sure she'd heard a sound. She slowed down and listened between the short periods of time when the keys clicked.
Creak…
There it was again. She quickened her typing again so that whoever was sneaking up on her wouldn't know she suspected something. Her fingers practically flew across the keyboard.
Creak…
She closed her eyes. She was no longer focusing on her typing. Somehow her instincts were handling it for her. She tried to open her mind's eye. She'd done it before… When no one was looking she'd summoned The Power. Why couldn't she control it?
Creak…
She sighed and opened her eyes. No trace of The Power. She'd just have to wing
it like she always did. She spun around in her computer chair and dove forward,
knocking her stalker to the floor with a battle cry. She struggled with whoever
it was and put them in a headlock.
"Thought you could sneak up on an unsuspecting girl huh??" The girl yelled as she almost strangled whoever was in her grasp.
"CAROLYN! It's me!" A tiny voice rang out. Carolyn
looked down and saw a small, male, blue, Blumaroo locked in her arms. "Hophop…"
She groaned releasing him. "What the heck are you doing?"
"Sheesh. Remind me never to get on YOUR
bad side." Hophop grumbled rubbing his neck. "I just thought I'd surprise you!"
"More like scare the shit out of me!"
Carolyn sighed pulling herself up into her computer chair.
"Whatcha doin'?" Hophop asked, suddenly all cheerful again.
"I'm working on a book report for school. MY school in the human world I mean." Carolyn added on quickly.
"Why do you have to do that here?" Hophop asked.
"Because the time difference between two worlds gives me tons of time to work on it."
"How does that work again?" Hophop asked
curiously. "I forgot…"
Carolyn sighed and rubbed her forehead. "There's a portal in a person's
computer screen that they can activate when they sign up for Neopets. They can
enter it at anytime and access the world of Neopia. But since Earth and Neopia
are two different worlds, time flows differently in each world. You can spend
years in Neopia, not age a day, and come back and find out only a few minutes have
gone by in the human world since you went through the portal."
"So that's why you're doing your homework here."
Hophop declared. "So it won't take up a lot of your time in your world."
"Bingo." Carolyn said as she put the
finishing touches on her paper. "This was just assigned today and I already
finished it."
"How do you explain it to your parents?"
"They were suspicious at first but when
I showed them my completed work in my handwriting they believed me." She
giggled. "They don't know Neopia is a real world. They think I'm some kind of
super genius. I'm finished. Come see how it sounds."
Hophop bounded over to the computer and climbed up onto Carolyn's shoulder. He looked at the screen and began to read out loud.
"…Cirque Du Freak by Darren Shan is perhaps one of
the best books I've ever read. It is a true a...achiev…um…Carolyn? How do you
say that word?"
"Achievement." Carolyn sighed.
"Okay. A true achievement of greatness for the
horror genr…gen…um…how do you say that?"
"GENRE." Carolyn sighed. She saved the
document and closed it.
"You should be focusing on more important things than silly horror novels!" Hophop said jumping back to the floor. "Like finding a boyfriend!"
Carolyn laughed. "No way. I'm too old for that!"
"You're only 14!"
"I better start making out my will…"
Carolyn joked writing on an imaginary piece of paper. "To my loyal pet Zafey I
leave the house. Pachi gets the money, Aqua gets the furniture…and Hophop gets
the leftovers in the fridge."
Hophop stuck his tongue out at her, even though he
knew she was kidding. "Very funny."
"So what did you want to talk to me
about anyway?" Carolyn asked.
"We're bored!" Hophop whined. "Could you tell us a
story before we go to sleep?"
Carolyn rolled her eyes and smiled. Her Neopets were still young. And even
though Hophop was the oldest (and the only one Carolyn had adopted) he was a
mischievous little creature. The others we also a little childish, but they
were still more mature.
"Okay, okay." Carolyn said standing up. "I'll read
to you. I sure haven't got anything better to do."
"HEY!" Hophop yelled as he and Carolyn
left the room and headed towards the living room. "I MANAGED TO PRY HER AWAY
FROM THE COMPUTER! PACHI! YOU OWE ME FIVE BUCKS!"
"You got lucky!" Pachi whined as they entered the room.
Carolyn's other three Neopets scrambled up to her. Zafey was a female blue Zafara with green eyes. Pachi was a female Usul with cream-colored fur and a large red ribbon tied around her tail. Aqua was a female Aisha with sky blue fur and dark blue eyes. Hophop was the only boy.
Carolyn sat down on the red couch. Her neopets climbed up after her, arguing over who got to sit in her lap. But in the end, Zafey, Carolyn's first Neopet, won. She sat in Carolyn's lap and nuzzled against her owner while the others sat next to her.
"What book do you want me to read?" Carolyn asked and she stroked Zafey's fur. Pachi held up a book about twice her size.
"Read this one!" Pachi begged, "This one!"
Carolyn took the book from Pachi and looked at the cover. The book was green
with golden letters that read: "Neopian Fairy Tales" By: Anonymous.
"I guess I could read you this." Carolyn said smiling as she flipped through the book trying to find a good story to read. She found one called: 'The Legend of the Chosen One.' Carolyn didn't know why, but she felt very compelled to read this one. She cleared her throat and began.
"Once upon a time in Faerieland a great war had broken out. It was caused by the creation of a relic with fearsome power. The queen of faerieland was the creator and protector of the relic, but her evil sister started a war over possession of the relic. The queen, a kind, wise, powerful, and beautiful woman, protected the relic with all her power and her sister never came close to laying a hand on it, no matter how many battles were fought."
Carolyn paused and then continued. "The queen had lost her husband to the war several year earlier. She fell in love with her advisor and wanted to spend her life with him. They became engaged, but fate would not let them be. Her fiancée turned on her and mortally wounded her during the final battle of the war when the queen's troops had finally achieved victory. He stole the relic from her blood-soaked hands and began to mercilessly slaughter her remaining troops."
Carolyn was shocked that this was in a children's book but there was no way she could stop reading now. She continued. "But before she died of her wounds, the queen, a master archer, fired an enchanted arrow into the man's heart, destroying his body and sealing his soul in a dark amulet for all eternity. As the queen died she told her daughter to shatter the relic and scatter the three pieces so no one would be able to use its power for evil ever again. With that the war ended and both the queen and her advisor died."
"Hooray!" Pachi cheered. "She stopped the bad guy!"
"Yeah, but what kind of story was that?!" Aqua cried. "Everyone died! It was horrible!"
"I'm not done reading." Carolyn said calmly. "After the queen's funeral, a boy that the queen had adopted went on a journey. He was inflicted with a terrible curse but the queen had still taken care of him and he loved her like a mother. He went on a journey to find her reincarnation so that he could guard her. 200 years went by, but the boy's curse made him immortal with eternal youth so he remained 16 even after 2 centuries. He looked like a normal human, but the true effects of his curse were a terrible secret that he carried. Only the memory of the queen kept him from taking his own life."
"That's so sad…" Zafey sniffed.
Carolyn was also feeling sympathy for the boy. But she continued to read. "The boy finally found the queen's reincarnation. She had come back as a young girl about his age. She had earlier found the pieces of the relic and restored it to its original form. The boy took on the job of protecting both the girl and the relic. But the amulet containing the advisor's soul still existed. He finally regained his body by feeding off negative human emotions. He feared the queen's reincarnation and began to target her for death. He, the girl, and the boy fought many times over the relic. Until the final confrontation on the slopes of Terror Mountain, where the boy and the girl fought for the freedom of this world."
"What happened?" Aqua cried grabbing at Carolyn's sleeve. Aqua was a bookworm and loved to read and hear all kinds of stories.
"It seemed like the end. The advisor had managed to snatch the relic from the girl while the boy was preoccupied. He underwent a terrible transformation. Both the boy and the girl were powerful, skilled fighters, but they were unable to harm him in his new form. It seemed like the world would perish, and the boy and the girl would be his first victims.
"But then a miracle occurred. During their time
together, the boy and the girl had secretly fallen in love with each other. In
this dark moment when all hope had faded, the two finally confessed their
feelings to each other."
"YUCK!" Hophop gagged.
"It was at that moment when the prophecy surrounding their lives began to come true. The dark shroud that had covered the sky suddenly lifted, and the light from their bond conquered the darkness."
"I loved that story." Pachi sighed.
"Great story mom." Hophop said rolling his eyes, "Could've used a vampire though…"
"Then read this!" Carolyn said shoving another book into Hophops arms. He read the cover out loud.
"'Cirque Du Freak' By: Darren Shan. It sounds great! I'll start reading it tonight."
"Okay, I read you a story. Now get to bed!" Carolyn instructed them. All the Neopets gave a groan of annoyance and ran into their rooms.
About half-an-hour later, Carolyn emerged from the bathroom that was adjacent from her bedroom. She rubbed her wet blond hair with a towel. She had just finished taking a shower and was now wearing her PJs. Her headphones rested on her head, blaring Rob Zombie's 'Dragula' at top volume.
"Phew," Carolyn sighed as she collapsed on her bed in exhaustion, "What a day… What a weird story…" She looked up at the ceiling, "Why did it sound so familiar? Like it actually happened or something?"
A ringing sound interrupted her thoughts. It was the phone.
"Who could be calling at this hour?" She thought frowning. She picked up her phone. "Hello?"
"Carolyn?" A familiar voice said. Carolyn sighed.
It was Dr_Death from the pound. "Thank God I got a hold of you! We need you
down at he pound right now!"
"Are you kidding?!" Carolyn exclaimed, "It's..." She looked at the clock. "It's 11:30!"
Carolyn worked at the pound to make extra money. She needed the money, but most of all, she loved taking care of all the sweet Neopets that were there until they found loving homes.
"You have to!" Dr_Death cried, "One of the pets is
deathly sick! It'll count as overtime! I know you need the extra money
Carolyn!"
Carolyn's face turned red. It was true. Carolyn and her neofamily were very poor. They had just barely 10,000 neopoints in the bank. And her boss knew it.
"Fine! I'll be right over!" She snapped. She hung up and sighed. People always seemed to take advantage of her. She hated being so nice, but she thought of the sick pet and her heart melted.
She hastily got dressed, threw on her jean jacket, and bolted out the front door. She stopped to lock it. Carolyn's house was small, cheap, wooden Neohome. It looked like it was falling apart. And it always seemed to need maintenance. A year ago, they'd gotten termites, last summer the plumbing backed up, and just last week Carolyn had discovered thousands of piranhas spawning in the toilet. Whenever something went wrong with it, Hophop always said, "Hey Mom, our crap-shack's going to hell."
It was raining out, but Carolyn's jacket didn't have a hood, so her hair quickly became soaked. The only bit of warmth her icy hands had, were her fingerless gloves. Carolyn lived in Neopia central, not too far from the pound so it was usually an easy walk. But Carolyn was in a hurry, so she bolted across the street, not noticing an oncoming car. She saw light flood the road from the headlights. She glanced up and saw the car speeding towards her at a frightening speed. She froze with horror, unable to move.
Suddenly she felt something tackle her from the side. She was yanked out of the path of the car. She heard the driver yell, "Damn kid! Running into the road like that!"
She felt whoever it was that had tackled her, get up. She could hardly make out his features in the rain, but she could see he had pale skin, was wearing, sunglasses to hide his face, black clothing, and a black cloak. He also had short black hair. He looked a little older than she did. She stared at him in shock.
"Are you alright?" He asked. "You're not injured?"
"I-Injured?" Carolyn stammered. She sat on the sidewalk looking up at the boy in shock. "N-No. I'm f-fine!"
The boy nodded. "Good." Carolyn blinked and suddenly he was gone. He had vanished into the night.
"He's gone..." She whispered. "Just like that..." She felt herself blush. Suddenly she glanced at her watch. "OH CRAP! NOW I'M REALLY LATE!" She got up and sprinted the rest of the way to the pound. She occasionally got the feeling that someone was following her, and turned around to check. But every time she looked, no one was there.
Hours later, Carolyn gathered up her stuff as she prepared to leave the pound. The Neopet had survived, and was now recovering. It would be fine in the morning.
"You're an angel, Carolyn." Rose the Uni told her, "No one else would come!"
"Maybe 'cause it's an ungodly hour to be working." Carolyn meant it as a joke, but it sounded serious. "Of course, a poor bum like me needs all the money I can get."
Rose smiled. "You're not a bum and you know it. Now get home. It's almost 1:30."
Carolyn left and started running. It was late, she was exhausted, and she just wanted to get home and sleep. She reached the crosswalk where she'd nearly been run over and looked around. No sign of that boy.
"He was an interesting guy too." She sighed, "I'll probably never see him again. He was probably just out, saw what was happening, and saved me." She smiled, "I doubled this weeks paycheck, and that stranger saved me from getting run over, I must be the luckiest girl in the world!"
Oh how wrong she was!
She reached the front door. She reached out and touched the doorknob. The door swung open.
"Weird, I was sure I locked it." She said frowning. She walked in and froze.
Her house was in shambles. Chairs, tables, and other pieces of furniture had been knocked over. Random objects lay strewn across the floor. A pillow from the sofa had been ripped to shreds. Carolyn stood there numb with horror. She didn't move, it felt like her feet were rooted to the ground. Then she bolted into the hallway. She threw open the door to Pachi's room. Pachi wasn't asleep in her bed. In fact, Pachi wasn't anywhere.
Carolyn frantically checked Aqua, Hophop, and Zafey's rooms, hoping that they were still there. No such luck. All three of them were nowhere to be seen.
Carolyn bolted back out into the living room. She was in a panic and turning over pieces of rubble, hoping to find some sign of them. "PACHI?! ZAFEY?! HOPHOP?! AQUA?! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!"
"If you're looking for your pets, they aren't here." A cold voice sneered. Carolyn looked up. A tall man with ugly acid green skin and red slits for eyes was standing behind her, leering smugly. His green hair was spiked up, making him look like an overgrown mutated rooster. Carolyn shuddered, she'd seen this man's picture countless times before in the 'Gallery of Evil'. She recognized his face almost instantly. It was a face full of malice, cruelty, and a thirst for power: Dr. Sloth. Carolyn quaked with fear at the sight of him.
"A-A-Are y-y-you…" Carolyn gulped pointing at him.
"Am I what?" Sloth said calmly.
"D-Dr. S-Sloth?" She stammered. She was shaking and struggling to stay upright.
"Yes I am." Sloth said grinning wickedly. "I see my reputation precedes me. Isn't that right, Jhudora?"
Carolyn spun around. Jhudora the dark faerie stepped out of the shadows. She had long violet hair with green streaks. She wore a beautiful purple and green dress. Her eyes were a piercing shade of green. Carolyn had heard the story of Jhudora, she had been banished from Faerie City by Fyora and forced to live on a dark cloud, in a dark tower, just outside Faerie City.
"What is this," Carolyn whispered softly, "A villain convention?"
Sloth snickered slightly at her joke. "I suppose
you're wondering where your neopets are."
Carolyn clenched her fists at her side. As she spoke, she tried to sound brave
and defiant. "If you've taken them..." She snarled, "If you've mutated them, if
you've hurt them in any way I swear I'll..."
"You'll what?" Jhudora sneered. "Face it, we have your pets, and there's nothing you can do about it."
Carolyn bit her lower lip and bowed her head. "Why?" She asked, "Why me? Why my pets? If its money you want, I can't pay you."
"We figured that just by looking at your house." Sloth laughed.
Carolyn became frantic. "I can't pay you NOW, but I'll give you my paycheck from the pound or any games I play, for the next fifty years or as long as you want! I'll pay in small amounts until my debt is paid!"
Sloth shook his head. "No, your money holds no sway over me."
Carolyn was getting frustrated. "Then what DO you want?! You must have some price, otherwise you wouldn't have kidnapped them!"
That was exactly what Sloth wanted to hear. His grin widened. "Tell me something, Chosen One, what are you willing to do to save them?"
"Anything." She snapped. Then she frowned, "What a minute, why did you call me Chosen One?"
Sloth ignored her question. "Anything, hmmm? Would you even consider joining me?"
Carolyn's jaw dropped in amazement. "M-Me? Join you? Why? I'm not skilled in fighting, there's nothing special about me, I'm broke, I'm a bit above-average when it comes to intelligence, but other than that..."
Sloth laughed. "Trust me my girl. There's something VERY special about you. Tell her Jhudora."
Jhudora smiled. "As you probably know, I have the
gift of foresight. I can't control when it happens, but when it does work, it's
very useful. Well, the other day I was sitting in my tower, minding my own
business, when I had a vision. A vision, with YOU in it."
Carolyn was stunned, but Jhudora continued. "It showed you walking forward, light surrounded you. Your eyes were glowing golden in color. It seemed like someone else was walking behind you, she was little taller and had faerie wings, I couldn't make her out however." Jhudora frowned slightly, then continued, "It was clear to me, that this only meant one thing: the legendary Chosen One now walks the earth, and she stands here before us." She nodded at Carolyn.
"Legend?" Carolyn asked, "What legend? What's so important about this Chosen One, person?"
"All will be explained if you agree to my offer." Sloth said calmly, "Now, is it yes or no?"
Carolyn shook her head. "Forget it, I may not understand any of this, but I won't do anything that might involve helping you."
Sloth's eyes narrowed. "You're making a big mistake. Refuse us, and we'll kill your neopets, agree and you'll have everything you'd ever want. But it's join my forces, or no deal!"
"Then it's no deal." Carolyn whispered, realizing what her words meant for Zafey and the rest of her pets.
Sloth shot her a hateful look. "You're a fool. Don't think I was bluffing just now, I WILL kill them, just wait and see. We'll give you three days to come to the Dark Tower and give us your answer."
"And then," Jhudora said giving a little mock wave, "It's bye-bye neopets..."
Sloth turned towards the door. "Come Jhudora, we're leaving this little hell-hole." He stormed out the door. Jhudora followed. They both vanished into the night.
Carolyn sank to her knees. She buried her face in her hands and wept. What was she going to do? She didn't know why Sloth and Jhudora were after her, but if she did go over to their side, who knew what kind of disaster would befall Neopia?
She lifted her face from her hands, her tears continued to flow. But if she continued to refuse them, it meant sacrificing her pets. How could she do something like that? They were almost like children to her.
"It looks like..." She sniffed, "I'll have to join them after all..." But that thought made her feel just as bad. She gave a moan and started sobbing again. She sobbed and sobbed and sobbed, until a thought crossed her mind. There was someone she could go to for help, someone who had succeeded in defeating both Jhudora and Dr. Sloth. Someone who would hopefully hear her problem and help her.
She would have to speak to Fyora, the Faerie Queen.
