Long, long ago, up in the skies and near the heavens, there were three great cities called the Cities of the Sky. The three cities were: the City of the Wind, the City of the Clouds, and the City of the Stars.
The Cities of the Sky had an ancient treasure: the Gem of Fyora, which was blessed by Fyora herself. It rested upon the Altar of the Heaves, high up above the Cities in the Tower of Air. It shined a beautiful golden in the City of the Wind, pure white in the City of the Clouds, and midnight-blue in the City of the Stars. The Gem had many amazing powers, but its most special power was that it kept the Cities together, even though they were apart.
However, like most ancient gems and seemingly unbreakable lines of peace and harmony, something bad had to happen sometime or sooner.
And the time was sooner.
The late king of the Cities, King Alto, wanted the Gem for his own. He had ventured from the Palace himself to the Tower of the Air, where he stole the Gem and was planning to use it to take over the Cities and then the entire world of Neopia. However, he fell from the top of the Tower of Air all the way to the land below, and perished. The Gem, unable to leave the sky, broke into three separate pieces.
Peace and harmony were broken almost once. The Cities raged wars over each other, trying to decide who was going to keep the fragments of the Gem of Fyora. Finally, they decided to each take a piece for their own.
The fighting had ceased, but peace had not fully come. It was an ignorant peace, where the Cities just completely ignored each other. Trade and traveling was cut off, because no 'outsiders' was allowed to enter any of the Cities. Gradually, the Cities grew apart, and in the end, they all just disappeared.
Little Lukinonia Star the small Split Aisha jumped on her bed. The moon and the stars were shining outside as her mother told the little Aisha's favourite bedtime story.
'You're such a great storyteller, Mommy!' she said, pulling her blankets over her.
'Why thank you dear!' she said, in surprised tone. Karolina Star was in fact a great storyteller, and had a better memory than almost anyone in Neopia.
'Mommy, do you really think there are a City of the Wind and a City of the Clouds and a City of the Stars?' said Luki, closing her eyes.
'We'll see dear,' said her mother in a strange tone. 'We'll see...'
A few years later, a Split Aisha, followed by a Purple Aisha and an Orange Aisha, walked down the deserted Palamor Street. It was a beautiful twilight and they were walking in the direction of Palamor Forest. The Split Aisha looked depressed, the Purple Aisha looked worried, and the Orange Aisha looked sad.
'I'm really sorry, Luki.' said the Purple Aisha to the Split one.
'Yeah, really sorry,' said the Orange Aisha gruffly.
'Oh don't worry Panika! Granion!' said the Split Aisha. A much older Lukinonia Star wheeled around to face her two best friends.
Panika and Granion were sister and brother. Their parents couldn't afford to keep them, so they deposited them to the Pound, saying that they would come back someday. A few weeks later, they were rescued by Karolina Star and her young infant Lukinonia, and they where kindly fed and cared for them until they managed to find a good foster home for them. The three Aishas became good friends, and did almost everything together.
'Well, like all living things on Neopia, everything must come to an end,' said Panika wisely. Out of the trio, she was the smartest.
'Come on sis; you know we don't understand you about 88% of the time!' said Granion. Out of the trio, he was the most athletic, but not the brightest crayon in the box.
'Will you guys stop arguing for just ONE minute?' said Luki angrily.
Her friends quieted down. They did have a tendency to argue, but they knew that there was also a time to stop.
'Your mother was a wonderful person, but her time on Neopia has to come to an end, like for me and for you and for Granion too,' said the Purple Aisha.
'Yeah Luki, it wasn't your fault,' said Granion, trying to sound wise.
Luki knew that she had her friend's empathy, but that wasn't enough. Their Neohome was sold an hour before she passed away in the NeoHospital, because they needed the money so she could stay in Hospital. Now that she was gone, she was to stay with Panika and Granion's foster parent until she found a family for her own.
'...and all I have left is her midnight blue tear,' she muttered sadly so her friends couldn't hear her. She drew out the small vial that she hung around her neck. It was so small that her mother's one tear filled almost the entire container. It shined a greenish-colour in the late afternoon. She stuffed it back into her shirt and held back tears; right now was the time to be brave.
The trio advanced into the Forest. It was quite a maze, and a lot of times it was resourceful for escape from the dangers of their little village; gangs of robbers and other scary things had begun troubling the village ,which was just on the edge of Neopia Central. Luki barely noticed her two friends bickering away.
A Hopso hopped by. A Spyder dangled off a tree. And an Aisha with beautiful faerie wings sat in a nearby tree, watching them. It was sitting beside a rather transparent Starry Aisha, who was smiling at Lukinonia.
Luki's ears twitched and she looked up. She could hardly believe her eyes.
'Mother!' she cried. 'Mother, is that you?'
The Starry Aisha beamed. It floated down in front of the surprised Luki, the doubtful Panika, and the astonished Granion.
'Lukinonia, my child,' she said in a faraway voice. 'Lukinonia, how wonderful it is to see you again!'
'Oh Mother,' cried the Split Aisha. 'I've missed you so much!'
'Relax Luki, I've only been away for 3 hours,' said Karolina in a cross voice. 'Anyways, I still have a little time here, but very little.'
'I have come here to send you on a quest, Lukinonia of the Stars. It will be perilous, but needed. Do you and your friends accept?'
'Yes!' cried Luki and Granion at once without thinking. Panika was lingering, but she agreed to in the end anyways.
The ghastly figure of Karolina smiled- or at least, seemed to. 'That is excellent. I have come to tell you something that you must believe. You MUST take me seriously; it takes a lot of energy and magic to bring the dead back to life, even if for only a little while.'
'You must embark on a quest to bring peace and harmony back to the Cities of the Sky.'
'What?' questioned Panika, all of a sudden. 'That's only a myth!'
'Child, I am serious.' said Karolina in a stern voice. 'The Cities of the Sky have begun to crumble and wither. If they COMPLETELY disappear, then the Sky will fall and all of Neopia will be lost.'
Karolina paused for a moment for the message to sink in. Then, she continued, 'The only way to do this is to get the three pieces of the Gem of Fyora from the City of the Wind, the City of the Clouds, and the City of the Stars, piece them together, and then get to the Altar of the Heavens, which is at the very top of the Tower of Air. Only then will the Cities re-unite and be able to use their magic to keep the sky from falling, and prevent a truly terrible ending to Neopia. It will be dangerous, for none of the Cities allow outsiders into their midst. However, each of you possess a special quality, and surely the City will let you come in, though I'm not sure how you're going to find and rescue the piece of the Gemstone before they see through you and capture you forever.'
The transparent figure of Karolina began to tremble and shake. 'My time here is up,' she said. 'Take care!'
She blew a kiss and was gone in a flash of light.
The three friends looked at each other gravely. The Faerie Aisha, whose magic managed to bring an imprint of Karolina's spirit back to Neopia for a short time, was very tired but he knew that he had a job to do.
'Well, we must make haste!' he said in a booming voice. 'Are you coming, or not?'
The three Aishas were standing in silence. They didn't know what to do; they knew that they had to save the Sky but part of it still seemed like a joke. However, they knew that Karolina coming back to life from the dead and then telling them that they had to was no joke, so they quickly agreed.
'Alright now, the only way to get to the City of the Wind, your first stop, is the Pathway of Light... and the only way to get there is to use the Talisman of the Faeries.'
The Faerie Aisha looked at the three of them and then pointed to the place where Luki's Vial, which contained her mother's teardrop, was. He muttered a few words and the vial slowly lifted up. Luki was surprised and so were her friends. The Faerie Aisha made a swift movement with his paws and the teardrop glowed rainbow for a second before falling.
'That teardrop... it is special. The Talisman of the Faeries has disappeared for a very long time, but if your mother's last teardrop contains all the love and caring she had for you. It will guide you to what you need to know. I cannot come with you into the Pathway, but I wish you all the best of luck.'
The Faerie Aisha flew high into the air and was gone in a flash of pink.
'Now what do we do?' asked Granion silently.
A small breeze flittered through the Forest as the three friends looked at each other, their heads buzzing with questions.
'Well, there's only one thing we can do,' said Luki. She lifted up the Vial around her neck, and held it up towards the sky.