Twist of Fate

As Mysteria stared, Priscilla began chanting... The faerie was murmuring something unknown, a language which was as old as the age of Neopia... The song- or Faerie spell- went on and on, it chilled Mysteria to the bone just to hear those weird, twisted and misshapen words from the Fire Faerie's own mouth... Finally, she ended it with:

"Sheoul und secretois. Obtaeun Sybryna!" yelled a triumphant Priscilla as the two Neopets of Sabrina gasped in terror to see her altered face. Her hands were radiating with an unearthly coloured magic (a glowing acid green, to Paw's and Mysteria's disgust) and her usually thin amber eyes transformed into a vivid fuchsia with a wide set complexion.

Suddenly, the Lupe of Fate saw a clear glass sphere (containing dense washed-out, twisting smoke) speeding towards Priscilla's hand... Mysteria wanted to scream "NO!", but her muzzle/mouth wouldn't move because she felt frozen with fear for her owner… Sabrina! The Lupe screamed in her mind instead, in unison with Paw's rapid breathing. The Kougra sensed fear. And they together felt an icy dread of Priscilla freezing in their very veins...

Sabrina's POV in the glass ball…

The first sensation I felt was coldness, a never-ending ice numbed me from within… I opened my blurry eyes. Where was I? I thought as I tried to hug myself for warmth, only to find out that I had no body… WHAT! I couldn't believe myself as I realized that my body was gone… And I couldn't see my Neopets around me. I was aware of many curved surfaces pressing down on me, but I couldn't feel it… Was it because Priscilla did something horrible to me? Was I alive…? It didn't make any sense to me as I shivered, trying to shake off my experience.

I wonder what happened to my body? I wanted to escape from my horrible glass prison, but I couldn't even make a sound! I felt dizzy and faint as the arctic atmosphere penetrated my still alert mind. Priscilla's voice came through the glass, but I didn't know it was her at first.

"Hello, Sabrina. Enjoying yourself in solitude, Sabrina?" her voice echoes.
What happened? Am I alive? Am I dead! Tell me! Where is my body?

"You are neither alive nor dead, you are only sleeping… Your body is in comatose. And your foolish Neopets are bargaining for you…"
Sleeping! If… If you do anything bad to my Neopets, you'll…

"I'll be what? Dead? Not likely… Don't you realize it? I stole your soul!"

My SOUL! AAARRRGHHH! I raged at this revelation.

"HA, HA, HA! I'll keep your soul for eternity!" cackled Priscilla.

Just then I heard a familiar voice… Mysteria! She seemed to be talking to someone- Priscilla, or someone else? I was filled with a sense of forebode as I realized what must have happened. I saw through the glass (my 'eyes' had cleared up) and saw my Kougra looking at me, but he didn't actually see 'me'- he saw a glass ball.

And then I saw my own unconscious body lying just outside the room… I didn't know what to do; I was so dismayed and sickened by just looking at it. Just then I had a great idea, what if I could send a message to my mind-reading Kougra? It was worth a try! I was willing to try anything.

Paws POV, who is In the Crystal Room…

To the green Kougra's utter horror, Paws recognized the object in Priscilla's hands... And heard the words in the object's mind! "Please... It's so cold." said the familiar voice to Paw's super-smart brain. "Help me, anyone... I can't stand it any longer! I'm in the glass ball. I'm freezing and I feel so light-headed..." Then there was chilling silence.

"Priscilla has taken our Mum's soul! We must stop her from using it!" The smart Kougra brother's mouth was talking very rapidly as Mysteria snapped out of her temporary trance.

"YOU MONSTER! YOU'VE TAKEN MY BROTHER AND MY MUM!" Mysteria roared in a rage... "You must pay the price Priscilla." Immediately, a glowing aura surrounded the Lupe of Fate and she launched a burning attack on the Fire Faerie. BOOM! An ice sculpture shattered behind Priscilla. She tried again, but Priscilla blocked it... It didn't work, realized Mysteria... Would her mum be soulless forever? Could the fate of Neopia be diverted from Priscilla's worldly plans for renewal of the Neopian crystal ice plains?

Suddenly, there was a cry as a well-known figure entered the room... And another complete stranger. Priscilla was in shock, she was so horrified that she almost dropped the smoky ball of soul. The light was so bright when Lorrain entered the room, filling it with many unearthly cadences. The Light Faerie smiled at the two Neopets as Kassiko the Lenny flew in...

"Kassiko!" yelled Paws and Mysteria.

"Yepo, it's the only prank-star Lenny!" squawked Kassiko.

"YOU!" responded Priscilla as she pointed angrily at Lorrain. Lorrain laughed at her.

"Yes I'm back, Priscilla... I've been watching you and I think it's time you paid your due." She turned to Mysteria... "You're the Fate Faerie's Lupe all along, did you know that?" The yellow Lupe was amazed... Mysteria was a Faerie's Lupe all along! Paws went "YEAH!"

"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" A high pitched yell sounded from Priscilla who seemed to be beyond rage, she was so annoyed at the outcome that she seemed a little wild about it all.

"No, it isn't..." pointed out Lorrain as Priscilla fumed. Just then, all the ice sculptures began to move across the ice, groaning about revenge for crystallizing them, all of them were headed for Priscilla's face!
"You froze all of us, now you must pay the price for keeping us locked up in here!" They moaned horribly as Priscilla tried to fight off all of them with no success… The crystal Neopets were all immune to fire-type attacks!

"Sun Flare!" shouted Lorrain as all the crystal Neopets broke out of their gem-stone coverings and became normal once more.

It's your turn Mysteria," The Light Faerie, Lorrain winked. "Flip the Coin of Fate and hope that your destiny (and Neopia's own destiny) can be restored and diverted from fate! Let our chance be tails."

Mysteria flipped the coin with her soft nose and the gold Scarab coin clattered on the ice floor without a sound… The Neopets puffed as Lorrain stared at the symbol… It was TAILS! "Now, use your powers to destroy Priscilla." shouted Lorrain.

"Darkness Diverted!" howled Mysteria as the palace began to shake with fated magic... And then, Priscilla gave a final scream and was consumed by the darkness... "NOOOO! IT WAS WRONG TO TAKE OVER NEOPIA!" It was too late; with a slurp she was finished. There was a sound of relief from everyone.

The still sleeping body of Sabrina was picked up by her Neopets and given towards the honest Light Faerie... She was waiting for them...

"You know what to do, Lorrain... Don't you?" asked a saddened Paws, he was sniffing back tears. Parlrina bowed his Wocky head. Kassiko hugged him for comfort.

"What if you can't do it?" said Parlrina to Lorrain.

"Her personality will be trapped in that glass ball forever. And her body will be permanently sleeping, not awake or moving." Lorrain told the Neopets.

"Can you do the spell now?" said Mysteria tersely.

"Seris Daero, Illcithus." waved Lorrain over the body. There was a glow and suddenly, the smoky ball hovered and disappeared with a flash of light. The Neopets held their breaths for what seemed like ages... Then there was a cheer as the now awake body rubbed her head...

"Ow, I think I- Where am I? Where's that evil Priscilla?" said Sabrina as she noticed the floor was slick with ice. All of her family laughed and cheered as they pounced onto their owner in disbelief!

"The soul transmission was a success." said Lorrain, "My job is done for now… Teleport back to Neopia." There was a flash and everyone was back in Neopia... Except for Lorrain.

"Sabrina, you're awake! Did you notice anything?" said Mysteria.

"You've changed your appearance," noted Sabrina.

"YEP!" said Kassiko, "She sure did!"

"Did you notice anything while you were asleep?" giggled Parlrina.

"Why all the questions!" laughed Sabrina goodheartedly. "I did notice I was cold and felt lonely... I heard voices around me and I sent a secret message to you, Paws. It's a good thing you're a telepathic Kougra! And a lucky one at that! If it were not for you, I would have completely being in the hands of the evil Priscilla, and who knows what she would have done after she changed Neopia's entire landscape? Would she have taken over the world? Who knows…"

"I don't think so," said Paws as he cocked his head to the side, "I think she would have started her own ice cream parlor!"

"Don't be such a spoilsport!" shouted Parlrina gleefully, "Just be glad we're out of this entire mess! I'm glad I didn't get trapped in there! I felt like my fur was going to shiver!"

"The Crystal palace was creepy," agreed Kassiko, "I didn't like it at all and too many statues of frozen Neopets were staring at me! If it wasn't for Lorrain and Mysteria, we would have been at the mercy of the creepy zombie Neopet users/owners! Ewwww…!"

"Yeah, I think Priscilla was crazy as well, imagine! A fire faerie wanted to change the Neopian world into ice and crystal and create zombie Neopets and humans!" laughed Mysteria at the idea of the zombie Neopets/humans, to her that was weird.

"Let's go back home and talk about our exciting adventures in the Crystal Palace! I might even record our adventures in the Neopian Times! But what shall we call this series of events?" Sabrina hugged all of her four Neopets in turn as they all grinned at her happily.

"I also think it's a good thing that we were saved from Priscilla... By a twist of Fates!" commented Kassiko as they walked through the sunset covered lanes of the Neopian landscape...

THE END

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