Part 2 - The problems of Faerieland
The next day came too quickly for Crusherwhite. He still felt so tired, possibly due to the lack of sleep he had after that nightmare. The words of that mysterious Lupe still rang in his ears.
"What did he mean by cursed?" he asked himself as he opened the passageway. He walked down the tunnel leading to the main room and continued to think about it. "What exactly will this curse do to me?" he thought. He opened the trap door and entered the room. Everyone else was already at the table, eating their breakfast, a bowl of Coco Neocrunch cereal.
"Well, well, well, the sleeping prince awakens" said Sharkgrey as he saw Crusherwhite. Apparently Carnax489 had told the others of the passageways because he wasn't asking about it.
"Oh, zip it, Sharkgrey!" Crusherwhite told him irritably as he sat at the table. Carnax489 was reading a copy of The Neopian Times and seemed pretty interested by something.
"I think you should listen to this," he said suddenly. "'Experts were baffled today by the mysterious changes that were reported in Faerieland. Black clouds, frozen buildings and other abnormalities have been reported and there have been no signs of any residents or Faeries. Even Queen Fyora has been reported missing.'" Crusherwhite automatically stopped eating and stared.
"Anything else unusual?" he asked. Carnax489 looked through the paper and stopped at another page.
"Today, a red Aisha was found mysteriously frozen in Neopia Central. This ice not only refused to break with every attempt made, but also repelled everything that was used against it," he read.
Crusherwhite suddenly dropped the spoon and ran out, slamming the trap door behind him. He lay on the Altador Rug in his room and said to himself: "It happened. Just like my dream, it happened." His thoughts were disturbed by the opening of the trapdoor. He spun around to see his owner enter the room.
"Is there a problem, Crusherwhite? If so, please tell me," he said politely. Crusherwhite was silent for a moment, and then threw himself into his owner's arms, crying a lot harder than he normally did.
"It's horrible, Chris!" he sobbed.
Carnax489 remained silent for a moment, then said, "Please explain what the problem is." Crusherwhite told him of the dream, the strange Lupe, Faerieland's condition and the frozen Aisha. Chris listened to Crusherwhite, then said, "I'm going to write a message. Wait here for me, okay?" Crusherwhite nodded. Chris walked over to the bed, pulled some paper and a pen out of his pocket and began to write:
'Sarah, we have a problem. Meet me at my place as soon as possible.'
Then he sealed up the letter and gave it to Crusherwhite. "Go to Smiley's place and give this to her. Then come straight back. Okay?" he asked. Crusherwhite nodded, taking the letter in his mouth and ran out of the house. A few moments, he returned, with Smiley and her pets.
"What's wrong, Chris?" she asked, a look of worry on her face. He told her exactly what Crusherwhite had said. She looked at him. "We should head to Faerieland," she said quietly. Chris nodded.
"I agree, Sarah. If we're ever going to discover why this happened, we'd better head to the source of the problem."
They were interrupted by Crusherwhite, who asked, "Exactly how do we get to Faerieland?" Sarah knelt down to the white Lupe.
"Loolooneo2 and Loolootwo can fly. They'll carry me, my pets, Chris, and your brothers to Faerieland" she said, gently stroking Crusherwhite.
"But what about me?" he yelped, wondering why he was left out.
Chris merely said, "You have the faerie ability 'Flight', don't you?" Crusherwhite had completely forgotten about his Flight skill.
"Oh yeah - I feel like an idiot," he said. Chris sighed.
"Don't worry, we all forget things sometimes. It's no big deal," he said reassuringly. Crusherwhite nodded and ran to the door.
"Okay then, let's get going."
They soon arrived in Faerieland, and gazed at the devastation that lay before them. "What in Neopia happened here?" Chris asked, shocked. Crusherwhite stepped forward.
"Everything looks exactly the same as it did in my dream," he stated grimly. He began to walk towards Faerie City. Chris ran after him.
"Wait up! Why are you going there? Shouldn't we try and sort this mess out first?" he asked. Crusherwhite shook his head.
"I never got to see what was inside Faerie City, or even the castle. I need to check," he said. Sarah's two Lennys flew up to him.
"They're coming with you. We'll sort out what we can here," Sarah called to him. With a slight nod, Crusherwhite continued to walk towards the Faerie City. He had brought all his Battledome equipment with him, just in case he needed it. As soon as he walked in, he saw something terrible. All of Faerie City's inhabitants were beginning to sink into the clouds. Crusherwhite placed his paw forward, only to have it slowly sink as well. Loolooneo2 grabbed Crusherwhite and managed to pull him out before he sank any further.
"Thank you. Now, let's free these people," Crusherwhite told them. With a silent nod, the two Lenny sisters began to fly around, pulling people out of the clouds and placing them on the rooftops. Crusherwhite began to leap between buildings, throwing the Purple Sticky Hand to the people to use as a rope. When someone managed to grab it, Crusherwhite would pull them out. Suddenly, a familiar scream came to Crusherwhite's ears and he immediately raced towards the source. A red Lupe was sinking into the clouds. Only her head was visible. Without thinking, Crusherwhite leapt into the clouds to rescue her. After much struggling, he finally managed to pull the Lupe to safety. The Lupe looked up at him.
"Thank you," she gasped gratefully. Crusherwhite lowered his head to her.
"Don't you recognise me, Lola?" he asked. At this, her eyes widened with shock.
"Crusherwhite?" she asked. He nodded and was immediately knocked down by her leaping at him for a hug.
"Yes, it's good to see you as well." He smiled. Chris and the others were walking into the city. The clouds seemed to have returned to normal, as Chris was stepping on them without sinking. Crusherwhite leapt down with Lola in tow, saying, "So I see the clouds are back to normal." Chris looked at Lola.
"Would you mind telling me who this is?" he asked. Crusherwhite realised he had never told Chris of Lola.
"This is Lolalupe41. I met her during my vacation to Terror Mountain, and we became friends very quickly," he said. Chris bowed to Lola.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Lolalupe41," Chris said politely. Loa simply smiled.
"The pleasure is all mine. And just call me Lola," she told him. Chris nodded, and turned to face Crusherwhite. However, he wasn't next to Lola like he had been only a moment ago. He had begun to walk to Faerie Castle.
"Don't go any further!" said a voice from his side. Crusherwhite spun around to see Queen Fyora.
"Why not? What happened here?" he asked. Chris and the others caught up to him and noticed the Faerie Queen.
"I see you have friends with you. Maybe you can help us." She gazed at the others. Crusherwhite nodded, awaiting her problem. "As you have seen, Faerieland now lies in ruin due to a powerful dark energy. This dark energy has formed a barrier around the castle, trapping all the faeries inside. Without our magic, this place will soon fall into complete darkness," she said.
"That must be avoided at all cost," Crusherwhite told them.
Fyora nodded, saying, "You, on the other hand are able to enter, as the barrier only traps the faeries. Our magic has also been cancelled out inside the castle. You must find the source of this barrier and destroy it, or at least drive it away." Everyone gave a nod, meaning that they understood, and walked through the barrier into the Faerie Castle. As soon as they stepped inside, they could see many faeries, extremely weak, possibly due to the dark barrier.
"I'll track down the source of this energy - you guys try to help the faeries in any way possible," Crusherwhite told them. Everyone gave a nod and went to the faeries. Crusherwhite raced off through the castle, and Lola decided to go after Crusherwhite to make sure he was okay. Crusherwhite made sure to check every room for any possible sign of the energy source. Finally, he stood outside Queen Fyora's chambers. He opened the door a little and took a peek inside. He saw two glowing orbs of dark energy and a shadowy Lupe. He ran in and raised his Bone Sceptre, ready to strike. As soon as he made contact, the Lupe disappeared.
"So, how do you like your curse so far?" said the voice from his dreams. He looked around, trying to pinpoint the location of the voice.
"Why are you doing this?" he yelled, determined to get answers. A cold laugh rang through the air.
"You won't get any answers that way. Oh look, an unwelcome guest!" said the voice. Crusherwhite turned to the door and saw Lola. The shadowy figure appeared again, but this time it was running towards Lola.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Crusherwhite yelled as he attacked the shadow. It disappeared again, and the voice told him: "I will see you again soon." He looked around, trying to find the shadow and the voice.
"Umm, exactly what were you attacking?" Lola asked, nonplussed. Crusherwhite walked towards the orbs, shattering the first one with his Bone Sceptre.
"The figure that appeared in my dream was in here. He tried to attack you. It seems that only I can see him," explained Crusherwhite. He moved towards the second orb. Thunder wrapped around his tail and he struck the orb, shattering it. At once, the dark energy disappeared and the barrier was lifted. "Come on, we'd better get back," he said, walking back towards the entrance. Lola followed closely behind.
"Can you explain the dream to me?" she asked. Crusherwhite let out a sigh.
"Later," he told her. Back at the entrance, Queen Fyora was waiting along with Chris and the others.
"What was the source?" Chris asked. Lola was about to tell them, but Crusherwhite intervened.
"Two dark energy orbs, and the Lupe from the dream" he told them. Queen Fyora seemed to know something about it, because she had already asked Chris and the others if she could speak to Crusherwhite in private. Chris had given a nod and a bow, and soon left as promised. The others followed Chris, not wanting to disrespect Fyora's wishes.
Lola left Crusherwhite's side, saying "See you in a minute," before walking out of the door.
"Now Crusherwhite, last night, did you have a nightmare of these events?" she asked in a serious, yet pleasant tone. Crusherwhite felt so nervous that he could only give a nod. Why did she want to know? "Crusherwhite, you have become the victim of an ancient and powerful curse. This curse has only affected a few unlucky Neopets, but has nearly brought about the devastation of all Neopia," she told him gravely. Immediately, Crusherwhite was scared. "During the night, the victim suffers nightmares of events that will happen in the near future. Unbeknown to them, their bodies are causing these catastrophes while they sleep," she continued. At this point, Crusherwhite had to say something.
"You mean I caused this to happen to Faerieland?" he asked fearfully. Queen Fyora nodded.
"We know it wasn't your fault, but nevertheless your body cursed our fair city," she said. Crusherwhite felt ashamed.
"I'll take my leave now," he told her sadly, walking towards the door. Queen Fyora called out to him.
"It wasn't your fault, so you have no reason to apologise. Don't worry, we can restore Faerieland," she told him. Crusherwhite didn't reply, but he gave a silent acknowledgement before walking out of the door.
"So, what did she say?" asked Horizongold101.
Lola whacked him around the back of the head and said, "Look at him! He's clearly not in the mood to answer questions."
Crusherwhite walked towards the edge of Faerieland and called "Let's just go home," before using Flight to leave. His brothers merely looked at each other, exchanging confused looks before diving off the clouds. Chris sighed.
"Something's bothering him. And I doubt he'll tell me what it is," he said sadly. Lola stepped forward.
"Mind if I stay with you for a while? I might be able to find out the problem," she offered. Chris nodded.
"We'd be happy to have you with us" he said, cheering up a little.
Lola ran to the edge of Faerieland, yelling "Hurry up. I'm gonna leave you behind!" before leaping off after the others. Chris smiled and turned to Sarah.
"Come on, let's go," he said. Sarah nodded.
"Okay then. Let's jump!" she replied with a smile as she leapt off with her Flotsam. Her two Lennys picked up Tommo36neo and flew off.
"Why am I always getting left behind when she's around?" Chris asked himself as he jumped.
Chris said goodbye to Sarah and her pets at the Rainbow Pool, then returned home with his pets and Lola.
"Well, that was quite an adventure today; let's just hope it's the last one in a while. Lola, you can sleep with Crusherwhite. Use the Altador Rug," he said as he sat down in the chair, the other three Lupes curling up with him. Smiling, Crusherwhite opened the secret passageway and went back to his room. Lola followed him, admiring the passage.
"Well, here we are," he said when they arrived. Lola had ran straight to the Altador Rug and curled up on it, yawning and falling asleep. Crusherwhite sighed as he got into bed. "What did he mean? He was being so obscure when he talked about the curse. Clearly there's something he doesn't want me knowing. But what?" he asked himself as he fell asleep.
That night, Crusherwhite had another dream. He stood in Altador. This city had also changed dramatically. The ocean was a sea of flames, the farms were spewing out toxic gas, and most of the buildings had been frozen, just like in Faerieland. The Hall of Heroes and the Altadorian Archives were unchanged, just like the Faerie Castle.
"I know you're here, so come out!" Crusherwhite yelled. The shadow Lupe from before appeared in front of him.
"Well, you're smarter than I thought. I was half expecting you to ask what happened here," the Lupe told him in its regular tone of voice. Crusherwhite glared at him.
"I know the curse is making my body do this. What I want to know is why!" he said. The Lupe shook its head.
"Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand. Now, watch!" it said. Neopia Central came into focus again. A green Kougra was sniffing next to the frozen Aisha. At this moment, the Lupe attacked again. Crusherwhite once again watched as the Lupe froze the Kougra with the same method as with the Aisha.
The Lupe then pulled out the dagger and dragged it across his left paw, saying, "Only one more. The dark era shall soon begin." At this, Crusherwhite awoke and noticed that Lola was next to him.
"Are you okay?" she asked. Crusherwhite looked at his left paw. Just like last time, the cut was there too. Lola took a look at his paw. "You know, this reminds me of something I heard about a shadow Lupe," she told him. "However, I'm not entirely sure if it's relevant." Crusherwhite wanted to hear more, but Lola shook her head. "I'll tell you tomorrow. Now get some sleep," she said. Crusherwhite nodded, and tried to go back to bed. Lola walked back over to the rug and fell asleep again. Crusherwhite stayed awake.
"He said I wouldn't understand even if he told me," he said to himself, assuming the shadow Lupe was a boy. "What did he mean? And why did that voice sound so familiar? Could it have been me?" These questions plagued him all night. "I hope more will be revealed tomorrow," he thought.