A Humble Foot Soldier

     Darkness. Darkness was all I saw. I remembered running around on errands for her Majesty. "The festival must be perfect." I kept hearing her voice repeating these words to me. Now everything was Chaos. Buildings destroyed, broken tree branches, my friends lying unconscious all around me... All I could hear was Aethia yelling, Taelia trying to calm her down, and Kaia mumbling some words under her breath. I got up, my vision was blurry, my head was throbbing, but I had to know what was going on. I walked through one of the main roads, stumbling due to all the debris.

      I find the Faerie Queen and hope she can give me an answer as to what just happened. "The wraiths", she said. "They've attacked us. Isabell, I'm afraid we are at war."

      "Oh no!" I couldn't believe my ears. Wraiths here in Faerieland! The place I've called home for so many years! We had worked so long to try to restore Faerieland to its former glory and now look what's happened. As I'm lost in thought, lamenting all that has occurred, I'm taken out of my daze by a strong voice powering through the air:

      "Fellow Neopians", the voice of Aethia rang with confidence. "We will not cower down and let ourselves be taken. We will not allow such behavior to go unpunished. We will show those wraiths who we are and we will rise up victorious in battle. They have started this war and we're going to end it!"

      Simply inspiring. I heard the cheers all around me. Within minutes Neopets of all species are lining up and pledging themselves to the cause. Everybody had a skill set to contribute; our puzzle solvers decoded Kaia's murmurs and found the enemy, the battlers drove the wraiths away and collected ingredients they left behind, and our expert alchemists were able to turn those ingredients into potions to clear up that nasty purple haze. What a surprise it was to us all when we discovered those wraiths were in fact our possessed friends! We couldn't stop now. We put all our best efforts into healing them, but it was of the utmost importance to find out who was responsible for all of this. However, the unity of our army was being tested. Conflicts were starting to form among the faeries. Kaia and Aethia seemed to be in one endless disagreement. While I admired Kaia's passion for finishing this once and for all, I didn't think ending someone's life would be the correct answer to all of this.

      A very suspicious Lupe emerged from the woods named Malum. We battled him long and hard but after defeat he admitted he had nothing to do with the wraiths. How could we trust the words of a complete stranger? Kaia insisted that he couldn't be and that we should immediately have him done with. Of course, this didn't sit well with the rest of the faeries. It was inconceivable that we take such drastic measures without any hard evidence of his crimes. With the Queen taken ill, everything seemed to be falling apart. Kaia and Aethia were arguing over who should be in command, while the rest of us neopets sat quietly awaiting new orders.

      While all of this was happening, no one thought to keep checking in on Malum until all of a sudden he went missing one day, with all that's left of him being his sword. We found a note near his bed, leading us to think he had been kidnapped! I couldn't believe it, he had been telling the truth all along. I instantly felt bad about having beaten him so many times in the Battledome. But where could he be? The search was on. Our mission was to find Malum at whatever cost. My battalion was assigned to the Haunted Woods, but I quickly found myself separated from the rest of my group. I guess I must have accidentally taken the wrong turn, past the Gypsy Camp and into Neovia. As I was looking around the Forgotten Graveyard, I saw Kaia and she looked completely different from her normal self. The once quiet faerie looked like a complete monster, full of rage. I was terrified and started to run away but she flew towards me, blocking my path.

      "Where do you think you're going you weak pet? I can't have you going around telling anyone what you saw. We're going to end this right here, right now".

      Before I know it she had taken me to an unknown part of the Battledome. It's so eerie and cold, I shuddered from just thinking what may have been lurking in the shadows. I took out Malums sword, but I was trembling. 'Where could she be?' I thought to myself. Suddenly she jumped into the arena holding one of the most powerful weapons I had ever seen in person. My heart dropped and I felt faint, but I remembered the training I received in the Academy. Aethia trained her soldiers well; she taught us this magical trick where we could prevent someone from using their weapons. I immediately whipped out some pillows I kept on me at all times and threw them at her. No amount of strength was able to go up against the sleep that overcame her. She tried fighting it, but it was no use. I'll admit there's no honour in beating someone while they're down, but there was no other way. I just wasn't as strong as some of my brothers and sisters.

      7 days of battle really took a toll on me. I was hungry, dirty, and starting to feel a little ill. I was starting to think I wouldn't last; I just hoped all my friends knew how much I cared about them. But right when I was about to give up, I give her one last blow and there she fell. Or so I thought. Right before my eyes Kaia turned into the Darkest Faerie. She gave a piercing screech and disappeared into a poof of black and purple smoke. I sat there rubbing my eyes for a moment, surely I must've imagined it; the Darkest Faerie is a statue.

      I made my way back to Faerieland to tell the Queen what I had seen, but alas she is still in bed. I knew she would take some time to recover, but how would we get through this without our fearless leader? I wanted to do more to help, in any way that I could. So I started walking through the affected areas to see what can be done and what do you know there's Granny Hopbobbin collecting donations for the Neopians in need. The next few days were spent rummaging through my Safety Deposit Box, my closet, my storage shed... anything that I owned that I could donate, went into the donation bin. I even bought some things to be able to donate them. In no time at all we were able to completely restore the homes that many lost during the attacks.

      It's been several months now that the war is "over". I mean it in that way because even though the fighting has stopped, we will always carry a piece of those long, difficult days in our hearts. The battle was long and strenuous but we've made it; we've managed to rebuild and carry on with our lives. It's a joy for me to continue assisting Queen Fyora, as we still have many future festivals to plan. But we do this with our heads held high, knowing that no matter what danger arises, we the Neopians will rise to the occasion.

      The End.