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The golden bell tinkled as a burly fire Lupe walked into
the quiet shop. He cast his golden eyes around the large, tidy store, as if
he was looking for something.
"Hello Beyaru," a blue Nimmo in a white shopkeeping
apron called as he peaked out from a door at the end of the store. Beyaru waved
his paw in casual greeting as the Nimmo walked towards a glass display cabinet,
taking out a key.
"I assume your looking for another item for Jhudora's
quests," the Nimmo said casually as he inserted the key into a sturdy golden
lock, which guarded an impressive display case full of rare weapons and other
items from all over Neopia. Beyaru nodded as he walked towards the shopkeeper.
"Yeah, more of those quests," he grunted
in impatience. "This time that overgrown bat wants a Shadow Usul plushie." The
Nimmo opened his eyes wide at the request as he reached into the cabinet and
carefully pulled out the plush.
"You must be on a high level if she's asking
you for stuff like this," the Nimmo observed as he went behind the counter to
ring up the purchase. Beyaru puffed out his fiery chest with pride.
"Oh yes, level 44 actually," Beyaru boasted.
"Iif I get this back to her in time I'll have myself a new Dark Faerie Collar!"
The Nimmo took the items Beyaru offered in trade for the plush.
"Good luck, hope you make it back in time!" the
shopkeeper encouraged. Beyaru smirked as he put the plush in his knapsack, and
ran off towards Faerieland.
**
All around Faerieland the sun was shining in the perfect blue sky, not a threatening
cloud in the sky. Beyaru barley noticed the change in his surroundings as he
drew closer to Jhudora's cloud, the once spotless clouds changing to noxious
looking green and purple lumps of filth, the landscape obscured by a hazy mist.
Beyaru merrily trotted towards the darker region of the cloud where a twisted
and deformed castle stood. The Lupe entered the citadel without fear as he came
up towards a golden and purple thrown situated in the center of the castle's
main hall. In the malformed throne sat Jhudora, an evil grin on her calm face.
"Hmm… Beyaru, is that you?" she asked silkily, casting
her emotionless eyes over towards the Lupe. Beyaru dropped the plush at the
foot of Jhudora's throne and furrowed his brow.
"Alright Darky, there's your plush, now where my stuff?"
the fire Lupe demanded immediately. Jhudora gave a sly chuckle as she slowly
got up from her throne.
"Oh Beyaru, Beyaru," Jhudora clicked her tongue as
she walked towards him.
"Such a tempter… really! You should control it; it
might just be your downfall ones of these days," she added darkly. The Lupe
rolled his eyes impatiently as Jhudora stood in front of him. She reached behind
her neck and undid the silvery clasp on her choker, handing it to Beyaru.
"Here's a little something for you," Jhudora said as
she handed the glowing choker to Beyaru. He snatched it greedily, an odd gleam
in his eyes. This was something he had been working at for a while now. The
famed choker of Jhudora! All the rumors he had heard about it were swirling
around in his brain. Of course, so many people had tried to get this choker,
but many failed the difficult quests. Even some who managed to receive her choker
never bothered to keep it, but simply gave it back to its owner. Beyaru made
a promise with himself, ever since he heard about these odd tales, that he would
never return such a lovely prize.
"Heh, thanks Darky," he replied nastily, still grinning
as he walked towards the door but continuing to address the dark Faerie.
"Honestly Jhudora, I only have to pay you 2 million
for an item that I can sell for MILLIONS more? I thought you weren't as DENSE
as that!" he cackled before breaking out into a full run out of the castle.
Jhudora smiled evilly as she watched the Lupe run off.
"Hmm, Neopets are such gullible creatures," she hissed
to herself as she turned back towards her throne.
***
Beyaru burst into his home later that evening with his green prize around his
neck glowing ominously. On the plush green sofa in the living room was a small
yellow Aisha, watching TV with mild interest. However, once Beyaru entered the
house her attention was riveted towards him.
"Beyaru!" Anatell squealed, jumping off the couch and
over to her older brother. Anatell adored Beyaru, her older brother. True they
were simply related because both were pets of the same owner and were not truly
brother and sister (as far as blood went), but she felt a strong bond to Beyaru
as did the Lupe to her. All through the day Anatell had sat watch by the door,
worrying if her brother would be able to get the choker that he desired for
so long from the dark Faerie.
"I got it! I can't believe it!" Beyaru howled happily
as strutted around the living room to show off his collar. His sister giggled
happily as she latched on to his leg.
"Oooo! I knew you could do it, Beyaru!" she smiled,
glowing with admiration. Beyaru beamed back and quickly looked around the quiet
NeoHome.
"Where's Tom?" the Lupe inquired as he looked around.
Tom was the owner of the two pets, but rarely seen by them. Recently he had
been disappearing for long stints of time without any explanation. The few times
he had come back to the house he acted distant and moody. For the most part,
the two pets were on their own with their owner's massive fortune at their disposal.
"Still gone…" Anatell frowned, as she looked down.
Beyaru narrowed his eyes in anger as he stared at a nearby wall.
Figures!, the Lupe snored to himself, He's
always gone, abandoned us like worthless trash on the side of the road!.
His anger rose up inside of him as his fur began to stand on end, his pearly
white fangs grinding against each other. He imagined his owner laughing at them,
wherever he was. Jhudora's necklace slowly began to emit a stronger green light
while Beyaru's mind kept relaying his owner's face laughing over and over.
"Beyaru?"
Beyaru snapped out of his thoughts and looked over
at Anatell. The little Aisha was looking at her brother with a worried expression.
The fire Lupe brushed a few strands of fur out of his eyes and smiled at his
sister.
"Are you okay, Beyaru? You looked so sick a minute
ago," she asked, concerned. Beyaru cleared his throat and shook his furry head.
"Naw, I'm okay, really," he said, rather unconvincingly,
but Anatell believed it. Beyaru lowered his face down to her level and smiled.
"It's bedtime for all little yellow Aishas!" he said,
allowing the small creature to climb onto his head as he ascended the staircase
to put her to bed. His mind kept wandering back to his episode a few minutes
ago. He had no idea what that rage was, but it was disturbingly comforting to
him.
***
That night was possibly the worst night Beyaru ever experienced in his life.
He stayed up whole night, his mind buzzing about everything that happened in
the past few hours. For some reason he was just bitter, bitterness he couldn't
explain nor understand. A bitterness that made his blood boil with anger. He
kept rubbing Jhudora's collar (he vowed not to remove it, in fear that the Pant
Devil might just visit him that night) as thought it were a reassuring toy.
Finally, he managed to sink into his soft bed in hopes that he could squelch
the relentless thinking that his mind was subjecting him to, but it was no use.
His dreams were filled with memories of his owner cruelly making him battle
pets far beyond his level and then his verbal abuse when he lost miserably.
He dreamt about all the injustices in his life and a cold, mirthless voice,
which would always hiss throughout his dream world.
"Your life is so tragic Beyaru, but I can remove
all that fear, and sadness…forever…"
Beyaru awoke the next morning exhausted, as if the
fact that he slept the whole night was worthless. His very nerves were on end
with a terror that he didn't understand. A terror that not even the greatest
villains of Neopia could install within him.
Beyaru rubbed the glowing green prize still around
his neck. It seemed to glow even brighter today, which made him smile for some
bizarre reason. Naturally, this was the only reason that he did all of Jhudora's
awful quests, for her necklace, his biggest prize of all. He pondered for a
moment why all those who received her necklace returned it without any explanation
of why they had done so, but it didn't matter…it was his now!
But ever since he had gotten the necklace, strange
things were happening. He kept thinking about his owner, how he had left them,
his mere memory bringing a rage like nothing Beyaru ever had before. He kept
dwelling on his worst memories, reliving them over and over even though he tried
not to, many times. Sometimes through the mass panic that his mind would produce
he would hear a voice in his head, one he never heard before, whisper through
his thoughts.
"It can be over soon. Simply listen to me…"
The Lupe woke up one morning to hear an odd rattling
in the floors below. He walked down drowsily, but stopped upon the last step
as his eyes fell upon his owner. The skinny, dark hair boy sat on in the main
room, watching TV lethargically, barley even noting Beyaru was in the room.
"What do you want, Tom?"
Tom turned towards Beyaru, a look of deep disgust upon
his face, returned by mutual dislike by the owner. The two had been at odds
because of Tom's lack of interest in the two pets and Beyaru's hostility at
this breaking off. The boy's dark eyes fell to rest on Jhudora's pulsating necklace.
"So how many points did you waste away on that?"
Tom hissed. Beyaru narrowed his eyes at his owner, clenching his trophy quickly.
He has the nerve to insult ME? Beryaru thought.
All Tom ever does anymore is show up once every few weeks, complain and then
leave!
"Feh, I earned it through a quest, got a problem with
that?" Beyaru snarled. Tom looked taken aback but then turned back to the TV.
"Do whatever you want. You guys are just fine without
me! Go on. Do whatever. I don't care anymore"
Beyaru snarled at his owner. He didn't care about him
anymore; to the Lupe this thing standing before him was no longer a person or
a being. He was an enemy.
"Don't look at me like that!" the boy hissed, but Beyaru
continued to growl, his luminous teeth gleaming as he slowly advanced on his
owner. Tom glanced around and grabbed a nearby lamp, sharply prodding it towards
the mad Lupe in an attempt to scare him off. Beyaru snagged the lamp with his
wolf jaws and flattened the metal pole with a tinny crunch. The boy looked at
his Lupe in fear, slowly backing towards the wall.
"Be-Beyaru! It's ME!" he screamed, almost pleaded to
his pet. Beyaru's eyes showed no recognition, inside his head he thought of
nothing, except the voice from his dreams whispering almost as if it was next
to him.
"Don't listen, Beyaru. He lies. How could you ever
trust what HE says? He left you on your own, left you so he could do 'new' things!
Teach him what it's like to feel betrayed…"
Beyaru smiled at the voice. It was almost comforting
to hear, really. Something about it was recognizable, and even thought a voice
inside his mind was yelling at him, beseeching him to stop, he didn't dare disobey
the other voice. Beyaru lunged at his former owner, knocking him to the ground
with his large bulk. The boy managed to quickly recover from the fall and hastily
ran towards the door at the end of the room, slamming it shut before the Lupe
could continue his barrage of attacks. Tom didn't even bother to look back at
his home before running down the gravel sidewalk, vowing never again to darken
the doorstep of the place, which he worked so hard to make a home out of.
***
Tiny little Anatell looked up at the dark house as she slowly made her way
home. In her mouth she carried a basket full of fresh fruit from the Lost Desert,
one of Beyaru's favorite places in all of Neopia. She saw Tom early in the morning,
before Beyaru awoke, and decided to find the fruit for her brother (knowing
that he would need something to cheer him up as the more recent meetings of
the owner and pet had become nothing more than a shouting match). It took her
a while to find all of the fruits that her brother enjoyed, but she knew that
he would need cheering up after meeting with Tom. Their owner didn't care much
about the two now, heartbreaking as it was. Beyaru adored his owner with all
his heart and Anatell wanted to make sure that she could do anything to help
Beyaru out seeing as he would have commanded the stars in the sky to stop sparking
if it were to please the young Aisha.
Anatell's intentions were lost when she opened up the
wooden door to the NeoHome. Everything which the pair owned had been trashed
beyond recognition. The curtains hung lifelessly in torn heaps upon the floor.
Her favorite green sofa was marred and ripped, the stuffing mercilessly flung
about the room. Even the pillows, which normally sat on the couch were in pieces
all around the room (some even managed to find their way on top of the ceiling
fan).
Everything was dark in the house, Anatell noted, due
to the fact that something had smashed every light in the house, plunging it
into an eerie darkness.
The yellow Aisha's mind raced. Beyaru? Where was he!?
Did her owner possibly do something to him?
"BEYARU!" Anatell cried as she abandoned her
gift on the floor and raced up the stairs. She quickly stopped, her breath catching
in her throat as she peered down the hall where a grotesque figure stared at
her. A Lupe like creature stared at her with glowing purple eyes. Its fur was
matted and tangled, as black as the surrounding shadows with an odd purple and
green flame patters, which licked at its tail and feet. Claws the size of gleaming
daggers stuck to its feet, and out of its lips protruded teeth that made Anatell
panic. But something along the eyes was just…so familiar.
"B-Beyaru?" Anatell sobbed. It was unmistakable to
her; it was her brother, the person who swore that he would always protect her.
Anatell rushed towards him, but the twisted Lupe snapped his jaws at her, barley
missing her paw by inches. Anatell recoiled in horror as a cold voice laughed
behind her.
"Scared of something, dear little Aisha?"
Anatell turned to see Jhudora standing in the hall,
her wine colored hair flowing across the carpet. The Aisha stared at the Dark
Faerie in horror, looking between Jhudora and Beyaru.
"Wh… wha… WHAT DID YOU DO TO BEYARU?!" Anatell demanded,
tears welling up in her eyes. Jhudora smiled, bearing a pair of sharp fangs,
and began to cackle in a hardhearted voice.
"I merely gave him what he wanted," she simpered, pointing
at the deformed Lupe, "with that collar around his neck I was merely able to…open
his eyes." She smiled darkly at the last words.
"You did NOT! You just made him… him… evil!" Anatell
shrieked. Jhudora scoffed at the Aisha's words and bent down to her level.
"Evil? Hardly. I made him better than what he was.
Five months ago when he started to become my errand boy he was nothing but a
simple Lupe. Barley able to give the Pant Devil a bruise! But now I've changed
him, he's stronger now… and happier, might I add!" Anatell's ears perked up
at these words, she didn't dare believe them.
"Happier?" Anatell squeaked, unsure of anything. Jhudora
nodded and pointed an electric green nail at Beyaru.
"I was able to look into his pitiful mind while he
wore my necklace. His fears, his dreams… I had access to it all. Oh yes, I saw
through his mind," Jhudora repeated, seeing the horror-struck look on Anatell's
face, "that's why everyone always returned my necklace. They were clever little
pets, figuring out that something was seeing more than it was supposed
to see. But Beyaru never caught on, pitiful sap!" She hissed with delight looking
over at the Lupe.
"Because he kept that necklace on I saw how he worried
that your owner will leave the two of you. How he came to realize that one day
the points, which support the both of you will run out and you two will be left
desolate. How one day you will grow and you will leave him, like your owner
did. But I cleared his mind of all that! All of his fears and insecurities are
gone. I merely left with him the knowledge that he can simply tear these problems
into shreds, rather than having to deal with them in the conventional matter."
She rolled her eyes at the last few words. Before Anatell could pipe up again,
Jhudora snapped her fingers and headed towards the stairs.
"Beyaru. Come," she demanded, walking down the stairs.
The deformed Lupe lumbered obediently as Anatell looked in abject horror.
"WHERE ARE YOU TAKING HIM!?" she bellowed. Jhudora
barley turned her head, sending Anatell a look of pure evil.
"Oh, he's coming with me, my dear. You see he prefers
to do my bidding now. I can provide him things that will prevent the awful heartbreaking
pain that you and that feeble owner install within him." And without a further
word, Jhudora clapped her hands together and disappeared with Beyaru in a puff
of smoke.
Anatell looked at the spot were her brother stood for
a while hoping that someone would reveal that this was all a very cruel joke.
After an hour of standing at the foot of the stairs, the Aisha walked out of
the house. Stopping only when she was outside to cast one final glance at it,
before walking the lonely streets of her neighborhood.
The End
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