Into the Boxley Wild

Once upon a time in the land of Atheria, there was a Princess Nea and a Princess Lulu and they went on the most amazing adventures. They had just helped Prince Paul and O’Lah restore the Cloud Temple with their Aquarian Crystals after being chased by wingiants, with the help of an old friend as well as a new mysterious one they met along the way.

The next morning, the entire party was back at the Glass Castle in the Sky, including the Shadow Man and the yellow fairy. They were preparing to head out. Prince Paul & O’Lah needed to find the remaining ruins and Princess Nea and Princess Lulu still needed to find the other crystals. Now that Princess Aria had learned that her brother was with Prince William and Tuck, she felt a whole lot better.

The Shadow Man, upon learning that Prince Paul and O’Lah were on a journey to find the remaining ruins, offered to take them back to land and help them on their way. As they were about to set off the yellow fairy began to fly around.

“What is it now?” O’Lah asked impatiently.

“It seems I was wrong about you, clever ogre.” The fairy said.

“My name is O’Lah. O’Lah of Ubbin.” She responded.

“My name is Flix from Scattered Woods.” He said, half mocking her, half being genuine. “I’d like to start over. I’ve never met an ogre like you before.” 

Flix held out his tiny fairy hand and O’Lah held out her finger. He shook the finger with both hands. 

“I guess, so. I’ve never really met a fairy before. But right now, me and Paul have a job to do. We have to bring these Aquarian crystals back to remaining ruins and heal water all across Atheria.” 

“Well, what if I told you I knew where one of the crystals was?” 

“Well,” she said back, “you might be of more help to those two. They’re trying to locate them.” She said pointing to Nea and Lulu. 

She then called them over. 

From the outside the scene looked kind of funny. An ogre talking to an invisible fairy with a funny looking magic mask on while two princesses looked in different directions trying to pinpoint where the fairy voice was coming from. O’Lah was the only one who could see the fairy since she wore her magic mask, allowing her to see magic beings and things. 

“So you two humans are looking for the crystals?” the fairy asked. “To heal the ruins?”

Nea and Lulu nodded. 

Flix began to spin in a circle and then in a instant made himself visible for all to see. For a fairy to make itself visible is a very serious matter for there was still strong magic in fairies. It ran stronger in fairies then any other creatures in Atheria, that is except for the lion and hawk - Tuck and Ryla. Fairies had strong magic in them and because of that people would capture them and try to take their magic. 

“I know where a crystal is. A dark one. I’ve heard from other fairies and giants that it landed in the Boxley Wild. Queen Ignea of Hummingwood has it.”

Now Princess Nea and Princess Lulu knew that there was a fairy village called Hummingwood somewhere in the Boxley Wild, west of Sparland back on land, but had never been there or seen it. It was invisible just like fairies, unless you had something magic to see it with. Queen Ignea was queen of the fairies in those lands.

“The problem is, Queen Ignea isn’t interested in restoring the temples.” Flix said. “She knows it has great power and is trying to use it herself. She’s done protecting Atheria.”

“Can you take us there?” Nea asked.

“Yes, but you won’t be able to see the village without Titan’s Mask.”

Flix pointed up to the mask O’Lah was wearing. O’Lah slowly took the mask off and handed it to Princess Nea. 

“Take it!” O’Lah said.

“Are you sure?” Nea asked.

“Yeah, it looks like you’ll need it more than me now.”

Princess Nea smiled and gave O’Lah a big hug. 

“Well, when you two are done I think there’s a crystal we need to find.” Flix said, a little annoyed.

So the two parties split up. O’Lah, Paul & the Shadow Man left to find the remaining temples and Nea, Lulu and Flix headed to the Boxley Wild to find Hummingwood and another crystal.

The journey back down to the land of Atheria was pretty smooth. Aria lent the two princesses two winhorses to ride. The wind was definitely getting rougher and rougher by the day, but the princesses had started getting used to life in the clouds and were better prepared this time. 

On their way out to the Boxley Wild, Flix kept a very low profile. He stayed invisible and only revealed himself to the group when they were sure no one else was around and it was safe. 

“What’s it like to fly?” Asked Nea. For she had always been curious that Princess Aria could fly.

“Well, it’s just like walking. Almost natural, once you find your balance.” Flix said, doing a few aerial loops.

“It must be amazing!” 

“Don’t you know how the Skyrabians fly? And the Torturans swim?” asked Flix. He revealed himself so he could look Nea and Lulu in the eyes.

“I always assumed they were born that way?” Answered Lulu.

Nea remembered Princess Blu in the water. She’d seen her spear-fighting with Prince Paul and Tuck in Cedar Landing, then days later met her again in the Sea of Tortura swimming in the water as a mermaid. 

“They have magic feathers for the sky and magic scales for the sea.” Flix explained. “It’s what gives them their wings and their fins.”

Princess Nea & Lulu looked at each other.  

Flix was about to continue but instead froze and turned invisible. He then darted up to the sky. When he came back down, he wasn’t alone. He was with another fairy. 

“This isn’t good.” Flix said.

“Hello travelers. Are you Keepers?” The other fairy said referring to people who had the ability to wield a magic crystal and summon it’s elemental power. 

“Not quite. We’ve been sent by Tuck and Ryla to find the crystals and their keepers.” 

“Well, Hummingwood won’t be much help. There’s been some sort of spell cast on it. Now, I can’t remember what exactly, just that I came back home to find ... to find things odd. Very very odd.”

And then the fairy just shook her head until she forgot why she was shaking it in the first place.

“Are we almost there, Flix?” Lulu asked.

“Uh, yeah. It’s just over there.” He said, pointing over to the right. “Or was it over there.” He said, pointing to the left. “I don’t know what’s come over me, for some reason I can’t quite remember which way it was.”

“Oh no!” said Lulu. 

But Princess Nea wasn’t worried. She had paid attention when Flix had darted up in the sky and noticed the direction that the other fairy came from. She had also explored these grounds before and knew of a few spots she’d like to check out with the Titan Mask. 

So they traveled to the first spot, which was a clearing just a little out of the way. “Are we getting closer, Flix?” she asked.

No luck.

So they traveled to another spot. “How about now?”

He shook his head again. 

Just when they were about to lose hope they saw another fairy, in broad daylight, fly across the sky. 

“Hey you!” Lulu shouted. 

Seeing that Nea and Lulu were traveling with two other fairies, the fairy buzzed down and circled the party. She was a nice looking fairy with a trail of green sparkles. 

“Can you help us find Hummingwood? We need to get these fairies home. They seemed to have lost their way.” 

“It’s that way but I wouldn’t stay long. Somethings not right.” the fairy then pointed in the direction the adventurers were headed then shot back in the air, flying away from the village.

When the travelers arrived in fairy village, they learned that things were not right. Something very, very bad was happening. For starters, none of the fairies were invisible, the entire village and all the fairies flying around could be seen in plain sight. The other thing was that no one seemed to know what was going on. 

But that story is for another time. The end.