Chapter 4: Warnings and Preparations

Once all five of them had settled down comfortably and they had finished all the food the maids had given them (all the people in Soleisia are vegetarians so the food was just boiled vegetables), they had a mini meeting in Foaly’s room (since it was the biggest).

First of all Holly and Minerva gave Artemis a slight kick and evils for the rest of the meeting.

“Artemis, do you know what kind of creatures live in this world? I’ll tell you. All the myths and legends, all the fictionous stories, all the creatures that you don’t find on planet Earth (by the way no aliens live here) reside in this world. All the creatures that are pure of heart and are good live in Soleisia e.g. unicorns, phoenixes, griffins and the good dragons, however in Dlykasia there are creatures that have been banished there and have turned cruel, unforgiving and evil and there are just pure evil, merciless creatures, whos hearts are as black as coal, whos touch will send shivers down your spine.” explained Holly as she gave Artemis a quick punch on the arm to show her annoyance, “Do you think us volunteering is a good idea now?!?!”

“No, but, as always, I have a plan.” replied the quick-witted teen

“Oh, do tell genius (!)” Holly said sarcastically, “I’m just dying to know what it is (!)” Artemis rolled his eyes

“Fine, I um..found these pieces of crystal and if I’m not mistaken it is a combination of Jet , peacock ore  and apache tear  (apache tear is from obsidian and it is a sun stone). Now this combination can absorb negative energies so we should be fairly safe travelling to Dlykasia.”

“You mean you stole it!” Foaly said

“Ok, ok, ok I…aquired it” Artemis said. Just then there was a loud knock on the door. Minerva got up to answer it. It was the princess.

“Bonjour!” Minerva said enthusiastically

“Hello, I just came to see if you were ready.” princess Soleia said just as enthusiastically as Minerva

“Well, personally I am quite nervous but on the whole I think I am quite confident that I will be able to arrive in Dlykasia safe and sound.” answered Artemis ”I think I speak on behalf of everybody here.” he added so that nobody could say anything otherwise. They all half-heartedly nodded in agreement.

“Fantastic! Tomorrow you shall begin your journey to Dlykasia. Is there anything else that you would possibly need?” asked the ever-so enthusiastic princess.

“No, we are quite certain that we don’t need anything else.” replied Artemis, convinced that the crystals concealed in his trouser pocket were all that they needed.

“Ok, sleep tight and I hope for the best for tomorrow. Oh and I forgot to mention I won’t be able to see you off for I am going to Takara (pronounced Tar-kar-ah) for a meeting with the rulers, King Azoir (pronounced Az-wah) and Queen Owanah (pronounced Oh-waa-nah), on the trading of Solanium (pronounced Sole-ay-nee-um).” explained the fair princess.

“Solanium?” they said simultaneously.

“I shall explain later, once you have completed your mission, for now I must rest” replied the now eager to leave Soleia “Good night!” and with that she touched her forehead where the symbol was and immediately shimmered out of view.

“Ok now shall we continue with our plan?” asked Artemis once he was sure that the princess wouldn’t return

“Our plan, you mean your plan!” replied Holly who was still concerned about their trip to the other side.

“Yes, fine! Anyway I er made this from stuff that I found in the LEP scrapheap which once has the stone fitted inside it, forms a protective bubble with a radius of 5 metres so it’s capable of fitting even Butler.” Explained Artemis as he took a metal sphere out of his pocket that had a small entrance where the stone would go. ”Now once we’re inside the kingdom we somehow need to get into the castle, well I assume it is a castle. There are 2 ways we can do this No.1 we use the power of words or No.2 we use brute force. Which shall it be?” asked the young prodigy

“I say we get Artemis, Minerva and Foaly to use the power of words and then if that fails Butler and I shall be waiting with some camfoil on behind you where we shall use brute force.” answered Holly who was starting to think that maybe this could work.

“Yes, and don’t forget to bring your Neutrino with you.”

“Ok so now we’ve got that sorted, WOULD EVERYONE PLEASE LEAVE MY ROOM!!! Good night!” demanded a very tired Foaly.

“Yeah yeah, don’t need to shout.” replied Holly as they all left Foaly’s room. The remaining four each went back to their own rooms.

Some other stories by artyrox:

• Irreplaceable
• Winner of the Valentine's Day competition
• Prodigy vs Pirate
• Artemis Fowl Fanfiction Competition Rule and Guidelines
• Unfaithful