The sky was bright and blue with not a wisp of cloud in sight. Lady Syrenna and Emperor Beluga were sitting in the shade of a fat maple tree, drinking tea and eating cookies, as usual.

Over the ridge of a nearby hill, Ivanova appeared, skipping and singing in circles. She had been acting weird all morning, acting lovingly and kindly towards the other Islanders. Though this was quite weird, the Islanders brushed it off as being one of her "psycho fits".

Yanna, however, thought something was going on with her. Yanna walked up to the pair of tea drinkers, coming from a walk in the woods.

"Hey guys," she glanced at the hilltop where the freak was dancing, "There is something odd about her, don't you think?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"There is always something odd about her, Yanna." Lady Syrenna said absently as she stirred some brown sugar into her cherry tea.

"Yeah, she's a psychopath." Emperor Beluga put in, as he drizzled some honey in his Spanish ginger tea.

"No, I mean something MORE odd about her. I'm a little worried."

Syrenna glanced at the dancing girl on the hill then took a sip of her tea before she looked back down at a tall bottle of wine sitting in the centre of the small round table. "She's just having an episode."

Yanna huffed at that and looked at Emperor Beluga.

"She's a psychopath." Was his reply.

Yanna rolled her eyes. She glanced back up at the hilltop, but Ivanova was gone. She felt someone behind her and then saw two arms snake around her waist in a huge hug. Ivanova was hugging her?!

After a moment of this, she let go of Yanna then gave a big hug to Syrenna and the Emperor. Beluga was disgusted and spat on the ground when she let go of him. Syrenna grabbed the tall bottle of wine from the centre of the table and poured a little bit into her tea. The Emperor grabbed it before she set the bottle back down on the table and took a big swig, as if to cleanse himself from the scary feeling of being hugged by the evil one.

"I love you guys! You're my most wonderful friends! Oh yes, and do you know what those ugly things that keep following me are called? They are really scary." Ivanova said in a nice voice.

"Your demons?" Yanna asked.

"Demons!? Ewww! I hate evil things!"

The Emperor and Syrenna nearly choked on their cookies. Ivanova spotted the wine and grabbed it off the table. She pulled the cork and poured it all out.

"What is your absolute defect, you wretched fiend!?" The Emperor raged.

"This stuff is terrible for you. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you, like falling down the hill and hurting yourself!" She set the bottle down nicely on the table and, from seemingly nowhere, produced flowers to fill the neck of the bottle with, turning it into a lovely centrepiece. She then began singing a merry love song and skipped away out of sight.

"And what did I tell you?" Yanna snickered, "There's something really weird about her!"

Syrenna and the Emperor both grumbled, glaring at the beautiful flower arrangement that now bedecked their table, instead of the wine they wanted to drink.

The next morning, Yanna was out walking on the beach when she saw Lady Syrenna burst out of the forest to her left. The Forest Queen seemed to be mad about something. Emperor Beluga burst out of his house and stormed down the beach towards Yanna.

"What are you doing on my beach? You were looking through the window at me, weren't you?" He accused.

Yanna raised an eyebrow at him. "What the hell? I'm looking at Syrenna, you fool!"

He glanced over at the angry-looking forest hippie. She seemed to be avoiding the forest, acting like it was revolting. She walked over to the two and glared at them.

"Good morning?" Yanna greeted, a little unsure. Syrenna growled and began walking away.

Ivanova popped up and pulled Yanna and the Emperor into a great big hug, telling them how nice they were and how she loved having them as friends. As the two were trying to pry her arms off them, Chub landed on Syrenna's shoulder as she was walking away. Syrenna freaked out, trying to swat him away. Confused, Chub lifted himself off and watched as his friend bent down and grabbed up a huge stick of driftwood. She began swinging it at him. He dodged every swipe before flying off in confusion.

Ivanova released the other two and walked up to her, saying, "You're not being loving towards him, that's not nice!"

Syrenna smacked her with the stick, causing her to cry. Emperor Beluga roared with laughter. Yanna was deeply concerned.

That evening, Yanna decided to have a little stakeout on the cliffs of her mountains that overlooked most of the Island, mixing a good batch of cyanide as she did so.

The evening turned to night and still she saw nothing out of the ordinary through her kick-ass, full-colour night vision goggles.

She heard a faint skitter nearby and lifted her goggles to see a rat scurrying towards her. She placed her hand on the ground, and the rat scampered into her palm.

"Why hello, my little Miku," she said to the rat, a friend she had made when she took up residence in the mountains, "You haven't been feeling the urge to completely reverse your personality for absolutely no reason, have you?"

Miku looked up at her with big eyes, whiskers twitching in the evening air.

"Well, at least someone here isn't insane! Or, well, more insane than normal," Yanna sighed. Miku gave a squeak before running off her hand and into the night, no doubt to find something tasty to dine upon.

The night slowly dragged on, and she had made a good six batches of cyanide, working on her seventh, before she saw movement in Beluga Bay.

A small ship approached and floated right up onto the sandy shore. A man dressed in colourful robes jumped off it and walked up the sand with a medium-sized box in his hands. He bent down, and set the box on the sand before turning around and boarding his ship. The ship then pushed off from the sand and sailed away, disappearing.

Yanna watched the box. It opened and an orange cloud emerged from inside. It hovered around as if it were lost. It then started to float towards Emperor Beluga's house. It acted as though it were alive. She watched with wonder as it went up to the Emperor's window and slipped through the small opening.

Suddenly, the cyanide beaker that Yanna had sitting over a hot blue flame burst, spilling poisonous chemicals everywhere.

"Shit!" She cursed. She went to quickly clean it up before it poisoned the surrounding. She completely forgot about the cloud.

The morning was bright and a little breezy and Yanna was lazing about on the warm beach rocks like a lizard basking in the sun. She heard a noise and sat up, seeing Emperor Beluga close the door to his house. He stretched and whistled a happy tune, and to Yanna's shock, he was smiling. She turned her head to a ruffling sound at her left and saw Lady Syrenna ripping out some foliage, angrily. Ivanova burst through the bushes, singing a song that consisted solely of "I love you, you're nice!"

Yanna watched them, shocked. Her concern for them was growing deeper. The Emperor approached her, giggling and giggling, a smile from ear to ear. Yanna blinked. She couldn't believe his sorrowful frown had turned into a bright smile.

"What a wonderful day on our Happy Island of Crow. I'm so happy to see you, dear Yanna!"

Yanna nearly fell over. She had never heard Emperor Beluga say the word 'happy' so many times in one sentence. The look on her face made the Emperor laugh a hearty laugh. He turned and danced away on joyous feet.

Yanna got up and walked towards the trees. She was beginning to burn from the beating rays of the sun. She suddenly remembered the strange man who had come in the night, and the orange cloud he had left on the Island.

She was about to leave to think things through when a small sigh sounded from above. Yanna looked up and saw Chub perched on a branch. She could see he was sad and confused, obviously wondering if he had done something wrong. She reached up and poked him in the stomach. He just sat there, puffed up and sad. He was deeply depressed.

Yanna had to do something, but she didn't know what. She looked at the Islanders again over the large clearing: Ivanova was hugging the Emperor, telling him that she loved him and that she thought he was wonderfully nice and Emperor Beluga was laughing and telling Ivanova how happy he was to hear that. Lady Syrenna was tearing the tulips and the daisies that grew along the path to the Emperor's house. She was ripping the poor flowers to shreds and then stamping their broken bodies into the ground.

Yanna had to stop this. She decided to wait in the bushes until the ship came back. Then she would capture the man and make him stop the madness. She didn't know if he would return, but she had no idea where to begin searching for him on the vast ocean. This madness had to stop!

That evening, the Islanders seemed only to get worse. Ivanova was so consumed in her loving compliments that she would cry if the others wouldn't hug her and she would follow them around with a sad face until they did. But when they did hug her she would cry tears of joy because they hugged her, and she would tell them how she thought they were so beautiful and lovely and nice and the whole thing would start again.

Emperor Beluga was dancing and laughing, singing and smiling and skipping around giggling until he couldn't breathe. He would stop only to catch his breath then would start the whole routine once more.

Lady Syrenna was cutting at a young tree with a big, sharp, and wonderfully decorated axe. She gathered the wood up and started a fire on the beach. She smiled at the flames then looked at the forest. She looked back at the flames and her smile widened. She began making torches.

While this was going on, Yanna was hiding in the bushes by the shore. She was wishing and praying for that ship to arrive. It was nowhere in sight.

Syrenna started piling logs under a big tree. She sprinkled dry leaves over the logs as well, giggling evilly. Ivanova approached her. Syrenna pushed her away and Ivanova began to cry loudly, saying the usual 'I love you, you're nice' spiel she had been repeating for days now.

The Emperor came around and asked the two of them to join in his merry dancing. Syrenna threw a log at him and Ivanova told him she loved merry dances and went off to join his dance. Syrenna went back to the beach fire and lit the torches.

Yanna looked out at the sea. She began screaming out loud for the ship to come. The other Islanders seemed oblivious to her yelling.

Syrenna placed a small skinny torch between her teeth and grabbed up two fat torches, one in each hand, then headed out to the tree where she had piled the kindle and logs, a death glare in her eyes. Yanna looked out over the empty sea.

"Great. I'm gonna get hugged to death by a disturbed Ivanova, smiled to death by an even creepier Beluga, and burned to death in a pyromaniac Syrenna's forest fire!"

Syrenna was at the base of the tree now. A small fat squirrel was frozen with fear, gripping the tree trunk. Syrenna spat the torch from her mouth and smiled. She lowered the torches she held to the leaf-covered logs and it caught fire. Quickly, the flames began licking their way up the trunk. The squirrel just stared. Syrenna began dancing and laughing as the fire crackled.

"I hate the forest! Hahahahaha!" She sang. Beluga, seeing her dance, came over and danced merrily beside her. Ivanova followed, trying desperately to hug the two as they danced.

Yanna's gaze went back to the sea. She wondered what would be worse, the fire or Ivanova's hugs. As she pondered her death choices, the ship from the night before suddenly appeared, almost magically. Yanna jumped up with a start. She saw that Windy McBlow and Queen Maris were with the colourful robed man.

With no time for questions, Yanna ran out onto the beach, screaming at the man to stop the Islanders. The ship glided smoothly halfway up onto the sand before it came to a stop. The middle-aged man stood tall and took out a big scroll from inside his robes. He dipped his right hand into one of the many pockets of his robes, searching for something. Finally, he pulled out a pair of worn hexagon glasses and began to read from the scroll.

The squirrel broke from his shock and scrambled along a branch, away from the fire. His little heart was beating so fast and he was so scared that he fainted and fell off of the branch and landed somewhere in the bushes, dangerously close to the fire. The fire climbed higher and higher and started to spread on the ground, fast.

Queen Maris and Windy McBlow jumped off the ship. A cloud of smoke caught Windy in the face. Her eyes began to water and her nose started to itch. Out of habit, she turned and sneezed. Her powerful sneeze blew the ship a few feet back, causing the robed man to stumble. She sneezed again and this time her forceful wind managed to send his glasses flying from his face and into the water.

"Damn it, Windy!" Maris scolded.

"Shut up and go get them, Maris!" Windy yelled back. The fire was growing loud.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Maris screamed.

"GIMMIE THE DAMN SCROLL!" Yanna ordered, jumping onto the ship. The man handed it to her. "What do I have to read?" She asked.

"The first three paragraphs. They require my magic to work so I'm going to have to hang onto your shoulders as you read. That way, my magic will go into you and help the spell to work as you say the words." He explained. Yanna agreed.

He rested his strong hands on her shoulders as she read the words out loud, and her voice became like a loudspeaker. She could feel the man's magic go from her shoulders, through her arms, and out through her hands and into the scroll as she read the words. At the same time, she could feel a different magic flow into her hands, up through her arms, up her throat and out her mouth, disguised in her words.

Ivanova, Syrenna, and Beluga all stopped what they were doing. Their eyes turned orange and they started to moan and scream in deep broken voices, not of their own. As Yanna read on, the three Islanders shook and twisted and flailed their arms and legs, falling to the ground.

Yanna finished the last paragraph and held the scroll out in front of herself. The three Islanders stopped moving. The man told Maris and Windy to quickly take the three boxes that he had tucked under a blanket at the side of the steering wheel and put them out on the sand. They did so then ran back to the small ship to stand behind him and Yanna.

A large orange cloud emerged from each Islander through their mouth, ears, nose, and eyes. The clouds howled and screamed as they were pulled into the boxes. When the last cloud was in, a loud BOOM sounded.

Ivanova, Lady Syrenna, and Emperor Beluga all looked at one another. Ivanova was attached to the Emperor's leg in a big hug. She quickly released it and jumped to her feet, wiping 'cooties' off of herself.

The Emperor's mouth was feeling kind of funny and he had a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. He raised a hand up to his mouth and felt that his lips were curled at the ends. He was smiling. He quickly relaxed them and they fell back into their usual sorrowful state. The feeling in his stomach faded just as quickly as he pushed himself to his feet.

Lady Syrenna stared at the burning tree and its surroundings in shock. She glanced down at the torches in her hand. She stood up and threw them all down and stamped them out. She then turned and saw Windy just standing on the ship, watching the flames.

"WINDY! Stop bloody fire! Blow it out!" She screamed.

Windy jumped out of her daze and started up a gale-force wind that soon blew in a fierce rainstorm. As the rain poured down on them, Syrenna remembered the squirrel. She ran towards the smouldering bushes and jumped in. Soon, she jumped out and trotted back to the others on the beach. The little squirrel was still unconscious. She held him in her arms like a baby and gently wiped soot from his eyes and nose.

The three Islanders walked up to the ship. Yanna was relieved to see them acting normal again. She turned to the man. "Who are you?" She asked as a drop of rain hit her hard in the eye.

"I'm Zypipron Tibbles from Hillanar Island. I'm a wizard and the one responsible for disposing of these cloud monsters, somewhere on a deserted Island. I am truly sorry. I did not know this one was inhabited." He sighed.

"Yeah, well you should have made sure of that in the daytime." Yanna half scolded.

"Yes, I should have, but I've been gone from my home an awfully long while and this island was my last hope, other than the Reality world. As it is a place that these things would most surely destroy, upsetting the balance of existence as we know it, I chose not to place them there. I have been to many an island, but this one is the most secluded and silent that I have ever seen, so I just assumed. I'm sorry about your damages." Zypipron looked to the wet, blackened tree and their surroundings. His eyes went back to the Islanders.

"Windy McBlow and Queen Maris, what were you two doing with this man?" Yanna questioned, like a teacher to a student.

"I was sleeping in a kelp bed under the waves of the northwestern shores when I heard this ship. So I surfaced and saw this man trying to leave some box on the beach. He was surprised to see me and asked if anyone else lived here. I told him of the rest of you and then he started telling me of those orange things. I then called Windy so she could help us warn you guys. We got here as fast as we could." Maris answered.

"I was having a really nice dream too, you know, about a great big squishy-" Windy was cut off by the giggling of Ivanova and the glares from Maris and Yanna.

"So, what were those things?" Syrenna asked as she stroked the still unconscious squirrel.

"They're a demon creature, called Guyms, that survives by inhabiting a host and turning them whatever the opposite of their personality is. But, it is only the most dominant characteristic in which they attack. The host gets so consumed with their opposite tendencies that they will go crazy and eventually die," Zypipron pointed towards the ship, saying, "The whole hull is full of boxes of them. Those first three were my experiment to see if this island was acceptable for them. Then I was going to dump the rest of them here." He explained.

Emperor Beluga smiled wickedly. "I know where you can dump them!"

Zypipron looked his way. "Where?" He questioned.

"Why, on Cyprus Island of course!" His smile grew wider.

Zypipron cocked his head. "Is it inhabited?" He asked, curiously.

"Yeah, but just by nasty Orgs and filthy Twinks! I don't think they'd do much harm. Much more harm, rather!" Ivanova put in, smiling at the thought of what Queen Quirky would say to more nasty creatures on her island.

"Wait! Couldn't those clouds just float off?" Yanna cut in.

"No, they need energy from the land, kind of like a gravitational pull. They also need the energy from the hosts as well as their bodies to pull off whatever they want. You know, being a cloud you can't really do much. But that is why Queen Maris and Windy McBlow weren't infected, Windy was up in the sky and Maris was in the water. Though, I don't know why the Guyms didn't get you, Yanna?" Zypipron answered, rubbing his chin.

"Well, I was in my cave in the mountains..." Yanna said.

"That's it! They can only hover a meter or two off the ground and they wouldn't waste any precious energy trying to climb a mountain if they were not guaranteed a host. They couldn't have known you were up there. Their senses don't go vertically." He turned to the others, asking, "Shall we be off to this Cyprus Island, then?"

Emperor and Ivanova smiled and nodded, as did Maris.

"I gotta get this storm back to where it is supposed to be, so I'll see you guys later. Nice meeting you Mr. Tibbles!" Windy said, waving.

"Yes, and I have to apologize to some animal friends, not to mention fix up the fire damage..." Lady Syrenna said. She smiled and bowed her goodbyes.

Windy took a big breath and started to round up all the pouring clouds to blow them northeastward. The little squirrel woke and began to freak out. Syrenna calmed him with soft noises and began to explain what had happened. After a few moments, he seemed to have forgiven her. She let him down on the ground and he made a loud chattering sound as he bounded into the wet forest. She then did something that the others had not seen before.

Lady Syrenna outstretched her hands towards the burnt areas in front of her. Her hands started to tremble and her fingers began to curl and extend like flames of a fire. All around the burnt blackened areas, a khaki green dense mist started to materialize. It thickened as it grew all around, completely covering all the affected areas so that they were no longer visible. The mist began to throb as Syrenna flexed her fingers. After a few moments, Syrenna dropped her hands down and the mist suddenly was sucked into the ground revealing dark, rich soil all around where the burnt areas had been.

"What did you just do?" Yanna asked, looking at the dark piles.

"I converted all the burn damage to nutrient-rich soil from which new life can grow. I simply sped up the process of decomposition. sorta. except, with the mist, I kinda added some more healthy stuff for the new plants. You see, I only did this because this fire was not by nature. If a lightning bolt had done it, then I'd leave it how it was... But this was my fault, so it was only right to fix it." She smiled. Chub flew down and fluttered above her head, chirping angrily. She walked towards the forest seemingly talking with him, apologizing. He was soon back where he belonged, on her shoulder. She kissed him on his little head and continued walking until she disappeared into the trees, off to fix some more damage she had caused within, as well as apologize to other animals she had upset.

Yanna turned away. "I'm going to bed. Worrying sure makes a girl tired!" She said her thanks and bid Zypipron Tibbles goodbye, then she headed off up the mountain.

The Emperor, Ivanova, Maris and Zypipron sailed out to sea as the others went off to do what they needed to do. The Island kept getting smaller and smaller as they drifted away.

Emperor Beluga smiled and looked at Ivanova. "So, tell me again how much you love us and think we are soooo nice. And I should like a hug with that!" He mocked.

"Shut up, you happy bitch!" Ivanova snapped. She gave him a good punch in the shoulder. He returned the gesture with a harsh kick in the shin. And the two flared up in a violent fight of words and appendages.

"Uh, there's no need for fighting..." Zypipron said, unsure if he should step in for fear of getting injured.

"Oh don't worry, they do this all the time," Maris said casually, with a hint of a giggle in her tone.

And so all the demons were released safely on Cyprus Island. Emperor and Ivanova had fought all the way there and during their time helping unload the demons.

Zypipron sailed to The Silent Island of Crow one more time to drop the Islanders off before he passed out of sight on the clear waters, not knowing if he would ever again see them. And of course, Emperor and Ivanova had fought all the way back as well.

Maris was now tucked in a nice soft kelp bed dreaming of warm sands and Ivanova had stopped fighting with the Emperor to tell Queen Quirky of what they had just unleashed upon her Island.

The Emperor was having a nice cup of warm tea in his quiet house as Windy played with the Four Winds (North, East, South, and West).

Syrenna and Chub were sitting quietly in a mossy tree, talking as Yanna slept soundly in her dark caves.

All was back to "normal" on the Silent Island of Crow.

The End