Chapter 51: Chapter 47: “Underneath the Lifeless Village”

CHAPTER 47: “UNDERNEATH THE LIFELESS VILLAGE”

 

The last thing the little fairy remembered of her childhood home was the orange hue that colored the night sky, yet that orange hue was nothing like the gentle color of dawn. It was terrifying, intimidating and burnt her skin when she got near it. Her wings felt numb and stingingly cold. It burned so hot and so painfully before but now she felt nothing at all, which terrified her.

Dazed and confused, she peeked behind the shoulder of the fairy carrying her and hazily saw a giant winged shadow, its heated breath creating more of the orange hue that raged further on and incited more blood curdling screams.

Beside her, she could hear the fairy holding her muttering words of comfort. Though it felt like she was saying it more for herself.

“W-we’re almost there. We’re almost free, almost there. Just a bit more.”

Her once bright and beautiful wings were almost reduced to nothing because of the orange hue, making her unable to fly. The tips were singed black and there were holes and even chunks missing from the thin and delicate limb. The fairy, like all fairies were, were not at all used to using her legs. So even though it hadn’t been long since she ran, the fairy was already out of breath and her legs were starting to collapse from the strain.

Then it happened. Her legs finally gave up and her body collapsed onto the cold ground of the forest along with the little fairy in her arms. When the fairy looked at her legs, it was already bruised and bloodied. The little fairy stared as the other fairy tried her best to get herself up but it was no use, her body quickly fell again onto the ground. Instinctively, her wings began to flutter but the limb was already too broken. It wouldn’t be able to lift the fairy’s body into the sky and her legs were no use as well.

The little fairy’s vision began to fade, from exhaustion, pain and all the smoke in the air. The last thing she saw was the other fairy curling herself into a ball and sobbing.

It was only later in her life did she learn that the other fairy was her older sister and their home was destroyed by a dragon.

The next thing that came to her was two gentle voices. 

“Thank god the fire died down before it reached the village.” That voice came from an elderly male.

“But dear, why did you think the dragon went this way?” This voice came from an elderly female, her voice tinged with both worry and curiosity.

The two people walked further into the carnage that the dragon laid. Then the elderly female gasped. 

“Tirto, over there!”

The little fairy felt her body lifting. She still couldn’t open her eyes completely, but she vaguely saw the shadow looming over her. It reminded her of the giant shadow that she saw the night before but this shadow wasn’t scary at all. It was warm and kind.

“And..oh...poor thing. Did she die from the fire?”

The elderly male let out a sigh. “I’m not sure. It could be the smoke, it could be exhaustion…”

His voice trailed off. The little fairy opened her eyes again and saw the two people kneeling with their hands clasped together. They then covered the other fairy’s lifeless body with leaves, dirt and twigs. The elderly woman even managed to find bits of flowers and laid them gently across the new grave.

Later in life, the fairy would ask why they did that.

“The dead need peace.”

 

The next years of her life were nothing but bliss. 

The kind couple took her into their little village. The village was full of life, and everyone in it was kind and generous. They didn’t mind that she was a different race, that she could fly and they couldn’t, that she had wings, albeit small, and they didn’t. 

The fairy believed that this was how her life was going to continue. She knew fairies had a long lifespan while a human’s was as fragile and brief as a candlelight. She would watch over this village until she herself died. The passing of generations would make her sad but she didn’t mind. She loved the village too much to leave it. 

Eventually, the kind couple who took her in completed their lives. The little fairy didn’t cry but she sat by their side, holding their wrinkled hands, and prayed for their peace like a good granddaughter.

Her days in the village continued. Though they weren’t as blissful, they were still happy and joyful days of watching the village live and thrive, as elders died and childrens born. Who knows exactly how long the fairy stayed in the village. Months, decades or even years. Time flew effortless beneath her feet.

She had almost forgotten about the orange hue that ravaged her childhood memories and of that giant shadow. That was why she never thought that she would face those memories once more.

“Bandits! Bandits!” 

She first heard those shouts from a distance. She was unsure of what those words mean. She lived quite the life in the village but it was a sheltered life filled with nothing but positive things. At that moment she remembered words from kids she played with before.

“Bandits are scary! My mom says they’re as scary as dragons.”

Words of a mother trying to scare a child yet to the sheltered fairy who didn’t know any better, those words were an undeniable truth. Something as scary as dragons were attacking the village. It even created that orange hue that she once saw in her nightmares.

“If you don’t give it up we’ll burn this whole place down!” 

Someone took her hand and dragged her away from the hue. It was one of the women of the village. The fairy remembered her when they used to play together when the woman was nothing but a small child. 

The woman took her to the house located at the most outskirts of the village. The woman led her to a hatch located at one of the rooms and then ushered the fairy in. She hesitated for a brief moment before closing the hatch shut.

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The fairy, confused, stared up at the darkness. She heard scratching just above the wooden hatch and took a few steps back when she saw a light glow coming from between the cracks.

This was...a magic circle. She remembered. It was the only magic spell that she remembered. She would use it for hide and seek and eventually taught some of the children how to use it with a little bit of her own fairy dust.

In contrast to the heat of the village, the underground room was cold and damp. It smelled incredibly musty and green but the fairy didn’t notice at all. Her eyes were glued to the hatch door, waiting for it to open and she could see the face of that woman smiling and telling her that everything was taken care of.

In the end, her hopes were squashed. All she could hear was the screams of the villagers as they died and she could even smell the scent of their blood even though the hatch and the fairy spell.

Again. 

Her home was obliterated by a creature that created an orange hue that destroyed everything in its path. She didn’t need to see the village to know that it was completely destroyed. The silence in the air told her everything she needed to know. 

The fairy curled herself into a ball and closed her eyes tight, willing herself to go to sleep. She convinced herself that this was all a giant nightmare. If she slept that meant that it wasn’t real.

So the fairy slept, deep in a stasis, but part of her consciousness was always awake, listening and watching every small movement in the village. Every traveler that stumbled there, every creature that made its home, she knew about all of them but none was enough to wake her.

She didn’t know that fairies had the ability to create illusions. Even young untrained fairies had immense power to do so, albeit uncontrollably and sometimes unconsciously. 

Whatever she dreamt of, it came to be. 

The house over her underground hiding place, the image of her lovely grandfather figure, the ghost stories that were told to her. All left a big enough impact on her to come to life.

Sometimes she even heard the words her grandmother figure once said to her. 

The dead need peace.

A dragon-like creature had destroyed her village. If only she could kill it, then surely the village would find eternal peace like they should.

If only she could kill it…

 

***

 

“Why did you use your gem?” Ai wondered, glancing at Morion’s empty neck now.

Morion scratched the back of his head, his face showing a bit of guilt. He gave a nervous laugh. “Ah...I didn’t mention this but the [Ranked Quest] I took was a quest from the Fairy Kingdom of Eulus.”

Eulus...a kingdom shrouded in mystery even though the region of Eulus had been available for players ever since the game launched. The only thing that was widely known about the fairies was that they were quite secretive, individualistic and liked to keep to themselves. The fairies were also an all female race that reproduced through means only the fairies (and game developers) knew. Details such as their government system, relationships with other kingdoms and their political standings were very much unknown.

Though their region is open for players to explore, quests involving the fairies were very rare. The region only has few players going there due to how lacking the number of quests there were. The only players that came there were ones that only wanted to admire the view or were just stubborn.

To think this player found a quest there, a [Ranked Quest] even.

“The gem was a prized item belonging to a prominent, high ranking noble. She told me that if the gem began absorbing power that meant I was in the right place.”

Fairies had nobles? How interesting. 

Morion continued. “She wants me to find someone here, and I thought I was in the wrong place until the morning after your ghost quest finished.”

The morning after...but that was….

Ai stopped in his tracks. “So why did you stay with me if you thought you had nothing to do here?”

“Ah,” Morion only realized what he admitted just then. He stayed with Ai that entire time and even helped and protected him. Yes, in the end he had a reason to stay, but he didn’t know that at the time. 

Ai cleared his throat to somehow tamp down his heating cheeks then decided to not push the matter further.

“We’re here.”

At the end of the hall was a dark room with wooden walls and floors with etchings and carvings of all sorts of different runes. There were  crystals scattered all around the floor that piqued Ai’s interest. Surprisingly, this was the Fairy Gem that he was looking for, but what was it made from exactly?

His eyes then drifted towards the center of the room. After that entire story of what happened to the village, one would expect a sleeping fairy to be laying there but there was nothing but a single white tulip emitting a sad but peaceful glow.

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