Zeke followed the pixie through the woods, over hills and streams, until the sun was low and the sky was aflame with stunning colors. Finally, he arrived at an open glade with a great misty waterfall. Flowers of blue, pink, and red petals covered the lake. At the center of the glade was a great silver pine, and floating in front of the silver pine was Drya, the forest spirit.

She was beautiful and terrifying. She resembled a whitecap mushroom with the curves of a little woman. She wore a crown of mushrooms. Eight black, expressionless eyes regarded Zeke. Drya floated in the air, lifted by countless silky, moldy threads. Her dainty feet never touched the ground.

Nearby, Queen Titia sat on a low branch of the silver pine tree as if it were a throne.

“Welcome, Ezekiel,” said Drya. Her voice was soft and wispy. “It’s good to meet you, at last. Come, sit.” Drya motioned to a nearby log, made soft with moss. Zeke sat down and Drya floated over to him. Her many inscrutable black eyes studied him.

“You don’t have to tell me anything,” she said. “I already know. And I want to help.”

Zeke sighed in relief. He was still holding his mother’s ingot, wrapped in cloth now dark with burns.

“But I’m going to need your help, too.”

Zeke nodded. “Of course. Anything. What do you need?”

Drya hesitated. She continued sadly, “When the Brothers burn this silver pine, I will die. I’m at peace with that. But I need your help to save my children.”

Zeke was dumbstruck.

Drya lifted an arm. Nearby, a water lily was lifted into the air by countless moldy threads and carried over to her outstretched hand. She gave the water lily to Zeke. It glowed bright blue. Zeke looked inside the petals and saw a tiny frog and a spider. They were glowing.

“These are my children,” Drya said. “They won’t survive a fire. I need you to plant this lily in a gentle lake, somewhere safe.”

“But Queen Titia said we should stop the Brothers,” Zeke said.

“Yes, many lives hang in the balance. But it’s too late to save mine. The Brothers are likely to burn this glade tomorrow.”

“Can’t we stop them?” Zeke begged.

“How? And at what cost? The Brothers have familiars. Everything they see is relayed to Adam, and if he sees fae on another Vulpen Island, he will massacre everyone as he did to Crescent. No. I’m ready. But I can still save them.”

Her hands rested on Zeke’s hands, holding the glowing water lily. Her skin was soft and dewy. “Please,” she said. “I know you can take them far from here.”

Zeke nodded. What else could he do? “I know a place. It’s dark and underground and Lilith knows about it, but she’s not likely to go there if I’m not there, so I think it’s safe, relatively speaking.”

Drya nodded once in sad relief. “Good,” she said. “I’ll ask you to bring the kush along if it’s not too much. They will protect the little ones from harm until they’re grown enough to protect themselves.”

“Oh, of course,” Zeke said, wondering how he was going to doorway everyone. But there was something else pressing on his mind. “About Rowan’s ingot…”

“Yes,” said Drya. “Queen Titia tells me you want to free the Catalyst Ikon, yes? Until Aegir comes into her power and raises Inari, Rowan will need to be held in stasis.”

“What does that mean exactly?” Zeke asked.

“Rowan’s body was made of rare minerals. Those minerals are lost and can only be replenished in Inari’s magma. But Rowan’s spirit isn’t lost yet. They slumber, but we can stir them. With your permission, Rowan will remain here. And when Aegir is ready, bring her to this spot, retrieve Rowan, and bring the ingot to Inari.”

Zeke was breathless. He nodded in agreement. His heart pounded in his chest as he offered Drya his mother’s ingot.

Drya hesitated. “Before I take the ingot, there is more we need to discuss.”

“Okay… What’s on your mind?”

“Hormiz. Queen Titia observed the two of you in the woods.”

Zeke felt his cheeks blush.

“You need to understand how dangerous he is.”

Zeke stood up tall and shouted. “He is not dangerous! Not to me!”

“He is. To everyone, but himself most of all. Listen to me, Zeke. I don’t have long and this needs to be said. Hormiz is broken. Lilith warped his mind. He cannot be trusted.”

“You’re wrong! He’s not broken! And even if he is, we can put him back together!”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Maybe. But if you’re going to try, you need to understand what awaits you.”

Zeke was scared but he listened.

“He will hate you at times. Other times, he will cling to you. He will react in emotional extremes. He won’t understand boundaries. He will destroy things and spend most of his days hating himself.”

Zeke shook his head. He made Hormiz a promise, and he wouldn’t break it. “He needs love and support. I’m not giving up on him just because he’s difficult. He’s getting better! He will get better.”

“He needs more than you can give him,” Drya comforted.

“Then I will get help! Morgan and Hinata care. They will help us. They’ll help him. It won’t happen overnight, but he will get better! I will help him get better.”

“Your relationship is not healthy,” she said sadly. “He’s not ready for love. He’s not ready to raise Aegir.”

“Well, that’s not up to you. Ready or not, right or wrong, there is no other way. I’m freeing Aegir, and I’m not leaving Hormiz behind. He needs me.”

Drya’s face was inscrutable, but Zeke sensed she was satisfied by his answer.

“Then there’s nothing more to say,” Drya whispered. “It’s time. Please, save my children, save the forest, and stop the Brothers.”

She reached for Rowan’s ingot, and thousands of tiny strands removed the cloth, lifting the ingot into the air and into her hands. Her delicate skin singed at the heat. She swiftly pushed Rowan’s ingot into her own chest.

Drya cried out as smoke rose from her newly blackened chest.

“Are you okay?” Zeke worried. “What do you need?”

Queen Titia flew between them. “Stand and witness,” she ordered. “Drya is giving herself to preserve Rowan.” Queen Titia flew delicately forward and said, her tiny voice full of emotion, “Goodbye, dearest friend.”

The great silver pine shook and the ground beneath it opened up as its roots spread wide. A deep hole appeared, into which Drya lowered herself, wrapped in silky fibers, and covered herself in dirt. And then she was gone.

Queen Titia lowered herself to stand on the soft dirt. Her wings were at last still, and she hung her head in silent mourning.

All around, the forest seemed to pull inward, as Drya summoned the last of her essence to rest beneath the silver pine, until even the great tree itself withered and dried, nettles falling to the ground.

Zeke stood for a moment in silence.

Finally, Queen Titia rose into the air and turned to Zeke and said imperiously, “Well, are you going to fulfill your end of the bargain, or not?”

Zeke nodded. Then he doorwaed himself and the glowing lotus with two baby spirits to Zeke’s old home cave.

He didn’t feel confident sending the kush all at once, so he lifted them up one at a time and doorwaed with them in his arms. It took the rest of the evening and into the night for Zeke to carry all the kush to the cavern.

Once arrived, some kush stayed with the glowing water lily. The rest went to work readying the grand cavern for two forest spirit seedlings. The stream Zeke used to bathe in would need to be dammed into a still lake.

The kush seemed understand Zeke’s affection for Dook, and treated him as a precious little baby, which infuriated Dook, but he was tiny compared to the kush, so his murderous rage was just adorable.

Once all that was finished, Zeke was exhausted, and he fell asleep in his old bed, with Dook’s head resting on his arm.

-8-

Zeke woke up and foraged some breakfast, then he checked in on Toa and the seedlings. Everyone seemed to be getting along with little adjustment. So Zeke said goodbye again and doorwaed to the silver pine glade.

Queen Titia was sitting on a desiccated branch of the once majestic silver pine, now a mere sinister skeleton of its former grandeur. Queen Titia flew at once to Zeke.

“Finally!” She sounded anxious. “We have to move. The flames aren’t far now.”

The loud crackling of burning wood could be heard nearby. Zeke followed Queen Titia as she flew through the trees and finally over a river. Zeke had to doorway across the river to safety.

Zeke took a moment to catch his breath. He looked over and saw the scope of the destruction. He stood at a fork in the river. On one side, everything was already burned to ash and cinders. On the other side, everything was burning. And it wouldn’t be long until his side was set aflame, too. The roar of the raging inferno was deafening. Most of the birds had long since fled, but a large silver bird flew low over the water, looking for fish.

Zeke had to get back to Hormiz, and they had to figure out a way to stop the Brothers. He turned to Queen Titia. “Can you lead me to Hormiz?”

The Pixie Queen looked mighty irritated but said, “Yes.”

She slowed down her flight, so Zeke was able to keep up and talk with her.

A sudden idea came to Zeke. “Drya said you were spying on Hormiz and me. The other pixies are your eyes, aren’t they?”

Queen Titia sighed tolerantly. “A pixie queen can see through the eyes of her children, yes.”

“What about the pixies on Nod? Rowan took three pixies when she went through the mirror. Can you see through their eyes?” he asked.

“Yes, but it’s strange. They move so slowly.”

“That makes sense,” he said. “Rowan believed time passes more slowly on Nod.”

“Hm. Two of the pixie drones were already seen and devoured by the cainkin. We don’t believe Lilith was made aware of the drones’ existence.”

“Do you know what she’s doing, what she’s planning?”

“We can only see. We cannot hear. Little has transpired since you left Nod. It’s unclear if Lilith plans to do anything. She’s been destroying things around the palace since you escaped.”

Zeke tilted his head back and forth. That sounded like good news. “I’m sorry for the way Hormiz acted earlier. He’s not bad. He’s just got a lot of messed up stuff to work through.”

“I’m not as worried about Hormiz as I was yesterday. He’s lucky to have you in his life,” Queen Titia said. “Make sure he comes back often to talk with Jack. We can see Jack has a positive influence on him.”

“I’ll do that,” Zeke promised.

Suddenly, a stone appeared, flying through the air. The stone flew through Queen Titia’s chest, killing her instantly. Her wings twitched and her body fell to the ground.

Zeke screamed in horror and shock. Before he knew what was happening, he was surrounded by five men in black, gold-trim robes. They swiftly tied him up. Zeke almost doorwaed himself away but stopped. He saw the animals with the black-robed men, and he realized these were the Brothers and their familiars. Zeke couldn’t let these men see his abilities.

Besides, Zeke was supposed to be here. He needed to convince these men.

So Zeke tried to clear his head. He invented a story. And he hoped Hormiz wouldn’t kill them all when he found out what happened.