A figure moved through the families house like a shadow, doing its best to attract no attention and make no sound. It rounded the corner by the office and slowed down, hearing the sound of cloth rustling coming from the parent's room.
They were about to wake, it seemed.
Inch by inch the figure carefully skirted past the door and into the stairwell, descending slowly while avoiding the spots known for creaking. Once it got to the bottom of the steps, it once again stopped to listen for noise and was met with the stillness of the house.
A grin spread across its small face.
Quickly, it moved through the kitchen door into the shop. The sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, so it was only a matter of time before the home was bustling. It needed to act fast.
Once through the door into the shop, the small figure slowly opened a shutter and climbed out, dropping onto the grass below. It stood up and closed the wooden shutters, placing a small rock on the outside of it to keep it from opening again. It rapidly moved over to the stone path by the door and moved down it until it was over the gate and hidden from view of the house by the fence.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Finally, he was free.
With a sigh of relief he'd been holding since entering the kitchen, Damien carefully made his way away from their house.
Sure, he could have asked to enter the shopping district with Emily or with Garrett, but he'd never been able to explore like he'd wanted to when they were along for it. They always had a plan in mind, places to go and things to do. The times they came on weekends were similar, holding his hand tight while showing him around. They never put up with his mindless wandering for longer than a few minutes.
But not today. Today, he was going to explore everywhere in the city he'd missed.
Everywhere.
Including that one... interesting part of the Commerce district that seemed rather unsavory in a good way. He was a man with needs! Regardless of if he could fulfill them or not, and the fact that his brain had never once even hinted at those needs.
Damien was ecstatic about that portion of his brain not being in control, but not even having the option was disappointing.
He'd even snuck away from Alexa today, claiming he needed to use the restroom and leaving her behind. It was brilliant. They'd suspect nothing until he was long gone.
Damien turned right and rounded the corner of his home, hiding in the shadow of a wagon as it passed.
Being spotted from his parent's window would be an immediate end to his adventure.
The wagon continued down the road at a healthy clip and Damien was forced to jog to keep pace, but ultimately it was going exactly in the direction he wanted: straight north. Finally, after about five minutes or so of light jogging, Damien broke away from the wagon and entered the flow of people walking down the sides of the street.
The sun had risen and the day had begun in his Village.
He was currently on the main street that cut through the middle of the Village horizontally, going from the Commerce district to the Worker's district. The road was nearly twice as wide as usual to accommodate the many stalls set up along it, each having its own little crowd browsing the wares. Nobody noticed or cared to notice the small boy as he strolled down the market alone.
Damien moved about the street, doing his best to poke his head through people's legs to see what was being sold today but quickly came to the realization that he was too short to get a good view. Looking around, he spotted a nearby cart and nimbly made his way towards it. Just before reaching a corner he could ascend, his body was rammed into from the side, knocking him off balance and sending him to the ground.
"Watch it kid!" a gruff voice yelled.
Before Damien even had a chance to look up, a hand had already ripped him off the floor and pulled him to his feet. Following the arm with his eyes, he noticed it was connected to a Dwarf.
The man had a stern look and sharp cheekbones with a mouth that looked almost completely covered in a jungle of a beard. His hair was cut neat and he looked like any other patron in the market there to buy something: a large sack on his back and a small pouch at his waist. His clothes were purposeful and practical.
Apparently, Damien had ran into this man's path.
He opened his mouth to apologize but was interrupted by the man's second hand slamming into his sides, arms, chest, and back, almost knocking the wind out of his ill-prepared lungs.
"There, clean. Don't run in the market," the Dwarf demanded of him before pushing him towards the cart and continuing on his way.
Damien staggered forward, bumping into another person before regaining his balance, grabbing onto the wooden cart, and looking back. The Dwarf, like him but even more skilled, nimbly shifted around people's legs, jumping left and right while moving faster than the crowd forward.
After a second, the Dwarf was gone completely. Damien shook his head and quickly clambered up the side of the cart, taking a short rest when he'd gotten on the boxes.
'Was I just assaulted or helped?' he wondered, laughing incredulously at the amount of power behind the Dwarves "helping." 'I'm going to have bruises.'
After gathering himself, Damien looked around and climbed on top of the tallest box in the wagon, sitting cross-legged. The location gave him a birds-eye view of the market and an unobstructed path for all the previously muffled sound from the bazaar to assault his eardrums.
It was LOUD. Constant shouting, bartering, cart wheels rolling, people walking... every sound came together into a large cacophany known as the morning market.
Luckily, that noise wasn't just disorienting him, as it made the owner of the cart unaware of the stowaway he had picked up.
Unlike before, now he attracted a few strange looks but no one paid him much attention, most likely assuming he belonged to the man in charge of the cart. Looking left and right he saw hundreds of different people. Most were Human, but now and then he'd see something amazing to him; whether that be an Elf, a Demi-Human, or the even more rare Dwarf he spotted flitting around whenever a break in the crowd appeared.
Now and then, he even thought he saw a red or green light streaking through the crowd. He'd heard of the existence of Fae from his parents and thought that might be them, but they were moving so quickly he could hardly confirm it. Usually, they ruined people's days with pranks and theft, but if those were Fae, they seemed strangely motivated.
He'd asked his family earlier why Elves weren't considered Demi-Humans and been told that it was because they were respected by the Empire. Just like Dwarves and Celestials, Elves were a power that could threaten the safety of the Empire's major cities, marking them as a power they couldn't easily insult with a general title. Therefore, the Emperor had issued an order to recognize them by their preferred title to ease the relationship.
What this meant to Damien was that all the different races he was currently seeing all had things they wished to be called by but weren't due to a crass Emperor that just didn't care. They couldn't threaten them, so he looked down on them. All the different, extremely different in some cases, races that were walking around down there were being generalized into a term that was a slight and they almost all accepted it. The Lizardfolk, the Werewolves, the Minotaurs, the sweet, sweet looking cat women... they were all being lumped into one term because they weren't recognized.
Personal preferences aside, Damien was slightly disgruntled at this information, but as with slaves, there was nothing that could be done about it, so he dwelled on it no longer. If they wanted recognition, perhaps they should band together or increase their strength internally.
Most were citizens born in the Empire though and just accepted their fate. It was a fact that over eighty percent of the lower part of this continent was Human. Or at least, a fact according to the statistics put out by the Association.
Damien continued down the market at a leisurely pace atop his box, feeling like a king. No one was as tall as him except maybe one of the Minotaurs he'd seen that was absurdly tall even for his race, but other than that he was unmatched at this moment, almost ten feet off the ground before his height was added.
Nothing in particular stood out to him as different than what he'd imagined when wondering what this place would look like in the middle of the morning rush. Stalls sold food, weapons, jewelry, armor, and much more while people hugged the sides and carts rolled down a cobblestone path in the center. Shop owners that had no customers yelled out for attention and pedestrians shuffled by.
His driver turned right down a branching street and he sighed in relief as the rabble died away, replaced by the softer sound of hooves on stone. Small buildings were everywhere he looked on this new street, each with its own business name. Tailoring, Altering, Plumbing, Real-estate, and many more specialties were all accounted for. This specific side street seemed to house things that were essential for home living rather than battle.
Damien hopped off the cart as it turned west again on a road parallel to the main drag and he began moving south back the way they'd come. He had a mission today and this was clearly not the side of the Commerce district that he was hunting for.
He entered the marketplace again and cut through the crowd of people only to find no street leading further south. Following the left side of the road west, he eventually found an alleyway that peeked out between some stalls.
Damien slipped out of the crowded area and slowly made his way down the alley, expectations flourishing in his mind.
He was just curious. He wanted to know if it was like a red light district that resembled modern times, or... something different. He barely had any references to go on from modern times, even, so he was eager to find out what was next.
Just as eager as the first time his dad let him see inside a saloon.
"Step on it, put the thing out of its misery; it won't fight back anyway. Stupid thing is just laying there."
Hearing a feminine voice, he slowed and hid behind a few crates and piles of trash before peeking out and observing the persons who owned the voices.
"Mitch, don't kill it. Just let it be. It'll die on its own at this point, you've heard the stories man," a male voice rang out this time.
"Shut up both of you. The thing tried to steal out of my coin bag. I'm not leaving till I'm done with it. Stupid enough to get caught by us and yet the damn thing can't even defend itself. Good riddance, fly."
He cringed as the third figure, a male who looked to be 20, brought his leg back and punted something hard into a wall about two feet away. The small creature bounced off the wall and landed about a foot away, rolling to a stop by Mitch's boot. It tried to lift itself up by its arms but was immediately caught in the stomach by a second kick, sending it flying into the wall a second time. His female friend laughed at the scene and the other man said nothing, only looking away.
Damien's mind was in disarray, infuriated at the cruelty. Still, he fought the urge to step in, reminding himself over and over of his own weakness. To them, he'd be nothing more than that which they kicked. He was alone; stepping out would get him injured too, at which point he couldn't help it no matter what happened after.
If they tried to kill it though, Damien wasn't sure he'd be able to stop himself.
The one named Mitch lifted his boot up and brought it down on the small things legs and Damien could swear he heard a cracking sound coming from the impact. The man nudged the body with his boot and it just rolled over, looking to have gone unconscious.
"Right. I'm bored of this. Dead or not the thing won't be moving any-time soon. Let's go."
The brute decided he'd had his fun, his toy no longer fun once it had gone limp. The three turned to leave, headed back south away from Damien.
Seeing that's where they came from, Damien no longer cared to venture towards that particular corner of town. He watched them go and waited until he was sure they'd rounded the corner of the alley. Finally, they were out of sight and he moved forward as fast as he could while being quiet until he came upon a corpse.
It looked like a small feminine humanoid in the low lighting. Its wings were bent, it was covered in blood and grime, and it was tiny, around ten inches in height. He'd never seen anything so strange since coming to this world and the low light made it hard to make out its features, but after what he'd seen earlier, he had begun to understand why the Fae had looked like they were in a hurry today.
He reached down to pick the small creature up but found it was tough to grasp. Not that it was hard to touch, but more like something was preventing the thing from being grabbed by his hands. Like no matter how he clutched at it, it wouldn't be held still and would slip back to the ground. Also, the creature was freezing. Not a natural cold, but a biting one, As if it was made from ice itself.
Damien prodded the small thing with his mana and was surprised when he felt it rapidly disappear into its body, as if sucked in. If it were dead, it would make sense that there would have been no reaction. But since something happened... perhaps...
Damien ripped off a piece of his jacket off and laid it on the ground before rolling the small creature onto it, then slowly lifted it off the ground. This time, it came up with him. He carefully closed his makeshift bag and walked back the way he had come, out of the alley and onto the main road again, holding the small thing close to his stomach.
He could feel the chill it emitted through the cloth and urgently glanced around for a Fae in the area. If he asked anyone else for help, they'd likely either run or try to hurt it more.
Finding a light streaking here and there was easy, but no matter what he tried he couldn't get them to stop and people always stared at him incensed when he interrupted their errands. Giving up, Damien eventually decided to leave to a quieter area.
He followed the road east until he came upon a turn to take him near the Residential district. There had been a park in between the two areas and perhaps he'd find a spot there to see if he could help the thing without prying eyes.
The man walked slowly, careful not to jostle the creature in his pouch too much while avoiding colliding with anyone, eventually making it into the park. He found an outcropping of trees and grass where no parents were playing with their children and sat, hidden from the world with his new discovery.
Upon opening the cloth, Damien sighed, elated and horrified at the cruelty displayed in the bright light before him.
"...I knew that's what it was. I knew it."
Laying on his jacket was a member of the Fae. From Earth, a mythical creature shrouded in mischief and mystery. Sometimes good, sometimes downright evil, the Fae could bring fortune or famine. In this world however, they were only viewed as a plague to the people and nothing more.
Garrett and Emily hadn't told him much of the fairies other than to avoid them at all cost. The creatures were an ill omen. They played pranks on helpless individuals and cared not for the law. They rarely spoke or fought, content to go about tripping, stealing, playing, dancing, or just generally being a nuisance to the public.
They often showed signs of knowing attack magics but rarely implemented them, choosing only to fight when one of their own was truly in danger and only inflicted serious injury as payment in kind. They flit about and were usually impossible to catch as anyone with harmful intentions toward the Fae would always seem to lose track of where it was or where it had been.
As a child on Earth, Damien had loved stories of them. Irish folktales, stories of pixies, even films depicting them in less than favorable manner. The Fae was a magical race not to be trifled with, yet repaid kindness in kind and cruelty in spades. He grew out of his superstitions as he aged but finding this was like a piece of his childhood had come crashing back into him.
Here... there were no good stories of them. Whenever he asked, Garrett, Emily, Vanessa, and even Alexa all responded in the same general manner: They were nuisances worse than flies. Never involve himself with them.
But seeing what he'd seen, Damien couldn't help it. Even if the thing woke up and bit him like a rabid dog, he wouldn't leave it there lying in a bloody, muddy mess like that.
Damien created some warm water and wiped the little thing down with a cloth. He looked carefully for any signs of life, yet found none. The small Fae laid still. Not moving and not breathing.
It was a damn pity. The little monster was gorgeous. Long, jade-colored hair flowed down its back while its entire body was a deep, dark hue of blue, almost looking reflective and see-through at the same time, but cloudy. The four wings it held were bent at horrible angles, looking like glass that was made disfigured, and the white dress it wore was ripped.
Damien looked around for any spectators while beginning to will his mana into existence for healing. He could not heal too well yet, but he could at least throw what he could at the problem and hope against all the odds it would do something for the creature.
When his mana touched its body, though, the small thing sucked it up like it had done before. He had no opportunity to even try to fix its limbs or wings as the healing magic disappeared from his control the moment it touched it.
Damien hoped it was using the mana to fix itself.
After a minute or so of applying his mana, he was beginning to run out. It didn't matter if he injected it with one large burst or a small trickle, the Fae drained it all and looked not much better than when he had started, its skin only looking a little less cloudy.
He needed help.
Damien looked around him again and saw no one moving his way still. Some gave the small boy a strange look but ultimately ignored him.
Looking harder, no other Fae were in the area either, frustrating him. If he could pass it off to them, perhaps it had a much higher chance of making it.
The wind rustled the leaves of the tree above him and Damien glanced up.
His entire body froze in a panic.
What looked like hundreds of the wee folk floated above him, nearby the tree, or were perched on limbs of the tree, all motionless and staring daggers down at him. None moved and none spoke.
He heard no shouting from those Humans nearby so he assumed none could see them. They simply hovered in the air above him, putting a huge weight on his shoulders as he very slowly brought his eyes back down to the small creature.
'Ohhh I messed up I messed up,' Damien inwardly chanted, frantically trying to think of what he should do next.
Slowly, Damien lifted his hands up and stood up, backing away from the Fae on the ground. When he was about two feet away, he stole a glance upward and was bewildered by what he saw. Or lack of what he saw.
'They're... gone?'
He looked around and felt a sense or foreboding. Perhaps they abandoned her because he'd helped her. Birds did that, and the Fae had wings.
Thinking more about it, he hoped that's why they'd left because the other option was something he wanted to forget he ever considered. The longer he thought about it though, the more his mind pretended that was the only logical answer.
They'd left because she was dead.
He shook his head and decided to wait and see if they'd come back and take her, trying to be optimistic.
He moved five feet away and waited.
Ten minutes passed, then twenty.
An hour went by.
'Dammit,' he inwardly sighed.
Standing up, he moved back toward the small, hopefully unconscious body.
He bent down to push it a little closer to the center of the piece of his jacket and was surprised to find he could touch it without effort. Its skin stopped feeling like ice and was replaced by a feeling of warmth, the same as a Human's body and not the kind you'd feel if a body was dead.
Relief spread throughout him. He picked the small thing up and rested it in his right arm, wrapping it up so its head was barely visible like a baby. Holding it against his body for support, he quickly made his way out of the park and to his home.
About ten minutes later, he was in front of his house. Glancing up, the iron horseshoe above the door no longer looked like a fun, fantastical good-luck charm, but one with a purpose.
Damien opened the door slowly and called out, stepping inside.
"I'm home, sorry for-"
He was quickly wrapped in a hug before he could finish his words. His dad had been in the room when he opened the door, obviously pacing nervously by the door.
"Where have you been? Are you ok?" the man asked, pulling away and looking at Damien's face and body.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Sorry for worrying you guys," Damien replied, feeling a little worse after the scene.
He should have left a note rather than just disappearing.
When Garrett saw nothing out of place, he sighed in relief.
"Why in the world would you do that? Do you know how worried we all were? Alexa and your mother are out looking for you in the town still!"
Damien said nothing, looking away from his dad's face while trying his best to keep a gap between their bodies. He'd only been gone a couple hours, nothing too extreme, but that was still way too much.
He'd only planned to be gone about an hour but...
"Answer me, Damien. What have you been doing? You are going to get it worse from your mom when she gets home so spit it out and I may help you. Just what we- what is that you're holding?"
Damien's body tensed up.
Garrett's voice had gone cold in an instant.
"I... I came across an injured Fae, dad. I was only planning on visiting the south part of the Commerce district since you wouldn't take me there, but when I was going through an alley I-"
"You left to bring a Fae home??" his dad asked incredulously, interrupting him.
The older man took a step away from Damien and looked down at the fairy in his arms fully. Garrett then looked past his shoulders for a moment, then back down, before making a motion to reach forward and grab the creature.
Damien jumped backward out the door to the house before he could.
"I didn't go out to find one! Some people were-"
"Give it here, we need to get rid of it," Garrett demanded, interrupting him.
"No, we need to help it. They were hurting her pretty bad, but I don't think she's dead. I waited until they stopped and picked her up-"
"Damien is back, bring Vanessa. We have a problem," Garrett stated, ignoring him while breaking a small sphere in his hand before looking at him again. "If any other Fae saw you with it beaten like this, you are in serious trouble. We warned you time and again, why didn't you listen?" Garrett asked angrily. "What do you even plan to do, bringing it here?"
"I want to help her-"
"They're going to see it injured like that and retaliate, Damien!" Garrett yelled.
Damien looked up at his angry father, unsure of what to do. He wouldn't even let him talk.
"Give it here and I'll get rid of it. You need to go inside. The trip is canceled, you're not going anywhere for a-"
"I'm not giving her to you so you can just dump her somewhere," Damien declared, interrupting him this time. "A group of them already saw me with her and didn't hurt me. I'm going to heal her in my roo-"
"They saw you?" Garrett asked seriously.
Damien took another step back, nodding.
Garrett looked around the air and sighed again, looking visibly aged.
"I need your mother. You... Damien you're so smart but..."
The man went silent.
Damien took a cautious step forward but was blocked by Garrett's hand this time.
"The creature will not come inside. Put it down and come here to wait."
"No, I'll stay out here until mom and everyone comes home. I'll explain the situation to them since you won't listen," Damien said, turning away and walking toward a far section of the yard by the gate where he sat down in a huff. "You always preech helping those in need but when I find someone who truly needs it, this is what I get," he said, not turning back.
A few seconds later, he continued healing the fairy in his lap. He sighed, feeling his mana disappear, wishing his dad would help. She'd be fixed in no time if he tried, but at least he wasn't trying to violently take her away from him.
Damien felt a pebble bounce off his arm after a sitting on the ground for about a minute. Glancing down, he saw a rock roll away from him and looked back at the door where Garrett was glaring at him, rolling his eyes at his dad. Another pebble hit him while he made eye contact with his dad, causing Damien to lift his eyes in surprise. When a third landed, he followed its trajectory over to some bushes to the right where a couple small things were looking at him from cover.
His hair got tugged on from his left and when he glanced over, he caught the flitting away of another one as it escaped.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
"What in the hell is going on, Garrett," Emily asked angrily, appearing behind her husband.
She had almost rushed towards them when the message got to her and had to fight herself to go get Vanessa first. When she dropped Alexa off with the Celestial, she'd hurriedly sprinted from rooftop to rooftop to get here as quick as possible, only to stop dead in her tracks near their house.
Close to thirty fae surrounded her son, sitting on the fence and bushes, some even on his head and arms, while he sat motionless in the center. She'd have gone on a killing spree if he'd been harmed but he looked completely fine, just a bit nervous.
She had snuck in the backdoor in a cold sweat and found her husband at the front door, glaring outside.
"He is what's going on. Our little genius brought a Fae here, injured to all hell, claiming someone else had hurt it. He got seen by them and brought it here, Emily. He refused to come inside without it, let me take it away, or do anything sensible. He chastised me, calling it a person, and now-"
"So why didn't you knock him out or take it away!" she yelled in a whisper, knowing it wouldn't help but angry all the same. "He's four! Just-"
"You know it was too late," Garrett interrupted. "They saw him. That's why I said to get Vanessa. All we can ask is that they don't do anything worse than what happened to theirs."
Emily wanted to yell, but restrained herself, clenching her fists so hard her nails dug into her skin. The pain helped stop her impulses.
Her husband was right. Nothing they did now mattered.
The Fae always repaid this kind of pain with equal amounts. Sometimes, even death. They were a bloody nuisance, sure, but everyone knew to never harm them. They'd been too ignorant of his curiosity.
They should have expected him to sneak out. He always wanted to go out and see more and he'd constantly been curious of the Fae. He stopped asking a while ago though, so they'd forgotten. Everyone stayed away from them, it was easy to forget. They'd warned him time and time again...
But when he snuck out, he was alone, no one there to stop him from doing something like this.
"You need to stop Vanessa and Lexi from entering from the front," Garrett eventually said. "They haven't hurt him yet. They seem rather passive right now, just annoying him. Make sure Vanessa doesn't go on a killing spree when she gets here, please."
Emily gazed out at her son, feeling helpless. The small boy simply sat in the middle of the ticking bomb of colors with wonder in his eyes.
Nodding, she tore her eyes away and disappeared out the back door.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Damien looked around with a grin on his face. He'd tried calling out to a few but they never responded, so he just watched them run around.
Emily had gotten back with the other two and none of them left the house to come near him. He was unsure how to convince them to let him inside, especially now that there were so many Fae around him.
At least the look of deadly worry was slowly receding from their eyes.
Everything that was in his pockets was gone and he was missing a few pieces of hair, but they didn't hurt him. They seemed content to float around and explore the yard, a couple landing on his knees to check on their comrade who was laid in his lap. One red one had been sitting on his shoulder, poking his cheek for the better part of two minutes.
Damien had tried waving his hand at it to get it to go away, but it just flew around it and came back to poke him, so he went with a different tactic. Maybe this would even confirm if they were cruel or not.
Either way, he braced himself for retaliation.
Fast as he could, Damien shot his left hand up toward the Fae's legs and grasped them as gently but firmly as he could, then whipped it into the air before it could react, out and away from his body.
His whole family gasped in shock and the surroundings went still while the fairy tumbled in the air then stabilized itself with its wings.
Even the Fae around him stopped moving.
After a tense few seconds passed, he heard the one that was sitting in his hair start laughing and saw a finger pointing at the red-haired one appear from above his hairline.
All the Fae started laughing and three swarmed to his shoulders, starting to poke his face like the red one had.
Damien smiled at the scene, grabbing their legs and hucking them into the sky. It was insane looking, the way they flung through the air while giggling, only to fly back for another round.
"Throw me higher this time!"
"Hey hey, can you make me spin faster, like this?"
"Do me!"
"You already went!"
"I got here first though!!"
Arguing like little children, they finally started speaking. Damien's body had become an amusement park for the little creatures enthusiasm.
He was having fun too. He was able to send his ever-replenishing mana into the void that was the little jade Fae even with the commotion, so a little distraction while he worked was appreciated.
When he glanced at his family with a smile on his face though, laughter came back. They were as white as a sheet and seemed to get worse every time he threw one up.
After a minute, his dad threw his hands up and walked away.
Alexa was the only one seeming to have composed herself any amount. To his surprise, it even looked like she tried to take a step forward, but was instantly grabbed by her Aunt.
Damien met her eyes and flicked his to the left quickly before looking back at her. A moment later, Alexa's body visibly deflated and she turned around, heading inside after his dad. Vanessa let her go but stayed at the door, worried but not moving.
Then, Damien glanced over towards a window he'd looked at moments earlier to see Alexa climb out of it and land on the grass. By the time Vanessa saw what had happened, Alexa was already halfway to him, cautiously approaching.
Vanessa took a step forward herself then hesitated, unsure of what to do, when Damien threw one of the Fae directly at the cautious Alexa. She yelped, but the Fae laughed and straightened out, dive-bombing into the Celestial's wings.
"I am king of this fort!" it screamed out, climbing to the top of one of her wings.
"Another has left the Iron fortress!"
"Claim her for the Queen!"
"For mom!"
More than half the Fae present sped through the air and assaulted the terrified and nervous Celestial, climbing over her while giggling and playing hide and seek in her feathers.
Damien chuckled.
"They like you," he said.
"We like nothing Human!" a blue one declared, rubbing his face against Alexa's feathers.
"I like her!" a yellow one yelled from the hair on Alexa's head.
"It's not a her, it's a castle!" the first one corrected.
"I like our castle!" the yellow one responded, having almost instantly moved to the lower side of a wing, poking her head out from inside the feathers.
Alexa very rigidly continued forward and eventually sat next to Damien, saying nothing.
"Wanna help?" he asked, pointing at the jade one in his lap.
The cloudiness had left her body but she remained unconscious and the cuts were still visible. Her wings looked like they were straightening slowly though, so he knew whatever he was doing was helping.
"How," Alexa asked through gritted teeth while her eyes scanned nervously.
"Relax, they won't hurt you," Damien said, scratching the wing closest to him.
When she didn't loosen up, he lifted his other hand up.
"Watch."
He put his hand up behind his head and poked off the Fae resting up there.
The Fae lost its balance and fell to the ground past his eyes, quickly spinning itself around and flying up in front of his face. It was a female with purple hair and a sharp expression. She smacked his forehead with her tiny hand, leaving behind a cold mark, and went back to her perch.
Damien couldn't help but laugh while smiling.
"See? They enjoy this kind of thing, whether it's you messing with them or them messing with you. They aren't the type to get mad because you get even with them. In fact," he said, concentrating a tiny area of electricity on top of his head and zapping the small fairies butt with a tiny amount of energy, "they rather seem to enjoy it."
The purple hair fairy jumped up and flew down in front of him again, looking at him with wide eyes and a cocked eyebrow. Without warning, she flit down to his face and yanking out an eyelash with a big grin before he could even guess what it would do.
Damien laughed and held his hands up in surrender, apologizing. She returned to his head and laid down this time, draping his hair over her body like a blanket.
Alexa didn't ease up immediately, but seeing him laugh like that while the little fairy on him used his hair as reigns, blankets, and bedding all in one, he could see the caution slowly receding from her face.
The Celestial rested her hand above the unconscious Fae and Damien felt her mana slowly go into it. Alexa's eyebrows lifted up in surprise for a moment, no doubt trying to heal it like he had only to have her mana sapped away.
Damien noticed his cheeks getting sore from smiling so much and looked around the area again, seeing a few of the fairies napping in the air while others buzzed around them, pushing them close to the thorn bushes and higher into the sky, giggling all the while. Others fought for the high ground on Alexa's wings, while some were still content to be tossed around by Damien or poke around his body and clothes.
When he glanced at his mom and Vanessa again, a lot of the worry had left their faces, replaced by anxious expressions. He lifted his arm up and waved at them, prompting Emily to wave back with a confused smile while Vanessa just scrunched her eyebrows together.
"Hey, spread your wings out. They're trying to fight a battle up there. They need more room," Damien said, looking left at Alexa.
"What-"
"Yeah! Spread em!" one yelled out.
"We need space!"
"Alot of space! Spread!"
"Help her! No, do it for her!" another called, holding onto one end of a wing while pulling upward on it with a constipated look on its face.
One or two others joined in as Alexa looked at him with a glare. He started laughing hard again, moving the jade Fae into her lap.
"Take care of Jade, I'm going to get our guests snacks," Damien stated, standing up while still shaking with laughter.
"Jade? Wait, don't leave me here alone!" she hissed, grabbing his arm.
Alexa's face had a look of panic on it immediately.
"Don't worry you'll be fine, they're harmless," he said dismissively. "And that's what I decided to call her."
He was referring to her as 'the jade one' in his mind anyway. It was a beautiful name in his eyes.
"Who you calling harmless!" one asked.
"Yeah, we're danger incarnate! A compact natural disaster! And that's not her name!" another added.
"It is better than her name though," a third snickered. "Let's make it her name!"
"Agreed!"
"Seconded!"
"Sold! Jade it is!"
"You hold her, I'll get snacks," Alexa demanded, pulling him to the ground while shaking her head at the chaos all around her.
"But-"
"No," she interrupted. "I'm not staying here without you."
Damien sighed after a few seconds, nodding as he received Jade and Alexa stood up.
"Why are... why are they being nice?" Alexa asked before walking away, trying shake them off her wings as the fairies held on for dear life, laughing wildly.
Damien looked around at the scene he'd caused before looking back at her.
"Isn't it common sense to be kind to someone if you want them to be kind to you?" Damien asked, reaching up to his head and rubbing the small Fae's back. "Have you ever considered that maybe they just wanted to make friends?"
"We need no friends!" the one on top of his head yelled, lightly smacking the top of his head, prompting him to stop scratching. "I didn't say to cease," she said.
"I only scratch my friends' backs," Damien responded indifferently.
"You're my slave, do as I say or I'll cut ye!" she demanded.
"Friend or nothing," he countered, shrugging.
"Ahhh..." the Fae mumbled, pausing with indecision.
He could feel her fidgeting on top of his hair.
"Slave friend?" it eventually asked.
"That'll do for now," Damien said with a laugh, reaching his hand up again while Alexa scoffed and walked off. "Oh! Get some sugar, milk, and honey if you can!" he called after her. "They like sweet things."
Alexa walked away, ignoring him.
Emily and Vanessa backed up slightly as she approached with the fairies on her wings. When she got near the door, they all scattered away, hissing at the iron horseshoe above the door.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
"You're not going back out there," Vanessa stated, blocking Alexa's path.
"I have to though, I already got them food," Alexa said, carrying a tray full to the brim with almost all the sweet things they had in the house.
It was an excessive amount of goodies, but she figured they'd let her outside if there were even the smallest chance it could appease the little devils. They were all surprised Damien wasn't lying in a pool of his own blood yet.
"The insane boy out there can come to get it. I'm in charge of your welfare; no way are you going out there," Vanessa countered.
"But it's safe. He's fine," Alexa reasoned, looking at her Aunts serious expression with one of her own.
"I don't care. The situation could change at any time and that's the only reason I'm still here."
"Does it really look like the situation is going to change though?" Emily asked, looking more curious than afraid at this point. "Look how beautiful they are," she muttered.
Vanessa faltered when Emily was the one to counter her argument. Emily looked over at her and smiled.
"If he is willing to be out there, we should too. Look how much he has already changed Lexi and you," Emily said, pulling Alexa into a side hug while kissing her head. "Why can't it be true that he is a catalyst for them? He keeps doing things none of us can fathom and stepping further forward than we could imagine. We can't just let him leave us behind. Certainly, Lexi here isn't willing to let that happen. She snuck out the window to risk it after all," Emily finished, giggling while Alexa turned red.
Vanessa glared at Emily and back to Alexa before ultimately sighing.
"Only if you go out there with her," she finished.
"Don't encourage her!" Garrett yelled from the side.
"I was already working myself up to!" Emily said to her husband with glee. "You don't wanna come too? Come on Ness," Emily begged, turning back to Alexa's Aunt.
"Not a chance. I'm not leaving until you are all in here safe under the iron, but I won't go outside."
Alexa grinned, seeing her Aunt had given in, and walked by her. When she got to the door she froze, seeing the scene outside again.
The Fae all stared at her, full of expectation and longing. More accurately, they stared at the tray in her hand.
"Just... be careful," Vanessa asked, resting her hand on Alexa's shoulder.
She nodded before stepping out of the house for the second time into a din of monsters.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
"Stop!" Damien yelled, prompting all the Fae to turn and look at him angrily while Alexa nearly threw the tray in surprise.
'Oops. She is tenser than I thought.'
"Stop?"
"You don't control us!"
"The food's ours!"
"We take what is yours and give no quarter!"
Damien rolled his eyes, especially at the declaration of the purple one who was now standing and had one foot off his head, looking like she was walking on the air.
"That food is ours, and I'm offering it to you. Please allow her to set the tray down before swarming it. I don't want it going all over the yard," he clarified.
When it looked like he was done giving out instructions, he received a smack to his forehead.
"My friend gets to eat first as well," he finished with a nod.
"Slave friend!" the fairy clarified before putting her other foot back on top of his head, standing proudly he assumed. "See the perks I have! Hahaha!"
Damien could almost picture its hands on its hips as it laughed grandiosely.
"We don't have to-"
"I'm going right into th-"
"Very well," the red hair Fae said, loudly overriding the others in the area and surprisingly stopping them from complaining and yelling. "We thank you for the offering, Human."
Damien nodded to the red-haired Fae with a serious expression and then smiled at Alexa, beckoning her forward.
'That one seems to be a leader,' he thought.
It was the same one that had been testing his patience earlier. Now that Damien examined it, the Fae was definitely wearing much nicer attire, donning a pure white suit. He'd need to remember its face
Alexa began walking again, even more nervous than she had been before as they all stared at her with rapt attention. When she reached Damien, she set the tray down about two feet in front of him before once again sitting down by him.
Emily followed shortly after and Damien held back a sigh. He didn't know how, but she looked even more nervous and anxious than Alexa. He was surprised she'd come out at all though, now knowing he was in the clear as long as nothing bad happened.
"Thank you," he said to Alexa, staring at the tray full to the brim with butter, honey, sugar, bread, and milk. "Hi mom!"
Alexa had gone all out. He was grateful.
Emily nodded and sat down on his other side, looking like a robot with the rigidity of her limbs.
He felt a weight leave his head as his new friend flit down and stood on the grass a full foot away from the plate and began walking towards it like royalty. Damien rolled his eyes and passed Jade over to Alexa again, mana exhausted.
"What did you do my son," Emily whispered, shaking her head as Alexa received Jade.
She handled her more cautiously than Damien had ever seen her move anything in her life.
"What you would have done in the same situation, I'd hope," he responded. "She was hurt and being hurt worse. I was taught to help those in need without prejudice. Dad is always nice to people in tough situations."
Emily looked at him shocked as he smiled back at her. He knew that their lessons didn't apply to Fae, but it still felt good saying that again.
They were people. They deserved kindness.
"Why are you doing all this for them?" Alexa asked when Emily didn't respond.
"They haven't done anything cruel to me, why can't I treat guests kindly? They'll respond in kind," he said matter-of-factly.
"That has never been seen. They... usually only hurt. Not help. They don't give. Why would they now?" Alexa whispered as the group dive-bombed the tray, laughing and throwing butter and sugar at each other.
Damien grinned.
"Does that look like a group that wants to hurt anything?" he asked. "This world has never given them a chance. They are always chased away or killed off if injured, seen as nothing but a nuisance. If they were seen as equals or superior, perhaps they would've had the opportunity to show you who they really are.
They bleed, they hurt, they laugh, they cry... I know you guys don't intentionally hurt them, but you don't help them either. I saw some people doing things today... if it had been a member of my family..." Damien trailed off, stopping himself and feeling his earlier emotions rise to the surface.
The heat dissipated when he felt a light weight sit back on top of his head.
"How do you know they'll pay you back for any of this? Fairies never pay people for-"
"We always pay our debts!" the purple one yelled from his head, interrupting Emily's whisper. "We just-"
Damien lifted his hand to his head and stifled the little things yells.
"They don't owe me anything, but even if they did, I'm sure they'd reciprocate the sentiment behind this food. Maybe they don't have money to pay for it, or don't understand its cost, but I know they'd do their best to give something that was of equal value to them," Damien said. "Nothing good has to come of it, either. They haven't harmed me nor anyone I care about and they certainly didn't ask for my help. I chose to give it.
Sure, they may be mischevious, but that's just their nature. Have you ever tried to be kind to one that played with you, or did you always chase them off like a fly or pest to be swat?"
Damien finished his little speech and looked at his mom and then over at Alexa who was focusing on Jade. The fairies had resumed playing and flying around, already having devoured the food.
They seemed even happier if that was possible.
Emily and Alexa never responded, just sitting next to him.
Perhaps he'd responded in way too grown a manner. He understood they didn't question his intelligence being what it was, but he still tried to limit the number of times he sounded older than his body actually was...
He'd taken it too far this time.
A few hours went by during which he'd leaned on his mom to take a nap, played with the Fae a bit more, and laughed as they picked on Lexi. Soon enough, Damien was sitting alone, holding an unconscious Jade.
The Fae had all pretty much vanished as well, leaving one or two loitering in the area and his friend sleeping on his head.
Finally, he stood up and moved for the door that had no one guarding it any longer. The two fairies still hovering nearby watched him go but didn't try to stop him.
When he got near the door, his friend woke up and yelped, flying off and away from him, hovering around ten feet away and glaring in his direction.
"I apologize for that," he said, nodding seriously towards the fairy before climbing up the frame and throwing the iron shoe into the grass nearby.
The Fae returned to his head and he received a prompt smack of cold. Moments later, his hair was tugged and he felt the Fae try to guide him inside.
With a laugh, Damien obliged.
When he passed by his dad, who was working, the man looked over and wanted to say something, but opted out. Damien smiled at him and made his way upstairs, ignoring the Fae's demands to be brought to Garrett's work desk.
When he got to his room, he went inside and pulled a pillow onto a nightstand by the door. He laid Jade on it and opened the shutter, revealing another gathering of Fae outside, headed by the red-haired male.
"You have my permission to stay in this room but may not enter the rest of the home. Only those accompanied by me may go elsewhere and must stay by me. You will not steal or cause havoc while in my home, but you may come and go as you please. If anything is broken it must be replaced by an item identical or nearly identical to it. If these terms are not acceptable, you will be banned from our home. My intention is to help her. Please accept my hospitality, kindly ones," Damien said with finality.
Being respectful was important, but being confident was equally so. At least, in his old world.
A few fairies flit back and forth angrily while some floated near him and pulled on his hair a bit. One even flew to his shoulder and punched it lightly, like a boxer, causing him to do his best not to giggle while trying to be serious. Most nodded their heads or stayed sitting in the air. None spoke, and all watched his every move.
Very rarely were their kind treated with such a gentle hand as he had today and most seemed wary of him. He'd probably been way too nice to them today, it was understandable.
Damien examined them all as they cautiously entered the room and was in awe at what he saw. All different colors, the beautiful Fae. It was a hectic scene in the yard earlier, but right now, with the sun shining on them from outside and them all moving slowly, it was surreal.
Glittering and flashing, almost immaterial yet undoubtedly solid. Human features yet blessed with the looks of only the most superior of folk. They were beautiful. Like an artwork by the same master, each one different yet similar. Men and women flew around as he sat by Jade.
They quickly covered every inch of the room, from the bed to the ceiling. Some sat upside down and some sat horizontally to the ground on the walls. Some made faces at a painting in the room while others tried to land on his head, only to be fought off by his purple companion.
Damien spent the rest of the day healing the fairy when he could and sitting by her, opting to keep her in his lap. When they were touching, his mana seemed to return to him quicker and a slight amount was constantly drawn into her body. Not so much that it was a problem, but not so little that it was unnoticeable.
Most of the other Fae had bored quickly and left, but about twenty stayed to observe at any time, coming and going by the window.
Night fell and Alexa brought another tray of food in. She sat next to him as they played in her hair and feathers while assisting Jade again.
"It doesn't feel... like usual," Alexa stated, staring back at her wings.
"Not bad?" he asked, surprised.
Normally a Celestial hated the feeling of any sentient touching their wings. He had worried about that earlier but Alexa had shown no aversion to it, so he didn't need to ask them to refrain from climbing on them. It was a lucky outcome, too. There was no guarantee they'd listen to his request.
"Not bad," she confirmed with a nod.
"I'm glad," he responded.
It was amusing to him, looking out at the ten or so Fae left in the room. All the stories surrounding these "monsters," claiming them to be hateful creatures. People would kill them at any opportunity, but even though they rarely hurt people, all still feared them to a certain extent because of the length they went to when they retaliated.
There were stories, after all. A single fairy may not injure you gravely, but sometimes, just sometimes, someone who'd gone too far to hurt one would go missing forever, not even a body left behind.
The multitude of Fae had returned in force when they'd heard about the food and Alexa left the room. Apparently, Vanessa had demanded she not sleep in there tonight. He knew she'd have tried to get him out too if he wasn't so stubborn.
Damien exhausted his mana once again and laid down to sleep with Jade in his arms, feeling the trickle of mana disappearing into the Fae's body.
To his surprise, sleep came easier than usual, even without Alexa's wings.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
When he woke the next morning, the fairies were all gone, including Jade. By the time they'd gone to bed she had seemed almost completely healed, so maybe she had woken up during the night.
In place of the plate of food Alexa had left on the table, a small golden bracelet was laid.
Damien smiled and picked it up, gently placing it on his left wrist where it shrunk and tightly hugged his skin. It felt silly but it was a gift from them and he'd be a fool to refuse it.
Glancing out the window, he noticed a few fairies were watching him that he hadn't seen when he had woken up.
"He dons it! We must prepare!" A male fairy with short blue hair exclaimed such, prompting all of them to fly off towards the woods.
Damien stared out the window and watched them go, then looked to his wrist, attempting to remove the bracelet.
His smile dissolved. It wouldn't budge regardless of how he pried at it. It was there, but it was immovable.
Damien willed mana around his wrist and tried to break it off or shift it but found he could do nothing. It was permanent for now.