My name is Damien, and I am currently on the worst road trip in the history of the world.
I thought it would be fine as long as Vanessa and the Fae were separated. I thought maybe, just maybe, the Fae wouldn't be over the top.
I was wrong.
Again.
Typical.
It started out horrible, too; it didn't gradually get worse. The second we set off it was apparent the Fae and Vanessa wouldn't be able to be in the same place at the same time. The Fae tried to pick on her and she tried to shoot them with whatever magic she could concoct fast enough.
At one point, our carriage almost caught fire.
We had thus banned Vanessa from being where Alexa and I were when the fairies are clinging to us. I feel horrible, but they are like fire and water. They literally can not get along.
I have tried everything.
I've tried placating the fairies with snack gifts, promising to treat them in other ways if they leave her alone, hell, I even tried singing for them. Nothing would satisfy them. Nothing short of an 'apology done while kneeling,' their words, would get them to acknowledge her existence as anything but a nuisance.
The same goes for Vanessa. Sometimes the Fae leave for an hour or so here or there, and I always use this time to sit in her lap while she drives. Part of the reason she agreed to this trip is that she loves us and I know this is ruining it for her. It's supposed to be a fun, lighthearted vacation...
Alas, Fae.
She isn't making any concessions though. Every time I even bring them up, she stops scratching my head gently and begins digging her nails into my scalp. She refuses to even consider apologizing. If I mentioned the kneeling part, she'd kill me.
If this is how the entire trip is going to go, I wish they'd stop protecting me and just let me die.
They haven't been bothering Emily, Alexa, or me much. In fact, they've hardly zapped or bit anyone pretty much this whole trip; it's sad when you use that as a reference to determine if someone is being pleasant. Mostly, they've just been fluttering about inside or resting in Alexa's wings.
It's been... peaceful. At least until Vanessa pokes her head in through the front. They start throwing insults when she does, or magic.
It's literally been tense since we started off.
And to think, it's only day one.
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Damien waved as the last of the Fae exited out the back of the carriage. He wasn't sure where they were off to, but he was grateful for the reprieve. He held the suspicion that they got too bored in the carriage and needed to let loose for a few hours. This opinion was backed up by the fact that they were unusually well behaved these last few days.
He noticed the sun had begun to dip beyond the mountain chain to the west, casting a beautiful orange glow throughout the sky while painting the landscape in darker, duller versions of the colors it used to be. They'd been traveling east for the past nine days and were finally getting close to the base of the mountain they'd be moving toward, the only indication that his trip was coming to a close.
The lake was supposedly only a little less than halfway up the mountain from the base, but that only made him cringe harder at the thought of getting there. The mountain was HUGE up close. On a world where the lands were much, much more vast than his old one, it made sense in a way that the mountains would be just as impressive.
The trees didn't lose out in this aspect either. They were all shapes and sizes, some literally growing parallel to the ground and others normal. On more than one occasion he'd almost poisoned himself by walking under the dripping trees while exploring. Those things would paralyze you, slowly kill you off with their poison, then suck your corpse into the ground to nourish themselves.
He thought Emily and Vanessa were joking when they'd talked about them until they'd let him touch a droplet. It had instantly soaked into his skin, unlike normal water, and made it increasingly hard to move his arm. Almost his entire right upper body went limp and they laughed while helping him back to the carriage.
He resolved never to take their words lightly again.
The trees kept this uniqueness about them for the first mile of the mountain slope upward. From that point on, the trees became uniform and you couldn't even see the mountain anywhere until about a third of the way from the top where they stopped growing.
Damien turned around to the interior of their carriage and saw Alexa sleeping on one of the padded benches. She was having a rough go of it this trip, unused to being away from home for so long and having to sleep on the ground. He now understood why she had lost her sense of reason when they had first met if this ten-day trip alone was already ruining her.
She'd had it too good, too long.
Emily had tried teaching them hunting, but it hadn't gone well as they couldn't stay long to look for signs of prey or set traps. For now, she was taking care of the food gathering alone.
He walked to the front of the carriage and parted the partition-like screen, hopping outside into Vanessa's lap.
"Where's mom?"
"Hunting. The little devils have gone, I suppose?" she asked.
"They aren't devils. If you treated them just a bit nicer, they wouldn't hate you so much, you know?" Damien responded.
"I would treat them better if they didn't act like spoiled, incorrigible little assholes. I've gotten along fine so far in my life without dealing with them and I'll continue that way."
Damien looked up at her with a frown. This is how the conversations with the Ice Queen started the past few days; she insults the Fae after they've left and he'd be left listening to her rant.
"They don't act spoilt and rude if you don't antagonize them..." he muttered.
"Yeah? Well, they shouldn't act that way in the first place. The little bastards act like they own everything. What makes them so deserving of respect?"
"Well, what makes you so deserving of respect?" Damien posed, "In their eyes!" he quickly amended. "They have been alive for millennia, centuries. To them, you are a child. I know you don't like to think of it this way, but in my eyes, the fact that they have decided to be childish and playful instead of cynical and jaded after an unfathomable amount of time is impressive to me."
Vanessa eyed him up before speaking.
"Careful there, you're sounding much too old for your age again. How do you know so much of the Fae anyway? And how do you know they've lived as long as they claim? Is it not true that they die? Perhaps they are not as old as you think."
"They tell me things," he lied. "When they die, they are brought back to life as long as their soul isn't destroyed. They come back as a child but eventually recall their memories of previous lives after a few centuries. If you were that old, wouldn't you demand respect and admiration from everyone you came across? Isn't it admirable that instead they only want to get along with people through simple means? It would be like someone your age being talked down to by someone who was a newborn. They probably have little to no genuine ties or friends in this world because of it."
"This world? You are saying they live on others?" she asked.
"That's what they say," he lied again. "Don't you find it weird that even though they are seen as a curse, they haven't been eliminated? It's because they can't be. No one would be able to find their true home because only they can invite you to it. The Fae are not from this world, but they choose to exist here to interact with the races. I'm not saying there are other worlds, but they would definitely be the ones to ask if you wanted to know more... Wouldn't you rather befriend someone with literal eons of knowledge rather than offend them? Especially when all you have to do is put up with a little playing?"
That got Vanessa thinking, it seemed. She didn't speak for the next few minutes until Damien broke the silence with a rumbling stomach.
"Hungry?" she asked.
"We haven't stopped for food in over ten hoursssss... I'm starving. Are we making camp tonight, or?"
"Yes," she said, smiling down at him and rubbing his head. "We have to feed and rest the horses. They may be bred for long-distance travel, but even they can't ride through the night more than two nights in a row. Tomorrow we begin up the mountain, so they need all the rest they can get."
"How long until we stop though?" he asked, squinting his eyes at the scratching.
He needed to use the restroom, eat, stretch... the carriage was horrible. At least this is one of the last days he'd be on it.
"Give it a few more minutes, we are looking for a river right-" As she was speaking, golden lettering suddenly sprang into existence in front of her eyes.
To her, it was legible and made sense. To anyone else, it was just a jumbled mess of lines.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
A simple messaging spell. It was limited in range but still had impressive security measures.
"That's your mother. She found a good spot and caught us dinner. It's rabbit tonight again."
"Alexa isn't going to like that..." he mumbled.
She had vehemently refused rabbit the first night Emily had butchered a pair in front of her. He didn't blame her, it had been terrible to watch. Unlike Alexa though, Damien's hunger was more powerful than his love of cute things.
"She doesn't have to know, she is sleeping right?"
"Still, yeah. Should we leave her asleep until the food is ready?"
"That is fine. She needs to learn to deal with these things, but I wouldn't mind letting her have it easy until we get to the lake tomorrow," Vanessa replied with the smallest hint of empathy in her voice.
"You're going soft on someone other than me? I won't allow it," Damien protested.
Vanessa laughed and pinched his cheek while Damien smiled. He'd gotten her to laugh, a rare event lately. She had been overly stressed, leading the cart off and on with Emily, not to mention scouting duty and dealing with the fairies. Everyone in their group except Emily seemed in need of a rest when they arrived at the lake.
Damien hoped she would allow it.
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"Come on, eat it. You've eaten it before. It's the only food we have."
Her son pleaded with Alexa as she watched on.
In her opinion, the girl should starve until she forced herself to eat rabbit without being convinced, but her Damien wanted to coddle the girl a little, and she would let him, at least until they got to the lake. She loved her son and Alexa more than life itself, but training was to be taken seriously. If they ever got stranded or lost somehow, Emily wanted to feel confident the two could fend for themselves without her around and they would never get there with coddling. So, though she was giving them a moment of reprieve and rest right now, the second they got to the lake she would be ruthless, she had already decided such.
Really, they had it so easy. Resting in the carriage all day, playing with fairies... it was like a vacation in its own right. No. She would be ruthless, and her children would be prepared for the world.
"I... can't I just have some bread? It was a rabbit, Damien. How can you just eat it? Did you see how cute they were? And she just..." Alexa complained, remembering a trauma from the other day.
"If you think that's bad sweetheart wait until you have to do it yourself. Bunnies are a very common source of food all throughout this area, learning to butcher them is an exceedingly important task I won't let you shirk on," Emily stated.
Alexa's face dropped at that from a look of mild distaste to horror.
"I'm... not going to eat tonight. I'll be sleeping on the grass over there when you're done being a savage," the girl said, looking at Damien before heading off towards the carriage for some blankets.
Emily looked toward her son and spoke up.
"You know, I've been thinking. I don't think I'll allow you to sleep with Alexa while you are out here. You have been getting the best sleep out of all of us here in her wings and haven't made yourself a bed once. You need to learn what it's like to be on your own and live without her."
This time, Damien's face dropped to a look of horror.
"Can't I make a bed and sleep with her? If it passes your inspection?"
It wasn't a bad suggestion, but it was the independence she'd wanted to foster. However, baby steps were necessary in some cases not related to physical training. "... Maybe. I'll see. You need to sleep on your bed at least one night though."
Damien nodded.
Vanessa watched on saying nothing.
"In fact, make that night tonight. You can make your bed wherever but don't sleep in Alexa's, understand?" Emily said.
Damien nodded again and stood up, finishing his meal and cleaning himself up with water magic before saying goodnight. They'd decided to let the kids use mana freely lately to a degree, keeping it somewhat subdued until they got to the lake. They were still on the main road, so anything that would draw attention was right out.
Her son left the fire they'd been sitting around and disappeared towards the carriage like Alexa had, likely going for blankets. Emily heard rustling and voices but didn't focus on them. She could have eavesdropped if she'd wanted to, it was quite easy with her heightened senses, but she liked to give them their privacy.
It was rude to interfere with a budding romance, after all.
"You're making that face again, Emily," Vanessa said, stopping her thoughts.
Emily immediately wiped the smile from her lips before responding.
"What face?"
"The one that means you're thinking something perverted. They are kids, what is wrong with you?"
"I was not! I was thinking that I was happy they were going to get married when they get older. It means we will be related for real finally," Emily replied.
"They most likely won't be getting married in the future, stop being ridiculous."
The women lapsed into silence, staring into the crackling fire while sitting next to each other.
"Were you able to find where they go when they disappear?" Vanessa asked, lowering her voice.
"No. They vanished when they hit the treeline. I couldn't hear, see, or smell any of them. They literally just... vanished. I'm not sure... I'm not sure I know what to think about them."
"I don't either. I just know it doesn't feel right to trust them with our kids, no matter how much Damien says he trusts them," Vanessa asserted, her voice taking on a grave tone.
Emily giggled at that statement.
"I'm serious, Em. I don't like it."
"I know, I know," she said, smiling. "It's just, you just said our kids," she said while nudging the Celestial with her shoulder, "Does this mean you're my wife? Or husband? And are you going to let me sleep with you tonight?"
Vanessa flushed red in the campfire light and stood up, walking away from the firepit.
Emily sat, smiling on the outside as she looked into the embers while being a mess of nerves internally.
Why were the Fae suddenly here? Why was her son being watched? Why hadn't they been more careful?
All questions which she couldn't answer, yet all questions which plagued her each night since their trip had begun.
Like the others before, Emily wouldn't sleep well tonight.
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Damien opened his eyes slowly and stretched, lightly tapping his head against Alexa's. The Celestial woke up slowly, yawning loudly and directly in his face.
"Your breath stinks," he said.
"Yours does too, don't talk this early," she responded.
"Well, don't yawn in my face then. You're just making it worse by talking too. Open your wings up and vent the place a little."
"No, it's cold and I can tell the sun hasn't risen."
"That doesn't matter, you know mom will want to leave as soon as the sun is up and it smells. Let's just get up."
"No," she responded, closing her wings tighter around them. "After what you pulled last night, your mom is going to be mad and not let me use you like a stuffed animal for at least a week. I'm keeping you hostage until they wake up. Now go back to sleep."
"She won't care; we are using my bed. That was her requirement. I fulfilled it. We'll be fine," he said back, trying to sound confident yet failing.
"She will too. You think you're being clever, but you know what she meant."
"That's neither here nor there. The only thing that matters is what she said, what she 'meant' won't hold up in the court of law. We'll be fine."
"... what?" Alexa asked, tilting her head while looking at him with her ruby red eyes.
It looked adorable.
Sometimes, just sometimes, idioms or expressions from his world baffled the girl. She was too young to have learned many and the lack of public schooling only exacerbated this issue.
It was like taking candy from a homeschooled person. Easier than from a baby.
"I did not understand anything you just said. Explain?"
This was the best part. She genuinely wanted him to explain what he'd said while looking for sense in the words. She'd sat there for a good ten minutes wondering on how someone could be somewhere every now and again.
Unfortunately, his fun was interrupted.
"She cares, and she's mad that you didn't listen to her."
Emily's voice rang in his ears from outside his wing barrier and he cringed. Obviously he was in trouble, but who would willingly give up a literal cloud for a bed.
He hoped he could talk his way out of this.
Alexa's wings didn't budge and the girl herself seemed to be panicking. Eyes darting back and forth, mouth opening and closing... definitely panicking.
"Mom it's not time to wake up yet and I did make my bed see? We are sleeping in it right now."
"You were supposed to sleep away from her, not with her in your bedding. You're a smart boy, you knew what I meant. Why did you even think I'd be ok with this?" she asked.
"Well, you're always fair and you did leave your statement pretty open to interpretation. And I did fulfill your original goal of making my own bed, right? Ask her. I definitely made this."
"He did do the... making. He made it," Alexa finally got out.
She was terrible at trying to be crafty with words when she was nervous. It would be adorable if her breath didn't smell so dammed bad.
"See? Go easy on us, we never sleep without each other. Starting now away from the house in a super uncomfortable location is just going to make us less productive and give us worse sleep."
Even he was skeptical of his logic, but it was all he had.
Luckily, a sigh from the woman above them later, it seemed his gamble had paid of.
"... Fine. But get up, we'll be leaving a little early for the mountain. Your little friends haven't been around all day. Vanessa wants to get moving before they show up."
Damien internally fist pumped and Alexa's face visibly relaxed.
"Told you," he whispered.
Alexa smiled.
"Tonight you will NOT be sleeping together though. Your own beds for one night or I'll guarantee you won't even see each other for the next month, understand?"
They both stopped smiling.
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It had been six hours from the time the four had set out and up into the mountain range. The change in trees had been the most drastic of all they'd experienced on this trip. It had gone from the mix and match of all different dangerous varieties they'd been in till now to a single type, wide as a sequoia and tall as a redwood.
The tree had no bark of any kind, instead sporting wood greenish-brown in color that would dull any ax made out of materials that weren't enchanted. No branches existed on them at all for the first hundred feet up their trunks but after that Damien was confident he could walk from tree to tree. He couldn't even see the canopy from the ground, as it was obscured by the multitude of branches that created pathways between them.
It was like the ultimate treehouse built by nature itself, if you could get up to it.
The only other plant that grew in the area was a wild assortment of bushes and grass. Not a single other tree was present.
The moment they had crossed the threshold of the forest, the fairies had returned in force and were overly delighted in their antics, simply ignoring Vanessa's protests and playing all over everyone. They crawled across the mortals, picking at their eyelids, hair, ears, fingers... anything they could get their hands on while simultaneously turning random pieces of clothing invisible or stealing shoes.
It had been miserable. It currently was miserable.
"Are we there yet?" Damien asked again.
"I never thought I'd grow to hate that question so much, or the answer. No, we STILL aren't," Vanessa responded.
"How long until we are?"
No one responded to him. He didn't blame them. It should be soon from what they'd said but it still felt like hours.
No bandits. No monsters. Nothing of interest had happened the entire trip because of the fairies and now the last stretch they were in full escorting force. It had felt like a swarm, but in reality, it was only the same eleven tormenting them.
A snowball hit Damien in the side of the head. In the middle of summer. He ignored it.
Another hit him, followed by one hitting Alexa and Vanessa. Alexa ignored it but to his dismay, Vanessa couldn't. For whatever reason, she summoned her own ball of snow and threw it back with such force the fairy couldn't move out of the way in time. It hit the Fae head on and sent her crashing into a tree.
Damien's body tensed up, worried she'd actually hurt the poor thing. Vanessa's face even donned a look of regret.
Then, out of the small pile of snow, a giggling form with an evil glint in its eyes emerged, holding a snowball of its own.
Someone had taken her bait.
Damien whimpered and curled into a ball by Vanessa's thigh, hiding his head.
"Attack!"
He heard the sound of countless snowballs slamming into the cart, clothing, and felt a couple crash into his legs.
He was over the Fae. He didn't like them anymore. They had lost their novelty. He wanted them to go back to being myths.
The area devolved into a war zone, or a one-sided massacre.
One hour later, four humanoid forms in tattered clothing dragged themselves into the lake to wash off mud, snow, ice, plants, and other materials that had been inside the snowballs the fairies had been throwing. Said Fae stayed by the treeline laughing.
Afterward, Damien walked out of the water and watched Vanessa sit on the beach with her knees pulled to her chest, looking traumatized. Emily soothed her.
He fell face first into the sand when he was far enough away to not drown. Alexa scooped him up while crying in relief.
They had finally made it.