“You won’t go to the Midsommar?” Anofareda, the other sentinel on the watchtower, asked Alta.
The fairy was a female Rootweaver, and Alta highly doubted why she had this job. Fairies were already incredibly physically deficient, but females were even worse. Alta wasn’t affected by that because she had modified her musculature and had better biomass than the fairy before her, otherwise, she would have shifted her gender a long time ago.
“Someone has to man the tower, or not?” Alta inquired.
“I mean yes, but aren’t you new to the village? You can’t just lose your first Midsommar festival!” Anofareda protested.
“Are you going to stay here then?” Suddenly, the enthusiasm of the Rootweaver died out and avoided the Blossomflame’s gaze. “That’s what I thought. Leave.”
Anofareda didn’t protest anymore, leaving the watchtower with her root wings that seemed too heavy to even flap, let alone fly.
The sun was beginning to set, twilight lurching on the horizon. I guess they will now light the campfire. Alta didn’t lament that she couldn’t participate in the Midsommar festival, but she didn’t like the lost knowledge. She didn’t know how the event was, and now she wouldn’t know.
The fairy observed the horizon, admiring the oranges, pinks, and violets of twilight as she waited for the Celestial Triumvirate to come out.
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The festival was going well.
That’s all Icasondra needed to know, a weight lifted from her shoulders. Fairies talked and indulged in the feast, some even trying meat. The village didn’t have any cattle or even performed animal husbandry, so any meat had to be hunted or purchased from the occasional merchant. It was a luxury that not many people indulged in. Icasondra herself was satisfied with a bunch of blueberries and cider.
It's so strange that you can make alcohol out of APPLES. The Moonlight fairy took a sip of her mug, the beverage refreshing her mouth yet paradoxically making her throat burn. She saw Aecansomdrys talk with a female Stillwater fairy, but she couldn’t recognize it. Hmm, it feels as if something is lacking.
But her thoughts were interrupted by the apparition of Flrynwydl. The colossal dryad, three times as tall as the tallest fairy, appeared between the vines of her tree carrying a fire that burned blue.
The magic radiated from the flame.
The fairies, no matter if they were the Life-aligned Rootweavers or the Death-aligned Stillwater, bowed down to the elder. It was nothing fancy, more than a nod than an outright bow, but the respect was felt from their gestures. Icasondra did the same.
“Are you having fun?” Flrynwydl asked with a bountiful smile.
“Yes!” The voices of the fairies shouted together at the same time as if they were a hivemind, the sounds mixing together in a cacophony.
“What do you want?” The dryad raised the light blue torch to the skies.
“The pyre!” Everyone shouted.
“And when do you want it?” The elder asked, raising her voice even higher to accommodate it to that of the villagers.
“Now! Now! Now!” They chanted.
“Then so be it!” And with that, Flrynwydl threw the torch in a perfect arc, landing directly inside the pile of dried wood.
That reminds me... Icasondra thought as her vision was tainted in a flash of blue as the pyre came to life. Where’s Alta?
The Moonlight fairy walked across the tumult, looking for the chimera, yet she didn’t sight her iconic fiery wings. It was difficult seeing anything, as the blue flames of the campfire tainted everything with its hue. Icasondra flew high up but to no further success.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Crying her name wouldn’t work. First, it would disturb the celebrations, and she didn’t want that. Second, it was impossible to do so. The band of Dreamsong fairies dominated the sound, quite literally. Only the songs produced by the musical fairies could be heard.
Being unable to find any fairy amidst the visually and audibly overloaded scene, powerful blue tones and harmonic notes, Icasondra flew to Flrynwydl. The tall dryad was the only figure she could distinguish.
“Hello, Icasondra.” She stated colloquially, the sound magically distorting around her as her voice was crystal clear.
“Hi, Flrynwydl.” The fairy saluted the elder. “Have you seen Alta, by any chance?”
“Alta? I don’t believe so, no.” The dryad responded. “But she should be on the watchtower by now.”
“The watchtower?” Icasondra’s voice glistered in offense. “Are you saying that she’s working on the biggest celebration of the village?”
“More people are working, child,” Flrynwydl said. “There are more sentinels placed around the Evergreen to guarantee the security and success of the Midsommar, not everyone can join in the fun.”
“I understand that... but this is Alta’s first Midsommar, it’s not good that she just loses it because she has to work.”
“Those are the rules.” The elder stated firmly. “And the chimera accepted them.”
Icasondra understood that no matter what she told Flrynwydl, she wouldn’t change her stance. Her job as a matron and a leader collided a lot, and she didn’t want to be around the dryad when that happened.
With a sigh, Icasondra flew away. She would have to be the voice of the Midsommar then.
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The dark veil of night shifted to blue.
Alta still watched the horizon, looking for potential danger, but she repurposed part of her biomass and shifted one of her eyes to her back. The sight was dizzy and disorientating, but it allowed her to see the festival from afar.
A column of blue smoke raised over where the village was. Even though the fire was a long walk from the watchtower, the lights were visible at night even without her increased senses. The green forest gained a turquoise color as the blue light showered it.
The chimera couldn’t help but identify an eerie similarity between the light of the fire they had lit on the village and the tangible light that seeped life in the prison. The color was the same, yet the... magic was different. She couldn’t exactly point out why.
But the cool color shone even brighter than Shatel, the moon of blue. It gave a different feeling to the forest, more mystical.
“How can colors do that?” Alta asked herself. “Changing the entire ambiance of a landscape with a slight brush of light...”
She stopped her ponderations and shifted her eye back to her face. The sight was distracting her, and distractions could be lethal. The mixture of black, blue, and green was what mostly populated her vision.
“Boredom.” She stated the current state of affairs.
“Then why don’t go to the festival?” A voice was accompanied by the fluttering of wings.
Alta turned her head to see Icasondra, who had flown into the watchtower nest.
“Someone has to watch for dangers.” The chimera explained returning her vision to the empty horizon.
“Is that more important than losing the best event our village has to offer?” The fairy sat next to her.
The Blossomflame fairy turned to look at the Moonlight. Icasondra’s eyes shone with expectation, yet Alta’s were drowned in tiredness.
“You are too complacent. In the wild, a hunter can capitalize on every mistake, in every distraction.”
“We are not in the wild!” She negated, but Alta pointed with her eyes to the ever-expanding forest. “Alright, we may be in the middle of the Evergreen, but that’s not dangerous. We are on Flrynwydl’s domain!”
“And yet Flrynwydl told you not too long ago that this was dangerous.” Alta lectured. “Why wouldn’t you hear to your pack leader?”
“She’s exaggerating!” Icasondra denied as she sway her head. There’s something more. The chimera thought. Hidden in those words and movements.
“She feared the humans.” The Blossomflame added. “And those were the ones who captured you. Why don’t you fear them?”
Suddenly, Icasondra’s eyes lost their glint. Even the light of the three moons wasn’t capable of lighting the darkened expression.
“I see.” Alta comprehended. “You do fear them. You are just hiding, camouflaging your fear. Perhaps you are more of a hunter than I thought.”
“I... I don’t fear them.” The Moonlight fairy said with words she didn’t even believe herself.
“You should go back and stay with your peers.” The chimera explained.
“No!” The fairy shouted. “You are also one of us! So, if you don’t go to the village, I’ll stay here and celebrate the Midsommar with you!” She raised a plate with fruits.
One of us... Those words resounded in Alta’s head.
“How is it that Flrynwydl, basically your mother, rejects my existence and shifting nature, yet you embrace it?”
“I... well...” Icasondra’s words vanished into nothingness. Her eyes went back and forth as she looked for the correct words. “I guess that-“ But even when she finally found them, Alta could no longer hear them as her eyes detected something on the horizon.
“Can you see that?” The sentinel pointed at the distortion in the night sky, interrupting the fairy’s words.
“See what?” Icasondra appeared to be unable to distinguish the subtle changes and deformations in color. It was truly dark after all.
But Alta saw it.
Smoke.