Icasondra loved to take the scenic route.
People in the village told her that it was foolish, that she was only exposing herself to the dangers beyond the forest, but she thought otherwise. She had been doing this since she was a little pixie, and nothing had happened.
Besides, it was foolish to be content just with the forest. The woods and her village are beautiful, yes, but she wouldn’t be satisfied with those sights alone. She needed to search beyond the tall pine trees and the bountiful undergrowth. It didn’t matter if the scenery was beautiful or ugly, she took pleasure in looking at new landscapes.
That’s what brought her to the Barren Lands.
The name was suiting for the place, if not, fell a bit short. When Icasondra had heard about the Barren Lands, she had thought of a desert, a place where the dirt was coarse and unfertile, where life couldn’t sustain itself. And whilst that image wasn’t far from the truth, it wasn’t what she had expected.
The Barren Lands weren’t a dry land where life didn’t bloom; it was dead, and life was being actively drained. She had thought of dark brown dirt or yellow sand, but the ground was grey or black, oozing with death.
“Oh.” She sighed as she perched on a dead tree.
Icasondra hadn’t expected a happy sight from the beginning, but this was far more depressing than she could have imagined.
“Why did the villagers call this place dangerous, if nothing can live here?” Icasondra mussitated with her melodic, albeit saddened, voice.
Her slim legs hung free in the sky, swinging back and forth, as she stretched her arms. The tree may be dead, but it was strong enough to hold her weight. It was a good tree. Providing service beyond death.
“Laira-laira-la~” But even the dark atmosphere couldn’t oppress her natural attitude.
Sure, the sky had an obscure tinge, and the ground was singed, but still was a new sight to behold. The forest was blooming with life, so it made sense that another place needed to bolster in death.
She expected the Barren Lands to be hot, but that was because she had thought she would find a desert. Truth be told, the air was frigid and was penetrating her flesh, feeling the cold deep in her bones.
Overall, this place was peaceful. Icasondra had never bothered asking superfluous questions like what would await her in death, but this gloomy stillness was certainly fitting. If that’s what lay beyond in the afterlife, then dying was that bad. It would only be... boring.
“Yes, boring.” Icasondra jumped out of the dead tree’s branch. She fluttered in the air, staying in the same spot thanks to her wings. “Death sounds like quite a boring prospect.” Even then, her visage was carved with a big smile.
It was difficult to make fairies sad, at the end of the day.
But as she turned over to fly back to the forest, a black shadow loomed over her. Before she could even flutter her wings thrice, the net pinned her to the ground.
“Yes!” A male voice cried in joy. “I’ve captured the critter.”
With heavy steps, a in dirty clothing man approached to pick up the net that was trapping Icasondra.
“I’m no critter!” The fairy protested, fluttering her wings and trying to escape her bindings, but the net was too resilient and the holes too small to fit through.
The man heaved the net up on his shoulders with a grunt. “Oof, the lady here’s heavy.”
“Did you just call me fat!” Icasondra burst in indignation.
“Shut up, fairy!” In response, the human hit her with his open hand. “Prey don’t talk.”
Icasondra wanted to cry. She had never felt this... pain. What would he do to her?
“I’d recommend against capturing wild fae.” Another man suggested. This one was better dressed, though his clothes were of a traveler. A brown coat and big dark brown boots, not fancier, just cleaner and tidier. “Such actions tend to have... unforeseen consequences.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“You shut up too, merchant!” The man walked toward the merchant. “You have paid us to escort you, not to listen to your ‘bits of advice’.”
“Do as you please.” The merchant shrugged and went inside a cart.
“Free me now!” Icasondra ordered now that the fancy man disappeared.
“And why should I do so.” The dirty man laughed. “You know how expensive you, fairies, can get on the slave market." He carried the next close to his face. "Especially someone as pretty as you.”
The man caressed Icasondra’s platinum hair with his grimy hands, almost prompting her to puke. The man laughed once more, a disgusting grin on his face.
“Merchant, do you mind if I put this cargo on your cart?” The repugnant man asked the fancy man who had picked up the straps of the horses.
“Absolutely not.” He responded with repulsion. “Keep your wares on yourself, I don’t want to be related to you for the next event.”
“Event?” The soot-covered man raised his brows in confusion.
Then a scream was heard from the back side of the cart.
“Erik, is that you?” The slaver asked. “Did something happen?”
“Boss!” Erik cried, a hint of fear in his voice. “Something came out of the ground!”
The man, his boss apparently, sighed. He muttered something about his coward lackeys and went to the back of the cart. He probably saw a risen zombie or skeleton. Those were the most basic forms of undeath, and their weakness corroborated it.
But as the man saw what had appeared from the ground, he dropped the net with the fairy in surprise.
A demon.
It was the only possibility. Blood red hair, menacing ebony claws, and satyr-like furry legs ending in even more claws. The demonic creature looked at them with a visible thirst. A desire for blood.
In a shaken stupor, and without thinking it twice, Erik unloaded his crossbow bolt on the demon. Even with his unruly aim, the lackey’s aim was true. It hit the creature right in its neck.
It didn’t do anything.
The bolt exploded into flames and vanished into ashes. The fire lingered on the demon’s neck and an instant later the damage done by the shot had disappeared.
The attack only angered the creature more.
Icasondra could smell the reeking smell coming from the Erik man and recognized it as urine. She would also have pissed herself, but she was too scared to even do that.
Her eyes closed as a sudden burst of wind enveloped them. Then, as she opened them, she saw the detached head of the Erik human fall to the ground, his body following soon after.
Yet the demon didn’t stop there, his claws even longer than in the previous blink, penetrated the rib cage of her captor. The dying body of the man fell to her feet, crushing them beneath as she was too shocked to move them out of the way.
“Ah...” A scared groan escaped her mouth as she crossed sights with the deadly being.
She looked inside the cat-like eyes of the demon and regretted everything she had said about not being bothered by death.
“Please...” Icasondra’s voice came out of her voice with great pain, not unlike speaking underwater. “Don’t kill me...” Tears came down her face, and her legs trembled uncontrollably.
The demon looked at her with confusion.
“Why should I do that?” The bloodied creature spoke.
Why should you not kill me? She thought, realizing her plead had been foolish since the very beginning. The ramblings of a soon-dead woman.
The ebony claw came toward her, and she closed her eyes; her heart completely stopped.
Death didn’t claim her. Instead, she heard the noise of a fabric being ruptured. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the net had been broken.
“Huh?” The fairy mussitated in a low whisper.
“You don’t have enough meat.” The demon replied. “It would be a waste. And you are a prey, not a hunter. I prefer hunter’s biomass.”
Icasondra sighed in relief, hiding traces of hyperventilation in her breathing. She could only be satisfied with her size as a fairy for allowing her to live.
Then the demon proceeded to the front of the cart. Icasondra’s heart sank as she noticed the creature would slay the merchant. Whilst the man had allowed the others to capture her, she didn’t think he deserved to die.
It took her a lot of strength she didn't have to move the slaver's body out of her legs. Her eyes became watery looking at the purple bruise on her leg, yet she was able to take to the skies.
But as she shakily flew to the front, she found no traces of the man. Only a pair of horses remained, the animals neighed violently upon seeing the demon.
Oh, thank the gods. She prayed. At least someone has escaped this massacre. As she thought that, the demon beheaded the two horses, ending their cries of fear.
“Ah.” A muted cry escaped her mouth as she remembered where she was. Her butterfly wings lost all strength and she fell to the coarse ground, her eyes feasting on the carnage.
The demon didn’t devour the horses, but she could tell she was consuming them somehow. Blood flowed upwards from the tips of its claws into his body. The macabre sight produced her a dazing feeling as if someone had punched her in the gut.
Once it was satisfied, the demon stood up and looked down at her. It didn’t speak but stared at her menacingly, shaking her to her very core.
“A-a-are y-you go-going to e-e-ea-eat me?” Her jaw trembled as she peered into the demon’s green eyes.
“I already told you that you don’t have enough meat. Or would you like to get eaten?” Icasondra vigorously swayed her head from side to side, her mane wildly following around. “Even then, I already have more biomass than I need, I’ll probably need to expel some, and also shift my body again. This shape results in instant aggression from other creatures, and I desire to go unnoticed for the time being.”
The demon crouched on its knees and got closer to her.
“Tell me, creature.” It said, its face close to her. “Where are we now?”