The rabbits were stronger than me. They didn’t get over their loss but they were active. Yannick’s wife was helping with removing the fairy corpses out of the cave. Others had dared to go out to send a message to the dayshift warriors wile yet another group had started burrowing in the back of the cave. The rest were shooting down fairies behind vines, tending to those that were still coping with loss or...coping with loss, like me.
I don’t understand how they could end their lives like that. Don’t they want to live? And how they died...
“Hey...how long would it take to dig everyone out?”
Nobody answered my question. I knew it was a silly question. These fairies wouldn’t allow us to peacefully dig everyone out.
I had spent years with them but I still didn’t understand how they were so strong. Not just physically but mentally.
The cave started to get filled with chatter. The name ‘Wren’ got dropped and I looked around.
Familiar ears and a familiar face got up. Wren had woken up!
A small wisp of joy danced in my heart as I got up and ran over.
“Ugh, what happened, this isn’t my room?” Wren looked around and locked eyes with me. “Oh hey Azu! Where...where are we?”
“We...we had to flee. The scythedogs had infiltrated our burrow. Up until the 15th underground floor. I couldn’t do anything. I’m sorry...so many rabbits died.” Survivors guilt resurfaced an I averted my eyes as making eye contact became unbearable.
Wren got brought up to speed.
Get a grip Azu! They’re counting on you!
I slapped myself. The sound echoed and drew a lot of attention. I knew that these beast kin have good ears but I misjudged how loud it would be.
“Ehh...I needed to keep myself awake! Ahahaha!”
The stares and rabbit curiosity were too much for me so I ran to the vine wall and started shooting down some fairies.
It was therapeutic! They didn’t know what was coming! One time they were making noise and being their obnoxious selves and another they dropped to the ground.
More rabbits joined as the day progress as it had proven to be an excellent method of venting.
“How about that Azu! That was my 2735th kill!”
“How cute, my [Mistflower Field] just killed the 19472nd fairy!”
“But that’s cheating! Your skill is so unfair1 let’s ban it! We will catch up easily without it!” The rabbits protested, making excuses left and right. They think this is a game...
Sure, we did make a game out of it but we’re doing the world a favor by wiping them out and so there’s no cheating.
“Keep up young ones!” My arm stretched out and I waved my fan, sending out a swarm of mistflowers.
We shot down fairies until sundown. The red orange glow shone into the cave, casting eerie shadows.
Most of the night shift rabbits had woken up and the dig crew had made a lot of progress. My arm got heavy from swinging my fan all day. Something grabbed my shoulder as I was going for a last swing.
“I have heard how you helped us evacuate. Thank you, Azu. Go sleep with the dayshift rabbits. We will need you tomorrow.” Wren smiled and handed me a carrot.
I politely declined and folded my fan. It turned into a hairpin which went into my messy hair.
“But I haven’t done much, let me join the night shift. I’m here because i overslept. I should have been out there with them...
“I know, but you always made yourself presentable. You look like you need a bath and sleep. Don’t worry, we got this.”
Wren turned around and stopped Yannick’s wife...widow... “Can you make sure Azu takes enough rest? I need to get everyone ready for the nightshift.
Yannick’s wife approached me and offered a carrot. I hesitated but took it. “Thank you....”
“No need to thank me, let’s go pick your room. They have already dug out 4 floors. It’s all fresh, you can choose the first room!”
Yannick’s wife led me into the burrow. I still couldn’t understand how she could be in a good mood after all that happened this morning.
The first large hall was full with supplies and belongings. As organized as always. It kept surprising me.
“I will take a room on this floor, thank you. Say...don’t you miss him? Your husband?”
Yannick’s wife patted down the walls. “I do but...he did this to protect me and I respect that. It might sound cruel to you but we try to move on. I wouldn’t want him to be unhappy about my death forever if I was in his shoes. I don’t know how it is for you Misha but to us...these things can eat at us from the inside and turn us into dysfunctional husks...we can’t get rid of strong negative feelings like mortals do. We will carry them forever so...we have it in our culture to move on. Of course, I miss him but...”
She kicked an uneven wall and kept kicking it till it was even.
“But...it would be a bigger insult to him if I died to a mistake brought forth by those feelings. Be it in a week, a month, a year or more but I will properly mourn for him when all these abominations are eradicated. I will not let my feelings get the better of me and see that I survive until they’re gone. That’s the best I can do for him...”
She inspected more walls and kicked them if they were uneven.
Misha are immortal but somehow don’t fall under the immortal category. Is this why? Mental fortitude when it concerns immortality? What does it mean to be immortal?
My belongings were easily recognisable as they tended to have a lot of blue and flowers. I flicked my wrist and my belongings started [Levitating] and followed me as I walked into a room.
Everything went so fast. I still vividly remember when that young girl woke me up as if it was an hour ago.
I had decided that I didn’t feel like I belong to the Misha. I can’t become a rabbit as my ears are too short but...maybe I can try to become more like them.
My hand waved and my furniture followed and cancelled [Levitate] until it was decent enough.
We need a plan. We can’t keep this up indefinitely. We had lost many just on day 3. Can I make a magic skill that can deal with swarms? Like [Mistflower Field] but bigger? Or should I focus on closing the enormous hole in the sky?
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Nothing we do matters if just more pour in. We have to close that first but...how?
The rabbits said that that was the job of the nine tailed spirit foxes but there aren’t many of them left and how are they supposed to close that with all those fairies pouring out?
I love the tailed beasts but I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes with their impossible roles...How is it even fair? Why don’t the humans get a role? There are so many of them.
And what about the Misha? Sitting in their houses high up in Witchaven while other races are keeping the world together.
What if I give myself the role of fairykiller?
Azurra Mist! The bewitching Fairykiller!
It has a ring to it but it’s a bit long... how about an acronym? AMTBF...AMBF? AMBFK?
Maybe not...I’ll just stick to Azu.
This continued for a total of 10 days and then one morning, the Great Tear was gone! It was a slight relief as swarms of fairies were still everywhere. At least there is a finite number of them now, right?
Another alert went out as I was about to use [Mistflower Field]. The rabbits ensured that they stuck close to the ground as a swarm of flowers flew up into the sky.
The rabbits and I took out our leaf umbrellas to protect ourselves from the rain of gore that would happen soon after. We did our best to ignore the sounds of shredded fairies falling on our umbrellas or the sight of chunks falling down.
The area wasn’t as crowded with fairies as 10 days ago but there were still to many...
Many rabbits had lost their lives but none had run out of them yet. The death reports sure were confusing as they reported the number of rabbits that had died and how many times but none had run out of lives and died permanently. This was used it to keep track on who to stuff full of carrots.
Our shift was over again and a particular rabbit had been extremely reckless. We carried him to the cave which served as the entrance to the burrow for some ‘carrot stuffing’.
The vine gate opened, granting us access to the cave. Only few were injured enough to require help. The rabbits preferred to get ‘killed’ in one shot as losing a life would put them into the same state as before the killing hit. That’s why they were careful in taking hits. They would only take hits they knew would instantly kill them...
I never considered that immortal beings would fight like this. I would never do what they do. But injuries had lead to consecutive deaths so I understand why they do that...
The reckless rabbit had continuously misjudged the incoming attacks which resulted in injuries.
The reckless rabbit was breathing heavily and got some first aid in the cave after which I would drag him to the carrot room.
Every rabbit dreaded the carrot room. There were only few rabbits left that liked carrots, everyone else despised them precisely because of this room. It was normal to get over 300 carrots stuffed down their throats in one sitting.
I don’t have anything against carrots but carrots had instilled a fear into me after witnessing several times what happens in that room. It made me grateful to have been born a Misha and not a four tailed forest rabbit.
“It’s time Sym, Azu, help me drag him to the Carrot room.”
“Wait! No! I still have enough lives! I will be careful tomorrow! Please! Not the carrot room!”
I did my best to ignore his cries and grabbed his arm while the commanding rabbit of the dayshift grabbed his other and we dragged him into the burrow.
“I feel fine! Ouch! Go a bit easy there that hurts!”
He kept trashing and complaining but we had our duty. The carrot room took up half of the first floor of the burrow.
Rabbits in front of us got dragged to the carrot room and rabbits behind me too. It was a line of rabbits dragging injured rabbits to the carrot room.
The non-fighters looked by with pity in their eyes. They weren’t free from the Carrot room either but they were unlikely to visit it unless another swarm of fairies infiltrates the burrow.
Screams were coming from the Carrot room, sending shivers through everyone’s spine.
“How about it Azu? I will make you a carrotcake if you let me go!”
It was tempting as this was the only type of cake the rabbits could make and it was delicious but...this was for his own good. “I’m sorry Sym but this is for your own good. You lost 119 lives today which is quite alot...”
His ears drooped and tears fell from his eyes. He wasn’t the only rabbit that was crying. Each and everyone had a rational dislike for carrots.
The large doors opened and a group of demoralized rabbits walked out like zombies. The non-fighters would be in charge on cheering them up and increasing their morale, some might get several days off.
“It’s your turn Sym” the commander rabbit said as we dragged him inside.
“Noo! I just made 119 tiny mistakes! I don’t deserve this!”
The room was large as usual but the enormous pile of carrots it used to have was just a small heap.
“Oh no...”
Wren stepped on a chair and looked over all of us. “Rabbits, we have our problems. We’re running low on carrots. A team had been sent out 3 days ago but hasn’t returned.
“Hey Wren! Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?!”
“Shush Azu! I can’t sleep when problems like these arise! Tuval, this is important for you. As commander of the dayshift, I want you to warn all those under your command tomorrow morning. At this pace we only have enough carrots for 2 more days.”
The commanding rabbit let go of Sym’s right arm and crossed his arms. “Understood. Are there other teams that went to harvest carrots?”
Wren shook her head. “Our carrot farm got destroyed when our burrow collapsed and we need every ear to help fight these fairies. Moreover, traveling in small groups is dangerous. Several rabbits have exhausted themselves by applying nature energy to our new carrot farm but it won’t meet our demand anytime soon.”
“Can I help?” I asked as I raised my hand.
All eyes fell on me and Wren made a pained face. “Yes...but I’d rather have you move in large groups. You don’t have multiple lives like we do...”
“This again?! I’m here to help not to be protected! Do you think I feel good, being safe and comfortable while my friends are getting slaughtered?!”
“Fine, I will need time to set up a team. Tuval, Azu won’t be joining tomorrow’s dayshift, make sure everyone will be made aware of that. Azu, please come see me after I’ve helped stuff these rabbits with carrots.”
Cries escaped from the injured rabbits as the stuffing had begun. I couldn’t watch it so I went outside.
It was for their own benefit but it looked like a crime, force-feeding injured beast kin.
10 days, 10 days was all it took to empty that enormous room full of carrots. I didn’t see many carrots when we moved burrow. Did they foresee this?
I stopped a teen to ask him a question.
“Hey, just a question, the carrots from the carrot room didn’t get moved with us when we evacuated, where did they come from?
“Ugh, the Carrot room... well it’s the first thing the scouts set up when they find a potential spot for a new burrow. They dig out half of the first floor, make a Carrot room and fill them with carrots.”
“I see, that makes sense, moving burrows means some sort of emergency and replenishing lives would have a high priority, thank you.”
“No problem, here have a carrot!” The boy pushed a carrot in my hand and ran away.
It looked more as if he tried to get rid of it than a kind gesture...
I sat down and fought against [Acedia] which tried to put me to sleep. My insomnia skill needed to be tweaked as it didn’t work anymore. I felt guilty as the rabbits had problems sleeping and I had problems staying awake.
“...zu...Azu!”
I awakened abruptly and fell off the couch. “Ow!”
“Still having trouble staying awake? Come to my room, let’s talk about where to find a lot of carrots.” Wren’s face contorted in disgust as the word ‘carrot’ left her mouth and walked off.
I got up and followed her into a poorly lit room. It only had a bed, all the other furniture had been punched up in a corner.
“You can sit on my bed.”
Wren offered to sit on her bed.
I pulled out my hairpin and sat on my floating fan.
“That works too. Now about those carrots...we don’t normally do this but we’re in an emergency. Gathering carrots would take forever and is impractical. The plan is to go to our furthest backup burrow and empty its carrot room. It’s unlikely we will get there anytime soon.”
Wren placed a leaf on her bed. The surrounding area was mapped out on it. We all were familiar with the region so it didn’t contain any surprises.
“We plan to empty the carrot rooms of these 2 backup burrows. Because we’re under this mountain, we’re more likely to continue heading southwest so all the northeast backup burrows are up for grabs but just to be sure...take the ones that are a bit further.”
“Wouldn't those carrots be spoilt by now? I’m not sure how often it gets replenished but...”
Wren laughed loudly. “Oh don’t worry about that! All the carrots have been infused with nature energy ensuring they stay fresh. They need to get replenished every 5 years though. The last time we replenished them was 2 years ago so we will be fine. That is if these fairies are gone within 3 years...”
“What happens if this isn’t resolved in 3 years?”
“Dunno, guess we’ll die.”
“What?”
I tried to find out if Wren was serious or making a joke but I couldn’t tell.
“Anyway, go sleep, my daughter Mishelly will wake you up early in the morning, she will lead the Carrot retrieval team.”
“Wait, you have a daughter? You never told me. After all this time!”
“I don’t like to talk about it, moreover she came in from another burrow a week ago. Just be careful she is a bit...strange.”
Wren got ready for her night shift.
“Are you sure you shouldn’t rest more?”
Wren smiled and nodded. “I can’t sleep while my kin are fighting those abominations. I will be fine. Make sure you rest up.”
Wren munched on some carrots and went out. It was just me left in this empty room.
She doesn’t even have to sleep or furnish her room. I was sleepy but I could at least furnish her room a bit.