Five minutes.

Five minutes was all it took for the victim to be freed of the ailment Orion inflicted.

The longest five minutes of his life, where two irritated people, armed at that, kept staring at him in silence.

One was smiling, though, you could see on his face that it was fake. The other was seething with rage, which he understood the reason when he used his ability.

During this time, he had plenty of time to think about the way he wronged these people. There were also problems going inside the fairy realm, which made them on edge, causing his rudeness.

'The angels never took advantage of us, and I know that. What happened wasn't their fault, and this child is neither at fault. Why did I act like that? Was it because he looked so human?'

He kept questioning himself until the ailment left him.

"Aaah..."

"Oh, you are free to talk again? Good."

The fairy sat in the air cross-legged. His wings supported his weight, so sitting in the air wasn't possible for him.

"I apologize for this shameful display earlier, this was unquestionably improper."

He bowed, showing the honesty behind his words.

"I see you can show some respect too. I wondered whether I had to teach it to you or not."

Seemingly satisfied with the fairy's apology, Orion cancelled his magic, making Taygeta disappear. He patted Amelia to appease her rage, which he chose to overlook until now, mostly to intimidate the other fairies looking at this scene.

Surprised, she looked at him. With an exchange of smile, she understood it was unnecessary to see them as enemies.

The mood went back to normal again.

"Many circumstances led me to act like this, but I could have easily avoided such a shameful display of foolishness by using my ability. For that, I apologize, too."

The fairy bowed once again.

"There's no point in apologizing anymore, once was enough. I am not here for that anyway."

"Yes, I understood that when looking at your... information, if we can call them as such."

Orion looked intrigued by the fairy's ability.

"You can even see what I came here for? If so, it is incredible."

A small smile appeared on the fairy's face.

"Not necessarily everything, but I could mostly deduce it, Orion Feales, The Cursed."

Surprise appeared on Orion's face. He knew about the fairies' ability from the dragons, but he never expected them to provide information about him just like that.

"What do you mean by "Cursed?"

"Just as I said, it is your World Title. Each person destined to great deeds possess a World Title, given by the world itself. Sadly, this was lost in time, and only our faction can see them."

The fairy placed a hand on his chest, and bowed graciously before giving his name.

"My name is Mitorion, one of the few supporting the Queens. I would like to invite you inside our realm now, if you don't mind, as not much time is left."

"Though I could understand if you refused after what happened."

Orion and Amelia looked at each other.

(We came all this way looking for them, and we've finally got a hold of their location. We even have one in front of us.)

(Yes, we should ignore what happened earlier. He said something about having many problems inside the realm, so maybe we can take this time to gather our bearings.)

While nodding, they turned back to look at the fairy, before Orion answered him.

"Alright then, let's get inside. Lead the way, Mitorion."

"Thank you very much, I'll immediately go and speak to the Queens. Once inside, please ignore the curious ones, and wait for my return."

Mitorion left his sitting position, before he walked on the lake's surface. Each time his foot touched the water, a path appeared for the guests to access the entrance he came out of.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

"This way, watch the steps at the end."

He entered the entryway, while both Orion and Amelia followed, as he disappeared in the entrance.

After entering the realm, the entrance closed, as the shadows inside the lake disappeared, and everything turned back to normal.

When the light of the sun waned to give the stars their moment to shine, the mist slowly retracted itself inside the lake, until everything turned back to a dead, quiet forest.

~

A flash of light appeared in front of a house in Albriar.

"I've been using my lightning magic a bit too much recently, and for some reason, it's become easier to manipulate. Strange, I hadn't found a way to improve until now."

Florian walked towards the front door, and entered his house. After closing it, he walked to his kitchen, brewed himself a cup of coffee, and plopped on a chair.

"That was so nerve wracking. I wasn't expecting to see two people instead of one, and so intimidating. For a woman, this Amelia might be scarier than Layla."

He took a sip of the cup of coffee, before sinking his back into the chair while staring at the ceiling.

"This Orion is terrifying too, he never dropped his guard, and never gave a single clue about himself either. At least I was able to survive, which was is a feat by itself."

He sighed, thinking about how he introduced himself, and if he could have done anything better.

"Let's not think about that."

He shook his head and placed the cup on the table.

"There's much to do to prepare for their potential visit. I have to write to the others, since I'm not the only one in this."

He got up from his chair and walked out of the study. He came back from another room with a few pieces of paper and a pen.

After placing everything on the table, he took his cup, drank the remaining coffee, and placed it away from the papers.

He sat back on the chair, wrote a letter to the other three for about an hour, and prepared everything to be sent for the next day.

Once everything was done, he left his house to complete his duty as Lord of Albriar.

~

"This place, I never expected it to be this spacious."

Orion walked down the stairs to a big room with hundreds of fairies, all looking at them as they descended.

Both stepped on the ground and turned back to the hole they came from.

The ceiling showed a somewhat big circle the size of two people side by side, with some unknown writings. It hadn't closed completely yet, as everyone could see the dark blue with tints of orange in the sky from the other side.

But the moment the last ray of light disappeared, the portal entirely changed, turning the ceiling back to normal. They were completely sealed off from the Triazils.

"Where are we exactly?"

Amelia asked Orion, but she knew he wasn't going to answer, as he didn't know either.

"Let me answer your question once I come back. I am going to notify the Queens immediately, it shouldn't take that long."

Mitorion turned around after speaking to them, leaving the duo in the middle of the fairies.

"..."

The silence was deafening, which made everyone feel uncomfortable.

"Why were you all here? Was it in case there was a threat outside?"

Orion couldn't let this chance go away, there was a lot to know about this faction that remained hidden for ages.

Though, no one seemed to want to answer his question.

'Quite disappointing. I thought they would indulge me for a bit, but I suppose it's not going to be that simple.'

Orion thought with slight disappointment.

But out of all the fairies, only one moved towards him.

'Oh? Does someone have something to say? Will they answer my question? Or are they approaching to threaten us.'

"Mi- Miss Karteira! What are yo-"

The one who said that got thrown to the side, not from malicious intent, but because he simply stood in her way.

"As expected. You know she won't listen to any of us."

Another one spoke to the poor fairy man that got pushed, looking dejected.

The woman kept walking, and stopped a few meters away from Orion.

As usual, Amelia was once again on guard. She was exhausted from doing that, and really thought about having some sleep right after this whole ordeal was done.

"The name's Karteira, we don't have last names like you humans. I don't know what species you are if you bear the blood of two different factions."

Karteira, a fairy woman, talked to Orion.

She had cerulean blue eyes, and blue irises. Or at least, it was what Orion supposes, since he could only see her left eye, thanks to a black eyepatch covering her right eye.

The clothes she wore were rather plain compared to the surrounding crowd. With most fairies wearing simple shirts and baggy shorts, Karteira wore a gray shirt underneath a black leather vest that stopped at her elbows.

The tight black jeans she wore had their right leg torn off, showing a wide and deep scar on her thigh, moving down to her knee.

But what was most eye-catching was her fairy appearance.

At the lower portion of her back, a large scorpion tail swayed left and right. Interestingly enough, this was the only fairy feature she had.

Compared to all the fairies in the room, she was the most human looking one around.

"Just call me Orion. I don't know myself what I am, which means we don't have to dwell too much on it."

"Anyway, what compelled you to come to me? I was sure no one was interested in having small talks with me."

Usually, Orion would be more cautious about the way he approached others, but he was mentally drained.

"Simple, you are strong. I would have loved to have a fight with you right here, right now, but since the Queens cannot wait, I'll be the one waiting instead."

Surprised, Orion blinked a few times before laughing loudly.

"Such honesty, it's so refreshing! Alright, have my word, I'll fight you later."

"Orion!? What are you thinking?"

Amelia thought she heard wrong. Was Orion going crazy?

"What I'm thinking is, we need to unload the stress we've accumulated today, and what better way than to fight another skilled individual. It's also a good way to learn about the way they fight."

It occurred to Amelia that she also needed to let some steam out.

"I... I would like to fight too in that case, I have a lot to let out."

A big grin appeared on Karteira's face.

"More people to fight! I like that."

With a nod, she turned her back to them, ready to leave from where she came from.

"I'll come for you tomorrow, then."

Orion and Amelia nodded, too.

"..."

"..."

The three looked at each other in an uncomfortable silence.

"T-To answer your question from earlier. Just as you said, we were waiting in case humans were planning to invade us. We cannot allow more trouble here, so it was a priority."

Karteira scratched her cheek while answering the question he asked when he arrived.

Orion nodded, grateful to Karteira for taking the time to answer.

"Karteira, I see you didn't wait to introduce yourself. Orion, the Queens are waiting for you, please follow me."

Motirion came back, and left the place immediately with Orion and Amelia in tow, in the direction of the fairy Queens' residence.

With a grin on her face, Karteira turned around and walked away, pushing everyone on her path.