Chapter 3
AN/
At the beginning of the day I had a whole list of thing to say here but as the day went on they became less relevant. Good news for those who like this story. Anyway, when I posted this story I had already completed 2 and a half chapters. Now we are totally caught up and updates might or might not slow down some what. For the most part I’m going to TRY to post once a day but this is the first time I’m doing something like this so I don’t really have a frame of reference. We’ll see how it goes. All of your comments are awesome. I didn't think your guys comments would affect me so much. I’m not crying or anything but it definitely keeps me motivated.
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Wait is what I did. Besides periodically checking up on the soon to be lion cub I also started to play around with my realm. After the core business, it grew again so I worked to expand everything, adding more animals and plants. I started combining different fruit plants together to get weird combinations like a tree that grew apple-oranges. The outside looked like apples while the inside looked like an orange. When I got bored of combining different fruits and vegetables I started making up random plants like a plant that grew steaks or plants that grew pizza. Why? Because I was bored. I was starting to understand that greatest enemy of the gods was boredom. Because of this I decided to make some companions. I first made a large black cat I decided to name Shirley and a wolfhound named Coco. During this time I also began a new project of making pseudo cores. Basically they were blank cores that would allow me to mass produce them while adding the finder details like affinity, personality and potential at a later time. Of course with my capacity as it was I wouldn’t be able to mass produce these blank cores right now. At most I could produce 2 pseudo cores a month. This would allow me to make more in-depth plans and save me a lot of time as well.
Coco, Shirley and I were laying in my bed when I heard the sound of pain from my scrying window. It seems that the lion’s mother has gone into labor. Excellent. Nine hours later and a male lion cub was born. Looking at the family I only now just realized that I never took into account how the family would feel raising a lion. Would the hate him? Would they think the mother had an affair? Would they try to kill him? I decided to keep an eye on the family for a month just to make sure everything was going smoothly.
Fortunately it seems I was worried for nothing. While their were some members of the bear men tribe that acted hostile most were curious if indifferent. The lion’s family was confused but were slowly warming up to him and named him Leon. It will be a good sixteen to eighteen years before I see how he turns out so I switch my attention to the fairies living with the elves.
Fairies are quite peculiar creatures. They’re divided by gender with all females being born as fairies and all males being born as pixies. Fairies have an average intelligence and rather simple magic to defend themselves with. Their magic consist of hexes, curses and expelling a force of raw magic as attacks. Pixies have rather low intelligence and has no magical capabilities. The elves and fairy folk get along extremely well with both communing and wanting to protect their forest and nature in general. Looking at the fairies and pixies I already have a few ideas rolling around in my head. The fairies are not very powerful and a little unorganized and divided. They constantly look down on their pixie counter parts.
What they need is a leader, just like the beast men. For the fairies I will shape a queen, a Fairy Queen to be exact. For what I have in mind I will need a lot of power, time and experience all of which I don’t have at the moment. To practice I’ll start creating fairy handmaidens who will not only serve the queen but also provide a check and balance system for their queen just in case. Now how will I create these handmaidens? I could use the same method I used for the beast men but I’m not really satisfied doing that for the fairies. I’d rather cause some fairies to evolve into a higher form. I want each of these handmaidens to be the embodiment of a specific element so I start my search for fairies that have love and are loved by a specific element.
It takes a while but I find a strange fairy that seems to like fire. Most fairies are afraid of fire but this one seems to enjoy being surrounded by it. I keep my eye on that fairy and start creating a new core. I have no idea how I’ll be able to evolve this fairy but maybe something will come to me once I finish. I nurture the core and whisper my intentions with the fire element but after a month I realized that this wasn’t going to give me the result I wanted. Just whispering my intentions weren’t going to cut it, I needed to imbue this core with the very essence of fire. Thinking on this I create some fire and work with the core to absorb it’s essence. It’s very slow going but eventually I get the process down and constantly surrounded the core with fire for it to absorb. I whisper into the core for it to raise the fairy’s intelligence, for the fairy to grow and be imbued with a fiery passion. Finally I whisper about their mission.
“You are the fairy queen’s handmaiden.” I whisper.
“You are her arms and legs, her eyes and ears in the world.”
“Serve your queen well, but never forget your first duty is to your people.”
“Serve your queen by walking your own path and protect your people.”
It takes a year for the core to finish and at the end the potential reaches gold rank. Hopefully this fire handmaiden will be able to reach that potential.
I observe the fairy who has the unusual connection with fire. How am I suppose to give her this core. For some reason, I feel that if I just send it to her like I did the unborn lion it will fail and most likely kill her. Thinking back to the lion, I gave him his core in his mothers womb when he was first being created. At that stage he was able to absorb the power I gave him. This fairy is already grown. To change her I will need some kind of buffer or catalyst. Preferably both. Hmm. I’m making a fire handmaiden so wouldn’t fire be not only the perfect catalyst but also a perfect buffer? I decide to wait until the next full moon before trying out my hypothesis. Why during the full moon? I don’t know, I just have it stuck in my head that fairies are more powerful under the moonlight.
Two week go by until it’s finally the night of the full moon. I pick a clearing just outside the elven city and send out a call with my magic to the fairies.
“Come.”
I’m not sure if it will work but soon fairies are streaming into the field with confused looks on their face.
“Come. Come. Come!” I forcefully call.
More and more fairies start to gather.
“Build us a fire” I whisper into the air.
“Let us celebrate. Celebrate the birth of a handmaiden!”
I don’t know how much of that was communicated but I felt my emotions make a connection with them. The fairies that were once fluttering about suddenly became fevered. They began to sing, some left and came back with tiny instruments. Louder and louder they played and faster and faster they danced. A few elves approached the edge of the field looking on in curiosity and wonder. The fairy enamored with fire started to gather wood and built a giant bonfire. The flames roared as the fairies danced around it, moonlight streaming directly into the field. The fairies became more and more excited as they felt their magic in the air. Yes, this was it. The fairy party became wilder and wilder as I started to pump my magic into the bon fire, causing it to roar to the sky. I focused in on the my fairy.
“Come” I whispered, “Accept the fire, Accept your destiny!”
The fairy shook like it was struck by lightning before exploding straight for the bon fire. My magic was constantly being pumped into the bon fire and when the fairy made contact with the fire I shot my core straight at her. Her scream pierced the night causing the fairies to snap out of their excitement and the elves to look on in horror. Yes, Yes. More power! I pump all of my remaining power into the bonfire. The fire gathered around the fairy, condensing before rising in to the air. An explosion of fire expanded across the sky and floating in the middle was a totally different fairy.
No longer the average size of 4 inches, now she stood 2ft tall. Her hair, cropped short, had turned a brilliant fiery red color and her wings now looked like a delicate piece of art. Designs of flames and fire covered her wings and the edges gave off a slight orange glow. She looked at herself before giving a joyous laugh while raising into the sky. Once finished she came to hover above the ground with a smile of pure happiness. The other fairies looked at the new fairy with shock and awe before as one rushed to the fire fairy. They didn’t know what had happened or what this meant, only that it was a miracle that signified a new era for fairies. I watch as they surrounded the reborn fairy, laughing and dancing, kissing and singing. The celebration started again in honor of the fire handmaiden. Unfortunately I wasn’t going to be able to watch. It seems that I used up way too much of my power. My consciousness faded in and out. “Sweet dreams little fairies. I guess I’ll visit you tomor…” My last sight of the night was of the new handmaiden’s smile that seemed to out shine even the moon.
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Prya POV
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I’ve always been a peculiar fairy. Fairies by nature are attracted to two things. Beauty and magic. When I looked a a flame I saw the power and beauty of it. I saw the changeability and ferociousness of it. Others did not share my perception. They feared fire as it was too dangerous to fairies. They saw fire as a destroyer. But I didn’t see it that way. Fire brought change and heat. It could be used to build or destroy, save or kill. To me fire was majestic, and powerful. After all what is the sun but one big flame. The fairies dislike of fire soon changed to include me as well. Calling me defective, firebug and demon. I didn’t mind. It’s their lost if they couldn’t understand what fire had to offer. Anyway that night is when everything changed.
The moon was full as I flew home. I always noticed I was always happier around fire or during a full moon. I don’t know if others realized the moon’s effect on us but I doubt it. That’s when I felt it. A call from something powerful and magical. It came as a whisper on the wind calling us, all of us together. We could resist it if we wanted. But the calling was so tempting that I just had to see where it came from. I approached the destination and already there were hundreds of fairies just as confused as I was. The call came again and again and again. Thousands and thousands of fairies from all over came streaming into the field. Suddenly something whispered in my ear. I couldn’t make it out but the emotion transferred through. The emotion of happiness and love. Some fairies started to sing while others started to dance. Slowly at first, then they began to go faster and faster, more joining in as the seconds passed. The faster they sang and dance the more I noticed the magic in the air. Instruments were brought and played and we became more and more excited. Magic filled the air, intoxicating us as we recognized our magic. I have never felt our magic so strongly before. It felt like together we could do anything, defeat any foe, grow any forest. We danced and sang and the power just kept rising. Our power, the power we never knew we had. I think we went mad, I know I did.
I started to gather wood, enlisting the pixies on the fringe to gather wood and fire. I don’t know what came over me but I wanted to show off the beauty of fire. To who I don’t know, my fellow fairies, the deep power that called us hear, maybe to the moon, I just knew that the fire’s majesty would fit in well here. Here and now the impossible was possible. We all felt it. I grabbed the torch from a pixie and lit the bonfire on fire. The flame burned brighter, rose higher and gave off more heat then it should have. Here at this time we were not afraid of fire, here we were afraid of nothing. We danced and sang, we all blurred together working ourselves into more and more of a frenzy. I heard whispers on the wind but I understood none of it. The magic in air drove me insane. It ripped through me like lightning. I stared at the flame, my lovely fire and I just had to be closer, had to be one with this fire. I wanted to be a raging forest fire, I wanted to be a blazing sun in the sky. This magic made the impossible possible, here and now not even fire would hurt me.
I flew straight into the flame and screamed out in pain. But even in pain all I could think about was the power this flame had, how beautifully it scorched my body. Soon the pain all but disappeared but I was still alive. With every breath I inhaled, fire seeped into my lungs, burning away my inferior lungs and making a brand new pair. It flowed down into my veins and surrounded my bones. With ever exhale, fire flew out of my mouth and my bones stretched making me taller. The flames wrapped around me like a cocoon rising me up in the air before exploding outwards. Every one was looking at me and as I took a look at my self tears of joy streamed down my face and evaporated as I laughed joyously. I flew high in the sky, higher than ever before. I took a deep breath, feeling the heat of the world flow into me. The cold night air no longer touched me. I floated back down to my peers and they rushed to me elated with my transformation. None of them understood what it meant, but I did. The fairy queen was coming and it was my duty to pave her way. I was her humble servant as well as her unbreakable leash.
I glanced at the pixies still on the fringe of the field. Now that I was a handmaiden things were much clearer than before. Fairies are such fickle, selfish and vain creatures but they were my people. The pixies were seen a second class citizens by fairies, only good for procreating more fairies. I didn’t exactly disagree with them but I also no longer agreed with them anymore either. The pixies are of our blood. They’re our people as well and I will protect them with my dying breath. Maybe something can be done to improve their standing with my people. For another day I guess.
Yesterday was amazing but today I need to get to work. Looking around my home I'd already decided on getting a bigger house. I barely fit in here and I was thinking of getting a place for all handmaidens to live in. A knock on my door shook me from my thinking. Answering the door I'm greeted by four Elven Knights. Their silver hair shown brighter than the moonlight, there armor shines brighter than the sun, their green tinted skin was absolutely flawless. I remember back when I was a fairy I was so jealous of their beauty, as were most fairy folk. Now, such useless things no longer cluttered my brain. Looking at their armor I see the crest of the rising sun. Meaning that these elves were part of the royal guard directly under the king. A knight older then the rest but no less beautiful spoke up.
"His majesty the king wishes to speak with you.”
If I was as I was before I would be tripping over myself for such an honor. But now the only thing going through my mind were possible reason for why he would want to see me.
"Are you to escort me?" I ask.
The older knight made a gesture of 'after you'. I had already been thinking of making plans to meet the king anyway, so this worked out great. As I walked through the streets I was meet with awe and respect from my fairy people. The elves looked on in curiosity, not sure what to make of me yet. As we entered the throne room of the castle notice not only the king and queen but also quite a few nobles and court magicians. I landed in front of the king and kneeled down, my eyes never leaving the king’s.
“I am honored your majesty, I have been hoping to speak with you, king of elves.”
Mutters rang through the throne room as many of the nobles expressed their displeasure concerning my lack of respect. Raising your head when kneeling, speaking before given permission and the distinction between the king being the king of elves and not of the fairies were all ways that I subtly showed the shift in power. Whether they excepted it or not things were changing. The king frown at my disrespect but looked more confused than angry.
“Fairy rise,” the king spoke “ do you no longer see me as your king?”
“Your majesty, this city and your people have done much for my people. While our cities burned in the dark forest it was this city that offered us sanctuary, your people that welcomed us with open arms. For that we shall forever be grateful. You have but to ask and we are at your service. But calling you my king is no longer an option. Our one and only ruler, the queen of the fairies, will soon return. My loyalty is to my queen my lord.”
“Preposterous," a random noble exploded "There's no such thing as a fairy queen. This fairy is trying to make a fool of us. Where is your proof. You come in here with with no respect and expect us to believe your crazy declaration!"
"Jekell please." The king sighed. " My dear fairy, we were under the assumption that the fairy queen was just a myth." I shook my head.
"Pyra, my name is Pyra. Many things things that were previous hidden from me are now clear. My queen will return. I know it as surly as I know my name. But if you need proof then it's standing right in front of you. My transformation has made me a handmaiden of the fairy queen.” I recounted the events of last night. “ I am her arms and legs, her eyes and ears. Believe me or not but she is coming. The first fairy queen ruled our people during dark times. Her wrath was a terrible thing to behold. She was cruel yet kind, beautiful yet vindictive. She was power incarnate and she protected, and guided us. She was Queen Mab, ruler of air and darkness monarch of the winter lands. Unfortunately when she fell to the dragon king and his army so did our towering cities. I gained this power to serve my queen. I know it.” I finished with as much resolve and confidence as I could muster.
The room was filled with silence as the noble’s digested what I said.
“You are all dismissed.” The king said as he broke the silence. “Prya, come have lunch with us. We have much to discuss.”
“Yes, my lord.”