The fairies, one male and one female, based upon their vague figures, looked down at Blue with a hostile air. Lena bowed her head, and grabbed Micro’s shoulder to encourage him to do the same.

“To get involved in the politics of fairies is to court death.” Lena whispered.

“Are they strong?” Micro asked, hesitant to join her in bowing to them.

“Their kind are born immortal, and they commune with the highest sects in the land.” Lena continued while the fairies looked around at the group with disdain.

“I know little more than that, but their reputation is-”

“You speak of our kind with a fool’s tongue, ignorant child.” The male fairy said as he moved forward through the air slightly to look down at Lena.

“And you openly associate with our mutual enemy. Is this known to your sect?”

“I know little of your kind. Forgive me, venerable being.” Lena said with a humble tone, looking at the ground as she apologized.

“You know of the treaty, yes?” The fairy continued.

“Treaty…? I apologize, but I have no knowledge of any-”

“Oh leave the little human alone, Rineth.” The female fairy called out.

“Children should be educated before they are rebuked.”

“They don’t seem that strong…” Micro whispered to Blue. He looked up at the fairies and noticed a fair amount of energy contained within their small forms, but no more than a cultivator of his own level seemed to possess.

“Can we just leave?”

“It’s not what they can do…” Blue sighed.

“It’s what, and who, they control.”

The female fairy suddenly dropped down to where Blue stood, and Micro was surprised to see Blue suddenly kneel before the pale creature. The burning tree behind him continued to crackle, and Lena still refused to do anything but bow humbly to the fairies.

“I believe we spared you on the condition that we never see you again, your majesty.” The fairy spoke with a grin, but her tone was cold.

“And yet here you are. Playing some cruel trick on these hapless cultivators, no doubt?”

“I go by Blue now, thanks.” Blue replied, struggling against an invisible weight that kept her on her knees and looking down.

“And I didn’t mean to catch the eyes of any bratty little butterflies on my way.”

The fairy raised an eyebrow at Blue’s insult, but only laughed softly while her colleague, Rineth, hovered overhead. She bent down slightly and crossed her arms, then continued.

“To think, my generation was raised on stories of your defeat back then. You’re a legend, did you know? But now look at you, weaker than my baby brother over there…” The fairy suddenly placed a foot on Blue’s shoulder, forcing her to brace herself against the ground with her hands. Rineth looked over with a slightly resentful expression, but held his tongue.

“My name is Shier, but you wouldn’t know that. Perhaps you recall our grandfather, Theadin?”

“If I had time to remember the name of every insect whose wings I clipped back then-” Blue spat back, but she was cut off as the weight on her shoulder increased.

“Enough.” The fairy called Shier said coldly as she stepped back, allowing Blue to rise halfway to a seated position.

“We’re only here because the stink of chaos energy in this region is notable as far away as the Divine Woods. Is it the pixies’ doing this time?”

“That’s probably Nora’s doing.” Blue shrugged.

“Who?” Shier asked.

“Just the latest goddess to stir trouble up for the cultivators.” Blue replied.

“I have my reasons for passing through here with these nitwits behind me, so you can tell your friends up North everything is fine down here…”

“I do appreciate you clearing that up for me, your majesty.” Shier remarked.

“Indeed, I don’t see any reason to dwell on the odd souls behind you.”

“Bye then-”

“But how fortunate it is, that we should be given the opportunity to deliver the clipped wings of a legend to our queen.” Shier said happily as a small blade formed in her hand.

“We have somewhere to be, fairies.” Micro interjected.

“I’d appreciate you leaving us to it…”

“Are my ears working?” Rineth gasped.

“Did that human just address us in such a way?”

“I’m not a human, really.” Micro added.

“What are you then?” Rineth asked.

“I’m a truck.”

“A race I haven’t heard of? How odd…” Rineth brought his hand to his chin as he searched his memory for any mention of a truck.

“No matter, we’ll see to them eventually.”

Shier disregarded Micro’s conversation with her brother as she approached Blue with her little sword glowing beside her.

“Enemy of this land, I act as the hand of fate on this day.” Shier declared with a wide grin.

“May your soul find peace anywhere but here.”

Blue was still unable to move due to whatever technique of the fairies continued to afflict her, and Lena silently kept her head bowed as the scene unfolded to the light of the old burning tree. Rineth continued to look curiously at the confused Micro.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Micro opened his mouth to speak again as the surreal situation unfolded before his eyes. But as the glowing white fairy with a tiny sword approached Blue with a look on her face that sent a shiver down Micro’s back, a fluctuation of energy beneath Micro’s feet caught Rineth’s attention.

“What do you think you’re-” Rineth began, summoning a small sword in his own hand, but he was too late to react.

Lena finally lifted her head to see Micro unleash a familiar attack, though it was far from an ordinary attack. She only caught a glimpse of the baffled expressions on the fairies’ faces before they were trapped in boxes, manifestations of Micro’s unique Turtle Art. The box around Shier was barely large enough to hold her, but it was dense with energy. The box in which Rineth had been trapped was much larger, due to how high above the ground he was at the time, but Micro concentrated his efforts and gradually reduced the size of the larger box until it was the same size as the other.

He braced himself for their resistance by pouring as much energy into the boxes as he could, causing them to glow so brightly that the forest around them was illuminated as if day had come early. However, he quickly grew confident that he would be able to contain the fairies despite their efforts to escape.

“You fool!” Lena shouted.

“Unbelievable…!” Blue said after a deep breath, finally relieved of the weight on her back.

“I expected them to be stronger…” Micro shrugged, relaxing his control of the two boxes of energy shaped like miniature truck cabs.

“What did that one do to you?”

Blue suddenly frowned and turned away, unwilling to answer, but Lena rose to her feet and grabbed Micro by the shoulders with her shaking hands.

“Fairies are one of few races capable of wielding fate itself!” Lena cried, startling Micro.

“It’s not the power of a single fairy we are taught to fear, but the will of their race!”

“She’s not wrong…” Blue added reluctantly.

“I didn’t realize that was common knowledge now.”

“Is fate another element?” Micro asked.

“There were the six elements, then chaos energy… Is fate like that?”

“Fate cannot be weighed against the powers of mortals, boy!” Lena’s cries echoed through the woods, but her voice soon grew weary. She stumbled backward from Micro and looked solemnly at the two fairies’ prisons.

“I don’t think I can squish them any more than that, but I think I can keep them trapped long enough for us to hide.” Micro explained, relaxing the flow of his internal energy slightly.

“The collective will of those pompous insects isn’t something you run from…” Blue replied with a look of concern Micro didn’t often see on her face.

“Your face is known to them now, and much stronger fairies than these will be after you, unless…”

“What should we do?” Lena asked Blue with desperation in her cry.

“Well, he only managed to trap them because he took them by surprise.” Blue explained slowly.

“Hmm, that might work.”

“What might-” Lena cried, but Blue held her hand up to silence her.

“Let them out now.” Blue addressed Micro with a calm voice.

“Are you sure?” Micro asked, pointing at the box containing Shier.

“I’ve seen the look on a tire-slasher’s face before, and that one was definitely about to cut you.”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay then.”

Lena looked from Blue to Micro in panic, but didn’t have time to voice her objection before the ethereal prisons holding the two fairies suddenly disappeared into the air. Micro relaxed his energy and watched calmly and the two fairies flew high above their heads in an instant, a stormlike aura forming around them. Micro realized quickly that they were much stronger than they seemed, stronger even than Lena before the event of the tournament, but he was reassured by the bold look now worn by Blue.

“Hey, you sparkling bugs!” She called up to them, her voice cutting through the wind which the fairies were stirring up.

“You will all pay with your lives!” Shier and Rineth shouted in unison as a dark cloud appeared above them, full of small flashes of lightning.

“You can kill them if you like, but I have some bad news for you!” Blue continued, showing no concern for their next attack.

“Idle chatter of an inferior-” Rineth snapped back, but he was silenced when Blue also began to glow.

“You know what I’m about to do, right?” Blue asked.

“You may have the strength to Blink away once or twice, but you’ll never make it with your companions.” Shier sneered down at Blue.

“Accept the consequences of your lifetime of wrongdoing.”

“Who said anything about bringing those jerks with me?” Blue scoffed.

Lena and Micro looked confused by Blue’s declaration, but watched quietly as the fairies’ attention to their next attack seemed to wane.

“So you’d abandon these weaklings like the treacherous fool you’ve always been? I’d expect nothing less from the forgotten queen!” Shier replied.

“Yes, but wouldn’t it be funny if rumours of our meeting today became as popular as the lies you tell of me?” Blue asked, then chuckled with a dark grin.

“About the cute little boy with a jade core who trapped the two of you in a little box?”

The air around the fairies suddenly froze, and the storm of energy around them lost all momentum.

“You…” Shier gasped.

“You can bring the heads of those two nobodies home to your butterfly overlords for all I care. They might even be on their way by now. You share your thoughts, right? Or was it just your feelings… Whatever.” Blue said, gesturing to the silent Micro and Lena.

“But I look forward to singing tales of this fateful encounter, the day a cultivator with a brand new jade core bested the mighty Shier and… Who were you again?”

Shier and Rineth remained hovering about Micro and Lena with frozen expressions. Rineth opened his mouth to speak, but Shier turned to glare at him with a rageful look.

“You let that boy trap us while I was dealing with our enemy’s queen?!” She snapped at her brother, but shame was evident in her tone. She closed her eyes and shook her head in frustration.

“Nevermind…”

“Of course, I may just forget about this meeting after a meal with my two humans.” Blue’s tone became merrier as the fairies grimaced, still mindful that Blue could teleport away at any moment.

“I’ve already forgotten one of your names anyway. Was it all just a dream…?”

“The will of fairies is fate itself, you vile creature.” Shier growled at Blue with a sour expression.

Suddenly, the fairies vanished, along with any trace of their aura. Lena fell to her knees, gasping for breath, and Micro scratched his head. He looked down at Blue with a confused expression, and she happily waved back.

“Fairies have a lot in common with you boring old cultivators!” Blue shouted at Lena.

“But their pride saved your sorry skins today!”

“You saved us, Blue.” Micro smiled.

“You could have escaped any time, right?”

“You may attract more trouble than a pixie, but letting you carry me around does seem to have increased my chances of living long enough to recover my power.” Blue shrugged.

“I haven’t seen many fairies taken by surprise like that, but good work.”

“You’re both insane…” Lena grumbled, still struggling to catch her breath.

“Let’s rest for a while.” Micro said, looking down at the exhausted Lena with pity in his glowing eyes.

“Your core is still cracked all over.”

“Very well…” Lena replied, then leaned back and relaxed her posture.

“Oh!” Micro suddenly shouted.

“I still have this!”

He pulled the Core Card which Blue had given him from his pocket, and Blue nodded in agreement.

“I’ll race you!” She shouted, jumping up to the pocket where Trill resided to acquire her own identical card.

Lena reluctantly nodded her head and crawled over to a nearby tree. She sat with her back to the tree, and took a final look at Micro with a suspicious gaze.

“Take your time.” Micro reassured her.

“Very well.” Lena replied.

Micro turned to see Blue already meditating atop her Core Card, then rushed to sit beside her.

“Hey!” Micro shouted before entering his own meditative state, though there was no reply from Blue.

“That’s no way to start a race!”