There was obviously no way for Kalden to launch a surprise attack on the Stroba. Even splitting their forces would do them no good. Although the Stroba had been banished from Kalden generations ago, they still took control of quite the vast area, smaller as it was.
However, this didn’t mean that their attack had to be straightforward from the get-go. Their strategy would still probably catch the enemies at least in partial surprise and allow them to get a head start.
Many units were walking through dark, musty tunnels.
I really hope it’s going to work, thought Shaya to herself, trying to steel herself for the upcoming battle. She, Gen and many other fairies and some laborers were also going through one such tunnel. She found herself glancing at Gen from time to time, finding to her relief that he looked almost as tense as she was.
There was a time when she fought for the first time, in tunnels exactly like these ones, when she decided to cast away her shackles and freely used her powers, a fact that still shocked her to this day, thinking back on it. However, it was a completely different situation. Back then, she had attacked small groups by surprise, and quickly exhausted herself.
This, however, was going to be an actual battle. War. It didn’t feel real at all.
She was even wearing practical and sturdy clothes meant for battle and tied her hair into a tight bundle. This was… most unusual for her. She’d actually never worn pants before, and she could tell that even Gen was surprised at seeing her like this.
Gen… she felt much more assured when she was together with him, even if they couldn’t currently talk. They were sharing this nervousness, this burden, and this fight. At first Aisbroom suggested for them to split, but Gen insisted that he needed her by his side. She knew he just wanted to be able to protect her if push came to shove, but that still made her incredibly happy. They trained so much for this day. Shaya was no fighter, not in the least, either physically or mentally, but she made up for it with her skills. At least she hoped so. Gen had told her that he was going to cover whatever she lacked. That they should be an invincible combo.
Anyway, their plan boiled down to two distinct avenues of attacks. One would be a head-on assault against Marmony, the underground dwelling of the Stroba, handled from the surface above. Led by Aisbroom, those forces would announce their presence and incite the Stroba to defend and intercept them.
The real brunt of the attack, however, would come from the underground.
Many of the tunnels leading from the area and inside Kalden were already sealed or destroyed, but many had been kept intact, even after overthrowing Acrus. They were obviously guarded from Marmony’s side, but it didn’t seem like the Stroba were planning any new assaults in recent times.
This made them, therefore, a tool that the Stroba would likely not anticipate their enemies using. While their attention would be focused on the primary forces above, the secondary forces would strike at them from within. They would use the Stroba’s own strategy against them.
Shaya wasn’t sure who came up with this plan—Roah? Aisbroom? Well, she only knew these two, so it could have been any of the other generals—but it sounded pretty good to her, admittedly inexperienced as she was. As long as it allowed them to quickly attack, find the human and get away, they had no real need to fight any further. They would probably still have to fight many Stroba on the way to do so, though.
“We are almost, there,” announced GiP, a slick laborer that Shaya heard had been chosen mostly due to its abilities of navigation. It walked at the front all this time, leading them through the maze of tunnels and darkness.
Shaya’s heart started hammering even harder. She then heard a whisper from nearby.
“Let’s do this.” Whether to pump himself, her or the entire group, he said this softly and then clenched his fist. He didn’t look at her, but she nodded at his words.
Shaya was about to face her first real battle, and she was plenty anxious and on edge, but for some reason, she didn’t really feel scared, oddly enough. She couldn’t fully trust Niu’s rule or Roah’s plans, but as long as Gen was by her side, she had nothing to be afraid of.
Shaya spent most of her life alone. That is, her family never really supported her.
The Wolsters had run away from Sacrona and went all the way to the other side of Rumdon, although that was quite some time before she was born. Mother had brought with her enough money to start a new life and settled down in the small town of Hayden where she finally had Shaya.
Being the youngest child out of four by a large margin, Shaya was always measured up against extremely strict standards. She would be compared to and contrasted against not just her siblings, but even her parents, to say nothing of other people in town. However, it was obvious she failed her family right from the very beginning. She turned out to be clumsy, not pretty, inelegant, and, worst of all… she could channel.
At first it wasn’t quite noticeable, but the older Shaya grew, the better her control of it had been—and the easier it was noticed by her family. Mother, especially, lashed out at her, both verbally and physically; although she came from a country that revered those with such abilities, or perhaps because of it, she would have none of it in her house.
This led to a lot of pain for Shaya, growing up. Because of this, she repressed her abilities, ignored the voices that whispered for her to use them, and ended up more introverted as a result.
Not to mention that the first time she really interacted with children her age came only when the school was opened up. Although until now having forbidden Shaya to interact with the town’s “riffraff brats” and “uncultured Edgers”, Mother surprisingly viewed it as a great opportunity: Shaya could perhaps finally find something she was able to do and stop being so useless. It was something that her siblings hadn’t had the chance to try in their time. Even Shaya found herself strangely optimistic.
However, since her nature didn’t change, only her environment, she ended up staying alone as always… no, that was wrong. Sure, it had started this way and even Shaya despaired about it, but she soon found a new friend. A mute girl called Niu.
Although the two girls came from completely different backgrounds, although Niu was much more skilled than her in schoolwork and pretty much anything she tried despite being so new to all of this, the two of them were still also very similar.
Both lacked self-confidence. Both were lonely. Both were shunned by their surroundings, and both were different. They naturally became friends.
School wasn’t so bad. She still wasn’t living up to the standards of her family, or rather Mother’s standards, but even so she did relatively well and had plenty of fun.
Some subjects were interesting and others less. Most of it she couldn’t see helping her life in any way, but still found it had some value. She only had one close friend, but even that was much more than she had before.
Of course, it wasn’t just Niu. Enrolling in school also helped her find yet another new connection and a new experience—namely, her first love.
Shaya knew it was nothing more than a crush and that nothing would come out of it, but so what? Even something so normal and plain was new for her. She never before knew the feeling of her heart fluttering like this. She was glad to have this opportunity, no matter what would come out of it. So she wanted to believe.
Also, there wasn’t even any deep reason behind it: yes, Gen was nice, but he was nice to everyone. Meaning, that for him, Shaya was just the same as everyone else. Well, he had good looks, but that was another shallow reason. She cherished those feelings, but realized they would remain as mere feelings.
On the other hand, she knew he had a special relationship with Niu. Shaya had obviously learned a lot about the other girl since they became fast friends. That also included the details about how she ended up being invited to school in the first place.
A fateful meeting in the forest that led to a great change… Shaya had heard many stories of the sort.
When she was very young and hadn’t yet been so clumsy or cursed or useless, even Mother used to tell her of such things. There were some even in Niu’s book of fairy tales that she loved so much. And so, Shaya was convinced that the two of them were made for each other. A prince and a princess. That was their fate.
It felt bitter and sad, but she wished for both of them to be happy, and so she subtly tried encouraging them to get together. Not that she really managed anything substantial; she clearly lacked the confidence and the skills needed to be a matchmaker.
Actually, one time, Mother had asked her about “the Hydeen boy” in her class, mentioning that he could be a good match for her while trying to sound casual about it. What she meant, of course, was that having such a match could benefit the Wolsters socially and economically. Never mind not wanting to play along with Mother’s plans, Shaya knew that she had no chance in the first place. She just mumbled something in response, ignoring the way Mother shook her head.
Why would she force herself on someone as nice as Gen? Niu was much more worthy of him, anyway. No matter how much Shaya suffered, it couldn’t hold a candle when compared to the other girl. Niu deserved it much more.
Yes, Niu really was just like the main character of a fairytale, with her patched clothing and gaunt appearance. Having suffered greatly in life thus far, she was finally going to take definite steps toward her happy ending. Shaya had no doubts about that. Niu was even blessed with the power to channel while Shaya was cursed with it.
Thinking like this, Shaya kept spending her days in introversion, knowing that she would never find her place. Even so, since there were some changes, small as they were, she was still optimistic. Perhaps, if she persisted long enough, a happy ending would come for her as well, one day.
And then came another huge change to her life. It was the day of Gen’s horrible accident.
“So it’s really happening,” mumbled Monan, shuddering as the messenger that came to their small room left and they closed the door behind them. They tried to suppress the panic welling up inside them.
It was hard to imagine, with them being in their safe chambers as usual. The room was completely silent and in a deep area, but it was possible that enemies could reach there at any moment. This had never happened before, at least not in Monan’s life.
Since they couldn’t hear or see anything, it felt like the fighting was happening in another world. It didn’t feel real, but they knew that it was.
The Stroba all knew this attack was only a matter of time. It was an unavoidable fact that they would never be able to reconcile their differences and that everything would end in bloodshed. That also meant that they were ready for it, though. If Kalden attacked, they were going to fight under the Stroba’s terms, and that gave them an advantage.
Even so Monan wished that there would be no need for that. For they knew that one way or another, they were going to lose Zade, if not their life. They turned toward him with a shaking lip.
“… So they’re here?” Zade asked them in a tired and surprisingly calm voice.
“Yes,” Monan replied, feeling their heart beat wildly. “But we don’t have anything to fear yet. We’ll beat them…” I hope. I have to.
“Do you really believe that…?”
Monan’s face twitched and then they grimaced. “No, I don't.” Despite telling themselves otherwise, they readily but bitterly admitted this. It took everything for Monan to stop themselves from crying. They were desperate. They couldn’t see even a single thread of hope. They felt dizzy.
“It’s alright,” said Zade as he approached, his voice a bit scratchy. “As long as the two of us stay together, I don’t mind even dying…”
Monan froze as the man embraced them, shocked. They couldn’t believe their eyes and ears. They felt happy, sad, guilty and pleased at the same time. Did they deserve all this?
“I don’t want them to take me,” Zade softly whispered in Monan’s ears. “I’m so scared… Monan.”
Hearing his last words, Monan’s eyes widened and they felt an overwhelming chill—a sensation caused mostly from shock, but also from the metallic object now touching their neck. Zade’s strong arm also clamped down on Monan’s dainty shoulder.
“W…what do you… how…”
“You’ve been lying to me,” Zade hissed coldly.
Monan nearly fell to panic for a different reason than before. They were being gripped tightly and with a knife pressed against them, so it was hard to think. “I-I, I…” What just happened? They made sure he was drinking his potion regularly. How could he have noticed? “I-I didn’t w-want to—“
“Liar,” Zade hissed. “I… I thought you were…” but then he stopped, gritting his teeth. Monan knew what he was trying to say, and it hurt them. “You will get me out of here.”
“W-what?”
“Get me out of here,” Zade repeated, pressing the body of the knife just slightly harder. Monan didn’t think it pierced their skin, but it was still scary.
Monan started shedding tears. Was this not the worst possible timing? It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. It wasn’t, but even so, his request itself was not impossible. In fact…
“…You just want to leave this place?” they asked.
“Yes. As far away as possible. I can’t trust you, but it looks like I can’t trust other people, either.”
That didn’t leave them much of a choice. However, it wasn’t something that Monan had neglected to think about.
“My love…”
“Don't call me THAT!” he spat, his hand shaking so hard that Monan thought for sure they were about to get stabbed. They could feel that Zade’s rage, this time, was something much more dangerous, and much more personal than it normally was. They really blew it up.
Body shaking all over and their mouth going dry, Monan continued. “W-we will escape. I h-have been preparing for it in the first place.”
“What…?”
“I, I wanted to do it anyway,” Monan asserted, closing their eyes as more tears streaked down their cheeks. “When the fighting was going to start, I wanted to take you and run away, just the two of us.”
The plan of attack seemed to be a success, because upon finally encroaching on what they thought to be a part of Stroban territory, the guards stationed there were definitely unprepared for the attack. Most were easily dispatched before they could even raise the alarm.
The surprise attack was accomplished, but that was the easy part.
“Find the faerie!” Gen shouted to the other soldiers as they began splitting up, brandishing their weapons. He glanced at them worriedly only for a second; he didn’t know most of them by names and this this was their first time actually fighting together. He could only hope for the best, but it was almost sure that not all of them would survive this ordeal. This pained him.
Meanwhile, he of course kept Shaya close to him. Or maybe it was the other way, rather.
Using his invisible appendage, Gen gripped a nearby enemy soldier, smacked them against the wall and held them tightly.
“Where’s the faerie?” he asked the captured enemy as they gritted their teeth and groaned in pain. Upon receiving no answer, he simply threw them aside so hard they didn’t get up. Gen still struggled with the idea of killing enemies, so he opted to simply neutralize them and not think about it too much, unless there was no other choice.
As he turned around to fight others, the already dark cavern was suddenly filled with thick, white smoke. It was a tool of the Stroba that he already knew about, having encountered it two years prior.
This also meant that they were ready for it.
“Gen!” he heard Shaya shout and a blast of wind instantly cleared the smoke. She used the channel of air in a wide radius, just like they trained for. That action also revealed a Stroba attacker that was trying to use the smokescreen to attack him. Gen promptly neutralized them as well.
“Thanks!” he called back, whipping his invisible arm to fend off a fairy sneaking from behind Shaya. Now he returned the favor, and smiled at her.
“…We’re not going to get them to spill anything, huh?” mumbled Shaya as she ran off next to him.
“We’ll probably have to find him on our own,” Gen agreed. “Well, at least we know the general area. That’s still something.”
They hadn’t gone on this mission completely blind, of course. Kalden had done some spy work—although not too much, since the Stroba had extraordinary ways to determine traitors using their concoctions—so they generally knew Marmony’s structure, both geographically and socially. Adding to that, the captive Strobans that came to Kalden from Somalir had also provided some intel, including the approximate location of the prisoner.
This thought led to a small prick of pain, as one of those captives had been sent back here—and Gen could only hope that they weren’t killed or tortured for that. He had no way to know, unfortunately, and he likely couldn’t do anything for them.
At the center of Marmony was an area called the Mushroom Chambers. It housed the most important of the Stroba, including their Ruler, so it seemed obvious that they would also keep the human there.
Obviously, reaching the very heart of Marmony would be no easy matter, but they came fully prepared for that, too.
“Look, it's the Blue Corridor,” pointed Gen, glancing at a certain passage. They knew that Marmony was divided to several sectors, one of which had the distinguishing characteristic of most of it being planted with luminescent mushrooms emitting blue light, hence the name. Of course, they were only interested in it because the Blue Corridor was one of the sectors directly connected to the Mushroom Chambers.
“Let’s go,” said Shaya and they rushed ahead while still repelling and defeating enemies from all around. Many fairies seemed to shout and run away from them or hide—these were probably noncombatants and normal civilians, so they didn’t bother with them.
They continued running for a while, but upon stepping onto a certain patch of ground, the earth below them suddenly crumbled and vanished. The center of the passage was a large hole, and so dark its bottom couldn’t be seen in the blue light around.
“Crap!” swore Gen as he hurriedly activated his ability in a split second. His invisible hand split into dozens of “threads”, some stabbing into the walls around and others tied to Shaya and other fairies he could find.
They apparently fell into a trap, and Gen was unfortunately unable to save all of them. Still, he was thankful for his intense training with Aisbroom that allowed him to do such things; otherwise, he’d still be stuck with just pure force in the shape of an arm. Strong, but not much else.
“Are you fine…?” he asked Shaya.
“Yeah, but we need to get out of here!” she exclaimed, hanging over the edge while being held by invisible force that Gen knew he wouldn’t be able to hold like this for long.
Another problem was that several Strobans gathered around the edges, holding bows and spears. They needed to act, and fast.
“…Shaya, let’s do this together!”
“Yes!” For some reason, her voice sounded a bit too happy for the occasion.
Once the fighting started, Moanin was escorted into a deep, deep underground chamber preserved for the sole usage of the Ruler. As for their generals and other important people governing Marmony… to be frank, Moanin did not care in the least.
They had feared this moment.
As of now, the Stroba had no way to win against a direct assault by Kalden. There were a few forces on standby to try and take control of the Demon near Somalir, but that was probably doomed to fail as well. The plan of simply handing their precious faerie to Kalden was also unthinkable.
The only remaining path, then, was to simply make sure Kalden couldn’t get the faerie and inflict as much damage as possible, hoping to cause a stalemate.
Moanin had no doubt that this was going to be the worst day in Stroban history. Possibly even worse than the time they were exiled from Kalden all these hundreds of years ago. Acrus had left them alone for their own reasons, but now the new monarch was different.
This was most definitely an important turning point.
After waiting for a while, a lone soldier came to report to them. “Kalden’s also attacking from below… they’ve used our own tunnels to infiltrate Marmony!”
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Moanin’s eyes widened with shock. They were sure that Kalden had long since destroyed all the tunnels; foolish, in retrospect. Using the Stroba’s own weapon against them really was an effective strategy. Moanin was too used to Acrus’s ways of doing things. A careless mistake indeed, indicating to them that they were perhaps behind the times.
However, there were still many ways to take advantage of that. “Use the nerve bombs,” Moanin finally ordered, their smile wide.
The soldier didn’t seem surprised or shocked by this extreme measure; this was a tactic specifically prepared to be used once an enemy army invaded Marmony. It simply happened earlier than expected.
“Understood, Ruler,” they simply said and ran away. That should slow and wear down the enemies enough. Moanin could only hope that it was not too late.
The fighting continued without pause. Moanin relayed further orders and strategies even from within their shelter through messengers running across all shelters to the various generals and other people of Moanin’s court.
However, they knew that even all of this wasn’t quite enough. Tense moments kept passing as Moanin wracked their brains, trying to think of some solution that would allow them to both get back at Kalden and save their own clan—but such a way did not exist.
They already knew this for a long, long time.
It was time to admit that this was the end of the Stroba, one way or another. And it was time to think of how to move forward as well. Moanin knew that history would not remember them fondly, but they were prepared for that as well.
Another soldier started heading down the ladder. Moanin tensed; even with the constant flow of messengers, they were always scared that perhaps this time, the enemy already reached them…
Unlikely, considering the lack of stealth, and even if they had, Moanin had nothing to do but accept their own fate. After trying a few tricks, anyhow.
“Why does the flower wilt?” the Ruler said.
“Because of Kalden’s guilt,” the soldier mumbled in response. It was simply a code used as a precaution. Now Moanin fully relaxed. “Ruler, Monan is preparing for evacuation.”
“Oh? Already?”
The messenger nodded.
A surprising initiative, coming from them. Moanin thought that Monan would wait for direct orders and stay put, but perhaps they too were scared—or they had other plans. Moanin had suspected, or at least imagined, as such. Their very own lovely flower was perhaps finally starting to bloom.
That was not the right time to feel proud, however. That could come later, if they all lived through this.
Moanin’s eyes narrowed and their smile widened to a frightening degree. “Convey a message for team windflower. They are to leave everything and tail Monan. Tell them that I leave them to their own judgment.”
“Understood, Ruler,” the messenger exclaimed and ran off.
With fighting both above and below, the evacuation might not proceed as smoothly as expected, though Moanin was quite confident in that plan. Now the question remained—should Monan and the faerie be allowed to escape, or killed?
Shaya only heard about everything that happened on the following day in class. It was quite the understatement to say that she was shocked. When the teacher spoke so grimly and nearly in tears about Gen’s injury, Shaya felt something inside her crack and break. Almost as if she lost one of her arms as well.
Many different thoughts passed through her mind at that moment.
Thank the Gods he’s alright. Did that really happen? It doesn’t sound real. But his arm… oh Gods. How could something like that happen? This is horrible. I can’t even imagine it. Oh Gods, will he be alright? How is he going to…? Oh, Gods.
And then there was also that bone-chilling moment where she realized that all of this might have been her own fault.
After all, she was the one who suggested Niu to go with him, trying to get them even closer. She wished for their happiness, and she wanted to support them. However, this horrible, horrible situation wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
A certain disgusting part of Shaya also wanted to blame Niu, but her mind knew that the other girl wasn’t at fault there. She herself was just as shocked and hurt. It once again came back to Shaya herself indirectly causing this event.
What was she going to do? How could she ever make up for it? She found herself crying in class. Many others did the same, so she didn’t really stand out.
She spent the rest of day in such a daze that she barely talked even to Niu—then again, the other girl looked to be shocked in the exact same way, if not more. Finally, the long, long school day was over, and Shaya practically ran away.
Her destination was obviously the physician’s clinic, where Gen was currently hospitalized. If not for feeling so dazed perhaps she would have even ditched school to do this. She’d never been there, but she knew the way. When she entered it, she found a young man inside. For just an instant she thought he was Gen, but he was obviously too tall and old for that.
“Hello,” he greeted her, “are you possibly… here for my brother, girl?”
Oh, right. Shaya did know that Gen had two brothers—so that was one of them. She’d never met them before. His family would obviously be with him there; she hadn’t considered this at all.
“Y-yeah,” she replied very weakly.
The man smiled sadly. “Well, I think Gen’s a bit tired now, so you should—“
A slightly muffled sound came from nearby. “No, let her in,” it said. Shaya’s gaze was drawn to the nearby door. It was probably where Gen was currently being treated.
“Hmm… but if we let in too many of your friends…”
“Come on.”
Gen’s brother sighed. “Well, looks like he really wants you.”
She could of course understand what he meant by this, but for a moment that phrasing made her heart race. She gingerly made her way to the door, opened it gently and entered.
Gen opened his mouth and his eyes slightly widened. “Ah, hi Shaya.” He seemed somewhat surprised, and she soon figured out why; she actually wasn’t the visitor he was expecting. Despite realizing this, she still smiled at him.
“How are you…” she started but then stopped, “no, that’s a stupid question.”
Only then did her gaze went to his arm—and she nearly screamed right there. It was gone. It was completely gone. She already knew that he suffered a grievous injury, but that wasn’t quite… what she imagined.
“I’ll be fine,” Gen mumbled in response with a weak smile. Whether or not he noticed her gaze, he said nothing about it and so Shaya decided to do so as well. What mattered the most was that Gen was alive. Nothing else was as important.
The rest of her visit lasted only a few minutes before Gen looked to be in pain and was clearly too embarrassed to say anything about it, so Shaya bowed out. They didn’t really speak much; most of that time was spent in awkward silence and some polite small talk.
Even so, Shaya felt better about everything. At the same time, she also felt unbearable pain.
As time passed, she had to stop herself from visiting Gen every day during his hospitalization. She didn’t want him to tire of her, after all.
To her great surprise, however, she was one of the few people to do this in the first place. Most of their classmates came at least once, but then seemed to… take their distance. She heard some nasty whispers and rumors about his present situation and if she had more confidence, she would have reproached them. But all she could do was bite her lips and ignore.
The greatest shock for her was hearing that Niu hadn’t gone there even once. To be sure, Shaya asked her about it and even suggested for them to go together, but Niu would make excuses and Shaya could see that she was greatly disturbed.
Even so, despite feeling somewhat hurt for Gen, Shaya didn’t judge her too harshly. Niu was right there when it happened, after all; it must’ve been a tremendous shock and a fresh mental wound. If Shaya was so shaken by this experience, it was surely a hundred times worse for Niu. But it still made Shaya feel sad. The fairytale turned into a horror story, and how would she be able to put it back on track?
Unfortunately, she found no way to do so and things continued as they were. And then, Gen finally came back to school. Although he now lacked an arm, everything else about him was the same—well, almost, for now instead of an arm, he possessed the ability to use an invisible limb.
That was a surprising development, and unfortunately, this only led to his surroundings alienating him even further. How could they do so? Shaya simply couldn’t understand. He was always popular and loved by everyone, but now they all turned their backs to him in the time he perhaps needed them the most. It was so unfair.
The mere thought of it almost made her cry. Even Niu was avoiding him, for Gods’ sake!
Gen didn’t let it show on his expression, but she knew how he must be feeling on the inside. She had watched him for a long, long time, after all.
Losing an arm shouldn’t be that big of a deal. And gaining further abilities because of that loss was amazing. He was unlike Shaya who was born with a curse—he managed to do the best with his situation. She admired him for it, but more than that, she simply looked at him for who he was. It wasn’t like his personality changed.
He was Gen. Nothing more, and nothing less (well, except for… that). Since he treated her like a friend, she had the duty to do the same for him.
Was that was being in love meant?
And things actually did get a bit better with time. Gen now joined Niu’s special lessons, and soon their relationship was back to normal, at least on the surface. If anything, Gen interacted with the two girls much more than before. As usual, Shaya was both happy and sad about it.
Her daily life, once again, remained more or less the same, although with some slight differences—or so she thought, but something was changing without her noticing. She started hearing whispers…
The area around Marmony—or more precisely above it—was a simple forest. In many ways it resembled Kalden, but the plant life had been allowed to grow wild and out of control, so it wasn’t as orderly, not to mention not as grand. That was because almost all Stroba lived underground. Although there were some giant trees, the land there was much less fertile, in that sense.
Aisbroom was the one leading the forces in the open, in charge of the direct attack against the Stroba. Although their enemies lived underground, they obviously had soldier presence on the surface as well, especially after noting Kalden’s approach.
The battles were hard and bloody. What the Strobans lacked in pure power, they made up for with trickery; they attacked with vines from below the ground, used smokescreens and even poisons, as Aisbroom just found out.
“G-General…!” a pale soldier appeared in front of them, coughing. “They’re using some sorta… green s-smoke…” They collapsed after this warning.
Eyeing the distance, Aisbroom could see green clouds appearing here and there between the trees. “Someone, evacuate them! And call the robots!” Aisbroom shouted and rushed ahead. While running, they pulled a stack of herbs from their pocket and chewed on them.
Green smoke, huh… that was a new one. However, Aisbroom could estimate that it worked similarly to most other Stroban poisons, and Aisbroom’s homegrown herbs should counteract their effects. In fact, some of the soldiers were given some herbs to chew on, before the battle.
Still, a while passed since then, and they weren’t going to rely just on that anyway. Aisbroom glanced at a yellow, soft flower on their sleeve and turned it ahead to cause a gust of wind to dissipate some of the dangerous smoke as they charged inside and held their breath.
Slashing their sword, Aisbroom felled two Strobans that were about to throw even more glass balls containing the same kind of poison. A few robots rushed at their side, seemingly unaffected by the smoke since their biology operated differently.
Aisbroom never thought it would be easy, but they also never considered how tough it would be fighting the Stroba on their home turf. They could only hope that this was being balanced by the surprise attack underground—
They narrowed their eyes upon hitting that thought. This new poison was enough of a problem even on the surface, so what was going to happen to those fighting in the enclosed spaces of the underground? Gen and his unit were in major trouble.
Aisbroom thought quickly and reached a decision.
“MiX! RoX! TetrO! Whoever else can hear me! Go inside, find our soldiers, warn them about the smoke and save them!” they shouted. The robots around them that corresponded to these names sprang into action. Some were engaged in battle, with or without their handlers, but upon hearing this command they turned and began running away.
It was probably going to be difficult, and it might have been too late already, but Aisbroom didn’t want to lose either of those faeries, if they could help it. Both had great potential and, unlike the Queen and her adviser, were pure of purpose. Naturally, that made Aisbroom like them.
They had insisted on coming to this operation of their volition, so Aisbroom wasn’t about to scold them for their recklessness. Never mind Shaya, who was perhaps a little too green still, but Aisbroom had already known how Gen was, and wasn’t about to deny him this decision.
However, for Kalden’s sake—and Aisbroom’s own sake—they wished for this pair to be safe.
Aisbroom kept fighting. They, too, wanted to rush into the heart of the Stroba as quickly as possible, but they first had to fulfill their role and crush the vanguards.
Despite the situation being what it was, the still and quiet near-darkness still served to calm down Monan’s heart. They were raised underground, after all, and so they were used to the comforting absence of light.
Not that it changed anything about the circumstances. Well, at least Zade wasn’t pointing a knife at them any longer, but instead focusing on climbing the lengthy flight of stairs that seemed to go on forever and forever.
“…This’d better not be a trap,” Zade’s glum mumble broke the pleasant silence.
“I-I already explained. We should be above ground by now, but reaching the top would still take some…”
“Yeah, yeah, got it,” Zade silenced them.
Monan still couldn’t quite grasp the situation, but even so, despite the shocking development they took the same actions that they’d planned anyway. Since they were under attack and the tunnels would be teeming with enemies, there was only one way to be able to escape safely: by moving upwards.
Of course, the surface itself would also be attacked, in all likelihood, as most entrances to Marmony originated there, but there still remained a few probable blind spots. Such as, for example, the treetops.
“Going up a tree…?” Zade had sounded puzzled at this explanation about an hour ago.
“Yes. You see, Kalden only lives on trees, but we are known to only live underground… so they shouldn't expect it,” Monan had explained. At least while they explained this, Zade lowered his knife, so they could compose themselves better. “We have an emergency tunnel that leads to one of the big trees, which then connects to several other trees and finally allows us to get down outside of Stroban territory.”
“And they won’t notice this?”
“We will still have to be careful and stealthy, of course, but chances are good they won’t find this out before it’s too late,” Monan had replied. “They’ll be fighting down below and it would take them some time to find this tunnel…”
Zade had seemed to be considering this, and grimaced. “And then what?”
“Huh?”
“What will we do after that?” Zade had spat. “After we get away from your area?”
“Oh.” Monan had also pondered about that as well. They could try to reach out for the Makin or any of the other smaller tribes, perhaps. Well, the Makin hated the faeries, so probably not them, but still. They could also try to flee to the Great Desert or even somehow across the ocean. “…I’m not sure.”
“You’re not sure?”
Monan had flinched, because they knew that expression and tone of voice that indicated one of Zade’s outbursts were approaching. Even so, he’d gritted his teeth and seemed to be barely holding on. They’d still glanced nearby where a bottle of potion was waiting, just in case.
“I-I planned on taking you away, and I just… I didn’t think that far, because it was so…”
“…So, have you planned to let me stop taking those drinks, too?”
“Y-yes.”
Monan obviously couldn’t brew those potions on their own, after all. Naturally, with time their effect would weaken and Zade’s mind would return to its previous self. It already seemed to be happening—they still didn’t know why—but it was indeed part of Monan’s plans.
They simply thought that… everything would turn out alright, somehow. That Zade would retrieve his former self but still love Monan just like it was before. That he would somehow forgive them for what they’d done because they’d helped him.
That would naturally never be the case. Even if Monan wasn’t perhaps directly responsible for it, they still were a complicit party in Zade’s treatment. They took his love for his late wife and used him. They would never be forgiven, nor did they deserve to. They were an idiot for thinking otherwise.
Monan wanted him to be happy regardless. Nothing else mattered to them.
“Then take me out of here,” Zade had finally ordered after a while of thinking.
Monan nodded. “We need to ask the guards. The enemies probably haven’t reached this far yet, but we need to make sure that—“
“Don’t say anything about me to the guards,” he’d hissed at them, slightly raising the knife.
“I won’t,” Monan had said. “We won’t be able to get out otherwise…”
Zade had eyed them, apparently accepting their words, at least tentatively.
“Do it then,” he’d said, pocketing the knife. In retrospect, it had probably been careless of Monan to leave eating utensils just lying around and waiting for them to be taken away, but it was way too late to worry about that.
Monan had closed their eyes and took a deep breath. Even though Zade found out the truth, although he was now hostile to them, Monan’s goal remained the same. They would get them out of there and find a solution.
They didn’t even mind if Zade killed them in retaliation after that. They deserved it, after all.
And now in the present, the long, long stairway was finally nearing an end as a faint light could be seen up above. Monan was taking ragged breaths, nearly wheezing; even they didn’t realize how great of a trip it would be and they weren’t used to walking, let alone climbing, for such long stretches of time. Normally they would have used some elevator system like in Kalden, but the purpose was having a stealthy getaway.
“Is that it?” breathed Zade, looking as exhausted as them. He was keeping Monan ahead of him, likely in case of any trouble.
“It should be the exit, yes. Let us keep quiet,” Monan said.
They climbed step after step, and finally reached an actual floor with a hatch in front of it. There were faint sounds beyond it, like some distant rumble.
“I’ll check,” Monan mumbled and opened the hatch carefully. They momentarily cringed at the flood of filtered sunlight now entering the passage—they really were completely unused to natural light—and took a step ahead.
They were on top of the tall tree, surrounded by branches with thick, large leaves. The branch right in front of the hatch extended all the way to the nearest, slightly smaller tree. So far, so good—it was all according to what Monan had heard about this arrangement.
“It’s fine,” Monan turned back and said, “you can come out.”
Zade stepped up ahead gingerly. He looked amazed at his environment. Thinking about it, it was definitely the first time since he’d been brought to this world that he saw it. More precisely, when he just arrived, he was too dazzled from the experience and so hadn’t paid attention to his surroundings, and was then taken straight underground.
“Now what?” he asked after a short while, half-squinting.
“We continue on the path to leave Stroban territory,” Monan explained. “Follow me, but watch your step.”
They began walking and Monan looked around every few steps to make sure they were alone. There were many sounds coming from below them, and a quick glance showed them the spread of a battlefield.
There were small figures running around and shouting, flashes of steel and clouds of smoke in different colors… this was the proceedings of war. Monan froze upon having realized this.
Obviously, they felt pain for their comrades fighting down there. They were no warrior—many would say they were being coddled by the Ruler and were nothing more than a spoiled brat—but they still felt connection to their home of Marmony and the Stroba, having spent their entire lives as part of them.
“Move,” ordered Zade from behind them. Monan realized they stopped in place for too long.
“R-right.” They stepped ahead, hoping their path did not lead to ruin.
Now that Gen spent less time with their other classmates and more time with Niu and her, Shaya felt more conflicted than ever.
Gen and Niu seemed to be surprisingly back on the path to their fairytale ending, what with the twists of fate that brought them even closer together. However, what did this mean for Shaya herself?
She felt great jealousy at them going to their special lessons with Saburn. Roah too, for that matter. Why were they blessed like this, and she alone was burdened with this curse? More importantly, was she going to be left alone again after all?
Shaya hated it. She hated everything about it… and about herself. Why couldn’t she be like everyone else? Neither the normal ones, nor the special ones. She was always different, no matter what angle one looked at her from. Why did she have to suffer like this?
It was so unfair.
There was always the option of coming out with her secrets. Cursed as she was, it was still possible that she could learn to control her powers, just like the others did. However, she knew that Mother would never let something of the sort go quietly. She might even forbid her to go to school altogether, and that was if she was in a good mood. If she wasn’t… well, Shaya didn’t want to even think about it.
Still conflicted and still angry at herself, Shaya decided to go for a half-measure. She knew where the special classes were held. It was a cupboard-turned-classroom and it had a window. As long as they kept it open, hearing the classes shouldn’t be much of a problem.
The first time was nerve-wracking. Of course, it wasn’t like it was strictly forbidden—Mr. Saburn was serious but also very nice, so even if she was discovered, it wasn’t like he was going to punish her; he would probably just attribute it to curiosity about her friends and nothing more. Even so she was scared. It was like hearing classified knowledge.
Her heart raced whenever she heard Gen’s voice. Roah’s voice, too, but for other reasons; she had the feeling that if anyone ever found her out, that would be him. He always seemed to be glaring at people menacingly with his one eye as if he was looking to expose their secrets.
Mostly, though, she listened to Saburn. She really did learn a lot. Such as the fact that her channeling was very different from her friends’. Shaya always thought that some people just had the ability while others didn’t. She knew nothing about icons and how the vast majority of channelers used them. She knew nothing about the fact that most people needed icons to channel in the first place. She always thought that it was just a matter of practice.
Was that what made her cursed? Her mastery of these supernatural forces without the need for any study or effort? Once again, she was so different. If so, then she really couldn’t reveal herself. She thought before she could possibly join her friends and have fun together like this, but now she realized that they would surely end up despising and alienating her. They would end up cursing her.
There was another way, though. She could simply pretend she was like them. Shaya was already pretending she wasn’t cursed in the first place, so why not? Maybe she could use those icons and seem like all of the others.
The problem was that she was only listening to the lessons. She couldn’t actually see what they were doing—but once or twice she peeked into the class after everyone left, and some diagrams and charts were left drawn on the blackboard.
“The channel of heat…” she mumbled. Even if it was her first time seeing those icons, she’d heard some of the theory so she understood their meaning. She also understood, more or less, on how to use the icons themselves.
Icons created an image in one’s mind. It was only a tool to focus the mind and allow it to connect patterns, much like letters. In that sense, it might really serve to help Shaya control her curse.
Or so she thought, anyway, but upon actually trying it, it only led to disaster. It was extremely dumb of her to try something like that outside, in hindsight, especially with that specific channel. Also, for reasons understood only to him, Roah covered for her and said she was under his debt. It ended up fine, but it was far too close.
Her cursed powers nearly had the entire town go up in flames. Realizing this, she was finally able to give up… At least for a while.
Many things happened afterwards.
They were transported to an alien world, fought to survive, risked their lives, were caught by the machinations of different factions, and were finally able to grasp the throne for themselves. Many things stayed the same, but most changed. That included Shaya herself as well.
She exposed herself, and… to her absolute shock, she was actually accepted for it. She still had many misgivings about it, but felt as if she was finally shaking free from her curse, little by little. She was growing as a person, and although she still had a long road ahead of her—she wasn’t alone.
Perhaps it was finally her chance to find happiness. That was why she promised herself that she would try and stand on the same stage as Gen, no matter what it took.
The battle over Marmony was not proceeding well at all. Although Gen and Shaya managed to get into the Blue Corridor, starting there the fights turned much fiercer, and they were already tough even before. Perhaps growing desperate, the Stroba used every trick they could and poured many forces there.
Normally they wouldn’t have problems defeating the average soldier, but what about dozens of them working together, using all sorts of traps and schemes? Both of them were already wounded, hit by the errant attack that they couldn’t manage to block. They were surrounded by dead fairies from all sides.
“Shaya… maybe you should go back?” Gen suggested through gritted teeth. There was a small trickle of blood on his brow and he was already breathing heavily.
“D…don’t even dare.” Shaya wasn’t in a better shape. She had way less stamina in the first place, so her muscles were already screaming in pain for a while now, as did her lungs. Also, since she’d made some heavy usage of her channeling abilities, that too was taking its toll on her. Her head was buzzing.
An enemy charged at them, and Gen flicked them aside almost lazily.
“You won’t be able to handle it much longer,” he said and coughed. Shaya was relieved that, at the very least, he wasn’t coughing up blood. She lacked any medical knowledge to say whether it meant anything, but still.
“Then what about you?” Shaya asked back. “You can barely stand as well… and what if we run into that poison again?”
Not long before, the tunnels had been completely filled with a greenish cloud of smoke. Shaya had a bad feeling about it and channeled wind to disperse it and protect them. The result was obvious, seeing that many of their comrades had fallen unmoving shortly afterwards.
Not that they were safe either; Gen was already pale and sick-looking, so he’d probably breathed in some of the stuff. Although Aisbroom had given all of them some special herbs to chew on before they embarked on this mission, they also warned them that it wouldn’t provide them a perfect protection. Still, Shaya wished they had more of that stuff now.
“I’ll find that man, and I’ll bring him back,” he grunted. That was what he’d promised, so she could understand his conviction. That was supposedly his sole reason coming here—no, it wasn’t just his. Hadn’t Shaya come there under those very same conditions? “…Come with me.”
Surprised but happy at this conclusion of his, she nodded and stepped forward. An enemy soldier lying on the ground—that only feigned their death—was flung against the nearby wall.
“We can’t waste any more time, though,” said Shaya. “What if we… prioritize finding the man over defeating the enemy?”
Gen screwed his face. “Sure, but we don’t know where he is.” They couldn’t scour the entirety of Marmony without fully conquering it. And by then many different things could happen. They had to finish everything as soon as possible and stop this senseless war.
Of course, as far as they knew the Strobans might have already taken the human away; but they decided to trust over Aisbroom and the others to keep watch on all exits and entrances, preventing that option. Besides, where would they go to, anyway? They were still operating under the assumption that the human remained inside.
“We’ll… figure out something,” Shaya said. She held her head, although it bore no physical wounds.
No, this wasn’t good enough. Even while standing there and thinking about it, they were wasting precious time. Keeping on like this, they would never find the captured man, let alone leave this place alive.
“No. We need to go back,” mumbled Gen. When had his voice started sounding so labored?
“But…” Shaya glanced ahead and behind. They were being sandwiched by enemies all around. They quickly dispatched them seemingly without any issues, but just as Shaya considered their next move, Gen suddenly collapsed to the ground. “G-Gen!”
“I’m sorry,” he said, coughing. He already looked pale before, under the blue light, but now he was deathly pale, as if all the life had been sucked out of him.
“Gen… GEN!!!”
Perhaps Shaya was cursed after all, and it might be just possible that her curse lay not within her powers themselves, but by what they caused.
Shaya wailed, holding Gen’s body.
I have always watched you shining like gold.
Some would say that I was born with a golden spoon in my mouth, as exaggerated as that may be. But I think that description fits you better.
Err, not the spoon part, the gold part. Do you know what I mean? I guess you don’t because I really fumbled up this whole thing. That’s no good at all.
Oh well, I was never too good with words, I guess. On account of doing what I felt was right and saying whatever came to mind—except in your case, huh.
Ah, just forget about the whole metaphor business. All I wanted to say was that you’re important to me.