I keep pondering about the decision I have to make. It's been almost three days and we still don't know what to do.

Plus we don't even know if he's going to keep his word.

Adair and I discuss this for a long time while Aidan heads off to battle against Raidan in other territories, trying to free them and protect them. I have to go over and restore their land soon

“He can't be trusted,” I said firmly. “We don't know what he's going to do to Roxy if we give him the pendant. He could end up killing her in front of me.”

“Kal, stop being a pessimist,” Adair said calmly. “We will get her back.”

“How though? He's going to kill her if we attack him.”

Adair thinks about it. Then, he nods.

“That's true,” he says slowly.

Lilly walks up to us. She isn’t smiling.

“I heard about what happened,” she says, glumly.

I nod. She knows Raiden has crossed the line.

“I'm sorry Kal,” she says.

“I knew he was evil, but I didn’t expect this. This is just beyond evil.”

She nods. I feel my eyes tear up. Not only is he trying to squeeze the pendant out of me, Raiden is trying to break me in the process by tearing everyone I love away from me.

First he manages to manipulate my brother to join him, then he kills my father, and now he kidnaps my fiancé and destroys her city.

“I don't know what to do.”

“We’ll figure something out. I’ll talk with Hametsu and Ryan about this. We’ll help you.” Lilly says reassuringly.

“Thank you.” I hug her. She really is comforting.

Raiden has to be stopped no matter what. He can’t be allowed to free the Spirit of Darkness. If he does, then it’s game over for all of us.

I leave the area and go to the temple of the Mother Goddess. Hopefully she can provide me with some guidance and wisdom.

My mother stops me on the way out.

“We'll get her back Kallan, don't worry,” she reassures me.

I sigh.

“I hope. But I don't want to trade the pendant. If I do, everything will be destroyed, if I don't, he'll kill her and storm the castle…”

Mother hugs me as I start to cry. I have so much anxiety. I know I can’t give into it, but it’s so hard to control it. I assume Raiden knows this and is using this to his advantage.

“No one said being a king will be easy, Kallan,” she tells me. “If you need help, I'm here for you.”

“Thank you, mother…” I say, choking on tears.

I continue heading out to the temple.

It’s a beautiful moonlit night. The crickets are chirping loudly and some silver and blue glowing butterflies are flying about. The fireflies are glowing and flying everywhere. Everywhere. It’s absolutely beautiful. My golden wings start glowing and the fireflies start flying around me. Some of them even land on me and I swear I can hear them.

“Please save us.”

“Please protect us.”

“We love you Prince of Life.”

“Defeat the Dark Fairies.”

They all whisper to me about saving them, protecting them, and defeating Raiden. They even say they will help me defeat him.

They all lead me to the temple and there is someone there. She looks completely ethereal and otherworldly.

She has flowing, light brown hair, golden wings, is dressed in a simple white gown and has an anklet of flowers on her feet and a flower wreath on her head.

She turns to face me. Her eyes are a lovely shade of grassy green and signify the natural world.

Standing before me is the queen of life, the creator of Fae.

Màthair Nàdar, the Mother Goddess.

“Kallan,” she speaks, her voice as smooth as silk and a tone of that of a mother. “Welcome.”

I can't move or talk at all. I’m so caught up in her sheer majesty and divinity. Màthair Nàdar is standing right in front of me. I just stand there gawking like a big idiot. A million thoughts race through my head, most notably the question of why she’s here. I can’t think straight.

A butterfly lands on her finger and she pets it gently. She smiles at it and lets it fly away.

“H-hello, Màthair Nàdar,” I stutter, finally regaining my tongue.

She smiles warmly.

“I know of your predicament. I have come to help you.”

I can not speak. At. All.

Impulsively, I kneel before her.

“Kallan,” she starts. “Please stand up.”

I do what she tells me. She walks up to me.

“The elemental guardians have taught you about what you need to know, correct?”

I nod. They did teach me a lot. I am eternally grateful to them for teaching me how to manipulate nature as a weapon and how to create new life.

“And you also know of how the world was created,” she spoke again.

“Yes, I do.”

“You should also know that Fae wasn't always like this. It was a peaceful place with no strife or evil.”

“Then the Spirit of Darkness spread his evil everywhere,” I said.

She nods sadly.

“I was devastated that he did that. He managed to tear my people apart for thousands of years before I unified them again with multiple priests and priestesses, preaching the unification of all fairies and how much better the world would be.” she continues.

“Of course, the Spirit of Darkness had other ideas and managed to turn some nature fairies into Dark fairies,” I continue. “You and the Spirit of Death tried everything to stop him, but nothing worked.”

She nods.

“Eventually the Dark Fairies grew numerous and with guidance from the Spirit of Darkness, they decided to take over the realm. We were barely able to stop him. His corruption was too strong,” Màthair Nàdar continues.

“And that's what unified all of the fairies,” I clarify. “They all wanted to defend their home from destruction.”

“Exactly, and I chose your ancestor to pull Excalibur from the stone and lead the fairies to greatness and prosperity.”

“And my family has been leading the realm ever since.”

She nods and smiles.

“You have the very power of life itself inside of you, Kallan,” she explains, “if you would like, I could help you access the true potential of that power.”

I bow.

“I would be honored, your highness,” I say, grateful that she would accept me as her student.

“I shall see you tomorrow evening.”

“Yes, good night.”

She teleports in a flash of golden light.

I awkwardly fly out and go back into my room. It’s late, so I change into pajamas and go to bed. I fall asleep almost instantly.

I wake up in my dream. It's just a swirling vortex of darkness. All I can hear are the cries of people in agony. I cover my ears to block the sound out. It doesn't work. I fall to my knees, trying to drown it out. The cries are deafening. Suddenly they stop. I remove my hands from my ears and stand up. From the blackness, a person forms. The hairs on my neck stand up. I’m filled with a hopeless sense of dread. He stands in front of me, and I’m able to see him clearly. Black hair fading into dark purple, black eyes with purple rounded slit pupils. A black mask with purple edges hiding what I can faintly see are scars. He also has this huge ugly scar across his left eye. He's wearing a black armor shirt with purple designs and dark grey shoulder pads, dark grey leggings and black boots. On his elbows are two burple bands holding what seems like sleeves on his forearms. His nails are black. I can't see his mouth, but I can tell by his eyes that he’s giving me a cruel smile. I don't need anyone to tell me that the person in front of me is the Spirit of Darkness.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“So, we finally meet Kallan,” he starts with a voice just as cruel as the one I heard many months ago on my phone.

“You’re the Spirit of Darkness,” I say, unsuccessfully trying to hide the fear in my voice. I’m terrified of this dude and this is the first time I've seen him.

“The one and only,” he says in this evil tone. “I assume you read about my accomplishments in your archives?”

“You mean all the evil you caused?”

He laughs and comes closer to me.

“If that's what you want to call it,” he purrs. He begins circling me like a shark would circle their prey.

“I also assume you’ve encountered my servant, Raiden, at least once.”

I nod in confirmation.

“When he stabbed my father, and caused him to die not that long ago,” I say, getting angry. “What do you want?”

He comes over to me and makes an image of the Dragonfly Pendant.

“I want this,” he starts. “I know you keep it with you at all times. But you’re going to have to give it up if you want your fiance to live.”

“I’ll never let you win,” I declare to him. He laughs a pure evil chuckle. Then he whispers into my ear.

“I already have, little boy,” he says with a sadistic undertone. His eyes are burning with a sadistic cruelty. I can just feel the smile on his face. My face turns pale. I feel cold sweat running down my face. He begins laughing a cruel, heartless laugh. Tears start running down my face. I try to punch him but he avoids it and he punches my gut causing me to cry out.

“You can't even defeat me in my weakest state in your own dream! How can you possibly defeat me in real life once I’m free?” he taunts. He taunts me even more, digging deeper into my anxiety. I begin having an anxiety attack in my dream while he mercilessly torments me. The deafening cries of agony come back. I look up at the Spirit of Darkness. He can hear them too and it looks like he's enjoying them. I curl up in a ball to try and muffle the noises. I can hear the cries clearly. They're the people of Roxy’s town.

“Why didn’t you save us?”

“We needed you!”

“Where were you?”

“You could’ve stopped them!”

“What kind of king are you?”

“You did nothing!”

“Useless!”

He laughs cruelly. I cry out in my dream, forcing me to jolt up, terrified, rather early the next morning. I take deep breaths. Trying to calm down. I’m shaking in fear and close to crying.

“It’s just a dream… just a bad dream…” I whisper to myself and eventually calm down.

I look over and both of my older brothers are on my bed, next to me. Aidan mumbles something about Lamia and hugs my pillow. Adair is sleeping normally. Then he falls off and lands with a thud on the floor.

“Ow!” He exclaims quietly. Adair climbs back onto my bed. “Oh good morning Kal,” he chirps.

“Morning,” I yawn tiredly. “What are you guys doing in my room?”

“Well, we heard you crying last night in your sleep, so Aidan and I went to check it out and we climbed into your bed and we ended up falling asleep.” Adair explains.

I nod and yawn again. I decide not to tell him about the dream I had with the Spirit of Darkness. That’s something only the Mother Goddess should know.

“I spoke to the Mother Goddess last night,” I tell him, wanting to brag a bit.

Adair’s eyes grow wide. He is absolutely shocked.

“No way,” he gawks, “you have to be kidding!”

I shake my head no.

“I'm not.”

“That is awesome!!!” He exclaims somewhat loudly. He covers his mouth with his hand and looks nervously at Aidan.

“Mmmm….. Lamia…. Please marry me,” he mumbles. He rolls over and falls off the bed. “OW!!”

“Morning sleepy head.” I tease him. Aidan groans and climbs back up. He throws a pillow at me.

“I was dreaming about Lamia.” he grouch, “and she was about to say yes when I asked her to marry me!”

Adair laughs.

“That must’ve been a wonderful dream.”

Aidan throws a pillow at him too. It’s clear that he doesn’t want to be bothered. But Adair and I bother him anyway because we are his little brothers. It’s our sibling duty to bother him.

So we get on top of him and start shaking him. We shake him and the bed so much that we all fall off the bed and land with a thud.

“Ow!! Adair you're on top of me!!” I shout.

“I'll get off of you as soon as Aidan gets off of me.”

“I'll get off of both of you as soon as you apologize to me!”

“What for?!” Adair and I grouch at him.

“Shaking me and jumping on me.”

Adair laughs hysterically.

“Okay in all seriousness can you get off of me? You're crushing my wings and lungs.” I told them.

Upon hearing that they quickly get off of me and help me up. They don’t want their little brother-king to be crushed by his two older brothers.

“Whoops, sorry lil bro.” Aidan apologizes, slapping my back, hard, in the process.

“Ow, it’s fine.” I crack my back and the pain goes away. “Please don’t slap my back that hard again.”

Aidan shrugs.

“No promises,” he says. Adair and I shake our heads.

“You guys hungry?” I ask.

“I’m going to do some training first to work up an appetite,” Aidan says, stretching his arms. He then flies out and goes into his room. Shortly after he zooms down the hall and out to the training area. Adair and I sigh. He leaves to get dressed. I also get dressed and go out of my room. Adair goes out to the castle gardens. I just go to the archives. I’m still grieving my father. It’s still so hard to comprehend it. My mother is down there, reading something.

“Mother,” I say. She looks up.

“Kallan! I didn’t hear you come up,” she says. From the looks of her eyes, she’s been crying. I hug her and start bawling. I miss him so much. Mother comforts me but also starts crying a bit.

I am not at all ready to be king. I’m only 17. I’ve lived in Fae for just over 4 months. I need more experience. I don’t know how to handle it. I want to be like my father, a brave, kind, and merciful ruler, I just don’t know how to lead. I’ve never done any actual leading. I wish I had the same confidence that he had.

“Mom… what was dad like when he was a prince,” I ask once I calm down enough.

She thinks for a moment after drying her tears.

“He was just like you,” she starts. “He didn’t know what to do either. Your father felt terribly unprepared for his role. When his father passed, he was devastated. At first he was rather clueless and sloppy but with time, he gained experience and became the great king he is remembered as.”

I nod. So it took time and trial and error. He grew wise with age.

I guess I have to be patient with myself. In time I will know the clear choice of what to do. A good king isn’t afraid to make sacrifices for the sake of his people. But I can’t sacrifice my fiancé and I can’t sacrifice the very object that means destruction to everything if it’s in the wrong hands. We need a plan to get Roxy back and protect the pendant. I thank my mom, hug her, and leave to find Aidan.

On my way back an idea strikes me. It’s perfect, well, I think it is. I quickly fly over to Aidan once I see him.

“Aidan! I came up with the perfect idea!! I know how we can get her back without trading the pendant!” I say, super excited.

“Ohh tell me!” he says just as excitedly. I quickly notice that something is wrong with him. Aidan is excitable, yes, but he's never this excited about ideas or plans unless it’s fun.

“Come with me,” I tell him. “There could be spies.”

“Aidan” tenses up. I raise an eyebrow and make him follow me. I see kage training with Hametsu. I know Kage has a good nose so there's a chance that he knows what Aidan smells like.

“Hey Kage! Do you know what Aidan smells like?”

“Yeah. He smells like a campfire,”

“Can you come down here and sniff him?”

“Okay?”

He comes down, stands in front of “Aidan” and takes a big sniff. He thinks for a second before a look of disappointment appears on his face.

“Ryan what the hell?” he exclaims.

Light envelops “Aiden” and he turns into Ryan.

“Impressive, you really can sniff a person out. And Kal I’m impressed that you found out right away,” he compliments. Kage and I high five each other. Oh my Lord that dude is strong. He hit my hand hard.

“Ow! Dude that was hard,” I tell him, shaking my hand a little. He shrugs without an apology. Hametsu comes down to us. He looks a lot better.

The real Aidan flies up to us.

“Nice job little bro!” he exclaims, slapping my back. He doesn’t slap it as hard as before.

“What was that all about?” I ask.

“Just making sure you can still catch spies quickly.” Aidan says.

“Makes sense.” I say back.

“So what's this idea you have?” Ryan asks.

I tell them to come closer and I whisper the idea to them. I proposed that we give them a replica, one that looks and feels exactly like the real one, but is completely worthless.

“That could actually work!” Ryan exclaims.

“But where are we going to find a person who can make an identical copy?” Aidan asks.

I think about it for a moment. I really don’t know. Who can we ask?

“I know someone, but I doubt he’ll agree because I’m gonna be the one asking.” Kage pipes up.

“Why do you say that?” Ryan asks.

“We don't get along,” Kage tells us.

“Who are you guys talking about?” Hametsu asks.

“My rival,” Kage says with an eye roll. Hametsu nods.

“Drake?” Hametsu asks.

“Yup,” Kage confirms. “Annoying bastard. Like I said, I doubt he’ll do it because I’ll be doing the asking”

“You said that twice,” I tell him.

“And I’ll gladly say it a third time if you want,” he says with a smirk. This dude has no shame. “Show me what it looks like.”

I take it out of my pocket and show him. He takes it, studies it for a bit, hands it back to me, then teleports away.

“Where did he go?” Aidan asks.

“Oh he just went to his home world. He’ll be back.” Hametsu informs.

Ten minutes later, Kage comes back and has a perfect replica of the pendant in his hands. It’s still creepy and has the fake dark aura. It looks and feels exactly like the real thing. He began explaining before anyone could ask.

“I drew the pendant on a piece of paper, asked Drake to make it and I’m surprised he accepted, then asked my dad to give it that evil aura. The whole thing took about ten minutes since Drake made it pretty quickly. Then I just teleported to my dad and he says ‘hi’ to all of you,” Kage explains. I barely caught all of that.

“How did you do all that in ten minutes?” Ryan asks. Kage shrugs.

“I just explained it, but I’ll dumb it down. I’m fast at drawing, Drake made it pretty fast, and I just went over to my dad to do the energy thing.” he explains, somewhat condescendingly.

“All of that in ten minutes?!” I ask, dumbfounded. He face palms and sighs.

“Yes, now shut up and stop asking!!” he demands. I put my hands up in a defensive position.

“Woah dude, don't get so worked up.” I tell him.

“You guys were asking the same thing over and over again. So yeah I got annoyed,” he spits at me. Hametsu rubs his head and it seems to calm him down.

Then he starts purring like a cat. He notices and quickly moves Hametsu’s hand away from his head. His face is completely red from embarrassment. He tosses me the fake necklace. I notice that a string is tied around it, most likely so I know which one is real and which one is fake. Smart. I have two days left before the trade at sundown. So I decided to use that time to train.