Long ago, when humans were but a thought in the head of their creator. Dragons, and the progenitor of the Fae known as Spirits roamed the earth. Magic beyond our imagination was used on a daily basis and wars were terrible things that destroyed the earth.

During this time, a young man known as Oberon, son of the spirit of trickery fell desperately in love with Tatiana, daughter of the spirit of power.

He asked for her hand, but was told that their love was not to be, for she was promised to another. An Elder dragon, known as Feridol.

Knowing that he would not win his love through force, Oberon came up with a plan. Feridol’s brother, Erinon famously hated Feridol with a passion.

Using his powers of trickery, Oberon faked the death of Tatiana, blaming it on Erinon.

Enraged over the death of Tatiana, Feridol killed his brother in a fight that shook mountains. Unknown until it was too late, In order to defeat his brother he gave in to a madness, a power, a corruption from which there was no return.

Feeding on the power of the Elder Dragon, the corruption spread, destroying the minds of lesser beings, until the world was forced to stop it by killing Feridol.

But the corruption did not end there, demons and spirits of the dark, captured this corruption, hoping to use it to gain more power.

So the power of corruption lay dormant for centuries. Spirits went to rest, the dragons destroyed themselves in war, and the demons were sealed beneath the earth. All that were left to roam the earth were their creations, the humans and the Fae.

How the corruption was reawakened and what power it fed off of was a mystery. But the creatures of the world were left to fight it without the power of their ancestors.

***

After a moment of silence only filled by the poor girl’s shaking, I gently separated us.

The humans still seemed unsure on how to deal with the situation. It is a rare sight to see after all, the breaking of an oath of the Fae. A power that is reserved for a very few of the Royal Fae, and only usable on those beneath them in power and with their consent.

My gaze landed on the youngest of the humans, only now noticing an injury to his ankle.

“Wh-who are you?” The boy asked, bringing my attention away from his ankle.

“My friends call me Saron.” I gave him a slight bow as I introduced myself. “And what is your name young one?”

“T-Tio, What-” The oldest male of the group stepped in front of the youngest, interrupting his question.

“You realize that you just broke the Human-Fae accord by releasing Leila from our service.” The oldest- Delon, I believe, spoke confidently, but I could see a slight tremor in his body.

“Did I? I suppose Ellion will have to add that to my list of crimes.” I said, not really paying attention to what the human was saying. My eyes were still focused on the youngest’s injury.

Surely the art of healing wasn’t lost while I was gone? Any Fae mage should at least know the basics of the art, even if they weren’t adept in it.

Then again… I looked at Leila, who was still looking at me with a look of reverence and hope. I disliked it when people looked at me like that, it made me feel so uncomfortable.

Anyways, if Leila was an accurate representation of how far Fae mages had fallen, then I suppose that the art of healing would be an unusual skill.

“How long has it been since the war of the free Fae?” I asked Leila, ignoring whatever the human had been asking me. As I waited for her response, I walked towards the injured boy.

“The Great War?” The human girl answered, “that was one-hundred and seventy five years ago.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. In the back of my mind had been a worry that it had been a lot longer than that. It had only been what, two, maybe three human generations? Some of the human mages I knew might still be alive.

The humans weren’t sure how to react as I walked up to the youngest of them, but they still kept their weapons pointed at me. I ignored the weapon, and knelt before the youngest boy, who was doing his best to hide the pain he felt.

I held my hand out towards his ankle slowly, although none of the weapons they held could kill me, they still hurt.

My skills with healing magic weren’t the best, but I still knew enough to heal such a minor wound. Gently, I extended the strings of my magic into the boy’s wound. After a few moments, I stood up and walked back over to Leila.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t let a Fae so easily extend their magic into your body. A Fae who means you harm can do some nasty things, when they gain that kind of access.” The humans stiffened at my words, but I ignored them. “So, tell me, how in the world do we get out of here?”

I looked over at the river right outside of the room we were in. It hadn’t been there when I came here to see Ellion.

“This place doesn’t look the same way it did when I last entered this room.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Leila finally seemed to regain her mind as she looked at me. “You shouldn’t let the humans leave this room. If the human mages were to find out that you lived... “ She spoke loud enough for the humans to hear, and I could feel their fear spike as she spoke.

“We would not tell anyone that we found you here.” The oldest, Delon, hurriedly spoke up, seeming to understand the precarious situation he was in.

I thought for a moment, staring into the boy’s eyes. “Do you all swear on your lives that you will not tell anyone of what you saw in this cave today?” My voice took a deeper cadence as power suffused my every word.

Even the humans seemed to feel the change in the energy of the room. As I’ve said, an oath made with a Fae was not to be taken lightly.

Delon thought for a moment before answering. “I swear.”

I turned my attention to the other humans, who quickly followed suit.

“Good. I don’t like killing pointlessly. It rather takes the fun out of life.” I said, walking through the large door that was the exit to the room. I turned back to the group, looking at them curiously. “Are you coming then? The sooner we get out, the sooner you don’t have to deal with a fae that can kill you with a thought, right?”

Leila followed me quickly, the others a minute behind her.

As the last of us left the room, the light that had been lighting up the room disappeared, causing a few exclamations from everyone as their eyes adjusted to the darkness next to the underground river. My eyes adjusted quickly, still able to see in the darkness.

“Did the mountain fall on top of this outpost? Why are we underground?” I asked, looking up the walls of the chasm we were in.

“During the war, this place was buried from a spell cast by the rebel Fae. They did bring the mountain down actually” The human girl spoke up again, her voice louder than she meant it to be.

“They did?” I whispered to myself, before looking at the human girl. “I don’t believe I caught your name?”

“T-Tria, sir.” She said, stuttering at my gaze.

“Why did they bury this place Tria?” I asked, before the obvious answer came to me.

“I don’t know, sir. But I know that it is called The Tomb Of The Free Fae.” She responded, her voice calming at my innocuous question.

“And do you know the way out of this tomb Tria?” I asked, my eyes scanning the bank of the river.

“We fell down here from a cave somewhere a little upriver. There was a… spider there.” I looked up the river to see only a single cave on the other side of the river.

Well that made the path back a lot clearer.

With minimal injuries and only a few damp clothes, we made our way across the river, then, with only a little bit of magical effort from me, I lifted us up into the cave.

“You said there was a spider here?” I asked as we walked down the cave. My eyes caught sight of a few webs, but none big enough to threaten the four adventurers.

“It wasn’t just a spider.” Tria said, the other humans seeming to have chosen her as their representative to speak to me. “It was as large as a wagon.”

I paused, the others halting behind me. I’d heard of spiders that large in the mountains of the Spire, but that was thousands of leagues away from here, and last I heard, they were near extinction due to the over-hunting of the Fae and human tribes that lived in those mountains.

It was possible that she was over-exaggerating due to fear, but I doubted it. The only variety of large spiders there should be in this area were about as big as the pack that Tria carried. Much too small to be mistaken for one of the behemoths Tria was describing.

“Are you sure that it was that large?” I asked her, continuing our walk down the cave.

“We all saw it.” Tria said, looking at Delon, who nodded at me in agreement.

“Strange.” I said, not saying anything further.

Eventually we reached the real webs, and they seemed to match what Tria said. Although they could be made by a smaller cousin, I found it unlikely that they were.

We were walking through the webs for a few minutes when I felt it. The other had begun to relax. But I could feel the eyes of predator on us.

Slowly, I lowered my hand to the Fae sword at my waist. Tio noticed my action, but I shook my head at him to stay quiet.

The creature just observed us as we walked. So I waited for it to make the first action.

Eventually, I noticed something strange. I’d never encountered a behemoth spider before, but as far as I knew, they shouldn’t be able to use Fae magic.

And yet, before my very eyes. I saw strings of power being used to create an illusion.

I smirked as an illusion of a behemoth spider was created in the webs above us, I looked over at Leila to see if she noticed, but she seemed lost in her thoughts.

I’ll have to remember to teach her how to recognize when Fae magic is being used. It isn’t good to be fooled by such a simple trick.

Tria screamed as the spider fell from the ceiling, landing in front of us. The behemoth spider rose up onto its hind legs, hissing at us.

The others took a step back, but I just stood there, staring at the creature.

“It isn’t very nice to scare my companions like that.” I said, using my own strings of power to try and disrupt theirs. The illusion wavered for a moment, before solidifying again, it lowered itself to the ground and started to charge at me.

My smirk turned into a smile, at least not every Fae had forgotten their proper magic, letting your strings be destroyed in such a casual manner would be rather shameful.

I glanced over at Leila as the spider ran at me. Well, maybe not that shameful.

I turned my attention back to the creature charging at me. There are only two more ways to dispel an illusion like this, attacking the creator, or using your own power to disrupt the illusion. And since I don’t have any desire to hurt the other Fae….

I gathered my strings of power together, creating something similar to a rope of power. Then as the creature was almost upon me, I made the rope go through the spider, collapsing the illusion.

The strings of power that were controlling the illusion stalled as their user paused. “Do you mind coming out to talk? I don’t wish to harm you, but you’ve given my companions quite a scare.”

“What is a Fae mage doing out here in the middle of nowhere?” A feminine voice echoed through the strings of power, coming from nowhere in particular.

“I could ask you the same thing.” I responded, glancing at the humans to make sure they were alright. They looked like they’d had quite a fright, but none of them had run away, which was a good sign.

“I’m in hiding, obviously. Were you sent here to find me?” The voice asked.

“No.” I said, putting some power into my voice to show the truth of what I said. “I had no idea that there were any other Fae down here, and I had no reason to look for you.”

“You look familiar. Where did you learn your magic?” The voice asked.

Growing curious, I sent a few nearly invisible strings out. The threads followed the strings of power coming from the other Fae, searching for her. “I learned my magic from Oberon and Tatiana themselves.”

“That… Who are you?” The woman asked.

“My name is Saron De’ron Lamonste, I’m the last of the free Royal Fae.” I responded, my threads finding a small Fairy hiding behind the webs above us, her small wings fluttering silently. Gently, I wrapped my threads around her, then I pulled her from her hiding spot, and held her in the air in front of me. “Now tell me, who are you?”