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Four days before the attack on Iolite

The last thing Lucia remembered was being grabbed by her waist and tossed into the oil painting. She was thrown into a long tunnel filled with stars. The stars formed a pattern of the constellation that she was unfamiliar with. She started to wonder if she had sunk into the unknown world. Her eyes then closed but opened slowly to a pitch-black darkness.

She tried to move her wings, but they were unresponsive. Her body was dry with magic. Her hands were bound to her back by some mystical force. Lucia wriggled a little more, attempting to free herself, but it was futile.

Lucia was a fairy princess, one of the strongest ones alive. But it still hurt where her hands were bound, her heart flustered with embarrassment. How humiliating.

“Is there anyone there?” Lucia screamed. There was no response. When she yelled again, there was no response. She felt her back leaning against a wall. She huffed and muttered her incantations, “Lord Horus, light up my path.”

A small white orb shined on the room, revealing the interior. Or that was what she expected. Nothing happened. The room was pitch black. In theory, fairies should be able to see in the dark, but not in this situation. The darkness was all-encompassing. The only sound she could hear was her footsteps echoing in the cave.

“What’s happening?” Lucia panicked, struggling to free herself from her bindings even harder. Her feet, fortunately, were not bound. Using the wall as a support, she slowly got up to her feet and walked inch by inch, trying not to trip.

Helpless, once again. Her thoughts wandered back to those days when all her problems were how demons would coordinate their attacks. How she only had to obey the commands of the royal capital. If only she were never cursed, she wouldn’t be in this sorry state now. She wouldn’t have to be worried. Her head was buried in anxious thoughts, primarily with concerns starting with ‘What ifs’.

After a while, she befriended the surrounding darkness, calming her anxiety and washing off her humility. It gave her a moment to reflect on her life. Her thoughts wandered from time to time.

Lucia had no clue how far she had walked, but she deduced that she might be in a cave. She smelled damp ground and felt the humid air. Droplets of sweat gathered on her skin, but she had to continue walking. The cave returned the echoes of her breath, but she was only focused on her heartbeat. It was pounding harder in her chest.

Then, how about Ian? Humans were weak. He might be slightly smarter than the rest of the humans out there, but how would he fare?

Lucia shook her head. No, he was just a human. Mother would have called her naïve for thinking that way. Humans would take advantage of Creations, just like the incident of Martha’s wish.

She felt the violet trinket dangling around her neck as if it served as a reminder of Ian’s work. Lucia bit her lips slightly, finding it hard to acknowledge the truth. What if humans were just not given the opportunity? Lucia was guilty of driving humans out of the Iolite continent before. People like Ian have no hope of growing if they don’t have somewhere to stay.

A hush fell upon the frozen land as Lucia stood there, her body trembling with cold. Suddenly, a chilling gust of wind swept past her, making her shiver. From the direction of the wind, she spotted a solitary figure standing before her, glowing dimly in the darkness.

As Lucia peered closer, she realized that the figure was no Creation, but a young human boy of about the age of five or six, clutching a tiny key in his hand. She gasped as she noticed the chains binding her wrists. The key was the only way to break free.

“Hand me the key, little one,” Lucia said firmly. She couldn’t stand being tied up anymore. She wasn’t just anybody, she was the Princess of Iolite.

But the boy shook his head, his arms trembling with fear. “F-Fairy...” he stammered, his eyes wide with terror.

Lucia cursed under her breath. She had no time to waste on this. She needed to find Ian and escape before it was too late. She took a step towards the boy, but he recoiled, backing away from her. While backing away, he tripped and fell onto his back. Lucia sighed. How clumsy can humans be? Lucia noticed the boy doing his best to keep the tears back.

“Are you afraid of me?” Lucia asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

The little boy’s eyes moistened. He quickly got up on his feet to run away from the Princess.

“W-wait! Don’t go!” Lucia yelled. With her hands bound to her back, it was hard to run. But her cries were redundant. The boy increased the gap between them.

“Why? Why are you afraid of me?” She asked again, hoping for a reply or for the boy to stop running.

The young boy’s feet came to a halt, and his voice quivered as he spoke. “You killed all of them.”

“No, I didn’t,” Lucia reassured him.

The boy’s attention was drawn to the tiara on her head. His face was loaded with doubt. “But you’re a fairy Princess. You’re going to kill me, too.”

Lucia’s heart dropped. She was ordered to drive humans out of the Iolite kingdom by the King and Queen, but she never killed any of them. She sent her armies to provide the humans with transportation to a nearby continent and a bit of gold for each of them. Her eyebrows furrowed. Nothing made sense.

Her mouth opened, wanting to retaliate. But when she had a good look at the boy’s face, she held her tongue.

His eyes were filled with fear and mistrust. The boy’s steps faltered, and he turned to face the princess. She never liked to drive people out of their homes either, but her mother said it was the only way to prevent the curse from spreading. And she never questioned it.

A shimmering white portal opened before the boy. Lucia’s eyes widened as she chased after him. Without thinking, she jumped into the portal and felt a sudden rush of energy envelop her. As she emerged on the other side of the portal, she was puzzled. Where was she? The boy she was chasing was nowhere to be found.

As she stepped into the shadowy void, Lucia’s eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. A dim light flickered in the distance, and as she approached it, a stone statue came into view. It stood on a pedestal, weathered and ancient. On the pedestal, there were the engravings ‘Klein, son of Narjyuu’.

Lucia couldn’t help but be drawn to the statue’s lifelike appearance. He wore primitive clothing with feathers adorning the human figure’s hair. The statue leaned forward as if in protection, cradling something in its arms.

As she drew closer, Lucia’s breath caught in her throat. The statue seemed to pulse with a strange energy, and suddenly she was engulfed in a swirling mist. She was pulled into a vivid memory, experiencing the past through someone else’s eyes.

When Lucia opened her eyes, she saw the blue skies with the looming darkness from the Abyss. She was standing right in front of a wooden platform, surrounded by other humans. Beside her, there was an old lady that shivered beside her, holding her arm.

“Klein, stories of the east were true. They are chasing us out of Iolite.” The old woman said with concern.

“Don’t worry, mother. The Princess promised us ships.” Klein replied.

A resounding roar filled the air, spoken by a knight adorned in the regal armor of the Iolite Kingdom. “Hear me now, by the authority of Princess Lucia Angelique Solace, all humans shall be banished from these lands! Any resistance shall be seen as an act of treason against the throne.”

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Lucia could sense the anger brewing within Klein, his fists clenching with the suppressed desire to fight back. The villagers, too, were enraged, some picking up farming tools in defiance. “Our forefathers lived here for generations! How dare you just tell us to leave this place!”

A fiery vortex materialized and struck a villager in the face, leaving behind charred skin. The people grew restless, but they fell silent as they heard Klein’s voice rising above the chaos.

“Everyone, there’s no point in fighting! We can live elsewhere, build a new village!” Klein yelled at the top of his voice.

One other villager with a larger build asked. “Klein, are you sure? Your family built this village from nothing. This is our home.”

Klein took a deep breath, feeling the weight of his decisions. “I’m sure. My ancestors had built this village as a haven for humans. But that doesn’t have to be here.”

The villagers listened intently, lowering their weapons slightly.

“Lead us to the ships, and we will leave quietly. There’s no need to fight.” Klein said to the guards.

The guards exchanged a glance, some even began to laugh. “Did you think we would bother preparing the ships? You humans will spread the curse of Abyss throughout the entire kingdom. So just die already and save us the trouble.”

The commander chuckled. “Send the arrows.”

Klein heard a soft chanting from afar, as vines sprouted from the ground, binding the feet of all the villagers. The armies with a bow sent a volley of arrows, raining down on the ground. The tip of each arrow was coated with distinct elements of flame, ice, and lightning.

Klein spoke his last words as he bent down to hug his mother. Lucia felt a few arrows penetrating his back. Some made it to his lungs. “If you survive, mother. Take Bonnie and...”

The world around Lucia began to shift and distort, and she felt a sudden pull on her body. As her senses returned, she found herself standing before the statue of Klein, now shattered into pieces. She felt a profound sadness wash over her.

Slowly, the darkness receded, revealing more stone statues in the surrounding space. There was a statue of a large man wielding a spear, identified as Asa, son of Jacob. Another statue depicted Klein’s mother—Ramiah, daughter of Abram, embracing someone tightly.

Despite her reluctance, Lucia felt drawn to the statues, compelled to learn more about the memories they held. She took a hesitant step forward.

Lucia felt a wave of sadness wash over her as she was pulled into Ramiah’s memory. She saw the three figures standing on the shore, their gaze fixated on a ship in the distance. Ramiah’s hands were rough and worn, but she clasped her granddaughter’s small hands. Asa, the burly villager, stood beside them with his arm covered in cuts.

“Don’t worry Bonnie, granny will keep you safe. Once we reach the ships, we will be free,” Ramiah assured.

“Old lady Ramiah, let me carry you,” Asa said. The old woman looked at his left arm. It was full of cuts from protecting both of them. The old woman responded by shaking her head.

“Granny, will papa come?” Bonnie asked with a trembling voice, her eyes and nose red from crying.

But Ramiah remained silent, her gaze fixed on the ship. She knew that there was no hope for her son’s return. She could only pray for his guidance as he watched from the skies above.

Asa’s face twisted with anger and bitterness. “Curse the Creations,” he muttered under his breath.

From the direction of the ship, she heard a frail voice warning them. “Here! Run faster, they’re coming!”

In an instant, the old lady saw a fairy zipping past them from their backs, his wings fluttering in a blur. He brandished a wickedly sharp dagger and plunged it into Bonnie’s neck with a quick, precise motion. Ramiah watched in horror as her granddaughter crumpled to the ground, blood gushing from the wound. She clasped her trembling hands around Bonnie’s small body, trying to stem the flow of blood, but it was too late.

The fairy pulled the dagger out of Bonnie’s lifeless form, and Ramiah looked up to see a cruel, twisted grin on its face. The old woman’s heart ached with grief and despair, and tears poured down her face like rain.

Asa roared with fury and lifted his spear to attack the fairy. His every strike was calculated and aimed at the fairy’s vital points, but the fairy was agile and managed to parry each blow with ease using a single dagger.

“I hear you managed to defeat some of my soldiers. Really admirable, indeed. But unfortunately, I can’t let you go any further,” the fairy stated, wiping the blood off his dagger. But Asa was not in the mood for a chat. Old lady Ramiah was still there. Asa held his spear steady and prepared for his next attack.

As soon as the fairy opened its mouth, Asa swung his spear in a wide arc. “I won’t let you cast your spells!” He shouted. The fairy, however, was quick to dodge. He closed his gap towards the human, running his blade across his torso.

Asa barely managed to dodge the attack by jumping backward. The tip of the sword lightly nicked his chest. His leather armor of his tore apart. He regained his footing and started charging again, but the fairy wasn’t going to sit around and wait. The fairy raised his right arm, chanting his spell.

“May the wrath of Lord Abraxas manifest as searing flames to vanquish my foes.”

The arcane energy coalesced into a fiery form, taking the shape of a massive tiger with blazing eyes and razor-sharp claws. It let out a deafening roar as it leaped toward old Ramiah and little Bonnie. The ground trembled with its every step as it closed the distance between them.

Asa let out a fierce cry, “You coward!” He charged toward the flaming tiger, his determination unwavering. As he neared the fiery feline, he threw himself in front of Ramiah and Bonnie, shielding them from the deadly flames. The searing heat consumed Asa’s body, and he screamed out in agony as the skin on his torso turned to charcoal. Despite the excruciating pain, he held his ground.

“Asa, I’m old and battered. Just leave me and save yourself!” Ramiah wailed.

Asa could barely stand up straight, but he still gripped his spear. He held his ground, slamming the pole of the stick loudly on the floor.

“Come, you insect,” Asa said with fury. He readied his fighting stance once again, holding the spear firm beside him.

“You worm can train for your entire life, but you will never beat us.” The fairy said, placing his hand on the hilt of the sword.

“I don’t give a shit,” Asa grunted.

Asa roared with fury and lifted his spear to attack the fairy, but it was too fast. With a swift motion, the fairy drew its sword and ran it through Asa’s heart, extinguishing the light in his eyes. He fell to the ground, lifeless.

“Why would you do this?” Ramiah cried out in anguish, clutching Bonnie’s still-warm body to her chest.

“We can’t let you spread the Curse of Abyss any further,” the fairy sneered, sauntering over to Ramiah.

Without warning, he slashed a deep cut across her torso, and Ramiah felt a searing pain. Her vision grew dim, and she knew that her time had come. As she gasped her last breath, she found solace in the thought that she would soon be reunited with her loved ones in the afterlife.

But Lucia didn’t feel peace. When she was pulled out of the memory, she was left with nothing but sympathy and sadness. Her knees felt weak, dropping to the cold, hard ground. She found her eyes watered, but she tried to hold back. The statue of Asa and Ramiah crumbled into hundreds of pieces. Nothing remained but piles of rocks and stones.

Were these the feelings of Klein or Ramiah? These may be lingering feelings they had. That’s right, Lucia never intended this to happen. Once she goes back to the country, she will scrutinize this matter.

That’s right. This was never meant to happen. She ordered her soldiers to drive the humans out. That’s all.

Lucia picked herself up and took a few steps forward to find a pile of rubble before her. A piece of stone read ‘Bonnie, daughter of Klein’. Her heart felt unrest.

Her breath quickened as the darkness of the room finally lifted. There were rows and rows of marbled human statues stretching out to the furthest she could see. At first, she went through each memory she encountered. Some of the humans died in fear, some died fighting. Some had nothing but bones left and starved to death. The statues crumbled before her after she watched their last moments.

Then, her heart clenched in the face of another statue. How many more were there? She doesn’t know if she could steel through another memory of suffering. She couldn’t help but wonder how many more had suffered the same fate. Every memory she experienced made it harder for her to suppress her urge to cry.

Lucia was always told that humans don’t fight. They don’t feel pain and live the most peaceful lives. What a lie. Their pain was as real as any other Creations. Their wounds do not heal quickly. They desperately cling to every minute of life, since every moment was precious.

It was not a surprise that the boy was afraid of her. She was the monster.

It was her command that brought doom to these people. She needed to see this until the end. No running away. Statue by statue, Lucia experienced their last moments. The memories of 1,379 humans.

Her footsteps then came to a complete halt. This stone statue was larger than the rest. A stone statue of a fairy. She had a fierce determination in her eyes, holding up her staff. She had pointy ears and a small build. Her wings were short. The engraving of the pedestal read a single word ‘Martha’.

Lucia felt a spark of recognition. Martha was the legendary fairy that helped humans for centuries. Stories of her courage and strength rang wide in Iolite, but Lucia had never seen her statue before.

Lucia kneeled before the gigantic statue. She bowed her head slightly.

“Was it you who placed me here? What do you want me to do with these feelings? Why does the pain feel so real?”

The statue didn’t move. Martha’s gaze looked far beyond. There were no other sounds other than the sobs of the fairy, echoing through the room.

“This is unfair,” Lucia sobbed silently. Drops of Lucia’s tears splattered onto the ground.

“Princess Lucia Angelique Solace.” A soft female sound resonated from the statue.

“Child, their memories were far beyond any text could scribe. To watch their hopes vanished before their eyes, their lives cut short, to feel their pain as if it were your own, was a burden I have borne witness to throughout time. Your pity for these humans is but a small sliver of the vast misery they endure.”