Wednesday, 18th of December 2024:

The world trembled. We didn’t know they would come.

Thursday, 19th of December 2024:

The world ended. Fire spread to every crevasse of the planet. The oceans dried, and the sky burned. Tornadoes and Twisters swept the land clean of any sign of life, while the lava burned away the dust.

The blue planet became a sea of flames, beautiful in a way. Though, no one was left to appreciate it.

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I woke up. Fields of green spread in all directions, the petals of flowers I cannot name scattered in the wind. Shades of every color filled my vision.

The last of my memories are of everything burning, hell descending from the skies as everything I knew and loved burned to the ground.

So where am I? The world seems so much bigger, like everything grew ten sizes. Or is it me who shrunk? I do not know. What do I know?

The world burned. Or was that just a nightmare? I am still alive, but the memories of the flames burning my skin are so vivid.

I need to know more. What would someone do in this circumstance? I guess the first thing to do would be to call for help. Is my phone around? Is it still me-sized? I stand up to look around.

I guess I really did shrink. When I look around all I see is a grassy plain. I seem to have been lying down of a bed of flowers.

When comparing my size to the grass below, the largest blades would go up past my head, while the smallest to my waist.

Looking behind me I catch the sight of wings. They resemble those of a pixie, beautiful intricate patterns of white and yellow form a beautiful ensemble.

 I reach to grab one of the wings. Running my fingers across the surface it feels smooth, and kind of ethereal. Like it isn’t something that should exist in this world. It also… tickles?

I contract my back muscles and feel the wings move. Just slightly, but they move.

I swerve around looking for any form of reflective surface and find a water droplet roughly the size of my head on the leaf of one of my bed-flowers.

Staring into the droplet I finally understand. I am a fairy.

My hair is a shimmering magenta, reaching down to my neck. My eyes seem to have taken on a shade of glistening turquoise, though sparkles of gold seem to have taken root.

 I am wearing a dress made of what looks to be silk, white in color, almost blindingly so. My ears are pointed at the tips now, very fantasy-esque.

Something has clearly happened. Am I dreaming? Have I been isekaied? No, that seems absurd.

But so does watching the world burn.

I do not know what to believe. All I know is that I have to get moving. Maybe I can find people who can help me?

Do these wings work, or are they just for aesthetic? I highly doubt I cannot fly, that would be… dumb. Why give wings to one who cannot fly?

Don’t tell the penguins I said that… or the chickens… or any flightless birds.

Do I just flap my wings? Is there a fairy flight manual I can refer to? Do I have to take a flight exam and get my fairy license?

Okay enough stupid thoughts. Save those for later.

Focusing on my wings I try to flap them, faster and faster. It seems to be generating some thrust, but I don’t think it’s enough to get me off the ground.

Well, fairies are fantasy, so maybe they use magic to fly? Well, it couldn’t be as easy as simply thinking ‘magic, go into my wings and make me fly,’ right?

Well, I think it might really be that easy. I’m currently floating a good 3 centimeters off the flower at this moment. Or at least, I think it’s 3 centimeters. Shrinking really threw off my sense of scale.

Flapping my wings like before, I fly high into the sky. I can see the entire grasslands from here! Maybe I can spot some nice people from here? It’s worth a shot.

Looking around I see a seemingly endless grassland. I could increase my altitude to see how far it goes on, but I don’t know if that will drain my stamina faster.

I currently don’t feel like I’m straining myself, but I also don’t know what magically straining yourself feels like, so it’s not worth the risk.

Looking closer, I see flower beds similar to the one I awoke in. Most of them are empty, but I can see – no, feel clusters of magic power atop the beds.

That must be how fairies are ‘born.’ An amalgamation of magic power from nature, concentrated by these ‘beds’ of flowers.

Well, when in doubt, go in one direction, I guess. I choose a random direction and start flying in a straight line. It’s good practice for me who has never flown before.

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I have this strange feeling that I’ll always know where this place is, so I’ll return and think of something else if this doesn’t work out.

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I’ve been flying for like eight hours now. At first it was awesome. Flying is fun, and the view is incredible.

It seems like the entirety of the world has been reclaimed by nature. I haven’t seen a single spec of civilization.

It’s a strange feeling. Yes, it is beautiful, but it feels wrong. Like everything humanity had achieved was washed away by the whim of some unknown higher being.

Night has fallen, and I know that this is Earth. It’s clearly been a long time, and the locations have slightly shifted, but the constellations match. The stars in the sky match those on Earth.

I think I’m finally starting to understand. The reason the world burned was because of this.

Maybe magic was being introduced to the world and it wasn’t compatible with pre-existing life? 

Of course, it could also be that it’s the other way around. Not that the world burned because of magic, but magic emerged because the world burned. Like an apology, a gift to the victims of that hell.

I hate that I don’t know. I don’t know anything.

I don’t feel tired or hungry. I still don’t feel exhausted. I’ve been flying for so long, but I’m feeling more energetic than ever.

I don’t think I’ll feel those things ever again. I’ll never feel tired, hungry, or exhausted. At least under normal conditions.

I don’t like that.

I want to be human.

Why am I like this?

Who did this to me?

I want to go home.

I want to go home.

I want to go home.

I want to-

My head slams directly into a tree. This thing is gigantic! Well, it’s probably normal-sized, but it’s gigantic to me!

Honestly, I needed that. It snapped me out of that trance. Let’s keep going, no matter what it takes I’ll survive this. I don’t want to die.

I’ve finally reached trees. I think I’m reaching the edge of the grasslands, and I’m entering some kind of forest. Luckily, I spotted something important.

There is a road. Sure, it’s a dirt road, but it isn’t natural. That means that there are probably humans around somewhere.

If I just follow the road, I’ll reach some kind of civilization.

The dirt road goes on for ages. I know that before cars it could take days to travel what I could in hours, but this is taking a while. The path is all over the place so that it can avoid rivers, steep hills, and stuff.

This is clearly because whoever made this doesn’t have the infostructure to alter land to a severe degree.

Some parts of the road are only “road” because the frequent traveling wore down the path, while some is from the deliberate clearing of nature.

I think I see a clearing coming up. And there seems to be a giant wall with a gate of some kind. That’s good.

It seems I’ve finally found civilization. I start to speed up excited about the people ahead. It has been so long since I talked to someone!

Well, I technically haven’t talked to anyone since my rebirth. Can I even talk? I haven’t tried it yet.

“Testing, testing. My name is…” what is my name? That’s strange, why can’t I remember? I remember my friends and family talking to me, but why can’t I recall what they called me?

Well, let’s look on the bright side. I can speak. That is already a win.

I see some guards at the gate. I fly up to introduce myself.

“Hello guards. Can I be let in?”

That’s strange, are they ignoring me?

“Hello? Can you hear me?”

They aren’t even looking at me. Could it be that they can’t see or hear me? Is it because I’m a fairy?

Maybe it is one of those fantasy things where only people in tune with magic can perceive spirits or something stupid like that.

Well, on the bright side I should be able to fly right in.

Well, so far the only townspeople are humans. I guess this is Earth, but if fairies exist now, I can’t rule out any other fantasy creatures either.

Plus, I’m pretty sure I saw some monsters on the way here. They ignored me of course; it seems fairies are basically just nature personified. Monsters don’t care much about us.

I haven’t seen any other fairies yet. Maybe I just can’t see them? That’s probably not it. Why wouldn’t a fairy be able to see another fairy?

[Find a contractor.]

A stabbing feeling shoots through my head as I continue to hear ringing.

What was that? ‘Find a contractor’, huh? Like spirit magic in anime? Fairy magic? Eh, I won’t worry about it. Let’s just do some research. Maybe this town has a library or something.

I gain elevation, hoping to find a building that sticks out. Hmm… that one sticks out.  It looks library-ish. Well, it wouldn’t hurt to check.

Looks like we have a winner. The inside is full of books. Now for the hardest part, how do I grab a book? Whatever.

Luckily, I can read the text on the books, it’s literally just English. More signs this really is Earth, I guess. That will help me find the book I am looking for.

Let’s see. Books about fairies…

Aha! Here’s one!

Okay, now how do I get this book out of here without people noticing? I guess I’ll just wait for night…

Until then, I guess I can look at what all the other people here are doing. Let’s see…

Looks like a bunch of the people here aren’t reading for fun but for studying. Is there some kind of school here?

I guess I’ll fly out of the building and go look.

Hmm… not the type of school I was expecting… looks like a school for future knights. Well, I’m guessing that based on the signboard that says “Advarce’s School of Knights.”

On that note, it looks like this town’s name is Advarce. I guess finals are coming up or something because the library is pretty full.

“Can’t you even manage self-enhancement magic? How do you expect to become a knight like this Edward?”

Of course, where school follows, there are your generic bullies. Not like I can do anything. I mean, these people can’t even see me.

I could probably hit them, but that would mean they can also hit me. I don’t want to risk getting accidentally swatted out of the air, especially by a knight-in-training with physical enhancement magic.

Well, I guess I’ll watch over this for now. If it gets out of hand, I’ll try my hand at magic. Maybe I can summon a gust of wind or something? You never know.

There are three people, around my age… well my age when I was human, I’m like what, a day-old right now? Besides the point.

There is this tall buff dude, looking like some alpha male influencer, and his lackey who’ve backed this other kid into a wall.

He’s currently curled up into a ball, trying to block the onslaught of kicks being thrown his way.

[Sign the contract.]

Ugh, there is that stupid voice again... Is that beaten up guy looking at me?

The bullies seem to have tired themselves out. I should go check on him.

Let’s see if I can use healing magic. That would be very helpful right now. Just imagine him getting better…

My wings start to glow green, with golden particles slowly falling from them. The guy in front of me starts to look like he’s slowly healing.

Swelling recedes, and cuts start to close in front of my eyes. Kind of gross honestly, but it does work.

“Ugh, thank you Miss Fairy,” the guy groans graciously as he can.

“So, you can see me? Interesting… what is your name?” I curiously ask him.

“My name is Edward, what is yours?” Right, I should have got that from the fact they said his name right in front of me.

“I’m…” What should I call myself… “I’m Chess.”

“Nice to meet you, Chess.”

He seems like a nice guy.

[Sign the contract.]

Ugh. This is getting annoying. You know what, I have an idea. Whatever this contract is, it doesn’t seem like it’ll hurt me. And Edward seems trustworthy enough, right?

“Edward, would you like to sign a contract with me?”