The Sylvian Dream accepted her. The Forest accepted her. A queen…

The light shone despite the night; it became as bright as day.

Taurael floated in the dream as her wing and arm reformed.

The power echoed as her eyes focused. Pain fading.

‘I can be more.’

The Monarch flew.

‘But I am not yet ready.’

Then Taurael floated down to us. I was agape, I heard her voice… her mind.

She was in her large form; her eyes resembled the Dream itself.

“William…”

Her voice was like the wind. She reached out and hugged me.

Then I felt the might of the Dream as it coursed through me, the power forcing my reservoir open.

Then the Dream flowed through me fully. Magic was now visible. A tapestry of existence lay before me.

Then, I fell back and landed on the mud. Taury was once more in her small form and dazed.

Looking at her was like watching a star. The glow covered most of her form.

She stood up.

“Woah.”

Malkek landed and kneeled, and the rest of the Pixies did the same.

“You are the Monarch. I should have seen before.”

Taurael smiled.

“Not yet, I have not taken that role. I cannot in good mind take it yet.”

“Why not?!”

“Because I failed in my duty as our parent’s guard. I cannot take the Monarch role until I find their killer and deliver justice.”

She looked at her brother with a smile.

“Hold on for my return.”

“I will.”

Then she helped me up and smiled.

“Let’s go back.”

“Sure.”

Then we returned to the nexus without even touching the Tesseract.

“Woah…”

“That was weird.”

“Yeah, it was like you just simply willed us here.”

“Yeah, well, let’s get back to the palace… though now that I think of it, how did I get blessed when you willed me to go there?”

“Because I didn’t use control.”

“… What?”

“That was all you.”

She blinked then smiled.

“Thank you for having faith in me.”

Then we returned to Morgan’s palace.

Morgan was waiting for us.

“It seems it worked. I won’t ask because I doubt you’d tell me, but good job, I assume your magic is also repaired?”

“Yep, in fact, my reservoir may be bigger than it was before.”

“Understandable, the Dream is a massive source of magic. It’s thought to be where all magic originated.”

“It was odd.”

“How so?”

“Because when Wings descended from the Dream, it was like she became the Dream itself…”

Both Taury and Morgan looked at me with a confused look.

“That’s how best I could explain it. She… just… it was odd.”

“I’d imagine.”

“Yeah, I don’t remember that part.”

Morgan looked thoughtful.

“To become like the Dream… that sounds like a powerful scenario.”

“It certainly felt that way.”

“I was there when her father and mother were accepted by the Dream, and I didn’t see anything like that.”

“Weird. Well, we should get going.”

“Of course, I will call you when you are needed.”

Me and Taury walked home. Halfway, she asked the question that I couldn’t answer before.

“What did you mean, I became like the Dream itself?”

“Well, it was like your eyes resembled it. The magic I felt from you was immense like it was embracing me and pushing through me. Then you hugged me and the magic launched through me, ripping apart my pain. Tearing open my magic… it was like I was blessed by the Dream.”

“Weird… I don’t remember that.”

“I’m pretty sure your brother was shocked when you whispered my name and hugged me.”

“Whispered your name?”

“Yeah, it was weird, like the wind itself spoke my name. It was like in that moment… you became the Sylvian Woods… like it’s will and saw the Dream. In the moment you hugged me, I saw magic itself like a tapestry.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“I see why you wouldn’t tell Morgan about that.”

“Yeah… it was… odd.”

She seemed thoughtful.

“Though… you didn’t actually use magic… I did it myself…”

“Yeah, that was the plan.”

She smiled and huffed a laugh.

“You are a clever one.”

I looked up and sat down.

“Why are we stopping?”

I smiled.

“Look up… It’s not as clear as in the Sylvian woods… but it’s still beautiful.”

She smiled before looking up.

In that moment, I felt the Dream once more.

_

I went to math class feeling chipper. People were looking at me again, but for a far different reason.

“Bro, what kind of miracle did you go through last night.”

I smiled at Brent’s question.

“Magic.”

He raised a brow, but then he noticed Taury flying around and realized I was being quite literal.

“Well, it seems a good night’s rest truly can do wonders.”

“Yes sir, it can.”

The professor smiled as I was doing visibly a lot better as well as mentally.

_

“So, what the heck happened?”

Even Grace who typically just listened from the side or asked me later was sitting in front of me.

“Yeah, what Brent said, I know that talented healers can fix a lot of things, but that…”

She pointed to Taury who was still flying around while cheering at her victory.

“That doesn’t just happen. So, how did you do it?”

“The Sylvian Dream.”

“Oh, what, you threw her into there? That doesn’t make sense. She needs to go in of her own will for that to work.”

“She did.”

Grace looked at me confused. I smiled.

“Using the placebo effect, I made her think that a certain painkiller worked, so she was able to ignore the pain enough to get to the Dream.”

Brent and Amy showed some confusion, but some understanding as well, but Grace understood the full of what I said.

“Wow… that… that’s incredible. Tricking a pixie into doing a flight while in that state.”

“And it worked out.”

“How well?”

“Well, you’ve seen both of us.”

They smiled.

“Does that mean…?”

I smiled and the smallest little fire appeared on my hand.

“Yep.”

Amy’s first-time seeing magic was obvious by her awe.

I put out the fire and smiled.

Then Grace had another question.

“How’d she even get to the Dream, though? Like I understand the whole tricking into not feeling pain, but that’s still a few hours of flight.”

“Not in the Sylvian Woods.”

She blinked.

“Wouldn’t they kill her immediately?”

“Nope, in fact, now they know that she’s innocent, in fact, her brother even asked her to take place as the Monarch.”

Grace’s eyes widened.

“Incredible… you are just full of surprises, so she’s the Monarch now?”

“Nope.”

Grace blinked, then she looked at Taurael who flew closer.

“What?”

Taurael landed.

“Until I find out who killed my parents and bring them to justice, I can’t, in good mind, accept the role as Monarch.”

“I suppose that makes sense.”

Amy shrugged.

“Remember, regular human here, can’t hear what Wings says.”

Grace sighed.

“You know what? Here.”

She handed Amy an amulet.

“What is it?”

“A relic.”

“Can you just hand those out?”

“… I can make them, so I can do whatever the heck I want to with them.”

“Oh… that would make sense.”

She put on the amulet, then she looked at Taury.

…

“She’s adorable…”

“Heh?”

“I wanna hug her.”

I turned to Taury with a smirk.

“Wanna hug her?”

Taury looked at me.

“I’d rather not get crushed by her ribs.”

“My… ribs?”

She looked at Taury, then looked down, then sighed before placing her face on the table.

“It’s not fair…”

Taury gave a smug grin. Grace started snickering. Me and Brent just looked at them confused.

“Oookay… History is starting soon, we should go, Wings.”

“Got it.”

As we got up, I whispered.

“What was that?”

“Me pushing my supremacy.”

“… What?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Alright?”

As we walked closer the history room, I felt a presence. Taury also felt it.

“What is that?”

“I can’t tell, your and Grace’s auras are still within my perception, but it’s strong.”

I opened the door and the regular teacher wasn’t there. Instead, a shortish, black-haired woman stood at the blackboard.

“Hello, I am your sub for today, the professor was sick so I was asked by her to take her place.”

She turned around and I recognized her immediately. Even without her tail and ears, those eyes were unique.

“Is that-?”

“Yep, that’s Maven.”

“Why is a council member here?”

Taury shrugged.

“Maybe here for you, or for another reason.”

“Thank you…”

“No problem.”

The wolf smiled.

“Well, shall we take attendance?”

A few kids rolled their eyes.

“Alright, Ethan Berensky.”

“Here.”

“William Cambell.”

“Here.”

Then she took the rest of the names, writing down who wasn’t here.

“Alright, so today we’ll talk about the history of this town.”

I was interested. If Taury was any indication, the Fey could live an exceptionally long time. I could learn a lot, listening to Maven.

“So, does anyone know what this place was considered, before the town was built.”

A student raised his hand.

“Damien, what is it?”

He blinked, not expecting her to nail his name that quickly.

“Um, it was a sacrifice place for druids.”

“Alright, why did they sacrifice here, specifically?”

Another student raised her hand.

“Emily?”

“Because it was seen as a magical hotspot.”

“And what’s your current view on that idea?”

“I frankly don’t believe in magic.”

Then another student jumped in.

“Really? Then explain that flaming tower a few days ago.”

“Flaming tower?”

“Oh, ma’am, were you out of town for it? A massive tower of flame just suddenly appeared for about a minute, then disappeared before anyone could find its source. People are debating whether it could’ve been magic or not.”

“Hm… that’s interesting.”

Maven looked curious; she was likely in her own realm during that point.

Then the girl scoffed.

“It was already explained to be a tornado that formed over a campfire.”

“You really believe that copout? It was obviously magic.”

Then the students began to argue, then Maven spoke.

“Be quiet.”

No one listened.

“I said, shush!”

The entire class, even the magically uninclined, shivered and began to pay attention to her.

“Now, this is not time for a magic, real or not, debate. We are here to learn about history. Now, who can tell me why the town was built?”

I raised my hand.

“Yes, William.”

“It was made by settlers as a way to cover the magic and take the druid’s sacrifice place under their control.”

“Bingo. Now that we’ve discussed the origin of the town, who can tell me about the forest?”

I raised my hand.

“Yes, William again.”

“It was thought to be the home of the deity the druids worshipped. According to numerous sources, no one has tried cutting down one of the trees of it in fear of infuriating the deity.”

“So, why, Mr. Cambell, has this practice continued to modern day?”

“Mostly tradition and those that still believe in that, combined with the fact that the forest is seen as a national park in more recent years, due to it containing a type of tree that can’t be found anywhere else.”

“Wonderful, someone has done their research.”

Then another student.

“Ma’am, this is all terribly interesting, but why are we going over this specifically?”

“Well, your teacher wanted to tell you about a field trip that is happening in three days, so she asked me to ask about the history of the place where we, and many other students would be camping.”

I smiled.

“Yeah, camping in the forest is allowed.”

“Indeed, so me and your regular teacher thought it would be a fun experience to see the supposed sacred forest in person. Let me just hand out waivers. We’ll provide food, but you still need to cover the entry cost.”

I was excited, the only times I spent in those woods were reporting to Morgan, it would be interesting to see it just for the nature. Of course, if Morgan tried to eat one of my classmates I’d try to stop her.

_

I was thinking of the trip.

“Are you actually thinking of going?”

“Yes, Taury, I mean, just think about it, I’ve never been there as a tourist, just to report to or talk to Morgan.”

She sighed.

“You do know that Morgan is the forest itself, right?”

“Hm?”

“While it isn’t certain, she can hear from any tree.”

“Okay? So, we just don’t talk about my power while there, and wouldn’t that mean it’s the safest place to be? I mean, Morgan is a threat, but she’s much less likely to kill us than a demon, and demons aren’t going to hide in the forest that is one of their greatest enemies.”

“Yeah, I suppose that makes sense, but fey do. And some fey can be quite savage, especially when they think no one can see them.”

“That’s where you and Grace come in, two immensely powerful fey in the class. That’s also why Maven is here, most likely, to prevent any threats.”

“I suppose…”

I smiled. Taury looked at me with light irritation.

“Well, sign the stupid paper if you want.”

I signed it.

“Welp, I’mma cook dinner now. We haven’t had a homecooked meal in a while.”

“Yep. Can I help?”

“Nope.”

I walked in the kitchen as she scoffed.

“Actually, there is one thing you can do.”

I smirked as she groaned.

“I am not being a pixie dust shaker!”

I snickered as I went into the kitchen to prepare our meal.

Vol I End