“Alright, students, do you have all of your things?”

The wolfgirl, Maven and our history teacher, Mrs. Pan, smiled as we got off of the bus.

I smiled; I also packed a bit of supplies for Taury.

Grace got off of the bus and muttered.

“This is not the best place to be.”

I smiled.

“Don’t be a downer, Grace. This could be fun.”

“Please, you know the dangers just as much as I do.”

I whispered to her.

“And I also know that there is no way we can get hurt with three incredibly powerful fey with us.”

Grace sighed but conceded my point.

Brent was extremely excited.

“I’ve always wanted to research this forest.”

Amy was dodging mud like a pro. It was almost like watching an animation, how she was avoiding falling dust and mud.

“Amy, you can get dirty, don’t worry, it’s gonna happen eventually.”

“Yes, but if I postpone it as much as possible, I can win.”

“… Fun game.”

Her bodyguards followed us, but it was clear that Maven noticed them.

Cherry also noticed them.

“Amy, could you tell your guards to stop skulking and join us like normal chaperones, they’re already signed on as chaperones.”

“I would, but they like hiding.”

Taury, as usual, sat on my head.

“La la la. Love the life love the world. You will is nothing but bored.”

At the strange voice, I looked up and saw a woman sitting on a branch.

Grace narrowed her eyes and released an aura, causing the woman to squeak and flee.

“Dang cupids. They are as irritating as they are weak.”

Maven walked in the woods and moved incredibly smoothly.

“By the way, Taury, how does Maven hide her ears and tail?”

“Oh, that’s easy. It’s a simple illusion spell, anyone could do it. I technically could become a student if I held my large form and hid my wings.”

“Why don’t you?”

“I’m not interested.”

“Alright, we are here, everyone set up camp. Remember, try not to hurt the trees.”

Grace sighed.

“Don’t worry ma’am, I won’t hurt any.”

Then she grabbed a branch and flipped up, moving smoothly, causing several students to look at her in confusion and awe.

“I’mma sleep up here, the leaves are better to be under than a piece of plastic.”

“That is allowed.”

Maven began setting up her tent and I sat down.

Amy walked over.

“William, are you gonna set up a tent?”

“Nope, I’m gonna do the same thing as Grace.”

“What of… Wings… where is she, by the way?”

“She’s setting up a mini cabin.”

I pointed at Taury who made a stick cabin. She was already laying inside of it.

“Wow, that’s… impressive.”

“Yep, by the way, remove the amulet before sleeping.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s a snorer.”

“Oh, I can handle a bit of snoring.”

“Trust me. You don’t want to handle that.”

“Um, okay?”

“You too, Brent. I only wish I had a mute button.”

“Yeah, having your own magic would be annoying as you would see fey all the time.”

“Yep.”

After everyone set up their tents, Cherry set up a fire.

“Okay, anyone got glass… that won’t work, the trees don’t allow sunlight.”

“I got it.”

I walked up, picking up two rocks.

“Hm?”

Multiple people watched in curiosity, then, without the use of any magic, I struck the stones quick enough to create a spark, which landed in the fireplace.

A fire burst, and people clapped.

I walked back to Taury and whispered.

“Is it okay to be making a fire here?”

“Oh, don’t worry, Morgan doesn’t care unless a tree is ignited. We’re just lighting stray branches. She can’t feel those.”

“Okay, that’s good.”

“If it was bad, either me, Grace, or Maven would’ve stopped you.”

“Okay, thanks.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“No problem.”

We sat there as everyone began talking about how fun the trip would be.

Cherry came over and sat down next to me.

“You like talking to yourself, don’t you.”

“It’s fun, occasionally.”

“I see that. You know, everyone’s been talking about that fire thing that happened a bit ago. With the massive earthquake, it seems too much of a coincidence. What do you think?”

“Magic is merely a science we have not yet discovered.”

“What?”

“That’s what my father always said. He was a firm believer in the world of fey and mystical creatures, of course, he never discovered the science that he wanted to, but in my opinion, magic is a very real possibility, and with it, potential for new advancement.”

She looked at me curiously.

“I’ve heard of people wanting to use magic to escape from the logical, but… to enhance it? That’s an interesting idea.”

“If magic is real, then it’s simply another part of nature. Just as lightning was once the fury of the gods, magic is the denial of logic. What if we harvested that denial and simply made more logic?”

“Interesting way to put it.”

“Thank you.”

Cherry seemed lost in thought.

I stood up and walked to the fire.

“Yo, miracle boy, we have marshmallows. Want one?”

“Sure.”

I was nicknamed miracle boy because of my miraculous recovery from the severe injuries I received from a demon.

Of course, Brent, Amy, and Grace all knew that I utilized a rare event, known as the Sylvian Dream, to heal both my and Taury’s injuries.

After that, Malkek, Taury’s brother, finally admitted that she had to be innocent of their parents murder before offering to make her Monarch of the pixies.

Now, we were on a camp with another member of the council… Maven the wolf. Of course, me, Taury, Grace, and potentially Mrs. Pan were the only ones who knew what she truly was.

“Alright, campers, now, does anyone know any scary stories to tell around the fire?”

Everyone looked around. Then I smiled.

“I know one. Just be warned, you may get nightmares.”

Some kids snickered, so I began.

“Once upon a time, a boy wandered the world. He wandered to find his home, as he lost it many years ago. He had his house of course. The wealth his family had left him before their demise, but… it was not his home. Not since his family left. He wandered, hoping to one day find his home. The place he truly belonged.

He met a woman, she found a great meaning behind his journey, and supposed to join him. She also had something to find. What the truth was, as it had evaded her for many years. Her wanting to find it controlled her and many of her actions. She could barely think but to find it for all of her life.

They journeyed long and met several people. More who joined their group. Each needing to find something. Something they had lost or wanted to find. They knew each other well, and they became friends… family even.

Then one day, they encountered a demon.

The boy and the woman seeking truth confronted the beast. They fought long and hard and bested it, but the woman was near death. He ran back to his friends to see if one could help, but none knew how, then one remembered a story of a powerful being in the woods they stayed in, one that could help.

So, the friends wandered, looking for this being. Then they came to a tree. A massive one, unlike any other in the woods.

‘Oh, matron oh matron, queen of the woods, hear our cries and please help us.’

Then the gates opened and the queen welcomed them.

‘I heard your cries from the other sides of my forest, bring your friend here so I may heal her.’

This matron was not human, but nature itself. Her appearance was like the trees itself, yet she moved with the grace of a noble lady.”

“When’s this story going to be scary?”

Grace delivered a snappy remark and I looked at her.

“Wait a bit and see.”

Then cleared my throat and continued.

“The matron waved her hand and powerful magic was let out. Then the woman was rescued. She was able to move talk and more. The man thanked the matron who offered them to rest in her castle as demons were a great threat, even to her.

For months the man and his party stayed with the matron, and eventually the man and the matron began to develop feelings. The queen of the forest loved the man, the first human she respected, and the man loved her and her grace. So, they married. But the woman who was saved was not satisfied. She also loved the man and hated that he fell for the charm of the matron. She moved around and complained to the trees, when she saw it. A sword.

Temporarily forgetting her pain and irritation, she walked to it and sensed great magic from it. On it, it was written, ‘only the true king can pull this sword from this stone.’”

“This is just King Arthur.”

A student rolled his eyes.

“Wait a bit, I haven’t finished.”

“Fine…”

“The woman tried as hard as she could, but she couldn't budge it. So, she returned to the palace to ask the matron. The matron, despite hearing her gripes from the trees, understood her frustration, and told her about the stone and the sword.

‘A princess from another realm forged the sword. It was made to only be pulled when one who understands truth attempts it.’

‘Well, I seek truth, could you tell me who could pull it?’

‘No one I have met could pull it.’

‘What of our mutual friend? The one I traveled with.’

‘Perhaps he could, we shall see.’

In that day, the matron, the man, the woman, and their friends returned to the stone. Each one tried to pull it, lo even the matron couldn’t make it budge a single inch, but when the boy tried, it left as smoothly as if he were removing it from butter.

The woman was angry. The boy she knew understood truth the whole time but never told her. Of course, the boy himself did not know of his understanding. He simply knew what was right and good to do. But the woman didn’t understand this.

As the woman was considering yelling, a figure came from the nearby lake, a woman tall and fair, with wings that stretched far. She spoke with a smooth voice like the wind.

‘My sword has been pulled. Oh matron, is this not a wondrous day?’

The matron agreed and everyone cheered for the boy’s victory. All but the woman.

Many years passed and the boy became king, the matron his queen. They ruled fairly and the matron, once impassive and hateful, now loving and caring.

The princess and the king became friends and spoke often driving some jealousy from the queen.

The women, however, her contempt had only grown. She sought out the truth for years only to find that her friend had it the whole time. So, she set out for a power, an alternate power. The power which once nearly killed her.

She set out and came across a powerful demon, the queen’s rival. Her nemesis. The woman asked for help, so, as with all demons, the beast asked what she would pay with.

‘The head of your enemy will be yours if you give me the power to exact my revenge.’

The demon smiled and moved into the woman gifting her with power, and she shifted and bent. Twisting into a monster, an evil.

So, the evil returned to the kingdom. The queen, being of magic blood, recognized her evil immediately. The two fought viciously, and the woman bested her, but, leaving behind the deal, left the queen to hunt for the king.

She found him and told him the truth. What she hid for years. Her love for him, and her contempt for him not explaining the truth. The man shed a tear but drew the sword which now also saw the woman but saw the evil more.

The king and the woman battled. And with the final strike, the beast’s power left the woman, and she died, but the blade, now only seeing one who knew truth, broke.

The king cried for his lost friend, and returned to the princess, returning her blade and explaining his sorrow. The princess, sad for her friend, made a new blade and gifted it to him.

Thus, he ruled for many more years, and a son was born to him. A fiend, who admired the evil. He saw only evil. His mother and father ignored it as they wished not to find it.

Then the son encountered the demon, who made the same offer, but this child was wise.

He only sought power, and he rejected the demon, but made a counteroffer, that the demon would teach him power. But the demon made him pay for that. The child did not know the cost, but the demon loved to feel it.

As the son grew, so did his evil, then the king finally recognized his son’s evil, and he went to speak against him.

But, the fiend was powerful, and he wielded a dark form of the truthful blade, a blade of lies, forged by the demon.

The boy and his father clashed, but the father no longer had the blade of truth, so he could not defeat his son. His head was cleaved from his body.

The mother watched her only love die, but she was scared of her son and his evil, she recognized the evil that her son had embraced, and she was terrified, so the fiend took both blades and found the princess in her lake. Her knights tried in vain to stop the fiend.

The princess stood and turned to the fiend. The boy she had known.

The fiend declared that she would die, and bound his words with ancient magic, but his mere words weren’t enough to defeat the princess. Her fury was truly released as she butchered the boy, cleaving him into several pieces. Then her voice, once like the wind, now like a torrent of fury spoke.

‘Fiend, you have committed an act that all would kill you for, but you are too cruel to embrace the dream of your heritage, thus I bestow this upon you. A curse. May your body be burnt and your soul wander. May you become like the beast you so worshiped. Become a fiend in both mind and form. And may you never know peace.’

Then the fiend’s soul screamed in agony. The Princess’s curse took form and he was forced into a new form. A demon. He looked upon his father’s friend and felt true fear before fleeing from her radiant light.

And even today, he still wanders the forest of his mother, begging for even a moment of peace away from his eternal torment.”

A kid snorted.

“That wasn’t scary, right, Grace? Grace?”

Grace was shivering. She felt the story. Taury and Maven also shivered. Taury understood my story the best, as she was actually there for the events I embellished, but Maven merely heard it from either Roman or Morgan and was wondering how the heck I would’ve known that much.