Surcease and Nymph journeyed back to Surcease’s home, Nymph leading the way with their glowing light. At first, they continued chatting, but as the sky deepened into twilight, Surcease grew quieter. Shadows stretched longer, and unfamiliar sounds seemed to rustle through the undergrowth. Surcease could swear she heard creatures stalking just beyond her vision, their movements blending with the whispers of the forest.

By the time night fully enveloped them, Surcease found herself relying entirely on the soft, green glow radiating from Nymph. It was her only beacon in the encroaching darkness. The flickering green light, which had once been the warm comfort of a friend, started to feel ominous against the dark backdrop.

Surcease’s voice wavered as she meekly called out, “Nymph, I want to go home. I’m tired, hungry, and scared.”

Nymph hesitated, her tiny form darting closer to Surcease’s face. She tried to sound stoic and reassuring, but the tremor in her voice betrayed her growing panic. “I know, I know. Don’t worry, Surcease. I’ll get you back home in no time. We got a little sidetracked before, but I definitely know where we are now. We’re almost there. Everything will be alright, okay? You will be alright.”

Surcease nodded weakly, though her tears began to spill despite her best efforts. Her voice cracked as she whispered, “I’m sorry, Mommy. I promise I’ll never go into the forest again.” The tears came faster now, streaking her cheeks as she buried her face in her hands.

Nymph let out a panicked squeak. “No, no, it’ll be fine! I’m just being really dumb. Your home is just a few steps away—I know it! The forest isn’t dangerous. I’ll protect you. I’ll get you home.”

Nymph zipped right up to Surcease’s face, her glow intensifying as she placed her tiny hands on Surcease’s tear-streaked cheeks. Her voice softened, but her determination was fierce. “I will get you home, okay? I promise.”

Surcease sniffled, wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. “...Okay.”

“Okay!” Nymph exclaimed with sudden cheer, her voice bursting with enthusiasm. She twirled midair, her glow brightening as she began to sing and dance while leading the way.

“Surcease will get home in a jiffy,

And tell the story of her new friend who is… nifty!

The dark ain’t so scary,

Fluffy monsters hold no fury,

They’re in a hurry,

They got no time to bother our sweet Surcease!”

The melody was uneven, and the lyrics were anything but poetic, yet Nymph’s animated performance and infectious joy tugged a small giggle from Surcease. The silly little tune, paired with Nymph’s exaggerated gestures, did much to ease the lingering fear in her heart. Together, they pressed on, the light from Nymph’s glow guiding them through the forest toward home.

And they continued on,

and on,

and on,

across the shadowy expanse of the forest. The towering trees seemed to close in around them, their gnarled branches twisting overhead like the skeletal hands of forgotten giants. The cool night air carried whispers—soft rustlings and distant hoots that sent shivers crawling up Surcease’s spine. Her steps grew sluggish as the uneven ground tugged at her weary legs, roots and rocks conspiring to trip her at every turn.

Time lost meaning in the endless dark. Surcease’s legs ached, the burning in her muscles giving way to a dull numbness that crept upward. Her lips cracked, her throat raw from thirst. Her stomach writhed, hollow and knotted with hunger, each pang sharper than the last.

The forest felt alive, its heartbeat an omnipresent thrum in the ground beneath her feet. Shapes danced in the periphery of her vision, shadows darting just beyond the reach of Nymph’s glow. The once-majestic trees loomed like silent sentinels, their bark scarred with the markings of predators.

At last, a dim light began to filter through the treetops, painting the forest in a pale, ghostly hue. The day star had risen anew, but its warmth felt distant, unable to pierce the cold weight of exhaustion pressing on Surcease’s chest. She glanced around, her heart sinking as she realized the forest stretched endlessly in every direction, an infinite labyrinth of green and brown.

Her legs trembled as she forced another step, but the ground seemed to rise up to meet her as her knees buckled. She collapsed onto the mossy dirt with a muffled thud, too weak to cry out. Her vision swam, her breaths shallow and ragged.

Nymph, who had been flitting just ahead, spun around at the sound of Surcease hitting the ground. Panic flashed across her face as she darted to her friend’s side. Her tiny hands pressed against Surcease’s cheek, the faint warmth of her touch almost imperceptible. “Oh no, oh no, Surcease! What’s wrong?” Nymph’s voice cracked with worry, her glow intensifying as if sheer will could banish her despair.

Surcease groaned, her voice harsh and strained, barely louder than a whisper. “I’m so hungry…”

Nymph hovered closer, her glow intensifying as she flitted nervously around Surcease’s face. “Oh no, oh no, don’t worry, Surcease. I’ll get you food as fast as I can!” she said, her voice trembling but resolute. “You stay here, okay? Don’t move. I’ll be right back!”

Surcease’s vision swam, the bright green glow of Nymph’s light becoming a blurred smear against the darkness. She wanted to reply, to call out, to protest being left alone, but the words wouldn’t come. Her head throbbed, each pulse pounding harder than the last, and her body felt as though it had been weighed down with stones. Even if she wanted to move, she couldn’t.

The forest around her grew quieter, the once distant sounds of life—chirps, rustles, and soft hoots—fading into an oppressive silence. Every inch of her body ached, her limbs refusing to respond to her feeble attempts to shift. She lay there, her breath shallow, staring into the swirling blur of green light that marked the last glimpse of her friend as Nymph darted away.

The moments stretched, each second feeling heavier than the last. The darkness pressed in closer, and the chill of the forest floor seeped into her skin. Surcease’s thoughts flickered between fear and hope, clinging desperately to the promise of Nymph’s return. She felt as though the forest itself were watching, its ancient eyes hidden in the shadows, waiting silently for her next move—or her last.

Nymph wasn’t gone for long, her green glow cutting through the oppressive darkening of her vision as she zipped back to Surcease’s side. Her tiny arms were laden with an assortment of berries, their skins glistening in the dim light. “Look! I got these for you,” Nymph chirped, her voice laced with urgency. She didn’t wait for permission, darting closer and pressing a handful of berries to Surcease’s lips. “I know it’s not much compared to what humans eat, but I have these all the time! They’re super filling, I swear.”

Surcease parted her lips weakly, the sweet tang of the first berry barely registering on her tongue before her body lurched violently. Her stomach, already twisted and empty, rebelled with a force that overwhelmed her senses. She gagged and doubled over, expelling the berry and more onto the forest floor in a harsh torrent.

Her body heaved uncontrollably, her stomach writhing as though it sought to claw its way out of her. One bout led to another, the relentless spasms leaving her gasping for breath. Tears streamed down her face, mingling with the acrid taste that lingered in her mouth. She clutched at the ground, her nails digging into the damp ground as if anchoring herself against the pain.

Nymph flew back in alarm, narrowly avoiding the violent spray. Her hands tugged at her antennae in stress, her voice a sharp wail of panic. “AAAH! What’s happening? Do humans not have a tolerance to poison?”

Surcease tried to respond, her lips trembling as she struggled to form a single word, but every attempt was interrupted by the relentless waves of pain and nausea. Her throat burned, each heave scraping raw against the acidic fire climbing up from her stomach. Tears blurred her vision, her body folding in on itself, desperate to squeeze out the death within her.

Nymph was beginning to flood out a stream of tears, her small body shaking with every sob. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know! I didn’t know! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” She hovered frantically in place, her glowing light flickering like a firefly caught in a storm.

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Surcease folded back down onto the ground, splashing into her own pool of puke. She had completely lost all motor control, her limbs no longer under her will. In fact, her entire sense of touch was slowly beginning to dissipate; this did not mean that she stopped feeling pain, though. That was still firmly gripping her mind.

Losing one of her senses to the pain heightened Surcease’s awareness of everything around her. The forest, once a distant hum, now pressed in from all sides as if it were alive, breathing with her. Then, a sound—deep and wet—cut through her delirium. The low, rhythmic sniffing of something large, something looming just behind her.

Nymph’s glow blinked out of sight as she darted away, her shrill voice rising in a mix of rage and terror. “Get away from here, monster! She’s with me, not for you!” Her words were broken, hiccupping in fear, but the force behind them only seemed to grow as the creature’s presence closed in.

Surcease’s body trembled uncontrollably. She tried to lift her head but couldn’t focus, her vision spinning.

Nymph wiped at her eyes in a frantic motion, smearing away the tears that blurred her already strained vision. Her breath came in sharp, panicked gasps, but she forced herself to steady her hands as she spoke. “I’m so, so, so sorry for this, Surcease," Nymph cried, her voice cracking with emotion. "You will be fine; I can get you out of this, I promise. I’ll fix it, just—just stay with me!” Her tiny face was full of worry, but her words were resolute as if she were trying to convince herself just as much as Surcease.

Almost in response to Nymph's statement, Surcease’s body spasmed uncontrollably. A low, gurgling sound rumbled in her throat, the vomit thick and relentless. It clogged her airways, stealing away her breath with cruel, suffocating force. Her body had fully locked up, and she could no longer expel the bile from suffocating her.

Nymph’s frantic eyes darted around, her wings beating erratically as she hovered just above Surcease, unable to understand the cause of her distress. Then Nymph saw the bubbling of bile gathering in Surcease's mouth and she dashed to Surcease’s side. With a squeak of horror, Nymph tilted her friend’s head enough for the vile liquid to spill out, the horrific weight in Surcease’s chest lifting just enough to allow a shallow gasp of air. But it wasn't over.

Surcease was getting cold; the day star had fully risen now but Surcease was still incredibly cold. She had lost the ability to cry long ago, nor could she even manage to speak anymore. Sound, sight, smell, they were all floating off to a faraway place.

She felt weightless like she was floating just beyond the edges of the world, untethered from everything that had once mattered. Her thoughts felt distant, slipping away, each one fading further from her grasp. But there was one thought that clung to her like a lifeline, a thread through the fog.

Mommy.

She tried to reach for that thought, but it was slipping away, too. A deep, silent ache filled her chest. She couldn’t remember how she had ended up here, but she could feel the absence of everything that had once been real—the warmth of the day star, the laughter of a friend, the gentle, familiar touch of her mother. They were all fading now, like echoes in the wind.

I need to go back, she thought desperately, but even that thought felt distant. What was back? Why couldn’t she go back?

She didn’t understand anymore, but somewhere deep inside, she knew there was a place she should be. A place where things made sense. A place where Mommy was waiting.

Mommy...

Her breath was slowing. It was a strange feeling; it didn’t quite feel like pain anymore, it was, but it felt different, her mind and her body experiencing different things. The gap in between breaths became so long she wasn’t sure when the next one would-

Nymph shoved Surcease as hard as she could over and over again. “Surcease! Surcease! Don’t leave me, don’t go!” No response.

Her tiny hands shook violently as they hovered over Surcease’s still body. Nymph’s wings fluttered erratically as panic clawed at her chest, her vision blurred by the flood of tears. She darted around, touching Surcease’s cheeks, her face, her hands—desperate for any sign that her friend might still be with her.

With trembling fingers, Nymph placed a hand over Surcease’s nose, checking for breath. Nothing. No rise of her chest. No flutter of air through her nostrils.

Surcease was dead.

Out of the lifeless body, a small wisp rose. Nymph watched as the little girl's soul lifted out of its host. The soul strings, once binding, were frailly snapping off and casting the soul away.

The world around Nymph seemed to fade, leaving only the ethereal glow of Surcease’s soul hovering in the air. Nymph's green light fr flickered faintly, casting strange shadows in the soft luminescence of Surcease’s spirit. There was no more sound, no more movement—just a stillness that felt like it had lasted a lifetime.

Then, with an almost imperceptible shift, Surcease’s soul wavered, the light pulsing gently. Nymph remained completely still, her gaze unwavering, as though she feared that any movement might shatter this delicate moment, this fragile space between life and death.

Nymph waited a moment longer, but the soul did not waver again and started to sink deeper into the soul sea.

Finally, Nymph exhaled sharply, the weight of the moment seemingly crashing down on her. “Took her long enough,” she muttered under her breath, her voice trembling with exhaustion.

Nymph wiped the fat tears from her eyes, though her hands were still shaking. She had to Slap her cheeks a few times to snap herself out of the shock of her own immaculate acting. “Jeez, I can’t believe this... Why couldn't you just eat the berries and die? NOooooo, you had to spit it out and puke all over the place!"

Nymph kicked Surcease’s lifeless body with all the force she could muster, her tiny foot connecting with a sickening thud. “Stupid brat,” she hissed, breathing heavily through clenched teeth. “Couldn’t even do one thing right.”

Nymph flew over to Surcease’s soul, her small hands wrapping around it with an iron grip to keep it from sinking deeper into the soul sea. “Oh no, you don’t get to leave that easily,” she murmured, her voice cold and deliberate. The soul squirmed weakly in her hold, thrashing in its feeble attempts to escape the fairy's surprisingly powerful grasp.

With a determined flick of her wings, Nymph hovered just above Surcease’s lower lip, her eyes narrowing. “You know you were really persistent. I should have guessed you had some kind of natural poison resistance when those blue flowers only gave you a mild rash."

Nymph glowered as she inspected the soul closely. “That weird little trait of yours better not make you taste bad.”

With a cruel flick of her wrist, Nymph tore Surcease's lower lip from her body, her expression not even flinching as she casually tossed it into her mouth. As she chewed, her whole form seemed to shudder with ecstasy. “All is forgiven,” she cooed to the lifeless body, her voice thick with pleasure. “Oh man, wow. Mmm, this is good. You know, I’ve always had a thing for lower lips, but yours... now this is good stuff.”

Surcease's flailing soul doubled in its desperate attempts to break free, its struggles growing more frantic with each passing second. But Nymph held tight, her grip unyielding.

Nymph then flew all around the lifeless child, giving its soul a guided tour of all her favourite cuts and sharing in mortifying detail the exact taste and specificities of why those were her favourite.

It was a grotesque tour—a testament to the utter distortion of her once-innocent nature. The soul, still bound to Nymph’s grasp, twisted in futile efforts to escape, its agony palpable, yet Nymph remained absorbed in her morbid recounting.

Eventually, Surcease's soul grew weary, its futile attempts at escape fading into nothingness. The soul had no form to shield itself from the grotesque spectacle unfolding before it. Unable to close its non-existent eyes, it could do nothing but experience the horror in full clarity, trapped in its own tortured awareness.

Nymph, with a twisted sense of satisfaction, finally collected the pieces of flesh she had desired. She gently cradled them, her fingers tender as she placed them into the hollowed-out cavity of a lung.

Nymph backed off from the corpse, relinquishing the rest of the body to the anticipating wildlife.

As the creatures swarmed out for the feast, Nymph flew over to block one particularly familiar-sounding creature. “No way, buddy. What were you thinking, trying to steal a bite before I finished killing her? As punishment, you don’t get any. You know what. You guys all pissed me off! You know she could hear you all following us, right? A bunch of amateurs! Usually, I leave the liver to you guys because I’m nice, but with the way you all been acting, you don’t deserve it!”

Nymph punched her tiny arm, easily piercing through the soft flesh of the dead child, and pulled out a succulent healthy liver. “This is why children are the best. Look at the quality of that!” Nymph excitedly stuffed the liver into her carrying lung, causing the lung to bulge out practically stuffed beyond capacity.

Nymph finally locked eyes with the trembling soul. Nymph’s mouth morphed into a tremendous smile as she snickered in her usual disturbing way and addressed Surcease directly for the first time since her death.

“Hiya Surcease! I had a ton of fun playing with you the past two days. Seriously, no joke; it was a blast! And you tasted great, by the way. But it was a bit of a jerk move, puking all over yourself before I had my share. If you did it for the others, I wouldn’t care, but to do it to your best friend Nymph, not cool." Nymph shook her head in a show of disappointment. "So anyways, I’m going to eat you for that.”

Nymph ate the soul. It had been so long since she ate a tormented soul that she forgot how exquisite they were. That soft, warm taste, how it just smoothly rolls down the throat. Truly a great delicacy.

Nymph’s wonderful feast was then rudely interrupted by the chime of a bell. In front of Nymph, there was what seemed to be a small pink rhombus, or it was a rhombus, but its body would reject any stable state. It would shift and transform, shrink and grow, continuously morphing into other shapes. The pink shape finally locked into a form resembling that of a featureless human with only one limb. The arm was outstretched towards Nymph holding a glowing parchment: it read.

You have been invited to The Tournament You are The Fairy