CWs spoilers. 

Kelcie PoV

I gasped out in shock as I stepped out of the house. This was my first time seeing the total destruction of the town. I had stayed out for as long as possible, ushering any survivors I could into the basement that Ryel had told me about, as the town’s defences fell to the undead horde. But it hadn’t been this bad before I locked the hatch. 

“First time seeing it, I take it?” The half elf, Callie asked. 

I nodded in response, “Yeah… it was just over two days ago now, I had intended to explore yesterday, but we could still hear noise that could’ve been undead. In retrospect, it was probably the burning buildings collapsing or settling. Still, better to be safe, than sorry, right?” 

I looked over at Callie, and saw that her and Zaraya were holding hands. I didn’t know what to think about that. On one hand, they were obviously very happy with each other, if the smiles as they looked at each other was anything to judge by. On the other, my dear old mother had always said that McKenna never approved of any of that, despite rumours of her being more than friends with her angel friend. Don’t even get me started on her stance about mixed race relationships. The only thing positive about my brother was he wasn’t racist like our parents were. 

I glanced around and spotted Azalea hovering nearby, trying - but failing miserably, to hide how gushy she was being over the two girls holding hands and obviously in love. 

The multicoloured beads in the left side of Callie’s head clinked lightly as she shook her head, “It’s a horrible sight, I can’t imagine what you’ve all gone through for the last few days.”

Sighing as I shook my head, I answered Callie, “It wasn’t easy, hiding in the basement and keeping all of those people calm. I had to be strong for Ryel as well. She’s been separated from her family and is desperate to find them, as you heard from her earlier. She’s a sweetie, but she’s got a lot of determination, and I’m terrified that it’ll end up getting her killed. Especially since she doesn’t even have a class yet.”

Callie looked curiously at me, “Why do you care so much about Ryel?” She put her hand up in a pausing gesture as I opened my mouth to respond, perhaps a little too heatedly, “I didn’t mean it in a callous, heartless way. I meant, like, what is Ryel to you, that makes you so worried about her?” 

I closed my mouth with an audible click of my teeth as I considered my response, “Because, she gave me a name that suits me better than the one my parents gave me, and because she’s helped me get through this,” I took a deep breath to try and still my racing heart, just reliving the memories of the last few days was enough to almost start a panic attack, “By focusing on her needs, I managed to push through the fear of watching thousands of zombies tear this town apart. I did what I could, I killed as many undead as I could. It just wasn’t good enough.” I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat as tears trickled down my face. “I wasn’t strong enough to save many people, but… I could and did save Ryel, and I am determined to see her back safely with her family again.”

“Aww, that’s so cute!” Azalea gushed.  She was hovering midair, her hands clamped together between her knees, blushing at me with her large eyes looking like they were almost twinkling. 

I blushed and my tummy fluttered as the fairy girl stared at me, no one had ever looked at me like that before. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. 

Callie smiled and nodded at me, before looking around briefly, “Do you think we should see if those hunters would help us track any survivors down? We’ll just have to make sure it’s safe first, I can’t sense anything evil nearby, although my skill doesn’t have a large range just yet.” 

I frowned slightly as I thought about Callie’s suggestion, before sighing. “That’s probably our best best at finding as many survivors as we can. Well, let’s make sure it’s safe for our hunter friends, shall we?” And with that, I started searching the town, or what was left of it, for signs of survivors. 

“Azalea, wasn’t it?” I asked, looking at the fairy as I walked. 

Azalea hadn’t seemed to be paying much attention when I called out to her, and made a cute little ‘eep’ noise before replying, “Hmm, yes? That’s me!” 

I couldn’t help but smile at her, she was pretty adorable. “Could you fly overhead and check to see if there are any threats, or surviving townsfolk, around?”

“Oh, right! I can do that,” she agreed, nodding her head eagerly, before flying off without saying another word. 

“And don’t forget to be careful!” I shouted out at her departing back. Azalea just pumped a single fist into the air without turning around. I assumed that meant that she’ll be careful, or heard me at least. 

Callie smiled as she caught up to me and heard me sigh. “That little fairy is a bit reckless, and a lot bratty, but she’s got a good heart.”

“I think she’s cute,” Raya said, with a big smile on her face as she watched where the fairy had departed.

“That, she most certainly is,” Callie agreed, with a smile at Raya this time. “I’m afraid for her though. She seems so innocent, too innocent to be on her own, really. The fact that the system designates her as a monster makes it even more concerning for her well-being.” 

Raya frowned as she looked at Callie now, “It’ll have to be our job to teach her how live in our world, then?” She said, hesitantly, like it was a question. 

It was Callie’s turn to sigh this time, “As much as she can be a brat, I agree. Well, I guess it’s time we head off to explore then. Let’s not get too far from each other, just in case.”

“Alright, that’s probably a good idea,” I agreed. Just in case one of us gets into trouble, the others should hopefully be close enough to help. 

Raya nodded her assent, then the three of us split up to explore different, but parallel, streets. 

Several hours later we finally found other survivors. An older gentleman slowly made his way out of a ruined home, carrying a sack of what was probably food. 

“Oh, thank the gods, Miss, another survivor. You’re that magical girl who was helping fight the undead before the end right? Are there any more with you?”

My tummy did weird flip flops when he called me ‘Miss’, mistaking me for a girI. I squashed that thought for now. Later. Maybe. I inspected him quickly before answering. Some undead can be devious and hide their appearance, but not their information. 

Olivor Rivie

Level 172 Brawler (Uncommon)

“Hi,” I answered, with an embarrassed wave. I hadn’t expected him to recognise me or my efforts. “Yeah, a group of around a dozen, most non-combatant classes, and a young half orc girl. You don’t happen to have seen an adult orc female and a young half orc male have you? They’re her family.”

My hope had risen for Ryel when he mentioned other survivors, but the look on his face told me differently, “I’m sorry young Miss, I haven’t seen anyone like that. We can ask my group, hopefully one of them will know something,” he answered, shaking his head sadly. 

I called out to Callie and Raya, who showed up quickly, weapons drawn, obviously ready for a fight. As I filled them in on our brief conversation, Olivor looked curiously at Raya. “You’re a shaman? Do you think you could heal some of the people in my group of survivors? A few of them were injured badly in the attack.”

Raya’s cat ears briefly flattened on her head before perking up again and flickering as she nodded, “I’m more than happy to help! Just lead me to them. My Callie?”

“Of course!” Callie said, before taking Raya’s hand and looking expectantly at Olivor, who just raised an eyebrow before smiling briefly. 

“Ah, young love. It warms an old man’s heart to see it in a place as tragic as this. Well, let’s get to it then, no point in wasting our time gasbagging when we’ve got people to help.”

Just as Olivor turned to lead the two girls away, Azalea appeared over the nearest rooftop, stopping to hover near me. She addressed us all. “I spotted more survivors!” the fairy announced proudly. “They’re on the other side of town; a small group of seven, five of them are children. At least I think so? I didn’t get too close, just in case.” 

“Holy Lochlan. You’re a fairy! What’s a fairy doing so far from home?” Olivor gasped out suddenly. 

“Hi, new person! Wowee, your level is really high!” Azalea gushed, suddenly derailed from what she had been saying. “I’m becoming an adventurer!” She answered Olivor’s question after a moment of staring at him, pumping a small fist into the air and posing like that for a moment.

“Huh, well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Miss, err, sorry, I didn’t get your name?”

“Azalea!”

“Miss Azalea, it was a pleasure to meet a genuine fairy,” he replied with a warm smile on his face as he nodded to her. 

Azalea blushed for a moment, before giggling, “As opposed to a fake fairy?” She smiled. 

Olivor shook his head with a soft laugh. “As it happens, there are always plenty of rumours around about your kind. More of them the further north you go,” he shrugged. “Well, times a tickin', as they say. Maybe your charge’s family will be there?” Olivor said, looking at me. 

I looked at Azalea, hopeful again that my search will be over this time. “Azalea, will you lead me to this group please?” 

Azalea looked happy and excited when she looked back at me, “Sure! They were just over - oh, umm. Give me a second please?” If she always looked at me with that begging pout, I could never deny her anything. With my nod, she zoomed up into the air and circled around for a bit, before shouting ‘Yes!’ and then coming back down. “This way,” she gestured, before taking off again. Apparently she hadn’t been paying attention to her direction on the way back earlier. 

I shook my head at her behaviour, waved at the others, then began jogging after my fairy guide. 

“So,” I began hesitantly, looking up at the girl flying above me, “what made you leave your home?”

The little fairy looked back and down at me, seeming to come to a decision, and then flew down to hover near me as we moved. “Just follow this street until the end then turn left,” she directed me, before moving closer, and hesitantly landing on my right shoulder. Before I could even blink, I had grabbed Azalea as she had started to topple off of my shoulder. 

Her body felt soft and warm in my hands, and she barely weighed anything at all. Her wings brushed against my fingers as they buzzed, instinctively beating to prevent her fall. I suppose my intervention had probably been unnecessary, but just like her wings, I had done it without consciously thinking about it. 

It was a moment after I had grabbed her and stopped moving that I realised Azalea was blushing bright red, and, in fact, the natural light glow that she had was brighter than usual as well. Did she glow brighter when she’s embarrassed? Or with heightened emotions? That was adorable. 

“Sorry,” I apologised, opening my hand and helping her back onto my shoulder. I was wearing my full armour at the moment, which meant that I had armoured shoulder pads, and Azalea had had trouble grabbing on while I was moving. Although they were tastefully stylish, and fit well with the battle dress that this form had. Apparently they weren’t the best for fairies to ride on, however. 

Up this close to Azalea, I could see that she had a very light covering of freckles and small pointy ears, barely pointier than a normal human, albeit still with a noticeable difference. Nothing like Callie’s ears, her half elf ears reached half way up the top of her head with the tips. Azalea’s lavender eyes turned to look at my orangey yellow ones - at least in this form, and crinkled a little bit on the edges as she smiled and giggled, a slight blush still on her little cheeks. “I guess I have to watch where I land, huh?” 

“My fault, sorry,” I smiled, “it’s the first time that I’ve had a fairy use me as a horse. I was bound to make a mistake.”

The little fairy let out the warmest, tinkling, little laugh that I had ever heard. It temporarily soothed my soul in this horrible place as I grinned at my cute companion. I didn’t think it was that funny, but if Azalea was going to laugh like that, I’d happily try to make her laugh whenever I could. 

“You’re funny, Kelcie, and you’re a magical girl, I just know that we’re going to be great friends!” 

I didn’t know what me being a magical girl had to do with anything, but being friends sounded nice. Something about what she said had made me feel wrong though, I just wasn’t quite sure what it was. 

My mood plummeted a little as I realised it was because she called me a magical girl. If only she knew I was lying to her. Lying to all of them. If they ever find out, I have no doubt that they’d abandon me, calling me a freak like my family had. 

Suddenly, I felt something soft and warm on my right cheek, “What’s the matter? Are you okay?” Azalea asked, her voice full of concern, as she wiped away a tear I hadn’t even realised was even there. 

“I’m okay,” I sniffled. “It’s just being in this town,” I lied. 

“Uh huh, okay,” Azalea didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t push me on it, thankfully. She suddenly leaned over and hugged the side of my head and neck. It was strange, but nice at the same time.  “Well, I’m here whenever, if you ever need to talk, okay? I’m not the best listener, but I'm happy to give a hug whenever, okay?” 

I smiled at her again as she let go, “Thanks, Azalea, I appreciate the offer. Shall we continue on and try and find these survivors before it gets dark and they hide again?”

“Oh, yeah! I, umm, forgot about that. Oops?” The little fairy said with a frown on her face, bonking the top of her own head with a small fist. I just shook my head at her, she was definitely interesting company. I wondered if all fairies were like her, or if she’s different. I assumed it was probably that she’s different, considering she’s the only fairy anyone has ever seen out of their forest home in living memory. 

As we walked, I noticed that there weren't many scavengers that had come out to feed in the town yet, despite it being several days later. They could probably smell that the undead had been here, and were wisely choosing to stay away. 

After another minute of silence, Azalea started talking about her home, and what it was like living in Fairy. It sounded nice and peaceful, if a little dull. I thought at first she was a little selfish in leaving, she even admitted feeling the same thing, but I also thought it was unfair for the other fairies to keep her in the dark like they had. It wasn’t nice, living in a gilded cage. Sure, it’s pretty, but it’s still a cage. I could sympathise with her on her desire to leave. After all, it’s what I did, too. 

Roughly ten minutes later, Azalea pointed to the left of a large square we had just entered, “Just over there was where I saw the group last. It looked like two adults and five strange looking children. It was pretty far away, I saw them when I was nearly back with you all.” 

“Wow, you saw them from so far away? That’s incredible!”

Azalea blushed from my praise, “Fairies have really good vision,” she said, shrugging but still blushing. 

“Oh, look! More survivors,” someone on the other side of the square shouted. From an alleyway that leads into the square, one slim elf male and a human male stepped out, followed by five dwarves. I could see why Azalea assumed they were children, with how much shorter they were from the two taller men. My heart dropped as I realised that Ryel’s family wouldn’t be among them. I immediately felt shame at that being the first thing I thought of after seeing several more survivors. 

“Hi!” Azalea waved from my shoulder with a happy grin on her cute little face. Her grin got bigger, eventually turning into a soft giggle, from the now expected surprise from them seeing a fairy for the first time. 

I noticed the elf and human were holding hands, leaning into each other as they walked. I didn’t know what to think about that. My family always said that people who dated other people of the same sex were unnatural, same as if they dated someone who wasn’t of their own species. Although, they also said it was unnatural for me to turn into a girl and enjoy it, so I didn’t know what to believe anymore. I schooled my face and kept my thoughts to myself. It seemed like I was the only one with an issue with it, no one else seeming to care. 

After they had expressed their shock, we eventually got down to the more important conversation. 

“’M’ sorry, lass,” one of the dwarves spoke up, shaking his head sadly, “I do be recalling an orc woman with’a young son getting caught up and overwhelmed by undead a few blocks away. I’ll remember her until the day I do be dead, what’ta woman, so ferocious, I just wish that we’d been closer ta help,” the dwarf looked genuinely upset as he told us the story. 

“Did she have one broken tusk and a bracelet made of beads?” I asked, desperately hoping it wasn’t the same orc woman. 

The dwarf shook his head again, “Nay, we was too far away to see ‘em, weren’t we boys?” The other dwarves all nodded their agreement with the speaker. I had inspected them when we first met, all Miners, decently high level, but not a combat class. 

I sighed softly, “Thanks for that, can you point me in the direction of where it was? I need to make sure, for Ryel’s sake, if nothing else.”

The dwarves pointed us to Green Square, two blocks away, and Azalea and I left to find the bodies, after the group said that they’d make it to the others just fine. I thought they’d be alright, the elf was a level 102 Sword Dancer, after all. 

Two blocks over, we reached Green Square, walking into worse ruins than what we’d seen so far. The whole square was utterly destroyed, with barely any building frames even standing. I slowly made my way into the remains of the house that the dwarves had said it was, with Azalea hovering nearby to help if something bad happens. 

Several severely burned bodies were resting inside of the almost completely collapsed and burned out building. 

A sob escaped my lips as I recognised a fairly melted looking bracelet on one of the corpses. There was no mistaking who the body was. It was Ryel’s mother.