Kelcie

Seeing Fairy firsthand for the first time was absolutely amazing. The fact that Ryel and I were the first welcome non-fairies in living memory filled me with absolute delight. It made it even better since it was all because of my own little fairy wife. The very same fairy who had fallen asleep laying on the crook of my neck. I smiled warmly as she snored and startled herself awake for a moment, before she drifted off again. I couldn’t blame her for being exhausted. Just this morning we had been fighting for our lives against an innumerable undead horde.

“Whoa! Kelcie, check out that tree! It’s absolutely gigantic!” Ryel exclaimed, engrossed in trying to observe all of the tree at once. Her neck was stretched as far back as she could make it, and yet neither of us could see the very top through the branches we were walking under.

As I looked up to try and see the top like Ryel was doing, I instinctively reached over and held Azalea to me to stop her from sliding off of my shoulder. “You’re right, that thing is impressively large,” I answered quietly, reverently. Somehow it felt like to do anything else would be an insult. Frowning, I looked around in front of us. “Where is all that light coming from?”

It was at that time that Rose, Azalea’s sister chose to appear in front of us, ignoring our fairy escorts. Holly, Rose’s partner, gave her a warm smile, before waving goodbye to Ryel and I and flying off. I had been grateful that she had stayed, since she stopped several of our fairy escorts from playing pranks on Ryel and I. It was the last thing I needed right now, Azalea and Ryel teased and pranked each other enough, I didn’t need Ryel to find more kindred spirits. 

The rest of Azalea’s family had left with barely a nod of acknowledgement. I had hoped to get more from them, since I was basically their sister/daughter-in-law, but it was certainly a step up from my own family's interactions. Come to think of it, I didn’t even know if fairies had the concept of in-laws or not, I’d have to ask Azalea when possible. I was definitely not going to wake her now if I could help it, she deserved it. I was honestly surprised that Ryel was still awake, but I guess she was probably too excited.

“She’s heading home to get some sleep,” Rose answered my inquiring glance. “Come, I have set up a shelter large enough for you and Ryel to sleep in comfortably,” the red haired fairy said, before dismissing our escorts and leading us to another tree closer to the giant one. 

Ryel and I both gasped in amazement as we stepped past enough of the tree we were under to see dozens of other large trees, although none were even a fraction the size of the largest one. I knew the sight before me would be with me until my dying day. Thousands upon thousands of twinkling lights, each one a fairy that walked, sat or floated along the tree branches, lighting them up in beautiful displays, so bright the trees practically glowed. They reminded me of an ancient myth that I had read about once about a ritual called ‘Xmas’ when they used to put lights on particular types of trees. The whole idea made zero sense to me, but the similarities struck me all the same. 

It was beautiful and amazing, while simultaneously terrifying that there were far more fairies than I had ever imagined. Given how powerful Azalea was already, and how quickly she was growing in power, if anything ever provoked the ferocity of the fairies, may the gods have mercy on their souls. Especially after the display I saw earlier with how quickly the angels were defeated. Sure, the fairies had had them outnumbered, but given how strong angels were said to be, I had expected them to put up more of a fight than they had, even more so since half of the fairies who attacked didn’t even have fighting classes. 

A whole bunch were pranksters, not fighters, and yet they somehow used that class to cause destructive mischief among their enemies, causing them to destroy themselves, or to open up opportunities for the more combat oriented fairies to hit vulnerable targets. There wasn’t any wonder why the fairies had defeated any and all threats that they had faced, they were terrifying, and they weren’t even the strongest example either. 

Azalea’s sister Rose had been downright scary all on her own with how fast she’d moved. I couldn’t keep up most of the time, and when she really wanted to move fast, it seemed like she could teleport to her enemies and slice them using weapons she wielded that were made from air.

We had no issues with seeing where we were going, with how bright everything was with so many fairies around. It was a wonder that any of them were able to get to sleep.

“I’ve not seen so many fairies in one spot since the demon invasion,” Rose commented, shaking her head and sighing as she looked at all of the trees around us.

I moved slightly faster to catch up to her. “What? Why is that?”

The red haired fairy turned to look at me. “Titania, Azalea’s grandmother, has called a gathering. Something big is happening, and I would guess that Azalea is in the middle of it.” Rose gave her sister a fond smile as Azalea snorted and shifted on my neck. 

Falling silent for a moment, I frowned. “How can Titania do that? Azalea is always adamant that fairies don’t have a government, and that she’s not a princess.” I smiled fondly at Azalea as well, remembering the many ‘arguments’. “It’s kind of adorable actually.”

Rose snorted. “Of course she’d say that. Even after all of this time, you’d think she doesn’t see herself as a fairy.” She shook her head and sighed. “Perhaps that was our fault with keeping things from her. I was constantly arguing with mum about that. So many times I was tempted to break my promise, but mum would always remind me of Azalea’s father.” Rose paused for a moment and smiled. “Plus, Azalea was always easily distracted.”

Ryel and I had fallen silent, listening to the fairy bemoan her actions towards her own sister. 

Instead of asking what I really wanted to know, I decided to tell Rose an observation of mine. “Azalea still loves you, you know?” I eventually said, breaking the silence at last. I briefly considered changing forms and patting her shoulder or something, but decided against it. Especially as doing that would have disturbed Azalea’s peaceful slumber.

Quicker than I had thought possible – and I had seen her in action – Rose appeared in front of my face with barely a whisper in the air. “Really? Are you sure? That she doesn’t hate me?”

I gasped and flinched at the suddenness of her closeness, briefly waking Azalea. “What's it…? Nooo, I already chose my wife, thank you very much!”

With my heart rate slowing down again, I giggled and smiled at Azalea as she slowly settled back into her sleep and turned back to a contrite looking Rose. “Of course I’m sure. If it wasn’t enough to just hear her talk about her big sister Rose, I can feel her emotions when she looks at you.”

The little fairy hovering in front of me sniffled and wiped some tears that glistened in her eyes, before she moved closer and hugged the side of my face opposite where Azalea slept. Being hugged by a small being would have felt strange, if I wasn’t used to Azalea doing the same thing.

“Thank you, I needed to hear that,” Rose sniffled.

Patting her gently, I smiled. “You’re welcome, Rose.” Covering my mouth with my fist, I yawned. “Now, about that promised bed?” I asked, noticing Ryel was starting to sway as we stood there. I should have noticed earlier how quiet she had gotten all of a sudden, but I had been distracted, plus I was exhausted myself. At this point, I was running pretty much on willpower alone.

≿--------༺❀༻--------≾

I slowly drifted awake as Ryel and Azalea bickered over something or other – at this point I had learned to just tune out a lot of it. Most of the time their bickering was more joking and teasing than actually negative. Although I could argue it was negative since it woke me up earlier than I felt healthy for my sanity as I yawned and sat up, throwing the blanket off of me while looking around. 

We had slept in one of the fairy nests, similar to a bird's nest but made from leaves and sitting on the ground underneath a tree with the lowest branches to cover us. Apparently Titania had made it days ago, which was rather strange, almost as if she knew that Ryel and I were coming. Although the more I thought about it, the more that made a certain amount of sense, after all, how did Azalea’s family know that she was in the airship travelling near Fairy at the time? And how did all of those fairies just happen to be at the border, ready to fly into our rescue when they did?

“You’re telling me that we have to have a bath in a stream, in front of other people?” Ryel exclaimed, sounding appalled. “Tell me the truth, you have some kind of magical hot spring we can bath in or something, right?” She continued, laughing, sounding like she only partially expected Azalea to laugh and agree with her.

My wife giggled. “Where do you think we are? A five star resort? It’s exactly as I said.” She shrugged. “You get used to it, although the stream might be a little small for you…” she trailed off, a thoughtful frown on her face.

Yawning again, I said good morning before picking up a small glow fruit from a pile that sat between my girls and ate it.

Azalea flew over and snuggled into my neck, hugging me tight. I felt her give me a small kiss on the cheek. “Good morning, love. How did you sleep?”

Smiling softly, I delicately stroked my wife’s wings, delightfully feeling her shiver. “Would have been better if I hadn’t been woken up earlier than I’d prefer,” I grumped, only slightly meaning the grumpiness in my voice.

The two brats giggled and as I pouted at them Azalea sneakily shoved a glow fruit into my mouth. “Mmph!” I got out before swallowing. “Hey, that was rude!”

My little fairy stood on my shoulder, looking down at her feet and attempted to look contrite. “Sowwy.”

Shaking my head, I huffed and tried to not laugh at her expression. It wouldn’t do her any good to know how much her bratty side amused me. It was too late when I recalled our bond and I felt her victorious amusement clear as day. 

Sighing, I poked my tongue out at Azalea and tried to tickle her. Luckily for her, she easily read my intentions and flew off to hide behind a giggling Ryel. “Help! A monster is trying to get me!” 

Of course she’d go running to Ryel, brats had to stick together apparently. 

“It’s nice to see how well you three get along,” Willow commented, appearing suddenly and freezing all three of us as she sighed wistfully. 

“Mother!” Azalea gasped, just as surprised as the rest of us.

Willow smiled at her daughter, although I could see sadness and fear in her eyes. “Good morning, Azalea, Kelcie, Ryel. I… want to apologise for my behaviour since we first met. My youngest daughter brought home new family members and I barely treated you better than dirt. Can you forgive me?”

I looked at both Azalea and Ryel, watching their stunned expressions and tried not to giggle. Azalea in particular looked conflicted, a state that was perfectly reflected in the emotions flowing through our bond. On one hand, she was overjoyed that her mother had apparently decided to accept Ryel and I as family, but on the other, Willow hadn’t said anything about how she had treated Azalea for all of these years. 

Looking down at my hands briefly, I sighed before looking back up at what was basically my mother-in-law and steeled my nerves for what I had to say. “I don’t know, ma’am. I would love to, but I think it’s important that you have a good heart to heart with your daughter first,” I shuddered as I let out a breath slowly. Wishing I had been able to say something like that or had someone say it to my mother years ago, sadly that would never happen, because I killed her. 

Breathing suddenly became hard to do as my vision began narrowing, blurring and darkening all at once. I had killed my own mother, she had been undead sure, but still, I had swung the final blow, ending her existence once and for all. I had thought it would have given me closure, but it didn’t. Only more questions. Whenever we’d had quiet moments, my mind had been drawn back to her. I was eternally grateful that we’d been rather busy since that had happened. Had it only been roughly two days? It felt simultaneously like it just happened and happened an eternity ago. 

A burst of love and worry interrupted my spiralling as Azalea hugged me, saying my name over and over, with Ryel doing the same on my other side. With an effort of willpower I hadn’t known I possessed, I pulled myself back to their love and warmth, taking in big deep breaths again. 

“Are you okay now, my love?” Azalea’s lavender eyes, looking almost comically big on her face due to her concern, peered at me from almost too close. 

I shook my head then nodded then shook my head again, concentrating on my breathing. 

“Is she okay? What’s wrong with her?” I heard Willow ask with concern colouring her voice. 

Azalea grimaced before nodding. “Without getting into specifics just yet, we’ve had a rough few days. My wife will be alright, she’s as tough as she is beautiful, after all.” The little fairy had a fierce love and strength in her eyes, and her heart that I both saw and felt, gave me the strength to push past my current melt down. I'd deal with that at a later time, hopefully side by side with Azalea to talk it out. 

I nodded my head, despite no one asking me anything at that particular time, and sat up straighter. I hadn’t realised I’d been leaning on Ryel all that time. Smiling my thanks at her, I looked at everyone watching me with concern. “I’m alright now, thanks. I’m sorry for getting distracted there for a minute.”

The auburn haired mother of two – who looked no older than Azalea – smiled encouragingly at me and nodded. “It’s okay, I understand. Well, no, I don’t, not really, but it’s still okay.” Willow sighed, looking away for a moment before looking at me directly in the eye. “You’re right, you know? It was wrong of me to come here asking for your forgiveness when I have someone else I need to talk with first. Unfortunately that will have to wait, Titania and Oberon wish to speak with you both right now.”

That came as more of a surprise than it should have, after I had a second to think about it. Of course they wanted to see us, not only as some kind of authority to the other fairies, but also as concerned grandparents. 

“What about Ryel?” 

“I’ll look out for her,” Rose said, appearing even more suddenly than Willow had, going as far as sitting down next to us in our nest. I had the impression she loved doing that as she smirked at our startled reactions. Clearly the brattiness was a family trait. 

Ryel immediately began to protest. “I don’t need looking after! And I wanted to go with you to visit Azalea’s grandparents.”

Shaking her head, Rose placed her hand gently on Ryel’s shoulder. “You won’t be able to make it, they’re all the way up the top of The First Tree – the tallest tree in Fairy – even I couldn’t carry you that high.” She tapped Ryel’s rocket boots gently. “I promise I’ll help you learn how to fly with these,” she bribed. 

Instantly Ryel perked up. “Deal!” She exclaimed excitedly. “Bye everyone! Come on, Rose, let’s gooo!” 

I had a feeling that if Rose had been Ryel’s size, she’d have been pulling her along behind her as she jumped out of the nest and rushed off, only to be called in another direction by Rose. Azalea’s sister looked back and gave us a thumbs up as she flew off, an excited half orc in tow. 

Shaking my head, I looked at Azalea and her mother. “Well, I guess we’d better go and see what your grandparents want, Azz,” I said, trying not to laugh at Ryel’s antics.

“Azalea?” Willow asked, suddenly looking equal parts serious and terrified.

My wife looked at her mother expectantly. “Mmm?”

“Please, whatever your grandparents have to say, know that I’ve always loved you, even if I didn’t handle our relationship very well, and please don’t hate me any more than you do already. Now go, they’re waiting.” Having said that, Willow spun around with tears glimmering in her eyes, turned into a ball of red light and vanished behind some trees. 

≿--------༺❀༻--------≾

“Remind me next time to invent the elevator,” Azalea panted as we finally reached the level that her grandparents lived on. 

Instead of answering her, I merely grunted, attempting to preserve as much oxygen I had left as possible. Not only was it physically exhausting to fly so far without a break, but it was slightly harder to breathe up this high. With barely any time left, I landed on the large tree branch and deactivated my fairy transformation. 

“Ah, there we are, right on time this time. This girl's a keeper, Azalea.” 

A female fairy, appearing only a few years older than Azalea and I, sat on a branch nearby in an odd sitting position with the soles of her feet touching each other and her legs and knees parallel with the ground.

“Welcome, dear to our humble abode,” the other fairy continued, hopping up from her seat and flying over to us, who promptly giggled as I looked around at the impressive lodgings, and incredible view of the entirety of Fairy sceptically. 

“You’re right, it’s not very humble. Forgive an old lady her sense of humour, if you please. It’s a genuine pleasure to meet the wife of our granddaughter Azalea. I am Titania, as you have no doubt guessed.” Titania enlarged herself using fairy magic like Azalea does, and hugged me. “Welcome to the family, dear.”

I was overcome with emotion as I was engulfed in what had to be the most comforting hug in the history of hugs. Hugging the old fairy back, I blinked away tears as emotions washed over me. 

Stepping back, Titania one hand on my shoulder while the other held my cheek fondly. “Such sadness and love in your eyes. Never fear, you’ll always be welcome in Fairy.”

Suddenly Azalea interjected herself between Titania and I – enlarged as well – amusement colouring our bond. “Back up there, Grams. Get your own girlfriend, Kelcie’s mine!”

Titania laughed, smiling at her granddaughter. “What makes you think I haven’t had a girlfriend, Azalea?”

Azalea squawked, flapping her arms, suddenly all flustered at her grandmother’s reply at her attempt at humour as her face went red. “What? I… no, I… Gramps! Grams is being mean!” With that intelligent response, Azalea shrunk back down to her normal size and flew off towards the entrance into the tree.

Pulling me along aside her while I giggled at Azalea’s predicament, Titania followed where the younger fairy had gone, chuckling to herself. The older fairy’s dark hair seemed to have an oddly colourful sheen to it, making it almost appear different colours in certain light as we walked. 

We walked for a moment before a nagging question got me to ask. “Do you really have a girlfriend?”

Titania laughed, her wings the same colour as her hair buzzed briefly before they settled down. “No, dear, that was for that brats' benefit. Not that I have anything against it, of course, just that I am more than happy with Oberon. You will find that a good number of fairies share the bratty trait, some more than others.”

I chuckled, smiling warmly at the ancient fairy. “It’s a trait that is hard to miss in Azalea and Rose, that’s definitely for sure. Luckily for me, I adore that side of Azalea, when it’s not going to get us into more trouble that is.”

Azalea’s grandmother smiled widely. “That’s good to hear.”

“You knew we were coming, didn’t you?” I asked after a few moments of companionable silence between us. 

Titania looked up at me with a soft smile. “Very clever, dear. Yes, I knew you were coming.” Before I could open my mouth to ask the obvious question, she shook her head. “I’ll answer how when we are all together, so I only have to explain once.”

Shutting my mouth, I nodded and followed my grandmother-in-law through the entrance into the tree and down a hallway, where I heard Azalea talking to someone – her grandfather I assumed.

“Has she opened up to you about her previous life?” Titania asked suddenly.

Stopping midstep, I looked at the older fairy in surprise. I had gotten the impression that Azalea hadn’t told any of her family about her past. “Yes.”

“I’m glad. She used to mention things that she had no way of having any knowledge about. She’s as subtle as a trainwreck.” Titania smiled softly. “I’m just glad that she has someone she trusts enough to open up to, and someone she can talk to about it.”

Continuing forward, the hallway ended, opening up into another room. I saw Azalea hugging a male fairy who, like Titania, looked slightly older than both of us. 

Oberon had dark green hair, and surprisingly wings that had a more butterfly appearance than the typical fairy. Most fairies I had seen had dragonfly-like wings, including Titania and I wondered why Oberon’s were different. Like every fairy’s I had seen so far, his wings were beautiful, if in a different way, although I was biassed and thought Azalea’s purple ones were the prettiest.

As soon as we appeared, Azalea poked her tongue out at Titania, who just rolled her eyes and laughed. “Oh, Azalea, never change.”

Azalea gasped. “Why would I ever?!”

Shaking my head, my lips twitching at my wife’s antics, I decided to get the meeting started before we devolved into Azalea’s brattiness further. “Pleasure to meet you, Oberon.” I turned towards Titania, realising I hadn’t properly greeted her either. “And you too, Titania.”

Titania, still in her larger form, took my arm and squeezed it to her side gently. “Please, dear, call me Grams, and this old fuddy dud is Gramps. You are our granddaughter now.”

As I struggled not to tear up at the acceptance and warmth in their voices, including being called granddaughter, Azalea hugged her- our grandparents, thanking them before she flew over to me, landed on my shoulder and hugged my face as she liked to do.

Oberon gestured for us to follow him, leading us into a room off of the larger one we had been standing in. Inside was what looked like an eating area, which dozens of soft looking blankets bundled up to allow for seats. “Please, take a spot anywhere, would either of you like some glow juice for a drink?” Gramps asked.

“Oh, oh, yes please!” Azalea exclaimed excitedly, before turning to me. “You’re going to love it, love! You’ll see.”

I smiled at my wife, a warm gooey feeling in my chest. “Sounds good, I’d love some, please.” I could see that I was going to get plenty of fruit this trip.

After Gramps had brought us all wooden cups of the glowing juice, which looked strange but tasted really nice, even if my cup was fairy sized, Grams spoke up. “Well, now that we have all the pleasantries out of the way, Kelcie asked me something as we walked in which I thought I would clear up first thing. Yes, I knew you were coming, or at least I knew you were nearby, which is how I knew to send those most eager to see you again.”

“How did you know?” Azalea asked, sitting on my shoulder sipping her drink slowly, clearly savouring it.

“I placed a marker on your soul, Azalea.” Grams put her hand up, stopping any of us from commenting. “It isn’t as invasive as you might think, either. It allowed me to keep general tabs on you, no more, except for when you were in danger.”

Azalea frowned, and I could feel through our bond she was a little upset. “Why didn’t you ask me first? It’s an invasion of my privacy, no matter how much you say it isn’t.”

I knew Azalea was trying hard to not get upset or cranky with her grandparents. She respected and loved them too much to do anything less.

Titania sighed, looking upset and suddenly a lot older than she first appeared. “I know, dear, and I am sorry. I just feared for my granddaughter. We’ve lost so many family members over the years, it never gets any easier, and each of their deaths hurts just as much now as it did when we lost them.” Oberon enlarged himself, taking Titania into his arms as she teared up, trembling from holding back.

“It’s the boon and curse of living for so long, we meet many lovely people, but there is a good chance we will lose them too,” Oberon chimed in softly, comforting Titania. “We might be ageless, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be killed. The longer you live, the more chances something will kill you. That’s what happened to all of your aunts and uncles, and cousins.”

All thoughts of being angry at her- our grandparents left both Azalea and I as my wife flew over and hugged them tightly, enlarging herself. Gesturing towards me, Azalea smiled encouragingly at me. Hesitating for a moment, I joined the small hug pile, feeling the love all around me. I could also feel their power, it leaked out of them like their tiny bodies were too small to contain it all. I had considered several times whether to [Inspect] them, but I didn’t wish to appear rude in case they found out somehow, so I left it.

Eventually we all separated, all of us wiping our eyes, smiling and chuckling a little bit.

Taking a breath, I spoke up. “So, you asked us here to talk about something? Was it about Azalea’s father perhaps? Is she finally going to learn what has been kept from her for so long?”

Grams gave me what I hoped was an impressed look. “I can see why Azalea loves you, dear. You are unapologetically on her side, the bond that I can see you have doesn’t hurt either.” She shook her head. “Having a system awarded bond at your ages? Impressive. It says a lot about your love for one another.

“But yes, we have several things that we need to discuss. Azalea's father is but one, although a rather large and important one.” Grams stopped and sighed, rubbing her face roughly. “You see, Nyx, Azalea’s father – and our son – was powerful, and the only other… fairy who ever got the [Mentalist] class. We went adventuring with him, in order to try and help ease his thirst for adventure and to use his class.” 

I was curious why Titania hesitated calling Nyx a fairy, but I didn’t want to interrupt their story.

“At first that seemed enough for him,” Gramps said, continuing the story when Grams stopped. “Then he met Willow, who was widowed after the fourth and final human invasion, raising a young Rose by herself. It was then that he began to change and we should have seen the warning signs, but many fairies by then had become bitter towards the humans who had continued trying to kill us. Grams proposed the current barrier that we use now, but of course back then we merely relied on the Guardians and trickery to protect ourselves. 

“It was clear that that wasn’t enough any more, though. Unfortunately, a smaller, but very vocal minority of fairies wanted to take more drastic measures. This group wanted to march out and wipe out the humans who had killed so many fairies unprovoked.”

Azalea stirred herself, resettling on my shoulder. “Let me guess, Nyx led this group?”

Grams nodded. “Yes, along with your mother, Azalea. There is a good chance that Nyx was always heading down this path, but your mother played a big part in radicalising him, causing the fracture and fighting among the fairies that killed even more of us.” She grimaced, looking positively ancient now. “The infighting caused almost as many deaths by itself as all of the human, dragon and Demon Lord invasions combined.”

I know my face was as white as Azalea’s at that moment, as my head spun with the revelations. “You’re saying that my mother, Willow, was responsible for killing fairies?’

“Indirectly, it could be argued that, yes. But in her defence, she never fought against anyone. She did her best to prevent any bloodshed, trying to force everyone to talk out our differences, all to no avail. Eventually our side won, exiling the rebels, led by Nyx. Willow stayed behind, she didn’t want to take Rose with the exiles, nor did she wish to leave your egg.”

Letting out the breath I hadn’t even realised I had been holding, I sighed. “So that’s why Willow has always been so…” I trailed off, trying to find the best word to use.

“Crazy?” Azalea suggested.

“Overprotective?” Grams asked, giving Azalea a look.

I shrugged, trying not to smile at my wife. “Sure. Overprotective when it came to protecting Azalea? Including keeping her in the dark about almost everything.”

With a sigh, Grams nodded again. “That’s about it, yeah. She was terrified that Azalea would turn out to be like Nyx. Which only got worse when Azalea was given the exact same class he got.”

“Why would that matter?” Azalea asked.

“Among a lot of fairies, it is thought that what class you have is a direct reflection of your soul, who you are, or are destined to be and with the still very raw evidence that someone with the [Mentalist] class can turn bad, it terrifies your mother that you will follow your father’s footsteps.” Grams grimaced. “We followed along with her plan at first, because we believed the same thing, and Willow wanted to find out what class you received before anything was decided.”

“Why did you help me escape Fairy then?”

Gramps spoke up this time. “Because we could see that you were a lot better person than your father ever was, and that your mother still couldn’t see it. She was too deep being afraid to see anything else but another Nyx. We knew that we had to get you away from her for a while. You needed a chance to stretch your wings on your own, without the cage she insisted on keeping you in. We know that even not showing any evidence towards being anything like Nyx, she still held on to her stubborn thoughts, that is, until we spoke to her this morning, rather forcefully.”

“I hope she was a lot more pleasant to you all, when she came to ask you about our request to come and chat?” Grams asked. Her tone was pleasant and warm, but a dangerous glint in her eye made me shiver. “It is high time that that girl sees Azalea for the beautiful and clever girl that she is, despite any damage she did in raising her.”

Azalea blushed brightly under the compliments, briefly hiding her face in my hair. It was incredibly adorable.

“Mother and I have a long way to go, I think, but she does seem to be trying at least,” Azalea finally said, relenting and revealing herself from among my hair.

Grams gave a brief satisfied nod. “Good. I’m glad to hear that. This silliness has gone on for far too long. Gramps and I blame ourselves. After the disaster from the rebellion, we both took a large step back from dealing with anything to do with running Fairy. We believed that it would be for the best, but unfortunately, circumstances have forced our hand, and we must prepare ourselves and the fairies for war with the daemons. After all, it was they who sent that undead horde to destroy us, or at least to soften us up for an invasion by them.”

I gasped, while Azalea looked grimly satisfied. “So I was right then? Why do they want to invade Fairy in the first place?”

The ancient fairies looked at each other, before turning to look back at us. “Because daemons are, in a word, ‘fallen’ fairies. Changed by corrupted mana, they become twisted and ruthless in achieving their goals.” Gramps eventually answered, a grim note to his voice.

“Boy am I glad I didn’t choose that evolution then!” 

Both Titania and Oberon shuddered. “Me too,” Grams replied. “We probably should have warned you about it, but we know so little about how it happens, we do know that corrupted mana is involved, but how? Where does corrupted mana come from? We worried that mentioning it might cause it to happen somehow, and so we didn’t. Which was probably a mistake on our parts, but luckily you were clever enough to choose a much better evolution anyway.”

“Hold on. So all of the exiled fairies…”

“Are all daemons now,” Grams finished for me.

Tapping my chin thoughtfully, I considered the timeline carefully, wondering about something. “How long ago was it since this rebellion occurred?” I asked.

“Not long after the Demon Lord invaded Fairy and we destroyed him, why?” Gramps asked, curiosity colouring his voice.

I frowned. “That happened nearly four thousand years ago, why has it taken them this long to do anything?”

Taking a sip of her drink, Grams shrugged. “It’s possible that it took time for them to build up that massive horde you destroyed, it is also equally as likely that they worried that the humans would interfere and destroy their undead horde for us. Nyx would have assumed that the time was a good one right now, with most of the mortal races engaged in fighting off the dragons, they wouldn’t have had the power to stop such a threat. Luckily for us, he hadn’t counted on his own daughter almost single handedly stopping that plan,” she finished proudly.

Azalea began saying something, but stopped as a heavily injured and panting Rose appeared, racing down the corridor leading to outside. I could see multiple wounds, several appearing quite severe, how she was still up and about was beyond me. I was worried about her until what she said made my blood run cold. “Kelcie, Azalea, I am so, so sorry but Ryel has been taken!”