Fairy of Light and Life (Part 2)
Okay so admittedly, going into the dungeon was a very bad idea. But I was really interested to hear first hand What qualifies as an offense worthy of imprisonment. I got to hear the stories of many men on death row, and promised to Put them together in a proper book so people would remember them after they die.
Then I came upon a strange cell… it was dark, but I could just barely see a person deep within. He had long shaggy hair grey hair tinted with blue. His eyes looked at the ground hazily, two rubies that had lost their shine long ago. His face was sharp and reminded me of a fox oddly enough…
Was this Ban before he meets Meliodas?
He glanced up at me when he heard my footsteps, bare feet tended to be loud on rough stone. I couldn’t afford to let the the guards hear me when I snuck down. It was far passed my bedtime.
And those eyes? Oh did their dull gleam sharpen when he saw me.
“Are you here to mock me demon?” He growled darkly.
Wait, demon?
Did he mean those red spots that had been growing on my skin? They had been growing larger of late, the freckles no longer such small spots… and those bony nibs behind my ears were rather obvious when my hair was pulled back.
“Well?” He demanded, “get it over with. I’m not in the mood to fuck with another of you red faced shit stains ruining my life!”
I let out a startled eep and dropped my book. It skidded, sitting in front of the to be fox sin of greed. He looked down at it curiously, reading the entry of the last person I had interviewed. It was a complete transcript word for word of the conversation I had.
“Huuuuh… well this is interesting… what cha gonna do with all this?” He asked with a cheeky grin,
“Every life is a story,” I hummed, fond memories of playing FFX coming up in my mind, “even the smallest of stories deserves to be written and preserved. You can learn from stories and remembering a person for what they did rather than what they were known for. This can help them live on forever in the memories of the people who walk on after.” Okay so I’m a big fan of the Final Fantasy series, it taught me a lot of things growing up.
“So what if I told you my story?” He asked.
“I would write it down and make it into a proper book,” I said as if it were obvious.
He hummed, nodding in thought, “and the stories of people I knew?”
“More books that deserve to be seen,” I hummed.
He grinned, “then the first one I want you to write is this,” and then he began to tell me a story of two fairies…
When king found me turning the conversation into a proper story he looked like he had seen a ghost and ran off…
I stood upon a platform looking up at the clouds of light filling the sky. Those damnable clouds that shouldn’t be there. There should be a clear blue sky, or even a deep abyss filled with stars. But this? This was a sky of blinding light filling the souls of all those around me with despair. I heard a sound like glass clinging together, the familiar sound of a certain mother hen appearing out of nowhere.
Looking over I saw the concerned face of Mama Feo Ul. Her fire red hair was in its usual pigtails and her purple wings fluttering with worry, “I was worried you were up here all alone, brooding and fretting and wallowing in your woes. But look at you, fretting about everything like a nesting Amaro!” That… wasn’t how her dialogue normally went…
My character never spoke, yet I always imagined her responses clear as day, “look at me, I’ve got reason to fret dear mama Feo Ul,” I chuckled. That wasn’t apart of this scene either…
“Hmph! Look at what you've done to your aether! It's a mess! And you have cracks running all through that pretty soul of yours!” She said, stomping a foot and looking away. Then her expression softened as she floated over and gently cupped my cheek, “My poor little sapling. Whatever am I to do with you?”
I put a hand over hers and tilted my head into the soft touch, “what can you do? I’m slowly dying and before long there will be nothing left of me but a husk..”
“Shall I yield up my throne? You could claim it─cut ties with the mortal world, hide away in the castle… It won't fix the problem...but would it really matter? If any pesky heroes come a calling with steel and magic, all of Il Mheg will rise up in your defense. My crown and scepter are yours...if you want them,” the shear desire to protect me and that love in her eyes…
I opened my mouth to reply…
Then jolted up, eyes going wide as my mind reeled from that dream… it was so intense, like a memory I had forgotten until now instead of a simple cutscene from a video game. I held my hand up and looked at it, the red spots growing more and more by the day. When I went out I hid them with makeup, but it grew harder and harder to cover them up over time. The bone nibs were growing stronger and getting a look at them in a mirror revealed them to be a familiar shape… I was becoming like Rubicante Malebranche slowly. Day by day I grew less like Elizebeth in appearance and grew more like Rubicante. And that dream…
It felt so… real…
Tears fell down from my eyes, emotions whirling within me… how could I? She was so different from the people of this world… I stopped playing after that scene with Feo Ul. I knew what happened after, but that scene haunted me. To be honest… I would have probably taken her up on that offer… I didn’t want to see my life end at the hands of that Ascian, I didn’t want to move on… I just… wanted to stay with Feo Ul evermore, even if it meant damnation. She reminded me of a mother I didn’t have since mine was always too busy. Feo Ul felt concerned for me, even if I knew it was all scripted it truly meant the world to me.
“Titania… the Fairy King,” I mumbled softly, imagining holding that scepter… wearing that crown…
I let out a startled Eep as a bone white scepter flowing smoothly into a gorgeous but closed lily atop it suddenly appeared in my hand and I felt a weight atop my head. I tentatively reached up and pulled it off, looking at the silver crown with white wings on either side. How could these be here? They belong to that other world… to Feo Ul don’t they?
But then again… I don’t remember what Rubicante answered with… I know I pleaded her to be selfish just the once…
I hid the scepter under my bed and the crown under my blankets when I heard footsteps approaching my bedroom. They were heavy and clanked, so I guess the Guards heard my alarmed gasp. Soon one came bursting in with a couple behind him with raised swords, “where’s the danger?” The lead soldier asked urgently.
I let out a little laugh, hoping it would help defuse the situation, “sorry, sorry, I was just having a nightmare and awoke alarmed,” I placated.
He nodded, taking a look around the room, then left to go back to patrolling. The others slowly returned to their duties as well. When they were all gone I went to the window and leaned out, calling out softly, “Alichino?”
I waited a few moments for an indignant squawk but didn’t hear it… I called out louder, and this time I saw a half hearted glare aimed at me from the roof of another spire nearby. I motioned him over urgently and before too long he had come.
“I need you to swear you’ll keep what I show you a secret,” I requested.
“Uh, sure, okay?” He replied nervously, not sure why I would request such a thing.
I then explained my dream to him, having to repeat several parts to elaborate certain details like what Feo Ul looked like. I told as much as I could while making it sound like I had only just had a dream like that. When I was done I pulled out the crown and scepter to show to him, “when I awoke I was thinking about the Crown and Scepter the Pixie was talking about… and these suddenly appeared, the scepter in my hands and the crown atop my head!”
He nodded, looking over both artifacts with a critical eye… “This scepter looks a lot like my Chastiefol,” he said with a raised brow, “and it came about from a dream?”
I nodded, “I was just wondering about what that fairy meant by Her Scepter and Crown. And they just appeared like that…”
He nodded along, “well the Spirit Spear formed to protect the Fairy King’s Forest… but if there’s another forest, maybe there could be another Fairy’s Artifact?”
“Another Forest?” I asked.
“Well remember that book you showed me about the Holy War?” He asked.
I nodded, “yeah… wait… do you mean?”
“Yeah, the fairy King’s forest has been relocated time and again. Every time it gets destroyed a new Fairy Tree is grown somewhere else,” King replied, “but… what if it was relocated before the previous tree died?”
“Oh! And this castle was built on a great battleground!” I realized.
“Why don’t we go look and see?” He asked.
I grinned, “yes! Let’s do it!” I got up and ran to my wardrobe to change out of my night gown. I could hear King squeal and rush out the window so he doesn’t have to watch me change. I chuckled, putting on something good for exploration.
A pair of shorts, a short sleeved shirt, pair of tall black socks, tall gloves and my leather Potion working gloves, and heavy duty tall boots. All clothes I didn’t mind if they got damaged. I idly wondered about the dress and Shoes… but decided not to try summoning those too.
When I was ready I put the crown on and grabbed the Scepter, “I’m ready Alichino!” I said while leaning out the window.
He floated down and came inside the room once more, “don’t change in front of me!” He huffed.
“Alright~” I said playfully, going to a secret passage way on one wall. I had been exploring these passages so many times. This one lead to the courtyard and maids passages. We went down to the courtyard and I looked to King, “where do you think we should go?”
He looked around, “well… let’s see… it should be under the castle right?” He asked. I nodded. “Well then let’s see if there’s any secret way under?” I offered, tapping the stones that looked big enough for a person to fit through.
It took a good couple hours before we found a loose stone. And even then the passage ways under the castle were a maze to get through. We only searched during the night when nobody would be looking for “Princess Elizebeth.” Why did I have to be reborn as this bloody princess?!
About two weeks after that dream I had another…
The planes were bathed in light and petals floated in the air. The air smelled of sweet pollen. Looking up I saw the cathedral of the fairy King. Gorgeous wings of glass and light could be seen just behind the castle. I could see water below with a drowned city laying within. The houses were ancient, from a long lost era of peace between Humans and Fairies. Fields of flowers in all manner of colors stretched as far as the eye could see just beyond the lake.
I walked up the pristine white stairs of the castle, feeling a foreign magic probe my own. “Titania?” I asked aloud, looking around.
“Is something wrong?” Alphinaud asked.
“I can feel her,” I said softly, looking up at the castle, “she knows I’m coming…”
“That doesn’t sound good…” Alphinaud commented.
“Well… she feels… happy,” I hummed, gripping my left horn. Holding my horn always felt reassuring. “It feels like she wants to play.”
I placed a hand on the door, looking up. It felt almost welcoming…
The Fairy Artifacts in my pouch hummed with magic, resonating with that of the Light Warden within. “May the treasures of the Kings of days passed, grant me entry so that I might play with you, Titania,” I said as I presented the Artifacts. The door glowed for a moment before slowly opening. The Artifacts floated out of my hands and flew into the castle. Their magic surged and swirled together. Then they slowly filled out as the Fairy King formed within. Titania floated there and her face broke out into a grin, “oh me oh my!~ an audience you have asked and an Audience I shall give! Let us play, Play PLAY!” And with that the room filled with life, the ground covering with grass and trees suddenly grew around the the room to keep me in her “playground.”
I readied my Deepgold Chakrams, a grin lighting up on my own face as well.
I awoke right as the Rubicante of my dreams clashed with the Lightwarden Titania. What… what was that?
I was still smiling… my hand went to the horn Nib on the side of my head, but it felt fuller… I looked in a mirror and saw the two full horns on either side of my head. They looked like two fins almost in shape, and that deep Cobalt blue I adored so much. My skin had almost turned entirely red now. I really was becoming her wasn’t I? But how?