Felarya: My wife is a... Fairy ( VIII )

Chapter 8 – Caged Town of Oblivion

Chikito Lake (in the forest):
“What now? Do we carry them somewhere or let them as they are?” Rick asked while looking at the four fairies which were lying down before him, still twitching a little bit. “Why are you asking? And who is ‘we’?” Nemyra asked back, knitting her brows. The human blacksmith turned around with a surprised mien. Just knocking them out and throwing them into the bushes even seemed a bit too much for the victim of their abduction attempt. They were fairies for sure and Rick doubted they had an innocent motive – it was quite more likely that he just escaped the cruel fate most humans are designated to undergo when fairies caught them. Nemyra put her hands on her hip and looked sidewards with a little piqued bristle, folding her wings behind her back. “Oh?” Rick asked himself with an expression of wondrousness. The blacksmith crouched down and moved his head a bit to the left, being in the perfect position to inspect his fairies whimsical conduct. “Could it be?” He asked skeptical. “Could it be that you weren’t concerned about my safety… but…”, Rick continued his inquiry. “Gee. Gee. Geezzzz…”, Nemyra returned with a waving finger before she finally turned her face back, now looking down on the human crouching in front of her. “Just your imagination”, she added lissome. “Really? C’mon, you can’t fool me. I saw that expression before… you are… jealous?” The human returned her glance and their eyes met. He had a gorgeous view, on the fairy standing in front of him, from below for which many would envy him. His eyes moved along seductive curves coated by soft purple skin, passing voluptuous beasts which definitely where glutting even large male hands. Nevertheless, all of that wasn’t answering his question. What could his wife been jealous off? He experienced nor did do something which should earn him her jealousy.

Rick harrumphed. One thing came to his mind. “Ugh…. Youuuu!” He mumbled. The fairy queen place her hands once more on her hip and leaned forward, her expression changing from parrying to moping. “That is just not fair! Let yourself getting licked by some random fairies. I’m the one that loves your flavor most… and you know that!” The fairy straighten up and turned around on the spot with another huffy skirl, adding “I’m the only one not allowed to lick you a bit to relish the savoriness”. Again she made a noises of displeasure, not approving this circumstance. The human blacksmith looked at the back of his fairy wife with stunned lineament. It wasn’t like he asked for that treatment nor that it felt anything close to enjoyable. More like the last rites with salvia. Rick went up as well and put his thumbs on the right and left temple of the fairy, slowing twisting them. “Once we are home you will explain to me how that fairy brain of yours is working… in detail”, the human was caught off-guard by that wacky reasoning, yet he couldn’t be mad at her. Subsequently, Rick put his arms around her waist while whispering gentle “Wacky nudist fairy”. After a moment of silence Rick decided to rub some salt into the wound by asking in jest “Why do you fairies always have to lick everything? Is that some ancient custom?” The words where accompanied by him tickling Nemyra’s belly button a bit. “Hmph, …”, the fairy retorted “… preposterous. The question is more why you humans are always making a fuss about such small details.” She giggled a bit while telling that, because of the little ticklish attack. “I have this far-fetched theory that it might be related to fairies eating too many humans to be trustworthy… I know, it’s a broad interpretation, but maybe… who knows”, Rick played the game with his wife. It was good to remove tension and Nemyra played along, knowing that Rick wasn’t half as relaxed as he tried to make her believe. Having that said, she still must acknowledge that he was holding up well taking the situation into consideration. Would be a nice thing if he would become more of a fairy lover, the queen of the fairies joked with herself.

At the shore of Chikito Lake:
Only some feet away from the water of Chikito Lake spilling on the fine sandy beach, three fairies where sitting together in a line while a fourth was disquietingly walking behind them with worried expression on her face. Liatris already galumphed a path in the sand while walking up and down. She lost the human she was supposed to keep an eye on and as hard as she searched the woods behind, she couldn’t find a replacement-human. Her crimson maiden blood gnawed on her – not being able to perform a simple task which was assigned to a crimson maiden of rank and name was not an option. Ever since her bad experiences with her own tribe she gravely disliked to be bossed around. Might it be by the leader of the crimson maidens or the fairy queen alike, however she was sure that she was set for a troublesome round of flogging. “Please, could you stop that, ponytail?” Melany complained about the nervous fairy with the light purple hair which wandered around behind her back. If Melany would wear pants they would already be bored off. A nervous fairy behind wasn’t improving her mood at all. “Exactly, stop it, ponytail!” Alvaron added his two cents. He still felt every muscle inside his body burning and distorted. The fairy behind was definitely the root cause, but luckily her meek persona was currently out and it was save to gripe at her. Liatris gave them an annoyed hiss and continued to run around until finally Subeta took action by leaning back, grabbing Liatris’s leg and causing her to trip with the comment “Stop it, ponytail”. The crimson maiden jumped back on her legs and glanced at the tree fairies, suddenly yelling “LIATRIS… its LIATRIS… bloody hell, my name is LIATRIS – not PONYTAIL!!”

For a short moment Liatris’s eyes flashed red, making Alvaron wince. He already had his share of experience with the frenzied fairy. “Keep cool, ponytail”, Melany quipped with a nasty grin, “… rally your forces for explaining Queen Nemyra what happened to her…” The fairy with the turquoise hair and the comely antlers paused. She still failed to comprehend what exactly that human meant to the queen, but decided to phrase it with “playfellow”. Melany happily rubbed her hands with a breeze of bitchiness. Her day was not the best and she was hungry as hell, but maybe seeing Liatris struggling to explain her fault could cheer her up. Melany had always been prone to malicious joy. “I don’t know what you are thinking, Mel… but I somehow doubt it will happen”, Subeta pointed towards the right where two tiny figures were heading up the beach. Even with all sensitive antennary and keen senses on magic, it was very astonishing for all fairies how good the fairy guardian was able to conceal her presence. If they would not see her walking towards them and knowing who she was, they would not think she was one of the most powerful beings on Felarya. When putting on magic vision googles, which mainly where made to make magic visible to the wearer, the space Nemyra stood would appear like a magic free zone. Like a void spot. Something quite impressive itself.

Melany shrugged slightly disappointed, but her hopes weren’t very high in first place. Only Liatris seemed to be pretty relieved. “What are they doing?” Alvaron could not really see what they were doing and so he asked perplexed as his vision was somewhat blurry since Liatris landed a full blown kick on him, causing him to crush painfully into a nearby tree during their fight. If one could call that butchery a fight. “They stopped. The human pokes Queen Nemyra’s chest. Now she pokes him back. At present it seems like they are arguing - … hmm, does he yell at her? No. Seems more like they are having fun. Ohm, now he tugs her love handles…”, Subeta commented unbelievable dry what she saw. The collector fairy was a good observer. A very important trait for every adventurer. In case more humans would have that trait, less would end up in her belly. Not that she would ever complain about easy prey. Whereas Melany listened to Subeta’s news coverage with a certain glee and Liatris with tons of question marks floating above her head, Alvaron’s jaw almost dropped. That human lad took by far more liberties than he was actually entitled to – at least in the eyes of the male fairies perception. There would be no way around, Alvaron sighted. Next time he human was alone he would take him to task, explaining how to behave properly when graced with the fairy queens presence. It took not much more time till Nemyra and Rick reached the spot where Alvaron and the others waited for them. Without further ado, Nemyra asked Subeta “You went off to Kortiki, right? I could sense you and your friend following me for a certain time and suddenly took off in the direction of Kortiki”. Nemyra made a short excurse herself, fetching an important assets which Trejal lend her, from her palace. She forgot to give it back the last two millennia, however that was coming in very convenient now. Last time she dropped by her palace was several weeks ago to get her something proper to eat. Her palace was known to be a deathtrap and still almost every time she checked on the different rooms and traps she found countless people in there. Mostly humans, but also some more weird customers. Across entire Felarya there were doors and dimension shift spells which lead into rooms or chambers inside her palace. Most of the people won’t ever know where they did stumbled in before their deplorable perishing, yet some where entering on purpose. The fairy queen wondered why people were so set on being eaten by her. Always after a visit at her palace and as soon as she stood right before the door of the dwelling at Reversion, where she spent so much time recently, she had that nagging feeling of guilt. Most times she told Rick she just was out for a stroll under the pale moonlight. She decided it was a minor detail to tell Rick with what she filled her tummy and where, so she skipped that part.

The collector fairy ruffled her orange hair somewhat bashful. As she feared, it was still a bit out of her league to trick someone like Nemyra. Melany patted the back of the canopy fairy consolatory. She also guessed that it was not possible to follow the purple skinned fairy in front of them easily. “I was not able to get in”, Subeta stated the result of her reconnaissance. “The whole town was enveloped by a strange spell. Even with my most advanced dimensional slip spell I could not make it past the city limit”, the fairy added still impressed by that refined spell that kept her out. She was really good with dimensional magic and by far not an unexperienced whippersnapper. “Anything else?” The queen of the Felarian fairies asked interested. “Like did it hurt to touch the spell? Maybe your hand felt a bit numb or your wings drained?” Nemyra added additional. Subeta hummed for a moment. “I certainly felt uncomfortable and had a creepy feeling, like some slimy fluid running down my back.” It was hard to explain. It definitely was something she did never encounter before. The collector fairy deducted it must be a rather old or completely new thing. She did her homework and knew everything between. “Dispersive magic, probably”, Nemyra noted confident. It must be. Especially because the book, which was stolen from Muroyo Library, was a masterpiece and reference work for exactly this kind of magic – an ancient magic only known to the oldest living beings.

“Dispersive magic?” Rick asked bold. He was a complete novice in magic and felt not disgraced to admit his lack of knowledge. None of the fairies asked. The human blacksmith wasn’t sure if dispersive magic was something trivial every child should know or if they were pondering to ask. In reality it took only a split-second for Rick to ask that question, not leaving any space for the others to ask first. “It is not really magic. It is more something that eats magic and turns it into something different”, Nemyra explained roughly. Liatris sat down beside Alvaron with an innocent look, trying to dub her failure of protecting the Rick by being an attentive listener. “A kind of ‘anti-magic’?” Rick summarized and got a nod in response from his fairy wife. Subeta looked quizzically at Melany and both of them together at Alvaron, which returned the same nescient glance. “The stolen book, ‘The Felaricon’, is more than just an average book. It contains many ancient spells of dispersive magic. However, this kind of magic cannot just be created out of nowhere. It was fabricated in hell, but even they do not know anymore how to do it”, Nemyra continued her explanation. Indeed, in contrast to magic, which could be used and generated by many Felarian native species, that kind of anti-magic was something really special. “But how do you use it, if it can’t be created anymore?” Subeta peered at the fairy queen for more information. That anti-magic sounded like some pretty cool feature for her dungeon. “The Felaricon is special. It not only contains spells, it also acts a storage for the dispersive magic itself. And it contains an insane huge amount of it… enough to put the whole continent to ruin… the reason why I personally concealed the book and prohibited anyone from even touching it.”

The human blacksmith scratched his head and tried to find a corresponding concept with the things he knew from his daily work. “So… the book is like a forging furnace? It’s heated up in the morning, stores the heat over the day and can release it whenever needed? Without the actual smith keep the fire going himself all the day?” The fairy queen’s lips curled when thinking about that allegory. It was not entirely right, but definitely not wrong in the core of the meaning. “Yes, yet the book is more like the firewood which generates the actual heat”, Nemyra corrected the analogy. Rick nodded several times. So the book itself acts as energy source. The wielder itself doesn’t need to know anything about the energy. Like a blacksmith only needed the heat itself and not to know how the heat was actually achieved. He preferred good old firewood, whereas the most other smithies used laser or plasma heating. However, this kind of power had dangerous vibes to it. “Does that mean that if that power and ‘normal’ magic get into contact, they nullify themselves?” Out of nowhere Liatris asked that crucial question. She might look naïve and haphazard for others, but she was an experienced warrior which completed countless black operations for her tribe – even if she embarrassingly failed to keep an eye on a single human some hours ago. Being a bodyguard or watchdog was never her strong point to begin with, but when it came down to deal with troublesome magic or fighting with pure strength she was hardly beatable. At the time she was leading a squad as captain at the Crimson Woods, she defeated single handed an intruder which took down five crimson maidens before. Even without her sword she was feared back then. Prior getting dubbed ‘Burning Edge’ she was well known as ‘Void Maiden’, because as she casually passed by a group of forty-two heavily armored human troupers, on the grounds of the Crimson Woods, killing them mercilessly. Her gaze only rested two seconds on them, burning them, their armor, their vehicles and everything they had to microscopic dust – blown into all direction by the following gust of wind. ‘Void’ she got called because her gazing eyes even gorged away their very souls and existence, not sending them to hell or heaven but dispersing them into nothingness.

However, even summing that all up, Liatris would never pick a fight with the fairy queen. She was just a league of her own. If even she spoke serious and cautious about that magic stored in the book, it must be insanely dangerous, the slender built fairy deducted. “Party, I would say. Some magic is voided, other is destabilized and the next almost not affected”, Nemyra answered the question straight forward. “Though you should be more worried about dispersive magic eating away your life force, if you can’t shield yourself against it”, the fairy queen added nonchalant as if it was some kind of minor detail. Well, she was expert in hiding her presence and magic. The heritance as half elemental was coming in very handy with that. Rick looked very worried with all those revelations. He was just some normal human blacksmith and not used to stuff that sounded like it could turn a whole swathe of land upside down. The fairy queen noticed his nervous twiddling at the collar of his shirt and tried to put his mind on ease with “Nothing to fear for you, Rick. Humans are no magical beings nor have any particular affinity for it – you won’t feel a thing. It is a weapon built by demons to kill angels.” Subeta rubbed her head while listening to those words. It felt different when she was at the city limits of Kortiki. “Might I add, that I saw no humans as well? Usually the city brims with humans. Even urban fringe”, the orange haired fairy flapped with her wings while propping her head with her hands - her elbows went down on the sand. “I can’t feel much from Kortiki at the moment, so it’s definitely something additionally going on… well, we should check that out”, Nemyra returned being curious herself. Her human blacksmith felt more like the old Felarian proverb ‘Curiosity killed the human’. Rick was bewildered as none of the other fairies said a word, preparing themselves to head out to Kortiki, not even trying to argue with his dear wife.

“Off we go…”, Melany said, patting her hips and rubbing her tummy. “Behave yourself, Mel… you don’t want to get more Kortiki issues than you already had, right?” Subeta commented stern, reminding Melany that she was already banned for eating humans within the town boundary of Kortiki. “Stop. Stop. Stop”, Rick demanded conspicuous, raising the question “How do we get there?” Nemyra started to run her fingers through her pitch black hair and curled it around them. Wasn’t it obvious enough how they would get there? “Flying”, she replied plain after brief respite. She flapped with her wings to emphasize the means of transportation. “Nice wings ‘You’ have, yet I don’t have such a convenient feature… and I’m not a kind of luggage to be hung somewhere… don’t dare to do that again, Ms. Acura!” The human blacksmith noted adamant. “I want to be carried properly or we walk”, Rick continued with barrages of demands. Subsequently he turned his back towards his fairy wife and raised his arms, expecting that she wouldn’t want to walk and instead embrace him from behind to carry him. Despite of his expectations, suddenly a huge shadow got casted over his figure and prior any possibility to react, a set of huge fingers, instead of two slender arms, wound around the entireness of his body. The purple fingers grabbed him tightly without leaving the slightest space for movement - just his head stuck out of the giant clenched hand. His head was pulled to the side by the sudden acceleration upwards – Rick could see the ground moving further and further away quite speedily. “Always complaining… that’s my cheeky husband for you”, a weighty voice chuckled from behind. “Feeling good?” The voice continued while the hand holding the human turned him around, allowing him to take a look at the giant face of his beloved fairy. “Like what you see?” She added assuredly playful as her human husband was obviously searching for words. Rick instinctively turned his sight downwards, trying to focus on the ground which seemed so far away currently. Opposite to only minutes ago as he crouched and was looking upwards to her, he now looked to the ground. Giant-sized fairies were an astonishing sight in first place, but being that close put it to a whole new level. Rick saw tremendous sized breasts right underneath, each breast alone bigger than his entire house. Following his wife’s curves further down there were those ridiculous long legs, more like sky-high pillars than anything else. “You are definitely an impressive sight, my dear fairy-butterfly”, Rick muttered graveled, moving his glance upwards again, his eyes suddenly stopping – glued to Nemyra’s full vivid violaceous lips. “They are only for kissing you… don’t get funny ideas, you mite”, Nemyra phrased happily, not missing the chance to place a kiss on her tiny human blacksmith. The fairies giant lips covered Rick’s entire face more than twice, finally turning the experience into a very wet kiss as Nemyra shortly pushed the tip of her tongue out. “Magnificent”, she said unvarnished.

At the city limit of Kortiki Town:
Deep inside the core of the Fairy Kingdom there was a special area which was named Kortiki Town. It was a special settlement area where a weird bunch of humans, nekos, tinies and fairies lived together. Humans and other non-fairies were treated as welcomed guests by the fairies and not part of their diet – effectively making Kortiki a rather safe place. The only non-fortified metropolis of humans throughout Felarya. Just if you behaved very rude or did something the fairies deemed utterly loathly it could happen that someone ended in a belly. However, as a general rule of thumb, the local fairies were very easygoing and tolerant. There even was a squad of fairies which threw fellow fairies out of town and banished unreasonable ones in cases where they weren’t treating non-fairy guests of the town unbeseeming - like eating them. Kortiki Town was known as Guest Town of the Fairy Kingdom and it was deemed very rude to eat guests. All fairies knew that. The town was embossed by human architecture and a wild mixture from fairy and neko culture. Many rivers meandered through the town and countless bridges crossed them. A few of them built by fairy engineers, even if only one or two of them were really suitable for anyone without wings to cross.

Right outside the perimeter of the city, were the last trees and houses resided, were numerous flagpoles with the flag of Kortiki Town lined up. The flags should signal even for the most distracted fairy that they were entering the town and should respect the guests of the Kingdom. It was nothing unusual to meet a fairy at a Kortikian market square and she greeted with a simile, gossiping with you or hugging you happily, but in case you met her hours later out in the wild she would try to catch and devour you. Fairies had no qualms with that as they were predators and you prey outside the city, not hosts and guests anymore. Despite all the dangers the city was brisk and overflowing with bustling activity. Paradoxically the city left the total opposite impression at the moment. No audible noise. No fairy, human or other species member walking the visible streets. No air-traffic. The only thing which was there was a rather odd dark mist. Like a dome, covering the whole town. Kortiki seemed to be like a decal picture of a ghost town or a city of the dead. The Kortiki Town flag waving in the air was the only hint of a living environment at the time four fairies and a single human approach the city perimeter rapidly.

“I’m hot”, Rick informed the giant, purple skinned, fairy which carried him within her palm with fingers closed around him. It was almost like a kind of living steam sauna. “And you call me narcissistic when I’m marveled by my beautiful appearance when looking in the mirror at the morning?” Nemyra retorted kittenish. Kortiki was already in plain sight and it would not take much longer before the group would touchdown. The fairy queen was quite keen on her abilities, but she didn’t want to scare her tiny human blacksmith when not holding him secure or starting to move him around in flight. Not only that he was not very good with giant fairies, he was also a bit scared of heights. Funnily he had no problems with standing on her shoulder, but was deadly afraid whenever he had to climb the ladder in the smithy – only 10 feet high. Compared to her standing size it was nothing. The altitude during flight was something different. The fairy could feel he wasn’t very happy, yet he also wasn’t afraid. It was strange how much time she spent to think about how Rick felt or what he thought. Taking care of a human and being in that mutual relation called ‘marriage’ was more wearisome and off-key than she anticipated. Nevertheless, it was neither bothersome nor tiring. She had her share of fun and Rick was definitely an interesting fellow. “I won’t complain as long as you don’t get hungry eyes”, Rick told bold without trying to sound too serious. “Hungry eyes? Whom? I’m hungry…”, Melany latched into the conversation between the fairy queen and her human playfellow – as Melany dubbed him.

The fairy convoy landed at a safe distance to the perimeter of blurry dark mist. Rick was carefully put to the ground, almost wet allover from sweat. He wanted to file protest, yet in the moment he turned around he already was confronted by his fairy wife back again at human size. It was astonishing how fast fairies could adapt their size. Nemyra passed by Rick, somewhat cutting of any possibility for complaints and touched the mist, that cloaked Kortiki, with her right hand. Little flashes and an eerie sizzling noise greeted the queen of the fairies during her inspection of the barrier. The human blacksmith kept a certain distance, however was suddenly pushed forward by Subeta and Melany making their way forward. Both thought that the human was a good catalyst for them to start a conversation with Nemyra. “Strange, right?” Subeta asked straight forward, but directing her question towards Rick, which in return nodded awkward. “I would not mind to not being pushed any closer to that thing”, he added a jaundiced comment. Nemyra took the opportunity when her human husband focused backwards and grabbed his right arm with her free hand, getting the human’s hand into direct contact with the diaphanous mist. “See, Honey… harmless for humans… as I told you”, the fairy fleshed out her theory very strikingly. “Try to push your hand through”, Nemyra told unequivocal out of the blue and without any indication that she would accept a rejection. The blacksmiths body almost moved by its own – her cadence triggered a kind of primeval behavioral pattern. It wasn’t the fairies intention, but at times it happened that human reacted to her requests that way. To Rick’s personal surprise he only felt a picayune counter pressure, his hand cutting through the wall like a hot knife on butter. “Wow… almost like there was nothing at all”, the human commented while Melany, Subeta, Liatris and Alvaron batting their eyelids in bewilderment. “This is really a problem for fairies?” Rick asked perplexed while retracting his arm – it still felt not healthy to have a hand put into that strange mist. Nemyra clenched a fist and prepared to deal a blow to the wall as demonstration how troublesome that wall, for beings with high magical affinity, actually was. When hitting the misty wall, a tremendous reverberation emitted from it, which almost blew Rick out of balance. With disbelieving eyes he looked at his fairy wife – it was obviously a considerable strong punch. Nevertheless that wasn’t important now. “Are you nuts?” Rick yelled at her, moving closer to Nemyra, finally grabbing the hand she hit the wall with. The blacksmith took a worried look at her fingers and knuckle. “Was that a ludicrous attempt to break your own bones? Don’t hurt yourself deliberately, pinhead!” He human gently pushed her fingers apart, moving each single own up and down, to check if the fairy hurt herself. Nemyra watched him bemazed. What kind of Felaryian Guardian would get hurt by such a mosquito bite of a punch? The fairy couldn’t remember a single broken bone she ever had, but she kind of remembered that she unintentionally caused her human husband some factures – still feeling bad about it. She was not sure, but maybe he was worried about her now. Still she had a hard time to imagine why as she hadn’t done anything remotely dangerous.

“You are an odd one”, Nemyra retorted and put her second hand on Ricks cheek, rubbing it. Ignoring that, they had to come down to business and so the queen of the fairies focused Alvaron that immediately winced. “Alvaron, you get back to Reversion and try to figure out where Miss Zordford disappeared to – we might still need her help”. The fairy paused for a moment before she focused on Liatris. “Crimson Maiden, you are coming with us, exploring Kortiki a bit”. Next one set for orders was Melany, already sighing in anticipation. “Melany, right?” The purple skinned fairy with the antlers felt honored that the fairy queen remembered her name. The feeling of honor faded away rather quickly as Nemyra ordered “Fly to Milkadis and take off one of the hallway mirrors made from Thozos Scintillis crystal. It will be beneficial later on I presume”, the fairy queen deducted. Touching and analyzing the mist gave her a rough idea what was going on – she had millennia of experience after all. “Subeta?” As last in line Subeta now was at the center of attention. With a flipping of her fingers a glossy orange photonic crystal flew towards Subeta which caught it almost with feline reflexes. “That’s a magic loupe. It is very rare item that can magnify the smallest bit of magic traces. It extends your range of perception or let you see almost completely eroded tracks. Don’t lose it, I borrowed it from Trejal and he can be such a nagger if you displace his stuff!” Subeta glanced at the crystal with glee in her eyes. If it was rare it was definitely a candidate as a treasure for her dungeon. Especially interesting for human adventurers if they want to see magic traces or detect fairies, aiming to eat them, earlier. They would for sure try to get that item. Maybe she could accidently lose it into her own pocket. “You search around the perimeter of Kortiki, checking if there is something unusual - … like a group chanting spells”, Subeta nodded silently while Nemyra talked, nearly missing her actual assignment. That was a very concreate thing to search for, so the collector fairy assumed that the fairy queen grasped the situation.

“Who is us?” Liatris tried to check. “Isn’t it obvious? You, Rick and myself”, Nemyra replied stern. “Rick?” Rick asked perplexed. “Yes, you are Rick and therefore you are coming with me – got a problem with that?” The fairy offered a big grin, hardly able to avoid chuckling. “Why? The hell, why?” The blacksmith continued his demand on getting information why he should set a foot into that ghost town. “Do you want to stay here alone? Or accompany Melany, Subeta or Alvaron?” A mischievous smile hit the human blacksmith. His wife was totally right. He didn’t trust any of those fairies. He only trusted Nemyra. “Additionally you and the Crimson Maiden are my only eyewitnesses. You know how the guy looked that commissioned the portal rod and the Crimson Maiden can identify the bunch that escaped to Kortiki”, it sounded pretty obvious why Rick and the Crimson Maiden should stick with her, Nemyra thought. “My name is Liatris”, Liatris remarked. She wasn’t very happy to be called Crimson Maiden or Ponytail all the time. She was a harmless canopy fairy – meaning no harm to nobody.

Rick was a bit tense, but being protected by one of the legendary Felarian Guardians seemed pretty reassuring on the other hand. “You are responsible for me, don’t forget that”, he demanded bold. The fairy queen chuckled once more, teasing the human with “You pervert” in return. Rick blushed in reaction, being aware that his wife somehow had a twisted erotic sense of hearing. He impishly faced towards the three fairies behind him, as Liatris already walked over to Nemyra’s side, telling disoriented “Off we go”. Somehow Melany, Subeta and Alvaron interpreted that as call to begin their respective missions. In the meantime they all realized that the human blacksmith was someone to not take lightly as he was tied to a very powerful entity.

The purple skinned fairy queen turned towards the wall of mist and closed in until she could put both her hands on the barrier. “Come closer you two. I will break a fissure into the mist and cast a spell to keep us protected from all kinds of magic wafting through the alleys of Kortiki”, the fairy queen took a deep breath and concentrated. A small red line appeared on the mist and wandered from high above down to the bottom. A nightmarish creaking noise filled the vicinity while the eyes of the fairy stared to gleam purple. Her wings moved slow and steady while likewise purple luminous veins got visible on them. Something resembling a sonic boom again almost made Rick falling over. The red line on the mist turned into a crack, allowing them to walk in easily. At the moment each of them passed, a purple sheathing covered their bodies. An embodiment of Nemyra’s power which protected them from being hurt by the dispersive magic. That was especially important for Nemyra and Liatris, as they both would be affected by the magic as fairies, if not protected properly. It was a very power-consuming spell the fairy queen had casted. Even for her it was nothing easy like breathing.

The three were silently walking from the outer area of Kortiki towards the city center. It was a very sinister atmosphere. They already encountered humans which stood there like turned into pillars of salt. Some fairies seemed to be the same, yet their bodies where covered by some hazardous glinting black powder. It was a powder Rick never saw before – nearly like grinded black diamond sand, swallowing light and draining life-force from the magical inhabitants of the city. Neither Rick nor anyone else had spoken a single word since entering Kortiki. Whatever they were searching for should not be warned beforehand. The human blacksmith was very cautious, staying glued to his fairy wife all the time. Danger could literally lurk behind every corner. Liatris pointed at a direction from which people seemed to run away. They might be like frozen in time, but it was still possible to deduct information from them. After a short cautious walk they reached a small market square. Rick’s stomach almost turned upside down. There was blood spilled everywhere. The walls of the nearby buildings were covered with bloody sparks allover. A human, a neko and two other species members were torn into pieces, their corpses lying around in the middle of the otherwise empty space. “Good grace… what happened here?” Rick could not suppress this question. Liatris blinked shortly to Nemyra. Just now she could faintly feel the presence of a demoness from hell. It was as if her presence was burned into the frozen city like a footprint, yet it was extremely faint. The Crimson Maiden blinked at the fairy queen once again. Liatris assumed that the presence of the demonic power was the reason why the queen asked the male fairy to get hold of the demoness they spoke about during their waiting time at the shore of Chikito Lake. The Crimson Maiden could be nothing else then just being impressed by the fairy queen being able to sense this presence not only that far away, but also beyond that dome like mist layer. The fairy with the green eyes guessed once more that Nemyra wasn’t called fairy queen for nothing.

“Similas demoness venis tra portalo kaj mortigis ilin”, Liatris said calm and informative, seeking approval from Queen Nemyra. “What did you say?” The human blacksmith asked confused. He didn’t understand a single word. It was the same for Liatris. She couldn’t comprehend what the human was telling. “Kion vi diris?” Liatris replied. Rick gulped hard. Could it be that the strange magic around cancelled Almikar Potentis’es translation spell? Rick gulped once more and turned around to his fairy wife. “You can still understand me, right? Say something, please. Please?” Rick begged. It was not funny to not be able to converse. What if he had to hide or to do something and wasn’t able to understand? What if he had to tell something important and his fairy wife wasn’t able to comprehend? Nemyra walked over to her human husband with an inquiring expression on her face. Rick’s worst fears became true as Nemyra said “Dum, Rick. Kan du ikke forstår hva jeg sier?” The Felarian natives spoke countless lingos and especially the fairies had a wide variety of vernacular languages. Over the millennia more and more languages piled up and only the translation spell, casted cross the continent, made it possible for even different fairy tribes to communicate with each other. The young blacksmith panicked slightly. Nemyra only gave Rick perplexed reactions, before she finally chuckled with a certain blithesomeness. She repeated “Stupid Rick, Can't you understand what I'm saying?” The fairy queen put her hands on her purple skinned hips and continued “Of cause I’m able to understand and speak the human language”. Rick snorted a bit, however he was more relieved than anything. His fairy wife added explanatory “Seems like the translation spell is not working anymore. Should we continue this way or should I use the ancient fairy lingo? Didn’t use it since centuries – I mostly used human language the last year for some reason”. Maybe she should also translate what Liatris said, just for the sake of completeness. “Oh, the Crimson Maiden said that probably a demoness killed the people”, Nemyra kindly translated. Rick was not very happy about that information and wished his wife wouldn’t have translated that.

End – Chapter 8 – Caged Town of Oblivion