literature

The Manaless III Part 1

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A spiral of water surrounds me, destroying everything in its path. Someone I care about is in that spiral! I need to stop it or they’re going to hurt themselves, or even worse!

A woman saunters over to me with light green hair and pointy ears. “I’ve been waiting for you, Kairi,” she sneers. Her eyes open and reveal a fiery red as she leans in. No, she can’t! Don’t touch me! Don’t hurt me!

I jerk upright and grab at my heaving chest. The room is dark, and a set of sheets drape over my legs. I flutter my wings to calm myself down, like my mom taught me to do as a kid. The small breeze they generate courses over my skin, blowing off any sweat that had come from the night.

“Miss Kairi, are you all right?” The door bursts open and Sophia runs in. She’s in a nightgown instead of her usual maid outfit, so I can only assume that it’s still too early for her to be up for anything else other than an emergency.

I clutch at my chest. “I’m fine,” I assure her. “It’s just that nightmare again.”

“The one with the red-eyed girl?” Sophia crawls into my bed and runs her fingers through my hair, as she’s learned I like. “Don’t worry, there’s nobody like that here. And even if some girl has green hair, pointy ears, and red eyes, she’d never approach you like that.”

I release myself to her soothing voice. She’s right. There’s nothing like that in this world. There are only my daily life and trials to deal with.

We lay like that until the morning sun flitters through my window. I stifle a yawn, but Sophia ignores it and gets to work. “What color do you want today, Miss Kairi?” she asks. She pulls out a drawer with several types of dresses to wear for the day. They all serve the same basic function, and in general all have the same appearance – we’re far too tiny to construct anything elaborate – but color is my choice every morning.

“Let’s go with blue,” I point out.

“An excellent choice.” She pulls out the dress and helps me get out of my nightgown. Something about blue has always appealed to me from when I was a child. Sophia thinks it’s because of my natural affinity with the water element, but it seems like there’s more to it than that. It simply seems like the natural color for me to wear, as if in some past life I used to wear it.

“Perfect!” Sophia claps her hands. “Spin around and let me see you in full!”

The dress flutters as I turn, showing off every aspect of my legs and, more importantly, my wings.

“Go show your mother.” She nods in approval and I skip down the stairs. She’s going to be so happy to see me in this.

My mom, as usual, is sitting on her throne with her legs crossed at the thighs. “Good morning Kairi.”

“Good morning, mom!” I beam. “Look at the dress Sophia picked out for me. Isn’t it lovely?”

My mom laughs. “It goes great with you hair.” But her laughter doesn’t last long, and turns into a cough. She leans over, coughing violently in her hands. He retainers run over to her to help her back up. Her hands are stained red when she stops. The retainers attempt to wipe it off before I see it, but they’re too late.

“Are you all right?” I ask. “Is something wrong?”

My mom coughs again, but waves the retainers off. “It’s nothing,” she says. “I’ll be fine.”

“But that was blood on your hands! Mom, what’s going on?”

She buries her face in her hands. “Mom just needs a few minutes.”

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on.” I clench my fists and take a step towards her.

My mom takes a deep breath. “I’ll make a deal with you, all right? You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

“No,” I say. “I wanted to show you this dress first.”

She holds out her hands. “I don’t want you hearing this on an empty stomach, as that makes everything worse. You go eat your breakfast first, and then I’ll explain to you what’s going on with me. All right?”

That sounds fair enough. “But what about school?”

My mom bursts out coughing again. “You’ll have time for both. Don’t worry.”

I’m not sure how that makes sense, but then again, my mom’s never lied to me before. I bow to her and head towards the dining hall.

As per usual, I take my seat next to the head of the table – the chair reserved for the princess. It has an extra cushion on it to prop me up, compensating for my rather short height. A princess should never sit lower than her servants, after all.

“Your breakfast,” says Ophelia, leaning down in front of me. She pulls off the acorn shell comprising the top to reveal a small slab of crow meat (every fairy in the kingdom has been eating the crow since we brought it down last Tuesday) and a slice of a pea.

“You know I can’t eat all this,” I say.

She bows. “My apologies, my lady. We’ll make sure to prepare smaller portions in the future.”

“No, that’s fine. Jackie and Lauren would love to share.”

“Sorry, my lady, but we cannot serve this food to anyone but the princess. If you wish for them to have a meal, I’ll prepare one for them.”

Always the same excuse. I’ve learned it’s best not to fight it though, and dig in.

Jackie and Lauren come in soon after. “Oh man that looks good.” Jackie drools over my pea slice, flapping her blue butterfly-style wings.

“You had your breakfast,” says Lauren. Her pink butterfly-style wings stay still. “Leave Kairi’s food alone. You know we can’t have it anyways.”

I don’t know why I call them butterfly-style wings in the first place. We all have the same kind of wings – at least, anyone who has any such right as to speak with me. Personally, I didn’t mind what kind of wings a person has – their personality is what really matters. But at the same time, my mom would probably faint on the spot if one of my friends were someone as low-class as to have dragonfly, or even housefly-style wings.

“Hurry up,” Jackie prods my side. “We’re going to be late for school!”

I shove a cut of the pea into my mouth. “Late? My mom said I had enough time to eat this and talk—”

Talk with whom? I’ve already said my good mornings to her, Sophia’s gotten me ready for the day, and I’m eating my dinner now. The only task left is for me to venture down into the royal stump’s root system for school for the day.

I bite another slice of pea, and the chat seems even more ridiculous. That’s right, my mom told me that I have enough time to eat breakfast and chat with Jackie and Lauren. That’s what I’m doing right now.

“Have a nice day.” Sophia bows as we head out of the main stump and down into the root system.

“I never really liked the roots,” I take the steps two at a time. “They’re so dark and gloomy.”

“There’s plenty of light,” says Jackie, motioning to one of the eternally burning flames wrapped in ice to prevent the fire from spreading. “And we’re plenty protected from the rain and the winds in here. There’s a reason why those of us with butterfly-style wings live in here, and the commoners live outside.”

I flutter my wings to go airborne, no longer desiring to use my legs. “But what about natural light? It feels so much better on the skin than this dark unnatural fire.”

“The sun’s a large ball of fire, so you might as well say they’re one in the same.” Lauren follows my suit and flitters in the air behind me.

“If you’re expecting me to fly with you, you’re nuts,” Jackie says. “That crow this week is going straight to my thighs, and I’ll burn it even if it means I have to use the stairs instead of the sky.”

We arrive at our classroom and take our seats on the floor. Our professor flies to the front of the classroom and settles her wings. She grabs the grasshopper cartilage she’s been using as a pointer and pulls down a board made out of a thinned out wing.

“Now that we’re finished with our unit on fire magic, we’ll be moving onto one of my favorites – water magic.”

I straighten my back and pick up my ears to hear more.

“What fire is in destruction, water is in change. Water has two distinct forms – water and ice – and each part has its unique properties. Now, I know all of you have some sort of experience in it, so I’d like one of you to come up her to assist me in a demonstration. Do I have a volunteer?”

I shot my hand in the air, eager to participate. Of course, I’m the only person raising my hand. Most people find water magic more boring than watching grass grow, so it’s no surprise that they would rather sleep through the lecture than volunteer for a demonstration.

“Anyone besides Kairi?” asks the instructor. Of course she doesn’t choose me. She never chooses me for anything involving water magic.

She checks around the room, and finding nobody else, he pulls out his list. “Mara, you’ll do great. Come on up here.”

She groans. “Let Kairi do it!”

But there is no refusing her orders, and Mara, one of the fairies most skilled in earth magic, is forced to demonstrate a type of magic that can beat hers seven time out of ten.

And so the lesson continues. Everything the instructor says I already read about at least five days ago in my chambers late at night. Yet it remains as interesting to me as ever, and the lesson ends so soon, it barely feels like I’ve even sat down.

Jackie picks her head up from the ground and yawns. “Is it over?”

Lauren stretches in an attempt to loosen up he stiff joints. “I sure hope so. I thought he’d never stop going on and on about the properties of water.”

“But isn’t it fascinating?” I ask. “I mean, can you imagine what you could do with a little bit of water around you? You know, like how the roads all flood during rainstorms and we’re forced to send out the fairies with the best skills in water magic to clear them? What if instead, we froze it all and carved tunnels through them. We’d never have to worry about rain again!”

Jackie scoffs. “And we’d all freeze to death in its place. Ice is cold, Kairi.”

I puff out my lips. “Fine,” I grumble. “You win.”

We had up to the cafeteria to have our lunch (crow meat, of course) before heading to animals 101. “Why didn’t she call on me, though?”

“Do you want me to teach you how to fly?” Lauren lifts up into the air.

I stare up at her. “I know how to fly already. But why?”

“You can’t learn anything from me,” she says. “Because you learn from mistakes, not from talent. She wanted to see Mara fumble with her fingers so the class didn’t make the same mistake.” She poked Jackie’s ribs. “At least, those of us who didn’t sleep through the whole thing.”

Jackie grumbles.

“Still, it’s amazing how you find that stuff interesting. Even the fairies that deal with the streets aren’t there by choice – they’re almost forced into that role by the queen.”

I tap my head with a fist and stick out my tongue. “I guess that makes me a little weird, huh?”

Lauren and Jackie burst in laughter as we finish our meals.

The afternoon class involves the other main aspect of a fairy’s magic – the ability to dominate an animal’s mind to converse with other races in the world. Unlike the magic portion this morning, this class is a nightmare for me.

“Come on Kairi.” The instructor approaches me with her arms folded. “Concentrate. All your classmates have managed to dominate an animal’s mind, so why can’t you?”

My classmates lay around me, sleeping. Well, not exactly sleeping so much as in the catatonic state they enter when dominating another animal’s mind. From the way Jackie is flapping her wings, I have to assume she’s in some sort of a bird right now.

I close my eyes and mutter the incantation that I’ve attempted a million times before. Yet, as always, nothing happens. I remain in my body, and the instructor’s disapproving frown only deepens.

“That was so fun!” laughs Jackie. “I’ve never been that high in the sky before. I almost got up high enough to see the trees!”

We fly up the root system to return to the main stump. They’ll need to return down to their home root for the night and into their quarters, but they always head up to the main stump with me to keep me company.

“I can’t wait to see my mom again,” I beam, flying up. “She’s going to be so proud of me when she sees my magic.”

Jackie and Lauren stare at each other for a second, and their smiles fall off their faces.

I land on the stairs. “Sorry, that was insensitive.”

“It’s fine,” says Lauren. “It happened years ago.”

“Not many of us know our parents,” says Jackie. “In fact, outside of you, I don’t think any of us have ever had them live to hear us say our first words.”

I put my hand on the main door leading to the central part of the stump. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, all right?”

They wave and flip back, heading down the stairwell to their quarters. I pull open the main door, expecting to see Sophia waiting for me, holding a towel and a washcloth so we can take our bath together. But instead of Sophia, my view is blocked by several fairies fluttering around and grabbing a hold of another one who shouts and struggles against their grips. She has long blue hair and probably one of the largest chest sizes I’ve ever seen, but that isn’t her most striking feature. Above all else, it’s her familiarity to me.

“Let me see Kairi!” she shouts. “I helped you before, so you can help me this time!”

“Who brought you here?” demands my mother. “They’re traitors and liars! I’ll wring them by their necks!”

“I need to see Kairi! She needs to come back with me!”

My mother slams her hands on the throne. “She made her choice already. Who are you to demand she changes it? Lock her up in the dungeons! Kairi can decide what to do with her later.”

I step through them. “I can decide what to with her now,” I say.

“Kairi!” the girl shouts. “Don’t listen to her! You’re being tricked! You can’t stay here hiding forever, you have to come home with me. The elves’ war has taken a turn for a worse, and unless we can convince Ruby to go back to their kingdom, they’re going to lose.”

I blink. Elves? Ruby? Hiding? A bell seems to ring in the back of my head, but I can’t seem to understand what it’s saying. My eyes focus on this delusional girl’s wings, which fold up like a dragonfly’s.

“How dare you speak to me like that?” I point to the dungeons. “Lock her up for a week! Maybe her head’ll clear out enough by then to learn some respect.”

The girl’s hope flies from her face. She stops resisting and the guards drag her away as she falls limp on the ground.

“My lady!” shrieks Sophia. She grabs my arm and takes a careful inspection of my wings. “Are you hurt anywhere? Did she do anything to you?”

I hold my head. “What was she talking about?” I mumble. My head pounds with the wealth of new information that girl shouted at me. “Who is she?”

“That doesn’t matter,” says Sophia. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat. You must be starved.”

I check up at the throne for my mom, but she’s already gone into a back room. “Don’t we usually take a bath first? I’m absolutely drenched in sweat from today.”

Sophia brushes my hair with her fingers. “Yes, you’re a bit greasy, but food first.”

I fold my arms. “But I want a bath.”

Sophia’s really shaking right now. Her face lights up, and she leans close to me. “How about if I make some bubbles in it today?”

I gasp. “But it’s a Monday! You said you’ll only do that on Saturdays!”

She smiles. “It’s a special treat for a special princess. But you have to eat first, all right? Otherwise, no bubbles.”

I consider my sticky body for a moment, and how good it’d feel to get this grime off. But I can bear with it for a few more moments for some glorious bubbles.

Today must be some sort of a special day, for not only did she offer me a bubble bath on a Monday, but Olivia serves me a piece of buffalo meat.

“Did we run out of crow?” I’m certainly not complaining as I savor its juiciness in my mouth.

Olivia chuckles. “It’ll be another week until we’re out of that. But sometimes the princess deserves something better than what the commoners have. So what else would be better than your favorite?”

My mouth waters as I wolf the food down. “Say, Olivia, you’ve cooked mutton before, right?”

She cocks her head. “A bit. It’s kind of fatty, though, so I usually avoid it unless there’s a real reason to cook it.”

“Next time you have some, can you try deep frying it for me?”

She blinks. “Well, I mean, I can, but why? It’s plenty fatty to begin with.”

I put the last piece of the meat in my mouth. “I don’t know. I’ve gotten a sudden urge to try it, that’s all.”

I place down my silverware, and as promised, Sophia leads me to the bath chambers and waves her hands in a bit of wind magic. Before I can say “wow,” the entire tub – and the room for that matter – is filled with bubbles.

“How are you feeling?” She pulls off her maid’s outfit and waits for me to slip into the tub. A maid never enters the tub before her master – that is a cardinal rule.

I don’t slip into the tub; I jump in with a splash and a giggle. The tub, as with everything to do with natural water, is a gargantuan creation filling up an entire room. One drop of water is enough to fill up the entire thing, and provides so much space that some mornings for exercise I swim from one end of the tub to the other and back.

She eases herself in and shivers a little. Poor Sophia. She always likes her baths warm, but the cold water really feels nice on my body. It must be my affinity to ice magic in the end.

“I’m feeling great.” I submerge under the bubbles and flip my hair back. “Why do you ask?”

She dives underwater and leans on the edge of the tub. “Oh, it’s nothing. How was your day at school?”

“It was great! We learned all about water magic!”

Sophia floats on her back and stares up at the wooden ceiling. “I remember struggling through that when I was a girl. All those things about conservation and conversion. Never really was my forte.”

I giggle and swim out to her. “You remind me so much of Jamie.”

“Did she sleep during the classes?” she asks.

“Yeah.”

“Then we’re obviously related,” she laughs. “But I’m sure I can still do something with it. Let’s see…” She flicks her wrist, and the water barely ripples. I can’t tell if that’s from magic of simply from the air she displaced when flicking her wrist.

I sink under the water and flap my wings in an attempt to sink lower. When I reach the bottom, I hold my hand out and the water obeys my command, splitting on either side above me. Sophia shrieks as the water she floats on disappears and she starts to fall. But I don’t let her as I send a small cushion of water under her to let her glide down gently.

“Warn me before you do that!” she gasps for breath.

I hold her in my arms and lay her down on the ground. “Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.”

She pouts out her lip. “Miss Kairi, how do you expect me to wash you when you’ve turned the entire bath into ice?” On both sides of us are the remains of the water, which stand in two tall icy pillars.

“Like this,” I smile. Water falls off from the top of the pillar and down to us, flooding below. I flap my wings to avoid the watery onslaught, but they’re simply too heavy from getting soaked earlier. The water tickles our heads and pushes up back up to the surface level yet again.

Sophia hangs on the edge of the tub panting. “Please, Miss Kairi, I know you find that fun and all, but can you please not do that when I’m in here?”

I let out a giggle. “How would you like me to demonstrate instead?”

“I don’t know. Make a dolphin out of ice or something!”

Oh, that would work a lot easier. I wave my hands and despite Sophia’s sudden fear, nothing too extreme happens. Instead, in the middle of the tub a figure of ice emerges with a fin and a spout.

Wait a second. That figure looks familiar.

“Kairi?” asks Sophia.

“Where have I seen that before?” I grab between my collarbones, as if I’m expecting something to be there. But I’ve never worn necklaces or anything, so why would I expect something that weird?

“Maybe in a dream?” Sophia wonders. “You do have a pretty active imagination.”

But it seems to be more than just a dream – just like how my nightmares seem to be a lot more than a boogie jumping out to scare me. There’s a lot more to it than that.

I grab at my chest and feel my heart thump harder and harder. A bead a sweat forms on my forehead as I remember more and more things that seem out of place. A room filled with elves tied up at the bottom of a cave, a village where beautiful women chased down little girls and forced them to mature, a village where a man and woman I love fall over dead after an assault from some evil people outside…

Sophia wraps her arms around me and locks her lips on mine. I try to push her away, but she’s far too strong. Her tongue pushes into my mouth, and she pushes some round object into it. I struggle against it, but she pushes it to the back of my throat. I only have two choice – choke or swallow, so I choose the latter.

She breaks her embrace the instant I do. “What… what did you…” The world turns blurry and spins around me. My vision fades and my head grows lighter. The next thing I know, I’m falling into darkness, and Sophia is pulling me back up as I lose consciousness.

I wake up in my bed chambers with a pounding headache and a weak body. Sophia sits next to me with her wings folded and her hand on her lap. “How are you feeling?” she asks.

“Awful.” I hold my head which pounds like a drummer has taken station inside. “What happened?”

“You fell ill in the bath,” she says. “You’re lucky I take my baths with you, or you’d have probably drowned.”

Is that what happened? I rub my head trying to remember, but I can’t remember a think about our time in the bath. “I can’t remember anything since breakfast.”

Sophia hands me a book. “I wouldn’t get up out of bed for the next few hours if I were you. If you need anything, give me a shout. Olivia should be back with some porridge for you in a few moments.”

She closes the door behind her, which pounds into my head. I can barely think with this headache. It’s more than that, actually. When I try to remember anything that happened since breakfast this morning… or maybe even yesterday… the headache intensifies and my head burns. It’s as if it’s eating away at my memories of the last day or something.

“Good evening, princess.” Olivia walks into my bed chambers with a bowl filled with porridge. I force myself to sit up, despite how much it pains my head, so that she can sit next to me and spoon feed me.

“You’re all so good to me.” I take a swallow of the porridge. It really tastes awful – much worse than any porridge has a right to taste – but it’s no matter. I’m obviously sick, so my taste buds are going to be acting a bit weird.

Olivia wipes a bead of sweat off my forehead. “Don’t worry, sweetie. We’ll always be here for you. We’ll protect you from all the sad things in this world so you can live in sheer bliss.”

I lean over and take another bite of the porridge. My headache seems to be fading with every bite, however vile it seems to taste. I gulp it down to the last bite and lay back on my bed.

“I’ll leave you alone with your book.” Olivia packs her stuff up, and I lie on the bed in an attempt to get rid of that awful taste in my mouth.

But with no water in sight (and remembering that water magic cannot be used to replenish one’s own thirst), I understand that I’m going to have to live with it until I can get strong enough to stand again. Well, best way to avoid a physical discomfort is to replace it with a mental pleasure. I pull open the book and continue to read about the beautiful elven princess and her spiky blue-haired knight.

I wake up with the book folded on my chest. I rub my eyes, wondering how I managed to fall asleep with such an exciting story. The day really must’ve been tiring, even if I can’t remember a thing about it.

I pick myself up out of bed and make my water, glad that I’m able to stand yet again. But something doesn’t sound right. There’s some sort of pained sound in the air from outside my door.

I open my door to confirm, and it grows louder. It seems as if the sound is coming from down the hallway. I walk towards the sound, and before long I realize where it’s coming from – my mother’s room!

I burst into a full out sprint, racing to get to her room as fast as possible. I grab the handle to pull it open, but the door is locked.

My mom bursts into a fit of painful coughs. They seem familiar, but I can’t place my finger on where or when I’ve heard them. But she needs my help, and she needs it now.

I hold my hand on the doorway, and a burst of water comes out of it, collecting inside the lock. I wave my hand for it to freeze, and turn the temporary key. The door clicks, and I burst inside.

My mom lies on her bed coughing. She’s pale from head to toe, and there’s blood all over her chin.

“Mom?!” I run over to her, and she coughs in response, with more blood dripping out.

She takes a few deeps breaths. “Kairi… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean for you to see… this…”

My eyes moisten. “Mom, what’s going on? Are you sick? I’ll go get Sophia; she’s great at these kinds of things.”

She grabs a hold of my hand. “Sophia can’t help me now. Nobody can, now that I’ve had a daughter.”

I blink. “A daughter? I have a sister?”

“No. You are my daughter.”

“What do you mean? You had me ages ago! I’m seventeen!”

She smiles. “You can believe that for as long as you wish.” She puts her hand in my hair and strokes it down. “I’ve protected you as long as I can, but now it’s time for you to make your own decisions. You can decide whether you want to learn the truth, or if you want to continue to live this life of ignorance and bliss.”

“What are you talking about?”

She coughs again, spurting blood up on her other hand. “I’m going to die tonight. It’s not a sad thing, it’s simply a fact of life. When a fairy with butterfly-type wings has a child, their health rapidly declines and they die shortly after – just like a real butterfly.”

“But… you can’t go! You’re my mom!”

She twirls a piece of my hair in my finger. “Nothing can stop that now. Yet, this is where you have a choice. When I pass, it will be sad. If you choose, you can go to Olivia and ask her for some of her famous chopped salmon. You’ll forget that I raised you, and you’ll instead remember that I died before you could talk, just like all other noble children’s parents do. And from that point on, you will live a happy, blissful life. You’ll become queen, but Sophia will take care of all the hard parts of it. You’ll only need to attend ceremonies and events.”

“And if I don’t?”

She drops her hand. “Then you’ll need to become strong. You’ll inherit my throne, and will have to make the tough decisions by yourself. That is, if you even wish to stay here.”

“What do you mean? I’m not going to leave this stump!”

She closes her eyes and takes a few short gasps. “Speak with the prisoner in the dungeons. The one with the dragonfly-style wings. She knows more about you than you know.”

She grabs my hand. “I’m glad I got to have a daughter at long last, no matter how short it was.” Her breathing calms, and her hand goes limp in mine.

“Mom?” I give her a shake, but her eyes stay shut. “Mom, wake up. It’s Kairi, your daughter. Please, mom, don’t go! Don’t leave me!” I’m shouting. “Mom, I’m begging you, don’t leave me here!”

Something builds up inside me. I want to scream. I want to let it all go. I want to destroy everything around me and bring it to a watery grave with my mother.

Sophia rushes into the room and leaps at me. Water comes out of my hands and behinds to spiral, but it crashes to the ground as she lands on top of me. She slams her elbow into the back of my head, and I see no more.

I’m back in my room, staring up at the familiar ceiling. Tears stain my cheeks as I remember everything about my mother. Jamie and Lauren have visited me several times in the past few days to try and console me, but nothing helps.

“Are you going to get up out of bed today?” Sophia leans on the edge of my door with her arms folded.

I grab my book and turn over, giving her all the answer she needs. After getting assaulted by her, I really don’t feel like talking to her anymore. She said it was because I was going ballistic, but there’s no excuse for hitting a princess as hard as she did.

Sophia sighs and throws a black sundress on my bed. “If you’re going to get up, put that on. Even if you decide not to, at least change your clothes. You’ll get a bed sore if you stay in the same position wearing the same thing every day.”

But when I don’t respond, she leaves the room.

Olivia comes in shortly after. “Princess, what would you like for breakfast today? The last meal of crow, or chopped salmon?”

Before my mother died, she never used to ask me what I wanted to eat. But now every day she gives me two options – the normal meal, and her chopped salmon. I have to admit that I’ve been tempted by the chopped salmon more than once. I don’t like being mad at Sophia, and my mother’s loss hurts me more and more every day. But at the same time, it doesn’t seem right to simply forget about her and live as if nothing happened.

“Crow.” She bows and leaves to prepare my breakfast as I turn back to my book.

“The prince walks out to the princess on a dark night,” I read. “He sees her kneeling by an old grave. ‘What are you doing out here?’ he asks. The princess pats the ground. ‘Remembering my parents.’”

As the days go by, more and more of these stories remind me of things. I mean, I’d never have any real reason to be at a grave remembering my parents. My mom only just died, and fairies cremate their dead instead of burying them. But I seem to recall kneeling at a grave with a boy walking up to me.

After breakfast, I roll on my back and stare back up at the ceiling. Yet as I do, I realize that something smells putrid. Did I drop food on the ground a few days ago, and it’s rotting? No, it doesn’t smell quite like that. It smells more like…

I lift my arm and take a sniff.

All right, Sophia is right about one thing. I grab the black sundress she had laid out and practically sprint to the bathing room.

When I towel off, Sophia is against leaning on the door frame. “So you finally decided to get up.”

“Stop talking to me.” I towel off my head, and walk past her.

She taps her foot on the ground. “You know I did nothing wrong. I’ve only done exactly as you wished from the very first day. You wanted there to be no more sad things in your life, and I ensured that happened. So don’t blame me if life isn’t as happy-go-lucky as you want it to be right now.”

My heart thumps in my chest. As much as I want to turn around and start screaming at her, I know she’s right. From what my mom said, and from what she’s saying, as well as what’s deep in my heart, I know that there is something unnatural with my life. I’m not supposed to live this sort of life.

But do I want that knowledge? Or do I want to eat the chopped salmon, and have my most important worries be about whether I’m going to get selected to demonstrate the properties of water in class. Life’d be even better than before, for I’d have no worries about my mother, nor would I seem particularly different to any of the other students. They’d see me as a typical fairy daughter, even if I do happen to be the queen.

“I don’t know,” I admit aloud.

“Then why don’t you ask someone who does?” asks Sophia.

She leads me down to the dungeons. I’ve always hated these dungeons – thinking them dark, cold, and dangerous. No fairy really deserves to be in here longer than a day or two. But, according to Sophia, “this one’s been in here for well over a week.”

We approach the cell where a fairy lies on the ground, naked and shivering. She holds her legs near her for warmth, and sneezes a little when the said warmth does not come.

“Ryuji,” says Sophia. “Kairi has come to visit you.”

The fairy, who must have been named Ryuji, lifts her head up feebly. When she sees my face she leaps to her feet and runs to the bars of the cell, grabbing them with both hands. Her ribs poke at her hollow chest, and her bony hands reach out to me. “Kairi,” she gasps. “It’s been ages.”

I turn to Sophia. “Have you been feeding her anything?”

Sophia points to the corner, where several plates lay lined up, some with food well in a state of decay. “She refuses to eat.”

Ryuji grabs the bars. “Don’t eat anything here, Kairi. It’s poisoned.”

I scoff. “I’ve been here all my life, eating. Who are you to tell me that it’s poisoned?”

“Not in a way that’ll kill you. In a way that’ll change your mind. You’ll forget everything you know and love.”

I slap her hand, which causes her to jump back. “Don’t you dare lie to me!” I shout.

Sophia places her hand on my own. “He’s not lying. We have been placing mind-altering drugs in your food. Though we’d never put it in a common prisoner’s.” She glares at him.

I pull my hands to my heart. “But, why? Why would you do such a thing?”

“Because you asked,” she says. “Everything we’ve done has been because of you.”

My hands shake, unable to believe my ears. “I wanted to forget everything? But why? What had I done that’d be that terrible?”

“You saw Caitlin attacked by an Avalux, and went berserk. You injured Ruby and nearly killed us all in the process. And then in the middle of the night, when I was fast asleep, you stole off into the night and ran back here. Even worse, you full well knew that I wouldn’t be able to come back and find you for weeks since I had to bring Ruby back to DragonHeart first.”

My hands’ shaking intensifies. Why did all of this sound so familiar? Nothing seems to make sense anymore. I’m a fairy princess. Caitlin, Ruby, Ryuji… Those names sound familiar, yet at the same time, they don’t. I hold my head and scream as a headache mounts up.

“That’s enough for the day,” says Sophia. “We’ll have to continue this tomorrow.”

I want to protest, but she pushes me along through the dungeons.

“Ryuji, make sure you eat something!” I shout back at her.

That night is the coronation ceremony. Thousands of nobles gather in the main hall to watch as Sophia picks up the crown and lays them on my head, bursting out in applause.

Sophia drops to one knee. “Your first order, my queen?”

I steel my hold on my scepter, which seems so unfamiliar in my hands. “I order the cake be cut!” The crowd cheers at the traditional words, and we filter into the dining hall for the reception.

There’s lots of singing, dancing, and merrymaking, but all in all something seems to be missing.

“Is something wrong, my lady?” asks Sophia.

A pair of fairies dance around above me, their wings keeping them aloft. “I need a dancing partner.”

Sophia bows. “You know I’m always here for you if you need me.”

“No, I’ve already danced with you a few times tonight, but something’s missing. Something a lot more than anybody in here can provide.”

“What do you mean?” she asks. “Do you need me to fetch Lauren or Jackie? I’m sure they’d be more than happy to dance with you tonight.”

But even that didn’t seem right. My mind kept wandering to only one other person, and she’s locked in a dungeon far away from the hall.

“Get Ryuji.”

Sophia’s jaw drops. “My lady, are you sure? She’d cause a scene here for sure, and there are plenty of other suitors for a dance.”

“I said, get Ryuji.”

Sophia clenches her fists, but bows none the less. “As you wish.”

The dance continues on without interruption. I sit back in my chair and watch the beautifully colored wings frolicking around, each one more elaborately colored than the last. Some people have said that my wings are more beautiful than anyone else’s in the entire kingdom, but when I see them, they seem so plain and simple comparatively.

But more than that, am I really any different than even the lowest of the low with housefly-style wings? I mean, we’re all fairies, and we all can do the exact same things. Why should I be held in special regards because of the shape of my wings, while somebody like Ryuji is thrown in the dungeon because she dared to speak with me.

The crowd gasps and turns to the entranceway. Sophia stands there with on hand on Ryuji. She’s in a white sundress – the exact opposite of my current black one. Yet, nobody’s focusing on her dress. Instead, they’re staring at her wings, which stand out in the crowd.

“Your highness,” says one fairy with flame red hair. “Please allow me to take care of this interruption. I will teach her some manners.”

I get up out of my seat and saunter to the door, taking care not to rush. The crowd splits as I approach Ryuji, who stares at me with wide eyes and a small gape in her mouth.

“I’ll take care of it.” I hold my hand out to Ryuji. “Please, may you join me in my coronation dance?”

The crowd gasps as she takes my hand. A noble and someone like Ryuji dancing together? Such a thing is a fallacy. No, even worse, it might even be treasonous!

“You heard them!” shouts Sophia. “Start the music again!”

The crowd backs away from the dance floor and whispers frantically to each other. The conductor, with no idea what to do, taps on her stand and drops her hand to start the piece.

“What are you doing?” asks Ryuji. “Are you trying to delegitimize your regency on its first day?”

I lay my head on her shoulder. “I want to know more,” I say. “I need to know who I am, and what I did. I need to know why I’m here. And I can’t do that with you sitting in that dungeon day after day.”

She wraps her arms around me in typical fairy fashion – with one above the wings and one below. “And how is pulling me here to dance with you helping you with that purpose?”

“It’s not. But it’s helping me with a far larger one.”

“Which is?”

I smile. “Enjoy the dance, and you’ll find out.”

The song draws to a crescendo, leading to the very end where we give each other a squeeze and break.

The crowd stands dumbstruck by what had just occurred. A few of them give a soft clap, but it fails to catch on.

I break apart from Ryuji and stand up on a chair. “I’ve issued my first proclamation,” I say. “And now let me issue my second. No longer shall this kingdom be split by the wings we have. Any fairy with wings of any type or size shall be permitted in this stump for any reason – be it as a messenger or as a visitor. And they shall be permitted the same food, the same jobs, and the same quality of life we all enjoy.”

The crowd gasps.

I smile. “Anyone who prefers the old system are welcome to go to the far outskirts of town where there is no protection from the rain or sun – not ever a feather.”

“Are you insane?!” shouts one of them. Judging from her flame red hair, she must be the same one who offered to punish Ryuji for coming into this dance hall.

I point to her. “It looks like we have our first volunteer. Guards, please escort her to her new home.”

They waste no time in pulling her out of the dance hall. She screams and curses my name the entire way, but the damage has been done.

“Anyone else wish to volunteer?”

The dance continues at a fairly somber pace for the rest of the night, with all the nobles realizing the danger. A few of them spat at my feet and stormed out of the room, but most of them seemed to accept what I had to say.

Ryuji and I retire to bed chambers, as I refuse to have her locked up in that dungeon any longer. But before she heads to her own, she sits on my bed to talk with me for a bit.

“You’re still Kairi.” She lays back on my bed and stares at the ceiling. “Even if you can’t remember anything you used to do, you still are the same Kairi, who values people over power. You did a noble thing tonight, even if it may cause some hardship at the start.”

I lightly run a sponge along my wings to shine them. “It’s not really noble. I’ve made many people mad at me, even if they’re not going to say it aloud.”

Ryuji laughs as she rolls over. Her wings really are quite small for her body, but considering I’ve spent my entire life with fairies in butterfly wings, it’s no surprise they appear that way.

“Noble deeds are different than what’s expected of nobility,” he says. “If you’re truly going to be the queen of the fairies, you’re going to be expected to be a queen of all your people – not only the ones who have the same kinds of wings as you. Just like how that elf king should protect everyone – not just the elves who can use magic.”

I seem to recall seeing an elven king standing on a platform declaring a banishment of all people who cannot use magic. That’s such a silly proposition though. All fairies can use magic without exception. “What’s going on?”

Ryuji stretches. “Who do you believe you are?”

“Kairi, Queen of the Fairies. I’m the first queen to ever specialize in water magic, and the first queen to ascend at such an old age. Yet, despite all this, I still can’t seem to transfer my consciousness into other animals.”

Ryuji strokes my hair. “There’s a reason for that, you know. It’s because you don’t belong here.”

I bury my face into my knees. “Then where do I belong? On the outskirts of town with the people I banished? I know I treated you like trash when I first met you, but I’ve already learned the error of my ways. I’m already trying to make up for it.”

Ryuji gives a chuckle. “No, I’m not saying that. I’m saying that you belong back in the world of humans.”

My head jerks up. “The world of humans? Why would I belong there?”

“Because that’s who you are. You’re a human who ran away from her problems to join the world of the fairies.”

My jaw drops, and I hold a hand to my chest. “That’s impossible. How can you be saying that?”

“Most fairies learn how to adapt to an animal’s consciousness by age twelve, and those who are slow learners still can do it by age fourteen. But, this talent can only be performed by a true fairy – one born and raised as one. You’re seventeen already, and still cannot do that. Did you ever think for a moment that you might not actually be a true fairy? That you might be a human in a fairy’s body?”

I drop my hands. It’s so true that it hurts. He’s right, and I know it. But I don’t want to admit it. “Can you leave me alone for the night?”

He ruffles my hair. “If that’s what you want. I have all the time in the world.”

I blink. “But didn’t you come in talking about the elves and that girl Ruby and all that?”

He smiles. “My friends are far more important than any sort of politics in this world. So while the elves may not have a lot of time, I have as long as I want to help you find your true way.”

He leaves me alone in the room. It’s a long time before I can close my eyes and fall asleep for the night.

“Come on Kairi, wake up!” A light shake is all I need to come back to reality. I sit up and stretch my wings all while giving a huge yawn. But it’s not Sophia waiting by my bedside – it’s Jackie and Lauren.

“Where’s Sophia?” As far back as I can remember, Sophia always woke me up in the morning when I was late for school or events or anything of that matter.

“I don’t know.” Lauren pulls me out of bed while Jackie goes through my clothes in an attempt to pick out something I can throw on for the day. “All I know is queen or princess, you’re still supposed to be at school on time.”

The two of them dress me as fast as they can, and drag me out of my bed chambers.

I look down the hall. “Can we bring Ryuji?”

“No time for that.” Lauren unwraps something and stuffs it in my mouth. “We’ve got to get going.”

She pulls me along so fast, I barely have time to chew. “What is this?” I take a swallow of the horribly sweet food. It’s as if Olivia made something out of pure sugar and added a little bit of meat in it.

“Chopped liver,” says Jackie.

I nearly gag. “Why would she make that for me? I’m a queen now! She should be making my favorites every day.”

Lauren stuffs another portion in my mouth. “Because we want a queen who can fly, not one who rolls.”

We barely make it into class on time. The teacher gets up and says a few words before going into his lecture on wind magic.

The day flies by, and before I know it, Lauren and Jackie drop me off in the central stump. Sophia hasn’t returned, but Olivia has taken her place, leaning against the doorway.

“Welcome back, my lady,” she says. “Or shall I say, my queen?”

“Kairi’s fine,” I giggle. “I’m going to go get something easier to wear, so I’ll be back in a bit.”

Olivia bows. “Are you going to want dinner or a bath first?”

I tap my finger on my chin. “I suppose I could go for a nap before either of those. Can you have dinner ready for me in two hours?”

She holds up two fingers. “That’ll be no problem. I’m learning how to make that fried mutton you asked me about. Our food hunters brought down the sheep this morning, and it should serve the kingdom for the next month.”

A month of mutton? And I thought that crow was bad. “Learn a few more recipes with it. I don’t want to see a slab of it on my plate every morning with nothing done to it.”

“As you wish.”

I head upstairs to my bed chambers. I can’t wait to get this sundress off and put on a nightgown, slip into bed, and catch up on the sleep I missed last night. But why did I miss so much sleep last night in the first place? It seems strange.

I open the door leading to my room, but my heart drops to my feet when I do so. My bed is in the middle of the room, wholly unmade. Sophia must have brought my sheets out for laundry while I was gone and not made my bed yet. At least this stump castle has plenty of spare rooms with freshly made beds.

I pull on my nightgown and return to the hallway to try the next room. Locked. That’s a shame. I try the next one to the same result. I continue down the line towards the room my mom used to sleep in before she had me. I wonder what she was like. I had heard plenty of stories about her from Sophia and Olivia, of course, but she died before I could even talk. Then again, it’s not like that’s an aberration. Those of us with butterfly-style wings may be nobility, but we all die shortly after giving birth to a child.

I almost give up on finding an open room when the door clicks. I push the door open and find a fairy sitting on the edge of a bed, kicking her feet in the air. She doesn’t have butterfly-style wings, but I would never dream of throwing her out of the stump, even before I issued the order last night. Though the more I think about it, the more that order seems foolhardy. All fairies living in harmony? Why would I ever order something like that? I’d need to speak with Olivia or Sophia about how to rescind an order.

“It’s been a while,” says the fairy.

“Good afternoon, Lynmei.” I approach the bed, but she makes no move to get out of my way. “Can you please move? I want a nap.”

“There are far more important things to attend to than that. For instance, the betrayal happening right under your nose.”

I cock my head. “Betrayal?”

She gets up off the bed. “Olivia offered you fried mutton tonight, didn’t she?”

“Of course. But what’s weird about that?”

Lynmei picks up a small bowl of water and takes a sip. “She offered you the choice between a specific meal and chopped salmon every day before then, did she not?”

“Of course she did. But why does that matter? Maybe we ran out of salmon or something.”

Lynmei places the bowl down and flutters her wings to go airborne. “Or she got the poison inside you already, and you’re going back down the path to becoming the same ruthless queen as your mother.”

I clench my teeth. “You’re lying. You’re another one of those bee-style fairies, always trying to take control and power. It was a mistake to give you freedom of the stump, even before last night. I don’t even know why I did something so stupid last night in the first place. I must’ve been drunk.”

“Listen to yourself!” shouts Lynmei. “Unless you really believe that Sophia going missing and Lauren and Jackie literally shoving food in your mouth is normal, you’ve got to suspect something is going on.”

Well, Lauren and Jackie only wanted to help me get to school on time. But with Sophia, I have no explanation. Lynmei’s right – she’s not supposed to disappear like this. She rarely ever leaves the stump.

“What’s going on?”

Lynmei places her hand on the wall. It glows on her touch and the wood itself begins to separate. It pulls itself away and folds in on itself. “You need to make a choice. I will not force you either way. You may return to Olivia, have her deep-fried mutton, and rule this kingdom as a queen until you have a daughter of your own. You’ll never be sad again, but your people who do not have your kind of wings will be when you rescind your order.”

She points down the dark passageway. “Or you may come with me and learn the truth. But there is no return from this passage anymore. You’re going to have to fight for what you believe in, and there will be many sad things to deal with. But this will make you stronger nonetheless.”

I turn around to the door. The deep-fried mutton really sounds delicious, along with the bath and nap. What do I care about some other people in this kingdom? My people live in the stump.

“Kairi, help me!”

A soft voice echoes in my head. It’s familiar, but I can’t put a face to it.

“I’ll come with you,” I say.

We walk in the passageway, and Lynmei shuts the door to the spare bedroom. She grabs a torch and leads me down through a dark tunnel I never knew existed.

“Your order has been surprisingly well received, even amongst the nobles.” Lynmei navigates through the passageways delicately, turning with perfect precision. “It appears most fairies in the kingdom agreed that judging a person’s life based off of the kind of wings they have is a bit archaic. But there are a few who hold on to the old values. They’re not enough to stage an uprising, that’s for sure, but there is a way to ensure their ways are met. And that is through manipulation of the queen.”

“Manipulation? I haven’t been manipulated one bit.”

Lynmei stops and turns around. “That’s what they want you to believe. They want you to believe you had a completely normal day at school and a change of heart about the commoners in the kingdom. But the mind’s poison is placed in your food, so all they needed to do was force you to eat something to erase and change your memories yet again. And who do you suspect was involved?”

My heart thuds. “No, that’s impossible. Jackie and Lauren are my friends!”

“And Olivia is your cook, I know,” she says. “And they are also some of the staunchest supporters of segregation and discrimination in the kingdom. That’s why they made sure you’d return to thinking like your mother, and captured Sophia and Ryuji.”

“Ryuji?” That name sounds familiar.

Lynmei places her hand on her forehead. “They really did a number on your memories this morning, didn’t they?”

She pushes open a door, and we leave the stump. “Come on, we’ll get there quicker if we fly,” she says. I bask in the warm sunlight and beat my wings to follow her away from the center of the kingdom.

The kingdom in general is in a lot worse shape than I had imagined. Dwellings – be they in blades of grass or in bones – are falling heavily into disrepair, and the fairies themselves all appear very gaunt and bony.

“Is it really this bad?”

Lynmei sighs. “It’s always been this bad. We’ve always needed more resources out here, but we’ve been heavily restricted by nobility. That’s why we have so much hope that your order may one day give us all prosperity.”

We fly along, continuing further out to the very outskirts of the kingdom. It’s hard to believe these are even considered houses. One drop of rain and their entire lives would be shattered, without so much as a feather to protect them. That’s probably why they have nothing more than a cot inside their houses which they can easily fold up and run away with if necessary.

We don’t land until we’re next to a lake. “Does this lake seem familiar?” asks Lynmei.

I step up to it and lean over. “I’ve never been here before.” But when I take a closer look at myself, and with Lynmei behind me, I realize how wrong I am. She and I were here a little over a month ago. She had been wiping my blood-stained wings with water, trying to get every imperfection off.

“Why were they blood-stained?” I ask.

She smiles. “Because that’s what happens when they burst out of your back instead of being born with them.” She flutters her wings.

“Then that means…”

“Ryuji told you this last night. You’re a human. I turned you into a fairy, and twice already. And it’s about time you return to your own world.”

I stare out at the wide path leading to the north. “But what about Sophia and that girl… you called her Ryuji? I can’t leave them behind.”

Lynmei smiles. “You really have changed. You abandoned your friends once to run away from your problems. But this time, you know they are more important than that. You pass the test.”

“The test? I don’t get it.”

She jumps in the water. “I’d never turn you back if you only wanted to run away again. But you win. Let’s go find your friends.”

She dives in the water, and I have no choice but to follow her. We head deeper into the lake, until we arrive at a rock outcropping. She darts into it, and I follow her until my head breaks the surface. I take a huge gasp of air before swimming to the edge.

“Where are we?” I ask. The room is dark and musty.

“Keep your voice down,” says Lynmei. She flicks her fingers, and a small flame appears, lighting up the room. It doesn’t take me long to realize why she brought me here.

There are two twigs sticking up out of the ground – of course, to us they are the size of trees. And on each of them is a large rope, binding a girl to them. On one of them is Sophia, whose mouth is covered with a piece of cloth. On the other is a girl with long blue hair, who I assume is this Ryuji person. She’s very familiar, and I seem to recall speaking with her as early as last night, but something blocks my memories. That must be the poison Lynmei talked about. She’s awake, and probably put up a bit more of a struggle considering her gag is wrapped around her head and stuffed in her mouth.

Between them sits a fairy with hair like fire. “Elsara,” says Lynmei. “She’s the one you banished last night.”

She sits on the ground with her head bowed on her chest, sleeping peacefully.

Lynmei hides behind a boulder. “Listen, Kairi, this plan may mean it’s time for us to say goodbye. But if you do what I ask, I can ensure you we will all be safe and you will be on your way back home.”

I nod. “I’m prepared for anything.”

She points at Elsara. “You’re a master of water magic, and that’s true in the fairy world or the human one. I need you to bind Elsara’s arms and legs while I free Sophia. Then run to Ryuji, make a shard of ice, and slash at the ropes. You don’t have to break the rope – only weaken it.”

“And then what?” I ask.

Lynmei stares up. “I’ll get Sophia out of here to rule the kingdom in your stead. She’ll enforce your law, and be a good queen until you decide to come again.”

“What do you mean until I come again? I’m coming back with you!”

Lynmei shakes her head sadly. “I’m afraid this may be the last time I ever see you. You have a life to lead, and the fairies have their own. You chose to accept sad things in your life by following me out the door, so you cannot stay with us any longer. But know that you made life in general so much better for so many of us.”

She doesn’t wait for a reply and charges out. I don’t know what she’s planning to do, but I comply with her demands. Elsara jumps as her arms and legs bind together.

“Oh, Queen Kairi,” she says. “What a pleasant surprise. Then I suppose Olivia’s plan failed.”

I ignore her and form the ice shard in my hand.

Sophia coughs as she stirs from her sleep. “That Olivia, drugging Ryuji and me up like that so you could try and poison her…” She grumbles. “You won’t have your way, Elsara. I’ll ensure that you, Olivia, and both of Kairi’s supposed friends are banished from the kingdom.”
Fantasy Commission for :iconheavenandearth80: using their original characters. :) (Smile)

The suggested reading order is:
1. The Manaless
2. The Manaless Zero
3. The Manaless II
4. The Manaless III
© 2017 - 2024 Meliran
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