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CHAPTER 2
“I said answer your phone! Listen to me Kric! Don’t be a fucking idiot!” Cyan screamed at me in my voicemail. “If you throw him under the bus I swear to solar Kric I won’t ever forgive you! He’s not a weapon! He’s not-“
I turned the phone off. My irritation growing with every voicemail he left. Cyan had to know he was putting me in an awkward situation. It wasn’t like I wanted to hurt the little fairy, but whatever he had done to me was something almost impossible to keep a secret. Now I had no job. My career I had worked my entire life to build was being taken away.
“It’s Kric!” Ciel screamed as I entered the palace gates, running from his spot on the swing in the garden to reach me. “You came two times this week!”
“I know.” I chuckled, patting his head as I walked over to Cyan, who was making a point of glaring me down. “Good to see you princess.”
“You’ve been ignoring my calls.”
“Daddy Kric came to see us again!” Ciel cheered. “Can we go flying?”
“Not now Ciel. Daddy has to talk to Kric.” Cyan sighed.
“But Kric talked to you last time!” Ciel groaned, but obeyed and went back to the swings. Kieran got off of his swing and went to push the little prince.
“Kieran is still doing that thing huh?” I pointed out, watching the boys play.
“Yeah. We’re working on it, but he’s really attached to the whole ‘serving the prince’ thing.” Cyan explained. “It might even be getting worse lately, since Ciel’s surgeries.”
“Have they not been going well?” I asked, turning my gaze to the braces holding Ciel’s wings down.
“They’ve been going great. He has his last one in a few weeks. Then we just wait and see if they’ll work when he heals.” Cyan explained. “Kieran is worried for him, I think. If they can’t be fixed Ciel will be heartbroken. Maybe Kieran is trying to lessen the blow in his own way.”
“Ciel’s a tough kid. He’ll be fine.” I assured Cyan, whose face had twisted into a dismayed expression. “Come on tiny thing, the kid’s going to be king of the world one day.”
“Don’t remind me.” Cyan groaned, turning to look at me. “You didn’t tell me why you’ve been ignoring my calls.”
“Talking to you is so tedious.” I joked, throwing my arm over his shoulder. “You know… If you let me go back to work we wouldn’t have to talk about this.”
“I can’t do that Kric. Not only do I think you’re putting your fellow warriors in danger, but I wouldn’t be able to explain why I just gave you your job back.” Cyan reasoned.
“You could tell Elijah the truth about the fairy.” I countered, feeling Cyan tense beside me.
“No.” Cyan insisted. “Elijah wouldn’t understand. He’d try to get Incendio to do it to all of us.”
“Is that such a bad thing?” I questioned. “Think about it. You’d be untouchable Cyan and so would your army. You’d never have to worry about Ciel or Kieran’s safety. It would be-“
“No. We’d be turning Incendio into a weapon.” Cyan whispered, closing his eyes. “We have no idea what he did to you. We don’t even know if he’s the one that made you able to heal yourself so well.”
“How else Cyan?” I growled. “Have you asked him? Maybe he wouldn’t mind doing this for us.”
“Of course I haven’t asked! I never mention it and neither should you! If, somehow, Incendio does have the power to make a person invincible… what then? His life would be in danger. Everyone would try to use him for their own agenda.”
“Which is why we use him first! We use him, we protect him, we win the war!” I argued as Cyan shook his head. “It’s simple Cyan. I’ve thought about it and I think we could convince him.”
“And if we can’t?” Cyan hissed. “If we tell Elijah and Incendio refuses to help us… Elijah would hurt him Kric. Elijah would do anything to ensure our safety. He already hates the fairies.”
“Incendio will agree. I know it.” I lied, confident that even if he refused I could convince him.
“It’s a bad idea.” Cyan insisted.
“Let me try first. If I ask and he refuses, then we won’t say anything to Elijah and i’ll try to get my job back some other way.” I bargained.
Cyan opened his eyes, shaking my arm off of his shoulders. ” If, and I mean IF, Incendio is able to do that weird healing thing and he’s the one who gave it to you, and IF he agrees to do it for others under the discretion of his kings, then i’ll tell Elijah and you can have your job back. Oh solar If he says no you don’t push it Kric! And you don’t tell Elijah unless he agrees, do you hear me? If you tell him i’ll make sure you never-“
“Yeah yeah save the big talk princess.” I chuckled, kissing his head. Cyan scoffed, pushing me back as I rushed toward the swings. “Let’s go for a fly now little things!” I announced, feeling my body already beginning to shift.
Soon Ciel and Kieran were wrapped in my arms, giggling as I flew into the air. It was all going to be okay, I realized. All I had to do was make the fairy play along.
———————–
The forest was a dreadful place. I walked through the trees, cursing to myself every time a branch attempted to trip me up. The space between the trees was thin and the thick foliage made it difficult to travel. The worst part was those damn fairies, peeking at me from behind branches and within burrows in the ground. “Are you all going to watch me struggle for much longer or are you going to come out?” I finally snapped as I stumbled into a small clearing. “Yes, i’m talking to you little fairies! Come out! I’m on business from the kings.”
“You’re a liar!” A fairy finally emerged from across the clearing, her wings flapping rapidly in what i assumed was anger. “The kings would never send a dragon here.” She said ‘dragon’ like it was a dirty word, her face twisting up in distaste.
“They didn’t. They sent me off to discover a few things and that led me here. You can ask them if you want, little bug.” I watched as more fairies emerged from hiding, all glaring at me as if I were shitting before their eyes.
“I’m no bug, you flying lizard!” She snapped back at me, her fiery red hair turning to flames. “Just tell us what you seek so you may leave here and never return.”
Before I could answer, a new fairy made an appearance, it’s body wrapped in thin, delicate vines and leaves. “Kric? You came.”
“You invited me, didn’t you?” I spoke directly to this fairy, ignoring the looks of disbelief shared amongst the rest of them.
“Five years ago.” Incendio spoke softly, his eyes refusing to leave mine no matter how uncomfortable it made me. “You were never going to come.”
“I need to speak to you.” I changed the subject, watching his mossy eyes remain wide and passive. “In private.”
“No.” He said immediately. “Return to your home Kric the dragon.”
He spun around, his thin, transparent wings carrying him off. “Wait!” I called, ignoring the fairies that rushed me, ordering me to leave. “Incendio! I need to talk to you!”
“He said to go!”
“He said to leave!”
“Incendio said to leave!”
“Get away you little pests!” I growled, batting a few of the smaller fairies away. “Get out of my way!”
“Enough.” A fairy sighed and suddenly all the fairies retreated. She floated closer, fiery hair floating around her. “You are very audacious Commander Kric.” The fairy spoke, her face youthful and smooth, but her eyes held more lifetimes than I could comprehend. “I hope you have not entered our forests with the intention of causing harm to-“
“I just want to talk to that damn male fairy!” I scoffed, ignoring the gasps that echoed around me. The fairies seemed horrified, but I ignored them. It didn’t take much to offend them. “Incendio invited me.”
“Incendio has withdrawn his invitation.” The fairy said calmly, continuing before I could speak. “However, I suppose I shall extend an invitation to you.”
“What?” I heard a few fairies shriek.
“You will?” I asked, confused.
“Why Udiya?” A little fairy whimpered, fluttering forward. “Incendio does not wish to see the dragon.”
“Everything comes with expiration dates Commander Kric, including invitations. I hope now, armed with this knowledge, you do not make the same mistakes.” The fairy, Udiya, smiled at me. The gesture made me freeze, a strange warmth creeping over my skin, as if I was a child being reprimanded in front of everyone.
“I’ll come back tomorrow.” I said instead, ignoring the knowing look she was giving me, as if I would never have a secret in her presence. “Tell Incendio.”
She laughed, her head thrown back and a symphony of giggles escaping her. The fairies all followed her lead, each expressing various states of humor. “Oh Commander,” She sighed, coming down from her laughing fit, ” Incendio knew you would return before you even entered the forest.”
—————
INCENDIO’S P.O.V.
There was a fire inside me, kissing the inside of my body, tickling my stomach. I exhaled slowly, the hot air warming the world around me, numbing my skin to the cold forest air. In this state, with heat surrounding my being, I could see the end of the earth.
I saw the death of every civilization, ours and the ones to follow. I saw the deaths of our gods and the destruction of planets. I saw the end of time itself, images of vast nothingness painting my eyelids white. It was a comforting image, the end of the world. There was no conflict or war, just unending nothingness taking up eons of time. Then, there emerged a blackness, a beginning that spread chaos through my body. It all started again. New gods, new people, new problems that would become a new world… maybe.
Nothing was set in stone. Just like that the images would mix and blur, each new decision now twisted the future into something completely new.
“Don’t bother him.” Fiera whispered at the edge of my consciousness. “Shoo, all of you. He’s wandering.”
Wandering. Yes I was, but the concentration was gone. ‘Wandering’ took a significant amount of energy and most fairies spent their entire lives attempting to wander for even a few seconds. I knew the other fairies were just curious, eager to see me do something they might never do. Attempting to see possible futures, or wander as we referred to it, was a gift directly from our goddess that every fairy would perish to experience just once. They wanted to be a part of it. They wanted to see if I was doing something they weren’t.
I opened my eyes, shocked as I came face to face with an assortment of our smallest fairies, all wide eyed and smiling. “Did you wander?” Agni asked, her eyes shining.
I nodded.
“How far did you get?” Adara questioned. “Decades? Centuries? Milleniums?”
“The end.” I whispered. “To nothing and to everything again and then it shifted to a never ending something.”
They nodded, hanging on every word. “You’ll definitely become an elder.” Agni told me. “You’ll be the most gifted elder of all time Incendio.”
“Maybe.” I smiled, standing to my feet. I felt stiff and restless at the same time. “I-is the dragon-“
“He left.” Adara said quickly.
“And Udiya invited him back.” Agni added. “What does he want with you Incendio? Why did Udiya allow the dragon to return?”
“I don’t know.” I answered truthfully, lying having never come easily for me. “It’s all very blurry and swirly.”
“An uncertain future.” Agni and Adara said at once, putting a name to my description. “Do you see the dragon returning?”
“I see…” I closed my eyes again. “I see him pondering the possibility.”
“I’ve seen him in a dream.” Adara whispered in my ear. “I’ve seen him coming back from the dead.”
“Adara! Agni! Stop bothering Incendio!” Fiera snapped, coming to chastise the little fairies. “I’m sorry, did they break your concentration?”
“It’s okay, I was only wandering to pass some time.” I assured her, standing to my feet and then lifting off the ground, my fragile wings fluttering rapidly.
“Still, you should be practicing uninterrupted. They know that the elders have you working on longer, clearer wanderings.” Fiera sighed, eyeing me with a strange look. “Is something the matter Incendio? You’ve got the most confusing aura about you.”
“I’m alright.” I insisted and I believed I was. “I’m just… i’m shaken by the mood of the forest after the visitor.”
“Oh yes the dragon.” Fiera grimaced, her fire red hair catching fire. “He had the strangest aura too. He was a blazing fire with no direction. His aura was burning him alive.”
“Is that not typical of dragons?” I asked, aura reading having never been my specialty. I found it a distracting practice and found it inferior to the solitary art of wandering. I chose to block out auras and focus on the passage of time.
“The fire yes. They are like fairies in that sense, but their fire lacks a certain…warmth. They blaze and they heat, but the concentration is mostly a violent one. His was… lost. His fire was hot and then cold and then burned him. His fire is a burning in his belly that has no direction. He’ll burn a hole through him if he’s not careful. Perhaps that is why he’s here. The kings sent him for direction.” Fiera attempted to explain.
“The future provides no directions, just possible paths to follow.”
“For a dragon such as him, with the strange power he contains, I could see him benefitting from a map.” Fiera hesitated before continuing. “The elders would like you to care for him when he returns, give him the guidance he has come for.”
“I can’t.” I said quickly. “That’s a job for someone with much more skill than I contain. That’s an elders job.”
“The elders believe you’re ready Incendio.” Fiera said gently. “The elders are insisting you do this, as part of your training.”
I bit my lip. I couldn’t. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t lay out a map of his life, all the options, including the ones without me in them. “I can’t do this Fiera…”
“Nonsense.” Fiera smiled. “You’re practically an elder yourself Incendio. When he comes, you take him to a calm place, you give him the whole ‘the future is unpredictable, it is what you make it’ speech and then you can make your first walk with him.”
A walk was like wandering, but ten times more intense. A walk was to take a person on a wander with you, to guide them to your calm space and bring them along as you look into their various futures so deeply that you can see the outcome of a breath taken two seconds earlier. Through this, you’re able to make out their most possible future. It’s the closest we get to prophesying. Then we return to the present and must explain the strange and often blurry images to the non fairy folk who can’t piece it together the way we can. I had never done it before. Only elders contained this ability.
“The elders know you can do this Incendio. This is the final step. Aren’t you excited?” Fiera gushed, gripping me by the arms. “You’ll be a part of the most talented, most gifted of our kind.”
“Yes.” I agreed, nodding as she hugged me tightly and rocked us back in forth in a gleeful dance.
I closed my eyes, wandering as Fiera squealed more congratulations. I saw Kric, in battle, destroying anyone who crossed him. I saw him, almost singlehandedly, win the war for the people of the sun. I saw his future swirl between different lovers and different futures. I saw him with children and not, with a wife and with a mistress. I saw the haziness of his future, unable to flinch when not even in a single swirled image, did I see myself.
Sorry for the extra short chapter my loves! I’ve just been trying to get in the rhythm of these new characters. It would really help me out if you guys could answer some questions for me:
-Which perspective do you guys prefer? Incendio or Kric?
-Was this chapter confusing for you guys? If so, what should I clarify?
-Why do you think Incendio doesn’t see himself in Kric’s future?
-Do you think Kric will return to the forest?
-Should this book be long and dramatic or short and sweet?
-Are you guys opposed to a few side stories added into this story, involving a few old characters and possibly some new ones taking place in this world? Or would you rather I put them into the one shot book i’ll be posting in a few weeks?
Let me know!!!!!
Remember, a comment on every paragraph will get you a follow, dedication and a double update NEXT FRIDAY!!!! Updates are on Friday just so you guys know 🙂
Thanks for reading darlings!
Vote, comment, follow, etc. <3
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