Chapter 2
The sunshine was tickling my skin, and my entire body felt relaxed, like I had slept for multiple days—although I could not remember going to sleep at all.
The familiar smell of musk, moonflower, and sage invaded my nose again, causing a comforting feeling in my bones.
I opened my eyes just to see the sun begin to rise over the horizon, the blue sky becoming aglow with different hues of red, yellow, and orange.
The rays of the sun shimmered rainbow-like across the dewy green grass, making each colorful flower shine like a precious jewel.
After I got up, I looked around the place I had fallen into, which turned out to be the middle of a forest with twinkling lights that were so faint I didn’t notice them at first. I had no idea which way to go, as the paths before and behind me seemed identical.
So where should I go now?
How could I be sure I wasn’t simply dreaming, trapped in some twisted kind of Wonderland of my own, only to wake up and find myself facing Alexander’s gaze again, forced to make a choice? One that had never been mine from the beginning.
My feelings didn’t seem to matter, but did our feelings ever matter to men?
I tried to hike through the forest to see if I could hear any people nearby, but there were no familiar sounds of life.
Wandering a little deeper in the woods, I came across a huge, ancient oak with twinkling lights in its leaves.
In the trunk of the tree was a knothole fitted with a small golden door, its ornate knob shaped like a rose.
This was really strange.
I must certainly be dreaming… How could something like this exist?
As I touched the doorknob, an otherworldly female voice appeared out of nothing, whispering:
“Come this way, dear human child,
to the ancient springs and the whimsical wild
where magic lives and fairies dance,
and dreamers get a chance,
follow with a faerie in your hand,
for the world’s fuller of hope and light,
when you enter this land.”
The door opened and offered a view of a bright light. I felt hesitant at first, but my curiosity got the better of me, leading me to enter the narrow knothole.
As soon as I stepped through the doorway, I found myself in a field filled with the most colorful flowers—purple and pink roses, peach and white peonies, violet foxglove, and scabiouses, which I had developed a fascination with when I was a child.
They only grew in the garden of one of my neighbors, and whenever I snuck into her fields, I plucked one of them, and my mother had to deal with the repercussions.
Continuing across the field, I saw a sign that read ‘Faerie Village.’ There were little houses resembling play houses of children colored in yellow, blue, purple and pink. While some of them were hanging on trees with twinkling lights all around, others rested on the ground.
And then my heart caught in my chest and I saw them… faeries.
They danced among the leaves and flowers, laughing so happily, like they had never experienced hurt or sadness in their lives.
One faerie was playing the flute. He was dressed in purple tights and shorts.
His top consisted of a purple blouse with long greenish sleeves and purple foxglove around their ends.
The faerie word a pointed hat, and its small wings shimmered in silver-lilac.
Another light-pink-haired faerie was playing the harp and wore a pink tulle dress, the bodice embellished with crystals.
Her wings resembled swans’ feathers, with a faint shimmer of silver.
The melody the faeries were playing was ethereal, filled with enchanting and soft notes I’d never listened to before.
Abruptly, the music came to a halt, and everyone turned their eyes to me.
The silence was expectant. The faeries froze in the middle of their dancing, even those sitting on their balconies were leaning forward to look at me. There were so many of them.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized quickly. “I didn’t mean to disturb your fest.” I took a step back, ready to flee into the woods, or wherever the way back home was supposed to be, until I felt a small tug at the hem of my dress, causing me to stop.
It was the young faerie girl who had been playing the harp.
She was smiling brightly at me. “No, don’t go,” she pleaded, embracing her small hands around my dress.
I must have been about twenty inches taller than her, making this fairy stand probably around three foot nine.
“We never have visitors. Especially no one as beautiful as you.”
My cheeks burned with embarrassment, but the little girl didn’t stop.
“Who are you? What is your name? Did you enjoy my music?” the little faerie asked in a breathless stream. I began feeling overwhelmed, I’d never been the center of attention before and certainly not the object of such fascination.
“Elvina, stop being so irritating to our new visitor. I’m sorry, that’s an annoying trait of crystal faeries.
I’m Fayette, nice to meet you.” A faerie with long, pastel-orange hair came up to me.
Her wings looked like a butterfly’s, colored in the most iridescent shades of oranges, coppers, and yellows.
“I’m Gwendolyn,” I replied. I didn’t understand why they were so friendly and open with me. They didn’t know me. I didn’t belong here.
“Gwendolyn… what a beautiful name, almost perfect for a faerie.”
I smiled weakly, but she wasn’t finished yet.
“So, where do you come from? You certainly aren’t an elf, since your ears are round. And there is absolutely no way you are a vampire,” she stated, her nose wrinkling. “We have heard from descriptions that vampires are ugly, like super ugly. Almost hideous.”
Her boldness made me blink. “Um… thank you, I guess?”
“So, what are you?” Fayette repeated her question. Her small wings kept fluttering behind her.
I exhaled, suddenly very aware of how out of place I was. These curious, glowing creatures were staring at me like I was a mystery to be solved. “I’m… a human,” I declared finally. “And I’m fairly certain that where I come from, vampires, elves, and faeries don’t exist at all.”
“This must be a very strange place where you come from,” she said, her small eyes widening. “No faeries like us? What a dull and boring place.”
“Very dull,” the boy in the purple hat agreed.
“Believe me such creatures as elves exist, just as much as we do. The Elven King Dandelion is said to be the most powerful ruler in the world,” Fayette explained.
“That’s not true, Fayette,” the boy interrupted. “His son is much more powerful. He was said to be the nightmare bringer…”
The nightmare bringer? What were they talking about?
Fayette rolled her eyes at him, amused. “I know, but those are only rumors, Pip.”
“Then why did he ban his own child from his land?” he asked.
“Because he’s afraid… the powers of his son could be dangerous,” Elvina explained.
“So, the rumors are true… he’s the nightmare bringer, really?” Fayette asked, almost like she assumed Pip and Elvina had been joking before.
“Would someone be so kind as to clarify for me who or what the nightmare bringer is?” I asked.
“We don’t know for sure… but in a prophecy thousands of years ago, it was once mentioned that someone would be born with immense power. A power of destruction and despair, causing the world to turn into chaos or something,” Pip muttered, who seemed to not believe a single word of the myth.
“Yes, and that’s why his father sent his own child away. He feared he was the one bringing them into chaos, or darkness,” Fayette added.
A parent sending his own child away? It didn’t surprise me that mythical creatures weren’t as flawless as people believed.
Why bring someone into the world if you’re not going to accept and support them with all your heart? Why be so afraid of what will come, when you’ll never know for sure?
I just wished for a world where all parents could love their children, regardless.
“Fayette, don’t scare away our new guest with any horror stories of the Elven Kingdom.
We were never there. We can’t tell for sure.
Gwendolyn, do you want to join us for the spring garland party?
” Elvina asked, waving me over to the huge table at which so many other faeries were staring at me, like I wore my clothes upside down or had purple skin.
“A spring garland party?”
“Yes, as soon as the warm rain has washed away the snow and ice, it means that the times of winter are over and the season of spring has just begun. In honor of this season change, we offer our spring garland fairy a tribute by giving her a feast,” Fayette explained to me as she sat herself at the table.
She pointed to the empty seat beside her.
The enormous glass table they were gathered around shimmered in the sunlight, overflowing with pastries that looked like they’d been plucked from one of my dreams: glazed doughnuts, sprinkled cupcakes, tarts shaped like delicate rose petals, and other sugared pastries.
Somehow, I was torn between the urge to join them and the nagging thought that I should be searching for a way back home. And yet, the kindness of the faeries made me want to stay.
“Can I offer you some tea and cake?” Fayette asked, gesturing toward the silver tray filled with rose-colored buttercream pastries.
I hesitated for the briefest moment—should I not be more cautious? But the warm scent of bakeries and the sweetness of the faeries made me relax.
Eventually, I took the empty seat beside Fayette. Although the stool was too small for me, it was still stable enough to hold me. There were at least ten other faeries dancing around in the most dazzling kinds of clothing.
The tea tasted like roses, and the pink cake was vanilla buttercream with a hint of strawberry to it. The cake was so delicious that I even took another slice of it. Being with the faeries felt like such a lightness that it made me never want to leave.
“So, what brings you here, strange faerie without wings?” Pip asked.