9. Chapter Nine
Where I came from is not an easy thing for humans to understand. It’s a different realm, but also the same realm as my kingdom and Evelia. It exists in many places at once, and a human would not survive there.
The collective floats in front of me, shifting its energy from light to dark. They peel me from completion and shove me through the darkness that steals everything. Before I can return, I must learn in a place where I can choose wrong and destroy without consequences.
The dominant entities in the realm, humans, are finite and fragile.
Once I conquer them, I can return and rule in a place that is significant.
I am cast out until I can prove myself. Knowledge is passed into my mind that will allow me to interact, speak the language, and change into what I need to be.
I push through the thick black dirt and molten red liquid to emerge and find myself surrounded by green and other bright colors.
There is a blue barrier overhead called the sky, and a creature stares at me, wide-eyed.
Emotions are displayed on her face. The words come to me as I think about them.
Most likely, a child and a human girl is what the creature is.
This world breeds something called emotions, and I’m told I will catch them as I stay.
That is one of my tests, to lead despite enduring emotions.
“Hello!” The girl steps toward me but stops where I spill liquid fire onto the ground. “Are you a fire fairy? They are the only fairies we don’t have pictures of because they hide in shame from catching everything on fire.”
I search my gained knowledge to understand her words. “Yes, I am a fire fairy.” I lie because there’s no human explanation for what I am.
She claps her small hands and jumps up and down.
“This is so so exciting! I love fairies and have always wanted to see one. My room has fairy art, books, and dolls. Fairies everywhere! This is a dream come true! Are you friendly? I should have found that out before approaching you, but I got ahead of myself. You’re so lovely! ”
It takes me several seconds to catch all her words and turn them over to understand them. “I will not harm you.”
“Promise?”
“Promise?”
“Yes, do fairies have such things? My books are unclear, but it’s like an oath or words you say that cannot be broken. You have to keep them after you say them. Can you change form, or are you stuck like this? Some fairies do that.” She steps around the heated liquid that surrounds my charred form.
I look down to see I have hands like hers.
The collective has sent me like a human, but my exterior looks like burnt wood with red lava flowing through it.
It takes some searching, but I learn to cool myself, trying to look more like her.
All the heat cools to burnt porous rock, but I can’t give myself smooth skin like her.
She doesn’t wait for me to answer her questions as she turns around and skips toward a grove of tall trees. “Would you like to see my garden?”
I follow her while I search my information about what a garden is. We walk a long way until we go through a dark tunnel, but I light up my skin for us to see better.
She stops at the exit and looks around before stepping into an open area. "We'll have to hide if we hear anyone. Everyone will think you're scary, but you're not."
We arrive at her garden before I have a solid idea of what it is.
A tree that looks different from the ones in the grove sits in the middle of the open space.
Its branches fall to the ground like a leafy waterfall, and around it is sparkling water.
A small wooden bridge allows passage to the grass next to the tree, and there is a place to sit.
Along four paths are blue, pink, orange, red, and yellow flowers.
In the distance is massive stone, that is apparently called a castle.
“Jasper, that’s the gardener, he did most of this, but I helped.
Don’t tell my papa if you ever meet him.
He doesn’t think a princess should get her hands dirty.
He says that’s servant work. But it’s so much fun.
You can probably make gardens grow. Most fairies can, but I don’t know much about your kind, so maybe you can’t.
” Her words come out so fast that it’s difficult for me to catch them all.
“Are you a child fairy? You look like a child fairy. How old are you?”
“I don’t know. I am new, but we don’t keep track of age. It’s something we exist beyond.”
“I’m nine. You’re probably around my age by the look of it, or by new did you just wake up alive today?”
“I don’t know. I have not experienced much before this.”
“I will help you experience everything! All of it. You will get to learn it all. Can I show you it all? Do you think you will grow up at my speed, or will you be a grownup tomorrow?” She crinkles her nose at the thought.
“I’m unsure.”
“This is so exciting! I want a fairy friend. Please tell me you live close and we can stay friends forever and ever and ever!”
“I live nowhere. My goal is to experience and conquer the lands.”
“Con... quer. Conquer.” She taps her chin as she turns the word around in her mouth. “You mean fight people and take their lands? You wouldn’t do that to my papa, would you?”
“Are there other places?”
“Yes! You could take the evil queen’s castle.
My papa doesn’t like her much and has been trying to get her kingdom for years.
She sometimes comes here, but they show angry faces at each other.
They're not friends like we are. You’d be helping him out, and having the fairies rule in her place would be fun.
There’s also the kingdom that way.” She points to her right.
“Papa doesn’t like him either. He says he’s inde...
I’m not sure the word, but it must be a word that means he’s not good.
” She leads me back through the tunnel and into the place I arrived.
“Which land would you pick to conquer?”
“Maybe the king. He’d be a lot easier, and then we’d be neighbors.”
I think it over within the bounds of my instructions. “I will observe and decide.”
“That’s probably best. Do you want to play hide and seek?”
“How does one play hide and seek?” I try to search my knowledge, but nothing is known about it.
“One person hides and the other looks. No cheating with magic. Can I hide first?” She runs toward the forest.
“What do I do?”
“Put your face against the tree and count to twenty.” She disappears into the woods while I do what she says.
I sniff the air, follow her scent to a hollow log, and jump back when she screams.
She giggles as she crawls out. “You promise you didn’t use magic?”
“I did not.”
“You’re pretty good at this, then.”
We take turns hiding and looking. She shows me a few more games until a loud sound plays in the distance.
“That’s a trumpet playing, and it means I have to go.” She waves and takes off running toward the grey stone castle by her garden. “I’ll come back tomorrow, and we can play more games.” She stops. “In all the excitement, I didn’t get your name. My name is Evelia.”
“I have no name.”
“I’m going to call you Lazzus. It’s the name of the beast in my favorite storybook. Everyone judges him by how he looks, but he’s very nice. You remind me of him.”
She disappears among the many trees, and I sit on a rock to wait for her to come back, going through all the knowledge the collective gave me on my new world.
She returns with something in her hand and shoves it at me. “Chocolate! It’s the best thing ever, and I bet as a fire fairy you’ve never had it.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a sweet. Food.” She demonstrates by taking a bite of it. “You eat it. You’ve eaten before, right?”
I shake my head and accept the piece she gives me, sticking it up to my mouth and tearing off a piece so forcefully my newly formed teeth clank together. A weird sensation passes over my tongue, and I rush to take another bite, followed by another. “Good. Very good.”
She beams, and it brightens her eyes. I search for the words to describe them, and I settle on beautiful.
She pops a piece of chocolate into her mouth. “You look more like a boy now. You look like you’re my age. Maybe that’s about where you are if fire fairies didn’t live outside ages.”
“Maybe. I am young. You are young?”
“Yes, that’s right. We’re children. But you’re new, so I’m going to teach you everything. Can I hold your hand?”
I nod, and the edges of my mouth tip up into my first smile. I make sure my skin is cool because my knowledge warned me I could burn humans if not careful.
Her nose twitches, and she giggles. “What are you doing? Why are you making all those funny faces?”
“I’m learning to use my face.”
“Let’s start with that, then.” Her eyebrows scrunch together. “This is angry.” Her voice goes deeper and growly.
She goes through many emotions and describes them, and I practice.
After a long time, the sky turns dark and looks more like home.
She leaves, but each day when the sky turns bright again, she returns.
I wait on my rock for her, and this happens again and again.
Each day, she teaches me more things about the world, and I add them to the things the collective sent me with.
She teaches me things they never did, like how to be gentle when a butterfly lands on your finger and how to sniff a flower without plucking it.
We have done many things together over many sky changes, and I never move from the rock when she leaves because I worry I won’t find her again if I don’t wait there. I’ve learned that when everything turns light, that is called morning.