NOVEL NEXT Interlude: A Little Story, About A Little Light
Interlude: A Little Story, About A Little Light
Once upon a time there was a kingdom of fey in a forest, laughing, playing, and living free.
The kingdom was filled with all sorts of fey from all the different tribes and from both fey courts.
Amongst the tribe of fairies, the oldest and bestest of the tribes, there was a little fairy.
This fairy was very special.
Why?
It was not because she was the smartest fairy. (Something no one believed even if she told them with the biggest of words.)
It was not because she was the strongest fairy. (Something no one believed even if she was just younger than the rest.)
It was not because she was the most beautiful fairy. (Something no one believed even if it should've been obvious.)
No, this fairy was special because while her real name was unspeakable by mortal tongues, a very special human would one day name her Pix the Fairy. (Even if all the other fairies said she was barely a fairy.)
Unfortunately, in order for the fairy that would one day be named Pix, she had to go through something… very bad.
All the fey did.
The Thing Under The Mountain, was a monster that every fey in the forest told stories about. About the way for hundreds of years it would steal away creatures of all tribes, courts, and kingdoms be they fey, human, or beast.
About the way those it stole were… changed. Turned into something other that not even changelings, the shapeshifting half-fey who walked amongst all the tribes and kingdoms, were capable of becoming.
And most importantly about how it had taken all the kingdoms of fey, human, and beast to seal The Thing Under The Mountain away by calling upon The Mad King for help. The God who first turned the fey from simple thoughts and dreams of magic, into the bestest people in creation.
But even with the Mad King's help, The Thing Under The Mountain still hungered, still stole people away, and still turned them into something other.
Many thought this just a legend to explain the odd fey who disappeared from the kingdoms, likely killed by one of the humans who destroyed and distorted their forest. Humans they did not attack due to an elder pact long forgotten by all but the wise fey who still remembered The Mad King.
The young foolish fey though, they forgot. They didn't believe the myths and legends. Thought them just excuses for cowards scared of humans, or tricks played by the Unseelie Court.
Even the smartest fairy one day known as Pix didn't believe the stories.
Not until the others came for them.
It was… horrific.
That was the only way to describe the way the others descended upon them. The way they killed and kidnapped every fey they came across, twisted forms of fey, human, and beast all acting as one once turned into something other. Not even the strongest of fey, the Royals, were capable of pushing back the tides as the entire kingdom drowned in black blood.
Especially not when every fey drowned just became another to kill them all.
And it was under such a horrific nightmare, that in but a single moonless night, the kingdom of fairies fell. Swiftly followed by every other kingdom and court known to the fey.
The fairy one day known as Pix… she… she was smart enough to run. (Even if it meant her family didn't… All of them far braver than her…)
She flew far, she flew wide, and every night she'd hide from the others searching for any fey they have missed.
Until one night the others found her.
They chased her through the woods, relentless, untiring, and cruel.
She thought she was going to die.
She was smart enough to know that she was going to die.
Until she found the Huntsman.
Stories of the humans who forged the woods for food were old as time, as were the tales to never trust them, to never reveal yourself lest they steal you away like The Thing Under The Mountain.
Those stories were all lies.
For a moment the soon to be named Pix, was scared unsure whether the Huntsman was more dangerous to her than the others but she was also so very very tired of running and with the way she'd been hurt by them…
She doubted the Huntsman would be worse than what she'd seen of the others.
And she was wrong in the best possible way.
The Huntsman was even more powerful than all of the others combined.
He easily tore through their ranks as if he were as strong as the mightiest of Royals, and with no magic in his veins he slaughtered the others that had been hunting her for days.
Sadly… while the Huntsman was strong… he was not invulnerable…
No, in fact as the now named Pix would learn, the foolish boy more concerned with giving her a name than his own wounds was extremely fragile. Easily hurt, easily bled, easily crippled, and most terribly of all… easily killed.
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But despite this the Huntsman still fought, still protected her and everyone else, even if it meant so much pain and injury.
Which is why the little fairy -despite her many injuries and exhaustion- called upon all her magic, all the lessons the elder fairies had begun to teach her, and tried to heal the Huntsman's injuries.
A magic so very far beyond her…
Oh, she'd seen her elders heal sick plants and animals, but she'd never been able to heal them herself.
Which is why in desperation to save her hero, she made a wish to both the Mad King and the Mother of Magic, and…
Flesh and bone mended beneath her light.
Both hers, and the Huntsman's.
From such a great feat of magic Pix lost consciousness, but when she awoke she found herself in the care of the Owl Witch, Caretaker of The Little Ones.
What's more, she learned that despite his affliction of no magic, the Huntsman was the son of the Owl Witch, the greatest magic user in all the forest.
So much so that, she was able to craft an amulet that gifted the magicless Huntsman the barest of magics to aid him in his dangerous quest of fighting The Thing Under The Mountain and all its others.
A quest that Pix could not let him do by himself, not when she had magic that could help him.
And so the two of them fought the others, night after night. Growing in power and skill until one day while exploring the human town they came across some cruel humans trying to kidnap an innocent child.
Of course, as the son of the Owl Witch -and lesser Caretaker of Little Ones as Pix had learned- the Huntsman could not allow this to happen and proceeded to stop the wicked humans.
Which is when they learned that innocent child was the daughter of the not so innocent King of Man And Demon. A monster so terrifying that only the Unseelie court was willing to even consider talking to him, and even then only under the most dire of circumstances.
Circumstances such as The Thing Under The Mountain waking up.
With the aid of the Owl Witch and the King the Huntsman -and Pix beside him- began to learn the secrets of magic, secrets that she was certain no Fey had ever considered.
Secrets that led her to bringing the Huntsman to her once home, a place that was… no longer home. The corrupted remnants of her people -both Seelie and Unseelie- all that remained, as they dove deeper into the space once magically supported by her queen…
It was a sight that she hadn't been prepared for.
Oh, she knew that the Royals would fight to protect their people until the very end, but… She'd thought the queen would be strong enough to escape, to help foster a new home somewhere else in the forest, instead…
Instead they discovered the Seelie Queen… corrupted, wings bound to the ground by twisted black flash, eyes blind as new ones stared out from her chest, a gaping maw where her stomach should be… remnants of her subjects stuck between the teeth…
The fact that she was dead already was… She didn't know what it was, but it was better than seeing her Queen like… that.
It was the final fey that they met in her once home that had killed their Queen, an Unseelie Knight half-corrupted and yet still resisting the black blood as he refused to let the others revive their queen like they had so many others.
The Knight upon seeing her -a still living and uncorrupted fairy- asked the Huntsman for a duel, to prove that he could protect the little fairy under his care.
Rather than being disturbed by this the Huntsman -who didn't even speak their language- seemed to understand. In fact the Huntsman seemed to understand the knight even better than he did her after so much time together, the two fighting far more ferociously than ever before until finally the knight disarmed the Huntsman, and the Huntsman revealed the Beast within.
Rather than being scared of his impending death or even pained by the savagery with which he was torn apart, his own wings ripped from him as the Huntsman slowly killed the Knight, the mad Fey laughed, smiled, and declared that…
It was difficult for her to comprehend with the stories she'd grown up on, of the mad Unseelie court of the Night closer to the Mad King than the Mother of Magic. A court that reveled in pain, violence, and savagery.
But still as she sat upon the Huntsman's shoulder as he burned her kingdom down after granting her people mercy from being corrupted, she couldn't help but agree with the dead knight.
Her Huntsman, Jon, was Unseelie… and so long as she was with him she would be safe.
The fact that he received the Mad King's Blessing was just further proof of both of these things, her God having chosen her Huntsman to kill The Thing Under The Mountain.
Which is why no matter how scared she was of the others in the dark, she stayed with her Huntsman.
She helped him kill the others, even learning to use her own magic to twist their senses and zap them herself.
She helped him save the girl who was secretly a sleeping Dragon the mightiest of the beasts who once allied with the fey.
She helped him wipe out the cruel and twisted humans who worshiped The Thing Under The Mountain willingly feeding people to the monster.
And finally she helped her Huntsman kill The Thing Under The Mountain and avenged her people. Even if it cost him his life.
Time and again her Huntsman hunted down the monsters in the dark and saved the lost and damned. And even with the dead thing under the mountain, he continued to do so.
Returning to his other home, a human city made of iron and poison that would kill lesser fairies, she knew her Huntsman wanted to stop fighting to rest with his other mother, The Huntress, whom he truly took after over the Owl Witch.
Despite his desires though he could not help but save the child stolen in the middle of the night, and avenge the brutalized mother.
Despite his desires he could not help but dive into the depths of the monster filled dungeon to hunt The Thing At The Bottom, twisted brother of and now equally dead as the dead thing under the mountain. Even if it cost him his life, again.
And so it continued with him hunting every other monster in the city from foolish Bird of Meat And Fear who threatened a child on accident, to the underground King of Warriors who challenged her Huntsman for the title of the greatest warrior, and the army of The Thing Hiding Unseen.
An army that had tried to take her Huntsman's mother from him and in turn caused him to give into the Insanity of the Unseelie so deeply and completely that she was scared he'd be lost like the mad legends of old. The Berserkers who need to be put down by their own brothers to protect the more innocent fey of lore.
But even lost to the depths of the Mad King's darkest powers, Huntsman never harmed her, in fact when confronted by the power of The Thing Hiding Unseen her Huntsman had shielded her with his body, always protecting her. No matter how close to the Pale Queen it brought him.
Which is why she needed to be stronger.
It stung her pride no small amount to admit it but… after fighting the Bird of Meat And Fear by herself… After seeing just how strong his other allies truly were… Allies who had been able to do nothing to protect him from the monsters he hunted…
She needed to get stronger.
It was with this in mind that drew upon all of her magic, and much like the night she first met her Huntsman, she made a wish to the Mother of Magic, The Mad King, and even The Pale Queen.
She needed to get stronger.
Strong enough that no matter the monster he fought, she could stay by his side.
Strong enough that no matter the injuries he took, she could mend his flesh anew.
Strong enough that no matter the darkness he fell to, she could bring forth a light.
She would be stronger.
Because he was her Huntsman, she was his Pix, and nothing would take away her home ever again.