The Wandering Fairy [LitRPG World-Hopping]

And from that untruth, a new reality was born.

That which was true became a lie.

That which was a lie became the truth.

Waves of anima spread across the village. The Fallen villagers paused their slaughter. The Silver Moon battalion ceased all motions. Time didn't flow in reverse—the events that occurred in the vision were never taken back.

They were simply hidden. What happened had still happened.

Instead, the very representation of the history was twisted.

Soren watched in horror as the story's script was rewritten in real time. The blood thirsty humans massacring all they could see began to panic and scream—as if they had forgotten their role in the scene. They ran just like the helpless Drakari they were slaughtering seconds prior.

Then the second change happened. The once just and noble battalion of Silver Knights turned sadistic and evil. Their faces twisting as they chased after the people they meant to save.

What the hell is happening?! What the fuck am I witnessing?!

Soren couldn't understand anything anymore. It was as if the world had turned upside down. The very logic of this reality had been erased from existence. And yet, the scent of blood, the smoldering heat of the raging flames, and the wailing screams of the dying never went away.

He glanced at Cassia—the one who caused this radical shift. With all her anima exhausted, she laid there on the floor, unconscious and unaware of everything unfolding due to her delusional wish.

By all logical accounts, the vision should have ended here. What [Eyes of the Fairy] was now showing him went past simple memories… It was a retelling of the historical record itself—as if even the Beyond was trying to desperately recall what really happened too.

The horror only continued to grow. Words could no longer describe his fear as he witnessed all that occurred. And as he watched the bloodshed continue, his emotions grew more and more chaotic.

Yes, he was flooded with fear. But there was also another emotion growing inside him…

Joy.

An emotion born out of satisfaction… As if what he was witnessing was interesting to watch.

No, it was as if his mind was no longer processing this as reality, but as a story. A fictional retelling of something that should have never even happened. The sadistic murderers believing themselves to be the victims of their own murder… This was certainly a unique plot twist.

And that was when he remembered something.

My Fairy Witness rune… Is this what the Petalsword Sovereign meant in regards to its governing concepts?

Story Obsession.

From a certainly twisted perspective, this was indeed an interesting story…

A chill ran down his spine.

STOP! I can't allow this to continue…

He tried to take control of his mind again, but the emotions he was feeling wouldn't stop. His curiosity was only growing more and more—even deactivating [Eyes of the Fairy] became impossible.

Soren couldn't even tell anymore whether he was prying into this scene to satisfy his own urges or out of necessity to help his friends…

But regardless of his inner turmoil, the images never stopped. He couldn't loook away.

Soren watched as the last Drakari aside from Cassia perished in the slaughter. The only ones remaining were the saviors, now turned madmen, and the perpetrators, now turned victims of the tragedy they started.

Why… Why did it have to turn out like this… And yet, his sadness for what was happening only grew less and less—replaced by morbid curiosity… and disgust.

Disgust at himself for feeling this way.

The untruthful scene continued to play. At the front of the moonlit banners, an older Silver Valkyrie from the one he knew stood firm—her sense of justice and honor twisted from what it was in the past.

Standing opposite to her with his scepter held tightly, a younger Elder Kaalan covered in the blood of the people he had just been massacring minutes prior. But now, his demeanor had changed—he had forgotten who he really was in this story.

"Why are you doing this to us?!" He yelled, as if trying to helplessly understand the motives of his slaughterers. A question he had likely heard from the people he was killing just a moments ago.

The Valkyrie reflected Kaalan's own answer from before the historical rewrite:

"Because I have to. For the glory of my God."

As they were about to ready their attacks, the story once again experienced a major shift.

The frigid wind howled louder than any scream, as if trying to bury their sins in an endless pile of snow. Even the buildings on fire grew silent, welcoming the white shroud.

The two sides paused, as if sensing the change.

And they weren't wrong—for even louder than the whistle of the breeze were the faint footsteps of an approaching figure…

They all turned to face the sound. It was very slow. As if it was indifferent to the chaos it was cutting through. They all waited, unsure of what to anticipate. But instinctively, they all knew one thing:

Whatever it was—it was strong.

The Sentinels could tell. And so could the magi.

Soon, the figure emerged from the foggy white cloud of snow and wind. Unlike their imagination, He was covered in rags. He was shrouded in a dark and gloomy mist. And He held an obsidian black cauldron in His arm—one that could chill the hearts of any who peered inside its abyss.

Soren immediately recognized Him.

"Guntharion…"

The dying flames shivered with every step He took. The radiance of light on the knight's spears dimmed in His presence.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Stillness and calm. No one dared to move.

Quietly, the old man walked past Elder Kaalan—his eyes not daring to meet His.

Then, He paused. Before Him lay the helpless girl that started it all. Her blood soaking the surrounding snow…

Soren peered nervously from beyond the veil, watching as the visage of his senior apprentice slowly levitated up from the ground. Before anyone could even say anything, He stuffed her unconscious body into the cauldron, letting the abyss inside consume her whole…

[Her role cannot end here.]

Then He glanced at those holding tightly to their silver spears. Before He could say anything, the Silver Valkyrie walked forward—her soldiers mirroring her every step.

One by one, they willingly entered the cauldron, as if they were ants marching toward a non-existent sugar cube.

There was no protest. No questions. No answers. Only instincts.

They all instinctively knew what to do to survive…

After the last soldier was consumed by the void, Elder Kaalan and the remaining "villagers" scattered in all directions, the raging blizzard swallowing even their twisted shadows.

No one remained in the vision aside from Guntharion.

Is it finally over? He frantically tried to end the usage of his abilities. But before he could, an even more absurd twist occurred.

"I hope you enjoyed the show, Mr. Traveler." The old man's smile cut through the unfolding memory, His eyes piercing straight into Soren.

His heart dropped.

Before he could even process what just happened, the old man swept into a graceful bow, and the falling snow closed the play of horror like curtains.

With a single blink, the scene dissolved, returning him to where he always was.

The vision was over.

Before he could even grasp what he had witnessed, his head grew unbearably heavy. A violent cough tore out of him, spilling an endless fountain of blood onto the snow.

"Soren?!" Myrin rushed to his side, trying to hold him.

His eyes faltered on the brink of blindness. With whatever was left of them, he glanced at his Soul Weapon—its glowing pages shifting to show him what he wanted to see.

New Entry Recorded: [Cassia of the Nagashi] (History)

"....."

As the mysterious fountain pen continued to chronicle everything he had seen, Soren remained silent. Even with the chaos brewing in the village, nothing could distract him from his thoughts. For what he witnessed… It was not something that could easily be retold.

"Guntharion… He could see me through the vision…" He didn't know whether to be horrified or amazed.

Did… Did He know I was going to peer into this scene in the future?...

But there was something else he learned as well—The Serpent of Untruths had the authority to change reality itself into its lies…

Soren wasn't absolutely certain, but everything pointed to this conclusion. From how Cassia's abilities operated to the very culture associated with Him… And the final nail in the coffin was what occurred in the visions he saw of her memories.

During Cassia's awakening, an extraordinary miracle occurred. The very fabric of reality—more specifically, the representation of certain aspects of that event in the Beyond—were twisted.

The Fallen who were attacking the village had their identities fully concealed. The memories of everyone involved were erased. And most drastic of all, the very reality of the event's conclusion was twisted.

Strangely, the twisting of this reality wasn't fully successful. Whether that was due to Cassia being too weak to fulfill the 'wish' she proposed to her deity, or simply because the Serpent of Untruths was not powerful enough to do so didn't matter. All Soren knew was that the events had been cleanly changed to fit Cassia's narrative.

Her lie of "none of this happened," was not completely fulfilled. The Nagashi Tribe massacre still occurred. Cassia did lose her family. There was also the matter of the Fallen themselves—they were likely the human members of the tribe who secretly made dealings with the Vynasians only to doom themselves and their former friends and family… These Fallen, except Elder Kaalan, forgot who they really were due to Cassia's lie, remaining as faithful villagers—as if their betrayal had "never happened."

Finally, there was also the matter of one of the Silver Valkyries and her battalion trying to stop what was happening… For some reason, Cassia's lie twisted that reality—making them the perpetrators instead.

Soren, however, did have a theory.

If we look at it from the perspective of fulfilling Cassia's wish, he thought, perhaps due to a lack of enough power, the lie twisted the reality of who committed the massacre due to the real perpetrators being related to Cassia…

In essence, because Elder Kaalan and the others who had volunteered to become Fallen were related to the tribe from the very beginning, having them still be the perpetrators would have been far harder to mask compared to if an outside force committed the slaughter. That way, those very same perpetrators of the genocide could then become the only remaining survivors of the Nagashi tribe.

How terrifying… This time, he was free to analyze this without being flooded by satisfaction and joy… His Soul Weapon was no longer affecting his judgement.

The very same people who destroyed the Nagashi became the only remaining members of the Nagashi. And their very memories reflected that twisted reality.

That was why all of them only transformed back after Elder Kaalan spoke those strange words… They had all been under the influence of the lie—that they were just normal villagers all along.

For fifty years, they labored and worked.

For fifty years, they had children, passing on the legacy of their tribe.

For fifty years, they assumed the blood of their brethren was on the hands of the Silver Moon Church…

Unaware of the bloodstains coating their own hands.

Unaware of their own wretched existences…

For they were no longer human. They were nothing more than vessels for the Vynasians to exploit: the Fallen.

"No wonder none of the younger tribe members transformed…" Soren mumbled to himself while wiping the blood from his bottom lip. Myrin was frantically trying to heal him of his internal injuries.

More than likely, he thought, the Vynasians who were hit with this illusion fifty years ago decided to take advantage of it. The lie might have twisted the memories of the vessels, but the Vynasians themselves occupying the bodies of the Fallen still retained their memories.

And to maintain the lie, they allowed the vessels they occupied to indulge in that fictional reality, remaining hidden for the past fifty years without anyone being able to notice… Perhaps out of fear of retaliation from Guntherion, or the return of the Silver Moon Church.

What's more, this untruthful reality could probably only be maintained in the Nagashi tribe itself. After all, Cassia's initial wish was in the context of the tribe and nothing further.

The damned village barrier… He should have thought something was strange from the start. More than likely, the lie Cassia cast fifty years ago used the Beacon of Guidance as its foundation. The endless anima pouring out of it was able to maintain that fictionalized reality in the vicinity of the tribe.

With Elder Kaalan's efforts, he was likely able to use it with his own magecraft to continue hiding the truth indefinitely. For fifty years, they shrouded themselves in that secret. Those who step out of the barrier would probably instantly remember the truth, breaking the entire illusion. That was why the younger, uncorrupted members of the tribe like Uruk and Isha were the only ones tasked with hunting and gathering in the vicinity.

Now that I think about it, Elder Kaalan didn't even leave the tribe to stop the Spirit Beast stampede… He simply commanded the others like Isha to use the Snow Wyverns to scare them off.

If Cassia's arrival back at the tribe caused instabilities in the lie, then it would indeed make sense for the Vynasians to abandon their disguise now… They utilized the final moments of this illusion to conduct one final attack.

From the very beginning, everything was orchestrated against them… A plot fifty years in the making was now culminating before their very eyes. With Yarian's ruination slowly growing due to the Whispering Dream's actions, what better time than now to finally cripple the first line of defence against their invasion of this world?

The Blossom Sword Flower… Truly the perfect target to end their half a century disguise…

Suddenly, Soren couldn't help but recall the Mistress' final words to him:

"Beware those who bask in the worship of lies."

A chill ran down his spine.

They used my existence… The prophecy that revolved around my existence in this world to their advantage…

The Blossom Sword Flower would have never come to this village if not for my presence…