A Short Fairy Tale ( Part 2)

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Part 5: Getting ready for war

“ Meredith, we have to get you ready for the battle.” Alfreda cut in to end the awkward silence. Meredith then nodded at Took politely and was led by Alfreda towards an underground cave entrance nearby. Once she entered the cave she noticed that the walls were lit up by fireflies that resided in light bulbs. As they neared the end of the cave, she could hear music and laughter come from the direction. Once she exited the long dark cave walkway, she entered a brightly lit space and her eyes took some time to adjust. But once she could see, she was amazed. The place was beautiful. In front of her, hanging on long poles was a banner that said ‘ Fairy Market’. The ceiling of the cave had an artificial sun and sky that was conjured by witches that lit up the entire place like it was a market aboveground. Along the walls, there were stalls lined up that had wooden carts holding fruits that she had not seen before, old leather-bound books that had Gaelic writing on them, jewelry that was made of colourful stones that glistened in the light, magic potions, and many more things you would not normally see in a normal human market. There was even a necklace that had moonlight stored in its diamond-shaped pendant. This whole place was called the Dwarves Village because dwarves were the main vendors and they lived there. Meredith had never entered the fairy market when she was younger because she was told that back then, she was not yet allowed in as they were afraid she might get carried away. You see, even the market had a dark corner that sold dark objects and vendors that came from the dark realm as merchants. So it was not safe for her as a child. But now that she needed to go into battle and she was older, they let her enter the market. Alfreda let her take in the sights and sounds before ushering her towards a weapons cart. Lined up on the shelves of the wall were weapons like daggers, swords, bows, maces, axes, and magic wands. Meredith looked at the weapons and her eyes were drawn to the bows. She decided to choose a longbow made of wood from a Yew tree with a string that was made from the fibers of cherry trees. Then she chose arrows made of birch wood and silver tips, with hawk feathers for the feather fletching. Then Alfreda told her to go to the stables to find a ride. She left Meredith to find her way there as she also needed to find her own supplies for the battle.

As Meredith was making her way to the stables, she bumped into Took who was looking at potions. He turned around and when he saw her, he gave her an apologetic smile. “ Sorry for giving you the cold shoulder before. I am nervous about the battle. Can you help me choose a sword?” He said. “ Sure. Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable earlier” she replied. They walked towards a weapons stall and she looked around. “ I would suggest taking the longsword hanging there” she pointed to a long sword hanging on a wall. It was made of iron and had a hilt that contained a stone that was red and green coloured, the bloodstone. “ Legend has it that bloodstone helps a person sense danger and increase their intuitiveness. Maybe this sword can help you in battle.” Meredith said. “ Good choice” Took replied, impressed by her knowledge. He bought it from the dwarf vendor and paid him a huge amount of coins. Both of them then headed towards the stables where Meredith chose a female deer and Took chose a griffin as his ride. Meredith had only used the bow a few times in her school field as part of her PE lessons so she needed to test her skills. After asking around, both of them headed over to an archery range in a corner of the cave and she practised until she hit enough bullseyes. Then as they headed towards a book stand, they were pulled aside by a young beautiful woman who had blonde hair and grey eyes. The woman wore a red hood and cloak around her and she had a necklace that had an eye in the middle and a triangle around it. Took explained that she was a 100-year-old oracle witch that used to serve the queen of the forest, Artemis. “ Listen closely young ones, I know what the prophecy is about. Meredith, you are the key to helping save us all in the impending war. I can help you by telling you that the realm in which you seek is a realm between the living and the dead. It is called Sepular. You can find it at the edge of this forest near a meadow filled with lavender and daffodils. The edge is lined with hawthorn trees. I must warn you, do not take this realm easily. It is filled with beings called Infinitiums who are neither alive nor dead but exist in a different time and space. They serve no one and will not help you unless you give them a part of your soul. Only royals and witches who have died can enter this realm. Here is a compass that will guide you towards the realm.” The witch gave Meredith a golden compass that had a picture of a deer engraved on its metal cover. When Meredith flipped it open, she saw a normal compass but instead of the usual directions ‘North, South East, and West’ , it showed four directions that pointed at ‘ Sepular, Dark Realm, Light Forest and Human civilization’. She thanked the witch and just as both of them were about to leave, the war horn sounded from above.

Part 6: Venture into the unknown

They quickly rushed towards the surface and as they exited the cave, chaos was all around them. Fairies and animals rushed by them towards the direction of the horn. Meredith realized that was the direction towards the tree stump that served as a table for the battle plans. She was going to head towards there but felt a pull towards another direction. It led deeper into the forest. She opened her compass and saw that the direction she felt the pull from actually matched the direction on the compass that pointed towards the Sepular. She told Took about it and he insisted on accompanying her. So both of them followed the compass on foot and left their rides at the entrance of the cave. After half an hour, they spotted a clearing up ahead. As they neared the tree line made of hawthorn, they noticed that everything around the hawthorn trees was withered or dead. But the clearing’s opposite side looked like any other ordinary tree line into another part of the forest. Then they noticed that the clearing was a meadow that had lavender and daffodils everywhere.

As Meredith stuck her hand into the clearing beyond the tree line and wondered whether the Sepular existed here, her locket began to glow ruby red. Suddenly, her hand disappeared into the air! As she looked closer, it looked like the air was shimmering where her hand disappeared. She held Took’s hand and both of them walked into nothingness and vanished. When she opened her eyes, she saw a world that looked light blue everywhere. Everything like the trees in there, the cottages, even the sun looked translucent. There was only the sound of the wind coming from an unknown location. And then, she heard whispers. “ Took do you hear that?” She asked him fearfully. He nodded and pointed his finger towards a group of cottages that looked abandoned and crumbling. Suddenly a white arrow flew past their faces, inches away from Meredith’s head. Then a group of translucent people appeared. They had the same symbol of the oracle witch’s necklace on their foreheads. Except it was glowing yellow and their eyes were also glowing yellow. They seemed to float towards the Meredith and Took. “ Who goes there!?” one of them shouted in a wispy voice. “ I am Meredith. Granddaughter of Artemis and this is Took, an elf from the light forest.” Meredith replied boldly while shaking a bit on the inside. Then the Infinitiums stopped and the expressions on their faces seemed mixed with confusion and suspicion. “ How can we be sure you are her granddaughter? Prove it.” One of the specters that looked like a man demanded. Meredith did the only thing she could think of and took out her locket. The only thing her mother had left for her when she was a baby and she thought that it might give her a slight chance to prove that she was the grandchild of Artemis. As the Infinitiums, saw the red glow being emitted from her locket and the carving of a bow and arrow surrounded by Ivy vines on her locket, their eyes opened wide. “ I see, you are indeed the grandchild of Artemis. All right we can show you where your grandmother is. But one of you will have to give us a part of your soul in exchange.” The Infinitium man said begrudgingly. Just as Meredith was about to ask how she could do that, a Infinitium woman stepped forward and said “ Resputin, do not dishonour her, she is the granddaughter of Artemis for Christ sake. Meredith, I am Setu. I used to serve Artemis in the past. I was a witch and I believe you may know my daughter, Gertrude. She was the oracle witch that gave you that compass.” Setu pointed to the golden compass Meredith was holding.

Setu asked the rest to leave the matter to her and guided Meredith and Took towards a cottage in the distance. Unlike the rest, it looked more upkeep and more grand. It had a golden gate at its entrance and had flowers growing around the cottage. When Meredith reached the gate, the gate opened automatically and Setu bowed to Meredith before leaving. When Meredith knocked on the door, a older woman who looked like she was in her thirties opened the door. She looked almost exactly like Meredith. Except her hair was less flaming red and her eyes were the colour of pale moonlight and instead of battle armour, she wore a flowing pale green dress. “ Meredith! I have been expecting you. Come in! Come.” Artemis gestured Meredith and Took to follow her inside. As she closed the door, the cottage looked like any other normal non-translucent cottage from the inside. Wooden walls and floors, a fireplace, an armchair, a bookshelf and a bed were the only things inside the cottage. But the smell of fairy cakes could be detected from a kitchen that was separated by a wooden sliding door. “ Welcome to my humble abode Meredith,” Artemis said. As Meredith took in everything, she realized that her grandmother looked way too young for her age and exuded a sense of calmness and reliable character that she expected from the goddess of hunt. Artemis offered both of them fairy cakes and tea and offered them a seat on a couch. “ I guess I should explain all of this,” Artemis said to Meredith. “ The truth is, Meredith. You are the daughter of Selena, the moon goddess. When she was at a mature age and about to take my place as the queen of the light forest, she ran away. She fell in love with a mortal human being one day when she was on a hunt with me. She spotted him trying to draw a deer in the forest. She watched him every day from then on. When she finally got the courage to approach him one night, he fell in love with her and they eloped together to another country, Scotland. He was a fair-haired man with blue eyes and freckles and was a farmer who did paintings in his free time. She was a goddess who would rule a forest and part of the fairy folk and was forbidden to marry a human. When Elena was born, Selena became human and in birth transferred her power to Meredith. When Ares, the god of war, heard of Meredith’s birth, he saw her as a threat or a powerful ally that he could use to his advantage. Either way, he wanted her to be captured and brought to his dark realm. When Artemis heard of this, she immediately warned Selena about it in Scottland. But Selena thought that Artemis was just using this as an excuse to make Selena return to the Light forest. So she ignored Artemis's warning and went on with her life. One night, after returning home from her workplace at the village hospital with Meredith, she found her husband’s body pale and lifeless. She saw that a rope had been tied around his neck and deduced that he was murdered by someone since he was not the type that would commit suicide. He was a cheerful man who always made her happy even in the worst of times and they were financially stable. When Selena smelled the scent of hawthorn and jasmine, she immediately knew that it was Ares who killed her husband because jasmine only grew in the dark realm. She wept and felt so foolish for not believing Artemis that she took Meredith and returned to the forest in Alice Holt and left her where she knew Artemis could take care of Meredith. The thing was, Artemis tried to fight Ares when she heard about what happened to Meredith’s father and both killed each other in the process, leaving the Light forest without a ruler except for the guidance of the Wise One.

That was why Meredith was abandoned in the forest in the past. When Meredith heard of this, her mouth was agape. She just found out about the truth of her birth mother who she barely remembered and now knew why the Light forest chose her to be in their prophecy. The truth was, she thought that her mother was just a normal human and that her father was the one who was related to Artemis. “ Huh?” was all she could say, out loud. Artemis gave her an empathetic smile and said sadly “ I know this is a lot to take in now but I have to tell you that you have all the powers from your mother and some from me. You are the strongest of both of us. Here take this helmet, it is mine and made of silver and moonstone. Take this shield made of holly wood too, it will protect you.” Meredith put on the helmet but felt no different. Artemis saw her confused expression and said that the helmet would only work when Meredith returned to the living realm. Meredith asked her what happened to Ares. Artemis said that Ares lived in the dark part of the Sepular along with his dark witches but did not bother Artemis as anyone who entered the Sepular after death usually lost their affiliation with the living realm. As she was about to bid Meredith goodbye, Artemis stopped her and whispered in her ear “ I do not know this young elf who has accompanied you, but I do not trust him. Be careful of who you trust Meredith, anyone could be from the dark realm.” Meredith nodded in acknowledgment and both her and Took left Artemis's house and returned back to the Light forest with the help of Setu.

Part 7: Call to battle

When they returned back to the fairy base camp, they were just about to get on their rides when they heard the sound of a horn blow from the place where the tree stump was. When they arrived, they saw Alfreda looking frantically for them. “ Where have you two been!? Everyone was summoned here an hour ago.” Meredith and Took then realized that even though they spent some time in the Sepular, it did not affect the time in the living realm. “Oh never mind. Just now, a flaming arrow made of elm was fired near us. We took the fire out quickly and then both of you arrived. Everyone has already seen the plan for our battle formation.” Alfreda scolded. “ Sorry Alfreda, we were busy taking care of some personal business.” Meredith apologised. Alfreda was about to question them what kind of personal business they meant when another horn sounded from the direction that Meredith and Took just came from. “ Everyone! Head to the clearing quickly! The warning horn just sounded. And that means that the Dark Realm army has appeared.” The elf leader in the elf clan shouted. Everyone rushed to the clearing, some on foot and some riding horses, lions, Manticores, boars, and hippogriffs. Centaurs and every other animal that you could think of that resides in a forest, joined the fight as well. When they all reached the edge of the large clearing with lavenders and daffodils, they could see the dark realm on the other side. The army on the opposite contrasted greatly with the army on Meredith’s side. The Light forest’s army had noble creatures like brownies, elves, dwarves, young white magic witches, pixies, and leprechauns. The dark side was full of trickster creatures like mountain trolls, kelpies, ghouls, basilisks, old hag witches, and the dark king himself. The dark king was Deimos, the god of fear, son of Ares. He took over the throne by default after Ares was killed in battle with Artemis. His rule was rumoured to be equally ruthless as his father, but unlike Ares, he was not a tyrant and did give his subjects the right to debate amongst themselves in his presence. Even so, no one has dared question his rule even once. He was a towering, well-built man who exuded confidence and arrogance. His hair was as black as night but his eyes were the colour of twilight, a dark blue colour that pierced through your soul. He wore a black colour armour made entirely of obsidian and a brown bear cape over his shoulders with a red colour metal helmet that looked like it was dipped in blood. His ride was equally menacing as it was a chimera that towered over other animals. It opened with a growl and four sharp canines with serrated teeth could be seen in the sun as it breathed fire and smouldered nearby leaves.

Without warning, the dark realm army started charging towards the meadow. The war horn was then blown by an elf from Meredith’s army and the two sides started charging towards each other. The dark king was the last to leave the dark forest, protected by his subjects. With Meredith in the front line, her deer charged with the elves first, and with Took by her side, she was as swift as the wind. As the elves fired their arrows, she started drawing hers and that was when her locket started glowing red and moonlight started emitting from her helmet. When her arrow hit a troll, it turned into a goat and immediately became defenceless and lost its courage. As it faltered, it was slashed by a pixie with a blade and fell into a heap on the ground, blood seeping into the ground. When Meredith was charged by a dark-colored horse with spikes on its exterior, her arrow pierced through its hide and turned it into a bluebell. As Meredith was fighting her own battles, her pixie protectors were fighting the kelpies and their magic wands made of oak emitted a blue light that paralysed the kelpies and made them slowly turn into oak tree saplings. The white witches used their magic staff and were engaging evenly with the old hag witches. Red and blue ethereal light were exchanged in the crowd filled with curses and spell casting. The old hags who had fallen slowly faded into black smoke while some of the white witches who died, sadly turned into white balls of light. The basilisk and ghouls did massive damage to the dwarves and brownies as the differences in their sizes contrasted greatly and the ghouls’ bite turned some of the brownies into the undead. But with the help of leprechauns, they managed to hold off most of the attacks and bring down most of the ghouls and injure the basilisks. Both armies were going at it like light and darkness and the roars that could be heard from both sides shook the ground. The ongoing struggle was broken when the dark king’s black arrow made of hawthorn injured Meredith on her shoulder and she fell down in the midst of the pixies. The dark king then ordered his trolls to capture Meredith and Took. Even though Took’s sword was sharp and with his griffin flying in the air, managed to swoop down and inflict massive damage on most of the creatures; the moment the king on his chimera pulled Took’s griffin from the sky onto the ground and bit Took, he became weak from the venom and was dragged away by trolls. As soon as the Light forest army saw that their leader was captured, they lost faith and called everyone to retreat. With Meredith captured, the dark army also retreated and both sides called an unspoken truce.

When Meredith woke up, she was in a jail of some sort with brick walls and bars made of bones and held by handcuffs made of obsidian . “ Meredith, I see you are awake.” said a troll wearing black coloured rags. “ Where am I?” she asked him. He said nothing and dragged her out of the cell, down a long dark hallway that had torches on the wall lit by fire. As she felt her skin burn from being dragged on the concrete floor, she saw some of the elves and brownies in the other cells looking sadly at her with hope lost in their eyes. When she saw the Dark king sitting on a throne made of bones from different animals in the dark realm, she saw Took kneeling in defeat in front of him.

The king’s room was lit by blue fire on metal torches that were fixed on walls made of gold decorated with dead vines and the floor was made of grass with jasmine flowers littered around the room. Haggard and malnourished human slaves who wore tattered shirts and shorts stood at his side with handcuffs attached to a ball chain and held plates that carried fruit and meat. “ Welcome, Meredith. I hope you appreciated us taking care of that wound on your shoulder” Deimos said. His voice matched his appearance as it was low and gave Meredith the chills. “ Thanks for your help” Meredith growled sarcastically in response. Took turned around and his face fell when he saw her. “ I see you have met my son, Took” Deimos smirked and told the human slaves to get both of them a wooden chair to sit on. As both Meredith and Took were pushed down onto the chairs, Meredith stared at Took in disbelief with the hurt of betrayal in her eyes. Suddenly, Deimos became serious and addressed both of them. “Now that both of you know who you really are, I would like to appeal to your rational side Meredith and ask for a favour.” “ Do you know that you are the reason we are at war Meredith? When you were born your presence in the light forest made the magic in the realm become more powerful. This tipped the balance between both kingdoms. I merely want to restore the balance and that is why when you left, I hired Desdimona, an elf from your realm to incite a riot between the elves and the trolls to create more tension between both kingdoms so that I could create a reason for a war to weaken the Light forest”. At that moment, Desdimona entered the room in a dark brown leather armour, carrying a staff made of oak. She looked haughtily at Meredith and said “ I never really liked you, Meredith. When the dark king asked me to betray my kingdom as a double agent I readily accepted. You see, my mother was an elf who fell in love with a warlock from the Dark Realm and made me stay in the Light forest to avenge her death when Artemis found out the two of them. I guess you could say that was why I was voting for you to leave the Light forest. Meredith looked at her with a blank look and said “ I always suspected that you never liked me and I am not very surprised by this. You sicken me.” Desdimona rolled her eyes and walked to Deimos’s side and handed him a bottle filled with purple liquid.

“ Thank you Desdimona, I suppose you had a hard time stealing this from the Light realm,” Deimos said. “ Not at all my king” she replied and winked at Took. Took turned away in disgust and that was when Meredith remembered that when she saw Took looking at the potions in the potion shop, she saw Desdimona nearby. Turns out Took was distracting Meredith so that Desdimona could buy the potion from the seller without making Meredith suspicious. “Now that my plan is almost complete, I ask that you take this poison made from a mixture of deadly nightshade and water hemlock to the Light forest and poison the Wise One. He is the only thing- aside from you that is- that is strong enough to resist my darkness and protect the Light forest.” He continued. “ Please Meredith, help me in restoring the balance. Do you not find it unfair that the Light forest has always had more dominance and power than us? I will now let you go and you can decide for yourself what justice is.” He motioned the human slaves to unshackle Meredith and Took. When a female elf slave in a tattered grey dress with blonde hair and brown eyes rushed over to unshackle Took, Deimos looked at her with a slight amount of affection but his look then changed to one of arrogance. “ Took, don’t you want to say hello to your mother?” Deimos asked. “Yes, father” Took replied respectfully and whispered something to his mother. Took’s mother looked at him lovingly and smiled but cowered when Deimos told her to go back to her quarters. Meredith thought she saw Took scowl a little when Deimos ordered his mother but dismissed it as him feeling sorry for her. When both Meredith and Took were led back to the clearing by the same troll who took her from the jail cell, he walked back to the dark realm and disappeared into the forest. Took turned to her and was about to speak when she put up a hand and walked the way back to the Light forest, ignoring him the entire way.

Part 8: The Dilemma

As they were reaching the base camp, she was lost in her thoughts and was thinking about what Deimos said. Should she restore the balance she helped tip or should she stick to her loyal nature and tell her friends what Deimos was planning? When they reached the edge of the base camp, she saw Alfreda looking worried and discussing something with the rest of the pixie clan. When she emerged from the darkness into the soft yellow light created by the campfire; Alfreda and the rest of the pixies rushed over and hugged her and Took. “ Thank goodness you two are alive. We thought that the Dark King had killed both of you. We were just planning a rescue mission to raid the Dark King’s castle to rescue you two.” Alfreda said in relief. Meredith hugged them back and said that she needed to see the Wise One immediately to ask for advice. They led her to the Wise One and Meredith asked them if only Took and she could talk to the Wise One alone. When everyone but Meredith and Took left, Meredith put her hand into her pocket and felt the glass bottle in her palms. When she felt a wind breeze lift her hair a little, she knew that the Wise One was awake. “ Meredith and Took, glad to have you back. I heard what happened on the battlefield” he said. Meredith smiled and pretended like everything was normal but inside she was a complete wreck. “ I sense that you are troubled Meredith. What is it?” he said. “ I am just tired after everything that has happened.” She replied. At that moment she was deciding on her next action. “What was the right thing to do?” She thought. And then she remembered what Artemis said — that she should not trust everyone and should trust her gut. She thought about her fairy friends and knew without a doubt that she could trust them. She thought she could trust Took but was wrong and was betrayed. Artemis's wise words echoed in her head. Then she saw the truth. The dark realm was less powerful and her birth tipped the scale a bit. But Deimos was the god of fear and wanted her as an ally. If she decided to betray her kingdom, she was no better than those who she thought she could trust and would let Deimos get what he wanted and possibly aid in the ultimate destruction of her kingdom and the death of her friends. She made the decision of not letting the dark realm corrupt her and chose to follow her instincts. She told the Wise One of Deimos’s plan and told the truth of who Took really was. The Wise One listened to her. After a minute, he sighed in relief and said “ I knew you would make the right choice Meredith. You have always been loyal to the Light forest and a wise girl. Forgive Took. He might have been a spy but he has also been acting as a double agent and has already told us the truth about himself. He wants to overthrow his father’s reign to free his mother and the other human slaves.” Took looked down and told her it was true. He was fighting on the side of the Light Forest because he always found his father’s reign unfair and unjust. Meredith’s hardened expression faded and she patted his back. “ I forgive you Took. I guess I should have let you explain earlier at the clearing. I will help you save your mother. ” She said.

Afterwards, Meredith told everyone what had happened in Deimos’s castle and what she saw. She told them that she had a plan to overthrow Deimos with Took’s inside knowledge. So they laid out a plan on a piece of brown parchment. Meredith borrowed a quill and ink bottle from Rowena and sketched out a blueprint of the castle with Took’s guidance. The invading party would be divided into three teams. One team would distract the guards, one to free the slaves and prisoners, and one to take down Deimos and Desdimona. The pixie clan would distract the guard trolls, the brownies would free the slaves and the leprechauns would free the prisoners. Last but not least, Meredith, Took, Elena, and Alfreda along with the elves and white witches would take on Desdimona , Deimos, and his witches. But first, they would need to sneak by the other creatures in the forest to get to the castle. Took told them that the white witches could cast an invisibility spell that would prevent them from being seen by any of the creatures except for the king’s old hag witches. But since the witches all resided in the castle, that would not be a problem. With the approval of the Wise One, everyone gathered in their teams and got ready to enter the Dark Realm. As soon as the white witches cast the invisibility spell, everyone was visible to each other except for those from the Dark Realm and then the invasion began.

One by one, everyone tiptoed into the Dark Realm and as they passed by the hawthorn tree line, they could see a campfire in the distance where the basilisks and kelpies were sleeping around a big bonfire. The forest was similar to the light forest except that here there was a constant feeling of dread and emptiness and the air itself was staler and filled with the moans of the ghouls. As they neared closer to the castle, they saw a group of ghouls wandering around a few jasmine trees in the dark. None of the creatures had spotted them so far. And then, everyone saw the castle. It was a tall imposing tower, built out of black coloured brick and covered with poison ivy all around it. At the entrance gate, the trolls could be seen carrying swords and axes and walking around the perimeter of the castle grounds. The pixies then got to work and ran out to trolls, breaking their invisible spell. While the pixies cast spells at the trolls and kept them busy, everyone else ran to the entrance and passed through the big elm door, and spread out to their assigned places. The brownies and leprechauns ran to the slave quarters and dungeon while Meredith and the rest ran to the throne room. As they were about to round the corner from a series of stairs, Took’s blade stone glowed bright green. This alerted everyone and Took told them to stop as his sword can sense that danger is nearby. Suddenly, a series of red ethereal light flew past his head as he ducked in time. A group of old hag witches were running towards them! The white witches stepped in front of Took and started using their staff to fire back and yelled at the rest to move forward. Meredith and the rest nodded their head in thanks and continued to the throne room. After reaching a long hallway, there were ten rooms on each side with golden doors. A door with the carving of a vulture and skulls was right at the end of the hallway. “ That is the throne room. Prepare to fight the battle of your lives everyone.” Meredith said. Looking at their brave faces, she felt confident lead them to the door. As she opened it, she recognized the floor littered with jasmine flowers and the throne made of skulls. But Deimos was not there and neither was Desdimona. Just then, everyone heard clapping from behind them. They turned around and were horrified to see Deimos with a pixie head in his hand and Desdimona beside him covered with blood. As both of them walked towards the group, everyone let them pass and Alfreda started crying softly. The pixie’s head belonged to Elena, her best friend, and cousin.

As Deimos sat on his throne chair and Desdimona took her place beside him, she gave Meredith a smirk. Meredith wanted to rip out her mouth right where she was standing. “ Bravo everyone, for making it this far. Desdimona and I caught up with the pixies in the garden attacking the trolls. We disposed of this pixie in my hand and the rest ran away injured like dogs between their legs. Pathetic really.” He scoffed. Then he threw Elena’s head and it landed near Alfreda’s feet. Meredith saw Alfreda’s grief-stricken face and was thinking of abandoning the plan to capture the king and just kill both of them. Then Desdimona noticed the elves and laughed at them. “ Hello brothers and sisters, I hope you do not blame me too much for my actions. It was justified.” The elves glared at her and the leader, Altos said “ Desdimona, we do not consider traitors of the Light forest part of our clan. You are now an enemy and we will defeat you and give you the punishment you deserve.” Desdimona’s grin changed to a scowl and then she flipped her hair and proceeded to ignore them. Then Deimos turned to Meredith and said “ Meredith I am so disappointed in you. You do not see the big picture here. Oh well. If you will not join me I shall have to kill you along with my useless traitor son.” At this Took gave Deimos a cold look and said sarcastically “ I never considered you to be my father, father.” For a moment Deimos looked sad but even Meredith did not feel sorry for him. The reunion ended when Desdimona took out an elf sword that was sleek and made of lightweight silver and it had blood on it. Alfreda roared and charged at her and managed to injure Desdimona with her magic wand by casting a spell that gave Desdimona a deep cut on her waist. But before Desdimona could retaliate with her magic staff, the elves stepped in front of Alfreda and said that they would handle it and avenge Elena. The elves took out their swords and all charged at her but were blown back by her deflection spell. As the elves got to their feet and tried to reach her again, Meredith saw Deimos pull a blade from his side and was about to charge at his son. Meredith aimed her bow at him and he stopped in mid-charge. “ Don’t even think about it” she warned. To her surprise, Took pushed her hand aside and said: “ I have been waiting so long for this father, I can finally show you how I really feel about you.” Then as he charged at his father, Deimos waved his hand and said ‘ phobos, na me fovasai’. Suddenly, Meredith saw Took falter and collapse in a heap at Deimo's feet and Meredith saw Alfreda collapse too. Meredith was the only one who could withstand his power and as she shot an arrow at his chest, the arrow bounced off it but it broke Deimos's concentration and enabled Alfreda and Took to regain their courage and charge at him. As Took was about to stab Deimos and Alfreda was about to cast a spell when Deimos snapped his fingers and a whole army of specters appeared in front of him. Banshees, dead animals, and dead men charged at three of them but Took, Alfreda, and Meredith stood their ground. As the banshees shrieked, all three covered their ears but Meredith’s arrow pierced through them one by one and they vanished as she fought them. Took and Alfreda were stuck fighting the animals and dead men.

While Desdimona was fighting the elves with her sword and Meredith and her friends fighting the specters, Deimos was sitting on his throne enjoying the whole spectacle. As the specters disappeared, more kept appearing with Deimos conjuring them at will. The two battles were intense and Meredith almost got pierced through by a dead man’s sword but her holly shield created a force field that deflected the sword. But just as they could not take it anymore and even with some help from the elves, the specters and Desdimona proved to be too much for Meredith’s group. And then Meredith remembered her grandmother and her locket glowed red. Suddenly, Meredith could sense someone beside her. She looked to her left and saw Artemis! Artemis’s spirit smiled and when she looked at Deimos even he cowered a little. That weakened the specters and as the moonlight shined from Meredith’s helmet, the specters shrank back in fear of the light and returned to the darkness from which they came. Then Artemis held out her hand to Took and placed his hand in Meredith’s hand. Then just as both their eyes started to glow yellow and Meredith could feel the power from Took transfer to her, she raised her bow and shot an arrow that became engulfed in white and red light. Before Deimos could respond, the arrow hit him squarely in his chest and broke the obsidian armour like shattered glass. As the armour broke, Deimos got shot in the stomach by a long sword thrown by Took. Deimos howled in pain and Desdimona got distracted by him long enough for the elves to disarm her and tie her up with iron while taking away her magic staff. The elves then passed iron and silver chains to Took and he quickly tied up an injured Deimos. Once Deimos was securely tied up, Took withdrew the sword from Deimos and asked Alfreda to heal him. With both Deimos and Desdimona taken care of, Deimos groaning and Desdimona cursing at her fellow elves, Artemis gave Meredith a hug and shook Took’s hand before returning to Sepular. The group rushed to the stair landing to check on the white witches. Some of the white witches were cut up badly but all were alive. A few old hag witches had died but all of the old hag witches who remained alive were tied up by a white ethereal rope created by the white witches. Meredith told Alfreda to take care of the white witches and told the elves to watch Deimos and Desdimona.

Meredith and Took then rushed to the dungeon and saw that all of the prisoners had been freed and the human slaves were with them, giving them food and water. She thanked the brownies and leprechauns and rushed to the garden with Took. But before she opened the entrance door, she faltered and slowly opened it, anticipating massacre outside. But when she stepped out, most of the troll guards were dead but a few who had been knocked unconscious and guarded by the remaining pixies who fled to recover before coming back to take out the trolls. Some were crying because two pixies had died and their bodies lay lifeless on the ground. But when Rowena saw Meredith and Took alive, she told the rest and they cheered for the victory before going back to mourning for their fallen friends. When Meredith looked out into the forest, she noticed that no other creature was charging after them. Took said that they must have sensed the king’s defeat and decided the stay away. And then Meredith remembered the chimera and wondered why it did not protect the king and was nowhere to be seen. Then she ran to the stables and saw that it was asleep and had a sleeping spell cast on him. Rowena walked up to her and smiled while saying “ we had a hard time putting down the bugger. But eventually, he fell asleep and the king did not hear him sleeping because Elena had cast a silent spell. That was when the Dark king appeared and saw her walking away.” At saying Elena’s name, Rowena started crying and Meredith hugged her knowing that Elena was her sister. Meanwhile Took rushed to the King’s bedroom and removed the chains from his mother’s cuffs that were chained to the wall. With the victory, the King was locked up in a cell made of silver, in the dungeon created by the white witches that would hold him for all eternity. The slaves and prisoners were healed by the pixies and white witches and brought back to the Light forest where the humans’ memories would be wiped. The elves took Desdimona back to the Light forest for her judgement and those pixies who died had their bodies carried back to the Light forest to be properly buried.

Part 9 : The New Kingdoms

As the sun rose over a horizon stained with red on a cold spring morning, all those who had died in the great battle were properly mourned. Those brave pixies and white witches who sacrificed their lives in the invasion mission had been properly mourned and buried. Elena’s burial was the most heartbreaking as she was Meredith’s unofficial aunt and Alfreda’s and Rowena’s only family member. Lilies were put on her casket made out of holly wood and Alfreda and Rowena sang a mourning fairy song to put her to rest. And then important political business had to be taken care of. The elves put Desdimona before the Wise One to be judged in the great hall that resides in him. The elf leader asked that Desdimona be sent to the human world alone in exile. But the Wise One said that it was too cruel and asked Meredith what she thought. Meredith looked at Desdimona and remembered how even though Desdimona was a traitor, she had taught Meredith in the past on how to find edible fruits when Meredith was three years old. So she suggested that Desdimona gets stripped of her elf clan status and work as their servant alongside her traitor mother- who was caught living in a shack in the Dark Realm- for fifty years before reassessing whether she would officially be a part of the elf clan again. The Dark realm creatures had no king so they did not pose any more threat to the Light forest and eventually went back to their usual skulking activities. But the Wise One insisted that the Dark Realm needed a king so Took stepped up and replaced his father as the king of the Dark Realm. The creatures did not go against him and some like the old hag witches and the basilisks liked the idea. Meredith and the pixie clan went to his crowning ceremony that was carried out by the old hag witches as the king’s counsellors. As his elf warrior armour was replaced by a king’s royal blue shirt and pants, his mother whom he inherited his eyes from, sat next to him in a flowing blue dress made of silk and fitted with lavender flowers for lacing. Both mother and son looked kind and the creatures of the Dark realm became equal citizens in the forest under Took’s rule. The former king’s chimera eventually woke up and with Took’s kindness was set free but decided to become Alfreda and Rowena’s protector because they could have killed him but decided to spare his life during the invasion. At first, Alfreda was nervous about the chimera’s fire-breathing tendencies and venomous bite but eventually decided to keep him and give him a name, Edgar in memory of Elena. Meredith went back to the Sepular to visit Artemis and thanked her for her help in defeating Deimos.

Artemis said that she just helped Meredith in showing her the connection between demigods but Meredith did most of the work on her own. “ Meredith, if you want to see your mother I can tell you that she lives in Bruntsfield, Scotland. She does not know about my death so if you see her please help me tell her I love her and that I now live in Sepular.” Artemis said. As Meredith was about to leave Artemis asked her if she would consider ruling the Light forest as Selena was never interested in being a queen and Meredith was the last in the line of Queens. Meredith agreed to take the crown and asked the Light forest inhabitants and the Wise One for their acceptance of her as the next queen. They accepted her request readily and the next day everyone in the Light forest and Took with his mother gathered inside the Wise One’s tree and waited for Meredith to enter the amphitheatre. The walls were decorated by firefly light bulbs and the floor was strewn with bluebells and daisies. When Meredith entered the wooden amphitheatre through the big door, everyone from above clapped and cheered as she walked towards Gertrude who was wearing a white and sleeveless long dress and a green cloak. Meredith was wearing a green gown made of oak tree leaves stitched together with spider web silk and boots made of brown leather and wearing a crown made of azalea and butterfly bush flowers. “ Everyone who is gathered here today will witness Princess Meredith become Queen of Light forest. Please stand to pay respects to the new queen.” Gertrude announced. As everyone stood up, Gertrude asked Meredith to repeat these words after her. “ I will promise to every creature in the Light forest that I will watch over them from my days as a queen till the day my reign ends,” Meredith repeated the phrase and Gertrude replaced the flower crown on Meredith’s head with an elegant golden crown. Everyone then bowed to Meredith and proceeded to cheer for her again while throwing flowers near her.

After a few days of celebration in the Light forest, Meredith suddenly remembered her other life and told the pixie clan that she needed to visit her parents in the human world to reassure them that she was fine. So after changing back into her old clothes, they led her down the very same path filled with undergrowth moss and pine trees and she emerged from the forest near her hometown. As she walked back to the suburbs, she saw lampposts and benches pasted with her missing posters and she felt guilty for not telling her parents about her disappearance the night she returned to the Light forest. When she reached her house, it gave the same inviting and warm atmosphere that she always loved. She entered through the back door and into the kitchen and was about to call out to her parents when she heard them entering through the front door. When they saw her, their jaws dropped simultaneously, and rushed to hug her. “ Meredith where have you been!? We have been looking everywhere for you for the past two days!” “ Why are you covered in dirt?”. She looked down in guilt and said that she had tried to hike in the nearby forest and got lost along the way. Luckily she found a shed that had a hermit living in there. He gave her free lodging that night and told her how to go back the next day. She only managed to emerge from the forest on the third day because she still had a hard time finding the path back to the main road. Her parents looked relieved and hugged her again with her mother sobbing in relief. They immediately told her to wash up and made for her a sandwich as they guessed that she was starving from walking through the forest. Her parents then grounded her for three days for not telling them about her nighttime hike. But on the last day of her grounding, they let her go visit her friends to tell them what happened to her. She did visit Darla and Bella and told them everything but of course, none of them believed her. Then she brought them to the edge of the forest and that was when Alfreda appeared and escorted them into the Light forest along with Meredith. And the rest is history.

Epilogue

A year later, Meredith and her parents went to Edinburg for a holiday. There Meredith took a day trip alone to Selena’s village to see her. As Meredith knocked on the door that had a deer and moon insignia on the top, a woman with auburn hair and green eyes opened the door. It was like looking in the mirror and Meredith just stood there too stunned to move. Selena immediately recognized her and engulfed her in a hug and brought her into her home. Meredith was at first guarded around Selena but as Selena told Meredith more about her father, Meredith started to understand why Selena did what she did. Meredith reminded Selena too much of her husband as both of them had a cheerful personality and were both stubborn to the core. In return, Meredith told Selena about Artemis’s death and her crowning ceremony. Selena cried for a while and after Meredith consoled her, told Meredith that she would return to Alice Holt and the Light forest for a while to see Artemis. So this is the end of the tale of a ‘ human girl’ who was abandoned in a forest 16 years ago. Meredith ruled the Light forest for another 100 years and remained in a good relationship with Took, her best friend. Both met at yearly meetings in the clearing filled with lavender and daffodils and helped create a diplomatic peace between the Light forest and the Dark Realm. Meredith being half human still lived with her parents during her reign and visited the forest whenever she could along with her friends Darla and Bella who became close friends with Alfreda and Rowena.

~ The End~

Side note: ‘ phobos, na me fovasai’ roughly translates to ‘Run away, fear me’ in Greek.