Discovering Fae

Raiz’s entire attitude changed. He was still about as cuddly as a cactus, but at least he wasn’t wholly embracing his prickly tendencies. So far.

He led us through the greenery in silence after my dad gave me a rather scathing look that I’m sure he thought would be withering, but somehow just didn’t hit the mark. Even with the smoldering remains of the previous vegetation, Phoenix Hollow was beautiful. We passed by a river that was brilliantly clear and sparkled like diamonds in the sun. I was tempted to go for a swim, it was so inviting.

There were small animals hiding in the new greenery as well. They were timid, but not overly cautious as I would have thought them to be and it made me wonder about Phoenix Hollow. How many other phoenix were there? How violent was the end of their life cycle? How long did it take for them to be reborn? Was it possible for a new phoenix to be born? Were there any other beings that lived here besides the other phoenix?

“You are correct in the assumption that she is growing wings, Quinn,” Raiz said as he walked into this vast stone building.

It was unlike anything I had ever seen, but if I had to compare it to something, the Roman Colosseum would be it. A giant open area in the middle, surrounded by fully enclosed stone walls that looked like an actual home. I could see the open middle of the round building through the occasional opening in the wall that resembled a window, but with a heavy stone block nearby that, I could only guess, would fit inside the holes perfectly to shut out the elements.

“How is that even possible? Mary’s family doesn’t have wings,” Dad asked as we continued walking. “And her bloodline always appears over the other parents.”

“You are assuming that she’s getting your wings,” Raiz said, pushing open a heavy set of double doors to reveal a massive library that made my heart thump like a drum. And I wasn’t a bookish person.

“There’s only two options, Raiz. If she’s not getting fairy wings, what’s going on?” Dad asked.

“Care to take a guess, Princess?” Raiz asked over his shoulder as he pushed a ladder along it’s track until it was where he wanted it. “Surely, someone said something during your Awakening.”

“There were lots of people that had wings,” I pointed out.

“Those that failed the Awakening, at least in Mary’s family, appear in the trials of the next as what they would have been had they not been of the royal line,” he said, climbing the ladder to nearly the top. “But, that’s not important right now. As we all know, the royal bloodlines are unlike any other and still, even after millennia upon millennia, has no name. You are not fairy, nor pixie, nor dragon, or any other race or species that has ever been.”

“The great family secret,” Dad rolled his eyes. “Seems like no one has any real idea aside from crackpot theories and older than ancient superstitions.”

“Charles said that there was a legend that we came from an angel and a demon,” I said, looking at Dad.

“That’s one of the more longer lived opinions,” he rolled his eyes.

“It’s true,” Raiz said, pulling a scroll from it’s place with extreme care before coming back down the ladder. “I was a young hatchling, fresh from my first cycle, when I was tasked with copying these records to prevent the loss of information as the paper fell apart.”

“Why haven’t you said anything about it until now?” I asked as he laid it on a table and carefully unrolled it.

“It was never relevant until now,” he replied. “We do not offer information freely, Princess. It causes problems.”

“Lovely,” I rolled my eyes.

“Here is the account of the beginning of the royal lines, all of which have failed, save one,” he said motioning to the tiny script that covered the six feet of paper that was now unfolded. The words were broken by the occasional image, drawn with extreme care.

“If you expect me to sit here and read this, you’re going to be sorely disappointed,” I raised an eyebrow. “What language is this anyhow?”

“One that is long since faded into history,” he smirked.

“You know, if you weren’t such a jerk, you’d actually be almost tolerable, Feathers,” I smiled at him.

“Glad to have your approval, Princess,” he chuckled. “Basically, it tells of a great war. Between beings, known as the Celestial, and demons. It goes on to give detailed descriptions of both. The Celestial were fair featured, much like the elves of now, only with finer features and more beauty than any other species. Demons were not like the ones we now think of when hearing the word. These were more like what humans picture.”

“Biblical,” I nodded my understanding.

“Exactly,” he said. “Both were able to disguise themselves, much like all fae do, so it’s likely there were far more of both than people ever really knew about. The descriptions go on to say that both species had wings.”

“One with white, pure wings of feathers, the other leathery and dark, I’m guessing,” I said.

“Not quite white, but yes, that was the common coloring,” Raiz nodded as he pointed to the two drawings of a Celestial and a demon.

“If they hated each other enough to go to war, how did the royal line come about?” Dad asked.

“Fate,” Raiz said and moved to another image. A female Celestial and a male demon, standing next to each other with half of their bodies superimposed on each other.

“Soul Bonded?” I guessed.

“You’re smarter than you look,” Raiz nodded, and I glared at him. “There’s a reason why the real origin of the royal line was hidden from knowledge.”

“The powers that be weren’t that thrilled, I assume. Typical kind of reaction to forbidden relationships,” I guessed again.

“You’d be right. The parents of the Celestial were the leaders of her kind, and the male was the reigning demon king,” Raiz said. “There was such animosity between the two races, that they were hunted everywhere they went. You see, it was believed that the abilities of the offspring created by such a union would be too powerful. A belief that proved, mostly, true.”

“How come no one in the family knew any of this?” Dad asked.

“It was kept from everyone, even the family, to protect them,” Raiz said. “Most of the children that came from these two beings never had wings, but there are a few that did.”

“So, my wings aren’t some kind of mix up inside of me?” I asked.

“No. You’re perfectly not mixed up,” Raiz smirked again. “It is, however, incredibly rare. In all of the history we have recorded here, there has only been two others that grew wings.”

“Why?” Dad asked the question that was burning my mind as we spoke.

“Honestly, I don’t have any idea. There is one thing that I am certain of, though,” he said, looking at me. “Those that grew wings before her were far more powerful than the rest of the family ever was. The records do suggest that the wings indicate which part of their origin they will take after. One had the pure feathers of the Celestial and was a great healer and the other inherited the black leather of the demon and brought about great destruction.”

“Is there any way to tell before they burst?” Dad asked.

“That sounds disgusting,” I wrinkled my nose.

“There simply isn’t nearly enough information to answer for certain,” Raiz shrugged. “And, yes, Princess, it will be disgusting. And you’ll be miserable.”

“Is there anything else about those others that could tell us what happened to make her start growing wings all of a sudden?” Dad asked. “I’ve never heard of any wings coming in that didn’t come with the Awakening.”

“There is one thing, but I doubt there’s any correlation,” Raiz said thoughtfully, scanning over the various shelves around the room. “Both went missing for some length of time after their Awakening.”

“Wait,” I held up a hand. “Care to elaborate on that?”

“That’s it,” he shrugged. “They were there, on the pages of history, then they weren’t. It wasn’t until years later that they returned.”

“Is there anything, like a diary or a journal, that belonged to either of them?” I asked.

“Well, yes. Both recorded what happened during their time out of the eye of history, but not even the oldest of us know what language it is,” he answered.

“May I see them?” I asked. “I doubt I’ll be able to read it, but I know someone who’s older than most dirt. Literally.”

“They are being copied to new paper right now, but I’m sure they’ll be finished in a few days,” he nodded.

I looked back at the scroll on the table. I couldn’t read a thing, but the pictures were detailed enough to give you the general idea. One, however, didn’t seem to fit the rest of them.

“What’s this one about?” I asked Raiz.

There was a woman with the feathered wings of a Celestial, but instead of the brilliant white or shining silver that was shown in the other images, these were dark. Black, perhaps, but certainly a deep gray. She had a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other and wore some type of armor. She was shown in mid-battle with some kind of creature that looked like it was a mix between an angry buffalo, a rabid dog, and a hungry bear.

“I admit, I’m not entirely sure,” he said hovering his fingers over the words. “It’s almost prophetic since it uses words like “will” and “when”, but there’s no indication of time.”

“What’s that thing she’s fighting?”

“Not a clue. It’s only referred to as “The Beast”,” he said. “Should I copy a translation for you? You should be leaving soon. There is a youngling coming to the end of her first cycle and this is not the place you want to be when that happens. Well, you might be fine, Princess, but I can’t say the same for Quinn.”

“Yeah, yeah, lack of flames and fire. Time to get out of the pot before it boils,” Dad rolled his eyes.

Raiz chuckled and turned to get some paper and ink while Dad fanned himself a little.

“Why don’t I feel the heat like that?” I asked, noticing the sweat on my dad’s face.

“I can only guess it’s because of the same reason why your suddenly growing wings. Something triggered the dormant parts of your bloodline,” he shrugged. “If what the humans believe to be angels are the Celestial, then it stands to reason that the demons they believe in are the same, or near enough, to the ones involved in the war. That would include their origins, I’d suspect.”

“Heaven and Hell?”

“Humans have very narrow minds, Princess,” Raiz laughed. “They see what they want to see and will believe just about anything they’re told.”

“You do know that until a few months ago, I was one of those narrow-minded humans, right?” I glared at him.

“You never were. You just believed you were,” he held up a finger as he folded the paper with the translation on it and handed it to Dad. “They see a great winged man flying down from above the clouds and they assume that man lived up there. Then the imagination makes things more and more fanciful until you have the heavens. How far of a stretch would it be to create Hell?”

“Some people would take that very... poorly,” I tweaked an eyebrow as he rolled the scroll up carefully.

“It’s no concern of mine,” he shrugged. “Let them believe what they will. It makes them happy and gives them the comfort and security they want. Who am I to deny them that? It’s also why we don’t so easily give out information, Princess.”

“And I would be so lucky,” I smiled.

“We are very lucky,” Dad said, fanning himself a little more. “The Phoenix are the best and most accurate record keepers, and their rebirths allow them to memorize and restore much more.”

“You look like you’re about to melt,” I grimaced. “I don’t think Mom would like it if that happened, so how about we continue this elsewhere before we get turned into a pile of goop?”

“Goop?” Raiz asked.

“Sludge, gelatinous mass, the jelly of a human body after a few days' postmortem,” Dad said, taking my hand and pulling me to the door behind him.

“I am never eating jelly again,” I grimaced.

Once we were outside, Dad held on to me and took to the sky, flying quickly.

“It’s about time,” he said next to my ear as the air grew cooler the farther from the round building we got. “Mal’s noticed we’re gone again and is in a bit of a fit.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“A fully sealed Bond and decades upon decades of practice,” he answered. “I can kind of feel what your mother thinks. Like an incredibly educated guess.”

“Mal’s going to ground me like a toddler,” I groaned.

“Or chain himself to you,” Dad chuckled.