Realm of Wings

A\n: Alright, uploading this chapter with my tablet while being on vacation, so spacing might be strange. Sorry for that!

Kallan, sitting against the palace walls while his mother, Trixie and Neil came outside as well:

“What happened here?!” Mother asked me while looking towards the golden orb.

“You tell me, Jade is inside of it and you seemed to understand what was going on.” I stated.

“Watch how you talk to your mother!” Dad scolded me.

“The moment Jade stepped through the portal, she asked me if Jade had been here before! So she knows what is going on!” I yelled while getting back on my feet again.

My father wanted to interrupt me, stood before me even, to want to stop me from yelling any louder, but my mother interrupted him in her turn. Shaking her head and agreeing to explain her question. “Nyx, he will have to know eventually. Especially now, as he found himself a suitable woman.” Mother said and I anxiously waited, because what has it to do with this, that I have found myself a woman now?

“Fine.” My father agreed and my mother turned around to face me after. “Son, this is something that only parents get to hear as soon as babies are born.” She started and now it made sense as to why me finding a woman would matter. “A master from the nearest cathedral in our kingdom visits the family and performs a binding ritual to temporarily lock a Fae from its magic.” She started and I wanted to reply to it immediately but my mother raised her hand. “Let me finish.” She said and I didn’t ask further, even though I found it idiotic that we did this.

“This is because when the Fae are so small, they often aren’t strong enough to contain all the power that is soaring through their veins. They keep their wings, but the magic that is provided by them is released again years later when the body is fully grown and strong enough to handle it.”

“The ritual! That’s why the power felt so familiar!” I said, completing her thoughts.

“Yes, you’re right. The power has always belonged to you, it was just awakened with the ritual again.”

“But Jade hasn’t been through this binding ritual and still survived.” Neil butted in and I nodded.

“Which means that she is strong enough to handle the magic that she has. But since she grew up in a different world, one without a fountain, she has never experienced the full intensity of our powers.” Mom continued to explain but never looked towards Neil.

I ignored her for the fact that she didn’t acknowledge his presence for now, but eventually, I will tell her that he is Jade’s loyal companion and that he is in his rightful place to be here.

“Then I wonder how much stronger she can get when she gets accustomed to it.” Trixie chuckled and I grew a small smile as well. “What do you mean?” Mom asked her.

“She can do amazing things mother, but that will be explained later.” I said and for a moment my mother wanted to continue her questions about it, I could tell because for just a split second her eyes squinted but she quickly smiled again to hide it. I wonder if there is something more behind this power-locking ritual…

“Well anyway, I think our magic has overruled her and in some sort of protection, as she was vulnerable when in pain, she created this shield.” Mother continued.

I’m glad that we had some sort of explanation as to what had happened to Jade, but there are still a few things that are bugging me and I hoped that now my parents were opening themselves up to questions, I could perhaps ask some more.

“Alright, even though I don’t like it that someone decided to strip us from our magic for hundred-forty years, it still doesn’t explain why Jade doesn’t have wings or why her mind is blocked for any of us.” I said.

“What?!” My father said perplexed. “That can’t be my son, I mean, the no-wings part can be explained since she wasn’t brought up here, but the fact that she has her mind blocked is not possible. There is no soul that I can’t read.” He stated.

“Well you can try, you are stronger than me, but neither I nor Trixie was able to do so.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“But you’ve said that she didn’t go through any ritual at birth, right?” Mother asked and I nodded. “And she didn’t go through any ritual when turning the right age, let alone a royal ritual where we add the power to read minds, right?” She asked again and again I nodded.

My parents both walked up towards the golden orb and focused their gaze upon Jade. They were probably trying to read her mind, to get through to her while she was in this weird unconscious state. But when they looked towards each other and took some time to probably think their way through some internal conversation, I knew that they weren’t able to read her either.

“We think that the shield might be blocking her, so we just have to wait for her to wake up.” Mother said once she came back again.

“Now, about her powers. What is she really capable of?” My mother carefully asked, smiling as if she was genuinely interested but there was something weird about her facial expressions. I don’t know what it was, but she was acting rather strange, instantly returning the curiosity from my side as I wanted to know what they could be hiding.

“Oh wow, you should have seen her! She can use her energy to lighten up her blades and the most special thing she can do is that she-

“She can fight really well as she is fast and strong; and as Trixie said, she can use her core’s energy to make her blades an extension of her body and slice through pretty much anything. It’s wonderful to see actually.” I interrupted her before she could tell them about Jade’s healing abilities. I even added a smile to show off my wonder towards Jade.

I know that it’s really hard to lie to my parents as they are the strongest creatures alive right now, but I do hope that I could have distracted them just enough so that they wouldn’t get to hear of that specific ability.

Trixie got my cue from me interrupting her and immediately became quiet to focus on her mind more, for my father to have trouble penetrating hers.

“She can heal others?!” My dad suddenly shouted and walked his way over towards Neil.

Shit… I hadn’t thought of him not being able to block his mind. Besides, Jade had said to have healed Neil on plenty of occasions and besides her being able to heal others, it is unheard of to use any form of helpful magic on creatures other than Fae.

“Is that true?” My mother asked with disbelief, but I didn’t answer her and walked over towards Neil and stood right in front of my father before he could attack him in any way.

“Don’t kill him!” I commanded my father.

“He is a human that has been graced by Fae magic! So, give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill him, right here, on this spot!” He shouted in my face.

“Because he is Jade’s companion, and if you kill him she will never agree to marry me!” I didn’t want Neil to know it like this, but there was no other way. He will probably tell her, the moment she wakes up, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I want her to be mine anyway.

My father took a step back and glared past me to look at Neil. “Fine, he doesn’t look like he is going to live long anyway.” He huffed and walked inside with my mother hot on his tail.

I took a deep breath, as I had never seen my father as angry as this. But even though he acted so infuriated there was still the reaction of my mother when she heard about Jade being able to heal others. My eyes drifted towards the golden globe and I sighed deeply.

“I know you’re special, but why?” I whispered.

“What was that all about? And why didn’t you want them to know about her healing abilities?” Trixie asked me, once my parents were far enough to not hear us talking.

“I don’t know, I just got a feeling that something is wrong. We need to find out about her roots Trix, and quick too.” I said and she nodded. “Do you still know someone that works in the library?” I asked her.

“I can do you one better, I know someone who works at the archives.” She smiled and went straight inside, to get this person to work.

“And you, Neil, you better stay close to me. We don’t want you to face my father when you’re alone.”

“Yes Master Kallan, thank you for that. Although I have one question.” He said.

“Yes Neil, I went to other worlds to find myself a suitable wife. And even though I’ve had my differences with Jade, I do believe her to be the one I was searching for.” I replied to his question without him even asking it.

“I see.” Was all that he replied but I could hear him thinking something else.

“No Neil, I’m not going to force her into anything.” I chuckled. “I know that she is stubborn and strong, but those are both qualities I like in her. So I will do anything I can to win her over.”

“I really should find myself a way to block my mind…” He muttered, at which I had to laugh.

“Don’t worry old man, I’ll keep you safe. Let’s get inside and wait for Jade to wake up again. My room has a view right over this garden, so we can see what happens to her from up there.” I explained and he agreed to my plan.

By the time we had reached my room, had ordered for servants to bring us an extra bed, pillows and food; guards had surrounded the golden orb where Jade was still lying in the centre. Some relief had been there, as I knew that she would probably get out of the orb as soon as her body was adjusted to all the extra magic that was present here in E’ne Belanore. But there was also worry, as there was nothing to know about how long it may take for her to be this way.

Besides, Trixie hadn’t returned yet with some new information and neither did any of my parents when I asked the servants to bring me either of them.

It had been hours now and I couldn’t deter myself from gazing down to the garden that had been attacked as if demon-leprechauns had eaten their bellies full, just like they did on Earth when they left these odd circular shapes in the farmer’s fields.

Of course, they didn’t leave any trace of being there, as they just teleported themselves back to the red planet to sleep for another decade or so. But still, the area around the orb was destroyed, where in every direction from the centre of the orb, the same distance of pulled out bushes and pushed away stones had created an even larger circle.

“Is she awake yet?” Neil grumbled as he awoke from his sleep.

“No, go back to sleep, it’s the middle of the night.” I replied and he drifted off again.

I was going to stay awake until the old man had gotten himself enough sleep for us to switch, to watch over our lady on turns. And when she wakes up, I have to make things right with her.

The sound of someone bolting through the door snapped me out of my thoughts and made me curse as my coffee, which I had held in my hands, had spilt all over me.

“There is something really bad going on, Kallan.” Trixie said as soon as she had closed the door.

“What then?” I asked her while I tried to wipe the coffee from my shirt but soon lifted my head when I heard her sniff and she wiped some tears from her face. “What’s wrong, Trix?”

“You were right Kallan, about your bad feeling I mean. Because, as soon as I had let my friend search for Fae with the power to heal others and he said that it might take a few days to come back, I had agreed to it and wanted to clear my head for a while. But after a walk through the forest I had returned to the palace and… well…” She stuttered and hid her head in her hands.

“What Trix!? Tell me!” I said to her while taking hold of her arms, forcing her to look up at me.

“They’ve killed him! I found him dead in the courtyard!”