Chapter 9: The Fairy Without Wings [Pt 2]
'He'll… he'll let me go?'
The downtrodden Fairy hesitated at the words she was hearing. Her conflicted expression was enough to depict the uncertainty she felt concerning whether or not she could trust Elish.
But, it wasn't as though she had a choice.
She dropped her fist and fell to her knees, looking downcast as though she was reliving the entire thing. The memory of her past, what she had lost, must have been too painful for her.
"D-do I have to say it?" She asked him, her eyes trailing as she shamefully hung her head on her slumped shoulders.
"Yes. Tell me, or else there would be no point," Elish responded as calmly as he had asked the question.
His voice wasn't threatening in the slightest, but the girl understood that her life was only being spared because of what she had to say
Lying wasn't an option too, considering the unfathomable depths of Elise's power.
It seemed they both understood her inability to refuse pretty well, and while the Fairy struggled to speak, Elish watched her in silence.
What form of expression would she make as she told him her story? Anger? Rage? Self-Pity?
He wanted to see for himself.
"I was banished from my people. I… did something I shouldn't have done… something that was forbidden." She started by saying.
The Fairy then looked up at Elish to see whether or not he was listening, and he was.
"Continue," he told her.
"I wandered around on my own for quite a while until I met them, the ones I called my friends. They were adventurers. They gave me warm food, shelter, and lovely company. I was… happy," she now had a sad smile on her face, and her eyes twinkled with hints of nostalgia.
However, not long after the smile appeared, her face slowly began to darken.
"But. I didn't know. If only I knew. That they. That they.," Her voice kept breaking as she became overcome with emotion.
Whatever experience she had must have been too painful to remember, yet she oozed all of it from her lips to satisfy the man who desired to know.
"Continue," Elish's voice nudged her, causing her body to tremble slightly before she continued.
"They sold me to the soldiers. The soldiers who I had grown to respect in the town where we stayed. They sold me to them to repay their debt. Fairies are a rare commodity and go for a high price, and they told me they would be set for life after selling me…" Her lips were quivering now.
Of all the things she had said, this was the emotional height—the precipice of her pain.
"Everything we had together, they were all lies!" She screamed, tears gushing down her face.
"T-They cut off my wings since I was too powerful and I resisted them. They said they would sell them as a separate commodity, and I would be sold as a slave! T-they weren't even sorry."
She was crying profusely now, struggling to speak as she raised her voice.
"W-why? How could they do that to me? I thought we were friends? I thought I had finally found where I belonged. Everything was a lie. They took everything from me! Why?!" She bellowed in pain and sorrow.
"How could they? What did I do to them to deserve this!? I never did anything wrong! I have never done anything wrong! Why do they keep betraying me after everything? Why do they keep leaving me? What did I do!?" She cried as she screamed at herself.
At some point, she wasn't even speaking to Elish. She was screaming and crying at herself.
These questions she asked… they were questions she desperately sought to answer, yet found nothing that could properly address them.
And so, the result of all that accumulated pain was despair.
'I see now…' Elish thought as he looked at her silently.
He could tell that she wasn't only talking about the soldiers and adventurers. Even before that, she had been betrayed.
She must have had a whole lot of pain, too much for her to even understand.
The pain of betrayal and loss had been forcefully embedded within her… just like him.
There was only one thing left to know.
"And? What are you going to do about it?" His question hung in the air as he coldly stared down at her pathetic state.
The answer she would give after all that she had seen and experienced… Elish wanted to know.
She had to tell him!
"I-I don't know! I'm too weak... I know I am too weak to seek revenge. Too broken to hate them. Even thinking about their faces hurts so much…" Her voice began to recede as she lifted her face to look at Elish.
"I just want to live. Is that so wrong? I want to live. I want to be happy, why can't I just be happy? I just..."
She cried even more, at her powerlessness and weakness.
She could do nothing but cry.
'This girl…' Elish looked into her eyes and his thoughts flowed seamlessly.
Despite the strong front and tough act she had been putting up earlier, after telling her story, everything had unraveled.
He could now understand her clearly.
"Little one, you hate yourself, don't you?"
The young girl froze at his words. She was speechless as more tears streamed down her face.
For the first time, she felt it.
Someone understood her to her soul. She was exposed, at her weakest, and finally, she heard what she had been thinking and drowning herself in all this time.
Yes. Despite all the pain and horrors the world had shown her… there was no one she hated more than herself.
Elish slowly bent his knees, crouching so he could attain the same level as her
And finally… he took the Fairy's head and hugged her.
"I understand."
As the girl rested her head on his shoulder, still frozen in shock, more tears began to well up in her eyes. They felt too overwhelming to resist.
She knew she had to let it all out.
"Uwahhhhhhh!!!"
"It's not your fault," Elish whispered to her as the evidence of her pain streamed down.
"It's okay now. It's okay…"
Tears welled up in her eyes as she bawled. Endless tears streamed down her face as even Elish felt the pain from her wailings.
The pain of this girl was much.
She had lost it all, but unlike him, she couldn't do anything about it. She was powerless and without purpose.
She was going to live the rest of her life in emptiness and despair.
… That is, if she had not met him.
"I will give you purpose. I will fill your emptiness." Elish told her as she cried and rested on him, like a tender and fragile baby.
"Your hatred. Your weakness. Your pain. I desire all of those things…"
The words floated into her head as his body encompassed her and offered her solace nothing else could.
Even as his hands slowly trailed across her back, she felt no shame or fear.
Just bliss.
"Come with me, little one," Elish whispered.
She raised her head from his shoulder, and while her body was still on his, she looked at his face. Her eyes were swollen due to her crying, and her face was wet from the tears, but she could see him clearly.
And their eyes interlocked.
She looked into him, and he looked into her. She then sniffed and smiled at him. This was not the first time Elish saw her smile, as she had leaked a sad one when telling her story.
However, for the first time since they met, the Fairy's smile contained more than mere hints of sadness.
They contained something more.
"Astra," She suddenly muttered to him in a low tone.
"What does that mean?"
She then let out a soft laugh in response to his slightly confused expression. It almost felt like she was making fun of him, but he allowed it.
Perhaps seeing her so cheerful made it enjoyable.
"It's my name. My name is Astra." At this point, a full smile was already planted on her face.
Elish smiled in response to that, and he used his fingers to wipe off the last vestiges of tears on her face. As his cold fingers swept through her skin, she felt a shiver of strange delight.
It was strange how her heart was racing so much despite all that had just happened.
'Well then, Astra, what will you do now?" Elish finally asked her.
Would she accept his proposal, or did she have a will of her own?
"What do you want me to do?"
The answer was neither.
Her will, as Elish intended from the start, was tied to his.
She was his.
Elish rose up from where he knelt with her, leaving her still on the ground. The dirt that clung to his attire were brushed away, and he stood magnificently before her.
Astra looked up at him, but his face was no longer on her. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the sky in a forlorn, distant gaze.
"I understand your pain, Astra, for I have suffered the same. Your hate feels familiar, and your tears remain a reminder. All of it… they take me back to the life I once had."
He then turned back down to face her. The smile on his face had vanished, and a serious vibe took over. "Perhaps that is why you intrigue me so much."
Silence reigned, and for a moment the two only looked at each other.
And with that, an understanding was passed across.
"My name is Elish, the one this world knows as the Evil One."
One look at Astra's face showed Elish that the girl was neither frightened nor repulsed. Surprise was etched in her eyes, certainly, but there seemed to be something else within it.
Something expectant.
"Astra, I desire to destroy this world," Elish finally returned her secret with his.
Silence peaked once more as both parties maintained ye contact.
Neither side even moved for a while, until Elish stretched forth his hand.
"Will you help me?"
The outstretched hand of the Monarch served as an invitation to chaos. Only those who had descended into the realm of insanity would even dream of reaching out to accept it.
Yet…
"I understand." Astra stretched out her tiny hand and connected with Elish's strong grip.
He raised her up, drawing her closer to him as their faces neared each other.
There was still a lot of pain within Astra's eyes, but Elish could see more now.
There was a desire being born within them that caused him to smile in expectation.
"When do we begin?" Astra asked him, her tone resolute.
'That's the spirit, little one. I like it.'
He could never have expected that the coincidental encounter he had with this Wingless Fairy would alter the course of everything he had thought of this far.
But Elish didn't mind in the slightest.
No… one could say he even preferred things this way.
'She will be my first piece, one of the many disciples I will turn from the path you have all set. I will free her… just as I will free the rest of this world.'
That would be the ultimate act of vengeance he could wreak.
"It has already begun."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone