Julian sat on the mushroom stool, it was comfortable, oddly enough; he made a note to get one of them for his own apartment. Though, it donned on him that his apartment might not even be standing anymore, not after that creature had attacked his city. He remembered the sight of the beast vividly -a nightmarish creature in its own right- and his skin crawled. Its face resembled nothing he'd ever seen, though he remembered seeing some human features, mandible, eyes, lips; it had sharp teeth, hooked inward like that of a piranha and its body was a long serpentine thing, with no arms at all. The last thing he remembered was it eating many of the citizens while they gawked in horror at the beast, they never had a chance.
"Julian." Karie beckoned his attention, and he snapped out of his daydream ready to proceed with his indoctrination. It was a process of two faeries granting him access to his wings, an initiation of sorts; one which activated his ability to have any kind of wings, and allow him flight in no time. "First we must hide our power from the outside influence, in these times we can never be too sure of who's watching us from a distance," Karie said while leading them into a dark room which candles lit as they entered, the entire place seemed to radiate some kind of power and it gave Julian goosebumps. Its walls were rigid, and solid, as though they were not a part of the structure around them; instead, it existed within and yet without ownership, dependency. "We use this room to practice our magic, well, I do, this is my house, though I do let some of the civilians use it in times of dire need." She boasted and closed the door behind them which was the same color as the roof, bright candy red except it sported an adornment at the center of the door; a miniature light sprite fluttering its wings.
As Julian made his way towards the middle of the room, the door shut behind him, the sound made him jump while turning to face Karie who unveiled a smile. "Spooky huh? In times of peace this used to be my recreation room...", she trailed off but continued, "Now it's vital to our survival and well being." Under their feet was a long rug, it had strange insignias and designs that moved through the fabric, it was an enchanted rug that allowed the owner to sweep things they didn't want see under the rug. Karie paced for a while before kicking up the rug to reveal a switch; she pressed it and Julian felt like part of himself was being torn apart. Fiodora and Karie smiled as they watched him while he held on to his head as though a splitting migraine was taking him. They had become accustomed to the sensation of having their magic torn apart little piece by little piece. Eventually, Julian settled down and the feeling of being ruptured from himself ceased, he wasn't sure it ever would. "What the hell was that?", He asked though he had some kind of idea as to what had happened already; even so, he was poignant at what occurred. Karie smiled small, and walked towards Julian who had a disgruntled face; she held on to his hand and guided him towards the center of the room.
There, she and Fiodora held hands along with Julian, at first Julian felt nothing, except the awkwardness of the ritual; though, as he did, both Fiodora and Karie began to flap their wings. Karie's wings sprang from her back for the very first time and they were beautiful, with red and white leaf-like feathers that resembled oak tree's leaves. They fluttered about and so too did Fiodora's green ones, they took flight but only for a short while; they levitated in the air while Julian stood there befuddled. Though it was short-lived befuddlement; magic coursed through his body like an airflow of sparks, it surrounded him. As they gifted Julian their magical essence, he felt a pounding at his back, he felt his flesh tearing open for the very first time. Thudding, his heart raced a million miles, riddled with the fear of death, he attempted to pull and tug away, but their hold was too strong for him to parry the pain. Then slowly, it receded, he could tell his flesh was open, but the pain was no more, and in its place, he felt something more, something light. His wings sprouted from his back, like a tree's saplings, without haste, and then they grew and kept growing; they resembled the leaves of the dragon's blood tree -the dracaena cinnabari.
The feathers were sharp-edged and long about two feet long; with these new wings, something in him roared, an energy that he could not explain which gave him unmitigated strength. Fiodora and Karie felt it in their hands as he squeezed, they flinched but said nothing; they were, after all, proud faeries. Julian suffered no reprise, though he did notice the pain he'd inflicted and removed his hands from their grasp and noticed he was fast on top of it all. "So, wait, I had these powers all along, and I wouldn't have known unless you two had told me about it? Why? That seems really counterproductive as a species don't you think?" Karie laughed almost condescending. "My boy, our kind is a tightly knit community, we are designed to live and coexist together in harmony, this is why you need us, we are your family now." Julian could hardly fathom it. "But what about my folks back home...You can't tell me they're fake. They raised me..." Fiodora nudged Julian, and she placed her index finger on his forehead; the finger glowed a breezy light blue, and a series of memories flashed before him. He shook his head and looked at Fiodora, appalled by what he had seen, "You...You made them up? But why...How could you!", Julian shouted and jumped at Fiodora, and he would have succeeded in attacking her had it not been for Karie holding him back, even in his faery form. "Now now, settle down, Julian. She must have had a good reason for all of this, keeping the truth from you and all." She looked at Fiodora expectantly. "Yeah, about that.." She said sprightfully. "Look, demons were hunting you, I had to hide you in the mortal world. Otherwise, they would have killed you, so I implanted memories in you since childhood and raised you myself. Julian was hesitant to believe her after she'd tricked him, but it all made sense now, the way she resembled his mother, the way she spoke like his father. It all connected now. "Fine, so you raised me, but why didn't you raise me to know what was happening, why did you let me believe I was normal and let me live a normal life?! How selfish can you be?" Fiodora looked visibly hurt, though she'd never admitted it. She spoke, though her words came with a heavy burden. "I...I thought if you were raised normally you wouldn't be hunted, but they came for you anyway...That bitch Emilie found you. I never meant for you to be hurt, if she had found out any earlier, I don't think I could have saved you."
Julian felt how heavy her words fell on him, tumbled really, and he noted how drained Fiodora looked; so he approached her and hugged her tightly, though not too tight. "Thank you, I...I really appreciate it all...I'm just a bit taken aback from all this is all. I never meant to hurt you, um...Mom or dad?" Fiodora laughed and wiped some of her tears, "Yeah, sure, mom why not." She said while letting a fond smile intrude on her; Julian smiled as well and let go of their embrace. "So now what?", Julian asked, he was unaware of the existence of faeries and much less of demons, but now everything seemed to revolve around that theme. "Now we train you, here, where you'll be safe from the outside world. You have much to learn, Julian, and little time to learn it in. You must tap into your powers and discover your magical affinity. Though judging by the type of wings you conjured up, I'd say your affinity will be just as special."
For three days, they practiced, giving little time in between for naps and snacks. Julian seemed to make progress though they had yet to discover his magical affinity; at least now he could fly of his own volition without the help of Fiodora or Karie. Sparsely, Karie would look upon Julian and she'd be reminded of his father, though he would be unaware of his existence having died in the war that came and went. Julian's father was Jerimiah Bloodmane, a fine warrior that deserved praise above all. He'd given his life to allow the halfbreeds to retreat during those times of skirmishes when the demons attacked any and all settlements. He had been an honorable man, a true wielder of kindness and it showed in the legacy he'd left behind.
Julian turned to look at Karie who flushed red and turned away, seemingly irate. "Um, don't get mad...But I think I'm bleeding or something." Karie rushed over to Julian and did notice a pool of blood on the floor, though she could not identify where it was coming from until Julian turned his back to her and she saw it. It was clear as day, one of Julian's feathers had become damaged to the point of injury and had bled all over the floor, he must have not noticed due to his fae blood. "It appears your blood is.." She picked some on her pinky and it sizzled to her bone. Karie screamed and took her hand away from the cursed blood, she wrapped it in a piece of cloth and glared at Julian. "You have tainted blood!" Whatever respect she had for Julian and his bloodline was obviously in jeopardy now. Fiodora came rushing through the door and looked around; noting the injured Karie rocking back and forth as she held her hand which was slowly being eaten away by the blood. Fiodora rushed towards Karie and lifted her hand, it was all bone now; she winced and wrapped it back into the cloth, taking a gander at Julian. "I guess we've found out your special magical affinity."
Fiodora took a feather from her wings and wrapped it around Karie's hand and watched as the flesh grew around the bone, and in no time it had been brought to normality. Fiodora's magical affinity was healing, and she had done well; thankfully she had done it before the blood ate through the bone because then no amount of magic could have brought it back. Julian sat on the mushroom stool, his chin resting on his palm, he seemed so disconnected to this world, like he wanted to go back to the human realm. In fact, Julian had been thinking about that girl in school, what was her name? He couldn't even remember... His daydream went on and on until Fiodora whistled for his attention. "Huh? Oh, hey.", He said, looking over towards Fiodora. "What's eating at you, lad?", She asked, glancing over to where he had been empty staring at. "Nothing, well...This girl at school. I wonder if she was a demon too...", He said wondering. "She wasn't," Fiodora said, as a matter of factly, and sat down on a stool beside him. She placed her hand on his and smiled. "It's okay, Julian, it was an accident. Karie will be fine, mark my words."
"I know...It's just, what if she's right? What if my blood really is cursed?" Fiodora laughed. "So what lad? A bit of a curse ain't gonna change who you are, now is it? Come on, let's get you some grub and a warm bed to rest your eyes and I'll explain your gift in the morning okay?" Julian nodded and followed her into one of the spare rooms Karie had, it had nothing on the white walls, and there was no television or anything, just a big spongey mushroom sized circular bed. Julian smiled and plopped on to the bed, yawning exhausted from his practice. "You've really grown, you know," Fiodora said, and walked over to Julian to put a blanket over his body. She had smiled and stood by the door frame while looking at him, he'd fallen asleep fast from all the magical practice. The night was peaceful, lit up by the canopies of trees and peaceful while the bright moon shone overhead.