I shambled my way to the dirt walls of the arena, far enough away so the grunts of the Ractor were faint, and laid Ruby gently across the ground.
*Flop*
Well, I tried to at least.
As I leaned my back against the coarse surface my legs gave way and I crumpled to the floor in a messy heap of exhaustion and pain. The wound in my leg had reopened and a pool of blood was spilling out, staining the wings of the red fairy. I felt a little guilty and attempted to shuffle out of the way, but alas, my limbs were done obeying my selfish commands and responded to my tyranny with a fresh dose of scorching pain.
"Haha, I guess you could say the color is rather red-dundent." I joked, expecting a bad laugh track to be played somewhere, but rather than laughter a soft sobbing could be heard if you listened closely.
As my emotions poured out of my eyes and my chest heaved in cacophony with the whimpers, I sat there and listened to the quiet crying of a boy who was overwhelmed with not outrage, and not sorrow, but with homesickness of all things.
Perhaps the strange place he had found himself in was much too frightening for him to admit, perhaps the pain he had experienced made him miss the safety of his abode, or perhaps he simply wished for someone he cared about to hug him and tell him that things were going to be alright, but either way he sat there for a good long while.
As the emotions subsided enough for me to board my train of thought, the misty view from my eyes cleared up to reveal the red fairy laying in a pool of blood. A rather poetic scenery, albeit a bit nauseating.
The fairy looked rather beautiful despite being laid upon the dirt floor and it seemed as though the dust iself did not dare blemish her ethereal image.
However, despite appearing on first glance to be a human with wings, there were rather subtle traits that implied a more insect nature: such as the two antenna poking out of her head or the red spots of exoskeleton scattered on her arms. The more I stared the stranger she began to look, though at the same time the insectoid features made her appear less strange, quite confusing really.
My fairy study session was interrupted, however, by the sounds of chains snapping and a familiar roar.
[Chain of Light tolerance limit exceeded]
Robotic words in my head spelled out my doom plainly.
"Oh no." I whispered, as I began searching for a way out of this mess. As I took a second glance at the dark tunnels again, I noticed some were small enough that the Ractor couldn't enter, an oversight from when I first considered the option.
But as I tried to stand, my head went dizzy from the pain and my legs gave way once again.
A second roar as the Ractor looked at me with a savage anger, preparing to charge, and I realized I was well and truly screwed this time.
I crawled to the left trying to put some distance between me and the Red fairy. While I did hold a grudge, having her die with me felt wrong and excessive.
"Hey Interface, just wondering..."
[Chains of Light/ Maximum Usage Reached]
[Thundering Fury/ Maximum Usage Reached]
"Thought so."
The antlers lowered as hooves struck dirt and I closed my eyes, preparing myself for the worst.
"I... did my best."
Seconds passed and the hooves screeched to a halt, but contrary to my expectations I was not torn to pieces by jagged antlers.
"Wha..." as I opened my eyes, I saw the strangest sight. A young girl stopping a giant beast in its tracks, and from what I can tell, rather easily. One hand gripping an antler and the other digging deep into the dirt floor.
"OH MY GOSH, what happened here?!" I could recognize the worried cries of the green fairy coming from the observation deck, "Saphie are you alright?"
"Emma, help me out with the ol' switches okay?" a young girl called out to the green fairy, "Timmy here is a handful."
"Y-yes Ma'am!" the fairy replied nervously, "but I've only seen the abomination use it a few times before."
As if a little girl stopping a rampaging giant armored moose wasn't shocking enough, the girl proceeded to thrust her arms into the underside of the moose, picking the beast up and hoisting it over her shoulder.
"Then keep trying till you figure it out."
Her two feet driving deep footprints into the dirt floor as the little girl entered one of the tunnels and out of view, the shrieking of the Ractor growing fainter and she moved further away.
I stared at her disappearing figure, completely flabbergasted.
Moments later the green fairy, Emma, flew down and gasped at my condition: "Oh my gosh are you alright? I'm so sorry."
She flew close and lowered her hands onto my chest, producing a comforting green glow enveloped me and the red fairy, "Saphie and Ruby don't usually get this carried away, they meant no harm."
"No harm huh, yeah right." I spat out bitterly.
"We don't get a lot of visitors here in Ethyal so they were curious about your condition you know." Emma tried justifying the actions of her friends, but I wasn't buying it. After all, what kind of person throws an injured person into an arena with a crazed moose. However, angry as I might be, I was probably safer keeping those words to myself.
"Ah." Emma frowned, "This is more serious than I thought..."
"What is?" I asked.
"The state of your body you buffoon!" a laughing tone came out from one of the tunnels as a little girl stepped back into the arena. She looked similar to the fairies but had no wings and more distinctive insect features, with two horns sprouting from the top of her head. Her color theme this time seemed to be silver.
"Oh, wait I should do introductions," she closed her feet together and took a bow, "Queen's Royal Guard 2nd Division, Captain Myriam at your service."
[Queen's Royal Guard/The Fairy Queen's most elite warriors]
Having seen my confused gaze she tilted her head to the left, "I thought that was how the humans did it? Was my performance off?"
"Uh..." snapping out of my daze I attempted to return the bow, but when I tried to move Emma held me down.
"No moving! I need to patch you up first."
"Oh, thank you. I appreciate it, but can you tell me what exactly is going on." I asked.
"To sum it up, our little friends here broke a few rules and Emma reported it to me. For now, why don't you take a nap and we'll get the Sorceress to come and take care of you."
"NO!" I shouted, surprising them as well as myself, "I don't want to sleep, who knows where I'll wake up this time."
"Huh, alright I guess you can stay awake, but it won't change what will happen."
"That's fine." I replied, just happy that I won't be forcefully knocked out.
Deciding that she wasn't done impressing me with her feats of physical strength, the horned lady, Myriam, crouched down and shot up to the observation deck, picked up the blue fairy and leaped back down faster than I could blink thrice.
"Heal her too. By the way Emma, did you call over the Sorceress?"
The green glow spread out and wrapped around the blue fairy as she responded: "Ah she said she was busy so the abomination will come pick him up."
"Fair enough." she turned to me, arms crossed, "And you, err, Outlander, what exactly happened here." The rhythmic tapping of her feet gave the question a dangerous air, if I wanted to keep my head I should probably answer carefully.
"By the time I was coherent, they brought me here and unleashed that creature on me, the Ractor, and I had to fight for my life." I answered.
"Yeah, I could figure out that much, but what really surprised me was how both Sapphire and Ruby here are also injured." she narrowed her eyes, and her foot tapping was beginning to make an indentation against the dirt floor.
"So how did that happen outlander?"
I chewed on my words a bit before answering, attempting to deliver the truth in a way that would keep my head on my shoulders.
"I, uh, shocked them, with electricity."
Silence from the Royal Guard signaled to me that she did not really believe my words, but at that moment the unfurling of a ladder caught her attention and a small figure in a green cloak climbed down from the observation deck.
"Oh, she's here." Myriam turned to the cloaked individual, "Greetings, we shall be on our way, but I recommend not to move the outlander, he's sustained rather major injuries." Myriam picked up both fairies and once again did a powerful jump onto the platform above, not even bothering to use the ladder. Emma floated after her meekly before turning to give me a last sad wave.
"Really sorry, I'll make it up to you next time."
And as I was left alone with the new arrival, I swear I could feel it staring at me with what I believed to be a wrong number of eyes.