"Married? Look I kissed you sure. It was in the heat of the moment and I'll point out you did it first. Besides I told you I'm not into kids! I'm not a sicko!" Pacing back and forth he launched into his rant while cursing himself for not nipping it in the bud earlier. It was obviously some girlish crush. Maybe some sort of hero complex. Sure he'd rescued her that's what this was.
"Ugh, you humans are always the same. Any female without a set of overly developed mammaries is obviously a child. Not all the races insist on being oversized in every aspect!" she huffed watching the human pace in front of her. 'And to think I was actually happy to have him as my prince. Ugh, I should have known a human would be a problem.' she mentally cursed before sighing. "I keep telling you I'm a fairy. Stop judging me based on your human perceptions."
Sael stopped pacing. "If you're a fairy where are your wings then? Fairies have wings right? Even the engravings on the spear showed them with wings!"
Rolling her eyes she flexed her shoulders and a pair of large colorful wings spread from her back. They were the same rich orange and black color as a monarch butterfly only on a massive scale. He felt his jaw drop in shock. She waited a moment then asked quietly. "Well… do you believe me now?" He nodded dumbly walking towards her.
Even he felt he shouldn't be so surprised by it. After all he'd been through, starting with being pulled to another world. Seeing wings on a girl shouldn't have shocked him as much as it did. "Yeah… I guess I do. They're beautiful!"
Blushing she started to respond to the compliment and instead let out a gasp as he brushed his fingertips gently down her wings. He jerked his hand back shocked at her reaction "Er sorry." Her reaction wasn't what he expected.
She shivered a moment then took a deep breath. "No, it's ok… you are my husband… You… you can touch them if you want." Her blush spread all the way to the tips of her ears which he noticed were slightly pointed.
"Er no! Um, I'm gOod." 'The hell did my voice just squeak! Great now my inner introvert is coming out.' Collecting his thoughts he took a deep breath. "Anyways, look about the marriage stuff. Let's just consider that things got crazy in there and forget about it."
The damned fairy princess gazed at him with sad puppy-like eyes. "You really find me that displeasing?" Before he could respond she let out an exasperated sigh. "It doesn't matter. What is done is done. There is nothing I can do about it now. So we should both resign ourselves to the situation. I never thought I'd end up with a human prince either." She sat back down and picked up the food she'd been eating. "I will say that despite the strange situation. I could have done worse for a husband. You are rather good looking… but did you have to be so… big?" she took a bite of cheese and gazed up at him for a moment before her eyes grew as she realized one of the ways her comment could have been taken. " I mean TALL! I don't know about.. Well, nothing. Just. Let's try and get along ok?" She nibbled on the cheese not able to look at her husband.
**********
As they traveled back towards Little Well Ara explained more of their situation. Since he had proposed to be her prince, although he argued he hadn't meant it in that way, and she had accepted they were now wed. Making him her prince and she, his princess. For a fairy that meant more than what marriage meant to a human. The bond allowed her to share with him her power. As a fairy of the summer court who represented the life and vitality of summer, she shared with him the amazing regenerative power he'd experienced. The act of bonding with a partner multiplied the strength of their power on an exponential level. Since he'd asked her and she'd accepted that made him the dominant partner thus he gained the greater portion of their shared power. She touched on Fairy society a bit explaining that and I quote "unlike silly humans who focus solely on physical prowess, we fairies don't discriminate between the sexes." which as she explained in more detail meant for fairies kings, or queens were decided by simply who was the dominant partner. If they gained a crown he would become king and her little more than a consort. Again, her words not his.
She was quick to point out that it was almost impossible for that to happen as there were only two crowns for the fairies and her mother was the current summer queen. Fairies lived far longer than humans and while the Vitality of Summer he now possessed would extend his life he wouldn't outlive the current Summer Queen. She'd actually looked rather sad explaining how short his life would be considering she'd nearly lived four of his current lifetime already.
During their trip, she ate until she was sick. Often he found himself comforting her as she groaned with a stomach ache but he never tried to stop her from eating. She obviously needed the nutrition to recover and though she was recovering faster than what seemed normal the rate of recovery was nothing compared to how he healed now. She shrugged it off awkwardly when he'd questioned it explaining that it was just the difference in how the power was split. He couldn't figure out why she was blushing though.
With her still recovering they took the return trip slowly making it take nearly twice as long to get back as it had for him to get to the plateau originally. During their many breaks, he got acquainted with his new spear. As well as adjusting to the huge difference in his body. His agility and dexterity had gone up decently but his strength and vitality had jumped up by a massive margin. Bringing both to well over thirty. He'd also leveled up after everything was said and done leaving him at an annoying 33/800 experience. He did bump his intelligence up to twenty six though. Even his unarmed skill had jumped up massively from the brawl bringing it up nearly to match his spear skill.
Overall the trip was rather relaxing except for one thing. Ara seemed determined to make him accept their relationship. She was clingy during the day. Often insisting on holding his hand as they walked even when the rough forest terrain made it awkward. Only their height difference of more than a foot kept her from trying to kiss him at every chance. The same couldn't be said whenever they stopped to eat or worse sleep. While he didn't particularly dislike her and he was getting over his preconception of her age based on her petite build. The more aggressive she acted the more his inner introvert came out making things even more awkward for him. For her part, though she never gave up and never seemed to get mad. If he stopped her from trying to kiss him as they went to bed she'd just curl up against him seeming just as happy to be close to him.
He started to feel like he was being stupid. As she recovered from her time imprisoned she lost some of the gauntness she'd had. And while she was still very petite she was starting to fill out with at least some curves. On the last night of their trek, she curled up against him tucked in next to his chest after she failed her attempts at kissing him. As with most nights she fell asleep exhausted the moment she settled in. Though he was going slower than on his way to the plateau the pace he set would still have been hard for a normal person let alone one recovering. Since she never complained and his perceptions of normal were being more and more skewed by his ever enhanced body she was often exhausted by the time they stopped.
Sighing and feeling stupid for stopping a pretty Fairy Princess from making out with him or even more he resolved to not resist the next time she tried. Yawning he pulled her close and once again thanked the system being an Arrived gave him. After all, the alarm feature meant he could sleep without worry.
Ara had been confused when he hadn't insisted on sleeping in shifts. What would they do if something crept up on them? That was when he explained the feature Dego had let him know about and one of the reasons Arrived adventurers were so well received. While sleeping they could set a radius around them. If anything entered the system would jolt them awake. It reminded him of the Alarm spell from many popular fantasy games. The fact that all Arrived adventurer types had it just seemed broken, but he wasn't one to complain.
After an awkward breakfast, his previous night's resolve unable to withstand the light of day, they set out on the last bit of the trek to Little Well. Sael was actually pretty excited to return to the little village. He'd not planned to be gone so long, he should have been back more than a week ago. But it wasn't like he had a deadline or even a job, though he kept feeling like he was forgetting something. He bet that no one even noticed his absence.
That apparently would have been one bet he'd have lost. He had barely made it into Little Well when a familiar figure came rushing down the dirt path running through the village. Beth was without her normal work apron and didn't even have shoes on as she raced towards him.
"Whoa, there! So excited to see me you couldn't even put on shoes? I'm afraid I don't have many mats for you this time." He was laughing already expecting her snarky remarks. But contrary to his beliefs she barreled into him wrapping her arms around him with her head buried in his chest.
"Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! I thought you'd gone off and got yourself killed. You didn't even say goodbye you asshole!" Shocked Sael didn't know how to react and their reunion was interrupted as Ara literally forced herself between them, pushing Beth away.
"Hands off my husband trollop!" She moved to wrap her arms possessively around her husband's waist.
Beth looked down at the petite fairy then up at him, her tear stained face twisted with unreadable emotions. She stated flatly. "Pedo."
Sael pushed Ara off of him. "Whoa whoa whoa, now look. First, I'm not her husband. Second, she isn't a kid. She's a fairy!"
Beth was tapping her foot with her arms crossed over her chest, but he was glad to see her tear streaked face had a comfortably familiar scowl on it. "A fairy? Riiight that's gonna go over well when the FBI kicks in your door."
"See that is what the fairy race hates about humans. Any female we see without a set of overly developed mammaries is obviously a child. Not all the races insist on being oversized in every aspect!" He most emphatically declared and was rewarded with an eye roll.
"Like anyone would believe that argument!" Sael couldn't help but grin at how quickly things shifted back to normal. 'Ahh, it is good to be home.'
Ara started making shooing motions, sound effects included while trying to reattach herself to his side. Sael stepped away from her and circled around both girls. "Sorry, But I've got to turn in this quest." He made a hasty retreat before either of them could realize he was lying.
**********
Nine giant columns of silver veined obsidian were arranged facing each other in a circle. The inner side of each column was cut so perfectly smoothed they formed a mirror. Within eight of these columns, shadowy figures of different shapes could be seen. They ranged from giant monstrous forms to vaguely humanoid ones so small they might have been a child. Only their eyes seemed substantial and each mirror hosted their own strange set of eyes.
From the depths of one of the mirrors, a massive shadow moved forward until its yellow slitted eye occupied the entirety of its column. "So, one of Drezzel's generals were slain recently were they not?" Though the deep rumbling voice asked a question its tone made it clear they were making a statement.
From one of the other mirrors containing a tiny humanoid shadow came a rich female voice as smooth as velvet. Though her voice was beautiful its tone was harsh and cruel. "What do you expect from the upstart? Most likely he kept the bulk of his general's power for himself. It is a rookie mistake made by many fools." In the mirror two almond shaped eyes with irises like rose quartz shifted purposefully towards one of the other columns.
A hunched over shadow shifted before speaking with a voice like dozens of rusted chains being drug across stone. "Even if that may be true. Attacking a general of a Demon Lord. Even the new ninth is something we should address. Do we know who the culprit was?"
Within one of the columns, the shadow of a humanoid figure with too many arms and legs protruding from seemingly random places spoke as his blue eyes took in everything. Bremmic's voice was bright and when compared to the others sounded perfectly human. "I spoke to Drezzel myself, we are still on good terms. He did serve as my general for more than a millennia. I can assure you he balanced the possession of power perfectly between them. Grawmaw'nagul was a quill demon after all, while they are incapable of using any real magics their physical might is more than enough to deal with even top tier adventures."
Several of the shadows shifted well aware of the truth but simply enjoying the chance to punch down on their new junior. "Drezzel himself went to inspect the site of the murder. It reeks of the Summer Court. Most likely it was Queen Kera herself. Grawmaw'nagul had captured one of her daughters and was in the process of taking her power. For a quill demon dealing with a mage as powerful as Kera would be impossible. There is no worse match up for a brute such as he than a skilled mage. The question should be how did she discover where her daughter was being held. The ancient prison was bespelled to prevent scrying and located in such a remote portion of the kingdom that no adventurers were likely to stumble across it or at least none powerful enough to be a threat."
Whispers filled the ancient chamber at the announcement that the last true Fairy Queen was on the move and the implications that there might be a spy amongst the demonic courts. He let their plotting continue for a bit more before Bremmic continued. "But the Fairy Queen shouldn't be anything to worry about. Only consider it a pity that Drezzel wasn't there to greet the little hag himself. Many of you are aware he is a Spell Eater, correct?" Again his sharp eyes took note of which of the other Demon Lords seemed uncomfortable. Spell Eater was an extremely rare ability. It allowed the one able to utilize it to simply consume the mana behind any spell. Not only did it work as an impregnable defense versus mages but a portion of the devoured spell's power was added to the wielder's permanently. This made them an ever growing threat to those that relied heavily on magic, the fact that this ability could also be used to strip a mage of their own magical defenses at the same time made them a magic user's nightmare.
"For the Fairy Queen, she could find no worse matchup than Drezzel. I doubt that this event will require any action on our part. The rest of you may stop pretending to care and go back to whichever hole you are hiding in. It wasn't like any of you were going to take action anyways." With a pleasant laugh Bremmic, the First Demon Lord's column returned to a simple mirror.
Many curses were tossed accompanied by more complaints. A few daring individuals openly plotted the death of the ancient demon but each of them knew that nothing would come from it. It wasn't just fear of the power Bremmic possessed, there was plenty of that sure enough. But it was the same problem the Demon Lord's had for millennia now. The reason they had yet to conquer the world. Sloth. They had become too happy with their roles as absolute rulers of their domain and were in no rush to risk it. Unless an opportunity came along too easy and with so little risk they couldn't pass up. Today though that was not the case.
**********
Standing at the spot where his general's murder had happened Drezzel studied the ancient room. He was forced to shrink his normal ten foot height down and yet his massive black horns still scraped across the ceiling of the room. His skin was a brilliant crimson and pulled taut over his heavily muscled frame. From the waist down his legs were those of a goat ending in cloven hooves as large as pumpkins. Each step shattered stone, yet he paid it no attention, true demons of the abyss rarely cared for the destruction they caused. His eyes were closed and his nostrils flared again breathing in the stench of Summer Magic and beneath that of demon then human blood.
One of the goblins scooted forward on his knees while dragging his face across the stone. "Please master. We serve you. Always. We do as told. Fairy Magic! Even mighty Gra…" Whatever the goblin was trying to say was cut off as a massive hoof came down crushing it into the ground. Slowly Drezzel ground the corpse into little more than paste as the remaining goblins cowered and trembled.
"Something is off. If Kera truly came here to take her I would expect more damage. I smell much of the Summer Court's Magic but see little of its effects. My general's body is also not here, I do not think a fairy queen would be willing to take it. Yet the bond was severed in death. I also smell the stench of a human. It reeks of an Arrived. Find them, I wish to know what their connection is with the Fairy Courts. It would be problematic if the dying fae had managed to make allies of the humans as improbable as it sounds."
From the shadows behind him, hundreds of eyes glistened in the soft phosphorescent light. They moved as an odd mass before seeming to disappear. Instead, from the shadows a shapely woman stepped forward. Her body was shaped to fuel the lust of men, all curves and sway as she moved. Yet her indigo colored skin would have warned them of her in human nature. Or perhaps the extra six insect-like eyes spread across her forehead and cheeks if one were to look at her face first. Her hair was unnaturally thick to the point that each strand was easily identifiable from the others. One watching closely might even notice that they moved not with the sway of her gait but a mind of their own.
"You are right my lord." She held up her hand as a tennis ball sized spider scuttled up her forearm to sit in her palm. Its four pairs of unblinking eyes watched its mother sharing with her all its memories. "This is the one I left with my fellow general to act as his eyes. It saw only a human adventurer. The spider in her palm began weaving silk until it made a cocoon in the image of the human it had witnessed down to the smallest detail. The mighty demon lord eyed the replica with disgust and confusion, even from the image he sensed only weakness.
"Shall I kill them?" her voice was soft and delicate with just the hint of a lisp. The thought of killing the human had made her mandibles normally hidden in her pretty mouth start to creep out.
"The human? They are of little concern and less use dead than alive. For now, see what you can find out about them. Feel free to have some fun but they are our only link to the Fairy Courts. Dealing a major blow to one of them would greatly improve our situation." He grinned showing off brilliant white fangs. Drezzel was a true devil and like all of his race, he was more than willing to play the long game for the best gains possible. Glancing at the goblins still cowering his grin turned sadistic. "You may have these useless pieces of meat. You needed more hatcheries did you not?"
All eight of the strange woman's eyes lit up with delight as she matched his cruel smile with one of her own. "I thank you, my lord." Before the first goblin could even consider fleeing they were overrun by a swarm of spiders so thick it looked like the shadows of the room moved to cover them.