Exhausted from her travels, she turned her head and sent in a daze, unprepared for the rise of the sun, she lost her balance. Unaware of how tired she was, she accepted the confirmation the ground would provide. She ate no decent food after leaving the forest, unable to eat for two days of travel. She could finally rest being safe from any inhabitants of the night, hoping to find food on wide open fields. As she fell, she noticed not the ground but water, and in a significant amount. Landing in the cold water, it began to drag her along. Through the current weak, it still sweeps her below. As she struggled with the last of her strength to resurface, her body gave out and her vision faded.
A boy passing near the streams from the hilltops, surprised to have spotted someone in the distance. Seeing that someone had fallen in the river he began to run, some kids weren't lucky enough to survive, especially the ones that couldn't swim . Rushing down the slope wondering if they were uninjured for they didn't move, among the frantic thoughts in his mind "No one out is here this late in the day, how long were they stranded for". Quickly he kneeled down and reached around her arms and chest to lift her out of the water, careful not to drag her against the rocks beneath the water.
Outside the reach of waters, 'she's still breathing though cold" he sighed with relief that her life wasn't an immediate danger. Seeing that it wasn't one of the villagers,
what's a traveler doing out here, no she's too far too young to be a merchant, maybe she's lost. Wearing drenched clothes, he removed the multiple outer layers of cloth surrounding her. He planned to carry back to the village to warm her, but stood confused at the sight of wings on her back. He laid his hands where the wings connected to the back.
The fairy slowly awakened but in shock as she felt something touching her back. She quickly jolts up to see a boy beside her. "What Are You Doing!" She shouts in surprise.
Still memorized by the wings, he answers "I wanted to see if the wings were real".
" What do you mean real! Of course their…" She sees the boy doesn't have wings and looks up to see the lack of pointed ears "What is a human doing here!" She shouts, turning her head away and points her hands up and gathers magic around her palm.
"What if I'm a fairy without wings"
"Then what about your ears?" She shouts and shoots a ball of water at the boy. The boy barely dodges the water magic and falls backward, he hears the water exploding against the ground sprouting up dirt.
"What are you doing on this side, How did you even get over here," she said panicked, preparing to summon another ball of water
" I've always lived in my village, you're the one that came here." He swiftly shouted back.
The fairy hastily turned her head towards the sun "it's setting … on this on this side of the barrier". Her wings instinctively flies her forward. Speeding toward, she hits the barely visible barrier and is knocked backwards. To weaken to continue flying she falls back onto the ground.
The boy brings her up to the withered shrine; the shrine with half of its walls still standing, but would provide shelter against the icy winds. He starts a fire on the stone floor, after setting her on one of the few intact benches. He leans against a wall and eventually falls to slumber while gazing upon the sky.
The fairy slowly wakes up to see the sun rising on the other side of the barrier , past the barrier was the lands she grew up on. The boy sleeping nearby with his back leaning on what's left of a stone wall. The fairy curled up and started weeping, lost from her home and stuck on the human's side unable to complete her reunion. Only until the sun was bringing to creep above her did she tilt head slightly up to see the sun. Her eyes long dried out, she glanced at the ruins and in disbelief at what lay at the end of the shrine.
She slowly goes over and kneels down. She softly shakes the boy awake while still staring down the hall, memorized at what stood there. He wakes up realizing he overslept from tending to the fire much of the night.
In shock she asked, "Why is there a statue of a fairy here?" To see such a noble statue of a fairy, built on human lands, left her mind in a frenzy.
The boy still waking up glances over at the statue. All the village knew of its story, while it surprised passing travelers that stumbled across it, maybe a fairy finding it would be even more in disbelief. He could recite the story, even in his sleep but shortened it this time around. "That's Asriel, before the war among humans and fairies." "A fairy lived in the village. When the crisis broke out, he refused to attack any village. An army later came to attack the villages. He tried to stop the fairies from attacking but the village and its people were caught in flames. After watching the human girl he loved pass away, he sacrificed himself to place the barrier separating the races".
The fairy found it very difficult to accept the story, "the war broke up over 500 years ago and it was said the humans had set up the barrier using whole cites as sacrifices. Not even the fairy queen's magic could accomplish this." Every fairy was taught to blame the humans, for they were greedy and veil.
Already expecting her not to believe the story, "that's why there's a statue of a fairy here. We still hold many ceremonies to remember what occurred".
While too many it would be beloved as a story, to us it's just as definite as the moon. He notice she was still speechless, "By the way, what's your name"
Her mind still suspended, so her tongue replied instead," Ariel"
She must be really exhausted, "My name's Asriel." he gets up and reaches his hand out toward he's "Less start heading toward my village. You can rest and eat plenty there".
There was no excuse she could make to stay hidden, she was trapped on human lands, if caught by humans, death would be the easiest way out. But without any hope, she decided to have faith in this boy.
She took hold of his hand and pulled herself up, leaving the withered shrine that provided them shelter. The open fields past the river now out of sight, she now had truly lost any hopes of finding her father.