Kyra has been walking briskly for the next few minutes. Alarm bells are ringing in the four corners of the Elven Croft Tower. Royal guards are running in haste to and from the courtyard. The imp servants and other naiads are retreating to escape through the hidden safe passage.
When she turned into another corridor, she caught sight of the four-foot tall wall with a circle gate. Kyra pressed her hand against it, letting the invisible wall barring the place from letting outsiders in feel her pulse.
When the barrier recognized her, it lit up and burst into small purple dust. The familiar sight of majestic mahogany trees always takes Kyra's breath away. The refreshing sight of white pebble stone steps, the small sturdy bridge under the pond, and the pure white floating lotus, give off a fresh, vibrant scent in the air. Kyra can't help but smile.
This is the world where she belongs. The very place that separates her from all the suffering and pain. A world without her father. She let out a relieved sigh.
At the center of the pond, there's a solitary pavilion. A woman wearing a beautiful pink silk dress is sitting while embroidering a flower-patterned amulet.
"Mother!" Kyra beamed as she ran down the pebble steps. The Fairy Queen, who's enjoying the tranquility of the Silver Lake Pavilion, looked up and smiled.
"My Princess, what are you doing here?" The Fairy Queen's smile is as dazzling as the summer sun. Her eyes were as warm as the gentle breeze. The comfort Kyra feels from her mother's hands is so soporific she doesn't want to let go.
The Fairy Queen cupped her cheeks.
"Did you just return from a mission?"
Kyra hesitated before nodding. The Fairy Queen affectionately rubbed her nose against hers.
"Mom, there's something you should know." Kyra readied herself and slowly narrated the happenings that took place in the High Court. The sudden deaths of the Twelve Elders, the surprise attack of the Ice Demon, and the impending danger the Faery realm currently face. She altered some details about what happened over the last seven days.
The Fairy Queen was silent as she listened.
"Mom, the palace is currently dangerous for you right now. Let's go. I'll take you someplace safe. "
The Fairy Queen stared at her eyes. They have the same shape, the same long lashes, the same brilliance, but the gaze her mother wears is too deep, like there's an unspeakable depth of grief she's fighting hard to repress.
"If I go, where will you be?"
Kyra hesitated before saying, "I will stay here. I will help our people fight the Ice Demon. " Kyra's mind is lingering, her skin shivering from the words of the Ice Demon he said about her.
The Fairy Queen did not say anything else. Kyra waited for a few minutes before she heard her say,
"I cannot go."
"Mother!"
"I will fight with you."
"You can't."
"I am still one of the last descendants of the Elven Fairies. The blood of the fairies' strongest race, the Fairy Lords, is still running in my veins. " Kyra can't refute the determined look her mother give her.
"What about, Father? Do you think he will settle knowing you got out of here and fighting out there? "
The Fairy Queen chuckled and gently brushed her fingers through Kyra's hair.
"Your father can't kill me, yet. Both of us are bound by the Fairy Law. Because of our union, we can't leave each other. His life with me is pretty much torture as it is with me. "
Kyra can't understand how her father can despise her mother so much. The two of them are the last descendants of the Elven fairies. They married to continue the strong lineage of Fairy Lords.
So why?
Does this kind of deep-rooted hatred happen because of me? Because I'm not a prince? Because the Fairy Queen can no longer give him a son?
"Mother, I can't risk it." Kyra tackled her mother into a hug. She doesn't want to leave this place. She doesn't want to leave her mother's arms. She doesn't want to imagine what her father could possibly do to her mother.
"Mother, Lester said we can go to the mortal world. I used the Portal Key once and arrived in a village of peaceful dwelling mortals. They are very kind and very accommodating. They are so unlike in the stories — "
"What did you just say?" Kyra was stunned to see her mother's agitated eyes. The gentleness was replaced with an unspoken rage.
"The mortals..." The Fairy Queen dropped the embroidered amulet she was working on and gripped Kyra's shoulders.
"Don't tell me - the mission your father made you do involves going to the mortal world?"
Kyra can't understand why her mother is so agitated about this. It's true, Kyra's missions are suicidal and life-threatening. But the mortal world is the least dangerous place to go to. Compared to the demon realm, it's like comparing a drop of clean water to a poisonous gas.
At once, the Fairy Queen stood. She tried to look calm, but Kyra could see her fingers trembling. The Fairy Queen picked up the amulet she made. It was a jade piece of a lotus flower, tied on a red string with beads and other circle jade designs.
"Wear this." The Fairy Queen knots the red string around Kyra's wrist.
"I hope it's not what I think it is."
"What?"
Kyra was puzzled by her mother's sudden change in mood. Before Kyra could ask her a question, the Fairy Queen held her hand and pulled her out of the Silver Lake Pavilion.
Kyra wanted to ask a few more questions, but the grave and serious expression her mother wore made her hesitate.
What's going on?
When they arrived at the wall barrier of the Silver Lake Pavilion, the Fairy Queen did not hesitate and conjured light particles from her hand. It submerged in the barrier but did not lose its luster.
Light magic? Kyra gasped. The purple barrier started to crack from the center out. A sudden burst of magic barrier destruction almost flung Kyra and the Fairy Queen away. Kyra held on to her mother while her lotus vines were deeply rooted in the ground, holding them in place.
The debris of mana particles started to fall. It sprinkled around them like purple rain.
"Mother! Are you okay?" Kyra checked her mother's body for external wounds but it appeared she's perfectly fine.
"Come on," The Fairy Queen urged instead. "Let's find your father."