Page 29

Eli

It wasn't easy taking care of her after those days.

After the chaos that ensued in the gardens of the Griffin Court.

The lands of the Fae Realm were getting better. After Everetta's power was released from her body everything burned, seared into the ground. Nothing remained in the wake of her light. Most humans think light magic is a blessing as opposed to dark magic, in a way it is. However, that didn't mean it wasn't just as dangerous. Wherever Everetta’s enraged light touched the object would be disintegrated. Unlike Lucarious?’ ?gift where flames could be seen and spread, Everetta's light magic burned without smoke, it seared without flames.

I can't even sense Lucarious anymore. Which made sense as Luna also perished in the blast of Everetta's magic. Honestly, if I hadn't reached out to save Akasuki, I don't know what might have happened to her too. No, I knew she might have also perished in the light. Perhaps it was because I had half her magic that I survived despite being so close to the impact. I suppose having half her soul attached to mine was a good thing after all.

Soulmates .

She always loved to joke about that. In a way, I suppose we were. Friends who are linked together by the same soul, soulmates.

I don't know why, or how but some fae managed to survive. Most had just come from underground. I sent countless scouts, the fae I had found, to gather the remaining fae.

Five thousand.

That was all that remained in the lands when once there had been millions. I stared back at the placid girl before me as she stared hollowly back out the window. Her eyes glazed over the desolate landscape of our realm as if she couldn't see anything. Not the ashen orange hue of the sky despite it being night. What had once shown a dark nightmarish midnight blue was now tinged with the color of an autumn fruit pumpkin. It was as if the sky too was impacted by her magic, by her light.

Tonight was one of her better days, sometimes she would scream out in a rage-filled with fury and I would have to subdue her. I'd have to go into her mind and physically freeze her brain cells so that she'd pass out. She used to be able to prevent my magic from touching her but in her current state, she couldn't do anything.

I'd learned I could easily overpower her right now, even with my inferior magic. Of course, I would never admit it to anyone. It was still far greater than any regular normal fae, but I knew who was actually supposed to take my place as a ROYAL , as Everetta liked to call it. Gritting my teeth, I tried not to think about it. Tried to forget how everyone knew whose place I had taken. Closing my eyes I shook off the thought before approaching Everetta, if at all, slightly hesitant. You never knew now with her.

At first, it was hard to do it. To mess with her mind using my magic, but I had to. It got easier as time flew. Eighteen years to be exact as I watched her crumble slowly as our realm grew more and more each day. Before long I'm sure this one court will turn back into four, just as it should be. The cool frozen lands of the Wolf Court will once again be the icy wasteland it was supposed to be and not the desert of green it was now. As for Lucarious, I'm sure he'd return with that witch. They were Phoenix es, they'll reincarnate. But my brother. I gripped my hands into fists. My nails pierced through my skin as I remembered the events that had transpired eighteen years ago in the gardens. Now we were all huddled in this corner of the realm that had survived Everetta's sorrow. The only area of the Fae Realm that still held enough magic to be used and recycled. For everything comes at a price in this realm.

I gripped Everetta's hands in mine as I passed her one of her gems . Just like how her magic has saved me and Akasuki, her gems also survived. I do not doubt it. They were the books Everetta had written and imbued with her own magic. She'd gifted me one. Since then, I'd only been able to find this one, her first book, the one that contains the most basic of all magic. One with the skin and tissues of her enemies or monsters that once plagued the land. Now even creatures of the night were hardly seen.

A few days ago Akasuki and I had finally found this book in one of the Griffin Court's ruined and burned great libraries. I was hoping to ask Everetta if she might be able to cast spells again. She hasn't since that day but I could read that her magic was back to the same strength that it was before the events of the garden.

"Look, it's one of your books. Remember? You used to love working on them. You'd dragged me across half the existing realms for this." I hesitantly poked at the bubble of grief surrounding her, smiling softly. I didn't know what would trigger her meltdowns at that point. Lords, I just want her vibrant golden eyes back. I didn't want her to look at me like she was now. Her eyes that seemed to look past me. Her radiant smile nowhere to be found. Her whimsical laughter and childish antics a thing of the past as she stared down at the book in her hands.

"Where is he?" She asked as I stiffened not completely knowing what to say. If I said he was dead would she have another meltdown? Would her magic pulse out again? I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared, and fae can't lie, but we can evade.

How should I approach this? I didn't want her to scratch out my eyes again when she remembered what had happened to Flynn. Or worse watch as tears slipped down her placid face, as she turned back to stare blankly out the window without really seeing anything. Lords, I hated that.

"Umm, he-" I began, clearing my throat whether it was from my own grief or my lack of answers I wasn’t sure. Maybe it was from both. A voice behind me spoke before giving me the out I needed. Her voice was a calm soothing wave of peace as she spoke.

"He's not here, and he can't be here if you don't find a way to bring him back. That book could help. We can bring everyone back, all that we lost, with a spell. But you have to make it Evie, please." Akasuki pleaded, her white hair fading to a blond wave as her once glowing red eyes withered into a deep blue tone against her alabaster skin.

She was right, the lands were dying, or it had been before we had given our own magic to help replenish the lands. But it was too much; we couldn't do this alone. As much as I hated to admit it, Lucarious and that witch were taking far too long to reincarnate. We won't last long if all the land does is take from us . In the Fae Realm, nothing is free, not even the green or frozen tundra we live in. Not the humid air or fresh breeze we breathe in. In this realm, a realm made by our founding beasts, the creatures of legends, only the lines of the royal family can sustain it.

I don't know the specifics or how diluted the blood would need to be for it to no longer be able to contribute to giving back to the lands. All I know is that the royal family's blood which was magically infused with the power of great creatures, the Sphinx, Mermaid, Chimera, and Dragon, is the only thing that can sustain the magic of the Fae Realm.

Long ago these four creatures gifted magic to the fae. Four fae in particular were chosen. It was their lineage that would then contain the magic of these great creatures who have now gone extinct due to hunting, old age, etc. I am ashamed to know that my ancestors have done such a dishonorable thing against such great creatures. Nevertheless, the past can not be changed.

The magic in these four lineages' bloodlines would then be siphoned off bit by bit depending on the number of how much of the royal family there was. Or so Everetta had told me. I'm not sure of the specifics. It was far more complicated than siphoning I’m sure, but in simple terms, as Everetta, had told me that was it. The land siphoned from the lines of the royal family. Which was why they always had to sit on the throne or be alive. Without them, the land would start to rot.

As time passed the Sphinx linked together with the Phoenix line, a branch of the Chimera and Dragon. Their princess married the tyrant king and he quickly changed the court's name to Phoenix instead of Sphinx. As for the Wolves, my court. My father had done the same to ensure that his lands would not rot. Since his blood was too diluted to rule the Mermaid Court on his own, he married the Princess of the Mermaids. To be quite honest it was more of a forced arranged marriage. After he had plundered their ocean and froze it over. The Mermaids were too weak to fight back against someone who also had the backing of the Griffin Queen.

As to how I could rule the court, Everetta told me it had something to do with the half of my soul she gave me. How it translated to blood I will never know. When I had asked her about it Everetta refused to tell me more.

This was also why Everetta was so strong. All I know is that she had the bloodline of all the ancient creatures Sphinx, Mermaid, Chimera, and Dragon. She doesn't like nor does she allow anyone to dig out the origins of her genes. I assume it was just a perfect match of her biological parent's genetics. As to why the names Sphinx, Mermaid, and Dragon are not in her name well it was because the former Queen of the Griffins.

The queen had decided to name her after the current courts instead of what they used to be, so Phoenix was in place of Sphinx. As to why I do not know. In the Fae Realm the longer your name the greater the power you had, because it took immeasurable magic to give a name to a child. So the fae without magic would go to the churches and have the priests, who had magic, to name their child.

The Chimera lineage turned into the Griffin because not many fae had the same amount of magic as a Chimera was supposed to have. To not taint the name of a Chimera with the disgrace of their lack of power they changed it to Griffin. The details of how the magic in their blood still worked confused me but Everetta said I wouldn't understand so she never explained more to me. I never felt the need to dig further for there are some things in this realm that you do not need to find out.

As for the Dragons, they never changed, they were the sole court that never altered monarchies throughout the years.

"He's gone? No- No- NO- NO- NO !" Everetta cried as tears streamed down her face as she gripped onto the side of her head. Pulling, tugging, yanking against her strands of honey. Her eyes glowed gold in her rage.

"We can bring him back!" I bellowed as I tried to calm her. Tried to stop her from harming herself, from pulling out more of her beautiful curls. She was lucky I still had enough magic to regrow her strands.

"Everetta please calm yourself!?” I struggled to retrain her as she stared back at me, her golden eyes glistening with tears as she no doubt replayed those disastrous events in the Garden.

"I killed him, Eli. I killed him." She cried in mourning as she sagged into my arms, tears racking her body. I held her close trying to soothe her.

"That's enough Evie! You can sit here for another eight sun cycles or we can find a way to bring him back. Pull your-damn-self together. The land will rot, Eli and I have been straining ourselves to keep this land alive. We've even had to ask the remaining fae to pitch in. Evie, our blood is not enough anymore. Eli's blood is not enough. We've had to give back magic from the damn source Evie! Soon enough blood sacrifices will be needed." Akasuki started pulling Everetta away from my arms as she gripped Everetta's wrists in her hands.

"Listen to me, I know you're grieving. I know what Fly- what his death means to you. But you have to understand, my blood, the citizen's blood, is not enough. They don't carry as much of the ancient magic as Eli's or yours. We need to find a way to sustain the land and reincarnate those we've lost. Do you understand, Evie!" Akasuki continued, not a question but a demand as she stared back at the glowing golden eyes of Everetta. Then a slow nod shook Everetta's head as her hands waved over the book.

"A reincarnation spell?" Everetta muttered so quietly I could barely hear it. It was as if she wasn't sure what she was saying either.

"It requires dark magic or Phoenix blood. But that won't save the land." She began quietly at first as her hand slowly moved across the pages. Then quicker, her hands glided across the page as her glow slowly returned to her. She'd always loved magic. For a brief moment as I glanced across to Akasuki catching her fading red eyes I smiled. Hope was finally back.

Maybe it was the idea that Flynn might be able to return that spewed her on, or perhaps the news of the realm dying. I was sure it was the former rather than the ladder.

"Magic, blood, death, and the land of the old, the creature of the ancients. I can create a spell. I could- I could do it." Everetta nodded as a glint of a smile crossed her lips.

"I could bring them back." She gasped out relief coating her shimmering tears. A smile trembled against her lips.

And so it went. We spent days coming up with a solution and by we I mean I handled the court matters as Everetta and Akasuki searched for a solution.

Two sun cycles had passed when the door to my office at the time slammed open as a radiating Everetta smirked back at me. Though it was lacking the glow of her past self she was alive again. Thank lords.

“?I found it. A way we could save the lands and everyone." So she claimed. I was pretty sure the only fae she aimed for that spell to truly work on was my younger brother.

She explained how we needed to die, the magic release from our deaths combined should be enough to last the lands until we returned. The reincarnation spell we use to reincarnate ourselves after we die would resurrect us. It would have been a problem to cast the spell seeing as it required a sacrifice. However, since we need to die to get reincarnated and give magic back to the lands it was no issue. A loophole of sorts.

There was, however, no current spell for reincarnating at a specific time. Since Everetta wanted to reincarnate after her mother came back and I wanted to be able to ascend to the throne once more there was no choice but to reincarnate at a certain period after our parents had reincarnated. There was also the matter of whatever other nonsense Everetta was spouting about the magic. How our magic needed to also go into the land and not just be released into the air or go in some other newborn fae. As well as a spell that would make our bodies the exact same way they were now. Then also have our memories intact as we reincarnate. Everetta needed to use her ability to form a new spell with her gift of light magic.

The only issue was she needed to die first and use some of that magic as she died to cast the spell. For, her ability came at a cost, it required a large amount of magic to create, which she used to have a massive amount of magic. Our bodies took in the magic in the lands as well as gave it back.

Now since the lands were so depleted it only took. The lands never gave back anymore. I believe Everetta once described it as a sort of recycling cycle? I'm not quite sure of the mechanism behind it but basically, Everetta needs to cast the magic on her last breath, as her magic fades from her body infusing with that of the lands, to form a new spell. Which meant I had to watch her die. If the last two decades weren’t hard enough I had to physically see her close her eyes as she left this world. I couldn’t go through that again. So I did what I needed to do. I found the one fae who’s lands had detached from the Fae Realm and made a bargain with him. Alexander Chamaeleonidae Corvus Aquetos Dragon, the ruler of the Dragon Court otherwise known as Dracool.