#nova's domain

[ominous-faechild]

FAERIE'S DAWN (f3-2)

CHAPTER 3: “NATURAL” OBSTACLES (part 2)

CHARACTERS:

⚜ Scamall O'Moyner (pov) ⚜ Spéir O'Moyner

SETTING:

[a wild, overgrown forest plane] [outside the dominion of Kilrey] [in the sky above the forest] [night; foggy]

approx. 1 BA (talamhdé timeline)

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

Spéir: [gives another slight, quick nod before releasing Scamall's hand and fluttering his hand forward, gesturing for her to move ahead of him… so he could watch her back]

Scamall: [takes a slow, deep breath, letting her own eyes scan the dark and unruly forest underneath them—though she's able to see much less than him]

[Even from above, the forest is clearly a tangled mess of branches and trees that do not want to let them through]

Scamall: [lips twitch, brow slowly furrowing]

Scamall: (to herself, uncertainly) ... this... is a lot of effort to eat a faerie with such little essence...

Scamall: [but, forcing a sigh and quickly shaking her head, dismisses the thought]

Scamall: [... though her ears still droop uncertainly as she decides) the forest is probably just really hungry... or it's something about their essence, specifically...

Scamall: [without any more hesitation, drifts forward and steadily gains speed, zooming through the air. Keeps an eye on her surroundings and the forest underneath, but heads toward Nova—]

[Mist quickly rises from the forest in a dense haze, obscuring the area beneath

[… and the mist thickens the air, making it difficult to fly through.]

Scamall: [huffs, snarling slightly, but just forces out a gust of wind to clear her path]

[The mist resists the movement, but it's hardly more than Talamhdé's obstacles usually did. It quickly parts, granting them passage… although it tries to slowly creep back into place.]

Scamall: [relieved, but stifles a smile. Instead, focuses on scanning the forest below as she slows her descent, hovering above a particularly-dense concentration of branches]

Essence: [weak, but very clearly Nova's unusual essence… it was hard to place—though Scamall had never been the greatest at distinguishing between essence—but seemed… vast]

Nova: [almost directly beneath her… and all-but-shielded by the thicket]

Scamall: [takes slow, deep breaths to focus as she slowly drops, still suspiciously scanning every inch she could see of the woods]

Spéir: [silent as he falls not far above her, keeping an eye out... as he always did]

Scamall: (to herself) Spéir would say something if he saw anything, but… this feels too easy? For all this trouble?

[The air was still thick—and grew thicker the closer she got to Nova—even without the mist Scamall continued struggling to clear from her sight]

Scamall: [despite being an air faerie who could see through the air itself… there were plenty of threats that could still manage to hide themselves, requiring vision to notice]

Scamall: [after another moment of hesitation, glances back in the direction they'd come from]

Scamall: [and, feeling a sense of dread settle over her, looks back down at Nova]

Nova's essence: [slowly growing weaker, disappearing beneath the overwhelming essence of Talamhdé Itself encasing them—]

Scamall: [heart pounding in her chest, to herself) … this feels like a trap. This feels like a trap! But I need to—

Spéir: [having lowered himself to her side, gently sets his hand on her shoulder]

Scamall: [flinches, quickly looking at him over her shoulder—]

Spéir: [face dead serious, but flashes her a forced-reassuring smile as he murmurs) "you okay? We can go back if you—"

Scamall: [snarling, snaps) "no! We're not leaving them behind!"

Spéir:

Spéir: [sighs heavily, fae-ears drooping as he looks away, but—]

Scamall: [at the same time, mostly releases her magic around her, all but completely dissolving into air. Only keeps a weak grasp around her body in preparation to stop at any moment, but lets herself drop near-completely uncontrolled—]

[The air is still thick, slowing her descent itself and resisting her every movement—both physical and magical. On top of that, the forest's canopy is woven into a dome-shaped cage, surrounding Nova]

Scamall: [fighting her dread again, takes a deep breath and rolls her eyes. Finally, carefully weaves herself between the branches, clambering through the canopy]

Cage: [except… growing denser—with progressively more and more thorns—the closer to Nova they got]

Spéir: [shortly behind her; a slight edge to his voice) "Scamall."

Scamall: [snarling, quickly turns a sharp glare onto him]

Spéir: [interwoven between branches himself, his half-formed hands and legs carefully wrapped around places with as little thorns as possible]

Spéir: [has an intense look on his face, but speaks carefully) "if you really want to do this, I can teleport us the rest of the way. But it's going to take a lot of what I have, and you're going to have to be prepared in case the forest attacks us."

Scamall:

Scamall: [swallows, hesitantly glancing at the thicket between her and Nova]

Voice: (subtly uneven, nervous) "is this seat taken?" Scamall: [tenses, her ears reflexively going back slightly, and quickly looks over her shoulder—] Faerie: [standing awkwardly behind her, subtly shrunken in on themself and fidgeting with an archfaerie's emblem. Has a shabby, clearly-worn dark green cloak on, its hood over their vermilion hair] Faerie: [flashes Scamall an anxious smile] Scamall: [except… after her years of learning how deceitful other fae could be, has learned how to read emotions well] Faerie: [and has subtle creases of fear and loneliness around their face and eyes] Scamall: Scamall: … :'D

Scamall: [takes a slow, deep breath]

Faerie: [uses a majority of their essence to warp the three of them far through Kilrey and the massive Faewilde storm] Faerie: [dragged them past the edge of Kilrey's dominion… and placed themself between the town and siblings, their arm held out as they shield the siblings with their own body] Faerie: (struggling to raise their voice and sound braver than they felt) "I'm going to take him on. Just run. Even if I can't stop him… you can get away. I'm sorry for getting you dragged into my problems."

Scamall: [slowly lets out her breath, then looks up at Spéir with a determined look]

Scamall: [… though it quickly gets replaced by a forced smile as she struggles to act braver than she feels]

Scamall: [holds out her hand for Spéir to take; voice uneven) "let's go."

What do you guys think of Scamall's motivation to "rescue" Nova? And how determined the forest seems to keep her from reaching them? Or even Spéir's constant attempts to dissuade her, then offering his assistance? 🤔

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

divider from @mypixeldiary

[ominous-faechild]

FAERIE'S DAWN (f2-1)

CHAPTER 2: KILREY (part 1)

CHARACTERS:

⚜ Nova “Me” ??? (pov) ⚜ Scamall O'Moyner ⚜ Spéir O'Moyner

SETTING:

[overgrown, mossy swamp plane] [within the dominion of Kilrey] [in a tavern inside of Kilrey] [night; magic storm-blizzard]

approx. 1 BA (talamhdé timeline)

story intro table of contents chapter one < last chapter next chapter >

Nova: [tense, but continues chewing the taffy-like ambrosia as she watches Spéir and Scamall through her aura]

Siblings: [looking at each other, faces twisted and fae-ears lowered stressfully—]

Scamall: [guilty, but…]

Spéir: [furious]

Spéir: (hisses under his breath) "Scamall! This is exactly why I—"

Scamall: [letting out a slow breath, shakes her head and gently pushes him to the side with just a wave of her essence and air. Moves to stop beside Nova and try to meet their eyes]

Nova: [hesitantly obliges her, chomping off a piece of their third ambrosia square]

Scamall: (voice gentle, but serious) "you have a plan? Do you need more ambrosia?"

Nova:

Spéir:

Nova: [shocked she'd offer to help when doing so got her into this mess to begin with, but…]

Nova: [ears low, forces themself to just look away, nod curtly, and swallow their bite. Then, with their face turned away, rips off another chunk of ambrosia to chew]

Scamall: [smoothly sits down next to Nova and reaches with her essence to copy their earlier theft—]

Spéir: [grabs her shoulder, hissing) "Scamall, what are you doing!? You're going to—"

Scamall: [turning a sharp glare onto him in return, evenly) "they escaped from another archfaerie. They know what they're doing, too. We should help them."

Spéir: [stunned silent—]

Nova: 'too'...

Nova: [also stunned, but struggling not to be hopeful. Instead, forces herself to focus on her still-formulating escape plan. At the same time, starts on her fourth and last piece of ambrosia]

[Ambrosia, as a treat made of pure magic, contained immense amounts of energy for needy fae. It was most often made by archfaeries, who learned to break apart the raw magic permeating Talamhdé. By stabilizing it—and taking all that matched their domain—they could then shove it at their thralls for easy-to-serve rations.]

[Without ambrosia, it would be much harder for archfae to feed their thralls. Typical food did little to nothing for faeries, and was more often than not just consumed for taste. Instead, they needed to consume things that matched their 'domains'.]

[Each faerie had a certain 'domain' that depended on what they emerged from.]

[For example: Scamall. She'd been clearly air-aligned, but she did little to nothing to hide the fact that her full domain was 'clouds'. Beyond it literally being her name, her stormy hair, softer personality, and semi-translucent, spotted-like-clouds-in-the-sky skin made it far too obvious she was a gentler storm faerie.]

[On the other hand, Spéir's was much harder to distinguish. Aligning with his name—as most younger faeries did—his speckled-with-stars, night-sky skin matched the night sky outside. But, whereas that was true, his essence itself felt very different from 'the sky'. Nova would need more time to figure out what exactly his domain was.]

[Then, most relevantly, there was Byrne. His appearance—between the crumbling earthen skin, burning hair, and roots keeping his body together—made it clear he had something between an earth, nature, and fire alignment, but his exact domain was harder to distinguish.]

[Still, Nova had always been especially skilled at figuring out faeries' domains just by the feeling of their aura—their concentration of essence, or magic energy—alone. On top of that, Nova's arcane eye was sharp enough that she was able to track precise locations even with massive auras.]

[And that's why she knew Byrne, the faerie of burnt-down forests, had finally reached Kilrey.]

Nova: [taking a near-gasping breath, quickly hops out of her chair. Wipes the back of her hand—and her essence—against her mouth to absorb any last bits of ambrosia as she looks toward the siblings]

Spéir: [has his jaw clenched and arms crossed tight as he's turned away from them, glaring at the other inhabitants of the tavern… to help discourage them from staring, or catching Scamall's theft]

Scamall: [of course, still stealing ambrosia squares. Shifting her airy clothes—made of her magic—to form pockets hidden beneath their ruffles and then stuff the ambrosia inside]

Both: [as Nova hopped out of the chair, stop what they're doing to look at Nova with tense expressions]

Nova: [meets Spéir's eyes, then Scamall's, and quickly turns to march toward the door]

Nova: (voice commanding, sounding far more confident than she felt) "if you want to 'help' me, we head out now. I can collect more essence on the way. Hurry!"

Air Siblings: [meet eyes once again behind her back]

Scamall: [immediately follows close behind Nova!]

Spéir: [half-groans, half-growls, but quickly trails after]

Spéir: [… though his eyes dart from faerie to faerie as he wonders why nobody's reacting to their departure]

Nova: [almost as though she's reading his mind but more reading between the lines, and figuring it's better to say anyway) "I blocked them from seeing us. Come on!"

Spéir: [bites his tongue, unsure of a lot of things… but certain it was a bad time to ask questions]

Nova: [pushes the door open and speedwalks outside, ignoring the frostbite-cold of the now-winter that hits her]

[The seasons, time of day, and weather in general could change constantly within Talamhdé—what humans called 'the Faewildes'. It was all but nonsensical, but often followed themes, the mood of whomever controlled the area they were in, or the strength of raw, unclaimed magic permeating the plane]

[Talamhdé's raw magic was incredibly dangerous even to faeries, its native residents. It was able to take over their minds, make them lose their sense of selves, and turn them into abominations the humans called 'demons'. Creatures with seemingly no consciousness, hellbent on committing atrocious acts of violence.]

[Nova couldn't blame them.]

[She had an anger deep within. A rage she fought down almost every day, that made her cry in the dead of night. A rage that dared to consume her entire being. It wanted to rain retribution upon the heads of all the unworthy—upon those who purposely harmed others, those who used and abused those weaker than themselves, and who ate and ate and consumed until there was nothing remaining.]

[Archfaeries. Who laughed and jeered at others' so-called 'inferiority'. Who flexed their power like gods, then claimed to be superior to God, the namesake of Talamhdé.]

[The god of Magic Itself.]

[They took and took and took, then declared themselves above all else. Claimed they earned their power, that they'd been granted it by God, or that they'd deserved it. That all those beneath them belonged there.]

[More than anything else, Nova wished she could make them suffer.]

[Instead, she was a coward who ran away from her problems.]

[Pathetic.]

Nova: [fae-ears low and eyes scanning the streets around them, paces forward to lead the group through the quickest way out of town]

Spéir: [from behind, voice tense) "what's your plan, fae. Who are you?"

Nova: [tenses, but… keeps pacing, keeping an eye on the area]

[The buildings kept fluctuating, both in shape and material. First they were of wood, then stone, then ice—and it didn't stop there. The same applied to their architecture: they started as traditionally-built houses, but quickly distorted into irregular shapes that should've collapsed in on themselves.]

[… and sometimes did, with massive crashes and panicked faeries stumbling out of their wrecked homes. Still, there was little to worry about.]

[Kilrey would be able to repair it all in no time.]

[Well, he would when the magic storm passed, at least. Until then, there'd be no point in even trying—the storm would continue to ravage the town, erasing his efforts, until it was gone.]

Nova: (voice starts anxious and uneven, but quickly levels to tense and hard as they switch topics) "I'm—... we leave Kil—the Archfae's dominion, so he's weaker. From there, he either gives up, or—"

Spéir: [didn't miss their avoiding answering who they were, but—]

Spéir: (sharply interrupts) "he'll catch up before we can!"

Nova: [twists her form, turning her torso so—while her legs continue forward on her decided path—she's able to face Spéir while walking]

Siblings: [faces visibly twist in disgust at her grotesque display]

Nova: (harshly) "we have a head start and this—" [points up, then twists his finger in a circular gesture, alluding to the magic storm] "—is going to keep him from teleporting to us."

Spéir:

Spéir: [visibly stunned… though also looks paler]

Spéir: [actually, has changed a lot in appearance. His night-sky skin has quickly turned pale white, matching his hair and the snow around them]

Spéir: [now, almost completely blends with the environment as he scans the area, the tips of his fae-ears dropping lower and lower]

Nova: (to himself) ah… that's why he feels a bit different from 'sky'.

Spéir: [returning his eyes to Nova, hesitantly) "is… that you?"

Nova: [breath catches, heart skipping a beat—]

Nova: [barks out a laugh and turns his torso back into place to increase his pace as he tries to hide his panic. Still, he's betrayed by his angled ears, poorly-faked laugh, and the breathlessness of his otherwise-incredulous voice) "no??? You think I'd be like this if I had that kinda power? I just sensed it coming, and we're taking advantage of it. Now hurry up, Kil—he, the Archfae, just left!"

Scamall: [from behind her; voice gentle, but subtly tense) "so… what happens when he catches up to us?"

Nova: [drops his eyes to the ground, falling silent as a cold hand of dread wraps itself tight around his heart]

Nova: (voice thick) "as long as we're outside of his heart, I can take care of him by myself."

YOU CAN WHAT BY YOURSELF, NOVA!?!?!

Aaaaaanyhow, how truthful do you think all of this is? What's with all of their fear of archfaeries? And how in the world would Nova "take care of" one by themself???

story intro table of contents chapter one < last chapter next chapter >

Faerie's Dawn taglist:

@honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter @an-indecisive-nerd

@seastarblue @rae-butter @teamarine777 @caffeinated-starsailor @oliolioxenfreewrites

@corinneglass @thebookishkiwi @storyteller-kara @themongosianhorse @theburningeyeofdawn

@notyourlocalworm @write-with-will @mildlybizarrecorvid @forgottenvalor @huewrite

@vesanal @differentnighttale @plip-plap-plop @olliedoesthings @pupculture

@princessuncertain @mythicalmagical-monkeyman @i-do-anything-but-write @a-zendrial

@real-fragments @lunauphternal @sullymarlowe @aalinaaaaaa (ask and ye shall be added)

dividers by @thyming and @saradika

[ominous-faechild]

FAERIE'S DAWN (f5-1)

CHAPTER 5: CALM AFTER THE STORM (part 1)

CHARACTERS:

⚜ Scamall O'Moyner (pov) ⚜ Spéir O'Moyner ⚜ Dhia “Nova” ???

SETTING:

[a wild, overgrown forest plane] [in the midst of talamhdé] [in a clearing within the forest] [night; clear]

approx. 1 BA (talamhdé timeline)

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

Spéir: (at the same time, hesitantly looking back down at her, voice soft) "I'm going to set up camp by myself. Do whatever you need to for them, alright?"

Scamall: [hesitates, caught off-guard]

Scamall: [can't help a small smile, ears drooping and eyebrows furrowing slightly]

Scamall: (gently) "thank you, Spéir. I know this isn't easy for you."

Spéir: [face flickers, jumping from indignant, to embarrassed, and quickly settling on irritable as he purses his lips and turns his face away]

Spéir: [ears low and pointed back in irritation, grumbles) "I never said that."

Scamall: [giggles softly, raising a hand to cover the lower half of her face. At the same time, draws her other hand—and a square of ambrosia—from one of her pockets]

Scamall: [fae-tipped ears lowered back slyly, teases gently) "oh, you didn't have to say." ;)

Spéir: [scoffs—and, though Scamall can't see it, she knows he's rolling his eyes as he turns away]

Spéir: [stepping away, sulkingly) "whatever."

Scamall: [snorts, then gives a longer giggle]

Spéir: [gives a heavy sigh with his back still to her, but smiling softly, and stops a few steps away. Begins drawing their equipment from his essence pocket, apparating it into existence and letting it slowly drift to the ground]

Spéir: [like all faeries, had an 'essence pocket': an invisible space adjacent to their plane tucked into his aura. He could summon objects from or hide them within with just a flex of his magic]

[Still, while every faerie had an essence pocket, their ability to use it varied. Like most things magical, Scamall struggled to use hers as efficiently as Spéir. If she let her focus slip for a moment too long—or tried using too much magic outside of it—she'd accidentally let things slip out.]

[So, of course, Spéir was the one to hold onto all of their stuff.]

Scamall: [though she wants to continue teasing Spéir, forces herself to focus and look back down at Nova]

Nova: [like before, is curled into a tight ball, their form translucent and flickering.]

[Like all faeries' did when they were running out of essence.]

[If a faerie completely ran out of essence—or magic—that was it. Their entire existences were fueled by their magic, and they were nothing without it. They were creatures of the elements, of concepts and features, and they'd fade away without their substance.]

[In short: Nova was dying.]

[At least… for now.]

Scamall: [humor drying up, slowly lets out a strangled sigh]

[Ambrosia, as a concentration of pure magic, would be more than enough to bring Nova back from the brink.]

Nova: [despite their condition—or perhaps because of it—barely fights Scamall as she carefully grabs their arms and pries them from over Nova's head]

Scamall: [lets out another heavy sigh as she sits back, anxiously looking down at the faerie]

Scamall: (to herself) I probably shouldn't feed them lying down…

Scamall: [nods to herself, summoning her magic to create a vortex around Nova, sweeping them up in the gust. Trying to keep herself calm—knowing both Spéir and Nova were relying on her to do this—strides beside Nova as she drifts them toward a tree]

Nova: [face twisted and brow furrowed, flails weakly within the vortex—and their essence reacts, feebly trying to fight Scamall's!]

Scamall: [nearly drops them in panic. Instead, with barely a moment to think, quickly zips Nova the rest of the way there and all but drops them]

Spéir: [pauses setting up camp, glancing back at the two with a slightly-quirked eyebrow] Spéir: [unhappy Scamall's worried, of course, but…] Spéir: [annoyed.] Spéir: she really has nothing to worry about. >:/ Spéir: [huffs, rolling his eyes—although his heart skips a beat—and forcing himself to return to his task]

Nova: [flops sideways onto the ground, quickly curling into a ball again… though, thankfully, their essence separates from Scamall's. Instead, it weakly curls around them, tightening on their form protectively]

Scamall: [eyes wide and heart pounding, but… forces herself to let out another strangled sigh, relieved] :'DDD

Scamall: they can interact with air essence? What are they? I thought they were—but that's not important right now.

Scamall: [unknowingly anxiously spinning winds around them to soothe herself, closes the distance between herself and Nova to kneel at their side. Brow furrowed in concern, awkwardly pries their arms from over their head again, then gently sets them with their back against the tree]

Nova: [weakly resists her all the while, face twisted in distress—maybe having a nightmare?]

Scamall: at least they're not trying to fight me magically 😅😓

Nova: [and, thankfully, stays where Scamall put them. Just wraps their arms around their torso, hugging themself with all their feeble strength]

Scamall: [smiles sadly, brow furrowed in concern. At the same time, manifests another arm out of the air to gently brush Nova's vermillion hair out of their face and tuck it behind their ear. With her physical hands, holds the ambrosia square steady and breaks a small piece off of it]

Nova: [weakly stirs in place, but… slowly relaxes, pressing their cheek into the hand Scamall formed from magic]

Scamall:

Scamall: [caught off-guard, but… also can't help remembering how lonely they'd looked when she'd first seen them]

[Her initial evaluation seemed to have been correct… and probably far more so than she even realized.]

Scamall: [letting out a slow, pained sigh, forms tendrils of air—]

Spéir: (voice empty) "Scamall."

Scamall: [hesitates, eyes widening, before quickly looking over her shoulder at him]

Spéir: [by now, has gotten most of the way through setting up camp]

[Over their years of travelling through Talamhdé, going from plane to plane, they've collected tons of materials and even tricks to survive in the ever-changing lands. Both fae and humanity—the latter of which had never been aware of the siblings' true identities as faeries—had helped them, bartering for both information and resources.]

[Now, they have an immense amount of equipment—ranging from leather hides and blankets to lanterns and torches—that they've collected, and oftentimes even expanded upon with their own magics.]

[The camp has utilized much of that; it's comprised of a large tent made from hides, an as-of-yet-unlit campfire, and even a loose tarp Spéir was in the process of unravelling. Usually, they'd have a spit above the fire, food they'd hunted for cooking upon it, but, well…]

[… with all the ambrosia Scamall stole from Kilrey, the group had no need for food for quite a while.]

Spéir: [expression mostly empty, but… Scamall can make out hints of anger underlying it]

Spéir: (voice impassive) "are you sure you should be using so much essence?"

Scamall: [caught off-guard by his anger, but…]

Scamall: [face tightens, ears going back indignantly, and small flashes of light striking from the storm building in her hair]

Scamall: (stubbornly) "there's no reason not to. We have a ton of ambrosia."

Spéir: [face twitches, fury openly showing for a moment—]

Spéir: [but it quickly pinches in frustration instead, and he turns his head to look away irritably]

Spéir: (darkness underlying his voice) "… sure. Whatever."

Scamall: [really doesn't know how to take how weird Spéir's been acting, but… he accepted?] :'D

Scamall: [sighs, turning back to Nova. Still comfortingly cupping their cheek with the invisible hand, forms a separate tendril of air to carefully open their mouth. Finally, places the broken-off, smaller chunk of ambrosia in their mouth to let it dissolve on their tongue]

Scamall: and, if they choke, I can always clear their airway 😅

Conflict between the siblings... 😔

Hopefully it clears up soon! 😄

Still! What do you think of all the worldbuilding, and how faeries operate? :)

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

dividers by @thyming and @thecutestgrotto

[ominous-faechild]

FAERIE'S DAWN (f6)

CHAPTER 6: RUMINATION

CHARACTERS:

⚜ Spéir O'Moyner (pov) ⚜ Dhia “Nova” ???

SETTING:

[a wild, overgrown forest plane] [in the midst of talamhdé] [within the forest] [night; drizzling]

approx. 1 BA (talamhdé timeline)

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

Scamall: [fast asleep, cuddling a giant stuffed animal made from Spéir's essence]

Spéir: [always passed those off to her when he was more anxious, might want to get up and pace, or had reason to not want her clinging to him at night]

Spéir: [and, you know… would just reclaim the magic when it was time to go]

Spéir: [leans back against his tree with both of his legs folded; one's lying sideways on the ground, its foot on the other's ankle, and has his other leg propped up, the knee pointing toward the sky]

[The forest—and its gentle rain—is so much calmer than it was earlier, both during their escape from Kilrey and when Talamhdé Itself had awoken to defend Nova]

Spéir: [scowls, an arm against each of his knees, as he fidgets with a Kilrey Emblem. Alternates between rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger and juggling it between his fingers]

Spéir: [ears lowered and brow furrowed in concentration as he stares at Nova, thinking]

Spéir: … I'll need to ask you what exactly went on between you and Kilrey.

Spéir: [ceases juggling the emblem to shift it into his palm, rubbing it against his hand]

Spéir: I'd hate to put this to waste, but… [glances to Scamall, jaw tensing, before he looks back to Nova] … I can't risk endangering her by pulling the same thing as you, you fucking brat.

Spéir: [oops, suddenly realizes he's snarling—]

Spéir: [hesitates, surprised—]

Spéir: [and forcibly releases a heavy sigh and relaxes his face. At the same time, half-turns to look away and stare almost blankly at a tree]

Nova: "now, with them taking that to the archfae, he's going to be able to reach out to her and find that out!"

Spéir: [slowly takes a deep breath, flicking Kilrey's emblem from his right hand to the left—the one sitting on his knee—so he can look down at it]

Spéir: we can do that, huh? Talk to each other through these?

Spéir: [clenches his jaw thoughtfully again, ears tensing back]

Spéir: [—and turns his eyes to Nova again]

Spéir: … I guess that makes sense. Scamall's never noticed—she's never been good at magic stuff—but I'd always sensed their essence within these things…

Spéir: [lets out another slow breath, turning to look down at Kilrey's emblem again]

[The emblem is a brooch of wood carved into a crown of two antlers, both encircling a delicately-painted open book. The entire thing has been carefully carved—or, at least, had its shape manipulated by magic—to have an incredible amount of detail]

[... like most archfaeries' emblems, though their exact designs and what they're made of varies]

Spéir: (to himself) … I guess that'd been their point. It's not the design that matters, but the magic. They reach out to one another to communicate the exact relationships…

Spéir: [takes a short breath, then lets out a long, heavy sigh as he slumps back against the tree behind him. His ears droop as he presses the crown of his head against the tree trunk and stares up at the fake starry-sky above. It was littered by clouds and countless specks of rain that silently clattered against the magically-silenced tarp stretching above them]

Spéir: [has always had such a longing to see a real sky, to feel it… but they'd been trapped within just about every other kind of dominion for all these years]

Spéir: (still thinking, heart twisted] … which means that they probably all have known.

Spéir: [although Scamall also had never noticed… had several archfaeries' emblems tucked within his essence pocket. It was only Kilrey's that he had out for now, while nobody else was awake to see it.]

Spéir: [still staring up at the fake sky, feels for Akas's emblem tucked and hidden within his pocket, the miniscule essence of the archfaerie's within concealed by his own]

Spéir: Akas… have you told the others?

Spéir: is that why they've given me their blessings as well?

Nova: "he's going to be able to reach out to her—"

Spéir: so I can contact them when it's time? I thought it was just… an empty promise, something none of them expected to actually work out, but…

Spéir: [lets out another slow, strangled sigh as he hesitantly looks down at Kilrey's emblem again]

Spéir:

Spéir: [swallows, then flicks it into his essence to trade it for Akas's]

Spéir: [stares down at her emblem, remembering the first archfaerie who'd had mercy on him, who'd let him go, because she'd seen his potential]

[Akas, the archfaerie who'd put him on the path he was today]

Spéir: [takes in—then releases—a slow, shaky breath]

Spéir: [finally, closes his eyes and leans back into the tree trunk, once again turning his face toward the sky]

Spéir: … it makes more sense, if that's what's been going on. They've had more than just my word… and, well, the others' blessings, but… it didn't come out of nowhere. Akas was first, and the others… well, the more who back me, the more others wanted to do the same, huh? 'Votes of confidence' and all?

Spéir:

Spéir: [slowly opens his eyes again, staring out into the skybox]

Spéir:

Spéir: [once again has to fight the longing to be within a real sky, but…]

Spéir: [swallows, then hesitantly looks down at Scamall again]

Scamall: [still sleeping soundly, drooling slightly with her cheek pressed against the stuffed animal]

Spéir: [heart and face soften, a faint smile coming to his lips]

Spéir: [—though it instantly vanishes for a scowl as his eyes dart to Nova]

Nova: [still passed out, but has managed to move closer to Scamall in their sleep. Instead of curled into a ball, is now sprawled out, their head lolled to the side and limbs haphazardly around them]

[Like before, wild plants and miscellaneous bits of the forest had gravitated toward and half-buried their limbs. Nature and dirt of Talamhdé once again stretched over them as though trying to claim them, but didn't plunge them into the earth. Instead it seemed satisfied just littering itself all over their body]

Spéir: [has half a mind to get up just to drag Nova away from Scamall, but… can't help the flutter of panic that comes at the thought]

Spéir: [instead, a snarl slowly grows over his lips]

Spéir: (darkly) … and then you had to get in the way, didn't you?

Spéir: [ears tensed back in fury, but—]

Spéir: [face twitches, then he forces himself to recollect his expression and take a slow, deep breath]

Spéir: okay. Chill. Chill out, Spéir.

Spéir: [transitions his single deep breath into a series of them. Slowly slumps back against the tree trunk, forcing himself to relax as he looks up at the fake sky]

Spéir: [… and remembers the nightmare scenario that'd unfolded when Talamhdé had shattered around them. How he'd been powerless, how Scamall had been left to struggle alone while he was forced to watch helplessly]

Spéir: [… and how Scamall had survived it]

Spéir: [her compassion had got her through it]

God: "with the… faerie… motive!?" Scamall: (brokenly) "I just… want to help them? I'm—I'm sorry?" God: "… not… hurt?" Scamall: "wh—hurt!? No!"

Spéir: [swallows, the familiar feeling of dread and terror settling over his heart]

Spéir: I would have died. God would have killed me. If that were me—if I'd been the one to talk to them instead—

Spéir: [ears tense and lowered from panic, hesitantly looks back to Nova]

Nova: [still visibly asleep, but in the process of pulling their limbs away from the brambles encasing them]

[Except… the brambles easily release them, letting them move freely]

Nova: [snore hiccupping, rolls to the side—and finally bumps into Scamall]

Spéir:

Nova: [sniffles in their sleep. After a moment's hesitation, awkwardly wraps their arms around Scamall and buries their face into her back]

Spéir: [snarls, ears drooping and rage flooding through him—]

Spéir: [until he's hit by the wave of terror at the idea of crossing them]

Spéir: [takes a shuddering, gasping breath before tearing his eyes from them, staring hard at a tree instead]

Spéir: [… remembers all too well the closest thing they had to a 'run-in' with God before. When it'd killed Moyner, the archfaerie that'd enthralled Spéir and Scamall over a decade ago]

Spéir: [never knew exactly what she did to piss God off, but…]

Spéir: [has his suspicions]

[God had instilled an absolute respect for its power in the siblings that day. Scamall respected and admired it for what it did for them, but Spéir…]

[Well, Spéir was bitter.]

Spéir: [hated it for having been so capable of freeing them, but never doing so, until the archfae had slighted it personally. And then, with its vengeance enacted, completely vanishing once again]

Spéir: [lets out a slow, heavy sigh as he finally manages to release the tension in his body]

Spéir: [ears drooping and face subtly twisted, hesitantly looks back to Nova]

Nova: [completely relaxed for once, cuddled into Scamall's back]

Scamall: [turned half to the side to lean into Nova, but still cuddling the stuffed animal Spéir had given her]

Spéir: [returning his eyes to Nova, to himself) … that's almost certainly Dhia, but…

Spéir: [swallows again, dropping his eyes to the leaves littering the ground]

Spéir: … even if they're not… that was God.

Spéir: [can't help but remember the trees that'd warped into long fingers, forming hands and gripping the earth beneath them… which had already shattered]

Spéir: [like, what was even the point? It already had complete control over the world. It'd already scared them shitless. So what was THE POINT!?]

Spéir: (hesitantly) … either way—[slowly looks to Scamall again, then Nova]—we're involved with God now.

Spéir: [gives a weak, broken sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob as he leans back against the tree again, looking up at the fake sky]

[… the fake sky made so by God.]

[God, who kept the world torn apart, who kept them lost, kept everything miserable]

Spéir: (to himself) … so I need to be careful.

Spéir: [eartips drooping against his shoulders, hesitantly looks down at Nova without moving his head]

Nova: [still cuddled against Scamall's back, snoring softly]

Spéir: [eyes dart to Scamall's face]

Scamall: [relaxed, sleeping easily as she most often did… despite the creature clinging to her.]

Spéir: [gives another broken laugh, turning his eyes to the sky again]

Spéir: this is why I've always told you to listen to me, Scamall… I leave you on your own for just a bit, and you get us into this situation…

So... a lot of bombshells have been dropped. Spéir has a bunch of archfaeries' emblems? Why have archfaeries "backed" him? Last but not least: what's with his absolute hatred for Nova?

... and and who is Dhia, anyway?

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

dividers by @thyming, @thecutestgrotto, and @saradika

[ominous-faechild]

FAERIE'S DAWN (f2-2)

CHAPTER 2: KILREY (part 2)

CHARACTERS:

⚜ Nova “Me” ??? (pov) ⚜ Scamall O'Moyner ⚜ Spéir O'Moyner

SETTING:

[overgrown, mossy swamp plane] [within the dominion of Kilrey] [on the crumbling streets of Kilrey] [night; magic storm-blizzard]

approx. 1 BA (talamhdé timeline)

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

Spéir: [suddenly comes to a stop behind them, raising his voice) "YOU WHAT!? You expect us to believe you can take on an archfaerie!?!?"

Nova: [growling, spins on his heel and warps to—]

Nova: [reappears directly in front of Spéir—a foot taller than before—and grips the front of Spéir's shirt to jerk him forward. At the same time, gnashes his teeth and puts his forehead against Spéir's, snarling]

Spéir: [hesitates, fae-ears folded back as he nervously keeps their gaze… though his spine is straight and lip is curled up in a snarl]

Nova: (practically spits out) "stay behind if you want! Die! Because that's what's going to happen! I can save you if you come with me, but otherwise!?!?"

Nova: [can't help it as her rage—and snarl—breaks for despair—]

Nova: [turns their face away, releasing Spéir's shirt to reappear in the spot they'd vanished from]

Spéir: [lets out a slow, unsteady breath as Nova moves away. At the same time, struggles to figure out how this tiny, weak faerie is intimidating him???]

Nova: [doesn't feel like raising their voice, but manages to do so as they force themself to finish) "or… you can go do whatever it is you think you can to escape… but I can't guarantee your safety that way…"

[Before, Kilrey had been a wet marsh of a town. Now, it was a winter wonderland whose very air vibrated with magic energy, crackling with unspent electricity. The houses—once solidly constructed of wood, earth, and miscellaneous flora—were now distorted mockeries of the concept, made of random materials haphazardly strewn together. Every few houses' roofs were caved in, but many of them had their residents’ magics combined to hold them aloft. Those who couldn't had fled beneath, where Kilrey's influence was stronger. Where Talamhdé was more stable.]

[Kilrey was partially an earth faerie, after all. Deep within its confines, his power grew stronger.]

[And deep within Kilrey's confines, God's grew weaker.]

[More relevantly, the magic storm had been growing rapidly all while the trio escaped. It had swelled into into a whiteout blizzard, swallowing them whole and only breaking in sync with the BOOMS and cracks of thunder against stone.]

[Or was it wood?—or was it—constantly changing, yes.]

[Like all in Talamhdé should be.]

Scamall: [having taken Spéir's hand in hers; voice quiet, but pained) "Spéir… look." [points into the air, toward Nova's essence] "That's theirs. Even if they can't fight him… I think they can do something against him…"

Spéir: [silent for a moment, but... nods unevenly]

Spéir: [and lets out a slow, shaky sigh]

Spéir: (voice quiet and thick) "why did you have to get us in this situation?"

Nova: [struggles to ignore them, feeling a wave of relief as they cross the last building of the town… though they still have some distance to go before they've escaped the heart of Kilrey's dominion]

[Where he was strongest.]

[As they got further and further from the centre of the magical stronghold, the effects of the magic storm were growing more and more powerful. The BOOMs of lightning only seemed to grow closer and closer, drawing all of their hair to stand up on end. The air's vibrations were joined by a searing heat that somehow failed to melt any of the snow. And, last but certainly not least, the tremors had spread from the air to join the earth beneath, shaking and shattering the ground itself.]

[Except… while the ground cracked, it didn't separate.]

[Not until Nova passed.]

[The pieces of the fractured cobblestone road remained together, allowing the group to walk across them nigh-unabated. A vivid coral glow gripped them, trapping them in place while Nova, Scamall, and then Spéir all stepped upon them. Then, once their purpose had been achieved, the glow faded and the stones drifted away, scattering into the air behind them.]

[Nova's steps were almost absentminded, so confident she was in her ability to keep the stones in place. Instead, she focused her energy on collecting what magic she could from the environment… and watching with her aura as Kilrey started closing in on them.]

[Behind Nova, Spéir and Scamall were using a mix of their own magics to hop between the separating stones. Without her conscious effort, her magic only helped perfectly accommodate for her—and that led to the fractured cobblestones spreading apart a bit sooner than she intended.]

[Oh, well. It didn't really mean much until—]

[Scamall's essence flung toward Nova.]

Nova: [tenses, immediately warping out of the way of the obvious attack. Reforms ninety-degrees around the siblings, turned to face them and ready to defend herself]

[But Scamall had only created a small dome of clear air , granting them more visibility through the immediate blizzard. She hadn't been attacking Nova, she'd been trying to help.]

[Scamall froze.]

[On the other hand, Spéir tensed, instantly putting himself between the two.]

[The air thrummed and pounded with endless strikes of electricity, marring the land beneath. Threatening to hit them as well.]

Nova: [heart pounds as he looks between the siblings, the dome around them… and something not far behind the two]

[Kilrey.]

Nova: [bites his tongue, tears swelling in his eyes]

Nova: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I ruin everything…

Nova: [with only a moment to think, envelops the three of them in his own essence and pulls them outside the bounds of Kilrey's heart]

Group: [reforms with Spéir and Scamall in the same positions as before, but behind Nova]

Nova: [facing the direction they'd just come from, much more drained from having pulled them all through a dominion actively fighting his movement. And yet, still shields the two air faeries with his own body]

Nova: (not even sure who he's pleading with) please don't stab me in the back… please don't make me regret trying to help you… I can't let more fae die because of me… so please don't make me die again…

Nova: (voice unsteady, but raised) "I'm going to take him on. Just run. Even if I can't stop him… you can get away. I'm sorry for getting you dragged into my problems…"

Scamall: (voice uneven) "I—"

Spéir: [nope! Takes her hand in his and drags her along, trying to follow Nova's instructions advice]

Scamall: [hesitantly lets him pull her away, taking her clear-air dome with her]

Nova: [heart pounding, stares out toward the concentration of Kilrey's essence speeding toward her]

Nova: (to herself) … you've done this before. You can do it again, Aoife.

Nova:

Nova: [can't help a weak, pained laugh]

Nova: not that one, either… 😅

[The rumbling of the earth suddenly spiked in strength and intensity.]

[Kilrey was almost upon her.]

Nova: [tenses, quickly throwing up both their hands and a magical barrier to protect themself]

[Shards of ice—simultaneously melted and re-frozen from the heat of the friction, then the cold of the storm—and globules of dirt burst from the ground, flinging themselves at Nova.]

[Her barrier wasn't enough.]

[The strength of her attacker's momentum forced Nova to skid backwards, wincing as her feet were buried into the snow.]

[The debris slowly fell in clumps from the air. The dirt—being the heavier of the two—came first. Then there was the ice, and the powdered snow that'd escaped a fate of rapid melting-and-refreezing.]

[Although the blizzard's haze still obscured Nova's vision, the falling debris revealed the faerie that'd punched through it all like a bullet.]

[Kilrey.]

[He was 8 feet tall—almost twice Nova's height—and towered above them. His limbs were far too long, hooked, and were covered in thick, dark brown fur. Nigh every inch of his body was covered in one kind of flora, weaving into his limbs and tangling his fur. He stood proud, atop hooved, satyr-like legs; his elongated face was crowned by staglike horns of wood, constructed to elegantly expand from behind his fae-ears and resemble—of course—a crown.]

Kilrey: [grins widely as he looks down at Nova, eyeing them through the pink-tinted barrier]

Nova: [breathing heavy and struggling not to cry, but steadily stands back up straight, hands still crossed in front of her as she maintains the barrier]

Kilrey: (voice low, almost like a growl, and yet gleeful) "ah… you know, Silina tried lying about what you were…"

Nova: [still wincing, takes the opportunity to strengthen her barrier]

Nova: (to herself) no surprises there…

Kilrey: [reaches down, trying to shove his hand through the barrier]

Barrier: [blocks it just fine!]

Kilrey: [—monologue only interrupted by a laugh) "but when your essence built… I recognized you, Dhia…"

Nova: [winces, only now realizing their stuffing themself full of ambrosia backfired by making themself noticeable… while they'd gone in with such little essence in order to hide]

Kilrey: [as he spoke, tightened his furred hand—and essence—around her barrier]

Kilrey: [and, finally, shatters it in his palm]

Nova: [thrown back from the force of the collapse, skidding into the ground and getting buried into the snow]

Nova: [already incredibly drained, but… struggles to focus their essence on his, trying to find the weak points they'd noticed the last few times they'd tried this]

Kilrey: [as they did, leisurely walked through the snow, stopped in front of Nova, and finally leaned down to pick them up by the throat]

Nova: [half-gasps, half-sobs, grasping at his hands as though they had anywhere near enough strength to pry themself free]

Kilrey: [and all the while, smugly) "I can't believe you're still alive… I'd heard you died, Dhia."

Nova: [just stares up, through the trees, and at the blizzard-tainted white sky. Struggling to breathe and focus—]

Kilrey: [slowly begins sapping their magic, drawing out his words as he does) "let me relieve you of—"

Kilrey: [suddenly falls silent, the strength fading from his fingers]

Nova: [tears himself from Kilrey's grasp and drops to the ground, gasping for breath as they glare up at him]

Nova: [tightens their magic around his soul, snarling as best he can]

Nova: (words as strangled as her voice) "'relieve me of my power?' You piece of shit, you really think it'd work this time!? When everyone else has failed!?!? WHY ARE YOU ARCHFAE ALL SO FUCKING EGOTISTICAL!?"

Nova: [digs her essence into Kilrey's soul like knives, unsteadily rising to his feet and taking shaky steps toward Kilrey]

Kilrey: [completely frozen in place, face blank and unable to move… because Nova had broken his will, a power every faerie was granted.]

Nova: [had just needed him to let his guard down, to give them the chance to work their way through his protection]

Nova: [glares up at his blank face with a snarl… and tears still in his eyes]

Nova: (voice hard and hateful) "but I'm merciful. And you're useful. So here's what we're going to do. Kneel."

Kilrey: [face still empty, obliges. Lowers himself onto one knee, kneeling in front of them… and barely getting low enough that Nova can look down at him]

Nova: [reaches forward to grab him by his throat with all their strength and force him to meet their eyes]

Nova: [still snarling, all but spits) "you're going to go back and erase all memories that I was here! You're going to go back, tell Silina that I managed to escape you and fled South, make sure nobody leaves town for a week, and then you are going to forget all about me! You'll forget I exist, you'll forget I wiped your memories, and you'll FORGET YOURSELF!"

Nova: [left gasping for breath, glaring down at him with tear-filled eyes… before her face finally breaks]

Nova: [half-sobbing, brokenly) "understand?"

Kilrey: (tonelessly, breath slightly strangled… but only slightly) "yes."

Nova: [releases Kilrey's throat, taking a few shaky steps back]

Nova: (weakly) "good. I've given my commands. Now, fulfill them."

Nova: [finally releases their magic on him, letting their feet collapse underneath them]

Kilrey: [rises smoothly, then promptly twists on his heel to tread back into his dominion]

Nova: [cries softly, watching his back slowly get further and further away… because the blizzard's largely died down, taking the whiteout with it]

Nova: it never works… won't you guys please stop TRYING!?

Nova: [gasping for breath again, falls back to stare up at the beautiful, star-filled sky slowly shining through the fading blizzard]

Nova: … why couldn't I just be a normal faerie?

Nova: [closes his eyes, unable to stay conscious]

So... what's on your guys' minds? 👀

Any theories? 😉

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

dividers by @thecutestgrotto and @saradika

[ominous-faechild]

FAERIE'S DAWN (f7-1)

CHAPTER 7: NICE TO MEET "YOU"

CHARACTERS:

⚜ Nova “Me” Fae (pov) ⚜ Scamall O'Moyner ⚜ Spéir O'Moyner

SETTING:

[a wild, overgrown forest plane] [in the midst of talamhdé] [in a clearing within the forest] [afternoon; sunny w/ clouds]

approx. 1 BA 365 DAYS BEFORE {REDACTED} (talamhdé timeline)

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

word count: 1.2k

[It's calm and quiet. It's noisy and chaotic. Nobody's talking. Everybody's talking. They're in a forest. They're in a city. They're in crumbling ruins of the Old World. They're anywhere, everywhere, always.]

[Well… not everywhere, always. There were parts Nova couldn't reach no matter how hard they tried, that they could never manage to see. Then… there were those settlements.]

[The antithesis of their being.]

Voice: (hard and masculine) "Just carry them. You and I have both slept, and they still haven't woken up—we have no idea when they will, much less if it'll be any time soon."

Nova: [face twitches]

Nova: [takes a slow, deep breath as they shift, still half-asleep. Turns their head to swap the cheek they're laying on, then—]

Nova: [winces as light shines directly on their eyelids, painting their vision red]

[It's calm and quiet. They're in the middle of a wide forest plane, surrounded by wild woods. The make-believe sun filters through the leaves, beautifully shading the area. birds chirped and fae-creatures idly attended to their business, giving Nova a wide berth as they most often did. All in all, it was a perfect day.]

[… and, without them looking or even trying to move it, a branch far above shifted to shade Nova's eyes, sparing her from the blinding light]

[Still, despite how pleasant Talamhdé was today, there was something that wasn't quite right…]

Fae: [scoffs, then hesitates… and finally sighs]

Voice: (soft and feminine, quietly) "fine."

[Two stronger concentrations of essence—indicative of a faerie or powerful monster—hovered near Nova's body. As she focused, their forms became clearer: one stood several feet away, their arms crossed, and the other was closing in on her]

Nova:

Kilrey: (smugly) "I can't believe you're still alive… I'd heard you died, Dhia." Kilrey: [slowly begins sapping her magic, drawing out his words as he does) "let me relieve you of—"

Nova: [freezes, breath catching and eyes flying open—]

Nova: [blinded by the sudden assault of light, but doesn't need her eyes to see, anyway. Warps themself several feet away, turned to face their aggressors, and threateningly emitting waves of flame]

[One of the faeries freeze, but the other quickly darts to shield the other's body with their own. That one was the stronger of the two—with a powerful, expansive domain. Alongside their shielding the other with their body, creates a strong barrier of wind behind themself]

[Smart. Because if they'd dared to attack…]

Voice: (startled, desperate) "wait!"

Nova: [at the same time, snarling, demands) "what do you want!? Who are you!? Don't you know—"

Nova: [but freezes, squinting and letting his flames die away, as his vision somewhat clears. Only somewhat, but enough for them to make out the faeries in front of him]

[They were two air faeries: both with sky blue skin painted with patches of white, resembling clouds. They both had white hair, though one's was long and wispy while the other's was an afro that dissipated into clouds... and were quickly darkening as rain sprinkled out of them]

Nova: [doesn't quite remember yet, but recognizes the faeries were familiar… even if it puts a pit of dread in his heart]

Faerie: [more accurately a celestial faerie, they are the taller, masculine of the two. They have sharp but thin features, a hawk’s beak for a nose, long white hair reminiscent of cirrus clouds, and two sets of fae-ears tipped with pale feathers.]

Faerie: [eyes narrowed on Nova's; face twisted with an expression somewhere between hate and fear]

Faerie#2: [more accurately a faerie of the clouds, is the smaller, effeminate of the two. They have a small-but-chubby face, a cloud-afro for hair currently drizzling rain, and are currently floating forward, pressing against the barrier their friend had formed]

Faerie#2: (desperately) "it's us! Don't you remember us from yesterday? You helped us leave Kilrey!"

Nova: [blinks in confusion, struggling—]

Nova: [and, finally, remembers the rest of the prior night. Before they'd taken down Kilrey, before the archfaerie had rushed to close in on him, and before that tavernkeeper had left to alert Kilrey of his presence]

Scamall: [face twisted in pain, her fae-ears drooping and brow furrowed in worry]

Spéir: [half-glaring at them, his jaw tensed. Has one arm raised slightly away from his chest—his essence threateningly arced around him in preparation for a fight—and the other held out in front of Scamall]

Nova: [face flushing, awkwardly stands up straight—having shifted into a battle-ready stance themself—and wraps their arms around themself as they look at the earth beside their feet]

Nova: [ears drooping, awkwardly) "… I thought I told you to go without me."

Spéir: [despite Nova dropping their offense, doesn't remove his wind-barrier protecting Scamall or drop his aggressively-positioned essence]

Nova: [tempted to swipe it away, but… eh. Figures that would only frighten him and make things worse between them] 😅

Nova: [… also suddenly noticing they had a lot more essence than they usually would after fighting off a belligerent archfaerie]

Scamall: [drifting forward, gently) "yes, but—"

Scamall: [pauses as she once again hits Spéir's barrier, then turns a glare onto him]

Scamall: [hair grey and flashing with lightning, irritably) "Spéir. Let me through."

Spéir: [flexing his jaw angrily, spares her a glance over his shoulder]

Nova: [awkwarrrrrrdddddd] 😅

Nova: [glanced up as Scamall spoke at first, but quickly looks away during their exchange. Instead, awkwardly rubs her outer arms and shifts in place, uncertain about what to do]

[Or if they'd realized What She Was.]

Scamall: (voice hard) "you know they were just scared. They fainted after fighting an archfaerie!"

[Well. She hadn't realized, at the very least.]

Nova: [ears still drooping, awkwardly looks up to eye Spéir cautiously]

Spéir: [still looking back at Scamall; lets out a slow and angry sigh, but drops the barrier. Finally, crosses his arms and turns to look—]

Nova and Spéir: [accidentally lock eyes]

Spéir: [lip curls, hate clear in his eyes, and quickly looks away again]

Nova: … there's no way he'd act that way if he actually knew What I Am…? 😅

Nova: [finally, can't help a weak—yet pained—smile as a wave of relief floods through her body. She's safe. For the first time in a long time, she's around other fae and they're safe]

Scamall: [smiles back at Nova as she quickly crosses the distance between them, then takes Nova's hands in hers]

Spéir: [on the other hand, had quickly stepped forward behind Scamall, trailing her with his arms crossed like a bodyguard]

Scamall: (all the while, voice gentle and kind) "you tried to sacrifice yourself for us. Fae you didn't even know. And then you fought off an archfaerie. There was no way I'd leave you behind."

Nova: [heart skipping a beat and face emptying, unfocuses her eyes to look more closely at Scamall's aura]

Nova: 'no way I'd leave you behind'…? Because I'm powerful—?

Scamall: [but her aura is idle, not subtly sapping Nova's essence away]

Scamall: [brow furrows, a sad look crossing her face as she looks down at Nova]

Scamall: (gently) "fae? Is everything alright?"

Nova:

Nova: [taking an unsteady breath, drops his eyes and awkwardly takes his hands from Scamall's to press them against his legs]

Nova: this fae… they're not like Art. They're not—

Nova: [makes himself look up at Scamall, forcing a smile… though his furrowed eyebrows give him away]

Nova: (faux-cheerfully, voice cracking) "of course!"

That was an interesting way to begin the chapter... "the antithesis of their being", ey? What does that mean? What is "their being", and what is Nova's domain?

Regardless, it seems Nova has trust issues, and this "Art" is responsible for them...

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

dividers are from @thyming and @saradika

[ominous-faechild]

FAERIE'S DAWN (f1-2)

CHAPTER 1: “A NORMAL FAERIE” (part 2)

CHARACTERS:

⚜ Nova “Me” ??? (pov) ⚜ Scamall O'Moyner ⚜ Spéir O'Moyner

SETTING:

[overgrown, mossy swamp plane] [within the dominion of Kilrey] [in a tavern inside of Kilrey] [night; clear]

approx. 1 BA (talamhdé timeline)

story intro table of contents < last chapter next chapter >

[The tavernkeep—whose name Nova overheard to be Byrne—was marching directly toward the group. His lip was curled into a snarl, earthy form was sloughing apart, and firey hair was blazing from rage.]

[And, worst of all, his eyes were focused squarely on Nova.]

[Spéir immediately stepped to the side, clearing the path between the two]

Nova: [eyes all but bulging out of their head and ears drooping onto their shoulders, stares in horror as Byrne approaches]

Nova: fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck—

Nova: he noticed me reaching for the ambrosia… I hadn't meant to, I just—

Byrne: (all the while, sharply) "who do you think you are, trying to take our rations without—"

Byrne: [stops in front of Nova, his eyes narrowed on them, and reaches forward to yank Nova by the wrist. Completes the motion, but—]

Nova: [at the same moment his hand closed around their wrist, warped their form to disappear from the seat and simultaneously reappear several feet away. Has a panicked grin on their face, their fae-ears lying flat back in panic, and their hands held up in surrender]

Nova: (interrupts sharply, panicked) "I didn't mean to! I'm sor—!"

Byrne: [eye twitching and ears pressing against his skull, moves to grab them again]

Byrne: "you little—"

Nova: [squeezing his eyes shut and turning his face away, quickly reaches into his cloak to pull out one of his Silina Emblems. Then, holds it out toward Byrne with both hands]

Nova: (desperately) "I'm from Silina! Please, have mercy! I come in peace, I didn't mean to do anything wrong! I'm just on my way up North!"

Nova:

Byrne: [silent]

Nova: …

Nova: [ears slowly perking up, hesitantly peeks an eye open and turns just enough to peer up at Byrne]

Byrne: [eyeing him critically. His blazing hair has died down to a steady flame, earthen skin has stabilized instead of sloughing off, and fae-ears are low as he eyes Nova suspiciously]

Nova: [heart skipping a beat and ears dropping again, to themself) … he's figured out What I Am, hasn't he?

Byrne: [plucks the emblem from Nova's hands, turning it around in his fingers as he eyes it skeptically]

Byrne: [after a moment, looks back up at Nova, eyes still narrowed and eartips lowered suspiciously]

Byrne: (sternly) "I think I need to take you to Archfae Kilrey."

Nova:

Nova: [eyes fly wide, heart skips a beat, and breath catches all at once as they stumble back in terror, ears drooping through their shoulders]

Byrne: [reaches forward to try to grab Nova by the arm again, but—]

Nova: [takes several stumbling steps backwards]

Scamall: [shoulders in-between Byrne and Nova, her ears quirked back and an arm held out to her side. Like she's... trying to shield them?]

Spéir: (hisses) "Scamall!?"

Scamall: [ignores him, still sparking up. Both her face and voice cold) "they're from Silina. If you doubt them, go on and bring the emblem to Archfae Kilrey. But leave them out of it."

Byrne:

Nova:

Both: [stunned silent, well aware Scamall was basically putting herself on the line for Nova]

Byrne: [snorts, but—with a wave of his hand and essence—jerks a wedge of dirt like a piston. The ambrosia beside it is flung from the counter, shooting at the side of Nova's head]

Nova: [flinching, quickly looks at the projectile over her shoulder. Simultaneously swept an invisible hand of essence over and around it, cupping the ambrosia in place to catch it a foot from her face]

Nova: [tense and frozen beneath her neck, breathlessly looks back to Byrne with wide eyes and drooping ears]

Byrne: [snorts angrily]

Scamall: [snarls and starts to step forward, her storm-hair popping and cracking—]

Byrne: [only flips on his heel, marching toward the door with his hair blazing and earthen skin sloughing again]

[He slammed the door behind him.]

[The tavern was dead silent.]

Nova: [swallows nervously, their ears slowly popping back up, as they hesitantly scan the room and clutch their ambrosia]

Faeries: [staring at her, but… soon look away, whispering amongst themselves]

[Out of everything that was whispered, there was one thing that stood out from the rest.]

[One that made Nova's breath catch and heart ache.]

["Dhia."]

[Not too many. Only a handful of them noticed, but that didn't matter.]

[Word was going to spread fast.]

Scamall: [stops in front of Nova, squatting just enough so she's at their eye level]

Scamall: [having returned to her earlier calm, pale blue form, offers Nova a sad smile... though there's a subtle tension in her shoulders]

Scamall: (voice gentle) "are you okay, little one?"

Nova:

Nova: [swallows, quickly looking away to hurry to sit down again. After he's seated, he immediately starts stuffing the ambrosia down his throat]

Scamall:

Wind: [stirs slightly behind him]

Nova: [focuses on eating and watching those behind him through his aura, praying they look away soon]

Spéir: [places a hand on his shoulder—]

Nova: [tensing and ears drooping again, turns their entire side intangible so Spéir's hand falls through it, releasing him. At the same time, quickly yanked away and turned to pierce him with a glare]

Spéir: [reflexively pulled his hand away as it fell through them, face twisted in disgust. But, all the while, ears lowered in anger, said harshly) "my sister asked you a question."

Nova: [seemingly ignoring him, forces themself to somewhat relax and continue eating]

Ambrosia: [the most delicious thing in the world, made of literal pure magic and honey… but Nova doesn't have the time or energy to appreciate it. She needs to hurry.]

Nova: [instead, satisfied that the other faeries had stopped watching her, reaches with her essence to pull more ambrosia rations from the counter, drop them out of view, and float them toward her]

Spéir: [snarling, sharply under his breath) "fae! Are you a thief!?"

Scamall: [at the same time, hesitantly moved to Spéir's side to gently place a hand on his shoulder]

Nova: [spares Scamall a glance, but quickly narrows her eyes—and a snarl—onto Spéir]

Spéir: [—at the same time, turned a sharp look onto Scamall]

Scamall: [meets Spéir's eyes with an uncertain look before quickly looking back to Nova]

Nova: [as they both look at her, pauses eating to retort sharply) "no, I'm a fucking 'saving our asses', if you'll let me eat!"

Scamall:

Spéir:

Nova: [turns slightly to reach over and behind the counter, where she grabs the ambrosia she'd dragged over]

Nova: [and back to stuffing her face!]

Air Siblings: [stunned silent and ears drooping, hesitantly meet each other's eyes, glance around the tavern, and then look back at Nova]

Spéir: (keeping his voice low, demands) "what do you mean, 'saving our asses'!?"

Nova: [half-groans, half-growls, rolling their eyes as they quickly erect a sound barrier directly around the three of them]

Nova: [once it's secure, narrows their eyes on Spéir again]

Nova: [pauses eating to practically spit out) "because Scamall came to my defense, they're going to hold you two accountable for me, too!"

Spéir: [though he's not sure exactly what the sound barrier is, noticed Nova build it and figures well enough what it's doing]

Spéir: [snarling, raises his voice to insist) "what do you MEAN!? What's wrong with that!?"

Nova: [freezes, their blood going cold, ears dropping, and eyes widening... but only lets themself falter for a moment]

Nova: [forcibly recollects themself with a sigh and an aggressive shake of their head before answering) "because I'm—I—"

Nova: [swallows against the lump in their throat as they instead look away and glare at a wall through tears]

Nova: (voice hard, but thick with pain) "—I'm not from Silina, I stole that! I'm wanted there! Now, with them taking that to the archfae, he's going to be able to reach out to her and find that out! And you two will get dragged in WITH me!"

Nova: [finished, quickly goes back to choking down as much ambrosia as she can]

Nova: … but what if they turn on me.

Nova: what if they decide the best way to survive this is to turn me in…?

Okay but ain't Nova just the sassiest child? lmao

Who's your guys' favorite character? 👀

story intro table of contents < last chapter next chapter >

Faerie's Dawn taglist:

@honeybewrites @the-golden-comet @illarian-rambling @ashirisu @urnumber1star

@the-letterbox-archives @48lexr @aalinaaaaaa @thecomfywriter @an-indecisive-nerd

@seastarblue @rae-butter @teamarine777 @caffeinated-starsailor @oliolioxenfreewrites

@corinneglass @thebookishkiwi @storyteller-kara @themongosianhorse @theburningeyeofdawn

@notyourlocalworm @write-with-will @mildlybizarrecorvid @forgottenvalor @huewrite

@vesanal @differentnighttale @plip-plap-plop @olliedoesthings @pupculture

@princessuncertain @mythicalmagical-monkeyman @i-do-anything-but-write @a-zendrial

@real-fragments @lunauphternal @sullymarlowe @aalinaaaaaa (ask and ye shall be added)

dividers by @thyming and @saradika

[ominous-faechild]

SEMICORRECT QUOTES: FAERIE'S DAWN

CHARACTERS:

⚜ Nova “Me” Fae (pov) ⚜ {Archfaerie}

(semicorrect quotes: aka, a non-canon scene that WOULD be canon if only the situation were just a little different lol)

(semicorrect quotes: aka, shitposts)

{Archfaerie}: [does a little silly. Just a typical archfaerie thing. No big deal!]

Nova: [steps out of the woodwork, eyes narrowed on them in a cool glare and her hands on her hips]

{Archfaerie}:

{Archfaerie}: [all-but-stumbles backwards, reflexively forming a shield of {their element} around themself]

{Archfaerie}: (breathlessly, terror plain in their voice) "Dhia…"

Nova: [gives a tiny, dark smirk]

Nova: [crosses her arms and tilts her head to the side as she steps forward, regarding them beneath her nose]

Nova: (ominously joyfully) "that's right… hiiiiii {Archfaerie}. What do you think you're up to?" >;DDD

{Archfaerie}: [sweating profusely—]

divider by @thyming