Downfall And Rise

by Nathan Thompson

  “Well,” she said as we reappeared into the misty world. I had no idea where we were even returning from. I remember being told at the beginning of the Challenge, but now all I remember is rocks and trees and a dozen or so angry monsters shrieking and spitting and biting all over me.

  But none of that mattered now, I decided. I had survived. Everyone else had survived, as I dimly remembered leading those monster's away from a wood-walled village people were running into. I had even gotten stronger, though I didn't get enough power to Rise. But I gained a little improvement to every ability but Charisma, and I got an improvement to two general skills that I didn't even know I possessed.

  I'd ask Stell or Breena about those. Later.

  “Well that was just fantastic,” my foot-tall fairy chittered. “Even if you did cut it a bit short. Still this was great research, don't you think?”

  “I think I want to know if Guineve's made lunch,” I said numbly. Breena muttered something else, but I didn't care. I still hurt all over and was almost castrated no less than six times. The mangy beast that had latched onto my thigh had been by no means the only attempt, just the closest to being successful.

  I staggered over to where I remembered Guineve to be last time, belatedly remembering I was still holding a bloody sword and that I needed to sheathe and probably clean it. I wiped it on a shirt sleeve before jamming it back into the sheathe I had taken from the Horde wretch so long ago. My bitten arms ached like crazy but I was eventually able to get the weapon back in.

  “Hey, Breena?” I interrupted the rapidly chattering fairy.

  “Yes, Wes?” She cocked her tiny head. It was hard not to compare her to a curious and hyperactive puppy at the moment. It was even harder to find said idea cute.

  “The Challenge is over,” I said firmly. “I defeated a monster's incursion from another world. All by myself. Like you wanted me to.”

  “Yeah that's what I've been trying to say all along. Weren't you listening?” The little fairy put her hands on her tiny hips. “I swear, Wes. You get mad I don't tell you things and then you tune me out for like thirty seconds, no a minute, no like two minutes. And then you go and...”

  “Breena,” I repeated tiredly, then waved my bloody arm at her pretty face. “Ow,” I articulated meaningfully.

  The little brat had the nerve to cock her head at me.

  “Why are you waving a bitten arm in my... oh, you want me to heal your arm! Why didn't you say so?”

  “Because I've was...”

  “And no,” she said while crossing her arms. “Sorry. No can do.”

  Twitch.

  “What?” I asked carefully.

  “Think about it Wes!” the little pixie buzzed. “This is good for you! This way you can truly appreciate how badly wounds hurt! Every minute spent healing naturally is another minute encouraging you not to get hurt again in the exact same way!”

  That idea might have been true, if I didn't hate it so much. But as it currently was, pain was gaining zero traction with me as a teacher right now.

  “Besides, you can heal yourself now that your mana's recharged a little, remember?”

  I groaned as I realized she was right.

  Two Healing Wind spells later, I was mostly recovered.

  “See? You even got to practice your magic that way!”

  I reactivated my Quick Step and bounded away as fast as possible.

  “Huh? Why are you castin- Hey!” the little sylph shouted, just before she became a dot in the distance

  “Hey! Wes, wait up!”

  “It's for your own good!” I shouted behind me.

  “Wes I can't keep up with you! Weeees!”

  Five blissfully silent minutes later, I reached Guineve's table. This time, it was out by a lake, surrounded by misty woods.

  “Welcome back, Challenger,” Guineve said as she saw me return. She frowned. “Bad trip?”

  “I think my Challenger-issued fairy has developed some serious complications and needs to be looked at by the dealer. Is Stell around?”

  “Yes. But why don't you have another bite to eat?” The woman motioned to a plate with more bread, fruit, and some braised pieces of meat that looked like beef. “I'll message Stell to expect you.” The woman had a serious tone, and for once wasn't faking it. That made me wonder if I really looked that angry. I tried to lighten the tone.

  “Guineve, if you are competing to become my favorite, know that you have already won.” I said as I sat down tiredly. I saw that she had made coffee again and was grateful for the first time in my life. There was even a small bowl of confectioner's sugar I could add to it if I wanted. I noticed that some of the pastry-like bread and fruit had already been sprinkled with it.

  As I began to eat, I heard a familiar buzzing sound behind me.

  “Why did you suddenly take off and sprint? I mean that's a good idea to build endurance but it's terrible idea to just do out of nowhere. People don't like surprises, Wes. I probably should make a lesson for that too. And what are you eating?” She flew over and looked at my meal. “Ooh, sugar! Wait, no! No! I'm being a bad example!” Breena shook her head furiously, muttering to herself. “Gotta be tough! Gotta be tough! Guineve, I thought we talked about this! We got to make him tough! If he isn't tough he won't be ready! If he's not ready, he'll get hurt for real!”

  “Breena,” I warned.

  Now that I had a working body, I found that I had developed certain habits. Mainly, a desire to fight to the death for my current meal, and especially after a hard day.

  “Yes, I know, you almost got castrated, blah, blah, blah,” Guineve's eyes widened upon hearing those words. The little fairy didn't seem to notice. “But you could have much lost much more!”

  “Breena,” Guineve's voice came out, and for the first time I heard a note of real panic come out. She seemed to be looking at me. Again, the little fairy paid no heed.

  “I mean think, Wes! You use so many other parts of your body so much more! But I've never seen you use that part even once! Now I'm no expert, but if that part was really important, I'd see you use it all the time! Like your head, or you arms or your legs! What if you had lost one of those, huh? Don't you think that would hurt more?”

  “No, Breena,” I said in a low voice. “I don't.”

  “Wes, I'm so sorry,” Guineve said shamefully. “I truly didn't know she had become like this. It's not her fault.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked as my fairy kept rambling. Concern crept back into me, despite my temper, fatigue and hunger. “Is she okay? Did something happen to her?”

  “In a sense,” Guineve said, the normally composed woman looking uncomfortable for once. “Stell can give you the best explanation though. But Breena will be fine. I promise,” She assured.

  That was good, at least.

  “You're not listening!' My little fairy yelled. “Hey! Listen! Listen! Look! Look! Hey!”

  That did it.

  “Guineve, can you hand me the bowl of sugar please?”

  “Certainly, if it will help,” the tall woman said as she passed me the little bowl.

  “You're! Still! Not! Listening!” My little fairy squeaked, flying in front of me and pumping her arms up and down. “Sugar's bad right now! Hey! Look! Listen-”

  Puff.

  As I flicked the bowl, the tiny cloud of powdery confectioner's sugar washed over my little companion like the world's tiniest snow storm. Breena blinked quickly, looked like she was about to ask me a question, then made a little sneeze.

  “Why did you- achoo! I can't- achoo!”

  “Thank you Guineve,” I said calmly. “That certainly helped. Was that the last of the sugar?”

  “No dear,” The raven-haired woman said calmly, not reacting at all to recent events. “I always make enough for seconds of everything.”

  “You are wonderful, and I promise to tell you that more often.”

  “Thank you, dear,” she said with a smile. “Never change.”

  Breena was st
ill sneezing, and still trying to get my attention. The little fairy flew right in front of me, sugar sprinkling off with every beat of her wing. She would firmly point her finger at my face, open her mouth to speak, then sneeze again. It was so cute I started to feel bad for her. Then I remembered the last three hours of my day, and what had almost happened to me six or seven times.

  Puff.

  “Wes!” My snowy little enemy screamed as another sugary cloud engulfed her. “Stop-achoo-making-achoo-sneezes-achoo-tasty! Achoo!”

  “Wes, dear,” Guineve said gently. “Why don't you go find Stell and tell her about today?” I didn't immediately respond. “You can take your food with you,” she added. “I'll have some more when you come back.”

  “Yes ma'am,” I replied, graciously accepting her peace offering and getting up with my plate. “I'll be back. Where do I take the plate when I'm done with it?”

  “This is Avalon, dear. Just let it go and it will return to me.”

  “Awesome,” I replied. “See you in a few.”

  Breena tried to protest again, but Guineve interrupted her.

  “Breena dear, Wes has to go to report to Stell about how today went. Why don't we clean you up, and I can explain why Wes is so unhappy with you?”

  “But I'm-achoo! Wait,” the little fairy squeaked, her wings suddenly drooping. “He's mad? I made him mad?”

  Well, I was mad five seconds ago, I thought. But now I feel like I just kicked a puppy.

  “It's not your fault dear,” Guineve said gently. “Stell will fix it.”

  “But how did I make him mad?” the pink-haired woman asked in a small voice. I winced and after exchanging a nod with Guineve, quietly began walking away.

  “Sweetheart, I think it's time. You're old enough for the talk.”

  “Old enough?” I heard the little fairy squeak behind me. “Are you treating me like a kid again? I'm almost as old as you are!”

  “I know dear. Why don't I explain why a man like Wes would be so upset right now?”

  “Oooh, that talk!”

  Right-o, I decided. Go find Stell. We're out of here.

  I finished my food on the way, almost getting lost in the process of savoring it. This stuff was seriously good enough to make me give up fast food cold turkey. Well, most fast food. Pizza was going to stick around.

  More misty woods. More ruins of Athenian-like architecture. I started to wonder how all this had been made. Did people used to live here? Did Stell grow up here? What happened to this place?

  “Hey Wes,” Stell's voice drifted lightly over my shoulder. “Um, Guineve says I need to reconfigure Breena a bit. Can you elaborate on exactly what happened today?”

  I explained the encounter in great detail. Stell winced as I described the initial attack by the gibber-kin. Her wince gradually deepened as I reported everyone's actions throughout the whole fight.

  “Wes, I'm so sorry,” the now-golden-skinned woman said as soon as I finished talking. “This is all my fault.”

  “Okay, but, maybe you can explain why,” I started. “First off, those monsters were the most terrifying things I've ever seen. Why isn't everyone summoning the Icons over these guys?”

  “Because they're not nearly as dangerous,” Stell replied, and she raised her hands to quickly explain. “To groups of people. If a pack of gibber-kin catches you alone out in the open, you're in for a bad day. It's kind of amazing you survived your first encounter with them. But for communities? All you need is a group of people who don't lose their heads and can work together to use the creature's own aggression against them. They'll run straight into a wall of spears, or a pit trap, or a magical effect, and die one after another. Unlike Horde and a whole lot of other bad things you haven't seen yet, gibber-kin never adapt or learn. They just get angrier and angrier. That's why they turned on each other when you did that trick with the mud.”

  “Yeah but the same thing worked on the Ilklings,” I rebutted.

  “Everything works on Ilklings,” Stell said with an eye roll. “They're not really a fighter species of the Horde. They're the workers, scavengers, hunters of small game. That's why they were able to kill every animal in that area, snatch up every fairy, but they died by the bucket-loads to what was basically a grown man with a stick. You got the absolute tamest example of what has been a thousand years of nightmares to everyone else. And you're forgetting that the Pit's champion still almost killed you.”

  “Fine, fine,” I said. “I am aware that I basically stumbled into early heroism by showing up at the right place at exactly the right time. I am also aware that I nearly bit off more than I could chew at the end and was lucky Breena was around to patch me up. I ask your forgiveness for my ignorance and arrogance. Now, why was I thrown into a pack of rabid crotch-biters?”

  Stell sighed.

  “That's... complicated. And all my fault. The last mission really upset Breena. Aside from myself and Guineve, the fairies that were attacked were basically her closest family. She has a scattering of what she considers to be kin across all of Avalon's worlds. But she's known the ones in the Woadlands for the longest. She calls all the elder ones Aunt or Uncle, and all the little ones are her nieces or younger siblings.”

  “Does she have any nephews or little brothers?” I asked, picking up her use of 'uncle' as the sole male gender noun.

  “Well, no. That male pixie you rescued before was one of her uncles. Fairy gender ratios skew in a rate of ten to one, in the female's favor. It's not a problem since they usually just procreate through the magical energy found in nature.”

  “Usually?” I cocked my head. “What do you mean usually? And since when does a species have more than one means to procreate?”

  Stell looked uncomfortable with that question, but she answered it anyway.

  “Fairies occasionally come into contact with other races of people. If they spend enough time together, and if the relationship takes a certain direction, the fairy can change to become... compatible... with the other race.”

  “Wait...” I said as some of Breena's comments surfaced into my mind, now seen in a completely different light. “What?”

  “Not going to happen with you,” Stell insisted quickly. “Breena can't develop an interest in a Challenger like that. None of my girls can. I made it impossible because it would complicate things way too much.”

  “That's good,” I snorted. “Because she's only a foot tall. And I value my eternal soul.”

  “She would grow much bigger in that event,” Stell said automatically. “But, again. Won't happen. With any of us. Especially me,” she said firmly. “I've made sure we won't even think of the idea. Your people come here to save worlds, not hook up with your boss or coworkers.”

  “That's a good point,” I conceded, far more reluctantly that I thought I would.

  Just then, I heard a tiny little shriek erupt from the distant mists. I turned, my hand reaching for the short sword still strapped to my waist. “Are we under...” I started to ask. But Breena's next scream answered my question for me.

  “THEY DO WHAT WITH THAT THING?”

  An awkward silence descended upon the mists. Seconds stretched it out even further, until Stell finally spoke up.

  “See?” she said with a nervous laugh. “The idea's already nipped in the bud. She won't ever even hint at it anym-”

  “THAT'S NOT FAIR!” The tiny, but paradoxically loud. voice shouted again. “HOW AM I EVER GONNA-”

  A shushing sound quickly followed, and I could no longer hear my fairy companion scream across the planet.

  I looked back at Stell. Her new skin allowed me to see a crimson blush form across her entire face, right before she tossed her hair forward and covered it with her hands.

  “I am so sorry,” she muttered from behind her fingers. “This is just the result of my adjusting her too much earlier. Please let me deal with this, and forget all about it,” Stell begged. “You will never have to deal with this ever again. Just pretend this never happened.
Please.”

  “Um, okay,” I said, choosing to be generous. “Maybe instead you can explain why Breena took her current method of training me to the level it did?”

  “Yes,” Stell said quickly. “We were talking about that before. Let's get back on track.”

  “Breena basically had a meltdown last time you two went out. She had taken you to the Woadlands expecting a Challenge that you wouldn't even need weapons to deal with, in a specific zone safe enough for the local population to risk you handling it alone.”

  “I thought you said that you sent me because I could get there the fastest?”