Ephemeral Elysian

Sleeping Beauty [2.14]

   "They're dying."

Sien looked down at the withered flowers in his hands. He numbly nodded and whispered, "The others have withered away as well. Daemon, what about the night lilies?"

The man shook his head. "Dead as well."

Sien watched the dead flowers crumble away in his hands, their remnants floating away. He looked up and around the edge of the forests of his territory with a rare, worried expression.

Several days ago, Daemon dropped by his master and gave a rushed report on small parts of the forests slowly dying out. The raven wouldn't have been too concerned at first, but the plants have been dying an at alarming rate and the withered areas were almost reaching the edges of his master's territory.

"What in the world is going on?" Sien muttered out.

There was nothing like this in the tale, but the man couldn't be too surprised at this point. From the moment he stepped into this world of Sleeping Beauty, everything had gone off track. This was something he should've expected, though he didn't know what was the cause of the forests dying out.

"Master."

"What is it?"

Daemon locked his jaw for a moment, already hesitating how to say it. Sien gave him a strange look and waved a hand over to the raven, wanting him to hurry up and get on with it.

"I have another report. It seems there's... faes disappearing."

Sien turned around and thumped his staff on the ground harshly. "What?"

"After the first attack, the creatures have begun to step out of their hiding areas and roamed through your territory and where the godparents of Alleyn lives. I didn't notice it at first, but the small faes have gone missing for a while now. They haven't returned to this part of the forest yet and some of the winged beasts are nowhere to be seen in the air."

Sien gripped his staff. "You have no idea where they're at?"

"It's just a thought, but I kept track of certain faes going into the lighter parts of the forests near Alleyn's cottage before they vanished altogether. The boy hasn't left his cottage at all these past few days while his godparents are out and about coming from the castle and returning home." Daemon's eyes grew hard at the mention of the three good faes. "What do you plan on doing, my master?"

"Get the rest of the faes and hide them in my territory. Your priority right now is keeping them safe and in your sights at all times. I'll take care of everything else."

"My priority... is you."

"Don't argue with me on this, my pet. Do as I say-"

"Master," Daemon interrupted. He looked down at the dark fae with a heavy gaze, extremely unwilling to follow through with his words. "My priority has and always will be you. I'm afraid something may happen to you, so why don't we leave this place together and hide?"

The transmigration sighed quietly. If he had any choice in this matter, he'd definitely agree with Daemon and just run off to somewhere where no one could find them since he also had a terrible intuition about the whole situation. Ever since his first visit to the tale of Snow White, he's been traumatized to the point of always being in the lookout for any other plot twists this tale contains.

The transmigrator internally cursed. Why the hell did these two fairytales seem more like horror stories? Where did all the happy and fluffy scenes go?

Sien cleared his throat, having to take a moment to recollect his thoughts before turning back to Daemon with a cold look.

"I don't like repeating myself, Daemon. Do what I say and don't question me."