Far into the future, another war may rise...
Five centuries ago, the Light fairies and Dark fairies made peace with one another, and after that, times have been joyous. With Ash and Serena's children, August and Verity, becoming wonderful potential...
So... hopefully you're all not still mad at me for last chapter? What's that, you're still mad? Eh, I deserve it. All I can do is tell you not to worry.
Also... this book has already reached 1K reads and has topped 100 votes. All I can say is wow, thank you all so much!! (I don't need to tell you the crazy number of comments this book has gotten, y'all can see that.)
Anyway, enough of me talking, and let's finish the twins' meeting with Her Majesty. I hope you enjoy this chapter~!
Verity
Honestly, I don't really remember much of Her Majesty. I don't even remember her name- her real name, not the formal title- which is why I'm desperately hoping that she introduces herself to us.
I instantly bow down once I see Heliux and Layra perform a quick bow of their own. Keeping the bow position, I listen to the Ministers as they reintroduce us to Her Majesty and explain why we're present instead of our parents.
"You can stop that now," comes the mildly amused voice that must belong to the Queen. I stand back up straight, my brother following suite, and watch her gently set the giant staff down on the throne. She descends down the stairs, her sunset-coloured dress swishing lightly from side to side as she moves.
She holds out her hand to each of us respectively. I shake it, hoping that she can't tell how clammy my hand is from sheer nervousness. I don't get nervous very often, because I hate how being nervous makes me feel- it's that sense of powerlessness.
Her Majesty gives us both a calm smile. "If you don't remember, my name is Alara," she introduces, making me heave an internal sigh of relief. "It's a pleasure to see you both again, August and Verity," she adds, her smile starting to radiate undertones of cheekiness. "The last time I saw you both was when you were very young."
"We were twenty," I point out. "In terms of looks, we haven't changed." Verity you idiot. You can't show your usual sass around Her Majesty, it's disrespectful!
Alara shrugs. "That is true, yes. Your looks haven't changed, but I can tell that the August and Verity I see before me today have matured a great deal since we've last talked." She pauses, then continues. "Come, let's go talk. I'm sure you have many questions, and we've got lots of catching up to do." She gestures the four of us and her Spirit Soldiers to follow her.
We all ascend the staircase and pass Her Majesty's throne. It's a light blue colour, almost like ice, but if you look close enough, there's a warm glow of embers that emits from the depths of its insides. She stops and picks up the giant staff, which I now see adorned with a pink gem at its top. I wonder, what kind of jewel is that...? I ask myself before gazing upwards. Surrounding the throne, hung high up in the air, are nine silver torches. Each one is adorned with engravings, with trickles of yellow and rose gold swirling upwards throughout the silver like mixed-flavour frozen yogurt. Every torch has a different coloured gem attached to it, and their flames are coloured correspondingly to their gems. Within the flames, I spot Elemental Symbols. Those must be the symbols for the Queen's Elements that Heliux mentioned earlier, I realize with a little awe.
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She leads us to another room, the Spirit Soldiers filing between us. I find it a little odd how a Queen's Spirit Soldiers are all human, and aren't Initiated fairies- but I'm sure it dates back to some dusty ancient tradition that I'm too lazy to look up. I do a quick double-take as I look at the group of humans, however. There's only eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, I think, counting them off in my head as we traverse throughout the castle. There's eight.
Didn't the Ministers say that there would be nine of them?
Where is the ninth?
We emerge into the new room, and oh Zagan it's wonderful. It is a large, open room with high slanted ceilings. The ceilings themselves are formed by large planks of lightly-stained wood, while the walls are covered in birch bark- all but one. The last wall is a giant window that faces the sereneness that is the fairies' forest, a large glass panel that extends from the floor to the ceiling without any breaks except for one in the middle- well duh, how else is it supposed to remain stable? The floors are covered with beautiful smoothe white ceramic tiles that contain the occasional silver swirl. The wall opposite the window has a large mantel and a fireplace; two trees- yes, two actual growing oak trees- adorn each side of the setup with large grey stones laid in place between them. There is very simplistic furniture in the room; a few couches, some coffee tables. The one thing that strikes my eye completely is the piano that sits near the window. It's made completely of glass- magic must have made that- with its legs containing swirls of blood red pigment. I can glance a little bit of the keys from here- they're made of black and white crystals. Oh, did I mention the towering bookshelf crafted from dark walnut that sits opposite to our entrance? Well, it's there.
Alara smiles at us. "This room is quite nice, isn't it?" she asks, earning a nod from both me and my brother. "We can spend our day here- unless you'd prefer to be somewhere else?"
I thought we'd get a tour of the castle but I guess that's for another time. "Here is fine, Your Majesty," August tells her earnestly.
The Queen sighs at this. "Calling me Your Majesty all day will become quite the hassle," she says with a huff. "Just call me Alara."
Star walks in front of all of us, including Alara. "Let's sit and chat," she exclaims, sounding a little bored. "I'm sure the newcomers have questions for us."
I'm a little surprised by this, but go to sit down anyway. I thought we were the ones who are supposed to be sharing information with Her Majesty? Maybe it's just because we're new. Yeah, that must be it. "Alright," I tell her eagerly, because my legs have apparently just realized they've been walking for a long time and are starting to die.
I walk over to the nearest couch, plopping myself down. August quickly comes to sit beside me, not surprising. I'm not objecting to it- I'm just not surprised. Everyone else takes their seats, while Layra approaches the piano longingly. "May I?" she asks politely, sitting down at the plush bench.
Alara smiles at her. "Layra, we've known each other for more than a billion years now, and you still have to ask if you can play?"
The Dark Minister smiles back and touches her fingers to the keys. She begins to play some calming melodies, melodies that fade into the background. Heliux watches her, slightly smiling to himself.
"You're probably wondering why we're not fairies like you," Brooklyn jokes from out of nowhere, earning my brother's attention and my own. "To put it simply, we don't get Initiated like you do-"
"We still have Elements though!" Sylkie interrupts. "I'm sure Heliux already explained those to you though."
"Wouldn't be Heliux if he didn't," remarks Kya, completely ignoring the fact that the Minister is literally right there.
