The fire was the punishment descended by the devil, rolling over the forest that used to be quiet. Past mirth only remained corpses’ black powder.
The tiny fairy was running away. The blood on her body was already dried. Beautiful and transparent wings became carbon piece by piece as if a rag doll abandoned in the dump.
She lived, following remaining clansmen, and fled to the nearby village, and her family all died in that fire disaster.
Time was like newly blooming flowers, taking away the hurt. The wounds of the rest of the tribe have healed, reinstating to heretofore, poised light, only her still retaining that dread scars, could not erase.
“ The Cursed Survivor,” was what everyone called her.
Morning sunlight shone in a tattered tree house, waking up the girl on the haystack. There was no decoration in the house except necessary items.
The fairy got up, ready to pick some clear dew.
“ Look, it’s that monster.” Clans-mans’ contemptuous eyes were way spicier than the thorns aside, but she walked as if she had not heard, walking towards the rear forest on her own.
The child’s cry made her stop her steps. A human boy was sitting on a stone. He wore luxurious clothes, seemed to be a child of a noble family.
“ Are you lost?” She hid in the woods, not letting her horrifying appearance scare him.
“ What? Who is talking?” The boy stopped his cry, looking around.
“ I’m… inhabitant of the forest… um?” She was not finished yet but felt someone pull her clothes corner. It was that boy.
No!
“ Found you!” The boy seemed very happy, and did not care about her burnt body: “ You can fly! Are you a fairy?”
“ Yes.”
“ You are dirty, want to wipe a little?” The boy handed her a handkerchief.
He thought those wounds were dust.
“ I’m not dirty. These were burnt by the fire.”
“ Ah, Lord Father seems to have said, that there was forest fire a few years ago…”
“ Lord Father?”
“ Ah! I am a prince! I’m eight years old, and you?”
“ Ten.” She softly said, letting him spin around next to her.
Clans’ unabashed disgust made her have maturity beyond age, but this moment was a lot softer because of the boy’s closeness.
“ I’ll take you out of the forest. Your guards should be looking for you.”
“ No! I want to play at Sister Fairy’s house!”
“ But…”
“ Can’t I?”
“… Okay.”
The boy’s eyes were way too clean.
The tattered tree house had laughter for the first time. The lemon tea and honey cakes on the table were like God’s gifts, even the words outside could never stab in her heart.
“ Sister Fairy, are the wounds still hurt?” The boy seemed just simply released care, but let her show a smile.
“ No.”
Because the boy smiled, she would not be hurt anymore.
“ Sister Fairy…”
“ Um?”
“ Why do the people outside all say that you are a curse?”
“ Because I’m ugly.”
“ Sister Fairy is not ugly!” The boy said angrily: “ Sister Fairy is gentle, and you gave me desserts to eat. Sister Fairy is the prettiest!”
“ But… Wait! You can’t go out!” The fairy’s panic shout could not pull back the boy’s action.
“ Sister Fairy is very nice! How dare you bully Sister Fairy!” The boy angrily pointed at the fairies outside and did not notice their eyes have already turned from shock to hatred.
“ It’s human!”
“ Humans snatched our natural resources! They can’t be forgiven!”
“ Kill him!”
“ No!” The fairy blocked her body in front of the boy: “ He is just a kid. He won’t do any harm to the village. Please spare him.”
This was her first time to look directly at the people without fear, making her ugly wounds exposed under the sunshine, but attracting the tribe’s deeper hatred.
“ It’s the curse!”
“ The human brought by the curse will definitely be a curse! Kill him!”
The two shadows fled into the forest. Clans-mans’ roar followed closely, like the hellish fire back then. They eventually came to the cliffside.
No, the boy could not fly, and the fairy could not bear his weight.
The time seemed to slow down its steps. The boy’s scream was infinitely elongated. The soil under their foot was loose. The fairy’s fear and worry seemed to disappear in a moment, only the wings desperately vibrating and the boy in her arms was reality.
The cold water made the fairy open her eyes. She laboriously dragged the boy to the shore.
The boy’s gorgeous clothes became tattered during the escape, and his skin was pricked into some broken wounds by the branches, just like her in the past.
Was that so? All the people who came close to her would end up this way.
She certainly was a curse.
Humans’ footsteps came closer and closer. The fairy knew those were the guards searching for the boy. She looked at the boy still unconscious, softly sighing.
She left, returning the boy to the world that belonged to him.
The young girl was wandering in the forest. Her elegant, white dress danced with the wind. Her eyes were slightly melancholy because of getting lost, and then she saw a tiny treehouse, so she walked over.
The house was diffused with an herbal aroma. There were a piece of honey cake and a cup of lemon tea on the table. The owner of the house was a fairy. Her ugly wounds and charred wings manifested past pain.
“ Ms. Fairy doesn’t live in the tribe?” The girl asked curiously.
“ No.” The fairy’s downy voice was like the breeze touching: “ There were too many things that happened in the past. I moved out from the tribe. Follow the gravel road and you will reach the human’s town. Sometimes, the laughter from there can bring back some memories.”
“ You don’t seem afraid.” The fairy gently smiled: “ You don’t say I’m a curse either, just like him.”
“ Ms. Fairy isn’t a curse. You are gentle and beautiful.”
Familiar words made the fairy show a trace of surprise. She looked at that girl. Sunlight spilled in from gaps in planks, putting on the holy yarn for the girl, as pure as the boy at that time.
“ Do you live in the nearby human town?” The fairy asked.
“ No, I’m going to the castle for a prom. In a few days, it will be His Royal Highness’s coming-of-age ceremony. He will choose the future princess at that time.”
“ I see…” The fairy’s eyes revealed a trace of loneliness, but still extruded a smile: “ You are a perfect female, I’m sure he will like you.”
“ Ms. Fairy,” The girl worriedly asked: “ Do you know His Royal Highness?”
“ Maybe.” The fairy flew to the small garden at the back: “ Can you help me give him something? Treat it as a gift for you in advance. Tell him I’m doing well.”
“ Okay, I’m glad to, and thank you for your blessing.”
The girl brought the wooden box and left, only leaving the fairy to fall down in the treehouse. There was still half of the dessert on the table, just like that memory.
She saw the same light as him on her, that was matching with him. The girl could smile at him openly and aboveboard, but she could only hide in this dirty corner, listening to the hustle and bustle from the human towns, delusional about the last contact with him.
There were bursts of congratulations from the kingdom. The prince chose the girl as his princess. Among the many gifts, that wooden box was the most precious. There was a green gem inside.
The fairy’s gem of life was carried by the fairies from birth to death. It was the most revered symbol, the noblest blessing.
But what humans did not know was, that the reason why fairies carried the gems on them, was because those were their “ lives.”
When the gem of life left the incarnation of trees, it would become gloomy, and the fairy would also receive death.
The fairy in the treehouse has already turned into dust, but the gem of life at this moment radiated bright light, tolerantly reflecting human lovers’ kiss representing an oath.
She gave her whole heart to him, and he would never know.
[ The End ]
The Fairy
The Boy
The Girl
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