Chapter 1: The Final Mission

Making his journey out of the outskirts, Arden steps into the closest town in the country of Luis, called Mildred. The only way to make it to the kingdom within a short amount of time was by train, but there are no trains in the outskirts.

The people of Mildred are not exactly welcoming of those from the outskirts, but everyone in Luis is especially unwelcoming to the “Traitor of Man,” who also used to be known as the “Legendary Fairy Hunter.”

“One ticket please.” Arden asks the ticket man in front of the train.

The ticket man scoffs. “Are you sure you even have enough to ride? You’d think traitors would get robbed of all their wealth.” Nearby civilians laugh and Arden sighs in exhaustion.

Arden pulls out the letter and shows the royal stamp. “I am requested to go to the kingdom, I have one final job.”

The ticket man observes the letter and nods. “Well it is real, but I wonder why they’d entrust the final mission to you. You can’t hunt the fairies even when your family's lives are on the line.” Arden walks past the ticket man on his way into the train. He was used to the ridicule, as he often would come across the people of Mildred, since they’re just one town away.

After an hour of enduring gossip on the train, Arden opens his eyes as it gets awfully quiet. There were no more passengers and workers on the train. Arden gets up and he looks out the window, seeing the train falling off of a broken track. Arden runs to the back, but as the train quickly falls off the edge, so does Arden with his head hitting the ceiling.

Arden’s eyes shut.

And once he opened them again, he saw his mother humming while stitching his sister’s dress in a chair beside Arden’s bed. Her brown skin with her baggy clothes that she cuts pieces off to make patches for her children’s holed outfits.

“Mother.” Arden says.

She turns around to look at him, but without any eyes. And her mouth moves, but no sound comes out. Arden freezes, and his mother notices something’s wrong with him. She empties her hands and gets up to walk over to Arden while holding out her arms to reach him. “What’s wrong?” She mouths. Arden’s mouth quivers for not being able to see or hear his mother well. But, that didn’t matter so much to him anymore. What mattered was that she was in front of him again.

Just as he thinks that, he reaches his hand out to her, but then he opens his eyes again. When he lifted himself up, he noticed he was in a forest with blue leaves and angelite stones everywhere that glowed. Arden sighs and gets up. He looks behind him and the train is on a track, but unexpectedly, it is not destroyed and perfectly aligned on the track. Arden also notices that his body is out of the train, but unharmed even though he took a great blow.

Arden goes inside the train and grabs his stuff. Weirdly enough, it’s the only thing inside of the train. Arden then goes to look at the conductor’s area and it has a clock in it starting at 17518 hours. “Time til takeoff.” He reads. He wondered what this meant, but curious of where he was, Arden exited the train to look around.

After wandering around, Arden didn’t find much. All he saw was a long forest of a bunch of blue glowing leafs and white glowing butterflies.

Tired, he sits down to lean on a tree and takes out a cheap flimsy water bottle from his travelling bag. As he was about to put the water bottle to his mouth, he heard rustling coming near him. Arden puts the lid back on his water bottle and stands up getting ready to take his sword out of his bag. “Who goes there?” Arden asks while awaiting the predator coming near him.

“Excuse me?” A woman with light purple-ish wavy hair, and a white ruffly dress, and a laced bonnet connecting to a white jewel on the front of her head appears. “Do you perhaps know where I can find a giant angelite tree around here?”

Arden looks around him. “Could it be any of these trees?”

The woman looks confused. “Well yes, but bigger. The biggest one in the forest. It’s so big it can fit five villages. Surely you-” The woman cuts herself off.

“I don’t.” Arden replies not noticing that the girl didn’t finish her sentence.. “A tree that big would be easy to find from here, no?” Suddenly, wind surrounds Arden and without blinking, the woman’s face was a single breath away from his, with her hands on his cheeks. The most unusual thing about the woman is that she has a halo in the shape of a star and is flying with giant white wings that look like that of an angel.

In this sudden awkward situation, Arden dropped his water and bag, as he stared into where there would be eyes on the woman’s face.

She remains staring at Arden and holding his face for a good minute. “You are not a fairy?” The woman whispers.

“No?” Arden replies with an awkward expression. The woman frowns and releases Arden’s face and then lands on the floor making her wings vanish. Arden rubs his cheeks and peeks at the woman's face again. “What was that for?” Arden asks.

The girl thinks for a moment and then looks back up to Arden. “How did you get here?” The woman asks.

“I believe I asked you something first.” Arden says in a bothered tone.

The woman stares for a moment and then smiles. "Such a rude tone, but that helps me narrow down the answer to my question.” The woman picks up Arden’s things and hands them to him. “I’m sorry about that. You see, we’re in Angelite Forest. This is the forest where fairies used to reside, and I know this place was checked hundreds of times, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try again.”

“Are you trying to say that you’re one of the fairy hunters on the king’s mission?” Arden asks.

“That I am.” The woman says. “I’m just doing my job in order to protect the ever so deserving livelihood of humanity.”

Arden chuckles. “Is that so?”

“That is correct.” The woman replies. “So don’t even think of getting in my way, for I will become the world’s hero.” The woman proclaims while pointing at Arden.

Arden shakes his head and grabs the woman’s pointer finger and moves it away from him. “Why would I try to get into a king’s slave’s way?”

The woman pulls away and tilts her head. “You don’t want to?” The woman asks.

Arden shakes his head. “I have nothing to gain from that.”

“Then what are you doing here?” The woman asks.

“It was a total accident. I was just riding the train and I happened to come here.” Arden shrugs.

The woman flinches, and then runs to the conductor's area of the train. Curious about the cause of the woman’s actions, Arden followed her. “17520 hours.” The woman says in a shocked voice.

Arden looks at the woman funnily. “It says 17517 hours…”

The woman turns back around to Arden. “It still makes no sense. Why you?” The woman then gasps and covers her mouth. “It’s because this is completely up to the train now. This place no longer belongs to the fairies, but maybe to…”

The woman stares at Arden as if she were examining him. “What?” Arden questions.

“It’s nothing.” The woman replies. “As a fairy hunter, I know the way out. Allow me to escort you.”

“Sure.” Arden replies.

The woman puts her hand as if to pray on her head and whispers a chant under her breath. After, she moves her hand off her head and towards the space in front of her, causing a portal to form inches away from her hand. “Alright.” The woman says. “You go on through first. It will close once I enter it.”

“Okay.” Arden enters through the portal, and he’s in the capital town of Luis. “Sina?” Arden questioned and then looked at the woman who entered through the portal, which closed behind her. “How did you know I needed to come here?” Arden asks.

The woman shakes her head. “I didn’t. I needed to come here. I was going to suggest you take the train back to your destination, but it appears there was no need for that.” The woman smiles. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”

Arden flinches as the woman walks away. “Wait a second!” He shouts. “Are you going to the castle?”

The woman stops in her place and looks back at Arden. “How come you wish to know?”

“Can you show me the way? I don’t know where we are in town. I just know how to get to the castle from the train.”

The woman smiles. “I guess I shall accompany you a little longer, for the castle is my destination. Come along, lost one.”

After the woman turned around, Arden could sense an enchanting aura from her. Not just because her presence itself was a mystery, but because it seemed as though only he could see the cage that appeared to be stuck onto her back. A bunch of mini butterflies surrounded a closed cage, with a bigger, glowing white butterfly inside, which gave Arden an uneasy feeling since he first saw it earlier in the forest. It was almost like the giant butterfly was constantly watching him.

The overly dressed woman walked past a bunch of citizens in Sina, but not a single one paid any attention to her. All eyes were on Arden, who had an appearance that was clearly from out of town, and not to mention his long black cloak with bandages all around him. It appeared the woman was only unusual looking to those from areas out of Sina.

As Arden and the woman approached the front gate, the woman stopped and turned to look at Arden. “I’m afraid we will part here.” The woman said.

“Are you not going inside?” Arden asked.

The woman smirks. “Of course not. I have to go through the special door.” She taps Arden’s shoulder and walks to a different direction. “One that only a fairy hunter could know.”

Arden smiles and shakes his head as he walks in the gate. “Goodbye then, ‘young’ miss.” He says with an emphasis on “young.”

Arden eventually walks into a room with King Tenic, the king of Luis on his throne, and many other fairy hunters in front of him. Arden sighs, and walks to the front, where only two other fairy hunters are allowed to stand.

“Took you long enough, you traitor.” Said a guy named Neinol, with luscious long hair, and beautiful innocent eyes. But, he is the complete opposite of innocent. He gained his place through his “gift of luck”. And by luck, he randomly chooses to massacre someone on a whim, but it always turns out to be a fairy, granting him as one of the best fairy hunters.

“Relax, Neinol. You know he’s still one of the only fairy hunters that can get this job done." Butted in a girl named Susanna who had curly red hair, and unique gold eyes that only belongs to a Aschire descendent. Susanna Aschire, like all the rest of her ancestors, have the ability to know if someone’s lying easily by looking at them. That’s her “gift.” “Glad to see you again, Arden.”

Arden nods at his old friend and then looks around the room full of fairy hunters, but he could not find the faceless woman from earlier. “Seems there are a ton of fairy hunters still here.” Arden notes.

“Well, it’s only right.” Susanna adds. “We must fulfill our duties until the end.” She says with her usual pride of being a fairy hunter.

Neinol scoffs. “Oh please. We all know it’s because of the pay for this job. However, they must know it’s a lost cause if they’re going against me, the ‘beauty of luck.’ It’s more so for the benefits that a fairy hunter gets.”

Susanna frowns. “If that’s what they’re here for, then it’s best they leave now.”

Like Arden, Neinol and Susanna also made it to the top three fairy hunters because they all have something useful to them that helps them hunt even the most hidden of fairies. However, unlike Arden, Neinol and Susanna both have their own personal reasons for being a fairy hunter. For Neinol, who loves to get away with murder, fairy hunting is the best job to match his interests. As for Susanna, she grew a large distaste for fairies and wants them to go extinct.

While Arden gets envious of Neinol and Susanna, a familiar trumpet sound goes off, making every fairy hunter in the room go silent. King Tenic raises his hand to receive a roll of paper, and as he unrolls it, he stands while clearing his throat. “To the royal fairies that protect the country of Luis, the time has come for the final mission. There is but one fairy left, and they are the most deceitful and most difficult fairy to hunt down. As most of you know, we have yet to gain much information of their appearance, capabilities, nor do we know what their “gift” from the fairy king is. But, we do know this, they were to be the next leader of the fairies according to the previous ones we have hunted. Now don’t think that they will be easy, as leaders tend to be the most difficult. But, with our three special fairy hunters…” He looks over to Arden, Susanna, and Neinol, giving them the spotlight. “We have hope.”

King Tenic snaps his fingers where his attendants give each fairy hunter a letter with their names on it for their rewards and conditions. Everyone opens their letter and smiles, but after Arden opens his, he clenches the paper with frustration.

“One last piece of information from me. According to the last fairy we hunted, the ‘Fairy of Deception’ is right here in the capital.” King Tenic adds. “Hopefully, that can make finding them easier. Well that’s all the information I can grant you, but I’d like to send you all off with some advice. Be mindful, be wise, or you will meet your demise. Don’t be taken aback by their lies, for their intention is disguise. You may all be dismissed, good luck hunters.” King Tenic walks away, but Arden still grips his letter tightly in his hands.

“Wow!” Susanna smiles. “Looks like they’re going to have a special celebration for my father once I complete this mission. What does your letter say you’ll get, Arden?” Susanna notices Arden’s hands shake while staring at his letter. “Arden?”