Side Story Inari POV: The Giver Takes (1)

I arrive at my village, leaving Woohee with the humans. In hindsight, I'm glad that I only need to kill three of them today instead of six. This whole situation works out nicely because we needed tribute soon anyway.

"Leader!" I hear someone calling for me. When I turn around, I see Oog flying toward me. "We have gotten all of the information out of the humans that we can."

"Good; what did we learn?"

"Uh… They don't know the other humans."

"Okay, anything else?"

"...I can't remember."

"That's fine. Make sure they're incapacitated. We'll be using them as tribute." I give up on getting any more information out of Oog. Fairies tend to be unreliable in that regard, but it's okay. I would have done it myself if it actually mattered. That's my job as the leader of the fairies. We aren't here to expand our power or discover some truth about reality. Fairies just live for the love of it all. In that sense, we're the purest creatures on the planet. There is no greater plan. There's no battle of good against evil. We all just live in the moment, or at least most fairies do. I've been entrusted with the duty of maintaining our way of life. Someone has to make the decisions, and someone has to think ahead and plan. If we all just stayed in the moment, we wouldn't be able to survive in such a hostile world. As the village leader, it's my job to consolidate the knowledge that's so easily forgotten by the others and ensure our safety. I hold the burden of forethought and insight so that everyone else can live in peace. This is how we've lived for many thousands of years.

"Also, um..."

"Yes?" Oog is hesitating, which is uncharacteristic of him. I've been grooming him to be the next leader after I fall. Someone will have to rise to take my place, and I have lowered that weight on him. I just hope he doesn't hate me for it. The chains of power are much heavier than I thought they'd be when I was in his position.

"Claira… She, she didn't make it."

"I see. Bring me her core." Every fairy has a core that acts as an extension of its mind. As head of the village, it's my job to maintain her knowledge for future generations. She may have died, but her memories, her core, will live on within me. Oog flies away and returns shortly thereafter with a shining black stone about the size of my head. The stone is too big to swallow, so we place it on our chest and allow our own cores to consume it. Her memories flood into our mind as we do so.

I sit in silence and all the other fairies stop what they're doing in order to give me some quiet time alone with our fallen comrade. Slowly, I walk through the forest of her mind as we collectively grieve. Fairies have no set lifespan, and our rate of reproduction is very low, so each life is invaluable. I reminisce with her childhood friend and recall her first love. I lay back against a tall tree as we look out into the vastness of the sky together. I stare in awe at my own visage as I try to help her through some personal problems. We work through her fears, hopes, and dreams. We talk and ponder about what we want to do with our day as she fades into me. After the suns spin around each other a couple of times, I open my eyes. I can feel tears forming on my cheeks. This seems to happen anytime I consolidate memories. I grieve the loss of a friend even as I become them, just as many have done before me. The other fairies start moving again as I stand up.

"Oog," I call for the noble child.

"Yes!" He arrives from a short distance away as if he knows that I am about to call for him.

"Let's prepare a final rite."

"Understood!" I watch as he flies away to give orders to the other fairies. We will have a final meal with the humans; I feel I owe them that. We may not forgive, but that doesn't mean we don't respect. All life is sacred, and any loss should be honored. I fly over to the humans tied up by the large tree at the center of the village.

"Hello, humans."

"What do you want from us?" The woman, who seems to be the leader of the three, asks me with venom in her voice.

"Nothing." I sit down a short distance from them on a low-hanging branch. By making sure to stay above them, I make our positions clear.

"Then let us go!" she demands.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," I respond as calmly as possible while maintaining an authoritative tone.

"So, what? We just have to stay here forever?"

"In a sense. We're going to kill you." I drop the bombshell and allow them to digest my words. They look around in confusion for a few moments until the female yells back at me.

"Liar!"

Denial.

"I have no reason to lie to you, but you are free to believe what you want."

"Yeah, that's it. You're lying."

"…"

I don't respond and allow her to wallow in her escapist fantasy.

"I knew it. That's why you aren't saying anything."

"What I say has no bearing on the fact that you will not live to see the suns rise again."

"Heh, hehe." One of the two males at her side finally cracks. "This is a dream. I'm going to wake up in bed tomorrow, and this will all be over."

"What the fuck are you talking about, Steve?"

"This isn't real. We're just dreaming."

"People don't share dreams, dumbass."

"He actually makes an interesting point," I interject. "There's no way to prove that we aren't dreaming. If our senses are so fooled that we can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality, then it's impossible to know which we are experiencing."

What the fuck are you talking about?" The woman hisses.

"Just a thought," I respond.

"So, how do I know I exist?" The man named Steve asks me with hope in his eyes.

"The fact that you're experiencing anything proves that you exist. It's impossible to fool someone that doesn't exist, just like it is impossible to be fooled if you don't exist. If we are living an illusion, that means we have to exist somewhere else. Either way, we know we are alive just by having that thought."

"So, the fact that I'm thinking means I'm alive?"

"Not just that. The fact that you are feeling any sensation proves you're alive. All those arguments for existence apply equally to emotion and sensation. It's impossible to feel happiness or fear if you don't exist, just as much as it is impossible to smell a flower or hear the wind. We can't guarantee that our emotions or sensations are real, but it can confirm that we do exist." Steve sits in stunned silence as he parses through my argument.

"Still think your dreaming? I know your dumbass couldn't have come up with that." Steve's face goes pale at her words. It seems he can no longer deny his situation.

"Let me out of here!" The other male in the group is the next to crack.

"Juan, calm down." The woman tries to reason with her companion.

"Shut the fuck up, you bitch! This is all your fault!"

Anger.

He screams at the woman and struggles to escape his bonds.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I warn the man in a soft tone. My words cause fear to show in the eyes of the other two.

[Fear is usually expressed as either anger or despair. I'll have to push them to anger if I'm going to guide them into accepting their deaths.]

"Fuck you! You dumb cunt!" The man named Juan screams. I pour mana into my hand and shape it into a magic circle. The process is easier than breathing considering the thousands of years of experience I've accumulated.

"Fury blade." My low voice causes the air to turn and writhe.

"AAHHH!" Juan squirms about as his left shoulder opens up from my attack.

"I warned you." The other two watch in silence as their partner screams in pain.

[I should be able to get the other two angry by making them turn on Juan.]

"If you don't stop, I'll hit your partners here too."

"Juan, stop!" the woman shouts

"Yeah, knock it off! She's going to attack us too!" They turn on him just as I thought they would.

"Fuck both of you! I wasn't even supposed to be here, but you two talked me into it! I'm gonna die, and it's all your fault!"

"You needed the money! Don't act like we dragged you along! We made you an offer, and you accepted!" I tune them out and look back at the fairies. They're currently focused on making food. Oog flies up and hands me a clay cup filled with tea. I take a sip as the humans bicker amongst each other.

The sweet nectar mixed with the spice of the leaves makes for a satisfying beverage. I take a minute to enjoy my cup of tea with angry shouts in the background. When I turn back, the humans are kicking each other. I form another intricate magic circle and send air blades to the two uninjured humans.

"Fuck!"

"Ahh! Goddammit!" The male named Steve shouts as a hole in his shoulder opens up.

"Stop fighting."

"Fuck you, little dumbass bitch! Fuck!" Steve continues to shout so I raise my hand again, and they all go silent.

"No matter what you yell, the truth is, this situation you are in right now, is your fault. You decided of your own free will to come to this forest today with evil intentions. You saw an opportunity to take advantage of some children in hopes of capturing or killing a fairy. You made a choice to take a life, and now you are facing the consequences of that decision."