3 Aelfrey, the frozen land

A loud bang erupted from Gala's fall from the force that suddenly sucked her in. She looked up to see the hole in the sky closing in on her.

Gala shivered in the cold and desperately wrapped herself in her old, worn-out fur coat.

'What exactly is this place?' She frantically thought as she rose to her knees, scanning the entire area, puzzled by the frozen landscape. Everything was completely encased in thick ice!

'I am nowhere near Hibiscus, right?'

Gala panicked at the sudden realization. She stood frozen in an unfamiliar place.

'How about home? Mother and father? Avin? How about my eighteenth birthday? What about my supposed surprise for them?' Her head throbbed in pain at the burst of emotions settling in.

She paced back and forth, trying to figure out her current predicament.

'How will I get back home?' The question she's been avoiding since falling from that hole finally catches up with her.

She exhaled successive puffs of chilly breath into the air as she gravely tried to warm her freezing self by rubbing her palms together.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me? " She yelled helplessly, her voice bouncing back, much to her chagrin.

Damn, she now regretted giving in to her curiosity. As they say, curiosity kills the cat.

Her sobs resonated throughout the icy forest and walked to a nearby frozen stomp trunk and sat down there. She wiped her snot as she wailed loudly, like a lost child.

Well, except for a fact that Gala's indeed lost though can't be labeled as child as she turned eighteen today.

She hissed angrily, wanting to give herself a good smack on the head for getting into trouble.

'What have you done, Gala?' She covered her eyes with her shaking hands, feeling infuriated and helpless in her situation.

Her mere curiosity led to this revolting situation, as did the unexplainable force that sucked her in and led her to end up in this place.

Gala was out rightly astounded at the sudden turn of events. 'Those fairies' she muttered under her breath as she remembered the two winged-creatures she saw in the forest at home.

Right, those fairies perhaps had cursed her for accidentally finding out their existence. Gala clutched her coat as if her life depended on it, trying to connect all the possible dots to figure out what in the world was going on.

Despite the severity of her situation, Gala managed to smile at her unintended pun.

She rose up to her knees and decided to explore the forest; she needed to find a shelter before midday or else she'd freeze to death at the extreme temperature.

Gala moved slowly through the icy forest, her exposed hands already numb from the cold. Her exhausted self carefully examined the entire forest that had been encased by the solid ice.

'Did that inexplicable force transported her to another dimension?'

She noticed the small, intricate snowflakes attached to the branches of the trees. She grabbed one of those with her bare hands and mindlessly tried to bite it, but gave up on the idea as it was really hard.

She looked around and noticed something odd about the place, which she had missed the first time she checked out the foreign land. She'd never seen any evidence of snowfall on the ground. Nothing! It was as if the entire landscape had been purposefully frozen.

A gust of chilly wind swept through the land, nearly knocking Gala to the ground. The cold began to seep into her skin as she clutched her coat even tighter. She clenched her teeth against the biting cold.

Her back leaned into the tree near her, closing her eyes in agony. Gala was already weary of treading through the forest and felt pangs of hunger as she had missed today's breakfast.

Her knees shook uncontrollably, feeling queasy at the fear of turning into solid ice and dying alone in this unfamiliar forest, just like in the movies she had watched and real documentation about people getting stranded in icy mountains, Mt. Everest being the most popular one. She couldn't believe that what she had read in several reader's digest entries was happening to her.

She hugged the tree when her vision turned hazy. Her mother's calling her name was the last thing she remembered before collapsing on the icy ground.

When he noticed a small body on the ground, Alvaro signaled to his group to hush down. He was tasked with leading today's group in securing the barrier of Aelfrey as some of the fayes went to the human world to gather crops and water for their supply.

This was what the Majesty had presented to them as a temporal solution to the sudden frost that happened a year ago, as the Majesty promised the fayes that he would put an end to the frost that's causing chaos to all the fayes of Aelfrey.

He sharply jumped from the bush with his silver-encrusted weapon on his right hand.

"Is she dead?" inquired one of the warriors.

He simply just glanced at the warrior before turning again to the lifeless body of a woman.

'She might have collapsed from the extreme cold', he thought.

"Deviro, please check if her wings are fine." Alvaro ordered his most trusted partner.

A male fairy with light blue hair flowing to his shoulders approached the lifeless body. His translucent blue wings are safely coiled on his back. The man blends in perfectly with the icy background.

They cannot carelessly use their wings all the time in such temperatures, or else they will get frosted and incapacitated from flying again.

The frost had not only affected Aelfrey's livestock and the balance of life, it also threatened their existence and gifts.

As of now, water and land fayes are deemed useless by His Majesty as they are unable to grow crops and thaw the solid ice that covers their land.

Currently, they were reduced by the kingdom as mere workers and forced to collect crops and water in the dimension where human beings lived every day, and as warriors of Aelfrey, it was their duty to safeguard the barrier until the fayes had safely returned to their home.

Deviro gently tugged away the coat to check the faye's wings. He gasped when he discovered that there was none on her back. "She's a human." He anxiously announced to the group, his gaze fixated on their leader, awaiting his next move.

Alvaro rushed to Deviro's side, confirming the truth. For a brief moment, he wrinkled his brows and was rendered speechless. He cannot fathom what happened this time, as this is the first case of a human breaching their barrier.

"You know what you must do." Alvaro stated. "Restrain the human and bring her to His Majesty."

Gala felt something that was gripping her hands tightly. Her eyes shut open and she saw a group of men looking down on her. She coughed when she felt extreme cold and remembered her current state.

She tried to extend her hands to them to ask for help when she realized she was immobilized as her hands were tied down by a rope. "Please, mister. I want to go home. " Gala softly pleaded, hope arising in her.

"We're afraid we can't do that. You are subjected to His Majesty's inquiry. You will answer him how you managed to break in to Aelfrey's barrier." A muscled man holding a silver-encrusted spear answered her. His probing eyes fixated on her.

"Aelfrey? You mean, I'm in Aelfrey right now? So, Puffhill and Duffhill are in here?", a small smile appeared on her weary face, delighted that she might see a familiar face.

Alvaro and Deviro exchanged worried glances at the mention of two familiar names. They need to take the girl to the palace right away.

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