3 A Flame Fairy

"Where are you going, Princess?"

It was Aldrin. Loyal bodyguard of Thea Gailbreeze. He descended on the fifth-floor landing of Mountain Fairy Hospital just as Thea was about to leave.

The fairy princess had almost forgotten. She asked Monsoon to summon Aldrin.

"Nice timing," she exclaimed and pulled her loyal guard beside the bed of Asuren. "I need you to guard this fairy."

"Why?" Aldrin glared at her.

"I'll explain once I get back," Thea gave Aldrin a pat on the shoulder. "Protect him at all cost."

"Yes, Princess," Aldrin obediently replied despite his suspicious glare towards the second princess.

"I will be quick," Thea waved a hand at her loyal guard before leaving the hospital.

"You didn't tell him where you are going," Monsoon followed Thea.

"Did you ask Sarya to look for Henry?" the fairy princess evaded the question not because she did not want to answer but because there was a more important thing they should talk about.

She made a promise to Klara. She will find Henry and return him to Rainforest Inn without a scratch. But with what happened to Asuren, she could no longer do that. She was the only fairy who can save Asuren while Henry can be protected by her youngest sibling.

"He is already searching for your mortal friend," Monsoon reported. "Now tell me where you are going. Why are you with the wind spirit of that assassin?"

"I will tell you everything when I get back," she promised Monsoon. "I only have less than three hours to save Asuren."

"You don't want me to come with you?" Monsoon looked irritated.

"I cannot explain everything to you at this moment," Thea stared solemnly at her wind spirit buddy and repeated, "I only have less than three hours to save him. I will be back. And… I think you also need to check up on Riz, Gia, and Sel. I just have this feeling that they need help. I know they can defend themselves but…"

"Okay. I'll look for them," Monsoon answered with a glare. "I will only wait for two hours."

"Thank you," Thea sincerely whispered then rocketed towards the forest near the southern border of Northern Peaks.

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Deep within a forest, between the verdant mountain range where fairies thrive and the land where mortals dwell, a gorgeous flame fairy was hurriedly marching. Her shoulder-length and wavy blonde hair swayed softly at her back despite her hasty strides. Her tanned skin was covered by a cream-colored blouse, yellowish-brown sleeveless vest, and knee-length skirt with the same color as her vest. It was secured to her waist by a thick and dark amber cloth. A rosy brown fabric woven with red and yellow threads were hanging from her cloth belt down to the sides of her skirt. On her feet, she was wearing high-heeled sandals with intricately woven red and yellow threads that were wrapped neatly around each of her lower legs. Her bright amber eyes were usually enjoying the sight of vibrant green trees and colorful flowers blooming all around her, but at that moment, her eyes were filled with apprehension that transformed into dread when she noticed Henry approaching.

"What are you doing here?" Sel grabbed his hand and dragged him back towards the Mortal Realm.

"I came to find you because I'm worried..."

"You should be."

Henry and Sel turned to look at the source of the chilling voice that came from behind them.

Standing there was a bald fairy. Henry assumed that he was a fairy because his muscular and intricately tattooed chest and midriff were partly covered by a striped black and lavender sleeveless vest. On his lower body, secured by a black and thick cloth belt, and wrapped over his black pants was a knee-length blanket with a darker color than his lavender vest.

"Henry, you should run," Sel let go of his hand and shoved him away. "Run!"

"You don't look well," Henry grabbed her hand that was unusually cold. "Run away with me."

"I can handle him. Just run away as fast as you can," Sel wanted to reassure him but it was obvious to Henry that she was lying.

He tightened his grip over her hand, "How can I leave you alone when your hands are cold and trembling?"

Sel was flustered and more so when she glanced back at the newly arrived fairy. But who would not be?

The bald fairy raised both his glowing hands. On each of his palm, a dagger with a slightly curved blade had been formed.

"Run!" Sel pulled her hand from Henry's grip then pushed him away.

Though both her fists were still trembling, Sel revealed her bonfire-shaped blade with a yellowish-orange glow before dashing back to the forest.

The bald fairy tossed both blades at Sel who quickly turned around and prepared for the attack. However, when the blades were merely a few inches away from her, it changed color from silver to dark violet, rapidly shifted direction, and darted towards Henry.

The powerless mortal rushed out of the dagger's way. In his haste, he tripped on a rock and tumbled on the ground. Both daggers missed his head by a few inches but after flying past him for a few feet, the blades changed trajectory and targeted him again.

Henry thought about running towards the forest and hide behind the trees but the blades were only a few feet away and charging mercilessly at him. He can only dodge it before it pierced his body. Despite the pounding of his heart, Henry waited for the blades to come closer to him. When it did, he quickly rolled onto his right with the hope that the blades would hit the ground and got stuck.

But, of course, that did not happen.

Both daggers stopped moving an inch before hitting the ground then speedily aimed in his direction. The lethal blades were too close for Henry to dodge. He could only close his eyes and wait for death to come.

But, surprisingly, it did not come. Instead, he felt a strong gust of wind in front of him then heard metal clashing on another metal.

Henry believed that it was Sel who had saved him, however, when he opened his eyes, a young male fairy was standing in front of him. Henry could only see his back and his neatly ponytailed black hair. He was wearing the same style of clothing as the bald man. The only difference was the color. His clothes were striped red and brown. On his right hand, he was holding a dagger with a blade that was glowing like an emerald, maybe twelve to fifteen inches long, curved like a scythe, and wide-edged. His blades deflected both daggers of the bald fairy and with a wave of his weapon hand, he created a sharp wind that shattered the blades of the opponent.

The savior fairy glanced at Henry and commanded, "Run while I distract him."

His eyes were as green as the eyes of Thea Gailbreeze. He can also control the wind. Henry wondered if they were related or all wind fairies had the same emerald green eyes.

"I said run!" the savior fairy repeated in a louder voice.

"Sel…" Henry noticed only then that his flame fairy friend was busy deflecting a dagger with a life of its own.

"Sel can protect herself. Just worry about your life. Run!"

Knowing that he was powerless to be of any help, Henry heeded the savior fairy. He got up on his feet and realized only then how serious his fall had been a few moments ago. Excruciating pain shot on his knees, causing him to collapse on the floor while clutching his fractured knee.

"Looks like your mortal friend had a broken bone," the bald fairy smiled ominously as fresh daggers reformed on his hands. "I don't think he can still run for his life."

Right after shattering the blades assaulting her, Sel rushed beside the savior fairy and covered Henry.

"Sarya, thank you," the flame fairy gratefully whispered to the wind fairy beside her.

The bald man tossed both daggers he had created. Sel and Sarya prepared, but then again, before they could deflect the blades, it rapidly changed direction and aimed for Henry.

Sel and Sarya still managed to block the blades but they could no longer crush them into pieces. The daggers were not as fragile as the previous ones the bald fairy had produced.

"I will attack the assassin," Sarya was continuously deflecting one of the blades trying to stab Henry. "Can you deflect two daggers at a time?"

Sel nervously nodded.

"Be careful," Sarya deflected the dagger one more time and hurled it as far away as he could before dashing towards the bald man.

Sel produced another dagger to deflect two blades at a time but Henry noticed that the additional one was taking a toll on his friend. She remained agile but sweat trickled on her face and began catching her breath.

Sarya, on the other hand, was too absorbed in fighting the bald fairy. Their daggers clashed furiously at each other.

The bald fairy proved himself to be a formidable enemy. His movements were swift and precise but Sarya was as incredibly skilled as he was.

Glancing back at Sel and seeing that she was exerting a lot of energy in keeping him alive, Henry felt awfully ashamed of himself.

When his fairy friends failed to show up on time at the balcony of his inn, it made him extremely worried that he had completely forgotten how powerless he was and rushed towards that forest without any plan.

He wanted to help his friends but instead of offering assistance, he became a burden.

Sel was getting more and more exhausted that she failed to deflect one of the blades.

Seeing how fast the dagger was heading towards his direction, Henry closed his eyes, crossed his arms over his face, and begged the heavens.

I don't want to die like this! I want to fight for my life! I want to help Sel!

Instead of a shameful death, Henry prayed for a miracle.

And a miracle had certainly happened.

Instead of pain, he felt a rejuvenating warmth flowing from his arms and spreading towards his entire body.

"Henry! Are you okay?"

Sel is worrying about me.

I'm still alive!!!

Henry opened his eyes and was stunned. His body was covered by a faint amber glow and his arms...

A flaming chain was wrapped in both his arms, not to restrict his movements but to provide weapons for him. Both ends of the flaming chains had a shape of a tiny bonfire and each was binding a dagger that had been aimed at him.

What is happening to me?

A deep voice echoed in his mind, "I am giving you the chance to fight for your life. Now do whatever you want with the chains in your arms."

"Blaze! Henry is a mortal. He will get burned!" Sel nervously yelled but Henry was more excited than bothered.

Blaze… The flame spirit bonded to Sel is lending me an amazing power. I should make the most out of this!

Henry willed the chains to tighten around the blades until both shattered into pieces. Before the broken metals touched the ground, Henry directed the chains towards the bald fairy. Since the enemy was too absorbed in fighting Sarya, he only noticed the chains after it seized both his wrists.

Henry pulled the enemy away from Sarya and willed the chains to burn the wrists it had caught.

Ignoring the scorching pain, the bald fairy released a pair of daggers that were strong enough to break the blazing chains binding him. Once freed, he and his daggers rushed furiously towards Henry who was calm enough to catch both blades and break them apart.

The bald fairy, on the other hand, had been intercepted by Sarya.

The young fairy slashed the enemy on the chest. The intensity of the blow had thrown the bald fairy a few feet away before hitting the ground.

Though in agony, the bald fairy still managed to get up and stare at his supposed-to-be prey with deep loathing.

"I will get back at you..." he ominously cursed before pulling a small and rounded indigo seed from the cloth covering his pants. He threw it hard on the ground causing the seed to break in half with a loud pop and as if the seed had amazing magic, the assassin had gradually vanished.

Sel sighed with relief when the bald fairy had completely disappeared. Sarya knelt on the ground with a bleeding cut on his stomach. The flaming chains and the amber glow around Henry's body had slowly faded.

"Henry, are you okay? You didn't have any burn in your body?" Sel knelt beside him and checked him from head to foot.

"No burns. Just a broken bone," Henry held his fractured knee. "Sarya is bleeding. I know a nearby hospital. Let's take him there."

"No," Sarya winced in pain. "We should go to Mountain Fairy Hospital."

"We can't take a mortal with us," Sel seemed torn and anxious.

"Henry, right?"

Sarya asked Henry who only nodded.

"He is not only your friend but also my sister's," he told Sel with a smile despite his pain. "I promised Thea that I will return him to Rainforest Inn unscathed. His knee had to heal first or Thea will torture me for a decade. And I think we should go before another assassin comes at us."

"Okay," Sel agreed despite her hesitation. She pulled a small and rounded seed from her pocket. It was similar to the one their enemy had broken but it was pink instead of indigo. She broke the seed on the ground and after that popping sound, darkness covered the three of them and Henry felt his feet leaving the ground.

It only lasted for a few seconds. When darkness faded, Henry found himself in a strangely majestic place.

He was surrounded by towering trees serving as fences, pillars, and walls to a high and huge establishment. The flowers blooming at the perimeter of that place were all glowing with various colors and adding more beauty and mysteriousness to the area. Behind them, just a few inches away were beds of bonsai with pink leaves and branches.

On their front was a towering arc with a glowing pink sign that read 'Mountain Fairy Hospital'. Each side of the arc was guarded by two fairies with dragonfly wings, a black overcoat with pink stripes, and crimson boots.

As soon as they arrived in that place, a male fairy with dragonfly wings immediately walked out of the arc and approached them. He was wearing a woven vest and knee-length pants with a darker shade of pink than the hospital.

The male fairy carried Sarya in his arms and soared towards the fifth floor.

"Let's follow them," Sel wrapped an arm around Henry's waist, and from her back, butterfly wings with an intricate pattern had gradually sprouted. It was also translucent but it had a yellowish-orange color unlike the rest of the fairies there which had translucent white dragonfly wings.

When Sel flapped her wings and fly, it emitted a small amount of glowing powdery substance.

"Your wings are beautiful," Henry was completely mesmerized.

There was a landing on every floor and it was guarded by fairies with the same wings and attire as those stationed at the arc.

The fifth floor had eight beds but only two of those had been occupied. One was Sarya and the other was an unconscious fairy that seemed to be enduring a lot of pain. His brows were creasing. His skin and lips were unusually pale. He was sweating a lot. His body was trembling under the blanket. And his breathing was uneven.

Standing beside that bed with his back on the wall and arms crossed over his chest was a male fairy wearing a dark green overcoat. His dark brown eyes were not looking away from the unconscious patient. He was seriously watching over that fairy.

"Aldrin, is this your relative?" Sel asked the fairy guarding the unconscious patient. "I thought you…" she paused for a while as if looking for the right words to say. "Ah… well… I've never seen him before. What happened to him?"

Instead of answering, the grim fairy shot a suspicious glare at Henry, "You brought a human to our realm. Is he the reason why Sarya got wounded?"

"Answer my questions first," Sel shot back at Aldrin while helping Henry lay comfortably on the empty bed next to the unconscious fairy. "Ada, can you fix the knee of my friend?"

"Yes, Princess," one of the two fairies attending at Sarya came over to them and looked at Henry's broken knee.

"The only thing Princess Thea told me is that I need to guard this fairy at all cost," Aldrin was obviously irritated. Not with the question but with Thea. "Monsoon, on the other hand, told me that his name is Asuren and Princess Thea wants to save him. That's all I know. If we want to learn more about this fairy, we need to wait for her."

"Thea is a princess?" Henry looked away from the fairy examining his knee and glanced at Sel.

"Not only her but also Riz, Gia, and me," Sel smiled timidly at Henry. "Let's talk about that later," he looked back at Aldrin and asked. "Where is Thea?"

Aldrin shrugged.

"Hey! You are her guard. You should always know her whereabouts," Sarya winced in pain. The fairy attending to him was already wrapping a bandage over his stab wound.

"We all know how Thea is," Sel sighed. "She will only tell us something once she's done with it. Let's just wait."

"She made a promise to Klara and she had this instinct that Henry might be in trouble," Sarya seemed irritated. "But instead of checking up on her friend and fulfilling her promise, she asked someone else to do it. And it's all because of that unconscious fairy? Does she want to save a stranger more than her friend? Something must be wrong with her."

"Well, this is not the first time she acted like this," Sel laughed softly.

"Yes, this is not the first," Aldrin agreed and a little smile curved on his lips.

"Okay. Fine," Sarya yawned. "She is again obsessed with another troubled fairy and we cannot do anything about it. Let's all sleep and wait for her," he closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.

As if it was infectious, Henry also felt drowsy.

"Sel, can you tell Klara that I'm okay?" Henry muttered sleepily. He could no longer lift his heavy eyelids.

"I will tell her. Get some sleep," Sel gently whispered to him.

"I still have plenty of questions…"

"Let's talk later," the flame fairy promised.

Henry smiled and finally allowed his drowsiness to take over. While his consciousness faded, he solemnly prayed for the safety of his friends that should be relaxing at Rainforest Inn but seemed to have been preoccupied with other important matters.

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