Chapter 189: Fairy land

The journey to the fairy's nest was surprisingly short. By the time the first rays of dawn broke through the veil of the darkness, we had already arrived. I scanned the area below with a curious expression. What lay before me was a normal forest.

I turned to glance at Ayona who was smiling with anticipation as she pointed directly below us. "Home!" She kept repeating.

"Home you say. I don't sense any presence down there, which could only mean one thing. An illusion."

My eyes blinked as my vision changed. The world suddenly turned colorful as I watched the various strands of mana swirling about. Glancing in the direction of the nest, a strange sight awaited. I would have missed it before, had I not known that this was where the nest was situated.

The mana down below was impressively... Normal? It was a combination of most elements, with the prominent one being the earth mana. That was normal, considering we were in a forest. Now if I was just passing by, I would have not bothered taking a second glance at this place.

Now, however, things were different. Behind its cloak of normalcy, this place hid a secret. The movement of the other elements was abnormal, forced even. The earth mana, on the other hand, was unmoving. It remained in its place as if to hide something.

The various other elements: water, wind, and even some faint hints of fire, constantly moved about in a predetermined pattern. It was as if the whole point was for them to simply mimic the movements of normal elements. It was wrong, it was all wrong. The longer I stared, the more problems and flaws I found.

Mana was unpredictable. The wind elements were free, and unrestrained. The water elements, on the other hand, were... Flexible, fluid, reserved. And fire... Fire was wild and destructive. The scenery before me went against the natural order of mana, how I know it. That's how I was able to tell that something was wrong.

It was as if all of the elements were trying to mask the presence of the earth mana. Something or someone was forcing them to move about as if to hide something.

"Fairies are masters at illusions. Their main element is earth mana," I recalled, glancing at Ayona who at some point jumped from my back and was floating beside me. "If this place is indeed the nest, then that would mean this is an illusion. The only one that should be capable of an illusion of this scale, is the great mother."

I nodded in understanding and slowly descended to the ground. Mana steered at my presence, as the water elements struggled against an invisible force, trying to stop them from moving toward me. "That settles it I guess. Someone is definitely controlling the mana."

I was sure that it was indeed the great mother fairy, but what confused me the most was the fact that she appeared to be wielding all of the elements. Water, wind, and fire to mask the workings of the earth mana. "How is she doing that?" I muttered to myself in almost disbelief.

My presence, however, seemed to disturb what meager control she had over the water elements, as after a few seconds, they all rushed towards me, disregarding their positions. With the water mana missing, everything seemed to come crashing down.

The wind elements were the next to disperse, followed by the scarce fire elements. With no elements to hinder my sight, the scenery before me changed. The amount of earth mana swirling in place was abnormal, even if I took into consideration that we were in a forest.

The pattern it moved about was also unusual. I traced it with my eyes, finding a weak spot in the giant formation, and then used my mana to push against it. The second I did, the sound of glass breaking resounded throughout the forest as the illusion suddenly disappeared.

What lay before me was an impressive sight, causing me to halt in my tracks. Thousands upon thousands of tiny fairies, in the ground and the sky, stared back at me with a mixture of horror and awe in their eyes. Small houses decorated the various tree branches, while others were built on the ground. Far behind the sea of fairies, was a striking palace. Its size, far too big to belong to a fairy.

I turned to Ayona who pointed at it and spoke excitedly, "Great mother!"

"She's there?" I mumbled before turning my attention to the faraway palace. My eyes constantly scanned the fairies, ready for any sort of retaliation. Surprisingly, however, there was none. It was then that I felt a strange disturbance in the air, the sea of fairies then parted to make way for me towards the palace. Ayona's eyes lit up as she looked at me and spoke, "The great mother, invites master!"

"Hmmm," nodding, I slowly walked to the palace, not letting my guard down. This great mother seemed to hide quite a number of secrets. Just the fact that she was able to command all of the elements already made me wary of her.

The fairies slowly followed behind us and abruptly stopped a distance from the large palace. Almost as If they did not dare get at closer, or couldn't get any closer? To my surprise, even Ayona stayed behind. I glanced at her with an inquisitive look, to which she replied, "The great mother only invited master, not Ayona," she said and lowered her head.

I simply nodded and brought my attention back to the palace. I had to admit that the castle was quite striking. It stood there as if conjured from the storybook of a child. It was, perfect. Every stone was even and square as if those who built it were set on perfection. From a distance, it is uniformly green, blending in with the ancient woods as if it always stood here, hidden from prying eyes.

What impressed me the most, was its size. I was sure that it could accommodate the giant that was my father. As I approached, the massive gates opened with a loud creak, giving me an unobscured view of the inside. A long red carpet extended from the entrance, all the way, to the deeper parts of the castle. My steps subconsciously halted, the second I stepped inside. The familiar unnatural twirl of earth mana surrounded me from all sides causing me to frown.

"So that's how it is."