Imagine Dragons (updating so slowly that it's ridiculous)

Awake.

The faeries are more interesting than I could have ever imagined.
If I could imagine, that is.
They have an intense hierarchy socially, and it's very important to know where you stand.
I currently stand at the bottom. Big whoop.
For someone who is used to life as perfect miss popular, being stuck at the bottom sucks.
It's not like humans, either. There's no "skipping levels", per se. You need to crawl up, rank by rank.
Each faerie has their own rank.
I'm twenty-eight. I was thirtieth an hour ago, but now I'm making my way up, at least a little.
The good thing about having to climb up rank by rank is that they can only knock you down one notch at a time, because each person would have to pass you individually. It would take a long time to make it down from the top.
And how exactly do you advance? You earn colors.
Colors go up the rainbow in Fäntäsiän order, with red at the bottom and the brightest Fäntäsiän color at the top. Your skin and wings are the color of your social standing.
I'm reddish orange.
Red is an uncomfortable color to be. It's the black of Fäntäsiä; it absorbs the most heat. It's really hot out. I can't wait until I'm fully orange. It sucks being red-orange.
My wings are thickening by the minute. They feel sturdier, and now I can feel when I brush them against something, instead of them just sitting there like sheets hanging off of my arms. Soon, the faeries say, I will be able to fly.
I'm surprised that I've moved up at all without wings. You gain colors with every deed you do for the pack, and if you're physically better than the person above you. Then you can pass them.
I've been gathering food instead of carrying things, since I'm not very strong.
I pluck another fruit, and my wings lighten in color. I gasp. I've gone up a level!
I hear someone hissing and spitting in anger amongst the other faeries - I'm off to the side a little, picking things that aren't trampled. That must be the faerie I've just passed. They take social standing seriously.
I walk over to the faeries carrying baskets and drop in the food. Their fangs, sparkling with venom in the odd light, are on full display when they smile at me. They're purple, so they're pretty secure in their standing.
I walk back to the side of the path, picking a peachy-looking thing, and realize that we're on the edge of a fruity gold mine.
I duck under some trees and start picking some of this and some of that. There's a leaf that's growing on some plants in the back that looks like a good seasoning, rather like mint, and I pluck it from the ground.
Soon I can't carry any more, even in my invigorated Fäntäsiän state, so I trudge back to the pack, dropping everything I've gathered into baskets. Everyone stares at me in shock.
"What?"
"You're wings. They're almost purple."
I glance down, and sure enough, they are. What did I pick?
"This leaf. Where did you get it?" The leader says seriously.
"A clearing over that way. I can show you -"
"No," she interrupts, her vibrant skin paling. "Don't. We have to go." She starts off at a very quick pace, and everyone else, also seeming to realize something, hurry along after her. I jog to catch up.
"What did I do?"
"This leaf is a very important medicine that we need, but you got it from werewolf territory. I'm surprised they didn't kill you."
"I didn't see any werewolves. Aren't they supposed to guard their territory?"
"They couldn't smell you. They don't know what you are; werewolves didn't get close enough to the queen to smell her - they bore the brunt of the attack. In the end, a dragon killed the queen, and none of the rest of us saw her."
"Oh. So they thought I was an exotic plant or something?"
"I guess."
We keep up the swift pace, and soon we're flying along at a sprint. Finally we stop to pant in a field, where I step on a... miniature person?
"It's a gnome. The Queen brought them with her. They've spread like a plague."
So basically the rats of Fäntäsiä.
I step on its spine before I know what I'm doing. It cries out once before it dies. What did I just do? The poor thing! I'm becoming more and more like these creatures the longer I'm here, and not just physically.
Suddenly bark starts creeping up from my bare feet. I jump around. Is this the curse that people get from killing gnomes? Eek! It's passed my knees!
Oddly enough, I can still move my joints. It must be all of the jumping I'm doing.
The bark has reached my waist.
I start flailing around even more, crying out and twisting around in awkward circles. I must look like a dancer from, uh...
What was that thought? Something about dancers from a time before now...
I don't remember anything but a fuzzy dream I had. About a place called Earth? What a silly place it was.
Wait, what? No! Snap out of it, Stella! Earth is your home! You live in, uh, somewhere that doesn't sound like a real word, Seattle or something? There's no accents over letters. How do you pronounce something like that?
That's English, Stella you idiot! Seattle! The city!
City? Hm, that's an odd word too.
Stella! Wake up!
But aren't I awake? Earth was nothing but a dream.
As I've been thinking, the bark has engulfed my face. What is this? I'm dying. I'm dying. The bark is closing in.
But then it's stopped. It's like an extra layer of skin, covering my skin, even. It's a really good camouflage.
Where is my faerie ranking? How will I tell?
I glance up at a faerie, afraid, and she gasps.
"You killed an enemy, and you got the tree's blessing. You need to go to them now."
"What about my ranking?" My voice sounds the same, even though I'm coated in flexible wood.
Oddly flexible wood. It is seriously another skin. Probably a mixture of armor and camouflage.
"Your eyes. They're purple."
I need to see a - a, er, what's the word - mirror. For a second there I remembered something from before, from Earth -
Ha, what a weirdly memorable dream.
Whatever.
I glance up at the faerie who's been helping me - a greenish-blue.
"Before I go, will you teach me how to fly?"