The Dark Realm - Harlequin (King)

Chapter 1

In the present time, Harlequin was flying over his kingdom surveying the status of his people. It had been quite a few years after the Holy War and Harlequin was living with Diane and Harlow in the Fairy King's Forest. Harlequin had light brown hair that almost appeared ginger and amber eyes. His hair reached the bottom of his neck and was swept to the right side with a front crest on the right side. He was wearing a light blue suit. During the Holy War his wings had barely begun to sprout and he had the appearance of a young boy. Close to the end of the Holy War his wings had fully sprouted into thinner butterfly wings that were a shade of ice blue. If Harlequin ever ran out of magic he would return to his appearance before his wings fully sprouted. He had two children, Sorrel and Liana and they were with Harlow. He lived with Harlow since they were family and Diane had to take care of the giants. He was flying towards the eastern border where Diane watched over the Giants after their home was destroyed during the Holy War. He was checking the places that were affected by the fights and the progress of growth. The southern border was growing back well as was the north. The east and west were a bit cramped with space so the growth had to go up instead of out, but other than that the Fairy King's Forest was healthier than it had been in several years.

When he returned to his home carved into one of the tall thick trees, he found Sorrel and Liana out playing with their friends. Sorrel was a year older than Liana. Sorrel was almost fifteen and Liana was fourteen. They often left the forest with Seline to play with Tristan and Lancelot, the sons of Meliodas and Elizabeth and Ban and Elaine. They often played just on the outskirts of the Fairy King's Forest and spent their days playing Knights. Harlequin had found himself watching from a quiet perch one too many times, but it was fun. Tristan was fifteen, the same age as Sorrel and Lancelot was fourteen. Of course today was the day they wandered off somewhere towards the coast or mainland and Harlequin was left to hope Seline was watching over them. Liana had a habit of wandering even further than the other three and was constantly getting in trouble. If Sorrel was not watching over Liana carefully Liana might well call herself a free spirit and never come back.

As the day wore on he heard the soft laughter of teenage voices and his children came bursting back into their home covered in sand.

"Go to the lake to wash off. I will not have sandy sheets tonight." Harlequin said.

"Seline refused to let us wash off in the ocean." Liana complained.

"You'd just get sandy again. Of course she refused." Harlequin said. Liana pouted and Sorrel ushered her out to the lake. Liana was a rebellious teen who loved to complain as much as she loved to cause trouble. Her petty arguments often gave Harlequin a headache. When they got back from the lake they were not sandy and were invited to take a seat at the dinner table. Harlow had returned from whatever task Gerheade had asked her to do and looked worn out.

"Remind me to never do favors for Gerheade again." Harlow said.

"What did my royal advisor have you do this time?" Harlequin asked.

"She wanted me to pull all the mushrooms out of the ground." Harlow replied.

"What's so bad about picking mushrooms? If you cook the poison out of them, most of them are quite tasty." Sorrel said.

"It's another story when the mushrooms are as big as you." Harlow said. Sorrel's eyes widened with interest and he asked to see these mushrooms.

"Gerheade always finds the oddest tasks for people who seem bored or have nothing to do. Especially royals." Harlequin said.

"You don't say." Harlow muttered. Harlequin chuckled lightly and placed some stewed fruits and vegetables on the table. Fairies were vegetarian and didn't believe in the need for meat when they couldn't die from disease or aging. Liana complained again and said dinner was boring as usual and that she wanted some sort of new food.

"We could always find those mushrooms. I bet you ninety five percent are poisonous and taste like worms." Sorrel said.

"Absolutely not." Liana said.

"Exactly." Sorrel said. Liana sighed and ate her food. Liana wanted to try things like fish or kelp or mussels or clams or anything that wasn't a vegetable and Harlequin and Harlow had begun to worry. Liana sometimes acted like the exact opposite of Fairies. When everyone went to bed they heard a racket coming from Liana and Sorrel's room. They had yet to separate into two separate rooms and Liana was constantly complaining about her brothers sleeping. Harlequin got up and went into their room to resolve the conflict. He ushered Liana into the adjacent room and used his magic to quickly turn it into a bedroom and gave Liana what she had desired for years, her own room. When Harlequin got back to bed he asked Harlow a question.

"Do you think the story of the Fae is real?" Harlequin asked.

"Why is that thought in your head?" Harlow asked.

"Liana sometimes acts like a Fae." Harlequin responded.

"While it may be true, I highly doubt it." Harlow answered. Harlequin sighed and went to sleep.

In the morning Liana and Sorrel were already up and off to the beach to meet Lancelot and Tristan.

Sorrel and Liana left and Harlow went to survey the forest's status today. Harlequin just had to hope Gerheade didn't find him and give him a task.

Instead of flying around like a royal idiot, he decided to go to the Fairy Realm. He had heard rumors about a group called Stigma and wanted to see if they left anything behind. The Fairy Realm looked as it always did, healthy, large, and flourishing. There were no signs of Stigma, but there was an old diary that had hastily been left behind. The writing was neat and detailed. It almost looked like Merlin's writing, but Merlin's writing was a little messier. He read the diary with interest:

A few days ago while Meliodas and Elizabeth were fighting on the northern border of the Fairy King's Forest, I went to discover things. I happened upon something very disturbing. I went down to the southern border of the Fairy King's Forest and discovered a burnt and charred forest. The magic that radiated from the ground and trees was suffocating and I had a strong urge to leave. I did not however, I wanted to discover and research this magic. After I collected a sample I fled back to the Stigma headquarters in the Fairy Realm.

The magic was clearly Fairy magic, but had other qualities to it. Those qualities were darker, more sinister than Fairy magic could ever be. Over the course of the next few days I researched dark Fairy magic and came upon the word Fae. It was the only piece of information relevant to dark Fairy magic. So I researched the term Fae, apparently the term Fae was used for dark Fairies that had become something different, that were different. In the ancient times, there was a group of Fairies that were different, that were crazier, insaner, and more ambitious. They became known as the Fae and they were removed from the Fairy King's Forest. They created the Dark Realm, the Dark Tree, Spirit Spear Polaris and the Fae clan. The leader was known as the Dark King and they had one goal, world domination. If nobody bowed down to them they would end their clan by putting the clan to extinction. After the Fairy Clan wiped out the Fae Clan, they sealed away their Dark Tree as well as their King.