War of Talents | A TINKERBELL FANFICTION (2023 Rewrite)

Chapter 6: A Fairy's Tale

Anxious wings and murmurs of dozens of fairies shuffled through the darkness, surrounding the stage, the nervousness from the previous day still buzzing through everyone's minds. Tiny rivulets still trickled through the forest canopy, a steady reminder of the unusual way the Queen had responded to the situation. Something still seemed unright about the whole thing, Tink decided. Almost as if she had known something more than she was letti-

"Evening, Miss Bell!" came the overly cheery greeting from behind her and she jumped, whipping around with a startled "oh!" greeted by the identical grins of Clank and Sil and an excited bound as Fawn hurried to catch up.

"Good evening, Clank. Hi, Sil, hi Fawn," she replied, falling in step beside them. 

"Hi, Tink!" Sil gushed. "Are you ready for the show tonight? I heard it was a good one!"

"Yeah, I heard that too," Fawn cut in. "Should we go find our seats?" She waved a hand toward the rapidly filling booths. "The others are on their way. Vidia got caught up rangling a rampaging thistle and Dessa and Ro are finishing with a few last-minute plans for the fairies going to the mainland. They should be here soon."

"Alright," Tink agreed. "So, where do we sit?"

"How about here?" Clank suggested, picking out a row relatively close to the stage. 

"Perfect," Sil agreed.

The group hurried to take their seats as the lights dimmed and the story-talents took the stage. 

Tink sighed, glancing briefly at the rapidly setting sun and the moon--still ominously full--rising just above the hills. It was getting late, the show had been delayed several minutes due to the storms. 

"There was a tale, long ago; a legend some may have come to say; of a time before magic, where bitterness ruled both night and day."

Lyria began her tale, weaving her story into the air in front of her attentive audience. An image of Neverland formed amongst the dust and collective gasps filled the room.

"A world so broken, torn and burned, no one could save it, though it yearned. 'Till a balance restored and brought it back, though a fate of curse it could not lack."

A swirling image of a dragon, followed by an explosion of dust and the sparkling recreation of fairy lights swirling up to confront the beast. This was the part of the story Fairy Mart had told them about, Tink recognized it immediately. The part where the fast-flying talent guild rose up and defended Neverland from total annihilation, driving the dragon, Kyto, back into Torth Mountain and imprisoning him for the rest of eternity so that he would never run the risk of harming another living creature so long as he lived. It was a well-known story and there were times Tink had felt the rumbles coming from the mountain's core, though upon asking Vidia, she had learned that Torth Mountain was at least a two-day flight from the Hollow--possibly three for the other talents. 

"Hidden behind a stormy veil, lies the truth to the mystery of this olden tale. Two worlds collided forevermore, of love and fire the beast did adore."

The creation exploded into a reign of dust and Lyria brought her hands down in front of her face, smiling as the magic swirled around her wrists, forming the faintest outline of pieces of jewelry.

Five pieces, to be precise.

Five bracelets. 

Tink sat up as though she had been struck by electricity again and Fawn, who was seated beside her, noticed, looking over at her with knowing confusion. Is that what I think it is?  But no, wait, how was that possible? The bracelets were supposed to have been a secret, something Scarab had hidden away to prevent another fairy from becoming dangerous like Shade. How had they found their way into the hands of the story-talents?