Sacrifice and Farewell

Chapter 1

"I wonder what it feels like to be human. To walk without wings, with your feet touching the ground. To drink a cup of coffee every morning before going to work, and to come home exhausted in the evenings, yet still have dinner around the same table with a happy family..."

Just then, Alexa interrupted Annemaria's thoughts and said:

"Gooffee? What is that?"

As always, the little girl whose dreams were once again interrupted replied, "Coffee, it is a drink for humans. I heard it somewhere. People usually drink it in the mornings to wake up from their sleepiness and stay alert throughout the day."

But even as she said this, she couldn't stop thinking about Annemaria, who went to work drinking coffee. "Being human" was the young fairy's only dream, even her reason for living. You could see it in her eyes for just three seconds to understand all this. How could a fairy who had never left the realm know humans so well? Of course, it was from the hundreds of books she had secretly read from Valencia.

But who was Valencia, the one who drowned this little girl in the darkness of her love?

When Anne was a child, she lost both parents, and she was raised by Valencia, the one called the queen of fairies. This woman, with long black hair complementing her delicate lips and slightly wrinkled face, instilled fear not only in Anne but the entire realm with her stern and piercing gaze from her gray eyes. Valencia had a great and unique hatred towards humans. Even though Annemaria knew that there wasn't even a trace of love in her mother's heart, the reason for this hatred was still a mystery to her. Because the greatest share of human wrath was taken by Anne herself.

Why couldn't she hold this hatred towards humanity, the killer of her father, in her heart? What was the reason for this fascination? Just a cup of coffee?

No, it couldn't be that simple. Because every second she lived, the fire growing fiercely in the heart of this young girl made her constantly dream of "being human". Lost in thought, Anne was brought back to reality by Alexa's words, "Anyway, I don't think it’s tastier than our rose petal water. Besides, who would want to drink a beverage they don't know?" This sentence brought her back to the harsh reality she always wanted to escape, the endless life that was a torment in existence but a gift in absence. It's true that Valencia didn't raise Annemaria to be a coward. On the contrary, she taught her courage and perseverance in the most perfect way. But she never stopped teaching her to avoid humans. Anne, who had long gotten used to all this, no longer questioned anything. Perhaps that was the reason why the poor girl decided to live her curiosity alone. Because whenever humans were mentioned, Valencia would give her a look and silence her with her eyes, darker than snow.

"Anyway, I should go now. I have a lot of work to do," said Anne, leaving her friend under the flower tree and flying towards the palace. It was her weariness of incomprehension that separated her from her friend, even though she had no work to do.

She had just reached halfway when she heard Elias's voice and stopped flapping her wings. The 16-year-old boy with coal-black hair that was always messy reminded everyone who looked into his blue eyes of the sea, tense as if a storm was about to break out. The young boy, whose stern face made him look much older than his age, never smiled, as if his red lips were painted on.

Even the older fairy girls looked at Elias with admiration, who had turned ice-cold to the whole world. But his heart beat only for Anne, who saw him as a little brother. Elias spoke to very few fairies in this magical realm. And one of them was Anne. The girl he fell in love with at first sight, the only source of his peace.

No matter how hard he tried not to show it, it was easy for anyone to see how his icy demeanor melted before this fairy girl. Even though Annemaria understood this, she never let it show. Elias flew towards Anne and said, "And your birthday is in two weeks."