𝚁𝚘𝚕𝚕 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚌𝚎: 𝚀𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔

🅣🅗🅔 🅓🅨🅘🅝🅖 🅣🅡🅔🅔

26. The Dying Tree

『 Jini's POV 』

We were outnumbered. It was quite sad really. So many different types of creatures that we've only seen in movies, read in books or dreamed about.

And, they were ganging up on us.

And here's the cringiest part, they were coming at us from all sides so we had to make the cliché fighting circle. What sort of book are we creating right now?

"Althea! We come in peace!" I heard Drayce yell from the other side of the circle.

"Drayce?" I heard Althea's voice.

"In the flesh" he said.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "You can't leave the realm without the stone, which means" she said as the realization dawned on her. "You gave up the stone?"

"Still a genius at deduction as always," Drayce noted with humor in his voice.

"Why?" she asked. "The old man is going to kill you."

"These people are powerful. They're the first ray of hope I've seen in a long time," Drayce answered. "Even Rhys let us go. Can't you do the same?".

"I can't" Althea said. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't."

"Why? You've got access to the stone, it's literally in that tree. Give it to us, and we'll go without causing any trouble," Drayce reasoned.

"The tree is dying!" Althea had an outburst. "The tree decides who gets the stone, but it's dying. Drayce, just give up. This is a lost cause."

"It can decide to give away the stone?" Sullyoon asked. She was in her fairy form and so the other fairies were unsure of how to react.

"Yes" Althea answered. "But the tree will only choose someone who performs an act that saves and benefits the entire realm. I'm sure none of you here will be able to do that, regardless of what Drayce says."

"Did she just call us weak?!" Sunoo exclaimed dramatically.

"And powerless?!" Jiwoo added. Great the dramatic siblings are at it again.

"I'm quite hurt right now," Kyujin fake sobbed.

"Lady, you have no idea what we're capable of," Ni-ki said.

"Yeah, so don't jump to conclusions," Sunoo finished.

The rest of us were just high key cringing at them. I mean, all of us except Sullyoon. The girl was deep in thought.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" I asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I have an idea" she whispered to me.

"What is it?" Bae asked. I swear, the girl's hearing is so strong.

"I think that if I manage to heal the tree, we can get the stone," she explained. "I'd be doing an act that saves the whole realm, thus getting the stone."

"That would work, but are you sure you'll be able to do it?" Bae asked. She was concerned, we both were.

"Yep, I feel a lot stronger in this realm and besides, I've been healing the rest of you quite easily so this shouldn't be too difficult," Sullyoon answered. "I've just got to find out what's wrong with the tree."

"What's wrong with the tree?" Sullyoon asked Althea, who just looked exhasperated.

"Why do you care?" Althea asked. "You're a fairy, but you aren't from here and that's impossible. Who are you, really?