How Shadows Turn to Ash

Chapter 34: Octavia

A fairy?

Oh, come on.

Octavia sighed and pulled herself away. "There are no such thing as fairies," she muttered. Honestly. What sort of childish prank was this?

Dainn's wariness halted as he looked up at her, taken aback. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Of course, fairies are real-"

"Where do you think the word fairytales comes from?"

"Princesses are in fairytales- oh, wait," Dainn clicked his tongue. "Those don't exist either, do they? I guess you're right."

Octavia sneered at him. "I don't like you."

Dainn gave a high-pitched mewling sound before pretending to stab himself with an invisible knife. "I've been insulted by someone whose opinion I don't respect! How will I ever recover? Please. Death, take me now!" he wailed, which wasn't smart if they were actually trying to avoid a so-called fairy. Octavia hit the side of his head, almost cutting him with the katar. "Easy! You could-" He slapped her forearm, straightening up. "Look."

Octavia turned. She half expected Kore to be there - posing as some monster as a silly joke she and Dainn might try to play, but Kore was gone. Instead, a shadow stood between a few trees, black smoke eerily similar to Antonia's magic as it made out the silhouette of a person with wings.

"What...?" Octavia managed and stumbled away. "Is that?"

Dainn pulled out one of his blades, wincing as he put pressure on his leg. "Oh, boy," he muttered sarcastically. "I don't have the faintest idea. Who am I to say? I only grew up by these mountains. But if the princess herself says fairies aren't real-"

"Shut up!" Octavia said, taking another step back. Sure, she had heard of fairies before, but they were supposed to be friendly things. Not a mass of darkness that seemed to suck all light into it. "How do we-?"

"I serve Death," Dainn said calmly. The shadow moved, the void of blackness turning to him. Octavia couldn't make out a face or features to it. The outline felt like it had cut a hole into the world. "You have no control over me."

The fairy disappeared.

"....oh," Octavia said and lowered her hands. Her shoulders drooped as the tension left them. Was that it? "That was easy." Dainn hummed. "Why did you look so nervous?"

"Fairies serve Life. Like how sirens serve Death," Dainn said, sitting back against the rock. "Every living creature has a shadow. Some of those shadows grow wings and escape whatever it's attached to, turning into fairies." He summoned more water magic to continue cleaning out the wound on his stomach. "Creatures of Life and Death can't hurt each other unless both envoys are present. I was never worried for myself."

Octavia faltered at that last sentence.

"For...yourself?"

Right on cue, something shoved Octavia hard. With a gasp, she hit the ground as a shot of darkness threw itself at her.

"Don't worry," Dainn called, still focused on his bleeding stitches. "Fairies aren't real!"

Swearing loudly, Octavia rolled over just as a piece of the shadow gripped her ankle, dragging her back toward a pit of darkness. With a blood-curdling scream, she tried to swipe at the blackness attached to her.

"Dainn!"

"Hm?" he asked, glancing up. Octavia kicked again, and this time, her foot connected with the fairy, loosening its grip enough for her to escape.

"A little-" Octavia ducked when something shot over her head, a piece of shadow smacking into a tree behind her. "-help, please!"

"Me?" Dainn asked innocently. "What could I possibly know about this situation?"