Misery County

Chapter 10 - Part 3

"You were human?" Eric's expression was one of genuine surprise. "How did you become... you know, what you are?"

"I died."

"We all did," Cerys said, melancholy in her melodic voice.

"So are you, like, ghosts or what?" Eric asked.

"We're not ghosts," Fflur answered. "We have all died, but we're not dead in the same way that you think of."

"Our spirits were brought back to guide the lost and helpless," Alwyn said. "You can think of us as being resurrected or born again."

"Do you remember your lives? Your human lives, I mean," Cassie asked.

"We don't. When we're brought back, all we remember are our human names," Fflur said. "The only other thing we know about ourselves is that as humans, we were pure."

"And that we went out of our way to defend the innocent at great personal expense, possibly with fatal consequences," Alwyn finished. "The Great Power chooses only the most brave, kind and noble of us to bring back as fairies."

"The Great Power? Like, God?" Cassie asked.

"Some call him God, some call him Death, some call him a her – nothing is known about the Great Power other than that he is the lord of life and death, and he decides where our spirits go," Cerys answered.

Cassie's mind was blown, and she had nothing if not more questions. "Did the Great Power create us, this world, everything?"

Alwyn laughed a kindly laugh. "Even we don't know that, child. Some questions are simply without answers."

"What did you mean earlier when you said that desperate times called for desperate measures?" Eric butted in.

Fflur looked at him with sad eyes. "A great evil has come over Missouri County. It is an evil that we have never seen before."

"It is an evil that lurks in the shadows and has done so since time immemorial," Alwyn said. "Like the cold-blooded creature that it is, it requires very little sustenance to survive, and it has gone through the ages victimizing people only when it's needed to."

"But now things have changed." Cerys came to stand alongside her compatriots. "This evil and its kind have designs on this county, and we fear that their plans won't end here. You have both been brought to this place because you've heard about the killings that have happened. This is only the beginning. The carnage will grow exponentially unless it is stopped at the source."

"I say this with all respect due," Eric hesitated, "but I didn't figure this kind of thing would concern... non-humans."

"We all live in this world together," Alwyn said. "And the loss of our humanity doesn't make us evil."

"No, of course. I wasn't trying to imply that," Eric sputtered. "I just – I've just never known a monst- uh, I mean, non-human to be concerned with the welfare of humans."

"You've lived in the dark for too long, Eric," Cerys said. "You see evil behind every tree and in every shadow, but the truth is that everything is far more complex than that. Even some monsters, as you call us, have been trying to fight this evil." She turned to Cassie. "You saw that in the house you both came from."

"The ghost?" Cassie asked.

"Indeed. The spirit in that house may have been driven to madness in the veil, but even she knew that a stand had to be made."

"I – I killed her," Cassie stuttered.

"You only brought her peace, child," Fflur soothed. "Don't feel guilty. You have released her from her torment."

"So, wait, what are we talking about here?" Eric asked. "What is this evil?"

"We don't know. It has spent history going through great lengths to not be discovered," Cerys answered. "But we do know that it carries lesser creatures in its wake."

"Yeah, we gathered," Eric said. "The werewolves have been making quite a mess."

"It's not only werewolves," Alwyn said. "You have both encountered another creature, though you do not know it – yee naaldlooshii."