Hearth - Hestia's Epiphany

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"Hey! Get away from there!"

A horde of giggling fae children zipped away from the old barn. They were quickly stopped by two faerie men, who had stunned them with their magic.

"Oh, scat! We're done for...!" Mumbled a curly-haired fae boy as he tried to fight against the numbness of the magic. He couldn't be much older than twelve, but his wings, surprisingly, were fully grown.

"Finished." A longer-haired faerie girl with a sweet demeanour hung her head with defeat. One of the two males stepped forward, a cold look in his light blue eyes.

"Didn't we tell you kids to stop playing in the barn?" He asked. "It isn't safe. Ever since the forest fire all those years ago, it hasn't been stable."

"Why don't you knock it down then? It could hurt someone!" Another child piped up, which sparked puzzled murmurs of agreement to ripple across the group of kids.

The second fae man was a little less patient. "Because we don't have to! Well, we shan't have to, if you hardheaded children would listen for once!" He growled.

Suddenly, a streak of red shot out of the barn's doors. It circled twice around the trapped fae children and caused the two men to lose concentration and control over the spell. They were free.

"Quick! Run, guys!" The kids obliged and scattered. Soon afterwards, the blur of red followed.

The first man frowned, while the second scowled and watched them go. "Damn hybrid..." The second spat, crossing his arms and taking flight. "She's going to get it from me one day..."

The first raised his eyebrows. "You would hit a child?"

The second waved his friend off. "No, no. I meant verbally, sir! What do you take me for? A human?"

- - -

The fae children and the blur finally slowed and settled down in a clearing to catch their breath.

The blur was no longer a blur but appeared to be a creature as old as the rest of them. In some ways, physically, the girl was similar to the fae, but in many ways she was different.

For starters, she had a tail, ears, horns, and wings—all in different variations of metallic red colours—akin to a daemon's. But those body parts even differed from a daemon's parts—her tail did not have a sharp point at the end; instead, it was heart-shaped and had fur growing around it — sort of like a lion's tail. Her ears weren't pointed and somewhat-humanoid at all; they were scaly and slightly floppy. Her horns weren't the same colour as her pale skin, but instead, they were a charred reddish-black colour, like they had been burned in an oven. Her wings were quite batlike, however, which was the closest similarity to a daemon on her if you looked closely.

Other than those key features, the creature looked like the other fae. She had a curly mop of fiery red hair that went down to her shoulders and distinct amber eyes. Her skin was somewhat sun-kissed, and a sprinkling of dark brown freckles could be seen on her cheeks. Her nails, while black, were pointy and sharp like the other fae. Her legs and arms were sprinkled with red scales, yes, but they (mostly) looked utterly humanoid.

"That was close..." The creature puffed, falling to the ground and opening her wings slightly.

"Yeah! No thanks to you, Hestia!" The first curly-haired faerie boy grunted. He stormed angrily over to the hybrid creature and crossed his arms. "We told you not to leave the post! And what did you do?"

"...I left the post." Hestia hung her head a little, before stopping for a second and glaring back up at the towering faerie boy with her snakelike amber eyes. "...but, I did get you guys out of it, didn't I, Fytó?"