The Moon's Shadow

☾ Chapter forty-five

I started up at the blue sky, speckled with clouds. They didn't appear to be moving, as though time had stopped. Maybe it had, considering who was with me. I turned my head slightly to the right, Jayla was next to me. Her eyes were closed, her hazelnut skin drinking in the sun rays.

"Tell me about the Fairy realm," I asked. 

I've always heard the stories of the Fairy capital, Alythi. The looming stone and metal towers all around the city, the massive castle in the center that shimmered gold in the light, the hanging gardens in the distance. It was truly a city of magnificence, welcoming all magical creatures into its grasp.

Jayla's mouth twitched up, happy to oblige. "It's a beautiful city. It smells of baked goods and spices from every magical realm you can think of. The streets are always filled with vendors, there's music that comes out the houses that line the streets. It's always lively and bustling, people around every corner."

"Do you miss it? Do you wish you could go back?"

Jayla's small smile faded, instantly making me regret asking the question. A stupid question, really. Of course she missed it, but instead her answer surprised me.

"I would gladly watch the city burn. That city stands for slavery, greed, corruption and violence. That city is a shell, a mask for what truly lies underneath."

"What lies underneath?" I asked, but somehow I already knew the answer.

"Darkness and suffering, nothing good is in that city."

"If...if your fath- King Zandra were to die, would your banishment be lifted?"

"It would depend, I'm not the firstborn, so my brother would have to decide."

I turned on my side, to fully face her. I knew nothing of Jayla really, aside from that she was banished royalty for nothing more than whom she loved. I didn't know much about Fairies, their policies, customs, or ways. It would depend on who you asked, what magical creator you stumbled into if you got an answer that Fairies were either good or bad.

Taking my quietness as an encouragement to go on, she let out a small sigh.

"King Zandra likes to... spread his reach far and wide. My mother is not the Queen, no. She came from a different fairy city, a small kingdom in the southern Fairy realm, Sol. She was a princess when she caught the King's eye. Even by immortal standards, she was young. Too young. But that didn't stop him.

"She was gifted with magic, and he's always looking for new bloodlines to create, which ones be forged into something... more. Her parents had refused to give her over, they had heard stories about him, awful stories. So, like the true tyrant he is, he burned Sol to the ground and took her. He was satisfied enough when she had me, left her alone while he conquered other kingdoms, doing the same to their royalty, snuffing out any signs of rebellion.

"My brother, well I guess half brother, Oren, is from a Queen in the west. I've heard stories that the western kingdoms are much more bloodthirsty than others, and they wage war amongst themselves quite often, the other magical creatures that live there. I don't know much about her, she died a hundred years before me, but they must have been a match made in heaven. Oren is ruthless, if not worse than Zandra in some ways. There's no way in hell he would ever lift my banishment." She paused, contemplating something, "No, I won't be able to go back till that city is nothing but ashes."

"What happened to your mother?"

Jayla turned to me, her eyes held a glint of fire in them. "She miscarried, Thane killed her moments later for her 'treason'," she seethed through her teeth.

I could feel the hatred leaking out of her, I could see it in her eyes. At that moment, I realized just how lucky it was that Jayla was on our side, she had a lifetime, multiple lifetimes to plot her revenge, I didn't doubt that she already had for some time. I didn't doubt that her hatred would make her burn that city.

I reached my hand out to grab hers, but recoiled, her hand was hot like she was actually on fire.

Closing her eyes, she exhaled through her nose, taking deep breaths as if to calm herself. To push those feelings of hatred she had behind her mask, the mask she always showed. Happy, joyful Jayla was carrying a dark secret. She wasn't that person at all, she was vengeful, burning with hatred for her own kind, for the pain they have inflicted. 

"Are you going to burn the city?" I asked, my eyes narrowing slightly as her, careful of my tone.

"Maybe one day," she shrugged, the fire slowly extinguishing within her. She opened her eyes once again, giving me a slight smile.

"Immortality is a long time, a long time for me to make my move. Right now," she looked at me, her eyes becoming more gentle, "Right now I am helping my mortal friend carry out her destiny, right now I belong to you and your fight."

I nodded ever so slightly, I didn't doubt her. No, when I first met her it truly was like we had known each other forever, something had stirred within me when I first met her, but I did not know what. I trusted Jayla with my life, I trusted her to be by my side during the battle that was to come.

But a small thought lingered in the back of my mind, part of me wondered how powerful she truly was, how much she held back during our times together. 

I prayed to the Goddess I would never be on the other side, on the side of her hatred.