A New Journey (Part 10)

Hey! After this, we have just two more parts and A New Journey will be over! I’ve planned to post some fun stuff afterwards, and then I’ll get started on another story.

Clara was sitting in the largest chair at a round table, sighing as she heard all the Forest Fairies argue. Besides her, there were all the major fairies at this meeting: Kate, Diana, Brinley, Naya, and Luna. So far, Luna was Clara’s favorite. She was the kindest and smartest of all the fairies, even Clara herself. She wondered why Valerie didn’t choose Luna to be the queen. Not only that, her head was still spinning from when Valerie called Clara her daughter.

“My niece!” Kate wailed. “My very foolish niece! Couldn’t Valerie choose one of her sisters to be her heir?”

“Ridiculous!” Diana yelled. “We can’t afford any mistakes. We are at war! This could be the fight of our lives! We need Clara.”

“Well, excuse me,” Naya complained. “Clara is our queen now and we have to deal with it. But Valerie is stupid for choosing her.”

“No!” Brinley screamed over all the other fairies. “Be quiet! Clara, you’ve got to step down. Give the position of the queen to someone else! Please, you’re too young!”

Across from the room, Luna cast a moonlight spell. “Teiuq meht ekam,” she chanted. All the fairies suddenly became quiet. Luna stood up. Clara had to resist the urge to smile because of Luna’s confidence. And Luna was only a couple of years older than her–just twenty. “Peace, fairies,” she said, calmly. “We shouldn’t argue. It will not get us anywhere. As the fairy of moonlight and peace, I would like to speak to Clara. In private.”

She smiled and gestured for Clara to come outside. “We can talk in my room,” said Luna. Clara followed her to a magnificent area.

Luna’s room was coated in a layer of silver. Everything seemed to glow faintly, just like Luna did. It was a lot like Valerie’s room, except silver and with books of moonlight spells littered everywhere. And from the center of the ceiling, a silver dove hung there. Luna herself wore a similar design of a dove on her crown. She had flowing black hair, warm brown eyes, a beautiful silver dress, and wings that were very impressive. She pointed to a couch. “We can sit there,” she said.

Clara did as she was told to. “Uh… thanks for controlling things in that room back then.”

“Of course,” Luna said, smiling. “My queen, I… actually, do you mind if I just call you Clara?”

“Um, okay.”

“Good. Clara, do you feel like the responsibility of the queen is too much?”

“Well, yeah, sometimes. If you want it, I guess I could step down for you.”

Luna laughed. Even though Clara had only known Luna for a few days, she still admired Luna. “No,” said Luna. “I don’t need it. Besides, you would vanish if you tried that. Just like… ah, nevermind. Anyway, I must tell you that I play an important role, too. And it is very stressful for me. As the fairy of moonlight, I try my best to control all moonlight from being converted into shadow magic. It’s not easy. But… I since I have my fellow fairy friends, we’re mostly succesful.”

“You can cooperate with them because you’re the fairy of peace. I’m just the queen of the fairies.”

“So was your mother. Well, for most of her life, anyway…” Luna’s voice trailed off. She stared at the dove that hung from the ceiling and frowned.

“What else was she the fairy of?” asked Clara.

Luna gave Clara a soft smile. “Ah, she told me to keep it a secret, but I don’t suppose she’ll mind if I tell her daughter. She… she was the fairy of shadow magic.”

“What? My own mother, the powerful queen of the Forest Fairies, was also the fairy of evil sources in this world?”

“She used to be. I don’t want you to be like her.”

“I would never,” said Clara, shaking her head, “but I can’t believe it. She… she was so kind to me. How could Valerie be this evil?”

“Ah, well, you never know. Even the nicest people can be faking it,” Luna said as she winked.

“Wait… you…?”

“No, no,” Luna chuckled. “I hate shadow magic. And being rude. That’s why I’m the fairy of peace. No one else could be like me. No offense, Clara.”

“It’s okay,” Clara said. “Um, what’s your point, anyway?”

“I’ve already said it. Try to cooperate with the other fairies. I know it seems hard, but they’re all really nice. Take Naya, for example! I thought she was the meanest person ever, being the fairy of war and all, but she can be very kind.”

“Oh. Well, so I have to make all the fairies my friends. At least I already have one friend–you.”

Luna smiled and nodded. That’s when Clara decided to ask Luna something that had been on her mind all day.

“Luna, if we’re not too busy, do you want to, like, hang out or something?”

“Hang out?” Luna asked, tilting her head. “My idea of hanging out is practicing moonlight spells by myself and studying magical history.”

“Um, I was thinking something more fun… like, do you want to play a video game, or something?”

Luna’s eyes widened. “A what?”

“Nevermind. It would take too long to explain it. But could I drop by your place for a moonlight lesson someday?”

“Sure!” Luna exclaimed. “Nobody teaches moonlight magic like I do.”

“Cool,” said Clara.

Luna put on a sheepish smile and nodded, obviously confused. “What’s cold?”

“It’s… whatever. It’s just a way of agreeing to something.”

Naya burst into the room. “Luna, Clara,” she said. “I’m so sorry to interrupt, but the kingdom of Magicia is under attack!”

Luna and Clara quickly stood up. They ran downstairs and found Magicia blazing with flames.

“Look,” said Naya, pointing to the kingdom. “Some forces are attacking. Shadow mages.” She and Luna exchanged terrified looks, and Clara knew there was something they were hiding.

“Well, we’ll have to protect them,” Brinley added. “We can’t just stand here and watch! Your highness, what are your orders?”

Clara hesitated. “Uh…” she stammered, “Every fairy needs to do what they are best at. Like, Naya, I’m putting you in charge of how each fairy should fight, since you’re the fairy of war. Luna, you use your moonlight spells. As for you, Aunt Diana, we’ll use you as a decoy. You are to distract them while Luna and Naya make plans.”

“What about me?” Kate asked.

“Right,” Clara continued. “We’ll get to you. Brinley, since you are the fairy of mist, and mist magic heals, try to fix places that are in flames. And Kate, you can… help Diana! Yeah, that’ll be good.”

“But what will you do?” Luna questioned.

“I’ll try to use some Crystal magic to ward off the armies,” Clara decided. “Alright, go, everyone!” 

All the fairies did as told. But the plan went wrong very quickly. Clara tripped and got hurt really bad. Brinley tried to heal her, but then Brinley couldn’t do her job. Since Brinley was helping Clara, the flames started spreading even faster. Once Clara was healed, she and Brinley went back to fighting. Clara took out her sword, which Luna had enchanted with moonlight. And guess who she bumped into? Jack.

“Well, if it isn’t the Queen of the Forest Fairies,” he said.

“Jack, shut up right now,” Clara yelled. “I’m going to end you once and for all.”

Clara started swinging her sword, but she didn’t strike at Jack. He just stood there, staring at her, looking smug. “So, are you going to fight, or what?”

Clara swung her sword at him, but he used his sword to protect himself. Then, they were just frozen there, with their swords pushing against each other. 

Clara knew only one trick for getting out of this situation. The disarming maneuver. She swung her sword 360 degrees, and Jack’s sword went clattering to the ground. He backed up to a wall. Clara put the tip of her sword under Jack’s chin.

“Give up, Jack,” she said.

“You’ve cornered me. I can’t do anything now,” he replied.

Clara pushed the tip of her sword further under Jack’s chin. “You can’t escape, can you?”

“Yes, I can. Because you’re going to let me escape.”

“How? Are you going to cast a shadow magic spell on me, or what?”

“I can’t use shadow magic right now, not like this. I’m not going to do anything, in fact. I’m helpless.”

“I…” she hesitated. “What type of trick are you playing on me.”

Jack smiled cruelly. “Just look around you,” he said.

She did as he told her to. Almost half of Magicia was burning. Brinley was struggling to heal everything. The other fairies were outnumbered.

“You don’t have a choice,” Jack said, grinning. “Your friends, or me.” 

Clara hesitated. She reluctantly backed away.

“I’ll be back for you,” she threatened. “You’re not getting away with this.”