11. Bliss, the year of the Unicorn

Dear diary,

In my life so far, I have learned that balance is very important, and I try to find some balance in everything I do.

However, I am not sure you can truly find balance in love. Somehow, it's always overwhelming. If I am being honest, it can even be a bit frustrating, sometimes.

At least that was my experience so far, but I wouldn't change a thing about the relationship I have with Van. It is so much more than I ever expected to have, much better than what I dreamed of. I guess I didn't truly know what I needed until I met Van.

No matter how silly it sounds, I truly believe that Van has opened my eyes for love, but in the name of balance, today I will try not to talk about Van. Well, not too much, because he was part of the story, as well.

Today, I will tell you about something a bit scary that happens from time to time. I will tell you a few things about the Great Storm, how I like to call it because it gives everyone an idea of how serious it is.

Among the magical beings, there have always been stories about the Great Storm, and what happens when it comes, but honestly, I thought those were just myths.

There are so many strange stories in the fairy lore that I would go crazy if I believed in all of them, but unfortunately for me, this particular story proved to be true. It shook our lives to the very core, and most of us came out of it somewhat changed.

In general, in our perfect little fairy world, we have regular storms like the ones that happen in the human world, but sometimes, some unique weather patterns occur.

When it comes to regular weather we are not supposed to try to change it using magic since it might negatively affect the flow of nature. We are allowed only to protect ourselves in extreme cases.

The storm I will tell you about is nothing like those usual ones. It has rarely been seen, but I heard some stories that it does happen occasionally even in the human world, but I don't know for sure.

I don't understand the necessary conditions for this kind of storm to happen, but it is a sight to be seen. It is both fascinating and terrifying to witness that kind of untamed power.

The problem is, that it can be very dangerous, and even magic can't help us sometimes.

That day, we had a combination of a huge tornado and a rainbow. Yes, I know it sounds impossible, but it was known to happen and could happen anywhere.

For some reason, it is even worse for magical beings than it is for others, no one knows exactly why.

That day started like any other day.

I went to work, made plans to secretly meet up with Van, and hang out with my friends at lunchtime.

Work was awesome, I managed to create just a perfect blend for my next flower, and I felt very proud of myself. Van and I were on good terms and having fun, as much as two working beings in love could.

My friends were more energetic than usual and were able to keep up with my hyperactivity.

Needless to say, I thought it was one of the best days of my life, but I had no idea how easily that could change.

I am the kind of fairy who believes in enjoying the moment and not thinking too much about the future, and maybe it is better that way.

If I had known what future held in store for us, I am not sure if I could have been as content as I was.

Just as I was finishing up with work, with a huge smile on my face, I started feeling a strange sensation that I never felt before. There was some kind of low electricity running down my skin, and the voltage seemed to be getting higher with every passing moment.

My first instinct was to go and find Van to talk it over with him, but the moment I started towards our meeting place, I stopped in my tracks as a thought ran through my head.

"Maybe it's a fairy thing, and he wouldn't be able to help me out. It could be some kind of rare fairy disease. I might be contagious." I thought.

Instead, I decided to head towards the healing station, which I rarely visited.

As I approached the healing station, I could see a line formed in front of it. Most of the fairies in line were around my age, which I found a bit odd.

As I stood in line, a sudden silence fell upon the waiting fairies as they saw our fairy healer, my mum, stand on the highest branch of the tree, and prepare to give a speech.

I knew how much my mum hated giving speeches, so the fact that she was about to give one made me very nervous.

"Dear fairies, you can relax, you are not sick, however..." She made a pause thinking about how to phrase her words so as not to frighten us.

"There is something unexpected happening. Something that we older fairies have experienced once or twice depending on our age.

You young ones have heard the stories, but I don't think you ever fully believed them. Well, now is the time to become true believers, my dears. The Great Storm is coming." She said.

As she said that, a murmur of nervous voices started up, and they were getting louder and more frightened with every second.

"Settle down, settle down." My mother said, using her sternest voice for scolding small children.

"The stories are not all true, but I will not lie to you, it might be dangerous, and it will surely be very uncomfortable.

You see, we fairies can sense the storm before it comes, and that electricity that you are feeling all over your skin will not go away until the storm passes.

But don't worry, if you don't panic, and you listen to your elders, you will weather this storm as well as I did, as well as your family elders did." She finished in a calming voice.

We didn't have a lot of time to prepare before the storm hit.

It was the scariest experience in my whole life.

There was an enormous tornado swirling towards us, and it was twice the size of a regular tornado. Next to it, there was a beautiful rainbow.

At least, that was how it looked at first, but we were forewarned, we knew better. We knew how dangerous the tornado and the rainbow combination could be for the magic folk.

That didn't mean we understood why that was, but we knew that if the tornado sucked in the rainbow, it would have an even more devastating effect on the magical beings.

Unfortunately, for us, the tornado did suck in the rainbow, and all hell broke loose.

It was carrying everything on its way, and our magic was barely useful since the rainbow for some reason hindered it.

I don't know why, even now, but there are some stories about the lost rainbow that reappears every hundred years or so and hinders the powers of magical beings. When that is combined with a tornado, the consequences are horrifying.

Houses were flying around, fairies barely holding on with their powers, and general fear and pain were ever-present.

But honestly, it felt like I was watching all that from outside of my body. I couldn't focus my mind on any of it. I was helping and fighting on reflex, but all I could think about was Van.

Unfortunately, I knew that I couldn't leave since I and the other fairies were protecting each other.

After a lot of struggles, that I refuse to dwell on, the rainbow tornado finally passed, and there were only smaller injuries to the fairies and a lot of damage to the houses.

Luckily for us, once the rainbow was gone, our powers were back to normal, so we could fix everything without any major problems.

As for me, I volunteered to go help out the other magical beings, specifically elves, because I wanted to make sure Van was okay.

When I got there, I kept looking for him, but I couldn't find him, and no one seemed to know where he was.

As I was starting to panic, I heard the sound of someone groaning in pain, high above, in the branches of the tree.

The moment I heard the sound, I knew it was Van.

As I made my self bigger to help out in the elf territory, I had some trouble adjusting my flying, but I managed.

After all, I am a flying expert, if I do say so myself.

As I was about to reach the branch he was on, it snapped, and he started falling.

I surprised even myself by expertly catching him in my arms.

As he landed in my outstretched arms, he smiled that stunning smile of his.

"You caught me, my love. I guess you are returning the favor. The same way I catch you every time you fall, you will always catch me, huh?" He said in a weak voice.

"Yes, always. Now let me take care of you, and don't speak, you need to save your strength. " I told him with a small smile on my face.

"Haha, you know that is impossible, my fairy savior." He said.

I couldn't help but chuckle softly as I laid him down on the ground, and started to heal his wounds with the special fairy dust my mother gave me.

Ah, that was one terrifying day, but all is well that ends well. Now me saving him, is a running joke between us, and in some weird way, it has made us even closer.

Well, I think that is all for today. I just wanted to let you know that not everything is perfect in my fairy life, and maybe, just maybe, my problems are a bit bigger than petty human trifles.

Until next time.