Shade looked out of a window, one that overlooked the forest. It contained criminals, he knew, ones that had been turned into trees by the Council. The marks etched in their trunks proved that to him, the scars that marked them as something out of the ordinary. It was the ultimate punishment in this realm.
It was strange, he would admit, but it did its job. Trees of many different varieties could live for a very long time, and since they all looked the same, it would be easy to forget which one in particular was a family member, or a friend. They had marks to tell them apart, and to show that they were delinquents or rule breakers, and not just trees. Shade knew that after his time in his cell, the Council would call forth their jury and convict him. His conviction would be all it would take for the fairies there to bring him outside to the woods and cast their horrible spell. He suppressed a shudder. It was good that he'd escaped prison when he did. Otherwise he would've had the same fate as his cousin, Toby.
He was still out there, somewhere, and it was all because he'd ticked off a Council member.
Oh, well. His cousin's problems weren't his to solve. For now, he had to evade capture, and hope that Kara was alright.
Kara. The human girl had been a slight nuisance at first, nearly getting herself killed at the hands of Jasper and dragging her moronic friends into the whole mess.
It was lucky that the beast had been a blundering idiot, or the outcome of the fight could've been much worse.
He was glad she was alive.
She deserved to be, after what she'd done to keep him sane. When Shade had been changed by his enemy, he'd nearly lost his mind. Confused and in pain, he'd been transported to the forest, and once he realized what he'd become, he wanted to die.
He let himself go, let his rational thoughts be replaced by wild animal instincts.
He probably would've killed Kara, had he not recognized her in time.
The way he felt about her now had been brought into existence slowly.
With every kind word she threw his way, and every protective stance, Shade felt, in part, like a child. But soon she stopped treating him like an animal with no sense.
She looked to him for transportation, for comfort, and even for guidance.
Once the spell had worn off, Kara had seen him with new eyes. So had Shade.
For the first time ever, humans were more than mindless Flightless, with no powers and no sense. Protecting a human was more than a short lived job. Now it was his mission, his responsibility, and he had to carry it out.
Not only that, but she was a Hybrid, a combination of human and fairy. He loved her, loved her with a ferocity that shocked him. Fairies didn't keep pets, like mortals did, so he'd never felt such emotions for anyone except for his immediate family members.
He'd kissed her, too.
That was something he'd never forget.
At the time, he wasn't sure why he'd done it. Maybe it was a way to thank her, or a way to get a reaction out of her. Now he knew for certain why he'd done it. He loved her, and this love showed no sign of going away.
Sure, it was outlawed, and for good reason.
It had initially brought humans here to Lymeria, a large amount of them.
Now that it was illegal to be romantically involved with magical beings like fairies, people had stopped coming here, stopped creating Gateways to enter the realm.
They'd forgotten about the place's existence entirely. Most of the older fairies thought it was a blessing to not have any Flightless here, claiming they had tainted their bloodlines and torn holes in their protective veil with their unstable Gateways. That could be true, but Shade knew better than they did.
Their kind had learned so much from humans;learned how to build proper houses, make clothes out of fabric, and how to talk to each other in a modern fashion.
The only thing they hadn't caught on to were cars, but they weren't needed.
What was needed was a rekindling of ties between humans and fairies, and he knew just how to rebuild those bonds.
He'd go right up to the Council and tell them he didn't care about their laws.
He'd-wait...wait, wait, wait.
He couldn't do that. To them, he was still a fugitive. He'd have to find another way.
Shade racked his brain for answers.
He knew Kara was still in the Flightless world. To go there while the Council was out looking for him would be suicidal.
His thoughts of how to find the girl he was supposed to protect were interrupted by a flash in the sky. The sky was already cloudy, but now it had darkened significantly, and purple light stood out from it. The dreariness of the sky alone was a bad omen. The sky here depicted the condition of the veil and the health and well being of the Gifted fairies, the fairies that kept Lymeria safe from any evil outside forces that might try to come in and attack. Queen Iona belonged in that category. Shade had never met her in person, but he'd heard of her power. It had been said that she had all the powers of every existing Gifted fairy. All that magic had kept the demise beasts at bay for centuries. What had happened? Was the queen alright? Suddenly, there was a series of tremors that rocked the Fern family house. Reena had been sleeping in her bedroom, tired from that day's training. She was jolted awake by a particularly harsh quake, and she was up on her feet in an instant. Her weapon of choice, a knife with magic glowing from within it, was gripped tightly in her right hand. Shade grabbed one too, for a disturbance like this could only mean danger. Their mother arrived in the room too as the shaking ceased. She held April's hand and looked at her eldest children worriedly. "What was all that about? The sky, the shaking...did you two do something wrong?" Reena spoke up first. She squeezed the knife a little as she spoke. "No, Mom, not this time. I think we should-" She didn't get another word out before a ferocious wind made the windows rattle. The roof was ripped off of their house to reveal three demise beasts, but they looked different than they usually did. Their ears were pointy, and their hands glowed with white light. Clearly they were controlling this immense wind. Melanie screamed as April was torn from her grasp and hurled up into the air. The little girl shrieked, wailing for her mother. Her colorful wings did nothing to bring her back down to safety.
A beast forcefully took hold of her arms, holding them behind her.
The girl's terrified cries became louder.
"Shut up," hissed one beast.
He lacked horns, but had eyes that were the same color as an eagle's.
"You'll disturb Master Hurricane."
"Let go of her!" Shade yelled. "Let go of April!" The beast holding the little girl sped away, black demonic wings flapping as he flew off into the dark sky.
The two that remained laughed in unison. "Why should we?" spat one with spiky hair. "You fairies have caused us nothing but pain. Now it's time for us to return the favor." Melanie screamed at them, her motherly rage startling them. "My daughter...she's just a little girl! What could you fiends possibly want with her?" The two beasts exchanged looks. "Hurricane does nothing without reason," claimed the other beast with curly hair and red tipped wings. "I'll spare you the details.
Our master did give us orders to bring you fools to him, but you're so weak that I hardly see how it matters."
The beasts dropped their arms down at their sides, and the white glow that their hands had emanated dissolved into nothingness.
The roof of Shade's house came plummeting back towards him, and the last thing he saw before the sky left his sight was the demise beasts from before wheeling around in the air to follow their kidnapping compadre.
They laughed at the family's fate and left as the roof came down upon them with a sound like repeated claps of thunder, accentuated with crunches and screams.

Kara skidded down the hallway of Sylvan's house. She called the fairy's name, but received no response. She was so excited that she hardly noticed. Turning a corner, she found Sylvan in her room, sitting on her bed. She was facing the wall, and didn't seem to be in the mood for visitors, but Kara didn't see that. "Sylvan! Sylvan, oh my gosh, I have to tell you something." "I'm not interested." Kara went up to her, still oblivious to her anger. "Please, it's important! I-" "I said I'm not interested!"
The fairy spun around to face the other girl. Her pale eyes were reddish, as if she'd been crying. She raised her hand, and Kara was pushed out of the room by her magic.
The door slammed shut, and Kara blinked, bewildered, as she was roughly shoved to the floor. Her hands tingled again, but she knew it would make matters worse if she burned down Sylvan's door. She balled up her hands into fists to keep the fire at bay and gingerly knocked on the Gifted fairy's bedroom door. "Go away!" she cried from the other side. "Sylvan, don't push me away," Kara said. "You're upset, and I want to know why.
Can't you tell me what's wrong?"
"No! No one can know what's wrong!"
Kara wasn't deterred by this. "But why?
Why can't anyone know? You shouldn't keep secrets if they're hurting you."
There was a shuffling sound from behind the door, and the distraught Gifted fairy appeared, her face hidden from view by her hands.
She moved them and sighed. "You're right. It's just...this secret is one that can never get out." She looked ashamed suddenly, and turned away from her.
"It..has to do with Peony. That's all I'll say." Kara shook her head, dissatisfied by this. "Fine."
All of a sudden, the ground shook violently. Sylvan fell over, and Kara followed suit.
As things in the fairy's room started to fall too, Sylvan found her footing again and righted the objects with magic. The shaking stopped, and Kara glanced at Sylvan with wide eyes.
"Was that an earthquake?" Sylvan grabbed her glasses from the floor, putting them back on and blinking a few times.
"Couldn't have been. Lymeria doesn't get those." The Gifted fairy went to the nearest window. After peering outside, she quickly turned back to the other girl.
"The sky's darkened."
Kara didn't see how that mattered.
"It was dark already."
"I know, but it's gotten worse.
It looks like it's the middle of the night out there, and there's flashes of color..."
Sylvan's face was deathly serious.
"This can only mean danger.
The queen's well being could cause the sky to do this. She must've been tortured in the Void." The fairy grabbed her shoulders roughly, looking into her eyes fearfully.
"Kara, you've got to get out of here.
Do you understand me?
If the demise beasts get their hands on you, they'll take your magic away.
Your powers are developing, aren't they?"
Kara nodded. She was surprised Sylvan already knew. "I've heard bits of Hurricane's plan, and it involves you. You seem to be vital to it.
On the count of three, I want you to run and find Peony. She'll take you somewhere safer." Kara tried to protest, but Sylvan didn't give her the chance.
She said the numbers as fast as she could. "One, two-"
That's when the house was flooded with water. Water surged in from the windows and the door, and the roof was torn off to show three beasts. They lacked horns, but their yellow eyes glittered coldly. The water surged up around Sylvan, lifting her up in the air.
The rest of the substance kept rising, threatening to drown Kara.
Sylvan saw this and pointed a finger down at her. In a flash of light, she was transported outside to the woods.
Peony greeted her with a few quiet words that Kara couldn't make out.
They scurried off into the forest, just as Sylvan was carried away to what could only be certain death. Peony's breathing was ragged.
She had never looked this tired before, or this regretful. "I had to save you," she muttered. "Your mother and I were friends when we were younger. But Sylvan...I've made a mistake.
I've hurt her deeply."
Kara knew what was going on. She'd been guessing at it for a while now. It explained why Sylvan had been so sick, and why her house that she was connected to magically looked as if it were dying. "You're in love with her, aren't you?"
"Love is too strong a word, but..our relationship could progress into that."
Peony looked back the way they'd come and sighed. "It's frowned upon, what we have, but it's not only because of our gender."
The Gifted fairy led her farther into the woods, and her voice grew quieter. "Gifted fairies are supposed to refrain from any romantic relations with other fairies. It's because of our immense control over this realm's elements. The Council thinks it would be a distraction to be in love, and being alone would help us to focus our power better."