15/(G3)
EMIYAman
I BONE OF THE SWORD
Mentions: Dante Verren
Even under the strict chiding of their mother, the fairies made their dislike of Gawain apparent. Glaring at him from behind Demeter whenever she wasn't looking. Chartres even stuck her tongue out at him. The lesser fairies circled the group watching their conversation with interest as well as some trepidation. At Gawains attempt to mollify Demeter she rounded on him with a firm look. "You need not defend them, they were out of line being so rude to you!" She turned back to face her daughters, prompting Chartres to quickly hide a rather rude gesture she had directed at Gawain. "I swear I thought I raised you girls better than that, has all that time spent fighting reduced your manners to nothing!" They shriveled under her gaze, but the tension died when Gawain presented his sword as a compromise. Demeter pouted and looked like she wanted to tell him it was unnecessary, but the two fairies spoke up first.
"Ah, yes that would be the right thing to do!"
"It is an important safety precaution." The green fairy Chartí hefted a book seemingly crafted from leaves and bark. The sword upon the ground floated into the air then dissolved into motes of light which settled within her book. "We will return your sword Unrooted..." She emphasized the title, like a curse. "When you leave mothers presence, hopefully for good." The twin fairies seemed rather pleased with themselves now. However, at Gawains question pertaining to The Dark Forest the mood dimmed considerable. "Didn't mother say it had nothing to do with you Unrooted? Why don't you stop meddling in the affairs of our home." She seemed uncomfortable with the topic, lashing out at Gawain for bringing it up. "That is not what I meant and you know it Chartí, enough of that. If... he desires to know of our plight then he has that right." Despite her words even Demeter seemed uncomfortable as if she would prefer not to mention it at all. She took a deep breath before gazing into Gawains hollow eyes. "The Dark Forest is a dark and vile thing, a twisted shade that has taken root in our Hercynia." Demeter spoke with thinly veiled distaste. Her eyes were downcast showing a sadness as well. "We do not know how it appeared in our home, but we do know that it is the very opposite of what we nurture and protect. Its trees are dark and swallow the light, horrible creatures of death are birthed within its depths. And the very forest itself hungers for the lives of those that enter it." Demeter turned her gaze to look at the great tree they stood under. "Its growth was slow at first almost unnoticeable but in the last two hundred years its overtaken almost a quarter of my domain, and my daughters and I can only seem to slow it down. At first me and my children thought it could be contained and destroyed. Indeed it seemed that would be the case, but my..." Her words tapered off and her mouth began to quiver. "but m-my..." She tried again to force out the words but was unable to do so. Tears began to fall down her cheeks. Golden dew which shined as it fell, but its beauty was undercut by deep sorrow. Demeters hands went up to her face and she wept. The twin fairies held their mother as she fell to her knees, pain at seeing her misery evident upon their faces. The rest of the fairies which had been circling them appeared dejected as well their once excited flight now a dull hover. It was if the entire forest felt Demeters pain.
Then Chartres while holding her mother began to speak her dislike for Gawain seemingly vanished in the situation. "One of our sisters, Persephone, was the one to plant The Dark Forest in Hercynia. She was one of the first to have budded from mother back when she was little more than a sapling. Her betrayal hurt mother greatly." She stroked the hair of the dejected Demeter. The roles of the two practically reversed. "There used to be more of us Arch Fairies, like me and my sister. Our task was to protect and guide the forest as the strongest of our kind. And Persephone was the greatest of us, kind, clever, powerful and possessing such love for mother we could only admire. One day, she disappeared and despite our best efforts we could not find her for many moons. When we thought her lost she returned though this time she was changed gone were the qualities which we had admired replaced with a wicked ambition and twisted desire. She sought to kill and usurp mother, so mad was she that she said she was doing it 'for mothers sake'!" She spat these words her eyebrows knit together as her face morphed into one of anger. "Somehow she planted the evil seed which gave rise to The Dark Forest and planned to use it to take over mother authority. Then we Arch Fairies mustered ourselves against her. Only one of us is born every century save for me and my sister, but we were powerful, and with ten of us we journeyed into the forest to kill Persephone!" Her anger drained from her face leaving only a cold mournful gaze. "It was too easy, we should have realized this but we were too confident. We managed to reach the heart of that vile forest only to be ambushed from all sides by scores of monsters. Persephone had played us. Each and every one of our siblings died save for us. She killed them all, even... our only brother." That appeared to be Chartres' limit as she too began to weep.
At her sisters sorrow Chartí regarded Gawain. "Our siblings died protecting us, the weakest of them. They all loved mother dearly and lost their lives to protect her from Persephone's madness." She then swept her arm across her face wiping away the liquid that threatened to fall from her face but she remained stoic. She turned a resolute gaze to Gawain. "That is why you must not stay here. This is a family matter, Persephone would see us and you slain without a second thought. We will fight for mother to the end, but you have no place here Unrooted. You and that vile Master should just leave us be!" Her voice raised until she yelled at him. The resentment upon her face seemed forced, and was more akin to a plea. She struggled to reign in her emotions but did. "I... apologize for our rudeness Unrooted. But we must tend to mother, night will fall soon. You may sleep here, mother will protect you from any beast."
Elsewhere...
LadyOfStars Beetlebuggo Individual lXlGamemaster
The fairy who called herself Demeter floated in the air, with an aura of both grace and condescension. A smirk was ever present upon her face. Cephus stared up at her his voice caught in his throat. She wasn't as imposing as Ares, but... something about her made him profoundly uncomfortable. He gulped and licked his lips keeping his eyes locked on Demeter. "Um, S-Sovereign Demeter ma'am. We are explorers and historians we mean your forest no harm. I apologize for how we have conducted ourselves in your domain but we are rather lost so your aid is greatly appreciated." Cephus had almost been killed by Ares on a whim and Thanatos saw fit to consume their souls and nothing else. He would gladly be as humble as possible and boot lick as much as was necessary to survive this place. The fairy cast her gaze to him as if she was only now noticing he existed. She locked eyes with him and he froze seemingly paralyzed by her gaze. Then she broke out into a laugh, a deep and haughty one not unlike an arrogant aristocrat.
"What a droll Unrooted! Truly, why you make me want to keep you with me for my amusement." Cephus paled at her words. While the others were rousing from sleep or otherwise. One of them, Astrid, was the first to get up appearing as if she hadn't slept at all. She stepped through the brush her eyes on the floating being, she appeared apprehensive as to the fairies words. And indeed when she spoke she voiced as such. Her words were well mannered enough on their own seeming merely informative or probing, but the accusation within in them was not lost to Cephus and neither to the one calling itself Demeter. She turned in the air to face Astrid crossing her arms her grin growing wider but her countenance radiated danger. "Do tell Unrooted, is it customary among your people to barge into others homes and say such nasty things? As an Elf you should have connection to the Fae I would think your kind would be more mindful of their manners..." Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Astrid. Then the fairy did a complete one eighty her seemingly threatening visage replaced with a more casual if arrogant one. "You Unrooted are such silly things. I know not what you speak of. I am a Sovereign this is true. And I am aware other 'Sovereigns' exist, but they mean nothing to me as I do not know them. Though I must admit I am surprised to know my name has apparently reached outside this place. Though how they portray me is most garish I must say." She spoke as if she was chastising Astrid for mistaking the obvious, or like one may speak to a particularly "special" child. "Besides outside of my domain I have only met with my 'Master'." Her expression grew rapturous as she spoke of him.
Then like before she performed a reversal her previous expression and atmosphere shifting on a dime. Now she regarded Mitsunari and TMK when they arose speaking of escaping the forest, having seemingly forgotten about Astrid entirely. She tilted her head her smirk still present. "You Unrooted wish to leave? What bizarre creatures you are, spending all that time and effort stomping around only to leave. Very well." She flew meaningfully in a direction Cephus could only guess was maybe east, his compass went wonky here. "You lot were practically travelling in circles for some time. At the rate you were going you would have died in here." She spoke all this with a light and cheery tone as if discussing the days weather. "Follow me and you shall find your way out, next time around I won't be aiding you however." She floated off and Cephus got himself together, and weary of being in this dark forest any longer made to follow after her. He turned back to the group "She is strange, but also our only lead. We can ask questions of her on the way then go on to the next Sovereign with this all behind us." He spoke to the group but he looked intently to Astrid understanding her distrust but also not wanting to get blown to pieces by a god-like being. As they made their way through the dark forest following after the fae, unbeknownst to them, a golden hued drone followed directly above them flying over the canopy of trees.
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