Chapter Text
The wind was gentle.The smell of sugary yet deadly flowers gently wafted throughout the air. Even though this happened oh so long ago… The king can recall it like it was yesterday. And unbeknownst to the King at the time…this was the day fate had truly begun to weave its messy, unconnected threads into a shroud. The steady melody of a choir’s angelic voices echoed throughout the kingdom. It was a blissful day like any other. The king had planned to continue working on his miscellaneous duties just as he had all morning, but alas, the temptation of fresh air (and the feeling of loneliness) grew far too great. So, he decided that he would take a short break to refresh his mind.
He made his way down the bustling streets of the kingdom into the center market. Vendors adorned the streets with stands filled to the brim with beautiful tapestries, fine instruments, and traditional delicacies. Small faeries ran after each other, singing and laughing as any young one has the every right to do. Some low ranking silver knights patrolled in the busiest part of town, to help settle any possible disputes before they could get out of control.
It was nothing but a pleasure to the Faerie king as he observed his denizens simply living their lives. Moments like this… remind him of what he was made for, and why he continues on. Every moment of hardship and pain, immediately gets washed away in hindsight by the simple passing smile of a child. Even if that smile was nothing but fleeting. The King found a little bench, just enough out of the way of the hustle and bustle of the market and closed his eyes.
He took in the beautiful melody of peace. A beautiful mix of silverbells chiming, wings thruming, and the laughter of happy cookies, all tied together by the majestic voice of the choir, that gracefully rang throughout the kingdom. His weary wings drooped. This is the life, is it not ? This is the life of an average cookie.This is the peace he was made to usher in, This is the peace the witches weaved fate around so that it may last…
A small giggling child flew by, a yeast spore playfully following suit. A pair of two lovers glided past him, quietly whispering to each other, their insect-like wings touching. The silver knights noisily laughed and conversed as they switched shifts. The wind blew softly, bringing cool air and delicious scents. The king exhaled softly,taking the moment to ground himself.
While it was quite nice to hear the day to day life of his citizens… seeing everyone together planted a seed of…well ….admittedly jealousy.
For you see, the king never had anyone particularly close to him,no..that was not the right phrase for it…he had solid relationships with a wide range of his knights and gardeners, he more so did not have anybody to truly talk to-’eye to eye’. Since he was quite literally the king, whenever he would talk with any other cookie it just felt oddly hollow,as if he was being put on a pedestal he did anything but wish for. He did appreciate the respect, and understood that it was the correct way of conduct…however this logic was never enough to squander the nagging isolation slowly eating him away.
Whilst he was usually completely fine with that- choosing duty over connection… It was still moments like this that reminded the elder of what he was missing. It was admittedly sad that the only faeries he deemed himself even slightly close to were the knights and gardeners he thought of as his sons and daughters. They were great cookies, yet elder faerie could not help but feel like having an actual friendship with them would do nothing but hold them down.
Afterall, he would probably get busy and waste their time.They had their own lives to attend to,and he tried to stay away from it. He had his duty and they had theirs,even viewing them as his children felt like he was pushing himself into their life. The last thing a ruler should do is be a bother to his own subjects.That is how the role of king was always supposed to go is it not? The king furrowed his brow and pushed the thread of thought into the deepest part of his mind. He rested his head on the back of the silver bench.
Heavy wingbeats quickly begin to approach from far in the distance.
The king brushed it off,it was likely just a student flying by to get the library to return a book before it closed or two friends that hadn’t seen each other in a long while…
The king slowly began attempting to gather all of the tasks for the afternoon in his head creating a mental list. He needed to sign a few more documents,and oversee a meeting with the architects in charge of building the new block right past the library-when was that scheduled again?if it was soon he must keep an eye on the time,…Oh-and wasn’t there a new commander-in-training for the silver knights? To be frank, he did not even know who the faerie was yet- The king (after realizing that the meeting was not even that day)pondered who it could be.
Frantic wingbeats bounded closer.
It was admittedly quite embarrassing that the faerie king himself did not know the basic details of such an important event as a successor being chosen. He had been far too engrossed in miscellaneous paper work the past few days to find time to care.. He had barely even spoken with any of his generals as of late. He decided to take that as a note to himself to calm a bit on the paper work front, and to focus on any tasks he needed to get done with the knights. Still, he wondered who the soon-to-be commander was.
Little Silverbell is far from ready…he was only just sworn in a few moons ago…hm… he supposed there could be a chance it was Possibly Mercuriali-
“Your majesty!” A familiar, serious voice called out.
Well, speak of the devil-
The king quickly opened his eyes. Right behind him, Mercurialis cookie stood. Mercurialis cookie was a very promising silver knight-who grew quite the reputation due to his no-nonsense attitude and how quickly he climbed the ranks of the Knights. He had a strong, athletic build with pale green dough and dark green icing with little flowers that resembled the flowering plant which he was named after. Elder faerie would be lying to say he hadn't known mercurialis for a long time… ever since the cookie was nothing but a doughling,Elder faerie felt akin to him as a father does to son,mercurialis was a prime example to the king of how he felt he was reading too much into the simple comradery. He honestly had no clue if Mercurialis even had a family,less so if he wanted one .
“You are very urgently needed at the gate,” Mercurialis huffed out.
“Oh? Why? Did something go wrong?” The king questioned as he stood up.
“There is a…mysterious visitor at the gate,”The knight replied.
“Ah…I see,” The king murmured under his breath as he spread his wings to fly to the gate that separated the faerie kingdom from the outside world.
It was a quick flight, only a minute or so, only from the market to the gate. Alas,in the said minute the king's mind was racing. There were no major civilizations nearby… The witches made sure of it. Nocookie should even be able to get here. Did a faerie lead them? But if so, why?? Very few ever leave the walls of the kingdom, and all of which are trusted knights on patrol. Most of the faeries are scared of outsiders anyway- So why would one lead one here? No, that can’t be an option.. But if it isn't then who could’ve possibly found their way here,to his kingdom??
As he neared, he could see the commotion around the entrance clear as day. Silver Knights were ushering faeries away from the gate, whilst armor-clad generals barked at their soldiers to check the defenses. Even though Elder Faerie was concerned…he did feel the sheer reaction to the 'visitor ‘to be a tad bit of an overreaction. The faeries seemed to be preparing for war rather than a singular stranger. However, Elder Faerie realized as he drifted down that the majority of these faeries… had likely never even seen a wingless cookie. He couldn’t truly blame them for being so tense,this was a first for them.
The king landed and folded his wings as the nearby silver knights flew right over to address him, by the way these knights were reporting the ‘visitor’, you would have never have guessed these were the kingdom’s most serious and cold knights. They had fear written all across their faces.
Elder Faerie decided the wisest course of action was to have a few of his knights open the gate, have him ‘greet’ the visitor, and have the silver knights armed behind him if anything went wrong- which while pretending he didn’t worry about a danger being beyond the gate…
He was still grateful for the backup. It was not an outstandingly clever strategy, yet it was still most likely going to be more than enough.
Elder Faerie stood by as a few brave silver knights cranked open the gate. And as it slowly opened the visitor came more and more into view. This guest seemed to have…armor? Oh witches…Elder Faerie did not want to have a deal with a violent unwinged cookie today, it would do nothing but make the faeries even more scared of any outside cookies.
The guest stood completely still. The unknown cookie had a large,flowing white cape with green accents, complemented by their grey, metallic armor. The cookie plate had an odd shape in the center, etched into the metal.Though the most noticeable details was that this unknown cookie had a heavy helmet atop their head, which hid any facial expression that could've possibly aided the king in assessing any possible threat. They also held a heavy sword that seemed capable of slaying an entire army, noticeably holding a gem in the same shape as that of his chestplate.
The king took a deep breath, profiling the cookie, best he could. The other cookie just simply stood there, it was odd. However, the monarch’s eyes contorted into quiet shock when he realized what that strange shape on their chestplate was…
Is that..?Is that a souljam?!
Eventually the gates were fully opened and both of the cookies just..stood still. Elder faerie stared in shock at the armor-clad *Souljam-user!!!* before him. His grip on his sword loosened. Elder faerie could feel the eyes of every faerie trained straight onto him and the emissary. The emissary’s smoke plume wafted softly in the wind.
For whatever reason, even though the knight’s eyes were fully hidden.., Elder faerie still felt the knight’s gaze pierce into his very soul.
The cookie before him emanated nothing but power and yet, Elder faerie didn’t feel afraid. He didn’t know why. It was most likely because this cookie was a divine virtue,made to spread good,chosen by the witches themselves.
Or maybe because of that amazing sell that wafted by-
Either way, it was becoming more and more clear to the Faerie that this cookie was rather silent, and that he would have to be the first to talk. He regrained his grip on his sword, straightened his posture and slipped on the mask of a leader that is not to be messed with.
“State your name and purpose,” The king instructed as his wings slowly unfurled behind him, making a more threatening silhouette. He made himself look threatening, less so because of his fear of the visitor… and more for the comfort of all the faeries behind him, who might still be rather anxious.
…They probably don’t even know what a souljam was, which was admittedly his fault.
The cookie in front of him visibly relaxed as he heard the monarch address them, they then knelt and answered the question.
“Salt of Solidarity, commander of the Kala Namak knights. I am here to speak with the honorable Faerie king, who I presume to be you.”
“Well that assumption is correct, but what topic do you wish to discuss?”
The unsaid question of how the knight even found this kingdom in the first place lingered in the air. What could possibly be so important that this emissary, who almost definitely has many duties of his own, felt the need to track down this hidden kingdom?
“I have created a plan to usher in a new age of peace in beast yeast,” Lord Commander stated as he stood up and slowly approached the king.
For an inexplicable reason the king did not back away.
“And?”
“...And I believe you are the only cookie capable of bringing it to fruition,” The virtue responded, his voice showing no sign of wavering. He stood close to elder faerie, close enough that the king could just see the commander’s eyes.
For a second an unfamiliar emotion washed over the monarch. As he stared forward, into the helmet, Elder Faerie felt for once in his life, understood. He was literally able to look at the virtue eye to eye. The look in the cookie’s eyes almost felt like a mirror to Elder Faerie’s own.
The same hope.
The same resolve.
The same struggles.
They stood there for an…uncomfortable amount of time, awaiting for the king to either accept the ’offer’ or send the virtue away.
The faeries behind them were very, very confused… and they were also rather surprised from how -anticlimactic? - this whole situation had become. There was no fighting or quick redirection of this visitor, only the king and the mysterious man staring blankly at each other, both clearly battling something in their heads. The gathered audience actually grew to be bored.
“Ah.. I see,” The monarch awkwardly said as he took an even more awkward step away from the mysterious visitor,”Here, come in, We can discuss specifics inside.”
The emissary hurriedly nodded and motioned towards the woods. Out of seemingly nowhere a..strange creature came out (who Elder Faerie later learned was named Nox) and galloped to the virtues side.
This cookie had nothing but surprises, huh?
While Elder Faerie didn’t know what to do with this creature, he still called forward a young gardener who was standing by, silverfly, and instructed her to care for the animal. He just felt it was customary,that it would be rude to not have a faerie tend to the creature. He also believed that silverfly would be nothing but ecstatic to take care of any and all animals, foreign to her or not.
The King walked back into the kingdom, the virtue following suit.
Neither of them truly understood what they were unleashing, whether it was truly good or evil, is up to perspective…
…and timing.