Chapter Text
In the morning, Elder Faerie got up early.
He grabbed his bag off the table, slung it over his shoulder, and gripped his trusty sword.
Without making a sound, he slipped out of the small, cozy house.
His original plan was to head off, track down The Sugar of Happiness, and have a proper chat with her.
But as luck would have it, Butterfly Sugar popped up right in his path, blocking his way.
"Morning! Did you sleep alright?" Butterfly Sugar asked, her voice more bright and cheery than it did the other day.
"Umm, yes. It was alright, thank you," Elder Faerie replied, trying to sound formal.
"You’re still heading off to the Garden of Witches, then?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Of course," Elder Faerie said firmly.
"Ah, fair enough," Butterfly Sugar nodded. "Well, I wish you a brilliant journey. It’s not too far from here, actually."
"Perfect! Thank you for the hospitality," Elder said, politely lowering his head in a respectful little bow.
"No worries at all! Always happy to help," Butterfly Sugar beamed, mimicking his polite bow. "Come on, let me escort you as far as the edge of the forest.”
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They had a slow, relaxed stroll together until the sweet, familiar garden began to fade away, replaced by the towering green trees of a massive forest.
Elder Faerie turned back to face Butterfly Sugar one last time.
"Thank you again for all your help," Elder Faerie said, giving her another polite nod.
Butterfly Sugar let out a bright, cheerful chuckle.
"You’re very welcome, Your Majesty. And don't you worry, the Witches are a lovely, friendly bunch. They’ll greet you with open arms, you'll see!"
Elder Faerie managed a small, hopeful smile. "I hope so," he replied softly.
He turned around, elegantly unfurled his wings, and took off into the sky, flying away into the distance.
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After a few hours of flying, something brilliant caught his eye.
Down below, deep in the distance, a strange, beautiful light was shimmering.
He paused mid-air, hovering for a moment as he squinted to get a closer look.
His pointed ears immediately perked up, and his eyes went wide with pure excitement.
The view below was absolutely breathtaking.
It was a gorgeous garden that looked just like the cosmos itself.
It was completely full of deep, dark blue plants and millions of tiny, glowing stars that seemed to totally defy nature, twinkling merrily against the earth.
I actually found it. I can't believe I found it! Elder Faerie thought, his wings fluttering more with excitement.
He tilted his wings and started gliding down slowly.
He landed softly on the solid ground, right in front of a pair of absolutely massive golden gates.
They were shut tight.
He didn’t even bother trying to crack them open with a spell.
He wasn’t about to just stroll straight through the front gates.
That would be actively asking for trouble.
Instead, his plan was to sneak through the ancient, overgrown ruins off to the side, completely bypassing the main areas where the Witches actually lived.
From there, he’d track down the Grand Archive, which was basically a massive, ancient library hidden away in the shadows.
If he could just find a very old book, or maybe track down a helpful caretaker or some reclusive sprite living nearby, he could get his answers without anyone ever knowing he was there.
Using the crumbling stone ruins as cover, he carefully navigated his way inside.
After successfully passing all the tricky, troublesome spots, he began to wander around the garden, totally amazed by the grand architecture and the stunning view.
Up close, the garden looked exactly like the picture in his book.
It truly was a piece of the cosmos brought to life, with those mesmerizing dark blue plants and floating, defying-gravity stars illuminating his path.
He crept around slowly, trying his absolute best not to make a single peep.
His eyes scanned the area, searching for the Grand Archive, or maybe even another human who might live inside it and know the truth.
For a second, he tempted the idea of just walking straight up to the Witches to ask them his questions.
After all, Butterfly Sugar did say they were friendly, and they were their creators.
There shouldn't be anything to be scared of.
But he quickly shook the thought away.
He didn't want to go bursting in and disturbing them the second he arrived.
It was better to find the Grand Archive first, and then meet the Witches later.
So, he walked on, utterly mesmerized by his surroundings.
The little stars were everywhere, dotting the dark sky above and floating right next to Elder Faerie as he walked.
After a while, most of the stars stopped following him, drifting away into the foliage.
But one particular star stayed firmly by his side, moving right along with him.
Elder Faerie didn’t really question it at first, until he noticed the star was glowing brighter and brighter the further he walked.
Suddenly, the little star zipped ahead of him had gracefully perched itself right on the hands of a nearby statue.
In an instant, the entire area lit up with a brilliant glow, revealing the massive structure of the Grand Archive standing proudly right in front of it.
The statue itself was humongous.
Vastly bigger than the Grand Archive itself, but it was badly ruined.
Only the face had escaped serious damage.
It was likely falling apart just because of how ancient the garden was.
But instead of staring at the Grand Archive, Elder Faerie’s eyes were locked entirely on the statue.
It looked incredibly familiar.
It was a Witch, obviously, but he knew that face.
It looked exactly like one of the Witches he had seen in his book.
He quickly drove his sword into the ground, unbuckled his bag, and rummaged through it.
He pulled out the specific book that Blueberry Cake had shown him in the Silver Kingdom's library a few days back.
He flipped through the pages, stopping at the exact illustration where all the Witches were gathered together.
He looked closely at the bright yellow Witch right in the center of the page, and then looked back up at the giant stone statue.
Then, it hit him.
It was First Cream!
Elder Faerie’s eyes widened in sheer shock.
It felt like a sign, as if his Mother was actively trying to help him from afar.
A soft, genuine smile crept onto his face.
"Thank you," he whispered quietly under his breath.
He popped the book back into his bag, pulled his sword out of the ground, and made his way toward the entrance of the Grand Archive.
When he finally reached the base of the stairs, he realized the Grand Archive was way, way, way bigger than he had originally imagined.
From a distance, it looked quite small, but up close, it was absolutely enormous.
Then again, it made sense.
This was where the Witches lived, and where some still resided.
The individual steps of the staircase were literally the same size as him!
Realizing climbing would take forever, he opened his wings and flew all the way to the very top of the stairs.
When he landed, he faced yet another obstacle.
The giant entrance doors.
He raised his hand, preparing to cast a gentle spell to ease them open quietly, but before he could even utter a word, the doors swung open on their own with a loud, echoing BOOM.
Elder Faerie violently flinched at the sound, his shoulders tense.
He whipped his head around, frantically looking to see if he had attracted any unwanted attention, but the area was completely empty.
Letting out a shaky breath to calm his racing heart, he cautiously stepped inside the Grand Archive.
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The inside of the building was absolutely stunning, mirroring the cosmic beauty of the garden outside.
The space was filled with endless, towering shelves, each one completely packed with books.
There were thousands of volumes to read, and surely one of them held the useful information he needed.
Because the shelves were as tall as the massive entrance doors, Elder Faerie unfurled his wings once more.
He began to fly gracefully through the aisles, making it much easier to scan the titles and reach the higher books quickly.
But after a few hours of flying and searching through the dusty heavy tomes, he had found absolutely nothing useful.
It was incredibly frustrating.
Every single book contained the exact same stories and photo collections he had already seen back in the Silver Kingdom and in The Sugar of Happiness’s garden.
Still, he wasn't about to give up just yet.
This Archive was massive.
It was statistically impossible not to find something hidden away here.
And even if he came up completely empty-handed, he could just go and ask the Witches themselves.
They would definitely help him find—
BOOM!
A massive, thundering crash echoed violently through the Grand Archive.
Elder Faerie jumped out of his skin, nearly dropping the heavy book right out of his hands.
"WHO IS IN HERE?!" a deep, powerful feminine voice boomed through the halls.
Elder Faerie instantly panicked.
He scrambled to shove the book back onto its shelf, grabbed his sword from where it was resting on the ledge, and flew straight up to the very top of the bookshelf.
He crouched down low, hiding in the shadows, trying to make himself as small as possible.
"Dear sister, calm down," a second, smoother voice echoed from below.
"Why on earthbread should I calm down?" the first voice snapped back. "Who could possibly be in here? It’s been just you and me in this garden for millennia!"
Elder Faerie peeked cautiously over the edge of the shelf, looking down at the two talking Witches.
It looked like he really had attracted attention when he first entered the Archive.
Peering down, he realized the two figures looked exactly like two of the Witches depicted in the book in his bag.
He wanted to quickly reach into his bag and double-check the pages again, but before he could even move a muscle, the Witches started talking again.
"The other Witches who turned into humans are far too busy. They wouldn't just show up out of the blue," the first Witch grumbled. "What if it's a stranger?"
The second Witch let out a deeply amused, chilling laugh. "If it's a stranger... Well, we will just eat them."
Elder Faerie completely froze.
His eyes went wide with horror, and his pointed ears perked up in absolute shock.
A cold dread washed over him, and he could feel his entire body beginning to tremble.
Down below, the first Witch paused for a fraction of a second before she burst into a cruel, mocking laugh of her own.
"You’re entirely right," the first Witch sneered, her voice dripping with venom. "I mean, look at them. They are hopeless humans. Utterly naive and stupid."
"Exactly. Imagine actually thinking that we are here to protect them," the second Witch scoffed, the sound of her amusement echoing coldly off the massive stone walls.
Up on top of the dusty shelf, Elder Faerie felt the room tilt.
A loud, high-pitched buzzing filled his ears, drowning out the ambient sounds of the Archive.
His thoughts immediately descended into absolute chaos, a frantic loop of horror spinning out of control.
The Witches hate us?
They want to eat us?
They never actually wanted us?
We’re just stupid and naive to them? Hopeless?
"I honestly can't wait to start our plan," the second Witch added, her tone almost casual, as if she were talking about a simple walk in the park.
Plan?! Elder Faerie’s mind screamed. What bloody plan?!
He couldn't take another second of it.
He couldn't bear to hear another word.
His head was spinning so violently he felt physically sick.
Trembling, he slowly unfurled his wings, trying his absolute best not to make a single sound.
He glided silently down from the top of the towering shelf, bypassed the shadows, and made a desperate, quiet break straight for the exit doors.
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He wasn’t thinking straight anymore.
The world around him was a complete blur of panic and betrayal.
He was still within the boundaries of the Witches' Garden, his wings pushing him forward at a frantic pace as he flew directly back toward the ruins where he had first snuck in.
The moment he cleared the crumbling stone walls and finally burst out of the garden’s perimeter, a sudden, sharp pain hit him.
His eyes and his entire body felt like they were burning.
He had spent a bit too much time enveloped in the strange, magical darkness of that cosmic garden, and the transition back to the outside world felt like a physical shock.
But he didn't care about the pain.
He just needed to get away.
He flew fast, putting as much distance between himself and that horrible place as possible.
Finally, unable to keep his wings up any longer, he dropped out of the sky into a dense forest, collapsing heavily right in front of a massive tree trunk.
He let go of his grip, letting his sword clatter uselessly onto the dirt.
He yanked the heavy bag off his shoulder and let it drop carelessly to the ground.
He couldn't take it anymore.
The weight of it all was crushing him, and he could feel a hot, stinging sensation prickling behind his eyes as they began to tear up.
The Witches never cared about us? Not even a little bit?
My mother's plan was just to eat humans and completely destroy Earthbeard?
Then why on earthbread did she create me if she just wanted to wipe us out?
Suddenly, a realization hit him like a punch to the gut.
The ancient illustration in the book... the page showing the Witches gathered in the garden, working on a grand plan that was ultimately ruined and stopped…
Was that just their first attempt?
And now, after all these millennia, they wanted to pull up their sleeves and try it all over again?
The betrayal ran deep, cutting through every single person he had trusted.
His mother had lied straight to his face.
Blueberry Cake had lied to him.
Butterfly Sugar had lied to him.
Every single history book he had ever poured over was nothing but a massive, fabricated lie.
His life’s purpose…everything he had sworn to do to protect Earthbeard...
Was it all for...
...absolutely nothing?
His mind was racing at a million miles an hour, fracturing under the weight of the revelation.
He couldn't hold it back anymore.
This was the truth...?
The grand truth I was searching for...
is this nightmare?
He let the heavy, bitter tears spill over, tracking lines down his cheeks.
A King.
A literal monarch, sitting in front of a tree, crying his eyes out.
But right now, he didn't give a toss about honor.
He didn't care about looking royal or strong.
He just leaned against the rough bark of the tree and let the raw, agonizing emotions pour out of him, sobbing in the quiet safety of the woods.
He needed to clear his head and let every bit of this heartbreaking grief out before he even thought about making the long, dreaded journey back to the Silver Kingdom.