Kissing the Fae

Chapter 19 - Gate of the Empress

As my feet continued to walk down the dark alley of the empty ground, my ears slowly caught the inaudible voices from afar. It was deafening, small, and tiny voices that made me feel a little bit irritated, and those whispers I couldn't understand.

They sounded so near yet so far. It was as if those voices came from the insides that would make one head burst, aching.

It was so loud that my mind lost the capability to understand each word.

The urge to shout at them, telling them to speak clearly and slowly was strong. I never thought I'd be this desperate hearing what their topic could be, now that an outsider entered their place, the Achlys.

I'm sure we were the talk of the town.

After all, we were from the Acres Kingdom. The realm itself terrified others, just by the mere mention of our leaders brought a nightmare to those who went against us.

But this is Pixies. They had the guts, the motivation to resume even despite what happened in the past.

This is the home of former Acresians. They fear no one, and so do us.

We fear no one. We are all leaders of the great region in our world.

In the Godric world where magic exists, the greatest realm of all, the Acres Kingdom is my home.

Being afraid isn't in our nature. We ought to be feared, not to be afraid.

"Princess, I think we're near..." Terran whispered in my ear.

I could hear it. I could feel a lot of dark presence from the Pixies. The voices were getting nearer and nearer, making me feel more annoyed.

The place started to change. From before, it was empty and cold. Loneliness was visible, the gloominess of the place became more prominent as we got closer. Dark smoke all over the Achlys, the fetish smell of death is all I could sense but it wasn't meant for us.

I'd make sure of that.

Small towers came into sight. There was fire everywhere, a lot of Pixies were flying and now that I could see them clearly even from afar, it was the time to say that they were far from our appearance.

Ugly.

I know beauty is subjective. But no one outside the Achlys can say that these dark Faes are beautiful. They weren't...

With their pointed ears that were nothing compared to the faes in our kingdom. It was dark and dirty, the veins in their forehead were even visible, and their teeth...

I don't mean to be rude but generally speaking, these Pixies can't compete with their non-existent beauty.

These are witches. A fae witch.  

I don't know how they ended up looking like a dark ugly witch. After all, we came from the same ancestors. But maybe, after all these years that we broke apart, and the lifestyle they have chosen, it does really have an impact as to why they changed so much.

Perhaps these Pixies were born in a new generation.

Where blood that came from us never reaches their bloodstream.

"Where is your leader?" Deniz asked after a moment of silence.

The guy has stopped, too. It seems like the Pixies didn't feel our presence as they just continued with their business. I couldn't help but assume they don't possess the powerful senses the Fairies have.

We have it. But they don't.

"We're near to the Empress," the guy muttered and started walking again.

"We have been walking," Rin complained."

"You're flying," Deniz pointed out.

"Well, our wings hurt from flying..." Rin fired back, which made the other two little fairies nod in agreement.

Wings... Why don't I have one?

Shrugging, I followed the guy in silence.

Now that it's clear to me, Pixies still exist.

But I wonder how they got so many people. I mean, it's nothing other than us who have thousands but just seeing those dark Faes in the air, and hearing voices from afar, I could tell that there were still more Pixies hiding somewhere.

They wouldn't build this huge place. There would be no houses in sight and towers.

They're slowly standing up from the loss. If they're plenty, would they come after us again and pick a war?

Repeating the same history, aren't everyone tired from the endless fight?

Blood would shed. A lot of people might die, leaving their homes...

I know I shouldn't think of other things but my mind can't seem to stop. It was just a possibility...

They're growing. I have heard that Pixies were fighting other realms to take their throne, and the majority of it was a success.

But now what? Would they come at us again once they're confident that they could beat us?

No. If ever, no one from the Acres Kingdom would give up on the fight. Of course, we will meet them in the middle with our weapons together with our goal to win.

"We're here..."

I came back from my own reverie when I heard the tall guy announce. My head snapped at the huge gate in front of us. From there, I could see the tower behind.

It was no different from the houses we walked past. Lifeless... It was as if the queen inside that tower was kingless. But unlike the other queen who prefers it that way, this doesn't feel like she wanted to be one.

It felt like the Empress of the Pixies was mourning.

"This is so lifeless," Tia uttered in her low voice. "I can't live in a place like this, though. There's so much better than being stuck in an empty and sad tower."

"I'd rather be an individual with no kingdom than live in a realm like this..." Zah gawked.

Honestly, yes. I'd rather be alone than live in a place where the light doesn't shine.

"So, can we now enter? Open the gate," Terran demanded.

The Pixies just stared at us. "You're not in your territory."

"Well, we know that... The Empress is who we came here for though. If she's inside, I think we can now enter the tower."

"A guard will be here to accommodate you all," he said instead. "All you have to do is to wait for him to open the gate for you."

"Can you just open it for us? Or we could just use our hands to..." I tittered.

He quickly shook his head, then glared at me with his all-black eyes.

"No. Don't touch, just wait here 'till you're allowed to enter."

"Again? Wait again?" I could sense the irritation in Deniz's voice.

Ah, we have had enough of waiting. I'm wasting my time here and it wasn't good. I only have a limited time to check all the boxes but these Pixies are slowly testing my patience.

I don't have long patience. Waiting was something I hated. Everyone knows how anguish I can get to someone who makes me wait. However, these weren't my people.

In Achlys, I'm no Rani Letisha of the Faye region but a normal fae in the eyes of everyone.

They rule I abide. We should follow as it was us who needed them, not the other way around.

But it was still irritating. The time spent waiting is what annoyed me. Not the waiting itself.

"You wait or nothing," he quavered and with that, the Pixie left.

The guys groaned in dismay. I was even shouting in distress inside.

We have no right to question them. Besides, I have promised to follow whatever they give to us and if waiting would make them feel satisfied, then it's fine.

I'd make sure to get back at them once everything is settled.

"That ugly Pixie..." Tia roared.

All of us shared the same sentiment.

"Let's just wait," I advised. "We don't have any choice but to follow the Pixies. I need them... We're in the Achlys, their realm and we're no superior here..."

"But it was annoying," Terran pointed out. "They can't just abuse their power and make us wait here. We're talking about time, princess."

"I know, I know..." I said frustratingly. "But we can't do anything, Terran. Even if I wanted to climb this huge block, we couldn't, or else... We need them, so we should follow whatever they desire us to do. It's better than nothing."

They will open the gate for us. They'd show and I'd get to face the Empress of the Achlys.

"This is annoying," Deniz tsked, unable to hide his frustration. "Not because we're in their territory doesn't give them the rights to order us around."

Sighing, I gave up. They just don't understand the situation, do they?

"I'm hungry..." I blurted out, feeling my stomach grunt.

"We still have a fruit left, princess..." Terran quickly took the bag away from my hands, unzipped it.

"We have no food left," I muttered. "I ate it last night, sorry."

I felt hungry. But I think I could still manage it. Well, I'm just hoping they'd offer us a decent one.

Though I'm not expecting it. But hoping rather... At times when I'm hungry, I just give up my pride and say f uck it, give us food.

Yet I won't eat if it wasn't pleasing to the eye.

"Oh..." The guys reacted in chorus. "We can't go back outside to look for food, and we don't trust the Achlys either. I doubt if they even have trees here,"

"Right..." I sighed deeply, grunting.

"What do we do?"

I can't build trees here. With my power, it was easy for me to build one and have it produce food but again, this is Achlys.

We are in Achlys.

"We'll wait here..." Again, I took a deep breath as my eyes landed on Rin. "Little fairies, stop flying. You might attract the Pixies."

They settled above my shoulders. Deniz scoffed as having them on me wouldn't allow him to rest his big arm on my shoulder.

"You're taking my place away from me," he groaned.

"Shut up," I said. “Let’s just wait here in silence...”

The Pixies are getting on my nerves. Even if I wanted to do something, I can’t for an obvious reason.

Again, we’re in the Achlys realm where their rules were made to be followed by everyone, especially the outsider.

“Are we going to stand here?”

My eyes roamed the surroundings. There’s nothing in there.

“The ground is dry. You can sit with your coat, Deniz.”

He chuckled. “I wouldn’t mind standing though. It’s a pain in the eyes seeing our princess stand while we’re sitting so yup...”

“You are so dramatic,” I rolled my eyes at him, smiling a bit. “Just sit if you guys want. Don’t make it such a big deal”

“It is a big deal for us, princess...”

Shaking my head, I just kept my mouth shut as we waited.