AZALIYAH RISE OF THE FAE

IS THIS WORTH FIXING

The first thing that returned was the weight of her body against the ground, followed closely by the sound of something rolling a short distance away before coming to rest.

It took a moment for Azaliyah to realize it was the bowl she had dropped, now somewhere just out of reach, its faint scrape against the earth the only thing cutting through the silence.

Her eyes opened slowly, not all the way at first, because the world did not come back in one clean motion.

It dragged itself together piece by piece, as though it had been torn apart and was now being forced back into place with little care for how it fit.

The village came back into view around her, still there, still standing, but quieter than before.

Not empty. Just... waiting.

The large stone building remained shut. No one rushed out. No one came to check on what had just happened, as though whatever had rolled through had already been accounted for in a way she did not fully understand.

Azaliyah pushed herself up onto her hands, her head heavier than it should have been, her thoughts lagging just enough to make everything feel slightly wrong.

The lingering sensation of whatever that was had not fully left her.

It sat behind her eyes, dull but present, as though something had brushed through her mind and decided not to clean up after itself.

She sat back on her heels for a moment, dragging a hand across her face as she exhaled slowly.

“...Yeah,” she muttered, more to herself than anyone else. “I’m definitely done with today.”

A few feet away, Camron was already upright, though only barely.

One hand braced against his knee, the other hung loosely at his side. His posture was steady, but not exactly composed.

He looked as though he had been hit by the same thing she had and was deeply unimpressed by it.

He glanced over at her, eyes narrowing slightly, as though confirming she was still there and not another leftover piece of whatever that had been.

“You good?” he asked, not especially concerned, just checking.

Azaliyah let out a short, humorless laugh. She reached down, grabbed the bowl from the ground, and set it aside like it had personally offended her.

“Define good,” she said, pushing herself fully to her feet. “Because if good means getting dragged through whatever the hell that was and coming out with my head still attached, then yeah... I guess I’m doing great.”

Camron straightened a little more, rolling one shoulder back as though trying to shake loose something that was not physical.

“That wasn’t normal,” he said.

She gave him a look.

“No shit.”

The air around them had settled again, but it did not feel the same as before.

It was no longer heavy. Just... off.

As though the village had already adjusted back to something neither of them had caught up to yet.

Azaliyah looked toward the stone building, then back at him, her expression flattening as the realization settled in all over again.

“They didn’t even come out,” she said. “Not one person.”

Camron followed her gaze.

“They didn’t need to.”

She let out a slow breath and shook her head once, folding her arms loosely across her chest.

“...So let me get this straight,” she said, her tone dry, but edged now. “We walk in here, I give them what should’ve been a decent speech, completely eat s**t in front of an entire village, get handed soup like I’m some lost kid, and then whatever that was rolls through like it’s part of their daily routine...”

She paused just long enough to look around again, as though hoping the scene would make more sense the second time.

“...And they just stay inside like it’s a f*****g rainstorm.”

Camron did not answer right away, which was probably for the best.

Azaliyah ran a hand through her hair, exhaling through her nose again, the frustration sharpening into something more controlled.

“Great,” she said. “That’s great. Love that for me.”

She looked back at him, her expression settling into something more focused now, even if the edge remained.

“Alright,” she continued, adjusting her stance as though she had already decided to move past it whether she liked it or not, “new plan. I don’t talk first anymore.”

Camron raised a brow.

“That bad?”

She gave him a look.

“If I open my mouth again and they hand me another bowl of soup, I’m actually going to lose my mind.”

That almost got a reaction out of him.

Almost.

Azaliyah glanced back toward the building one more time, then toward the edge of the village where the darkness had come from.

Her expression sharpened just enough to show she had not let that part go.

“Whatever that was,” she said, quieter now but no less firm, “that’s not something people just get used to unless it’s been happening for a while.”

Camron nodded once.

“Yeah.”

She shifted her weight slightly, her eyes still fixed outward.

“Good,” she muttered.

He looked at her again.

“That’s what you want?”

Azaliyah did not look back this time.

“I want something that actually needs fixing.”