Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

The kinds of elves, born of fae ancestors so long past; all trace of their mischief fizzles out like bubbles in a long-rested wine glass. But a mother never forgets her child, and bound to the spine of the world along the rest of the queen fairies she may have been, but she'd watched her daughter suffer long enough.

'What are you planning to do, Tatiyana?' A voice whispered in her pointed ears, a warning of sorts–one she chose to ignore without a second thought.

'Play your own games Tatiyana and leave my board empty of your pieces.' She responded and silenced loomed in the ever dark. But then came a clatter of chains, yet another fairy mother had been rattled, for once she too had been in the same dark place in her head.

'Tug on your chains and turn the tides of history, and I'll tear this world apart for being so selfish.' Her voice calm as an approaching storm, Tatiyana Aqua was ready to pull the chains that bound her to Nerva's spine and shatter the world of Atlaris, dare Natura shatter the present to rewrite the past, all in an attempt to save a single child of her from some measly trauma.

'I gave away my children's home, the ocean, the seas and only the creator knows what else. And you talked me out of fighting back, so don't you dare upturn history for a single child.'

'Tell that to UMBRA! She gave her child a morsel of strength beyond the grasp of mortals! Has that no effect?! NO LAWS BROKEN IN THIS UNHINGED WORLD?!'

Following Tatiyana's words, the grumbling anger of a dead god made the spine they were chained to shutter with dissent on the matter. Nerva…Though dead, her dreams and nightmare kept her immortal, and that very immortality has the fairy mothers in order.

'Grand…A benevolent dead goddess who'd rather rot and be the field of countless sacrifices that do something about the world rooted into her body.' Natura's complaints were swiftly ignored, as none of the other fairy mothers wished to incur the wrath of a dead god. 'And it's not just about her, but the entire race of my children!

Their numbers dwindle every day, their clans slaughtered by the dark elves, and yet I'm supposed to stay calm and be the prisoner out of my own free will?'

Her words hung heavily in the ever-dark, for the rest knew their place in the heavenly order. To preserve the world and be the source of all magic for the people of Atlaris was their duty.

'Umbra, I wish your children all die! I wish their dark skin be stripped off of their bodies and made into rugs!' With her hands shackled and her eyes tearing up, Natura cursed the effective mother of dark elves–the bane of her children. Yet, umbra said not a word, not a word of apology nor something of comfort.

After all, she was the mother of dark fairies, and dominance was her nature, and the same was that of her children.

'Instead of crying.' Even though she couldn't see Natura, the hissing and cries of a mother made its way to Umbra's heart. 'Why not lift your gaze and watch her smile?'

'Smile?' At first the word sounded like mockery, but as the fairy mother lifted her gaze, her eyes widened in the darkness watching through Umbra's gaze and then out of Raven's eyes. Walking through the air with her woodland magic, a bright smile rested on Melicia's face.

Hand in hand with Raven, the young elf was walking up the illusionary stairs, inching ever so closer to the crescent moon's silver blaze.

The mother watched her daughter for a while longer, right up until the elf sat at the edge of steps that didn't really exist. Her head resting on Raven's shoulder the elf appeared content, but that wasn't enough to convince the mother of anything beyond momentary happiness.

'That's one of my children! What about the many your children slaughter?!' Huffing and puffing in anger, Natura's chains rattled for a moment. The sound of them jingling altered Nerva's dead spine, and the chains on Natura tightened some more. 'As expected of the mother of children who kill their own daughters in the womb! NOT A WORD?! SAY SOMETHING!'

Silence lingered in the dark for what felt like an eternity, but then with a grit to her voice, Umbra gave Natura an answer.

'Would you reap the sheep out of a wolf's mouth and let it go hungry? How many times would you do that? Until the wolf dies off eventually?' Taking a brief pause as the other fairies were left confused by the comparison, Umbra concluded and then held her peace.

'Just as it is in the nature of a wolf to eat prey, it is in the nature of every living thing on Atlaris to kill the other and devour its remains. And sure my children murder their own, but is it any better to toss them to the humans to look after them?'

Her logic was full of holes and Natura who was bubbling with rage was ready to fight over every single one of them, but then she heard her daughter say.

"I love you," bringing her sight back to the scene with her daughter, Tatiyana watched Mel smiling. Even though it was Raven, seeing through the mage's eyes, she felt as if those words were directed at her.

"I-I love you my daughter–" The silence was broken the moment Natura spoke through her lips, forcing the ever-dark to seal her mouth with an iron grip. Like tape made of steel, the darkness had wrapped itself around her mouth and was squeezing her lips so tight that her lips felt like they would burst open.

However, the struggle of a mother continued. She tried to undo the past by turning the world and undoing time, but the shackles remained tight, and thus all she could do was watch her daughter smiling while she herself cried. Eventually, as the sight faded from her gaze, the anger returned to her eyes.

Glaring sideways and into the distance where she knew Umbra was, Tatiyana declared war.

'I WON'T END MY STRUGGLE UNTIL I WATCH THIS WORLD RID OF YOUR CHILDREN!' She meant every word of that warning, and Umbra knew it well.