He woke up not knowing his name. His mother barked at him to get out of the wagon and help her unload the wares into the safehouse. "These aren't easy times, boy!" the poor woman shouted at him, driving him to take hold of a crate. Then, he began carrying it to a...

What he's seeing didn't quite make sense. It's a house but circular with a domed brown roof. This was...

"Hurry up!" his mother shouted once again. She was already at the door, carrying three crates at once. His sister lagged behind her. "The Sentries wouldn't let us up much longer."

Sentries?

"You heard your mother, boy," his father said behind him. "Get inside. Stop dawdling."

He nodded mutely and ran towards the house, the glass bottles in his crate clinking against each other in shrill tinkles as he ran. It's lighter than he thought it would be. Huh.

"Boy, what a nice day to trade, huh?" his uncle passed him by with a wink. He watched the older man bend and deposit a crate filled with glistening red fruits. A smile crept to his lips.

"Yeah," he said before running out of the circular house to help with more crates. The five of them soon unloaded everything off the wagon. The coach, seated behind the dagrinis in a wooden plank attached to the main wagon, nodded to his father. His father smiled and tipped his head in a respectful gesture. Without a word, the coach whipped the dagrines pulling the wagon, the sound like lightning during a stormy night to his ears. The animals neighed and disappeared into a line of fairies dressed in brown uniforms.

Sentries. That's what his mother was talking about. They lined the length of the border with grim expressions painted into their faces. They carried all assortments of weapons but some didn't have any. Hard eyes stared followed his family like they were game meat after a long season of drought.

"Come on, boy!" his mother yelled at him from the house's door that was propped open. "Get in here!"

He stepped back from his place before turning and running as fast as he could towards the circular house. His mother shut the door as soon as he was through. A sigh muffled the sound of the door clicking shut. "It's safe now."

Rhys's brain swirled as memories slammed into it. He...what happened?

His eyes rested on Airese, who had a hand propped by the door's handle. That's Airese, not his mother. He turned to a nature fairy with light brown hair striding towards the house's hygiene area. His father...No. That's Eldan. Who's supposed to be his uncle turned out to be Marthiaq.

So Reeca...

"She's truly your sister," Airese touched Rhys's elbow as if to steady him. "It's the one thing I didn't change."

Change...

Marthiaq groaned, massaging his forehead. Eldan was retching into a moldy basin somewhere to Rhys's left. "Damn, why did I ever agree to this?" Marthiaq shook his head in an attempt to clear it. "Damn, that's nasty."

Rhys whirled back to Airese. "What did you do?"

"I altered your identity for a short while," Airese shrugged as if it was something she sees everyday. "I made it seem like we're a family of merchants who had goods to deliver inside the protected territory. Thankfully, there were no Thyminkais around or else this plan would have been found out ages ago."

Rhys blinked. "Altered...?"

"She gave us new identities, Rhys," Eldan said before retching into the basin again. Airese muttered something under her breath about Eldan being such a drama queen. The nature fairy drew his head up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "She rewrote our memories into what she wanted. Apparently, you two are my children and Marthiaq is my brother. What a nice backstory."

Airese propped her hands on her hips. She didn't even appear fazed after pulling off such a huge spell. "It's fairly easy to convince your mind since you subconsciously wished for such things to happen."

A cold shiver speared down Rhys's spine. This was the power of a Thyminka? A light chuckle from Airese tore his attention back to her. "You've never seen the half of it," Her eyes held some sort of glint that made Rhys glad that he was on friendly terms with her. As Airese bent over and gripped the handles of one crate, she winked at him.

Rhys peered at the trees clouding his view of the sky and the mess of houses dotting the sides of the hill standing smack dab in the middle of Diven wondering where in Umazure they were supposed to enter a supposedly underground cavern of extinct fairies.

Airese cursed as she swiped at her hair, driving it away from her face for the nth time. Rhys had lost count at twenty over the past hour. She had cut it this morning and seemed she did it too short for her to get used to. Finally, after hours of whining, Eldan tore a piece of cloth from his cloak and fastened it around his wife's head like a bandanna. Airese had reddened like crazy while Marthiaq rolled his eyes.

They walked from the circular house, carrying some of the stuff from the merchant's wares in their bottomless satchels. "Appeasement offerings"—Airese had called them. In case that the Ice Sprites weren't that welcoming, perhaps they could bribe the elusive fairies with food.

Well...why not? The journey was smooth as far as he's concerned. Perhaps he should just trust that Airese knew what she was doing.

"I had a quick chat with my sister this morning," Airese said rather jovially as they walked in the vast plain of nothing but green grass and tall trees. "It seems she's on her way to meet us. I miss her."

"I haven't seen Airene in a long time as well," Marthiaq tapped his chin and brushed his hair with his hand. "I wonder how she is doing with Ravalee."

At the mention of the name, Airese started to sniffle. "I can finally see my daughter after so long," she wiped at her nose with the back of her hand. Eldan tucked his wife in a quick hug, tears shining in his eyes as well. "Although, I will miss Xanthy terribly," Airese finished when she pulled away from the nature fairy.

Rhys's ears pricked. "Where is she?"

Airese looked at him with regret and something like anger shining in her warm brown eyes. "She's gone."

It's like a hand dropped down from Calaris and slapped Rhys's insides. The Virtakios...gone? But, how? Did the Heiress get her already?

"No," Airese stuck her fingers down the pockets of her cloak. Her boot skidded against Diven's silty soil. "She sacrificed herself so that it wouldn't happen."

Rhys knitted his eyebrows. He wasn't even going to be surprised at Airese answering his internal questions as if he had said them aloud. "I won't pry the details," he put his arms up and glanced at the haze of trees around them. "Not when we're out in the open."

Airese smiled at him as she wiped at her tears. "Smart boy."

They walked for a few hours more, stopping underneath the shades of large, flowering trees to rest. The sun came and went. By the time the stars, whose names Rhys had forgotten, shone in the multicolored sky, his limbs felt heavy and sweat had dried against his skin long ago.

Reeca had been quiet the whole day, not even bothering to answer his questions or even eat. Rhys clenched his fingers atop his lap. He had to understand. She needed him right now. He shouldn't be angry at her. Or be impatient, for that matter.

Airese stood up from the log she had been sitting on for the past half hour and cast her eyes west. "There," she pointed forward. "I can hear someone near the surface."

Rhys raised an eyebrow. And turned to where Airese was gesturing to. It had nothing but trees, grass, soil, and rocks. "You can hear under the ground too?"

"Not that deep, no," Airese turned to Eldan and nodded, a silent conversation passing between them. "But someone was climbing up. They're thinking of getting rabbit meat for dinner."

Rhys pursed his lips. Thoughts as random as that couldn't be faked. Besides, why would Airese lie to them? Eldan ran his hands down his trousers as he stood up. Marthiaq followed soon after. They both stretched, their faces contorting with the effort. Rhys nudged Reeca in the arm and helped her to her feet.

They walked past some more trees until Airese stopped in front of a tree with a reddish brown trunk and orange, wide, elliptical leaves. It resembled a lot of the trees they passed by the whole day. Why was this one any different? Airese stretched her arm and touched the bark. She whispered into it and the bark peeled apart to reveal a black void beyond.

Rhys took a step back, almost bumping into Reeca who stood mutely behind him. "What are you going to do?"

Airese had that wicked gleam in her eyes. "We jump," she took a step back to find her momentum then launched forward. "See you down, witches!" Airese's voice faded into the bottomless void as the darkness swallowed her entire form. Rhys's gasp died in his throat.

"Race you to the ground?" Marthiaq punched Eldan on the shoulder.

The nature fairy chuckled. "Who are you kidding? I'll be faster, of course."

"No, you're not, You're a wimp," Marthiaq stepped back and dropped into a stance..

Eldan snorted and imitated Marthiaq's form. "Those are Academy days, friend."

Together, they jumped into the void.

Rhys glanced at Reeca and at his surroundings. It would only be a matter of time before anyone finds them. He gritted his teeth, grabbed Reeca around the waist and followed the adults into who knows where.

The only way was down.

Rhys went weightless before slamming into a smooth but cold platform. Then, he began sliding down at a speed he couldn't control. He and Reeca sped through the smooth incline with the dark, their constant companion. It's quiet, almost in an eerie way, and even in the absence of light his breath sizzled in front of him with each breath he blew out. Did it suddenly grow cold?

The darkness slowly gave way little by little to light. Still, it's dim. Rhys could make out a few vague outlines of doors, stairs, and were those...fairy robes? He gave an audible oop as he slammed into Eldan's back, sending them tumbling towards the foot of the incline. Before he could even get his bearings, a deep, female voice erupted above him.

"Trespassing is considered a crime against the Ice Sprites," it said. "Kill them."