"... but all of those things about the Star, Magic Island and that you found out about the devil's purpose... how? How did you find out?" 

"Down there... in those woods - there live boys who told me everything I know. Also, they can fly without wings," I whispered to Taehyun with a mysterious smirk, attracting his attention. 

❦︎ʸᵉᵒⁿʲᵘⁿ'ˢ ᶠˡᵃˢʰᵇᵃᶜᵏ 

What a sick feeling it is when you realize how frighteningly small you are... that you were actually just a foolish doll tied to the claws of a malevolent giant. 

What a spectacle... Was I entertaining enough? 

The blow of reality tied my hands and feet. Feel it... but don't move. You can't move. You're mine. 

When the car crushed and my body found itself in paralyzing darkness, I felt like I might throw up. 

You're mine... my cheeky knight... my favorite pawn.  

The loud echo sawed my ears and soul. I clutched my head in pain and tried to breathe, but it was like a demon of sleep paralysis was kneeling on my chest. 

Don't move. 

How much I wished it was just a sleep paralysis though. 

I opened my mouth in a vain, tears running down my cheeks, blood dripping down from my cut throat straight into my reflection that was showing me the antlers growing from my crown. 

Dream on... 

Now there is no one left to save me... the way back home doesn't work either. Without Soobin, without my Stars, the night was so dark and no light could draw me back to the reality. There was no one to shoot the monster. 

What a pitty... the inner bloom fairy looked so delicious when we kissed him so desperately. Played with his fragrant hair... nibbling on his juicy lips. 

I didn't even realize how nervously I was biting my knuckles. So tasty. 

Someone, help me...

"Ahaha, your darkness is much more fun, Guardian! What a shame I can't stay here with you and watch." 

NO! Give me back my bond! - I angrily broke the scary water painting of my inner monster with my palm... 

... and woke up in the snap of my own fingers. The spark flew to the sky. 

The light from the fireplace danced across my face and chased away the surrounding blackness. Calmed down a bit, I hugged my knees and peered between the silhouettes of whispering trees. My body was still shaking tired from the internal fight. 

"... I haven't seen a wendigo in forever." 

Nothing scared me more than my own self... and so I was not frightened by a sudden pleasant voice that crept cautiously towards me. 

"I'm not a wendigo...," I corrected the unknown person I couldn't see yet, "only my shadow is. I'm an angel." 

"An antlered angel who controls fire?" chuckled a well-built flying silhouette before the lightening shaped his puffy rounder face. Judging by that, I thought he could be nice... and I needed that.  

I needed to talk to someone nice, even if it would be a hallucination of some strange guy flying from the tree crowns down to me... without wings. He had none. 

"I am... a fairy of shooting star," I continued to defend myself, while also childishly puffing out my cheeks and looking away. 

"Then who are you, lovely creature?" 

Lovely? - I looked up to him, as he came closer to sit nearby. Sparks of hope twinkled in my glossy eyes. Does he really want to talk to me even if he knows about the wendigo? 

"Probably all of it," I sighed, then a saddened smirk landed on my lips. I shouldn't be naive anymore. 

"Seems like you need a friend," he smiled again with a warm kindness and reached out to me with his strong arm. "My name is Changbin." 

However, I have probably nothing left to lose right now. It took me a while, then I hesitantly grabbed his hand. "You can call me Yeonjun..." 

After a little shaking, Changbin softly rubbed his palms with a satisfied expression. 

"What about you? I've never seen a person flying without wings... and actually thought this place is lonely," I chuckled softly and fleetly rubbed my nose. I must have gone completely crazy... 

"Mhm... I guess I'm just an ordinary stray kid... at least for now," he specified, indicating that he wanted to talk about me, since I was the pile of unhappiness here. 

"How did you even end up here on Magic Island, Yeonjunie? I thought fairies only live in the Pixie Hollow." 

My gaze got lost again among the trees, as I replayed the question in my mind. Pixie Hollow? Magic Island? I actually didn't know either of those names. 

"Honestly? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," I replied tiredly. Assuming Changbin was really going to listen to me, I continued: "There is a spirit that led me here through a portal... with the promise of finding the answer to how to save my crumbling world... my family, my lovers..." 

Changbin nodded slightly, as he looked from my eyes into the flames. "They must be very precious for you." 

"Yeah, but... I was dumb, it was all a trick and I won't ever see them again, because I found out the portal doesn't work in the opposite direction," I blurted out, fighting back tears. "I managed to leave them a single discreet note before the spirit slit my throat and my twinflame connection with it... I carry a heart of our entire world, but without them- I am at a lost. The dimension is doomed... They're all victims- and I am... the killer," I breathed out raggedly, then bit my lip to hold it all in. 

The grief, the wendigo blood, the fire of alwaysness, the stuck curse... the guilt. How much can one actually handle? Where are my limits? I may have already crossed them. 

"I think you are too hard on yourself," I could hear as Changbin pouted, then he hissed thinking about my speech. He seemed to be a very good listener. "You mentioned that you carry the heart of your world, right? I guess it's still beating." 

Then the fairy world must be still there... 

I nodded, hid my face behind my knees and grabbed the shirt above my chest. "It burns... it pulsates. It's ardent yet so scared and unstable... and so live..." 

"Aren't things most alive before they die, Changbin?" I gulped and slowly looked up to the star above us, the star which life was shining inside of me. 

"Doesn't a star shine brightest before it explodes?" I repeated in a whisper. 

My new companion also gazed at the fading star. Then a realization hit him and he looked back at me a little startled. 

"Wait- are you trying to tell me that the heart you carry is the star fire itself?" 

The fire-eaten wood in hearth cracked a little louder before it slumped. 

"That's it, Flying boy... and I have to find out how to heal it... as soon as possible."

... 

"I think... Hopefully, I know someone who can help you..." 

Before I submitted my exhausted consciousness to sleep, Changbin told me about his group of lost boys who live in the woodland below our Magic Island... and an angel among them. He told me about the secret of their flying and so he told me about my mysterious spirit. It turned out to be a familiar demon... devil that wanders between worlds and feeds on the energy that is  created when some of them falls apart. 

From that point I understood in humiliation... I must have been very useful when I sold myself so cheap for half-truths. The demon only explained me that the fairy world is disappearing because the spark of its star that empowered the dimension is sick, not how to cure it... and first of all, how to even find that spark. Well, why should the devil bother to reveal me that I'm actually not enough to do it alone, when it had no intention of saving anyone at all? 

The Flying boy promised me he would come back with some of his friends, who could help me to find answers... I refused to leave the Magic Island as long as there was a tiny living hope that my lovers might show up.

However, when I woke up, Changbin was still gone and the whole conversation seemed like just a worthwhile dream between two nightmares... 

... until they finally found me. 

•.°⋆✵⋆°.•

•.°⋆✵⋆°.•

+x+

Welcome to Neverlands, Pixies! This was finally the first/prologue chapter of this second book of TxT fantasy story! Yeee~ I know it took me long, but I have many things to solve and... proper lovelife omg... yepp xDD introducing urLuv_rin 💞 Anyway, not many readers made it to Characters chapter so far, so I guess it's okay to take my time~
Good! I hope you enjoyed this longer part and see you next time! Love youu~✨️