GRIMMY REAPER WALKED A NARROW TRAIL that joined the mountain pass through the Sandman's Bluff, a sloping ridge of curious red rock formations.

     She glanced at massive rocks balancing at the steep incline of the hill like some supernatural power had stopped them in the middle of their catastrophic tumble down. Some house-size rocks performed their balancing act on stones not bigger than a coffee table in defiance of the laws of physics. But the strongest hurricanes and earthquakes had failed to topple even one of them.

     The Sandman's Bluff's real enigma, however, lied in the nature-carved geometric patterns on each balancing rock, which formed a Dreamer—giant human face with eyes tightly shut in deep slumber.

     When Grimmy was eight years old, Tito took her to the Sandman's Bluff on a full moon and told her the fairy tale about a farm girl looking for a cure for her brother's cancer who sees a Dreamer open its eyes.

     The Dreamer sang a lullaby that put the girl to sleep and took her to the whimsical place she always dreamed of as a child.

     The girl discovered that she was the lost princess, the one prophesied to save the kingdom under siege by evil forces.

     She gave up the chance to go back to her human body in exchange for her brother's healing. Her selfless sacrifice endowed her with the power to unearth a magical sword, and she used it to triumph over their enemies.

     As she assumed the throne, her brother was miraculously healed, but back at the Sandman's Bluff, her human body died in its sleep underneath the Dreamer.

     Grimmy had already lost count of how many times she has asked the tikbalang to retell the story. Tito was always happy to oblige.

     And every time she passed by the Sandman's Bluff, even today, she imagined one of the Dreamers waking up to sing a lullaby and to take her to a magical kingdom where she was not a police detective or a sin-prone nun but a princess.

     "All girls are princesses waiting to be discovered," Grimmy said to a pouting Dreamer she called Grouchy. The truck-size balancing rock at the edge of the Sandman's Bluff bordering the deepest part of the woods, sat on a cone-shaped rock the size of an oven toaster. "Hey, gimme a smile, Grouchy."

     The albino tree—the same albino oak tree from Gigante Bridge's riverbank—was now standing in the fringes of the woods. Merlin, the crow, was still in the tree, motionless as a mannequin, staring at Grimmy.

     A dark-skinned man stood under the albino tree. Under the moonlight, his chiseled face with platinum blonde dreadlocks and antlers of a stag was nothing short of spellbinding to behold. Lithe exoskeleton of woven velvet chitin swathed his slim athletic body like a speed suit. A glowing aura punctuated his supernatural nature.

     "Grimmy!" the man called out.

     Grimmy turned to his direction and smiled. "Hey, handsome."

     The man's dreadlocks rose behind him as his feet smacked the ground, propelling him with supernatural speed that turned him into a blur to get in front of Grimmy in three seconds. "Missed you, dude."

     "Missed you too, Malakas," Grimmy said.

     Grimmy traded a fist bump with Malakas, and then an elbow bump. Clichéd thick as thieves, these two.

     "Love those freaky eyes, Grimm."

     "What eyes?" With a deep breath and a quick blink, Grimmy's eyes reverted to normal. "So why is an Elak prince hanging around the Sandman's Bluff?"

     Elak was short for the Elakyr , a race of powerful and remarkably attractive fairies also known as Fays of Fauna. They nurtured all animals and control everything that pertains to them.

     They were the swiftest entities on earth. No fairy or human or animal could match the speed of an Elakyr. Even demons couldn't outrun an Elak.

     The Elakyr were the wise and benevolent sages that first taught human beings crucial survival skills such as the invention of the wheel, use of metals, animal husbandry, and agriculture.

     It was common knowledge among fairies that Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo, and several of the greatest human inventors sought the help of the Elakyr to achieve their world-changing creations.

     "Pepito Payaso said you're wearing a hilarious Halloween costume," Malakas said. "I had to check it out before you change."

     "Mal, it's the real thing."

     Malakas stared at Grimmy for a long time. "Grimm, um, don't you think you should see a therapist?"

     "How encouraging. I'm touched. So just drop it!"

     "Cool." The Elak pulled a mobile phone from his speed suit's hidden pocket. "Nookie OK'd. But we can't contact Ming. Maybe the fox's in China. But I'll keep trying. See ya at your house party."

     "Mal, I told Pepito not tonight. I gotta..."

     Before Grimmy could say another word, Malakas darted away while texting—and smashed into the pouting Dreamer with tremendous force.

     He bounced off the rock and fell on his butt on the ground.

     Grouchy wobbled like a drunken driver about to fail a roadside sobriety test, before collapsing and toppling another giant Dreamer behind it, causing the domino effect—knocking over a row of eleven more balancing rocks.

     Thirteen fallen Dreamers, mystical balancing rocks that not even the strongest forces of nature could jolt now lied facing the heavens on the ground, still asleep.

     "Oopsie," Malakas said.

     Grimmy gasped wide-eyed, putting her hands over her mouth.

     "Look at this, another catastrophe courtesy of the blundering halfling," the albino tree said to the crow. "He will be the death of his race, I tell you. This one's hopeless, just like his human father."

     "Rumpelstiltskin, no one alive is every hopeless." Merlin said. "Every breath is a puff of living air that lifts the wings of hope."

     "Maybe not for Samson's son," Rumpelstiltskin said.

     "As it was with the father, God is with Malakas. So watch out for the son. He's got potential."

     "If he doesn't kill himself out of sheer klutziness first."

     Malakas was the only son of Elak princess Azazi and Samson, hero of ancient Israel, second only to Adam and Eve's son Cain in the hierarchy of the strongest humans who ever lived.

     When the elders of Elakyr found Azazi to be with Samson's child, they objected to the couple's proposed marriage because of their foreknowledge of Samson's God-ordained mission to save his people from their enemies. They knew that Samson's union with Azazi would get the Elakyr involved in the wars of humans and forestall God's plan of salvation for the Israelites.

     Forever the obedient princess, Azazi departed with a broken heart from Samson and settled in Faeriedox. She didn't fall in love with anyone again.

     Losing Azazi drove Samson to depression, allowing Satan to use Delilah, a Philistine prostitute, to destroy him and avert God's plan. Israel didn't have another judge after Samson.

     Azazi gave birth to Malakas in Faeriedox. He had his mother's beauty and immortality and his father's supernatural strength. But none of the Elakyr's renowned grace. Malakas grew up awkward, causing many mishaps, including the destruction of the Elakyr's sacred dome of worship, due to his untamed strength. He became an outcast.

     Today he had damaged one of Faeridox's most revered sites.

     "I can't believe you just did this," Grimmy sighed, surveying the fallen Dreamers. "I love this place. How could you?"

     "Accidents happen, you know," Malakas said, dusting his body.

     "No. They're not accidents, Mal, they're you."

     "Dude, now I think you're breaking' my heart."

     "Oh, you think?"

     "Grimm, don't tell Mom, okay?"

     "Did you just say Elakyr beer?"

     "A barrel."

     "Deal." Grimmy grinned eat to ear. "Mal, you're my best friend."

     "Not without benefits."

     "You bet," Grimmy said, looking around. "Now let's get outta here. The forest is watching."

     "Good idea. I'll go get the beer." Malakas ran and disappeared in a breath. His voice reverberates in the darkness: "See ya guys later!"

     Grimmy took a deep breath, blinked, and with the gift of the king of fairies, saw clearly in the dark again.