Suddenly I felt my world spinning and I closed my eyes.
Opening them again, I woke up to the sight of Scarlette standing over me, speaking with someone who seemed familiar. He did not look Fairy at all.
Wait—was he human?
I turned my head, still throbbing, and realized I was lying on a red velvet bed covered in black, heart-shaped sequins. Soft light filtered through intricate, pristine windows, casting a stark contrast to the chaos I had just been pulled from. Disoriented, I sat up and glanced around, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. Nothing looked familiar.
"So, this is Veravos, isn't he?" The mysterious man asked, his voice smooth and inquisitive.
"Yes, that's him," Scarlette replied, offering her hand to help me up.
"Who? What?" I muttered, still trying to make sense of everything. "Am I dead?"
"Hello, Veravos. You are still very much alive," the man said with a slight smile. "I'm the Light Guardian, but you can call me Victor. Victor Dawnbringer." His voice was charming, and his smile almost too bright for the situation.
Dawnbringer? That was a pretentious name, if I'd ever heard one.
"What happened out there?" I asked, rubbing my eyes, standing up from the bed, as the fog of confusion slowly lifted.
"Your girlfriend here actually got me to alter reality," he said casually, as if it were just another day at the office.
Alter reality? Girlfriend?
"What did you do?" My gaze shifted to Scarlette, whose emerald eyes were gleaming with something unreadable—like a secret just beyond my reach.
"Oh, so you admit she's your girlfriend?" Victor teased with a cheeky grin.
"No, he has not asked me officially..." Scarlette tried to explain awkwardly, but Victor raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Do something about it already."
I blinked, still processing everything. "Wait... do I know you?" The strange familiarity gnawed increasingly at me.
"I'm that pesky human who bothered you in your dark woods." He explained.
My eyes widened. Oh my gods. That's where I saw him.
The one Devran told me to burn.
"Yes, I called you the great evil," he added with a slight chuckle. "Sorry for calling you a villain, by the way. I haven't met the other insufferable fairies like Queen Judorah yet."
Wait... no wonder he looked so familiar. "You were the Light Guardian all this time? But you're not a Light Fairy. You're just human!" I exclaimed, surprised.
"But the Light Guardian is a human gifted with light magic. Didn't you read that in the scroll?" He laughed.
"No, we can't read the scroll—it's in a strange language only meant for the Light Guardian," I replied in an annoyed tone, but he ignored me.
"Yup, your rudeness is still consistent from the moment we met," Victor added with a smirk.
"Wait, so did both our wishes come true in this reality?" I asked, still confused by the surreal circumstances.
"Victor said that he could only do one wish in his lifetime." Scarlette explained.
"What?" I gasped. "One wish only? Did you not know this?"
Scarlette sighed. "Apparently, I made it almost impossible for reality to be changed. Only Victor's descendants can create the second wish."
"So what wish did you make?" I asked. "Why am I still here? With you?"
"Scarlette, tell Veravos what you told me earlier," Victor interrupted, his tone softer now.
Scarlette hesitated, then began. "Earlier, when you were consumed by darkness and when you set me free from it, I pushed Judorah out into the darkness... and then I ungagged Victor."
"No, Scarlette, I mean the other part," Victor added.
Scarlette took a deep breath. "Oh, so... I brought both the emerald and the scroll to Victor, and I wished for a world where you were restored and not consumed by darkness."
"What about what you wanted? What about your redemption? Or your wish to live in a place where our origins don't define our destinies?" I asked, knowing there was more. "Scarlette?"
She fell silent.
"You weren't safe," she said softly. "You were sucked into complete darkness, and I didn't think. I just wanted you safe."
"Why didn't you take the chance to alter reality to what you wanted?" I asked, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. "Didn't you wish for a world where fairies could live without fear? A place where people aren't judged by their origins, by what they are? You could have given us peace, Scarlette… What about your own redemption? Didn't you want that too? Or maybe a new destiny?"
Her gaze shifted, lips pressed into a thin line.
She was avoiding my eyes, looking out the window at the world she'd created, as if it would give her the answers I was searching for. Finally, her voice was quiet, almost too soft to hear. "Then why did you save me from the darkness, Veravos?"
The question hung in the air, sharp and unexpected, like a dagger aimed right at my chest. I was taken aback for a moment, unsure of how to answer. The words came out slower this time, more deliberate. "I didn't think. I just... I wanted you to be free of it. To be... safe. I didn't even know what would happen next. But I couldn't let you stay lost in it."
"Scarlette, you had an opportunity to get your wish.. You should have used it for yourself," I insisted.
"Says the guy who literally absorbed the Tree of Regrets from me," she shot back. "How can I ever lead a life happily, knowing that there is a silly man willing to sacrifice everything for me?"
Tears welled up in her eyes
"Takes great power," Vincent interjected, his voice steady.
"Takes great sacrifice..." Scarlette's voice trailed off, the weight of her words hanging in the air.
I understood. I already knew there was no way I would ever be human again, no way I'd have redemption. I also understood what she had sacrificed for me but still, I couldn't believe it.
There was a long silence between us then. The weight of everything—her wish, my choices, and the world I now found myself in—pressed down on me. She had done all of this for me, but in doing so, I'd lost my chance to find the peace I sought. The world she made wasn't the one I'd been trying to create. It was hers.
"Veravos, you are more than your origins indeed," Victor spoke, his voice light with a knowing grin. "Fortunately, her wish was very vague, so it gave me lots of leeway to do what I needed to do."
"What do you mean?" I asked, still trying to process it all.
"It means that I needed to exercise a lot of creativity to ensure that things remained in balance." Victor shook his head.
"By balance, what do you mean?" I asked, still trying to keep up.
Scarlette grinned and Victor gave me a knowing look. "Look outside your window."
I stepped up to the window, and the sight hit me like a wave. Outside, everyone was bowing to me—Lumera, Devran, and even the dark fairies who had once followed Judorah.
"Long live King Veravos!" they called in unison.
King Veravos? What the actual heck?
Who made me the King?
"Yes, you and Scarlette will rule this kingdom. The United Fairies Kingdom. Everyone gets to be as they are," Victor said, his voice tinged with satisfaction.
I froze, my mind racing. Was this some kind of fever dream? Was I about to have a brain aneurysm?
"Did you see that, Scar? Lumera and Devran are alive!" I backed away, still in shock.
Scarlette laughed at my stunned expression.
"In this world, everyone gets a second chance—well, almost everyone. Lumera and Devran are alive again, but they may not remember you," Victor explained, his tone casual.
"May not?" I asked. I did not like those odds.
"Well… I haven't exactly done the spell before" Victor admitted. "Not every Light Guardian gets to do it too. The last person who did it was my great grandfather."
I facepalmed.
What a disaster.
"What about King Baltimore and King Luxeron—the ones who ruled the Love and Light Fairy Kingdoms?" I asked.
Victor gave an impish grin. "Who?"
I didn't press further. I knew they hadn't been brought back, and honestly, they could stay forgotten.
"Then what about the Love, Dark, and Light Fairy Kingdoms? Their leaders are gone... so who's ruling them now?"
"They're all under your rule—and Scarlette's," Victor said plainly, like he was telling me I'd just inherited a bakery.
"We actually made a mess…" Scarlette admitted. "With the rulers of the individual Fairy nations gone, the fairies would have scattered so Victor had to do this."
"But you do realise that Scarlette and I are likely to destroy the kingdom rather than rule it right?" I protested.
"Did you just underestimate my ability?" Scarlette protested.
"And mine." I retorted. "I am fair that way."
"Coming from the one who wants to be human? That's hilarious." Victor laughed. "The boogeyman is terrified of politics, that's a new one"
Scarlette burst out laughing.
Victor was infuriating but he added the most logical point before he waved goodbye to Scarlette.
"You know humans go to work, right?" he said over his shoulder with a smirk, casually strolling down the corridor like this was all part of some ordinary Tuesday.
"Wait—I have work?" I blinked. Victor didn't even look back.
"Being a King is work." He replied flatly as he walked toward the main door, and I rushed after him, my feet pounding against the marble floor.
I came to a halt in a long corridor, golden carpet beneath my feet contrasting with the eerie atmosphere. On either side, dark poisoned apple trees loomed, their twisted branches reaching like frozen shadows.
The corridor bore the marks of three fairy types: Love Fairies, Dark Fairies, and Light Fairies. It was a symbol of unity—a bridge between what was and what could be.
"Victor, wait..." I called, breathless.
He turned slightly but didn't stop. "What is it?"
"Is there any chance I can still be human?" The words slipped out before I could stop them.
He finally turned fully to face me. "Don't you see? You've become more human than you realize. You cooked, you sacrificed, and you held onto your beliefs. You loved. You actually loved. And now, you have a home."
I paused, his words settling like a soft weight in the space between my doubts. Maybe... maybe he was right. I'd become something I never thought I could be. More than my origins.
I hesitated. "What about my enemies? The ones I thought were dead?"
"They're no longer bound by the power that corrupted them," Victor said, his voice steady. "They're just young fairies now. Free to live their lives, free from their former lives or memories."
A weight I hadn't realized I was carrying lifted slightly. But one name still gnawed at me.
"And Queen Judorah?"
Victor's smile turned knowing.
"She worked with Luxeron to kidnap me while I was visiting. All because she started some false rumour that I was going to usurp his throne." He sighed. "Then she wanted me to turn the world into darkness."
Then he continued. "Let's just say she's no longer a problem. Abyss and all."
I frowned, his words cryptic, but something in his tone told me I didn't need to ask more.
Victor shifted the conversation. "Speaking of her, Queen Judorah kidnapped me while holding another special creature hostage. Bad news—I can't bring it back to the mortal world with me."
I blinked. "A creature? What could it be?"
Victor gestured to a basket beside him, eyes glinting with mischief. "Humans have dogs as pets. If you truly wanted to be human, you should have one too. But here, I present to you... Juniper."
He pulled back the cloth, revealing an orange fox with nine long, flowing tails. Its amber eyes gleamed as it stretched and gracefully hopped out of the basket, trotting toward me.
"It's a kitsune," Victor explained, a grin spreading across his face. "Veravos. Do you want it?"
I hesitated. "I... I don't know if I can handle something like this. I wanted a golden retriever."
Victor chuckled. "I couldn't bring you a golden retriever, so this will have to do. It shares ancient wisdom—fit for a king."
Before I could react, the kitsune leapt onto my shoulders, curling up like it had always belonged there. Its soft purring vibrated against my skin, spreading a warmth I couldn't quite explain.
"Oh, it accepts you," Victor said, satisfied. "That's a rare and good sign."
I exhaled, feeling the weight in my chest ease just a little.
A soft laugh broke the moment.
I turned, and there was Scarlette, catching up behind me. Stepping into the light—but something was different.
My breath caught.
Her hair.
The violet streaks that once marked her past were gone, replaced by a rich, deep scarlet.
Like her name.
Scarlette caught my stare and tilted her head. "What?"
I shook my head, something tight in my chest. "Nothing. It just... suits you."
Her gaze softened. "I feel like... myself," she admitted. Then she glanced at Juniper, curled against me, and smirked. "Looks like you've got yourself a pet, King Veravos."
I scoffed. "I don't even know how this happened."
Victor clapped me on the back. "You don't need to. Just accept it."
The kitsune brushed its orange fur against my face, then leapt down and darted deep into the palace.
I stood dumbfounded.
Scarlette laughed at the sight, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I laughed with her.
I swallowed hard, trying to steady my thoughts on other matters. "Where's the emerald? The scroll?"
"Victor is taking them to a land with no magic," she explained softly. "It won't be a problem for us anymore. They'll be magicless there."
I stepped closer, the finality of her words settling over me like a stone.
My heart was pounding as I stared into her olive eyes. She was as beautiful as the first time I saw her. "Scarlette, I hope I'm not too late, but... would you be my black lotus?" I gazed into her eyes, which seemed to glow under the warm sunlight, feeling the weight of my question.
She met my gaze, a mischievous smile playing at the corners of her lips. "The black lotus is an ugly plant."
My heart dropped, but then she added, "But if you mean chaos partner, sign me right up," she teased. And before I could respond, she kissed me, the softness of her lips grounding me in the moment.
Like Victor said, I had found a home—with her. And that's all that really mattered in the end.
"Alright, that's my cue to leave," Victor said, turning toward a glowing portal.
Crap. I forgot he was still here.
"Wait..." I called after him as he waved goodbye. "What else do humans have that I don't?"
"Children?" he said, shrugging. "Maybe a last name?" And just like that, he vanished.
I turned back to Scarlette, her hand warm in mine, as we stepped into the garden. A strange garden, filled with trees that had pink leaves shaped like hearts and poison apple trees, their fruit glimmering ominously in the light.
"Victor said humans need a last name," I muttered.
"I am not choosing Dawnbringer, for the record," I said, my tone firm.
Scarlette burst out laughing. Then, after a moment, she paused, pointing to a spade lying on the ground.
"What about Spade?" she asked, a glimmer of a smile on her lips.
It was perfect. She was the Queen of Hearts and Ruin. I would be the King of Spades.
It would be like that card game that I had seen some humans play. We were chaos and grace.
The Queen who was once forgotten but back again. A King once destined to destroy, who rose instead to rule..
We would rule over this land by choice. It is where Light Fairies, Dark Fairies, and Love Fairies live in unity—a United Fairy Kingdom. A place where origins no longer define destiny.
Having faced tyrannical leaders with lofty, dangerous ideals, we knew better than to follow the same path. Maybe that's why Victor made Scarlette and I royalty here.
Also, isn't this what humans call a 'job'? If they could do it, so could we.