Her breathing came in ragged, shallow gasps.
"Ju-just… leave me…" her words barely reached Akane.
Her body was failing. There was no time. The weather showed no mercy. Akane's thoughts spun.
"Myu… will I make it home in time?" His voice was as cold as the air around them, each word icing over the last. A journey that should have taken half a day had stretched into a full, wasting day because of the storm and the delays. If he'd chosen differently, maybe he could have saved her.
"Akane, it's impossible to reach your home—the snow has blocked every road," Myu said, unsoftened. She offered no false hope; she told him the truth.
"Will you… use your healing magic, Myu?" His gaze was empty; the words were only a hollow promise.
"Akane… you know I can't use magic freely. Not unless the King permits it."
"I'll take responsibility. I'll accept whatever comes," he replied.
"It's not that simple," she said quietly, repeating the thing he didn't want to hear. "Will you use healing magic, Myu?" His gaze was nowhere, his words were empty.
"Akane…you know that I can't use magic freely. Unless the King allows me."
"I will take responsibility and face the consequences"
"It's not that easy…" she calmly told the words he didn't want to hear.
The snow around them began to melt.
Akane's arm started to glow, the ground cracking beneath his feet. What he was about to do was nothing like what Myu wished for.
"If you use magic now, you'll never escape their gaze," she warned.
"Be it a wound, or even a mortal one… that's nothing a mere human can't—"
Before he could finish the chant, Myu grabbed his hand.
"What drives you to go this far for her?" she asked softly. Her voice trembled, and her tears barely held behind her eyes.
For Akane, Myu was family. Since the day he was born, she had visited him almost daily. Many called it misfortune—being watched by a being not quite human, not beast, nor elf, nor dwarf, but something else entirely.
A fairy.
Meeting a fairy was something almost no mortal could claim. It was said they lived by strict laws in a place called the Sanctuary, ruled by their King. Ancient records told of only a handful of humans ever encountering one—because fairies left their realm only once a month, and even then, few were ever seen.
Most believed that if they searched long enough, they might meet one. But they were wrong. That day simply did not exist for mortals.
When the unknown deity created the races of this world, they also gifted it balance through heavenly powers—each race watched over by their own guardian god.
To preserve the order, the gods-built borders between their realms.
But the existence of a fairy twisted their plan. They gave the fairy an invitation to their meeting, a meeting that took place in Decadeeyum – a place in the middle of the world map. The fairy accepted their invitation and attended the meeting.
The fairy was summoned to a divine meeting held in Decadeeyum, the center of the world. There, the gods offered a gift.
"We shall give you a Sanctuary—a place close to this world, yet unseen by mortal eyes," said one God.
The fairy declined.
"Then live among us," another god proposed. "Beside the heavens themselves."
The hall fell silent. Even the gods knew that no deity could bestow divinity upon another being—unless acknowledged by the High Deity themselves, an impossible feat for any mortal.
The fairy paused this time. Her answer came quietly, but it shook them.
"It's not about power, nor a home. It's about how lonely eternity becomes."
"To be a god must be wondrous… but that joy would fade. After a thousand years, what then?"
"You wouldn't be alone," one God insisted. "You'd have us."
"Would you still say that after a hundred thousand years?" she asked.
The god laughed.
"You think you'd survive long enough to hear my answer?"
"Even if I did, time itself would erase us both," the fairy whispered.
"First, you'll forget the gift of your mother and father."
"Gift?" the god frowned.
"Your name."
The room fell utterly still. The gods pondered her words, the weight of silence pressing down harder than judgment.
"And when you can no longer remember your name, you'll think of your parents—and that's when the first crack will form in your soul. That is the true pain of eternity: forgetting what made you who you are."
One God rose in anger.
"You dare lecture us about eternity? We cannot forget. We choose not to."
"You may believe that" the fairy said, turning toward the door guarded by a massive silhouette. "But time does not ask for permission."
"If you walk through that door, we will erase your existence," one God declared.
"Then do so. I only ask one thing: give me others like myself."
"And you think we can create more of your kind?" another challenged.
"Perhaps not you," she said, looking upward. "But your deity can. Right… Asleeia?"
A cold wind swept the room. Snow began to fall from a sky that had no roof. The gods bowed low as a silhouette descended invisible steps.
"Your wish will be granted," Asleeia's voice echoed.
"But your kind must never mingle with other races.
Once each month, you may walk this world for a single day.
For your kind, that day will last a year;
for the rest of the world, but a moment.
You may refuse this gift three times—
after that, your race will face extinction."
When the deity finished, each god found themselves back in their own domain—as if the meeting had never taken place.
That day came to be known as the "Day Unbound by Time."
For on that day, those blessed by Area could glimpse fairies and spirits moving through a still world—unable to speak, unable to move, yet able to see what no mortal ever should.
For Akane, meeting Myu could only be called misfortune. Not because fairies bring harm, but because to be accompanied by one is to have your fate already written.
As it stands, only the high authorities of this world—the Saints—are permitted to know the true origins and location of the Sanctuary. Even though the old gods have long departed, their deity still watches over this continent. Not even the Saints are allowed to meet a fairy, unless another deity interferes with fate itself.
For Myu, meeting Akane was nothing more than coincidence. Yet for a fairy, protecting her land is a burden few could bear.
They cannot wander, nor expand their realm—they are bound to a single place.
And should even one mortal step into their sacred territory, their existence is marked for extinction.