The Origin of Rivalry

     The Dark faerie consumed her breakfast slowly as she opened the newspaper. The flashy, dazzling purple and green letters hit her. It was her day.

     Jhudora made a grimace of annoyance. Jhudora Day meant questers. It was annoying, having that 'Something has happened!' message popping up every few minutes. The Dark faerie scowled. Sure, a day in honor of her was excellent, but an avatar? She shook her head as she went on to the next step of her daily routine.

     Glittering nails hovered over the crystal ball, whose mist swirled around and finally stopped to reveal a faerie. It was Illusen, Jhudora's greatest rival.

     Jhudora raised an eyebrow, surprised. Illusen was in their old school building? That was odd. The Faerie Academy was usually closed to those who were not attending it. But then again, that Earth Faerie was an alumni.

     Suddenly she saw Illusen taking out a mirror and freshen up. Yes... Of course! It was all making sense. She remembered it so well, so clear, as if it was yesterday when they had begun... She shook her head. All those years, and still the same....

A long time ago...

     The young dark faerie was bored out of her mind. She threw some pillows around, then returned them to her bed with her magic. Her roommates had left for a day-trip to some distant spring, and she had declined, saying that she wasn't interested. But really, it was because she had been there so many times when she had been a child.

     "I'm not a child anymore," Jhudora told herself. She grinned evilly for no apparent reason at all. Lately she had a knack for being a mean girl. "And a mean girl I'm gonna be..."

     Some unexciting minutes went by. Finally Jhudora was bored enough to decide that she would just take a little promenade around the academy, since she had nothing to do. There was always homework, but that could wait...

     Jhudora flipped her hair and looked into the mirror. It took another few minutes of thinking, but at last the faerie chose a violet dress. She took a big comb and ran it through her thick, purple hair, contemplating.

     Practical jokes seemed too easy to do, and way too easy to be caught doing. Jhudora shook her head. It was hard to think of some good thing to do.

     A knock on the door made her jump and drop the brush. When nothing happened, Jhudora went on like usual, kind of angry at the rude person that had scared her. The dark faerie blasted the door open with her magic. A green smoke lingered in the area where she had used her power. Two giggling Air Faeries quickly moved away, scared of the smoke.

     Her magic... It was green, in a lime color that just screamed for attention. That was the little oddity that did not fit into the Dark faerie's life. Otherwise, everything was just fine. She had purple hair, pale skin, the evil eye and everything that a Dark faerie would have. But she was not one of them. Jhudora looked at the ceiling, magicked to be a mirror of the sky. It was just that itsy, bitsy green magic. Sure, it was the most powerful one of the dark faeries in her year, but it was nevertheless... green. Yuck.

     Convinced that she would never be normal, Jhudora set out to find a prey. Her eyes fell on a shy Earth Faerie who was reading a brown, leather-bound book and bumping into random objects. The dark faerie grinned evilly, raising a painted nail when the Earth Faerie looked up from her book.

     Jhudora's jaw dropped. She had never, never in her whole life seen someone with so many... freckles. Quickly she realized what this faerie's weak point was.

     "Oh... my... gosh..." the dark faerie gasped melodramatically. "You over there!" she shouted, attracting a lot of attention.

     The earth faerie sniffed her nose, somewhat insulted. She replied disdainfully, "I have a name, you know, you-over-there." She pointed to Jhudora. "It's Illusen."

     Jhudora, being somewhat angry of a taste of her own medicine, decided to teach this annoying little faerie a lesson to remember.

     "Granny Illusen, you have freckles?" she burst out, resisting the urge of finishing with a cackle. To her delight, a group of bypassing air faeries laughed loudly. Illusen's eyes widened.

     The earth faerie was red of embarrassment but had to think of a quick reply. She had been teased about many things, but never her freckles! Her leaf-like wings vibrated dangerously as she glared at the dark faerie. Illusen wasn't the type to back down. Once she had started something, she would be in it until the very end. Finally, after minute that seemed like an eternity, Illusen replied.

     "That, my dear, is a proof of my youth," she replied sophistically. Inside, Illusen was feeling rather desperate. She had to regain some dignity... The earth faerie was very well aware of her low status in the Academy, and it would even lower if that evil dark faerie would have her way. She was determined to prevent that from happening, as long as it was possible.

     "I'll bet you don't only have freckles on your face," Jhudora called out, feeling amused at this little faerie who had retaliated. The dark faerie extended her arm to an imaginary audience as she called out, "Look! Illusen has freckles on her arm too!"

     Thoroughly insulted, the earth faerie hid her bare arms as she walked away with her book under an arm. Illusen gave up, partly because she didn't have any more things to say. An 'I do not!' would have been quite a stupid reply and that evil dark faerie would probably make more fun out of her. According to the books, it was best to walk away. So Illusen did that. But there would be lots of chances later on.

     "You're on, you-over-there," the earth faerie said, gritting her teeth as she reached her room. She put her book into the bookshelf and took out several big volumes on magic spells. Using a faucet filled with water and a leaf, Illusen managed to work the magic. Now she was able to watch that dark faerie, the one that had insulted her horribly.

     Illusen remembered the insults through the years. About her hair, her appearance, always having her nose in a book... But freckles? The earth faerie scoffed, though it hurt a little bit inside. She decided to focus on her revenge.

     With the help of her magic, Illusen soon learned that the dark faerie was named Jhudora and she was in the same year as Illusen. The earth faerie watched Jhudora's every move, and soon found that Jhudora was very vain. She would powder her nose at least once every two hours.

     Slowly, Illusen plotted her revenge. When she had finished touching up the last details, she realized that it would start working tomorrow. Well, she couldn't do anything about that. Feeling somewhat satisfied, the earth faerie started to read her book.

     "You're going to be the granny, old hag," she muttered as she finished the book and threw a look into the surface of the water.

     At the same time, Jhudora was having a tingly feeling in her spine. That chilling sensation had been there all day, ever since she had met Illusen. It was not boding well, but the dark faerie decided to sleep on it. She brushed her teeth and went to bed early.

     The next morning, Jhudora got up and brushed her teeth like usual. As she was watching herself moving ever so gracefully, she suddenly stopped and spluttered.

     "What..." the dark faerie choked, noticing a huge, red pimple on the tippety-tip of her nose. "It has to be that Illusen's work!" Jhudora was steaming mad as she finished brushing her teeth and tried to remove that horrible pimple by force. It didn't work. Neither did magic.

     The worst of it all was the green letters printed on the pimple. It said 'Courtesy of Illusen', right on her red nose, making Jhudora look like a Christmas decoration. The dark faerie snorted and tried to pinch the pimple off while using her magic. No success.

     Finally she accepted the fact that she would have to stick with this stupid blinking Rudolph nose the whole day. Jhudora was very grateful that it was still a weekend and that the group of dark faeries had not returned yet. The pimple would probably last a day, if it couldn't be removed by any means. After all, that stupid earth faerie would definitely not be as powerful as to cast a spell that lasted through eternity and beyond.

     "I'm gonna get you, Granny Illusen," Jhudora growled as she tried to put on a necklace without hurting her delicate nose.

     The earth faerie was certainly entertained by the problem that her magnificent little earth spell had caused. She decided to stay and watch that funny dark faerie for a while. The fight wasn't over, not by a long shot. In fact, it had only begun. Illusen could sense that there would be many more quarrels and combats in the future. Well, at least she would make better use of those ancient spell books now.

Back to the present...

     The brown-haired faerie touched the walls, remembering the event that had occurred there so many years ago. She recalled the humiliation, the shame and the fire of revenge. She shook her head as she watched the young students pass by. It was here, right in this spot, where their rivalry had been born.

     Illusen shook her head. Today was definitely not her best day. But Jhudora hadn't won... It was still a fight, going on years after the first incident. With a sigh, she started to walk the way home, to her Glade. The earth faerie knew that she had things to do, quests to attend to and many more matters.

     But in the end, no matter what, this old, sour rivalry lied underneath it all. Illusen sunk into deep thought as she left the building. Suddenly she looked up at the bright sky, the sunny birds and experienced the world as it was before, before Jhudora had entered her life. All those things came rushing back and stayed for a mere second, before they were gone again.

     With the wind tossing her auburn hair around, the earth faerie smiled for the first time this day. It wasn't over yet. There would be many years to come, and perhaps a winner would be decided. For the time being, Jhudora had the advantage. Illusen touched her face, the home of the freckles.

     "To think... all of this, over a bunch of freckles..." she said wondrously.

The End.

Author's Note: Yes... You might be asking the same thing that Illusen did. As for the freckles, this is a work of fiction and it may not necessarily true. For further information, please contact either Jhudora or Illusen and ask the faeries themselves. As for me, I'd love to know what you think of this story. If it gets in, it's my first Jhudora vs. Illusen story. Feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated!