Faerie Wings: The Fate of Kira - Part Five

     Alice gave her a serious stare. "Horrible evil..." she said in a hauntingly deep voice.

     "Hey guys," said Kira, hoping to end their conversation, "how do I get my token out of this tree? Do I have to use a special Air faerie spell?"

     "It's not that hard to retrieve a Faerie Token," Illere insisted. "Just reach into the center of the tree's trunk and pull it out. You should feel something inside-something like a necklace."

     "A necklace?" asked Kira.

     Alice nodded. "Almost every Faerie Token is designed for their faerie to wear around her necks. The only token that doesn't work around the neck would be the Dark Faerie Token."

     "Speaking of tokens, you should try and retrieve yours before it gets dark," Illere suggested.

     Kira nodded and turned to face the Pastel Snowflake Tree that only she, as well as Alice, could see. Reaching into the tree's trunk, Kira was surprised to see that the tree's supposedly solid trunk was allowing her hand inside of it, as if the surface was as thin as a hologram. Stretching her arm inside, Kira could feel her fingers gently touching a silk ribbon. "Guys, I think I got it!" she cried as she grabbed the ribbon and pulled her arm out with ease.

     "Well done!" Alice cheered. She walked over and stared at the token Kira had retrieved; it was shaped as a white feather with its stem tied around a light blue ribbon. The token released a light blue light as it rested on Kira's palm. "It's so pretty!"

     "Wait until Fyora gives you your token training," Illere said, grinning with pride. "She would be pleased to learn that you had completed your first quest in one day!"

     Kira placed the Air Faerie Token around her neck. "You'd really think that she would train me soon?"

     "She should," said Illere. "After all, she did train me. Mind if I take a closer look at your token?" Kira nodded and learned closer.

     ***

     "Look at her," Rosia scoffed as she flew up towards Kira. "Why is she flaunting that tacky necklace to that Earth faerie?"

     "Isn't she wearing the Air Faerie Token?" asked Violet.

     "Perhaps," said Rosia. "I must say, though, that for an Air faerie that girl had found her token faster than all the other faeries we've met." Violet nodded in agreement. "Anyways," Rosia continued. "Let's go grab that token before Miss Airhead uses it to find her circlet."

     "Do you think she would be able to find it so quickly?" Violet wondered.

     Rosia scowled at her. "Stop pestering me and use your dark screen attack!"

     "Fine," Violet moaned. After raising her hands in the air, Violet cried "Darkus mention!" and sent a thick cloud of pitch-black fog onto Kira and her friends.

     "I can't see!" Kira gasped. "Illere? Alice? Where are you guys?"

     "I'm right here!" Alice cried nearby.

     "Where are you?" Kira cried back. With her arms outstretched, Kira wandered around the dark fog, desperately looking for Alice. When she had finally felt a hand in front of her, Kira pulled it towards her with force.

     "Ouch, let go!" An unfamiliar voice grumbled. "Rosia, somebody just-"

     "Be quiet!" Rosia scolded. "Do you really want that airhead to find us right now? Just shut up and keep searching."

     What is Rosia doing here? Kira wondered. After she considered that the 'airhead' Rosia mentioned must be her, Kira tried to make her way through the dark fog in order to flee the forest. But after considering the fact that the fog was purely pitch-black, she decided to stop wandering about the clearing before she ran into a tree-or even Rosia.

     Suddenly Kira saw a bright light shine above the Pastel Snowflake Tree, and a shower of yellow sparkles began to fall down from the sky above it. "Kira, there you are!" Alice shouted as she waved her arms at her.

     "Alice did-did you do this by yourself?" Kira gasped. By the time she had approached the tree; the sparkles had suddenly stopped falling and were beginning to disappear from the ground.

     Alice shook her head. "I'm not the one who's doing this," she explained, "It's the tree!"

     "But why... and how?" Kira stammered with disbelief.

     "Because it wants you to find it," Alice insisted. "I know that it sounds unbelievable, but Fyora does this for every treasure so that-"

     "Well, well, well," Rosia smirked as she approached the tree. "Looks like I found what I was looking for." She snapped her fingers at her sister. "Violet, get rid of this ridiculous fog right now! All of this darkness is giving me a serious migraine."

     "Yes, Rosia," Violet sighed. As soon as she made the fog disappear, she walked over towards her older sister.

     "What are you doing here?" Kira demanded.

     Rosia crossed her arms and smiled. "I just wanted to see how you were doing, that's all. And besides; it wasn't like you were going to find your Faerie Token so easily... at least I thought you wouldn't!" Using her hands to form three purple orbs, Rosia flew into the air and threw all three orbs towards Kira.

     Everybody gasped when Alice ran towards Kira and pulled her aside. "I can't allow you to hurt my friend!" Alice exclaimed furiously. "Especially after what you did with the Stone Faerie, I swear I-"

     "How lame," Rosia said, laughing. Kira watched as Rosia shot various puffs of purple smoke towards Alice. As soon as the orbs hit her, Alice fell towards the ground with Kira by her side. Kira felt her heart beating faster as she watched Alice struggle to get herself off the ground.

     Kira got up and turned towards Rosia. "That's not funny, Rosia! And when I'm done with you I'll-"

     "No Kira!" Alice shrieked as she got up. She pointed to Rosia and said, "You see that flower shaped brooch she's wearing? That's the Dark Faerie Token! And everybody knows that the Dark Faerie Token is the most powerful token of all!"

     Kira looked up and gulped when she noticed the dark purple brooch that Alice had described. "So you're saying that the token is what's giving Rosia these powers?" she wondered.

     "Well, duh," said Violet, looking pleased. "Rosia is the Top Dark Faerie!"

     I didn't know that! Kira thought anxiously. The idea of Rosia being the Top Dark Faerie made her extremely nervous. Was this why she was able to defeat Alice and Illere so easily? And where was Illere? Had she abandoned them? Suddenly Kira remembered something: in her first battle, Kira had been able to defeat one of Rosia's other sisters with her tornado attack. But since she was now fighting Rosia, would her tornado attack work again?

     "Kira!" Alice's voice was trembling, and Kira could see that she was now hiding herself behind the tree. "Don't forget to use your Faerie Token!"

     "My token! I forgot I was wearing it!" Kira exclaimed.

     "You are such an airhead," Rosia said as she formed a bigger orb. With her Faerie Token now glowing, Rosia threw her orb at Alice, who was struggling to get up.

     Please! Kira pleaded to her token. Please give me the power to protect my friend! She needs me! As soon as her token began to glow, Kira immediately ran towards Alice to protect her from Rosia's orb. Just as the orb was approaching them, Kira spread her arms out, which formed a bright blue shield around the two faeries. When the purple orb had finally approached them, both faeries watched anxiously as the orb bounced off the shield's surface and evaporated out of sight.

     Rosia shook her fist at Kira and shouted, "You will pay for this!" After Violet flew up right behind her sister, both Dark faeries disappeared from the woods, leaving Kira shivering with pride.

     "You guys!" Illere shouted from across the hearing. "I found something incredible! Come quick!" Kira nodded and flew as fast as she could towards Illere's location.

     Alice, who couldn't fly, ran to where the others were meeting. As soon as she saw what they were looking at, she breathed, "It's the Stone Faerie! You found her!"

     "The Stone Faerie?" asked Kira. She looked at the statue: a tall faerie whose arms were covering her eyes and whose posture were bent, as if she was trying to shield herself. A sun shaped pendant was lying beside the statue, and Kira picked it up to examine it. "It's very pretty. Did somebody lose this?"

     Illere shook her head. "I'm afraid the amulet's owner hadn't lost it," she sighed. She gestured towards the frightened faerie statue and said, "Kira, this is Brillare the Light faerie. At least... she used to be Brillare."

     "Who's Brillare?" Kira wondered. "I swear I heard that name before."

     "Brillare was a close friend of mine," Illere explained. "She was also the Top Light Faerie of Faerieland... at least she was before now."

To be continued...