Faerie Wings: The Fate of Kira - Part Eleven

      "Welcome, Kira," a voice called out as a puff of dark purple smoke appeared right in front of the tree.

      Kira gulped as Rosia approached her. "I'm here, just like you said."

      "Good," said Rosia, sounding pleased. "Now, did you bring me the circlet?"

      "Yes," said Kira. She held up the Circlet of the Air Faerie with a clammy hand, squeezing her eyes shut as she handed it over to Rosia.

      Rosia smiled as she gripped the circlet with both hands. As soon as she cried out "Stonus!" the circlet began to glow a dramatic light blue. The harder Rosia gripped the circlet, the bright the blue sapphires shone. Finally, with all of the magic energy drained, the Circlet of the Air Faerie became nothing more than a circlet-shaped stone.

      Kira gulped. "Alright, now you're done. So when will you free my mother?"

      "Oh... did I ever promise you that?" asked Rosia. She dropped the circlet and walked over to the Stone Faerie statue-who, Kira realized a while ago, was really Brillare the Light faerie. "You know, faerie, I've never made any kind of promise with you."

      "What are you talking about?" Kira demanded. "You said that you would free my mother if I surrendered my circlet!"

      Rosia laughed. "I never said that! All I said was that you had until sunrise to hand over your circlet."

      Kira gasped when she thought about Rosia was saying, and felt her heart go heavy when she realized that what she was just told was true. However, before she could even do anything, Kira found herself being attacked by thick purple fog. Coughing from the toxic fog, Kira reached up to the Air Faerie Token that was wrung around her neck. But before she could summon her powers, Rosia ambushed her with three purple orbs that entered her body and immediately began to turn her pale skin into a crusty yellow colour. Kira looked down at her hands as they began to change from yellow to a shade of light grey.

      By the time the sun had risen and the Faerie Woods was lit by the first ray of sunlight, the Top Air faerie had been turned into a stone statue that stood between Brillare and Cyprina. Rosia smiled proudly as she poofed up Hanso, who was also turned to stone by dark magic. After she placed Hanso beside Cyprina, the Top Dark faerie disappeared... unaware of the surprise witness that was hiding behind a nearby tree.

      "I must alert the other faeries," Alice muttered to herself.

      ***

      "Poor Kira! She was so young!" Sirena wailed as she looked over the now-stone Air faerie.

      Illere wiped her eyes. "If only I had decided to stay just a while longer. Surely Kira wouldn't have been turned to stone, and neither would her circlet!" Sirena nodded and began to sob harder.

      Ardore rolled her eyes. "Are you done yet?" She turned towards Illere, who was flipping through a spell book that she had brought with her. "Well, did you find anything?" the Fire faerie demanded.

      "I think I have found the solution," said Illere. "There's a spell here that was once used by Queen Fyora when Sombra the Dark faerie turned one of her palace guards into stone."

      Sirena stopped her sobbing and sniffled. "C-Can you perform it?"

      "I'm not sure," Illere admitted, "but I can try." After she re-read the spell a second time, Illere created a little pink cloud that began to hover over Kira. "Glitter shower!" the Earth faerie cried, and the cloud began to sprinkle a shower of glittering, purple dust over Kira. As the shower began to slow down and the cloud's pink shade slowly faded, all four faeries began to notice that their friend's stony-appearance began to turn a bright yellow. When the yellow colour turned a pale peach, Illere squealed and ran over to her Air faerie friend, who had collapsed to the ground.

      "What-What happened?" asked Kira. "And why do I feel so... so exhausted?"

      "Oh Kira, you're alright! The spell worked!" Illere exclaimed as she embraced Kira. Siren and Illere also joined in the group hug while Ardore stood nearby.

      "Do you remember anything?" Sirena wondered.

      Kira shook her head. Then she looked beside Illere and picked up her circlet, which was placed beside Brillare. "Oh no," she breathed as she reached towards the circlet, "The circlet is still a rock! I thought you guys would have been able to free it by now."

      Illere took the circlet from Kira's hands and got up. "We had found a spell that reversed the effects of Rosia's spell. I wanted to test it on you first, just to see if it worked."

      "And it worked, didn't it?" asked Kira. Illere nodded. "Great! But does this mean that the spell can help revive the other faerie treasures, too?"

      "Well, I can try," Illere suggested. "How about I try to revive both your circlet and that young-looking faerie?"

      Kira nodded and watched as Illere re-summoned her pink cloud. Then she asked Ardore and Sirena, "So, where do you think those Dark faeries went, now?"

      Ardore shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe they decided to strike more Light faeries in Faerie Plaza?"

      Kira shook her head. "No, that wouldn't make much sense-especially since the sun hasn't come out yet."

      Sirena looked up at the red and purple sky. "Well, the sun should be arriving in a couple of hours. Maybe they decided to retreat to wherever they live?"

      "Or perhaps they decided to strike somewhere else," Illere suggested.

      "Well," said Kira, "what Rosia told me when she first arrived at my house was that she and her sisters were fulfilling their mother's plan to eliminate all Light faeries. Unfortunately the Amulet of the Dark Faerie is missing, and none of the Dark Faerie sisters know where it is. So, perhaps they've decided to continue with their mother's plan by doing something else-something that doesn't involve attacking Light faeries."

      Illere rubbed her chin. "Do you remember anything about Rosia's mother's plan that can help us?"

      "I don't think so," Kira admitted. "All I remember is that their mother fought with my mother, and that their mother had attacked Fyora-" Suddenly Kira gasped. "Oh no, you guys! I think I know where they are!"

      "Where would-" asked Sirena.

      "At the Royal Palace, I believe," a soft voice interjected. Kira turned and gasped when a radiant Light faerie walked over to the three faeries. Illere and Ardore followed her. "Hello," she said with a smile, "I'm Brillare: the Top Light faerie of Faerieland. And it is truly an honour to meet you, Kira."

      Kira blushed. "Thank you, Brillare."

      Brillare held out the Circlet of the Air Faerie towards Kira. "Illere was able to restore this in time for your surprise attack. I suggest you try to summon the circlet's powers now, before you go on to fight those wicked Dark faeries."

      "Okay," said Kira, taking the circlet from the kind Light faerie. "But, how do I summon the circlet's powers?"

      "Just place the circlet onto your head and cry 'Circlet of Air'," Brillare explained. "That will charge the circlet up. You will tell that it's charged up when all of the sapphires glow a blue light."

      Kira placed the circlet on top of her head and shouted, "Circlet of Air!" After a few moments, she chanted the phrase again, and again for a third time. "So, how's it doing guys?" Kira wondered after she chanted the phrase ten more times.

      Brillare's face went pale. "I'm afraid none of the sapphires had lit up."

      "What!" Kira gasped. As soon as she took off the circlet and examined the sapphires or herself, a shot of panic struck her face. "How can this be? Why isn't my circlet lighting up?"

      "It must have been because of that spell," Brillare suggested. "Perhaps the Dark faerie that had cast the spell drained all of the circlet's powers, thus weakening it enough to turn it to stone."

      Illere took the circlet into her own hands and stared at one of the side sapphires. "I don't think that Rosia was capable of completely draining all of the magical energy. In fact, I think that the energy is still inside somewhere."

      "Well, can I get it out?" asked Kira.

      Brillare shook her head. "Not right now. I suggest that you let the circlet continue its recovery; but for now, we must prep ourselves for battle against the Dark faeries."

      Ardore crossed her arms. "How are we supposed to fight without our faerie treasures?"

      "I don't know," said Brillare. "But we mustn't let those Dark faeries scare us! If we refuse to stand up to them now, then Queen Fyora would be in great danger and all of Faerieland would surely plummet. Though I was defenseless when I was trying to retrieve my Wand of the Light Faerie, I will absolutely fight my hardest now that I've been freed from their wicked trap. Now, will you girls be joining me or would you rather just stay behind?" Sirena and Illere looked at each other, and Ardore just scoffed at Brillare.

      Kira, however, just stomped her foot and cried, "Let's go to the Royal Palace and defeat that evil Rosia! After what she did to my mother, I refuse to show that Dark faerie any mercy!"

      Sirena clapped with glee. "Great! You two go to the Royal Palace while Illere and I stay behind to save those Rosia had attacked."

      "Okay," said Kira. "Brillare, let's go!"

      "Good luck!" Illere cried. "We'll try to join you two as soon as we can!"

      Kira nodded and followed Brillare towards the Royal Palace. Though she was supposed to feel brave, the young Air faerie couldn't help but feel scared; What if she and the other Top faeries weren't able to stop Rosia? What would happen to Cyprina if her daughter couldn't save her from her trap? Determined to hide her fears, Kira tried to distract herself with some immediately confidence.

      Because that's what you need right now, Kira told herself over and over again. You NEED to stay strong and fight! Not for yourself, but for mother and for your friends... as well as for the safety of Faerieland as well.

To be continued....