Chronicle of the Wingless Fairy | taegyu

Chapter 8: The Sentry

His eyes snap open. Beomgyu is covered in cold sweat, shaking. His heart was pounding, looking around the room suspicious and paranoid that the atrocity may have followed him here.

He gets up cautiously, body shivering as he rubs his head and eye. He was trying to fully awaken himself.

He stumbles to the bathroom, and looks himself in the mirror so slowly. He was wary, not sure of what he'll see. Are the scars still there? Does he look awful and unpleasant that others would leave the room when he's there?

The sun was shining brightly through the window, washing away the whiffs of his nightmare. Beomgyu could never sleep peacefully. It's like he wakes up just to feel like he had stopped breathing.

Then, he stood in front of the mirror, caressing his face as he did.

His hair wasn't as messy as how it used it be. Its length had reached his shoulders and he resorts to tying it with a cloth. He had a scar across his face, from his left eye down to his cheek. No one would find him beautiful.

Even if he grows wings, his appearance was terrible. His suffering had marked him whole, and it is never to disappear.

The smell of his dried blood disgusted him. Wounds had wrapped his skin like tattoos, and his miseries had hung onto him like a cape.

"Drink this. It'll help you ease the pain." Someone spoke to him in the dungeon, handing him a cup of liquid.

"What is that?" Beomgyu asks as he was latched on the grimy, wet floor with metal chains on his wrists, ankles, and his neck.

"A potion. It'll help you feel numb," She walked closer and bent down with the cup, slowly moving it closer to him. "This will make you feel nothing. Your pain will disappear, I promise."

Numb? Pain? Disappear?

Beomgyu nodded slowly, desperate to have a taste of peace and quiet.

The girl smiled and happily made him drink the cup. "Well, I think I should go before anyone sees me. I hope you get a good sleep tonight," She said and quickly left his side. "I've done it, Your Highness... Now please, let my brother go-"

What?

Promises...

Why does Beomgyu believe in promises despite having been betrayed on multiple times? Why did everyone love to hurt him? Why did everyone he's ever loved and kept within the walls of his heart, they break him?

He looked at his eyes on the mirror... His black and white eyes. He wishes he could keep painting pictures of rainbows with vivid green leaves and butterflies in his head, always just hoping for the better to come.

How will Beomgyu lead a life of his own when all of his life were spent on dungeons and metal chains? Did he do something so wrong that this had happened to him?

The sound of birds chirping outside his window helped him ease the feeling of turmoil and alarms blaring off his head.

His nightmares never ceased. Was this his mother's doings? Is she making him remember every details of his suffering though his dreams? Is hurting physically and emotionally not enough?

A General has to be in the best position to command his forces and needs to be able to get a good overview of the battle to give orders quickly enough, so that he can influence the battle with his orders. He has to be in the optimal position.

When Fairy Soldiers stand toe to toe with spears, bows, and arrows, swords and pistols, and the battle was small enough that you could see the whole thing from the battlefield, a General commands from above. A general in the middle of a battle was good for morale because it meant that the general didn't expect to lose. They could mobilize the troops and see first hand what was going on and give orders in real time.