Rise Of Faeries Book I : Ascension

Chapter 16 - Intruder

A high ponytail held together by a gold scrunch, fluffy strawberry pyjama bottoms and a long-sleeved vest, Kairo was immersed in the stacks of books and documents laid open in her sitting room.

The sitting room had lemon walls that brightened once sunlight was let into the room. The warm light casting a bright illumination in the room was enough however, fire cackled in the white and peach fireplace warming the place up. Sofas sat in the middle of the room with a round glass coffee table in between. Kairo was sitting behind this arrangement on a creamy white fluffy mat with her documents.

The sitting room was cosy fitting for the girl's rather calm personality. The ceiling was white with a delicate drawing of a golden lotus flower in the center. The walls were bare but there was ornate furniture in the corners housing beautiful and traditional vases with roses in them, it was a different flower each time. There was a table near the large windows that had a gorgeous tea set. The royal blue curtains had been closed shut.

Lord Carl was not able to visit the princess as he wanted in the city due to some disturbances. Kairo suspected it had something to do with the behaviour of the pixies and the infection she saw on Artwell's hand.

The evening air promised a chilly night, which meant cuddling into her blankets would be her priority. But first, she needed to confirm her suspicions.

"For some reason, this scenario is not surprising," a bright and familiar voice commented, pulling Kairo from her busyness.

The girl's face brightened into a glorious smile immediately. "Amaira! You came."

Offering the same sunny smile, Amaira shook her head with a small smile plastered on her face. "Of course, I came. My crown princess beckoned."

Kairo made a face at that. "I will never get used to that. Anyway, where is Cassian? I sent for the both of you."

"I am not sure, he is probably on his way. Why have you called for us anyway?"

"I have a bad feeling that something ominous is creeping up on us. Something is happening right under our noses," Kairo informed her cousin.

"Like what?" Amaira intoned.

Kairo paused before she replied. Her eyes trailed towards Amaira's aura and the girl immediately drew back. Her cousin's aura was pitch black, something she hadn't encountered before and it left an ice-cold feeling in her soul.

"What are you?" Kairo all but growled. She didn't move from her position on the ground and instead glared at the girl pretending to be her cousin.

Amaira tilted her head in amusement and then she smiled. It was the creepy smile that reminded Kairo of a possessed cat she once saw on TV.

"The rumours were right. The crown princess of Celestria can see energy! This is gold! My master would be pleased!" Amaira cackled.

"How the hell did a vile creature like you enter the palace? Let alone my quarters?"

Amaira clicked her tongue. "You think we will risk such a confrontation without making necessary arrangements? You aren't so smart after all."

Kairo said nothing and eyed the girl. So there was a mole in her quarters or the palace in general? That posed a whole new luggage of problems.

"What do you want?"

"We want you. Well, your body since it's the vessel holding all that power inside," Amaira responded, her eyes pinned directly at the place Kairo's magical core was, in her midsection.

"You are going to have to kill me for that."

"That can be arranged!"

A flurry of activities all happened at once.

Amaira made a swipe at Kairo and Kairo rolled herself out of the way into a fighting stance. The two women stood face to face, a safe distance separating them.

"You should see my true form for this to be a fair fight."

Misty green smoke materialised out of thin air, surrounding the woman in a swirling motion. Kairo felt the air around the woman shift, the essence of evil increased by a magnitude. This was not a dibbuk but a circle witch dabbling in dark arts. For the first time that evening, Kairo wondered what happened to her guards.

"Ta-da!" the witch exclaimed.

Kairo was not impressed. Her skin was deep green with what looked like red veins sticking out on top. She looked like an infected alien. She had five strands of yellow hair on her head, pointed ears and slitted yellow eyes.

"I can't tell if you are an elf or a human snake. And what up with your hair?" Kairo taunted. She wanted to piss the witch off, it was the only way she stood a chance at this fight.

The woman laughed, exposing razor-sharp teeth that resembled those of a shark. What the hell was this thing?

"I am going to have fun killing you!"

"We will see about that. It seems everyone wants to be my enemy."

The witch withdrew a whip from her waist. It was silvery and fluid, with strange incarnations on it, it looked painful. With a single motion, the witch slashed at Kairo.

Having anticipated the move, the girl moved fast. The whip hit the fluffy mat instead and the book, eating away at where it had changed. Kairo's eyes widened a bit. This was a fight to the death.

Two weeks after her awakening, Kairo had an encounter with a high priestess of the Celestria Pythia, named Michelle. The woman had helped Kairo elevate her gift a little and taught her that although it was quite active as that of the other elements, it was rather powerful on its own. She was the only woman who knew of Kairo's true power and her grandmother, who had been angry for a while that Kairo hadn't come to her first.

She summoned her power and just as she expected, golden flashes appeared on her irises. In a flash only she could see a word in an ancient language of Kaimana that sounded remarkably like Latin appeared quickly.

"Vocare!"

Upon exclaiming the word out loud, a powerful magical essence filled the room, it was nothing like the essence the witch intruder exuded, this one was more celestial and even the witch jumped back in fright, as though wanting to escape from it. After a few seconds, the essence and the light it brought with it died down.

"Now, we can fight," Kairo said.

In her hands was the most beautiful sword. It was black and silver, its hilt had the drawings of the moon and the lotus flower. The silver on the sharp, long and slightly bent knife gleamed, Kairo let her energy and the one of the sword merge.

"Impossible! What are you to own a celestial katana!?" the witch exclaimed, her eyes disbelieving and narrowed, "Is this why every realm is excited about you? The daughter of prophecy? You will be the doom of my kind! I shall end you once and for all!"

The witch moved quickly! Her form was like a blur as her whip came crashing on Kairo. But the girl had been pushing herself beyond her limits, she met the whip head-on with her sword.

A clang of metal to metal echoed around the sitting room. Kairo hissed as the whip made contact with her skin, a searing burning numbed her senses.

The witch did not waste time in pulling her whip, it was wrapped around Kairo's sword. Pulling both the sword and the wielder towards her, Kairo let herself be pulled and used her head to hit the woman on her forehead.

The move was entirely unexpected and caused the woman to momentarily lose momentum, Kairo used that moment to elbow punch her in the gut causing her to groan and then side-punched her face propelling her to the ground.

Her socked foot stepped on the woman's throat with her sword pointed between her eyes.

"You have said at least three interesting things that I would need clarity on. But first, who the hell do you work for?"

The witch smirked. "You think you are a threat to me at the moment?"

"Oh?" Kairo asked tilting her head, "Alright then. This is something I have wanted to try out for a while."

"Vulpus ignem," Kairo muttered, a menacing smirk painted on her face.

And then the witch let out a blood-curdling scream.