And the start of a war.
The atmosphere in the room was dark, full of fear. But not just any fear, but a primitive fear, the kind of fear that you can only decide to fight or flee. A fear that paralyzed you.
"So you're telling me that a shitty video is the reason we got caught? That our plans have been ruined?" The room remained silent despite the question. "This is ridiculous." Yuseok snorted as he ran his hand through his hair in an exasperated gesture.
"We can still turn the situation in our favour."
"And how the hell are you going to do it, Sara? We have been singled out by the public. No one is going to come to meet us, and that means that we will not get more gems to corrupt, which means that our dominance of the tree is reduced. We are tied hand and foot."
Sara, the woman who had spoken, the one who always had something to refute Yuseok's words with, remained silent. She was also aware of the precarious situation they were in. And a part of her reproached herself for being overconfident when she proposed to take it easy. While it is true that Lee himself had agreed with his plans, the only culprit for not having known how to carry it out was here. After all, their guard had been lowered, and the tree guards had seized the opportunity.
"Come on guys, calm down. There is no need to argue."
Lee's voice echoed through the room, causing everyone to freeze.
"By arguing, you lose valuable time that you could well spend on other more productive things." They could feel Lee's smile in his words despite not seeing him.
"What other things?" Yuseok dared to ask, knowing in advance that he would not like the answer.
"A war, for example," Lee replied as he materialized at the head of the table, right behind Yuseok.
He was in his authentic form, with his wings fully extended, making him appear much larger than he was. His wings were like his personality: dark except for a touch of bright blue in some strategic points to attract his prey, to seduce her and make her fall at his feet. Yuseok didn't know if there really was a connection between the fairy's personality and the colour of his wings, but the only time he, and everyone in the room, had seen him in his authentic form was when they sold their souls. He was not the only one who felt the same way, since no one dared to look up.
"A war? But we are weakening."
"True, our power is diminishing, but if we fight from within, our chances of winning will increase."
"But how are we going to fight from within? We cannot enter the tree. It is physically impossible." Sara said from her position to the left of the table, her gaze still fixed on the table in front of her.
"It is true that a human cannot enter a tree. Unless the fairy that inhabits it gives permission."
"Then the areas of the tree that we have infected will be our entrance doors, right?"
"Exactly."
"And after that?"
"We scoop off those filthy guardian fairies and make our way to the centre of the tree. If we can infect all the gems that hatch there, the tree will fall. And we will have won."
At his words, they heard the sound of laughter throughout the room even though no one was laughing. That could only mean that there were more shadows, more dark fairies, hiding in the corners of the room, watching, waiting.
"I will not participate in this." A voice blurted, silencing all the laughter and turning all eyes to the last seat.
"You have no other choice, dear. We have a pact that you must fulfil." Lee replied with a calm, confident smile, though the threat behind it could be sensed.
"Shit! You, you have lied to us. The deal was that we would collect corrupted gems in exchange for returning our families. And that is what we have done. You never talked about the war. You are using us for your own plans!"
"Stupid human, my plans are your plans. If you want to see your family, do what I tell you. The fact that we have to go to war is because of your inability to do the job that is asked of you."
"If we are so incompetent, why don't you do the work? We have spent years doing what you asked of us, and we could only see our families the day we signed that pact with you. How can we be so sure that you're not fooling us? That everything was a lie?" The man was gasping for air, his face red from the effort to make himself heard and his eyes full of fear. After all, he was facing the leader of all shadows.
They were all holding their breath, and no one dared to intervene, not even to stop the man and make him see reason. Confronting Lee was not the smartest move.
"Are you so eager to see your family that you can't wait for the war to end?" Lee's tone was surprisingly soft and teasing, something totally contrary to the way he used to react.
"You owe it to us after all we've done for you."
"Very well. I will let you reunite with your family." He conceded in a bored tone.
Right after the words were out of Lee's mouth, the man rose into the air, as if an invisible hand had grabbed him by the suit he was wearing. The man could only scream in surprise as he tossed in the air before being thrown against the wall. After he had fallen to the ground, and before the man could get up on his own, the invisible force picked him up again and pressed him against the wall, slowly compressing his body and causing his bones to explode as the air poured out of his lungs in form. Screams of pain. When the screaming stopped, the man's body fell like a sandbag to the ground, his image etched in the minds of those present.
"When a human dies, his gem returns to the tree, waiting for his time to hang from its branches again. There is a possibility that this gem will meet again with its other half from a previous life; but it could be years, centuries, millennia before that could happen. It's too long to wait, right? Not to mention the little resistance that your bodies offer to passaging time."
Lee leaned closer to the man's body, all eyes on his movements.
"This poor idiot will have to wait many years for his gem to reunite with his wife's. It's a shame because he could have got his family back."
Everyone believed that Lee had kidnapped loved ones to use as a blackmail method. At least that is how the dark fairy had made it seem, who had cornered them in a room while in the next room they heard the voices of their relatives calling for them. But their families were dead, probably from the very day they had signed the pact with Lee. It was impossible to recover something that was no longer there, that had ceased to exist.
"We cannot recover something that is dead," Sara said out loud, saying what everyone was thinking.
Lee turned with a lopsided smile. "There you are wrong, dear."
Then the dark fairy made her way back to her original position behind Yuseok, her gaze riveting on everyone present.
"The gems return to their place of origin to eliminate the memories and sensations that they have accumulated over the years since they have to arrive empty until their next wearer. It is a process similar to erasing a disc to re-record on it. And if we can get to the heart of the tree, where all these gems live, we can restore the memories of the gems, make them come true."
"It can't be, are you saying ...?"
"That's right, dear Yuseok," Lee said as he put his hands on her shoulders. "We can resurrect a person thanks to the memories of his gem. Is that not wonderful?"
It was unthinkable, something you only saw in science fiction movies. Something that the human being longed for and never got. And when he did, only misfortunes occurred, because what came back was not the same as what had left. It was something different, something unpleasant and repulsive, devoid of all emotion. But none of them was thinking clearly. Neither thought about the consequences of carrying out such acts. Their only common goal was to get their families back, and if they had to go to war and fight alongside the very beings who had condemned them, who had deceived and used them, they would. They had sold their souls for a price; they had witnessed cruel acts and accomplices of thousands of deaths, and all to win back their loved ones. There was no going back for them.
"I will send you the details of the operation later. You have a week to prepare. If anyone wants to keep you company," said Lee, nodding at the man's lifeless body, "just ask."
The silence in the room was the only answer he needed. After smiling triumphantly, Lee vanished, accompanied by his faithful shadows. The rest stayed in the room for a while longer, regretting their past decisions and mentally preparing themselves for the same fate as their partner. Even if none of them rebelled, their fate would be the same.
This story belongs to @nometoloko on AO3. I'm just her translator.
So... we just witnessed a murder. Keep reading;)