Hi! Just wanted to say thanks to anyone who clicked my story, it really means a lot to me. I've been working on this story for many years, it has followed me throughout middle school and high school so it's really close to my heart, I wrote and rewrote it so many time and finally tried to put a message in there that I learned throughout these years.
Even if my message doesn't reach you, I do hope I could at least make you forget some of your burdens while exploring the world of Zemeria ^^
(The story is finished but I'll upload it one chapter maybe everyday)
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Long ago, very long ago, magic had once filled every corner of the world; every forest, every ocean, every tundra, and every desert had magic brimming through them.
However, a certain corruption started spreading. A corruption driven by greed and fear that brought destruction and grief wherever it went. And every time it would settle in a place, magic would slowly start depleting from it, causing all the magical creatures in that place to die. They tried running away, but it was only a matter of time before the corruption caught up with them again. They knew that no matter where they went, they were only delaying the inevitable.
However, there was one place, one place that guaranteed safety from the corruption. The final sanctuary, they called it, Zemeria. It had something, someone, that protected it from the corruption. It stood strong for centuries, sheltering hundreds and thousands of magical creatures.
They lived in peace, sheltered from the Outside, from its terrors and grief. It made them naïve. And all it took was one child's mistake, one little child's foolishness, to bring an end to all those years of peace.
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The thick layer of snow that had covered everything in brilliant crystal white for the past months had finally started to melt, and the warm spring breeze was slowly replacing the chilly winds of winter. The breathtaking singing of the mermaids filled the air, and the dazzling dances of the fairies welcomed spring with open arms. However, there were two fairies, Lily and Lilac, who were sneaking around doing something else.
"Wait up, sis!" panted Lily. "You know my wings aren't as strong as yours."
"Oh, come on Lily, hurry up!"
"I really don't see what all the hurry is about! It's not like the flowers are going anywhere," Lily whined.
"Yeah, but we haven't seen the flowers from the Outside all winter! And it has only been three years since we were able to see the Outside. Who knows the things we have yet to discover about them!" Lilac flew faster than ever, unable to wait any longer.
Lily sighed hopelessly. "Honestly, what to do with this sister," she grumbled to herself. "Hey Lilac wait for me!" she shouted to her, trying to catch up.
Lilac reached the edge of Zemeria and stopped midair. Lily finally caught up to her and stopped beside her as well. They looked a little hesitantly at the barrier, or what once was the barrier, that separated Zemeria from the outside. Now it was nothing more than a transparent hazy wall that could not keep an insect out.
The Guazeria was the one responsible for keeping the barrier up and strong to make sure that no one entered or left Zemeria, but the Guazeria was dead. He has been dead for over eight years, and no new Guazeria has appeared to take his place. It has gotten the Zemerians all worried.
Meanwhile, Lilac saw it as an opportunity to explore and learn more about the Outside, especially its plants. She knew that magical creatures could not survive long in a place without magic, but being the reckless fairy she was, she still went out to test it and found that as long as she did not spend too much time outside and came back to Zemeria, the magic would make her as good as new. Lily pointed how stupid that still was, and they did not know the effect of it in the long run. but of course, Lilac did not listen, only caring about gathering new knowledge.
Lily still tried to stop her many times, warning her of the horrible dangerous creatures that were said to roam the Outside, but Lilac would still dismiss it saying, "Everyone knows they are just a myth to keep us from leaving Zemeria, don't be a coward!" And when it was obvious that there was no convincing her, Lily decided to go with her to prevent her from doing anything too stupid or reckless.
After a while of staring at the nonexistent barrier, Lilac shook her head and smiled enthusiastically. "Alright then, let's go!"
"Wait!" Lily grabbed her hand quickly.
"What is it?"
"Look." Lily pointed her finger at the far horizon where a cloud of dust seemed to be moving their way.
"What's that?"
"I don't know," she answered slowly, dread seeping into her voice. She had an ominous feeling about it. "Umm, I think maybe it's better if we don't leave Zemeria today." She turned to Lilac with a bit of panic on her face.
"OR we could go investigate!" Lilac said enthusiastically, a gleam of curiosity in her eyes.
"Wait, no!"
But she could not grab her this time, and she flew full-speed towards the dust.
Lily cautiously approached the cloud of dust, trying her best to stay hidden between the tree branches, but the closer she got the more her wariness grew. Then as soon as she saw Lilac dive into it, the cloud came to a halt. She froze in dread.
Lilac!
She quickly picked up her speed towards the cloud of dust through the trees, still making sure to stay out of sight.
And then she saw it, amidst the cloud of dust, were hundreds of thousands of iron-cladded creatures. She looked closer and her heart dropped.
In the hands of one of them was Lilac, struggling to break free, but that was not the worst of it. The creature removed its iron helmet to take a closer look at her, and the color completely drained from Lily's face. No! she thought in horror, it can't be... I- I thought they were only a legend! But there they were right in front of her eyes, the corruption, the monsters, everyone feared.
"Well, well," said the creature eyeing a struggling Lilac. "Seems like we really didn't come all this way for nothing after all. Who would've thought?" It grinned wickedly.
Lilac was trembling. Lily wanted to help her, but before she could move, before she could think, in the flash of an eye, the creature, the monster, crushed Lilac in its hand without a moment of hesitation. It casually waved its hand, scattering the blood, and then shouted, "Onwards!" The army started moving again as though nothing had happened.
Lily fell onto her knees on the tree branch. She kept staring at the pond of blood that used to be her sister a few seconds ago. Her brain could not comprehend what just happening.
"Li-lilac," she finally managed to mutter, her voice trembling. A name so familiar yet suddenly feeling so so distant. "Wha.... How... how did this happen?". Tears started falling like a waterfall. They were just talking this morning. She was just there smiling a minute ago. How-
Then her eyes slide towards the army. They- they are heading towards Zemeria. Then the sudden realization woke her from her trance. They are going to attack Zemeria! I-I have to warn them!
"I-" She tried standing up, but her legs were trembling so much she fell again. She looked at the pool of blood with pained eyes, tears still falling with no sign of stopping. She did not want to move, she wanted to scream, she wanted to cry and never move again, but if she did not move then it would not just be Lilac but everyone in Zemeria too.
She took in a shaky breath and tightly closed her eyes, forcing herself to calm down I'm sorry Lilac, if I don't warn them, everyone else will also- Lily tried her best to push her sister's death to the back of her mind for now, her heart ached, her chest felt incredibly heavy, but she had to go.
"If I don't warn them now, then we're all dead," she muttered aloud to herself, her voice ragged. A justification for leaving her sister behind. A pool of blood- She shook her head. I'm sorry.
She wiped away her tears and started flying faster than ever before in her life.
The creatures in Zemeria were starting to feel the vibration in the ground, and some of them came out to the border to check, but none of them dared to go out to investigate.
Then they saw Lily coming towards them with the speed of light. "Humans!" she shouted, "The Humans are coming! You have to run!" They all stared up at her, paralyzed in shock and terror. She looked back and saw the cloud of dust marching towards them faster than before then she panickily turned towards them, and she screamed again in as loud a voice as her squeaky high pitch could manage, "Just run! Run or they'll kill you!"
Then she quickly moved on flying deeper in as fast as before to try and warn as much of Zemeria as possible, shouting all the way "Humans! Run!"
She finally reached the mages' village and quickly went to the eldest witch's cottage to have her help warn and evacuate the creatures. There was a little witch and kitsune playing there, but she paid them no attention. She immediately went to the eldest witch and said between gasping breaths "Humans! There's- there's an army of Humans at the border!"
Then everything went in a blur.
The little witch dropped her toy, stormed out of the cottage, and ran.
Ran towards the border.
A single gut-wrenching cry sounded above everything. The world stilled, just for a moment, and then darkness exploded.