New dawn

“Ohh, it’s fine, not your best, but still fine.” said the customer adding, “here, that’s your payment.” “It’s a little under the price we agreed on, sir.” “Yeah, well, your drawn art is getting a bit old for our place to show, and people aren’t drawn to it anymore,” replied the customer, “and we are doing you a favor by buying from you at this point, for your art doesn’t age well, whatsoever,” turning his back as he was walking toward the door, “let me show you the way out.” 

The customer added, “it has been a pleasure doing work with you, and it’s indeed a sad way to end our contract. I wish you the best with your future endeavors,” as he shuts the door behind the artist who walked out of the building with his head down. At the sidewalk, the artist checked the amount he got from the job, “not enough,” he muttered, “I can’t afford a night at the hotel with this. I can barely buy food for the night.”

With his art getting less demand by the day, Ace found himself out in the streets, not enough money for the rented apartment he used to live in. Nowadays, he can barely secure a small amount for one night at the hotel and a humble meal to survive the long hard days, he spends out in the central city.

With the last light of that day, he found a spot far to the east of the city. On the hill, he laid down with his mouth busy chewing up the hard bread and half-cooked meat he got for the money he has, looking up to the cloudy sky, thinking to himself of a way to sell his art once more, in a way that gets him at least half of the amount he used to get for it before.

His eyes were moving left to right, up and down, as he was wondering, the same way he always does when he feels lost, his body itched for a second, for the temperature behind him was rising, and his body was starting to feel an unusual sense of heat nearing him, he immediately turned to see what causes him this discomfort, his eyes wide with his mouth hanging open loosely.

His eyes caught a burning flame, in the shape of a big drop of water coming from the sky, leaving behind it a trail of ashes, it was coming at him fast, so he took a couple of steps back and stumbled upon a rock, he tried to land on his hands and failed; he stood up with blood drops coming down from his nose to the ground staining the grass; he turned to the thing that scared him ignoring the blood coming out of him.

The thing he saw was so beautiful, that he couldn’t roll his eyes away from it. It was a fairy, he never knew such a thing existed, no one did, for this kind of stuff comes out in fairy tales only.

The fairy’s wings were in flames, a radiant red spark comes out of her whenever she moves, she was walking through the air as if it's solid ground, leaving after her ashy footsteps that fade through the air, in the most outstanding scene.

Ace claps his cheeks and shakes his head. In his eyes, this is a miracle, a lifetime chance that any artist would dream of having, a ticket to the life he has been dreaming of, a life built around an outstanding art that no one else but him can give.

The fairy stopped moving close to Ace’s face, her mouth moved in a way that looked like she is trying to say something, but no word came out she looked down giving him a shy glance that got to him directly.

He turned around, giving her his back, This is my chance he thought, don’t let those eyes get to you, you don’t need more trouble, you already in a deep abyss. 

“Sir,” she said in a bashful voice, that destroyed his entire line of thoughts. “Can I say something?” “Yeah, go-ahead,” why am I talking to a fairy like it’s a normal thing? He thought to himself. “You are a fairy, and I’m talking to a fairy. It must be stress that got over me,” “ohh, my days, I’m done for”.

“Ahem, my name is Maeve, and I’m a Queen.” She stutters “I used to be a queen until I got betrayed.” 

“Wait, wait, wait,” he interrupts, “let me get this straight,” he said pointing at her, “You are a fairy, a fairy queen,” 

“No, no, I’m not a fairy queen,” she said with doing a facepalm, “ calm down for a second and let me explain to you the situation,” adding in a frustrated voice “please.”

“Yeah, yeah, my bad, finish what you were saying,” sitting back at the grass, cleaning his face from the blood left in from the fall.

“Thank you,” she adjusts her stand by rolling around in a circle and facing Ace, and with a deep ashy breath she starts again, “You see, I was a queen of the far-lands, a place only a few know about,” she adjusts her burning hair, then looks him in the eye, “my land was blooming, and everyone was happy with me ruling. The land flourished with different exotic plants, that hunters and mages loved. They used it for different reasons, from healing to boosting themselves when battling the monsters around the empire.”

 “Until one day...”

She poses for a moment lowering her head for the first time since they met, and with heartfelt expressions, she looks back at him, “It was a harvesting season with phenomenal results, and seasons like that one attract people’s attention from around the empire.”

What kind of plants can fairies raise, thought Ace to himself, fire plants? She is on fire, which means her land is also on fire, “I wonder how it looks?” he said out loud without realizing, “what are you wondering about?” asked Mae, “nothing, nothing” he replied, “continue, I was just thinking out loud.” For him, the land she is describing can be heaven that he can get inspired from, but he didn't dare to ask, he just wanted her to finish her story, his curiosity took over him, all he wanted is the reason that made her abandon her prosperous land.