Vita

The night time sky was decorated with the colors of nebulas that blanketed the 5th dimension. Nearby animals from mythological legends all perked their heads up when they heard the piercing cries of a baby. A small bundle of child and blanket layed squirming near a crackling tear in space. As the baby girl kept crying, the tear stitched itself up, and then was gone. A small group of creatures left the flailing baby. Minutes went by as the wailing continued. Suddenly, a soft thud by a humanoid creature with nearly black skin was made on the soft grass; another creature of the same magical species made a thud seconds later on a sturdy tree branch.

    “That must be the creature the others came to get us for,” the Fae who landed on the ground pointed out.

    The other Fae with him squinted her eyes that lacked irises and glowed a soft sunset orange, then gasped. “Oh my, is that what I think it is?” She jumped down from the branch, and started walking towards the child. The creature’s three variously sized pairs of black wings dragged behind her. 

    “Merle, stop walking! Don’t you see? That is a human!”

    Ignoring his warning, Merle continued towards the child. She knelt down to pick up the child. Her crack-like markings that glowed the same orange as her eyes illuminated the girl’s little body. As she gently rocked, the crying ceased. The little girl cooed as it reached for Merle's magnificent antlers that sprawled from her mask-like face and grew away from the sides of her head. Soft white strands of hair fell onto the baby as she moved around the antlers and Merle chuckled. She gently removed the tiny hands from her head and tucked them into the blanket. “Now how did you get here, little one,” she asked with a young and kind voice.

    The other Fae finally walked towards the two. “Should you really be doing that,” he judged. “You have never dealt with the likes of a human before.”

    “And you have never dealt with any baby before, Evruex.” Merle looked up from the girl to Evreux. “All babes have certain universal characteristics. And I’ve seen my fair share of little ones.” Noticing the sounds from the small bundle had stopped, the kind creature looked down to see the child asleep. “She’s exhausted from all the crying… and probably also from however she got here.”

    “That is the problem,” Evreux siad, getting irritated. “We don’t know how it got here, if there are any more coming, or how to send it back to the 3rd dimension to which it came from!”

As he said this, Merle turned to look at him, straightening her back and raising her chin. Evruex’s foot moved slightly back.

 “You say all of this as if I don’t know,” Merle stated. You forget yourself. I may sound young, but I have more years than you.”

“Then you know as well as any of our kind that we have a duty to protect this entire dimension and what resides in it. You are one of the best there is at doing that!”

“I know I am. And I am so good at it because I am versatile and I don’t see everything through a singular lens, but an array of them.” At the tone of her words the very ground under Evreux felt like it trembled. “If this girl is such a security threat as you think, she will need someone to look after her.

“You can’t be suggesting that you keep the human!”

“And what if I am?” At the rising sound of the two Fae’s voices the little girl started to rustle in Merle’s arms. After gently shushing the child back into sleep the Fae sighed. “If you are so against this, what do you suggest we do with her?”

Evreux looked down for a moment then straightened his entire body. “We can’t send it back, but it shouldn’t stay here.” He paused for a moment, building up the guts for what he was about to suggest. “Under the sword would be the best and safest option for everyone.”

Merle’s eyes widened as her heart skipped a beat. She slowly wrapped her arms to cover the small girl even more. “Please,” her voice slightly cracked. “Please tell me you didn’t just propose that.” As anger began bubbling up, the kind creature took a shaky breath in.

“I promise you this isn’t easy for me either,” the other Fae said. “But this is the only way to ensure that the danger you are cradling won’t come for our kind and this dimension.”

“But she’s just a babe,” Merle protested for the warm bundle of life in her arms.

“It may be young now, but humans are dangerous when they are grown.” Evreux took a step towards the child. Taking a step back from him, the kind creature rotated her body to shield the girl.

“That doesn’t justify killing her though,” she snapped in a hushed tone, her gaze drilled into the Fae before her. The girl shifted again and then curled back up into a still sleep.

    Looking at Merle, Evreux sighed. “We are Meliora. Extraordinary beings of the stars that humans can only dream of touching. Our abilities, our very identities, stretch far beyond the comprehension they can make in their small minds.” He motioned to the child tucked closely to Merle’s chest. “Even if it doesn’t destroy everything around it, it will never belong.”

    “Perhaps she will start to belong if you stop calling her ‘it’,” jabbed Merle. “You hold yourself and our kind so much higher than humans, delusionally ignoring the truth that we are sometimes not so different.” The Fae rocked the child back and forth in her arms. “Many humans wouldn’t turn their backs on a defenseless child just because they are scared.”

    This statement felt like a cold shot through Evreux’s body. Raising his chin, he tensed up. “If you want to keep this piece of doom, then so be it. We both know I am not strong enough to stop you.” Merle’s body began to finally relax after being on edge for much of this conversation. “But know that you will be judged by many,” Evreux added to his relinquishment.

    Looking down at her child, Merle scoffed; she then stared right into the eyes of the other Fae. “But not all will judge, because not everyone is as cold as you.”

    Evreux began walking away from the child and her mind protector who kept her safe in the glowing warmth of her power.

    He looked back over his shoulder. “Your maternal instincts will doom you.”

    Merle leaned towards her daughter, touching her forehead to her own. “We will see about that. Won’t we, Vita.”

 

S. S. Stories

AZ

18 years old

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