Chapter 4 

It's a beautiful, brand new day today. The sky is clear, the monstrous plants are asleep, and the non carnivorous birds are singing at a distance. In the faery realm, it is the perfect day for a lovely stroll. Or that would have been it, except for the grumpy fairy prince walking like a teenager with his panties in a wad beside me.

"Look on the bright side," I try to start a conversation to comfort him as soon as he starts kicking pebbles. "At least you got your work done...?"

I almost scream when Klovis turns to me. His skin, which is already a dark shade of Indigo, can surprisingly go even darker, seeing how evident the dark circles under his eyes are. My skin crawls the more I look at his crazed ridden face.

"Livia, there's nothing bright about working on twelve thousand sheets of paper the entire night!"

Twelve thousand!? Wow. I don't think that I can work past two...

Fairy stamina is amazing. I should have Klovis help me out the next time I get homework.

"Y-You know, we have this saying that reward comes after...stress...?" I hate how my voice just tones and cracks at the end, making it obvious that I am lying.

"You have no such saying, don't you?" Klovis blatantly calls out my lie. His brows are drawn together in scrutiny.

"N-No...sorry." I turn my attention ahead so I can hide the embarrassment on my face. It hasn't been long since Klovis and I left the palace. I don't even think that Klovis got more than two hours of rest just to finish all the work that Grignel asked him to do. "You know, you don't have to come today. Jade and I can go search for ourselves."

Jade, who walks on the other side of Klovis, gives out a low growl that sounds like a tiger purr.

"I can't leave the task to just you and Jade." Klovis shakes his head. "You guys might not be able to know what to look for."

"And you do?"

Klovis met my gaze for a hot second with a blank face. All of a sudden, he raises his thumb and flashes me a confident smile. "I'll know it when I see it!"

"It sounds to me like you don't have a plan."

Klovis completely ignores me and suddenly skips all the way to the direction of the boarder, with Jade following and matching his master's energy. Sometimes, I wonder, how did I even become friends with that guy again?

***

Klovis and I manage to reach the border between the Seelie and Unseelie realms, which are separated by a river. Although the grass seems greener on the other side, I can say for certain that everything there is deadly compared to where I am standing. Even if the plants in the Unseelie realm look poisonous and deadly, at least they won't try to kill, dice, melt, or eat you. I used to question why the natures of the two realms were opposite, but now that I am aware of the reason, I will never question it again.

I just hope that Klovis will be able to fix this world and restore it to the way that it is.

"You seem to be looking at the Seelie domain intently. Are you thinking about a certain fiance of yours?" I know that Klovis said it to tease and distract me, but it was a horrible topic to bring up.

"Klovis, can we focus on the task before I throw you in the water?" Klovis would usually back away and cower when I threatened him, but right now, I see his expression brightening.

"That's it!" He exclaimed, looking at the river.

"That it? You want me to throw you?" I eye him carefully, not even bothering to mention that I am weirded out by him. "Don't tell me that's your kink?"
"I'm not a massochist!" He blushes.

"Right." I nod my head as I speak the words carefully.

"Stop portraying me as a weirdo and hear me out for a second!" The flustered fairy prince points at the river, like there are some hidden gems there. "The river is the boundary of the two opposing realms!"

"Mmhm." I press my lips together, nodding at his words. "Klovis, I hate to break it to you, but Grignel and I pretty much established that when you were busy working on your prince-ly duties." I clap my hands together in order to hastily change the subject as soon as Klovis starts to pout and be reminded of his hellish night. "Anyway! Please go ahead and enlighten me with your idea."

The pout on Klovis's lips never left. "I plan to follow in the opposite direction in which the river is flowing."

"The opposite? Why not follow the river?"

"Think about it. If the river is what creates the boundary, then doesn't that mean that we have to go to it's source?"

I blink back my surprise. "That's...That actually makes a lot more sense than following the river. You're so smart!"

"Why does it sound like you are surprised to know that I am smart?" Klovis seems so drastically offended that he straightens up and crosses his arms. "I'm pretty sure that I have established my prowess in magic, and, as you know, magic requires intelligence. The more intelligent one is, the more powerful their magic becomes."

"That's the first time that I'm hearing that kind of logic, but hey, it sounds right!" Since I did not want to argue with him anymore, I decided to just nod along. "So, Mr. Genius Magician, shall we get going?" I did not wait to hear what he was about to say before I started to take the lead and go in the opposite direction of where the river was flowing. I can hear Klovis grumbling behind me and the soft padding of Jade's claws on the ground as they follow.

The trail of the river is becoming more and more difficult the closer we get to the source. The ground has become so moist that Klovis, Jade, and I would have been buried in mud if Klovis hadn't used his magic to bail us out. From then on, we established that going on foot is not an option, and now we have to resort to traveling while riding on Jade's back.

Jade is a unique beast, and although I described the emerald beast as something that resembles a sabertooth and a wolf, it still did not lack anything when it comes to its feline capabilities. He managed to travel through trees while carrying Klovis and me on his back. I didn't think that he would be able to jump with two adult weights, but he did, and he managed to do it in a swift and fluid manner. Of course, I believe that one factor in that is that Klovis is using his magic to aid Jade's leaps, but the trust that he has in his master is also impressive.

In a matter of minutes, we found ourselves in a swamp. This swamp, however, is nothing like the brown, muddy water variety found in the human world. The water in this swamp is so transparent that you can see right down to the ground. The trees are all a light shade of blue, reflecting beautifully on the clear water.

Jade gets down on all fours so that Klovis and I can get off his back. The water is up to my waist, making it tricky but not impossible for me to walk.

"This place is breathtaking. Has this always been here?"

"I don't know. I never really got the chance to explore this side of the realm before. Usually, I'm in the palace or the human realm."I could tell he was not joking because of the genuine shock on Klovis's face. When he looks up at the bare trees around us, he gives off a very nerdy vibe. Something tells me that he is going to stay for a while.

"Klovis, I'll go ahead and look around. I'll see if I can find something."

"Don't go to far!" Klovis reminds me without taking his eyes off of whatever he's looking at.

I nod and feel stupid afterwards after I realize that he isn't even looking at me. Since he isn't even paying attention, I figured that it would be better if I slipped away right now and be back before he could even go and look for me.

With the water this clear, I don't think that I will have anything to fear about stepping on giant snakes and crocodiles in the area. Come to think of it, I might even encounter worse creatures since this is the fairy realm.

I keep walking, keeping an eye on the water and staying close to the trees in case I need to make a quick escape from a swamp monster.

My attention is drawn to a particular direction by the reflection of trailing lights on the water. Unconsciously, I begin to move in its direction. It appears as though the colors in the water are being refracted. For some reason, I felt compelled to go toward it, and now I can not stop my legs from moving.

The weight of my pants is weighing down on me, but I still push myself to follow the light. Finally, I found the source. At the very center of this swamp is a tree, but what makes it unique is that it isn't made out of anything organic.

It's made out of glass.

The view excites me so much because this has got to be what Klovis and I are looking for.

Speak of the devil; I can hear him as he makes his way across the water to head towards me. I put on a smug smile before turning to face him.

"Guess what? I think I found what you were looking for—" It takes a few seconds for my brain to register that the fairy standing before me is not Klovis at all, and another second for me to accept who it is that's standing before me.

"What a coincidence. I think I have found what I'm looking for as well." Zhier smiles.

*~*~*~END OF CHAPTER~*~*~*