Black.
It was pitch black all around me.
Cold.
There was no warmth wherever I was.
I thought back to what had just happened.
I had just died.
Even though it was excruciatingly sad, I actually felt calm. As if everything had just fallen into place and this was how it was supposed to be.
I closed my eyes, not making the darkness go away but as a way to organize my thoughts. Fey had no place for life after death, so this must be it because it's not like we know what happens to the dead because you don't walk up to a dead person on the street every day and just be like "Hey, how the hell is life after death? Where did you go?"
No, so this is probably what happens.
It is a fairly shitty existence, drifting around for time on end. But it all makes sense. Antoine Lavoisier did, or will say, in a few years that "matter is neither created nor destroyed." Even though I was a magical being, I still was matter, so I would just be converted, not destroyed.
Why I hadn't already been converted was beyond me. I would have figured that the NeverNever would have recycled me already and found a use for the matter that I provided. But instead I was just floating about endlessly.
With my eyes still closed, I thought about how I had just died. I was with Ash and Robin and we were out hunting. Ash was a spectacular hunter, but sometimes I would best him.
I remembered what had happened.
Ash was laughing, he looked nice when he laughed and wasn't sneering. Being in the Wyldwood did him well. Robin had done some stupid court jester thing which had brought out his laugh.
A crash in the thicket brought us to reality. Something was coming after us. Something big.
The three of us went into defensive stances, Ash prepared to turn his stance into an offense as soon as the opportunity arose.
Out of the thicket came a gigantic wyvern, one of the largest that any of us had ever seen.
The boys attacked. I stood behind them and fired off volley after volley of arrows, looking for the chinks in the armor of the beast. The boys put up a hell of a fight, but it was futile.
A wave of hotness spread through my body followed by intense pain. I screeched and dropped my bow. Falling on the ground I looked at my stomach. There was an enormous gash that was tinged green. The wyvern had gotten me, stabbed me with its tail, and now I was dying.
My screech had been louder than the sound of the battle. The boys looked back at me.
The look on Ash's face was heartbreaking as the idea of a good fight changed into having to end a bad one. In his fury, he slammed the tip of the blade through the head of the wyvern, with enough force to pierce the armor.
Not waiting to check if it was actually dead, he leaped off of it and in three long strides reached me.
Picking me up gently, Ash assessed my wound. We both knew that I was about to die, yet that didn't faze him. He still tried.
Leaping onto the nearest horse, a horse well trained to not flee in battle; he clutched onto me with one hand and made the horse run the fastest it could go. Under Ash's reckless insistence, we reached the palace in under three minutes, the palace doctor still on horseback, in less than a minute.
Ash gingerly handed me to the doctor. The palace doctor looked at him with pity and tried to explain to him that it was pointless to try.
Ash didn't care. He ordered the doctor to try.
And so the doctor did try. But it was pointless. I had gone past that point.
The doctor then just loaded me up with painkillers and left, fleeing to the arm of the queen because when I died, Ash's rage would become legendary.
Ash approached my bedside and collapsed on the floor next to me, his head on the edge of the bed next to my arm. At that point I was completely and utterly weak, but I mustered up all the strength I could and reached my hand out to his head to stroke his hair.
"It is okay Ash," I whispered in a dying voice.
I heard a sniffle, "No it isn't," he replied, his face still buried in the mattress, "I don't want you to die!"
"It is my time. I love you Ashallyn' darkmyr Tallyn," I whispered.
After my declaration of love, I passed into the void, and my time as Ariella Tularyn, the lover of the youngest Unseelie Prince was over.
And that is how I ended up in the black void, where I was floating around aimlessly.
I stayed in the void for who knows how long. It could have been years, it could have been just mere seconds, but I eventually saw a light, it was just a little spot of light far away from me.
I floated towards it, swimming like one would in a pond until I reached it. As I was before the light, I realized that it wasn't small, but was instead huge.
So I pushed my body through it, thinking that this must be the way into the cycle of reincarnation.
Boy was I wrong.
I emerged on the other side back in the glen where I was killed by the wyvern. Its bones were on the ground, and they were still yellow with a few scattered pieces of its armour.
That meant that not much time had passed. At first, I thought that I was a flower that was just self-aware, and I laughed at the shitty situation. I was in where I was back at the place of my accident. Talk about irony.
Then I realized that I wasn't moving like a normal flower would, and also, I laughed aloud. I moved my arm and saw that I actually had an arm. Shocked, I looked at my body and found that I was still me, only dressed differently than what I died in.
I was wearing a long, white gown that pooled around my feet which were bare; the gown was long sleeved and had silver stitching in it.
Panicked, I checked every part of my body, my hands searching everywhere, I checked my stomach for a gash or a scar, but found nothing, running my fingers over my face, I found that it too was just fine
Hyperventilating, I tried to reason everything out, but my mind was coming up blank. I had no idea what was going on.
I heard an annoyed sigh come from behind. I jerked around and saw a cat looking at me.
"Ahh, finally, you look around you. You could have been killed again and this would have all been for moot!" the cat said.
"Who are you cat?" I demanded.
"The name is Grimalkin, and I am a cat. I have been sent here to inform you of your duty. You Miss Ariella are to be a seer. You have a gift given to you by the NeverNever, and they have brought you back for some reason. So thus, your time here isn't done."
I stared at the cat, "What do you mean my time isn't done? I freaking died!"
"Thus I know. The prince has been bitchy about it ever since and Goodfellow has been hiding behind the legs of the summer king." he groaned.
I blanked, "Ash is still mourning? How long has it been?"
"A few decades, but you know how time passes here in the fairy realm."
I threw up right then.
The cat hissed at me.
I managed to compose myself a few minutes later. I wiped the remaining bile off of my chin, and looked up at the cat who was still in the exact same location, lazily waving his tail back and forth.
"Well cat, you seem to know more about what is going on than I do. What do I need to do?"
"You need to be a seer of course! In fact you will be the most sought after seer in the land, the one that is the best of them all, but who is the most elusive and most difficult to find which will add to your mystery," Grimalkin said.
I contemplated this, "Okay, so where do I start?"
"Oh, everything is started for you. Beyond those trees over there is a house that has a nice pot of soup for you warming over the fire, it is fully furnished and ready to go. Everything is taken care of. In about an hour you will have your first visitor, who will be your first customer. Don't worry, everything will fall into place. I will visit you sometime soon to check up on you."
Grimalkin got up then and turned to leave.
"Wait," I called to him, realizing that I was missing a crucial piece of information, "Who sent you?"
The cat gave me a cheshire grin, "I don't reveal my sources. Maybe you will find out someday, maybe you won't. Tata for now!"
The cat then disappeared from sight.
I groaned and made my way over to where he had indicated. Pushing past a few tree branches and stumbling over some bushes, I located a comfy looking small cottage that had smoke coming out from the chimney. I entered the house and found it completely furnished, and as the cat had said, there was a pot of soup waiting for me on the fire.
Quickly, I assimilated myself with the surrounding area. I located the cabinet with the bowls and plucked one out. I served myself a hot bowl of soup and quickly ate it. After placing the bowl in the sink, I got down another bowl and set it down on the table. The cat had said that I would soon have a visitor.
I explored my surroundings then and discovered a closet full of clothes and a bed that was made. The cottage was fully furnished. I was getting ready to go outside and explore around it when I heard a knock on the door.
Knowing that even after decades, I would still be recognizable, I grabbed a cloak from the closet and had it hide my face.
Gracefully, I strolled over to the door and opened it.
Before me, there was a summer fey who looked skittish. It was a female summer fey who was dressed in a long green dress
"Are you the great and powerful seer?" she asked quietly.
Keeping up the air of mystique, I nodded slowly and stood to the side, indicated that she was to come inside.
The small fey entered quickly. I shut the door behind her and turned to look at her.
"You look like you have traveled far. Have a hot bowl of soup and then we will get down to business." I said in a huskier version of my voice.
The girl still looked skirmish, I wasn't surprised though. Nothing is free, she knew that I would have a price.
The problem with the damn cat is that he never gave me any advice on what to do, or what to charge. I was a seer, and this was the NeverNever. You don't give things out for free here. I had to figure out what my price would be and figure it out quickly.
The young girl finally went over and served herself a bowl of soup. She sat down and ate it. I quietly slipped into the chair across from her and observed her eating.
Once she had finished, she placed the bowl over in the sink area and then sat back down.
"I heard that your price is a mortal child in exchange for offering insight into the future. I don't have a mortal child, so I hoped that we could formulate a deal." the girl started, finding her voice suddenly.
A smile played on my lips, so everyone thought I wanted children. Silly fey, I had no use for a child. But I might as well let the mystic play out.
"The type of deal that we formulate will depend on the type of problem that you have. You are here because you have a problem correct?" I responded in the voice that was huskier than mine.
The girl nodded, "Yes ma'am. You see, my little brother Augustus was taken by the Summer Queen. My little brother had an uncanny talent painting. I just want to know if there is a way to get him back without upsetting her majesty. We miss him dearly."
A smiled played on my lips, "Of course, we wouldn't want her royal bitchiness to get upset. Hmmm, that is quite a problem. And you need advice on how to solve it. Your payment to me can be that you owe me a favor. It seems most fair since you don't have a mortal child for me. Now to your problem."
I thought for a minute, and then something seemed to take over.
Small child, young but oh so wise,
Taken by the one who we despise,
Sister, go save him by asking Puck.
He likes to cause a major ruck.
It came reverberating out of my lips. I felt like an advice column, only more sinister and rhymeier. I quickly regained my composure and gave the girl a smirk.
"Well, looks like you need to go find Puck. I'm pretty sure that he would like to make the queen mad. When doesn't he make her mad? He won't ask for much probably. Offer him a favor, and don't try to be smarter than him. And be very specific in your asking," I told her.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
I sighed, "If I know Puck- if I know the legends of Puck, then he will take your words and twist them just for his own amusement. Like if you ask for him to take your brother from the queen, well you didn't say what he would do with your brother afterwards. Specifically ask him to steal your brother from the queen and return him to you, and add in a part about your brother remaining a fey. Puck would turn your brother into a toad and return him to you as such just so he can laugh about it."
The girl nodded and stood to leave.
"Now, remember, you owe me a favor for that. Even though it was an easy one, I may call to collect that favor sometime. Understood?"
She nodded, "Thank you seer. I will spread your name far and wide. What is your name?"
I chuckled sinisterly, "There is much power in a name young girl. So much power. Just keep it simple. The seer that resides in the briars. Understood?"
She nodded and with that she quickly scurried out of my house in the search for Puck.
How I missed that little shit.
Things remained the same for a while. I was graced with the presence of anywhere from zero up to ten people seeking my insight a day. They all found me by word of mouth and apparently my legend was growing each day as a mysterious seer who lived in the briar.
Nobody knew my real name, nobody knew what I actually looked like because I always wore a hooded cloak. The rumors went from I was a grotesque witch all the way to my beauty threatened Titianna so much that I hid away in the briar patch to protect myself from her wrath and that was why I hid my face.
I never corrected anyone who came. Some of them actually did bring me a mortal child. I accepted the child and wound up pulling a few favors that I had collected to make sure that the child got safely home still as a child. I let people think what they wanted to about what I did with the children.
As each day turned into another, I always quietly expected to hear the familiar footsteps of Ash come up my pathway and for him to barge open my door and collect me in my arms and smother me with affection.
Or for the musical laughter of Puck to come from the forest as he ducked into my window to leave me a present of a frog or something only to engulf me in a big hug and mess up my hair.
The cat came by sometimes. He and I would have conversations that lasted hours about the latest gossip. I preferred to stay ahead of the gossip so that I could figure out what was going on with the courts and be prepared for when someone came.
And I wanted to keep tabs on Ash.
Grimalkin knew that this was the real reason I wanted gossip, but he never prodded at the sore subject.
It surprised me when Grim told me that Ash had been banished so that he could be with a mortal woman. I gasped and Grim gave me the rundown on this woman.
I could tell that Ash loved Meghan and it was then that I started to experiment more with my seer abilities and I tapped into his dreams and her dreams. I never allowed them to be aware of my presence, but I learned a lot.
The feelings that Ash had for Meghan were extraordinary.
A few weeks ago, Grim popped in for a visit and told me to start getting ready to close up shop. My true purpose was going to be coming soon.
I asked him what he meant.
He finally stopped giving me riddles and told me.
Ash and Puck were coming.
Ash wanted a soul and they needed someone to guide them to the end of the world.
Strike that, Ash needed a soul to be with the woman that he truly loved.
My delicate world shattered around me, but I made peace with my fate right then and there. If I loved Ash, then I would do everything in my power to make sure that he was happy, even if it meant that I lost him to another in the end.
I had been brought back to this world for a reason. That reason was fate.
I once got my hands on a book from the mortal world; a fey brought it in as payment, hearing that I often liked to read. I don't remember the name, but there was a quote from that book that sticks with me.
"Nothing is an accident. Nothing occurs that shouldn't occur. Even the most bizarre of events has its place in the scheme of existence."
I had been brought back to this realm for a reason, it was no accident. It was planned, and I was to fit perfectly into the scheme of things, I had a part to play. And I was going to play my part, no matter what it may be.
I reasoned it out. If playing my part meant that Ash would be happy, then I would be happy. No matter what happened. I would be happy.
That quote is from a book called "Just Plain Weird" by Tom Upton. It is free for Amazon Kindle. I highly suggest is. The quote is from the character referred to as The Artifact. The book is truly wonderful and absolutely romantic. I suggest it if you are going into book release withdraw/have nothing to read because you've read Iron Traitor like, 5 times now.
Onto the Epilogue now!