Posted July 24, 2022.
CHAPTER 44: MUSA'S BETRAYAL
On the Matter of Peristan
Peristan is the abode of the Persian fay, atop the highest mountain in the Caucasus range, Mount Qaf. It is there that the ancient Simurgh took the abandoned baby Zāl, father of Rustam and grandfather of Sohrab, into her care. She was his guardian for his entire life, and treated him like her own son. The rest of the fay – or the Peris, as they are called in Parsi – live in Peristan as well.
The capital city of Peristan is Juherabad, the city of jewels. It is the seat of the Faerie Queen of Persia.
Peristan, Azerbaijan
Bloom flew the helicopter over Mount Qaf, a mountain of the Caucasus range. Its beautiful, snow-capped summit made the mountain even more majestic. She stared at the summit, the city of Juherabad.
What had once been a beautiful city, filled with jewels, was now blackened, clearly looted by war. Rudabeh had lived there, but was now hiding in Gardenia, along with the rest of the Faerie Queens. She flew closer, gazing out the window.
She gazed at the tree ahead of her, which stood at the very peak of Juherabad. At the top of a tree was a golden nest. She gasped, her eyes wide.
The nest was none other than the Simurgh's nest.
"This'll be easy," Lockette squealed. "Just go to the nest and find the Simurgh, then get her to join with us! That's all we need to" –
Suddenly, the helicopter lurched. Bloom stared in horror as it crashed towards the summit of Mount Qaf, nearly hitting Juherabad in the process. They crash-landed just meters away from the entrance to the city. Bloom got out, dusting herself.
"Are you all right?" Lockette squeaked.
"I'm fine." Bloom looked up, and let out a gasp. "Oh no!"
Warrior Fairies were flying towards them, their expressions grim. They shot towards Bloom and Lockette, shooting rays of light at them. Bloom tried to lift a shield, but they were just too strong. She yelled as she was blasted off the mountain, her wings instinctively catching onto air.
She stared at them in distress. They're gonna kill us… She stared upwards, ready for the end…
"That's enough!"
Bloom stared up as the Simurgh launched herself at the Warrior Fairies. The Warrior Fairies squealed and flew away, looking terrified. Bloom stared as the Simurgh flew back to her, looking grim.
"You're lucky you escaped," she said. "Don't ever do that again."
"Thanks," Bloom panted. "By the way, I was wondering if you and your people would join us for our resistance against the fairies of vengeance?"
The Simurgh snorted. "With that kind of failure, you'll certainly need my help."
"Thanks," Bloom ginned. "Now let's go." They headed into the helicopter and off the ground.
Roxy was in a spherical chamber, one where gravity pulled her to a spherical object at the center of the chamber. It was a rainbow sphere, one that hung in the center of the room, without any attachment to the actual chamber itself. She stood atop the sphere, staring at the area around her.
The platform she stood atop suddenly began to glow with a pulsing rainbow light. Instinctively, Roxy flew off the sphere, but it was too late. She gasped as the sphere exploded, obliterating her completely and wholly, as well as the rest of the chamber –
Then the scene changed. She was in space, the stars glinting around her. A hologram of a woman with long, flowing brown hair and green eyes stared back at her, her expression firm. "Roxanne," she acknowledged. "Come here." Roxy stepped forward, staring at the woman.
"You have come so far," she said, "but you are not done. You must face the Heart of the Earth."
"The what?" Roxy stared at her. "What is that?"
"All will be revealed to you once you come to see me," the hologram answered. "Meet me at Mount Meru, in Nepal." The hologram disappeared, and then Roxy opened her eyes.
She was lying in bed, in a tent. Krithi was in the bed next to hers, snoring peacefully. She frowned, staring at the map on the wall.
Mount Meru is kinda far away… But this was important, so they had to go. Sighing, she turned to wake Krithi, ready to tell her what they needed to do –
It happened so quickly she couldn't breathe. Two Warrior Fairies entered the tent, grabbing Aonbharr and Chai. One of them put her javelin to Krithi's throat, forcing her awake.
"Get up," she commanded. To Roxy she added, "The High Queen Nebula demands your capture."
Musa panted as she stared around at her chamber, at the photos of Riven. Tears came to her eyes as she thought of how she was aiding Nebula in her fight.
She knew there was something wrong with this. Nebula was very cruel, it seemed, and she was ready to fight at the glint of a sword. But she knew that, even though Nebula's methods were violent, she genuinely cared about her people.
Or does she? She knew Nebula had spoken down to her, fiercely and furiously rejecting her request to calm down the revenge campaign. She knew that Nebula hadn't and wouldn't listen to her. Worse, she knew that Nebula might want to hurt other people.
She thought of Riven, imagining him right beside her. What would he say?
He would say I need to follow my heart. And right now, her heart was telling her that what Nebula was doing was wrong. She had to do her best to make sure she did the right thing.
Sighing, she turned around, heading out of her igloo and into the light.
The South Pole loomed ahead of them, the Antarctic Circle never colder. Roxy gasped as she shivered, the temperature extremely low. As it was winter in Antarctica right now, the temperature was no more than negative sixty degrees. She shivered, her captors giving her a dirty look.
Krithi, on the other hand, was freezing over. As she was not a fairy, she didn't have the magical capacities to regulate her body temperature. Roxy noticed, and turned to one of the fairies. "Can you please give her some warm clothing?"
"Very well," one of the captors acquiesced. She handed Krithi an extremely warm bodysuit, which the human girl put on without complaint. They reached the center of the South Pole, where Nebula and Musa stood.
Roxy stared at Musa in horror. I can't believe she really joined them… The bluish-black haired fairy turned away as Roxy was forced to her knees, kneeling before Nebula. Nebula smirked lazily.
"Little girl," she sneered, "it seems that we have a lot to talk about."
"I don't need to talk to you about anything," Roxy snarled, anger rising in her throat. Nebula laughed.
"Very well," she laughed. "Warrior Fairies, hand me over the human girl!"
The Warrior Fairies obliged, handing them over Krithi. Roxy watched in horror as Krithi was captured, and Nebula created a dark-energy dagger in her hands. Walking up to Krithi, she held it to her throat.
"This is what happens if you don't do as I say," she announced. "You are going to open up the energy of the South Pole, right now."
What the heck is she talking about? "Release Krithi at once!" Roxy ordered. Nebula laughed.
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm the one calling the shots here," she said. "Now tell me: who will it be – the South Pole or your friend?"
Roxy glared at her, then transformed. Flying up to the South Pole, she said, "I'll do what you want." She focused her magic.
"Roxy, no!" Krithi cried. "Whatever it is, she's going to do something horrible!"
Roxy ignored her, pressing her hand to the pole's center. She could feel energy underneath, pulsing, strong energy. Pushing into the pole, she felt magic stirring within her, and the magic of the pole continuing to strengthen.
Then the pole erupted into light.
Roxy yelled as she was blasted back, the pole's energy brightening up the dark sky. When the blast was over, she stared, her eyes widening in shock.
A white light had shot out of the pole, a straight beam that went high up into the night sky, nearly to space. Auroras, the antarctic lights, shined around it, and she gasped in amazement. A portal… Nebula smiled.
"Perfect," she declared. "Whatever's at the core of the planet shall be ours!"
The Heart of the Earth! Roxy gasped in horror. What have I done? She glared at Nebula, her eyes narrowed.
"I held my end of the bargain," she declared, "now it's time for you to hold yours. Release Krithi at once!"
Nebula let out a laugh. "You should've had me release your friend first!" she declared. She threw Krithi down to the ground. "Tie her up," she ordered her guards.
Roxy glared at Nebula. "You wanna fight?" she declared. Nebula laughed.
"I thought you were still recovering from your little poison fiasco," she declared. "Still you want to take me down?"
"You're not giving me a choice," Roxy declared. Nebula smirked.
"Fine, then," she said. "Roxanne, I accept your challenge to a duel. You seem to forget your place – I'm the one who's Queen now; you're not even a part of it. You should be bowing down to me, Miss I-got-poisoned-because-I-was-too-weak."
Roxy couldn't deny; that stung her. The fact that she was no longer in control of herself made her feel weak and powerless. But she couldn't let Nebula see that. She glared at her, then raised her hands. Nebula smirked.
"Use all the powers you have, the White Circle – anything you need," she declared. "Nothing will stop me now." Charging, Roxy attacked her.
But Nebula deflected the blow. Growling, Roxy attacked again, this time expending her energy. Exhausted, she nearly fell to the ground.
She gasped as Nebula shot dark rays of energy at her. Vaulting out of the way, she cried as one hit her and she fell to the ground. Nebula's army cheered; Nebula smiled.
"Looks like the Last Fairy on Earth is off of her game," she laughed.
In rage, Roxy hurled herself at Nebula, but the self-instated queen dodged the blow. She flew effortlessly out of the way, and Roxy tired easily, having not fought any battle in weeks. She glared at her, siphoning energy from her spirit to attack.
But Nebula hit her down. Roxy gasped as she was beaten, kicked, punched – each blow sent her farther back, as well as eroding her self-esteem. What happened to the warrior I used to be? She gasped as Nebula leapt over her, diving in for the kill.
Roxy rolled out of the way just in-time. This time she called upon the penguins, asking them to attack Nebula. They complied, attacking her from behind. But Nebula simply blasted them away, knocking them down.
She turned towards Roxy, her teeth bared. "Enough games," she declared. "Show me what you've really got!"
I have to use the White Circle! Roxy lifted the artifact over her head. Immediately, her eyes glowed white, and she lifted off the ground. Nebula stared in horror as she flew above her, shooting energy at her. Now it was her turn to fall back. Roxy flew towards her, ready to defeat her for once and for all –
It hit her like stone. As Nebula stared up, standing inches from the South Pole, her appearance suddenly changed. Suddenly, she was covered in rainbow flames, cackling as she held the power of the world in her hands. Roxy fell to the ground, crying out, "No!"
The vision changed, but Roxy was still too terrified. Nebula – she's going to try and kill me, just like Merlin did… Nebula laughed, diving forward.
"You're weak," she laughed. And then she struck.
Roxy gasped as Nebula towered over her, ready to kill her. She lifted her hands, ready to strike –
"No!"
Nebula shouted as she was blasted aside. Roxy opened her eyes, staring around. When she saw the culprit, she let out a gasp.
Musa was in front of her, wearing her Etherix outfit. She faced Nebula, her expression grim. "I won't let you kill Roxy!" she yelled. Shooting forward, she shot a spell at Krithi, blasting away the ropes that bound her down. She then turned towards Nebula, fighting astutely.
"You traitor," Nebula snarled. Her warriors ran forward, attacking Musa. Musa knocked them down, turning to stare at Roxy.
"Roxy, I'm sorry!" she shouted. The warriors grabbed her by the chest, and she cried out. "For everything!" She disappeared, pulled into an igloo.
"Roxy?" Krithi was by her side, pulling her up. "We have to go, okay? WE HAVE TO GO!"
Roxy looked up. Nebula's warriors were mobilizing, ready to attack them next. She leapt onto Aonbharr; Krithi did the same with Chai. Together, they flew off into the night.
She had no idea what had just happened. All she knew was that Musa had saved her life. And I may never see her again… Tears fell down her cheeks as they flew towards home.
Next chapter:
– Roxy and Krithi return home to Gardenia.
– Nebula confronts Musa in her prison cell.
– The citizens of Gardenia face reality.
