Kendra had never had a thought of what the fairy realm would look like but her first sight of the kingdom would have surpassed any of her expectations. It was a beautiful serene paradise covered in luscious green grass. A ring of waterfalls stretched around the realm for a long way. Beneath each waterfall was a large pool, giant clouds of mist rose up from the pool allowing her to see only a little ways. This must be Niagara Falls looks like she thought. A small rock ledge led down to the ground. The grass was covered in exotic plants of every color in the rainbow. Trees were placed everywhere casting large shadows even though Kendra had not yet identified a light source . Fern sand bushes also dotted the landscape which was occasionally interrupted by a hill or small rock mountain.
The climate was warm but not hot and was slightly humid because of the mist from the waterfall. There was no real sky, just an endless expanse of blue white. No clouds appeared in the fake sky. Some small specks of green and pink dotted the sky. Kendra guessed that they were fairies flying around still turning Zzyzx into teh beautiful fairy Kingdom.
Kendra followed Bracken down the rocky slope toward the ground. Back under the veil of the waterfall she had not realized how high up she was. The trail leading down was at least a half-a-mile of rough switchbacks. The slope was made of pure rock but seemed sturdy after Kendra trusted her weight to it. As Kendra walked down rocks fell from beneath her feet, clattering down teh steep walls and burst into a small cloud of dust, making the trail seem less sturdy then she had first thought. "Is this trail safe?" she asked Bracken as she rounded a curve and started down another set of switchbacks.
"Yes. It's safe" Bracken answered from below. Kendra peered down and noticed he was almost a full set of switchbacks below her. "Wait up." she called as she ran down the last several sets.
From below she could see that the ponds that held the waterfalls were actually much bigger then she at first thought. The ponds were probably fifty feet across and forty feet wide. Kendra walked up to the nearest pool and peered in. She could not tell how deep it was but she guessed at about thirty feet. A small island was always set in the middle with a tiny fairy warrior standing guard.
"Kendra." Bracken called.
"Yes?" she asked turning away from clear water. Bracken had ventured another hundred yards and was standing next to a giant tree. Instead of having leaves the tree produced large purple flowers the size of a basketball. "…What type of tree is that?' Kendra asked pointing to the tree Bracken was standing under.
"It's a giant flower bush." he answered, smiling.
"Bush?" Kendra asked. Thinking that there was no way that this giant plant was a bush. It had to be at least thirty feet tall!
"Yes it is a bush." Bracken said twisting a flower off the giant plant. "Here. Take this." he said handing Kendra the giant flower. It was bright pink with a three foot stem. The leaves had to be ten inches long with. The delicate pink petals had it be twice the length of the leaves and at least eight inches wide. The edges of the flower were constantly cycling through teh rainbow pattern. First Red, then orange, then yell, and so on. Bright purple veins flowed outward toward an unknown heat and light source. The instant Kendra grasped teh flower all ten of the petal jumped up and twirled around like ten inch ballerinas. This persisted for a minute, after which they reverted back to normal.
"Wow." Kendra said still staring at the flower. "That was amazing." Kendra continued staring wide-eyed at the flower. "How do they do that?" she asked Bracken looking up from the beautiful plant.
"They twirl and do anything when they make contact with large amounts of energy." Bracken explained. "As long it is contact with your energy it will never die or even wilt. So it can almost live forever. Now follow me and we can tour the fairy realm." he said turning aside allowing Kendra to step out from under the supposed bush. In front of her loomed a small hill. Even though the hill was small only about ten feet it was steep. Kendra calculated the angle at probably close to sixty degrees. Bracken took lead and started up the hill. Kendra followed closely behind not eager to get lost in the immense fairy kingdom. As she climbed the hill Kendra realized that her estimation of the hill being at an angle of sixty degrees was way off. The hill was startlingly easy to climb and the thick grass made it all the easier.
Once they both made up the hill Kendra was given a much more impressive view of the fairy kingdom. Again the entire land was covered in medium length grass which was blooming with hundreds of beautiful wild flowers. Kendra spotted several more giant flower bushes all with flowers blossoming out and up. She saw several other increasingly tall plants some she estimated to be at least one hundred and fifty tall. She assumed these were the fairies means of trees. Some of the trees had leaves some flowers and several grew large yellow fruits. Some smaller more reasonable sized bushes also dotted the hillside. Off to her left Kendra noticed a fifty foot high pile of rocks shaped similar to a unicorn horn. It looked fairly easy to climb.
She also noticed that in the clearing below her unicorns and faries gathered in massive amounts transforming what appeared to be the last bit of dull gray ground. Seconds later the gray spot was covered in short grass with a thick bush covering it. Instantly Kendra heard a slight humming sound coming from around her and then everything went white When Kendra could see again which wasn't for another several seconds she was thirty feet in the air, and falling!
Kendra closed her eyes praying that she would not become part of the fairy realm. Kendra then felt herself stop falling. She opened her eyes and noticed; she was floating thirty feet above the hill where she had last been standing on. Kendra stared wide-eyed straight down at the hill. She began to fall again. Kendra adjusted her eyes and she stopped. Kendra looked up. She began to rise. Kendra recognized that this was similar to controlling the gravity sticks she and Warren had used to combat the vicious artifact guardian inside the inverted tower at Fablehaven. She began to experiment and she soon found looking up made her rise, looking down made her fall, and staring straight ahead made her float.
"Kendra!" Bracken called. Kendra shifted her view and saw Bracken literally walking across the air toward her.
"How is this possible?" Kendra immediately asked.
"I am not entirely sure but probably because the realm is now fully made of fairy magic."
"But that still doesn't answer my question on how we are doing…this" she said flipping upside down in the air.
" It's because we now are completely encompassed is fairy magic and we now can do almost anything a normal fairy could do." he explained duplicating Kendra's trick of flipping upside down.
"So we can fly, see in the dark." Kendra thought, "Can we use fairy magic?" Kendra asked hoping that she could.
"I don't know all the specifics but most likely."
"Can we start walking again?" Kendra asked, now sinking closer to the hill top "I don't like flying."
"Sure. Umm… just continue to go down until your feet touch the ground again." he said tilting his head down. Kendra followed suit. They both began to quickly descend. As Kendra got nearer to the ground she began to try to descend more slowly. Before Kendra's feet had touched the ground she was violently yanked down as the gravity had kicked back on . A few moments later Bracken joined her on the ground. "Why did the gravity come back?" Kendra asked, wondering.
"No idea." Bracken answered. He looked up and he stared to rise into the air again. Bracken looked down and he floated down. Once he was a feet above the hill he was yanked down. "I guess now we have control over whether or not we can walk or fly." They both glanced upward and started rising.
"Seth is going to freak out when hears that I can fly here." Kendra said to Bracken knowing that it was true.
"Probably." Bracken said chuckling, also knowing that Seth was going to freak out. "There it is!" Bracken explained swopping toward the ground looking identical to Raxtus's dives. Kendra followed him but did not dive as steeply or quickly. Kendra noticed that Bracken was diving toward a giant cliff. Kendra quickly stopped diving and hovered thirty feet above the cliff. She saw Bracken land smoothly near the edge of the precipice. Kendra slowly descended an landed about fifteen feet from the edge of the cliff, under which she could see a large pond. Kendra walked up to Bracken and peered over the edge.
Below the cliff was a giant pool of placid water. The water was the clearest thing she had ever seen. It was so clear that Kendra could see straight to the bottom of the pool which had to be over seventy feet deep. in the center of the giant pool was a seventy square foot island populated with hundreds of exotic plants and bushes. Kendra noticed several more of the giant flower bushes all sprouting brilliant yellow flowers but the most amazing thing she saw was another giant temple made completely of white fairy marble.
The temple looked identical to the one she saw at Fablehaven. Several columns held up a small overhang under which was a large metal door with golden, astrid shaped door knockers. One door was slightly ajar granting a small view of the interior of the temple. The door was intricately carved with depictions of fairies and other mystical beings of light. Two fairy statues were set outside on either side of the door as if guarding the door from intruders.
"Okay. This is the third identical temple I've seen today. What is this one for." Kendra asked Bracken who was now hovering over the giant pond twenty feet in the air.
"This is the temple of the Fairy Queen." Bracken said modestly already starting to fly toward the immense temple. Kendra followed suit and jumped off the cliff face and glided toward Bracken who had dropped onto a previously unseen stone walkway. Kendra swopped lower than dropped on to the smooth white stone. Muck like the temple, the stone pathway was made of the white fairy marble and was crack less.
The two walked up the perfect stone pathway to the front doors of the temple. "Wait here." Bracken told Kendra as he slipped through the door. While Bracken was inside Kendra wandered up and down the pathway, carefully observing the many delicate flowers and plants. One flower she found was a radiant pink color and about six inches across. Before she picked it up Kendra carefully examined the surrounding areas of grass making sure that were others of the same kind. After finding twenty other similar flowers Kendra plucked the flower from the grass and twirled around in her hand.
A moment later Bracken came out of the temple. "You picked a nice flower." he said startling Kendra. "That flower grants immortality and infinite healing. Almost like the Sands of Sanctity and the Font of Immortality combined."
"So by holding it I am technically immortal?" Kendra asked eyes widening.
"Almost." Bracken answered. "By holding it you are immortal for one year and touching it will heal any injury." Bracken explained.
"So can I keep it?"
"Of course. If you left it would slowly die and turn into a blade of grass."
"How do you know that?" Kendra asked.
"Because I have done it before. When I went to Living Mirage to check the sealed shrine I had left the flower by the entrance to the shrine and once I came back a few months ago it wasn't there. All I found was a three foot long blade of grass." Bracken explained. He pulled a giant blade of grass from the ground. Kendra had not noticed it due to its excellent camouflage.
"How do you know someone else didn't take it?"
"Because once those flowers are touched they become invisible to everyone else."
"Then how come you can see mine?" Kendra asked holding up her bright pink flower
"Because you're letting me." Bracken explained. "Try to not let me see it."
"Okay." Kendra thought of the flower becoming invisible to everything but her. Then, suddenly the flower became semi-translucent. "Can you still see it?" Kendra asked, assuming that he could not because she could just barely see it herself.
"Not even a little bit." Bracken commented squinting. "Normally if you know it's there you can still see it. "So are we going to see the Fairy Queen now?" Kendra asked.
"Oh, I completely forgot. Are you ready?" He asked
"Sure. I haven't seen or talked to her since I killed Gorgrog and all the fairies and unicorns moved into Zzyzx." Kendra said following Bracken the short ways back to the temple doors. Both doors were now completely open. Kendra looked inside and was surprised to just see an empty room but she continued to follow Bracken through the open doors.
The second Kendra passed through the perfect doors the blank cavern suddenly sprang to life. It was more brilliant than the other two temple's she had seen that day. The shrine was swarmed with many brilliant types of fairies. Some were blue, some were red, and many were a brilliant pink. The majority of the wonderful faries had giant dragon fly wings. Several columns held up the ceiling of the shrine which was perfectly transparent and thirty feet high. Kendra counted at least fifteen astrids inside all transformed into their owl state and gliding acrobatically through the air near the ceiling. Everything was made of the same white fairy marble. At the end of the immense room was another door. This one had to be twice the size as the one they had entered through.
Bracken continued on through the room as if it was nothing special. Kendra followed him up to the door where he spoke some unintelligible words that Kendra guessed was not a fairy language since she did not know what he said. The doors swung open into another immense room; this room was even more perfect then the first one. The room was mad entirely of white marble with a dozen columns supporting the glass roof. The floor was covered in beautiful grass which was in turn covered by several different types of flowers including several that looked similar to the one Kendra had picked from the island. On the far side of the room were two giant thrones. One was made of the same material as the temple and the other appeared to be solid gold. The thrones were empty.
Kendra instantly walked onto the gorgeous grass and started examining the many diverse types of flowers most had radiantly colored petals nut some wee bland blue and red and looked like normal flowers but others had metallic shades of blue and green, some even looked transparent. As she walked through the wonderful field of flowers she came to a small bush with orange shaped fruits dangling from its thin limbs. She carefully examined the fruits. They were bright orange and as smooth as glass. The stems were thin and several had small flowers and leaves springing from them. The fruit appeared slightly translucent. Kendra found one on the ground near the bush. She picked it up and found it to be surprisingly light.
"Bracken. What these fruits growing from the bushes?" Kendra called turning around. The room was empty. "Hello." She called into the silence. She was met with more silence. Kendra looked around and for the first time notice that there were three doors built into each wall. She glanced around, making sure she was truly alone, then walked over to a random door. She tried the knob and was surprised to find it unlocked.
Behind the door was a long hall lit brightly with glowing stones every few feet. The stone produced a bright light that made the hall appear to be in direct sunlight. At the back of the hall was another door. Kendra walked down the bright hall to the door. She tried the doorknob and again found it unlocked. She opened the door slightly wincing when the door made a small squeaking noise. She peered into the room.
Again like the rest of the temple the walls were made of solid white marble. The room was around ten feet tall and unlike the rest of the temple was not supported by columns. The room was well furnished with a comfortable looking couch off one which was surrounded by two small reclining chairs. In the middle was a large coffee table with a set of coasters made out of diamonds. A large circular table with two matching chairs was set off to the other side. The wall facing the door was almost completely dominated by what appeared to be a perfectly made bed. The sheets were bright white and at least five pillows were set at the head.
Kendra looked back, seeing that no one was in the hall Kendra entered the perfect room. She immediately walked over to the coffee table and picked up one of the coasters. They were pure diamond and almost resembled the oculus with its muti-faceted surface.
"Hello Kendra." Bracken said from just inside the doorway. Kendra whirled around almost dropping the diamond coaster.
"Hello Bracken." she said backed hoping that she would not be in trouble for entering the room without permission.
"So. Do you know who lives here?" Bracken asked walking into the room.
"No."
"Okay. Take a guess."
"An astrid?" Kendra guessed.
"Guess again."
The only other reasonable option that popped into Kendra's mind was that the room belonged to Bracken. It made sense since he was the son of the Fairy Queen and they were inside teh queen's temple. "My only other guess is that… you live here." Kendra guessed.
"Closer but no. This room would technically belong to you if you ever stayed he for an extended period of time." Bracken answered matter-of-factly.
"What?!" Kendra exclaimed. "All this belongs to me!" she almost yelled. She re-examined the room. It was almost perfect; from its beautiful furniture to it seamless, white walls. "So… do I own anything else here? Kendra asked smiling, hoping that she did.
"Unfortunately…no." Bracken replied. "I am going to assume that the room is to your liking." Bracken asked assuming that it was.
"It's amazing." Kendra said. Then an old thought popped back into her head. "Where were you when we were in that second chamber?" Kendra asked remembering what led her to the room.
"I tell you that in a minute. So now… do you want to meet with the fairy queen?" Bracken asked.
"Sure." Kendra answered setting down one of the lovely pillows that had been perfectly arranged at the top of the bed.
"Okay follow me." Bracken started towards the still open door. Kendra followed him. Bracken walked out into the chamber, turned and walked right through a wall! Kendra paused, not wanting to look silly walking straight into a wall. She finally closed her eyes and walked forward. Like Bracken she passed right through the wall.
Bracken was standing inside a dimly lit passage with three corridors branching off the main tunnel. The second Kendra walked through the wall Bracken turned and again started walking through tunnels. Before long Kendra lost all sense of direction until she finally stopped in front of a locked door. Bracken walked up to it and pulled a spiraling unicorn horn from his pocket. He tapped the horn to the door and locks vanished and the door swung open.
Two figures were inside the room. One was standing and another was sitting on the edge of a large cot. "Kendra, meet The Fairy King."