Chapter 15
High in the sky, over the sea beyond Pixie Hollow, away from the seagulls and the other predators lurking about, a crow flew to an unknown destination. However, this was no ordinary crow. It wouldn't have been noticeable of the sheer difference from any other black bird, except for its red eyes and the scars on its. And these were only two major differences.
After a while of flying over the vast blue seas, it finally got to the point where the water began to dark, indicating the crow was close to where it had to be. Eventually the darkened sea began to be covered by a cloud of well... darkness. Dark magic to be precise. Of course the bird had no trouble navigating through the darkness and it soon found itself landing on a small cliff on a small island.
Then the crow began to change form in an agonizing way. Gone with the wings and everything else which gave it its crow-like appearance, all of it replaced with sickly pale skin and the face of a man. The man was the size of a fairy, had greasy black hair, pointed teeth, and was wearing armor made of animal bones and a cape made of various hawk feathers. What remained the same, was his blood red eyes.
"What took you so long Morwen?" A woman's voice broke through the noise of the crashing waves below.
Kneeling, Morwen's deep voice answered "I'm sorry Lady Venus for the delay, I was... detained."
Venus's appearance was different than Morwen's. Wavy light brow flowed down to her shoulders, a black crown sat at the top of her head and a silver necklace hung around her neck. She was wearing a long black dress which hung over her cream colored skin, and her silver eyes peered up at the shape shifter in slight dangerous agitation. She was rather beautiful, despite her black attire which seemed to be made to match her dark fairy wings.
"Was the reason for the delay more important than the summoning made by Morpheus?" Venus's question came out soft, but no less threatening.
When Morwen didn't answer, Venus continued. "I hope you at least know the reason why you are here."
"I was summoned to discuss a matter in regards to Pixie Hollow." Morwen answers.
"A matter in regards to Pixie Hollow? A matter in regards to Pixie Hollow!? You seriously could not feel the energy this matter is all about?" The dark fairy's tone became sharp and cold. "You of all people should be aware of what kind of power I speak of."
"I do know what it is. Do not speak to me like I'm a fool, because unlike you I can sense the presence of a new Hawk Rider in my bones." Was the shape shifters response.
"How dare-!"
"Venus I'd love to stay and chat, but I have a meeting with our king." The crow man interrupted, not bothering to look at the dark fairy as he walked away.
"I won't be sorry if Morpheus kills you on the spot! After all it is your failure of killing every Hawk Rider in existence which keeps him from claiming Pixie Hollow!" The dark fairy shouts at him as he began to fade from view.
To think nobody wouldn't notice Artemis's long disappearances for the past few weeks is a huge understatement. Every day her friends had tried to find her, mainly Rosetta who was still trying to play matchmaker especially since she had convinced both Tinkerbell and Iridessa to join her cause. So on the day of the mysterious branding, the sound of knocking awoke the animal fairy from her deep sleep. Walking to her door, Artemis took a quick glance at her shoulder only to discover the branding had faded.
"There you are hun! Where have you been!?" Rosetta questions as soon as Artemis opened the door.
The other faces of the rest of her friends had the same expression as the garden fairy like they were up to something, except for Vidia who looked like she didn't know why she was there.
"I'm sorry I've been... busy." Artemis answers vaguely.
"Never mind, we need to get you ready!" Rosetta exclaims excitedly.
"Ready for what?" The animal fairy questions, gazing helplessly at her friends as the garden fairy began pushing her to her closet.
"The theatre fairies are putting on a play tonight and Rosetta thought it would be a good idea to see if you're mysterious sibling will be there." Iridessa explains and then adds very quietly "Also because Dash will be there." which she earned a good bump from Fawn's elbow.
And thus Artemis was stuck in the hands of the over excited fairy as she began to get ready for a hopeful meeting with her unaware sibling. Rosetta picked out a cute sleeveless top which had two cords to tie around Artemis's neck to help keep it secure, capris with ruffles on the pant legs, and slip on shoes. Of course being an animal fairy meant her attire was going to be all brown, but it looked rather cute all together. Then her friends tried to figure out what to do with her hair as the garden fairy deemed the single braid over done. With no ideas, it was decided to let her wavy hair down.
"Oh my gosh you look fantastic!" Both Iridessa and Rosetta exclaimed at the same time, then chuckled when they realized what just happened.
"Alright let's go ladies." Vidia says and then they were out the door and up into the evening sky.
Author's Note: Well guys this week I went camping and managed to find inspiration to write this chapter. Your welcome. Anyways I'm glad I'm at this point, because I've been wanting to get to my idea for the next chapter for a while now and just haven't figured out until this week when I am going to include it. It's nothing exciting, but the interaction between both Artemis and Dash is something that I've been looking forward to. I might possibly get it written this weekend otherwise you're probably going to have to wait till next week. Okay so now I want to know what you guys thought of this chapter and I want to as usual thank TinkFan4Life for your continuous thoughts (I also found it strange how you didn't receive the last chapter, weird). If you guys want to see a visual description of my characters, you can find them on my DeviantArt page TheFantasyLover96 and post anything you want to say about them. Also if you could go to my poll and vote on what story I should work on after this, I would gladly appreciate it. Ta ta for now!