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The Starlight Omega

After the guards let him pass, Alfred wandered down the corridor, its walls and ceiling covered in glowing crystals off all different colors. The hall ended at a gigantic chamber whose interior also glowed with crystal shards and sea shells. An opening in the top allowed the moonlight to shine down in the center where a raised dais stood.

On the dais was an altar made from the thigh bone of some creature and a slim figure. She turned from a table to face Alfred, her long hair shifting in a cascade of pale gold down her back. A black thread was tied in a bow above her head. Her eyes glowed the darkest blue he had ever seen, like pools to a bottomless well.

A faint smile ghosted her lips as she approached him, every step swished the front of her form-fitting dress — one sewn of violet petals. In her slender hands gleamed a crystal shards that shimmered with an inner opal light, lighting the underside of her narrow face.

In a sultry voice, she spoke. "Alfred F. Jones We meet at last I am Lady Natalia." She lowered her head slightly.

His mouth went dry and for a moment all he could do was stare transfixed by her. It was not attraction so much, as — like all fairies — he admired beauty. For whatever reasons, all fae loved beautiful things and wanted to collect them. They also adored shiny things.

Natalia's wings were both. A magnificent pair, shaped like a butterfly's, they were as transparent as dew, yet glittered as if stardust had been sprinkled across them.

Breaking from his trance, he blushed hotly and sputtered, "I-I-I… erm…. h-have… erm… come to …erm… Gaia's Decision." He groaned inwardly at his failure to recite the lines he had been forced to memorize for the past moon.

She gave a soft laugh, as if accustomed to this. "Are you prepared for the decision of Gaia?"

"I am," he managed more confidently.

Gesturing at the altar with a cream-colored hand, she said, "Then lay upon the altar and face the judgement of the moon and the stars. Only their light can reveal the truth."

Squaring his shoulders, he strode forward, chin held hide. "I am not afraid," he said, when what he really wanted to ask was, "Will it hurt?"

She lifted a slender eyebrow, the side of her small mouth quirking upward. "It will take but a heartbeat. The time it takes for destiny to change. Now lie on your stomach, shut your eyes, and surrender yourself to Gaia."

While Gaia had no gender, most still used "her" and "she" to refer to the entity whose power was said to sustain the Midsummer Wood and keep it apart from the human world.

Nervously, he crawled on top of the bone and laid down, crossing his arms to rest his face on them. He sensed her loom over him, felt her cool breath on his back. For a summer fairy, she gave off a very frigid air.

He gasped when she touched his wings face going redder.

"Ah, sensitive there," she said, chuckling. All Alfred wanted to do was crawl in a hole and die from embarrassment.

"N-No," he said, not wanting to admit to his weakness. It was worse than Feliciano's hair curl. Everyone knew you never touched that unless you wanted Feliciano to make odd sounds.

After folding his wings up, he waited, listening to her murmur above him in the tongue of the Ancients. It started with a head on the back of his nape, one that spread and raced all over his body. He felt strange, like something immense stirred inside him.

Suddenly, he jolted his body exploding with energy. The air crackled in his ears and he opened his eyes, shocked to see his skin glowing gold. There was an audible gasp and the sound of the crystal shattering.

"What is it?" He asked, sitting up to see Natalia backing away from him, the pieces of her crystal shard on the floor, her hands covering her mouth.

Two guards came forward that Alfred had not known where in the room. They fluttered down from the combs above and landed on the dais, gaping in awe at him.

"What?" he said, feeling like he was burning up. His skin was scalding. Fright rose in him. His skin radiated an ethereal light, like he were the sun itself, so bright it lit the room. There was distant singing, but he could not make out the words. "What's happening? Am I beta?"

"A starlight omega," Natalia breathed, eyes lighting with glee, she grinned in a way that made him uncomfortable. "After over a thousand years, you have appeared."

"A what?" Alfred's heart thudded. "Make it stop."

"King Kiku must be informed," the heftier, taller guard said.

Natalia's expression darkened and she turned sharply toward them, smiling sweetly. "Before you go, you must deliver this message. It's dire."

She reached into the folds of her dress and the guards stopped, expectantly, holding up their hands to shield their eyes from Alfred's brightness.

"What's going on?" Alfred begged, at last feeling the power coursing through him begin to ebb. His light began to fade.

Natalia's hold body sprung into motion like a snake lunging, and he only saw the flash of a weapon before she swung out and slit the throats of both guards in a blur of motion. Their eyes bugged out and they opened their mouths in soundless screams, clutching at the second mouth's on their throats as red fairy blood gushed out.

Alfred gasped, frozen in shock as they toppled over dead and Natalia turned to him. She lifted the hem of her dress and tucked away the knife, walking away from the growing pool of blood.

"You… you…" Alfred gasped, his glow completely gone. He couldn't believe what he saw. He had never seen death before.

"Listen, Alfred," she said, tone dripping with worry. She seemed unconcerned by the blood splattered across her front, a couple splashes on her left cheek. "You're in grave danger."

"I know," he said, scrambling out of her reach so quickly he fell over. By the time he reached his feet, she was in front of him and waves of cold were rolling off her.

In fact, her wings seemed to have frost on them. "If Kiku finds you he'll lock you up never to see your brother again. He force you to be his mate whether you wish to or not."

"Wh-why?" Alfred said, backing away. "Don't come closer or I'll shout. You killed them."

"I had to. This is your only chance to escape," she said. "You must trust me. A starlight omega is a prized thing."

"I'm not an omega," he said. "Starlight or otherwise. Starlight Omegas bring war."

He knew enough of their myth to remember that.

"No, their power brings war and the desire to possess it. A starlight omega mated as a virgin on their first heat can grant one wish to the Alpha that mates them," she said, reaching out a hand, but he backed away, eyeing the door. Still, he wanted to know what she had to say. Why did she look so cold?

Then it hit him. "You're not a summer fairy."

She smiled, the illusion shattering as she was engulfed in the frost. And she snapped her fingers and a shard of crystal exploded throwing him across the altar. Before he could get up or make a sound, a sharp prick jabbed the side of his neck.

He gasped, clutching it, feeling his blood go ice cold. "Wh-what…"

He felt dizzy and slid to the ground. Natalia stood over him impassively, holding a strange needle-like object. Now her hair and wings had bits of frost all over. She had disguised herself all these years. Natalia was a traitor. A winter fairy!

"You…" he gurgled, reaching up.

"Never would I have predicted you," she said coldly. "I foretold of your coming to Lord Ivan many years ago." His eyes widened to hear the name of the dreaded King of the Winter Fairies. "We have waited for this day since two thousand years ago when you Summer Fairies betrayed us and wished for eternal summer. Now you will pay."

"N-No!" He wheezed.

She lifted up a bone-white arm and shot a blot of glittering magic straight into the air — a signal. Her eyes were filled with mad glee. "My brother is coming! The Age of Winter is at hand. And you now belong to the Great King Ivan who will wish for eternal winter. No more will we hide in the shadows.

Then her illusion completely dropped in a flash of icy white light. When it cleared, her wings were like frosted panes of glass, her summer fairy guise shed.

"Matt…ie," he tried to say and blacked out.

Wind whistled around him, caressing his skin, but it wasn't cold like the strong arms wrapped around his sides or the toned chest he lay against. His eyes slowly opened to reveal he was on the saddle strapped to the back of a Great Horned Owl.

He jolted awake, struggling. His wrists were bound together and tied to the saddle. A cold voice stilled him, a man whispering darkly in his ears, "You woke too soon, Sunflower."

Alfred felt his insides knot with fear and twisted around slowly to stare into the glowing opal gaze of the King of the Winter Fairies, Ivan. The man had a blocky face that was somehow babyish in features. He smiled innocently, disarmingly, yet Alfred could see he was no friend.

"Get away from me!" Alfred cried, renewing his struggles until he looked past Ivan. The Great Summer Oak was in flames, curls of smoke rising from its boughs. There were flashes of light all around.

A battle was taking place now while he was stolen away. Mattie!

"What did you do?" Alfred demanded.

"What did we do?" Ivan said, voice cold with contempt. "We brought justice. You betrayed us. You broke the balance. And now, you will bring the Age of Winter."

"Never," Alfred growled.

Then his face was grabbed and Ivan forced his lips against his own. Alfred gasped for air and Ivan deepened the kiss. Alfred would have resisted if not for a sudden assault of scents. Scents he had never known before. They overwhelmed him and made his body passive and needy with want.

Alfred had already given into the kiss when he finally snapped out of it and bit Ivan's lip. The Winter King leaned back, licking the blood off his lower lip.

"Hmm… I love a challenge," Ivan said. "We will become one and you will give me your wish."

"I'll die first," Alfre said. "I'll never betray my kind."

"Nyet," Ivan said and covered Alfred's mouth with a lilac flower petal. A scent that made fairies drowsy. He felt sleep hitting him.

It was not just the lilac that gentled Alfred; it was Ivan himself. The man smelled like nothing Alfred had ever encountered before.

He squirmed in the saddle, but slowly his muscles relaxed and he was pulled against Ivan. That scent wrapped around him and comforted him. In his hazy state, Alfred wondered if this was the scent of an Alpha.

All he wanted was more.

"You need not fear," Ivan said, cool breath tickling his ear. "We've built a special place for you, omega. One you'll never leave. I will be good to you. As my mate you will want for nothing."

Alfred's eyes rolled up.

Never, he kept saying.

His last thought.

My wish is not for you.

TBC in… "Gilded Cage For A Hero"

(Note —

*sigh* That's now two updates in a row where Ivan kidnaps Alfred. Is there a theme here?

Note # 2 —

You won't see the narrator again, except maybe in peeks — haven't decided — until the end of the story when their identity is revealed.

But kudos if you can guess as the story progresses who is telling this story. Bigger kudos if you can guess why.