Chapter 32: Uprising

Seeking refuge behind the shattering barrier that the fairies had conjured up, Kendra took a good, solid look at the opposition standing before them. Murdred was still blasting more beams of white energy out of his evil eye, and using them in an attempt to smash through the barrier.

Standing by Murdred's side were Demoric and Helwic, who were shooting bolts of darkness and streams of fire from their hands at the barrier respectively.

But most shockingly of all was Seth, who was standing in the center of the group. Murdred's claw-like hand resting upon both of his shoulders, Seth was just sneering at the Kendra and her allies. It was as though he was enjoying the thrill of destroying his former friends and family.

"This isn't working!" cried Bracken, as he shot a small stream of magic from his hands at the barrier in an effort to reinforce it. "The weaker we get, the weaker the barrier gets!"

"We should transform into our unicorn selves," said Brillia, as she proceeded to shift from her human body into her unicorn one. "They're stronger."

"But only you five can become true unicorns," said Passion.

"And it won't matter much anyway," noted Brook, who had already transformed by this point. "Right now we've already exhausted too much of our power for it to make any difference."

Kendra looked back across the desolate wasteland that had previously been Fablehaven, and saw the Fairy Queen. She was standing at the former site of the house, holding an incomplete Omega Star in her hand; Kendra still had possession of the Sizeshifter.

"Your majesty," shouted Kendra. "Please! You must help us!"

"Kendra," said the Fairy Queen telepathically. "This altered world emanates too much power even for myself. I can barely work my magic as it is in this place."

"But you're the ruler of the fairies!" exclaimed Kendra. "All these other fairies are still fighting."

"As powerful as I am, I am equally as vulnerable to darkness as I am in control of light. Think of myself as being a double-edged sword."

At that moment, the barrier then shattered into thousands of tiny pieces, all of which vanished before they could so much as fall to the ground.

"You are finished!" hissed Murdred. "Perish!"

Murdred then fire another energy beam out through his evil eye and shot Kendra with it. A stinging feeling overwhelmed here entire body. Although she was still conscious, Kendra could barely even move.

"Help me!" cried Kendra, squinting her eyes shut. Although nothing was happening to her physically, Kendra felt as though her entire body had been set on fire.

"No!" screamed Bracken. Still being targeted by Murdred and enduring his pain, Kendra opened her eyes in time to watch as Bracken, in his unicorn body, trotted over towards Kendra. As he lowered his horn down to nudge Kendra with it, the unicorn bounced back the moment he made contact with her.

"OW!" neighed Bracken, wincing as smoke singed from the tip of his horn. "It's... too much!"

Kendra then fell to her knees, as the stinging sensation continued, courtesy of Murdred's evil eye.

"This looks like fun," said Demoric. "Permission to blast one of the others?"

"Denied," snorted Murdred. "I want the pleasure of destroying these insufferable fairies all to myself."

"As you command, Lord Murdred."

Murdred chuckled. "I don't need your help. These fairies are all too weak to stop me anyway. This human, however, is taking a bit longer than I'd like, though. But they're helpless. And I will destroy them all."

"You'll have to get through me first, Murdred!" said the Fairy Queen. The effects of Murdred's assault on Kendra had stopped, giving her a chance to see that the Fairy Queen had now appeared in the center of the group, holding the four other instruments in her hands.

"Ah, the queen of the fairies," said Murdred. "You sicken me in so many ways. As much as I hate other races and beliefs, you are the bane of my existence."

"Mother!" exclaimed Bright. "Get away from here!"

"I hate fairies," said Murdred. "And I loathe the idea of a female-run society. Forget this fairy girl, I've found someone much more worthy of being the first one to fall."

"Kendra," said the Fairy Queen, "Give me the Sizeshifter. Now!"

Staggering to stand up, Kendra presented the Sizeshifter over to the Fairy Queen, and connected it to the other four instruments, enabling them to reform the Omega Star.

"I need Vasilis," said the Fairy Queen, just as Murdred's energy beam hit her. However, unlike with Kendra, the Fairy Queen seemed to be enduring the hit fairly well. Presumably, it was the power of the Omega Star that was shielding her.

Warren then presented the fabled sword to the Fairy Queen, doing his best to stay away from the beam that was currently blasting her.

"This ends now," said the Fairy Queen, placing the Omega Star onto Vasilis' hilt. Kendra didn't know why, but somehow the two became attached to each other upon contact. The blade of Vasilis shone intensely, to the point where it was nearly blinding to Kendra's eyes.

"What's that?" asked Murdred, who had now closed his evil eye in order to see out through his two normal ones.

"If I don't survive this," said the Fairy Queen, turning to face her kin, "I love each and every one of you."

"Mom, wait!" cried Bright.

Ignoring her daughter's request, the Fairy Queen wielded Vasilis in her hands, then levitated up off of the ground. She then aimed the tip of the sword directly towards Murdred.

"You are a fool," said Murdred. "I am immortal and I resist the power of those pathetic crystals. Nothing can stop me."

Saying nothing, the Fairy Queen's body began to glow in a rainbow of colors. She then charged forward towards Murdred in a rapid burst of light, thrusting Vasilis in front of herself. The moment that the Fairy Queen made contact with Murdred, there was a blinding flash, which prompted Kendra to shut her eyes for several seconds before it started to fade.

Kendra looked over at where the Fairy Queen had attacked Murdred. Murdred's eyes were closed, as the Demon God appeared to be writhing in pain. The Fairy Queen was nowhere to be seen.

Seth turned around and looked up at Murdred. "I'm... myself again. But the Fairy Queen... No!"

"Seth!" gasped Kendra. "Are you okay?"

"My strength is slowly returning," said Geminus. "But what about the Fairy Queen?"

"Where's the Fairy Queen?" asked Bravia. "What happened to mother?"

"My eye," growled Murdred. "My third eye! What have you done?"

Murdred proceeded to open his third eye. But there was no eyeball to be seen. All that remained was a dark, empty socket.

In control of his body again, Seth noticed Vasilis lying on the ground next to him. However, the Omega Star appeared to be missing. He then bent down, picked up the sword, and wielded it in his hand.

"Put that sword down, now!" snarled Demoric, as black bolts of energy flowed through the fingers of his raised hands.

Seth held Vasilis back, then tossed it at Demoric as though it were a javelin. Before the negafae could so much as react, the sword had penetrated a hole directly through his heart. Screaming in pain, energy from within Vasilis flowed out into Demoric's entire body, disintegrating it entirely within seconds.

"Demoric!" cried Murdred. "What have you done to him?"

Seth attempted to go to where Demoric had stood in an attempt to recover the fallen Vasilis, but Murdred grabbed him with his claw and lifted him off of the ground.

"Put me down!" cried Seth.

"You dare resist me?"

"I hate you!" screamed Seth. "I want nothing to do with you! You are a miserable, selfish, unfeeling, uncharismatic MONSTER! You killed the Fairy Queen! You killed Sarah!"

"You are such a fool!" said Helwic, flashing a grin.

"What do you mean?"

"Sarah... was me!"

"No..." said Seth, his mouth aghast. Kendra and the others were all speechless.

Helwic's entire body spontaneously combusted on the spot, revealing herself to be Sarah. "Believe it," she said, speaking in Sarah's voice.

"You can't be Sarah," said Seth. "Sarah was... nice."

"It was all fake," said Helwic, remaining in Sarah's body, but speaking in her normal voice. "When you first came to the Demon Domain, we learned of your predicament as a shadow charmer. So Murdred came up with the idea of having me pretend to be a shadow charmer to gain your trust."

Seth could not believe what he was hearing. He was speechless.

"When I shook your hand back in the dungeon, I absorbed the darkness I needed to better endure this world. Those directions to the Floodmaze and the Necromaster? I didn't find them! Murdred gave them to me for you guys to discover! We had no way of entering a vault sealed by fairy magic!"

"But, Grandpa spoke to your parents..."

"I took control of your Grandpa so that I could remain at Fablehaven as long as I needed to."

"But when the adlets destroyed the bridge..."

"All staged. That wand was garbage. I used my inner power to open the portal like I always do. I wasn't really going to let the only known shadow charmer in existence fall to his death. And since the Necromaster had been found when we got back, that was the perfect time to steal it. I wasn't planning on Ingrid being around, that's for sure. But since she was here anyway, I disguised myself as her and stole the Necromaster, then sent it through a portal back to the Demon Domain. All that was left was making sure you returned to the Demon Domain. But we figured that you'd come back at some point anyway, and sure enough you did."

"No," said Seth. "This isn't happening! This isn't happening!"

"This is happening," said Murdred. "Come, Helwic! We must return to the Demon Domain to tend to my eye. And to bring back Seth. We still have plenty of elixir left to serve him."

"Enough!" snapped Kendra, standing before Murdred with all the fairies, dragons and unicorns all gathered around her. "Put my brother down! Now!"

"I take orders from no one. Especially a weak, insignificant girl like yourself."

"That does it," said Kendra, turning to face her allies. "You all must be feeling better by now, right? Well, I think it's time for you all to show Murdred your true power. Now!"

All lined up in a row, the six full-bodied fairies nodded in unison. They held out the palms of their hands before their bodies, which all began to glow. Passion unleashed a red stream of sparkles from her hands. Tiara expelled an orange stream, Goldenrod yellow, Clover green, Larissa blue and Opal a purple one. The six sparkling streams formed together into a vibrant rainbow that collided with Murdred.

At the same time, Raxtus and Geminus both opened their mouths and each spewed out a stream of sparkling white fire. The streams of white fire also blasted Murdred in conjunction with the fairies' rainbow.

Finally, Bright, Bracken, Brillia, Bravia and Brook, all in their unicorn forms, each exerted a spiraling beam of energy out of their horns. The rainbow-colored beams all shot out like lasers, which flew through the air and hit Murdred.

"NOOOOOOO!" screamed Murdred, as he dropped Seth to the ground and raised his arms in an attempt to defend himself from the myriad of fairy energy that was assaulting him. "NO! NO! NO!"

"Lord Murdred!" exclaimed Helwic. "What should I do? There's too many of them!"

"Retreat! My power is weakening! Helwic! Open a portal to the Demon Domain before I'm destroyed!"

Helwic snapped her fingers, prompting a black portal to open up behind Murdred, who was still under attack by the fairies.

"This isn't over!" snarled Murdred. "You may have won for now, but as long as evil and hatred still exist, I WILL live on!"

Murdred then dove backwards into the portal, vanishing back into the Demon Domain. Helwic dashed in after him, and the portal quickly sealed itself up. Once it had disappeared, the fairies all ceased their attacks.

Kendra looked over at the spot where Murdred had been standing. Laying there on his stomach was Seth. While he was conscious, Seth appeared to be very weary and barely able to stand up.

"Seth!" gasped Kendra, as she ran over to her brother and helped him up to his feet. His hands and arms appeared to be bruised. Tears were also dripping from his eyes. "Are you... okay?"

"Kendra..." said Seth. "They're... gone."

Seth proceeded to wrap his arms firmly around Kendra's body and gave her a strong hug. In response, Kendra did the same.

"It's okay, Seth," said Kendra. "It's over. It's finally over. Murded is gone."

"The Fairy Queen," said Bracken sternly, as he and all the others came over to Kendra's side. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know," replied Kendra. "After that huge flash, she just... vanished."

"So did the Omega Star," said Seth, pointing to Vasilis, which had fallen nearby. "The Fairy Queen had attached it to the hilt of Vasilis, hadn't she?"

"I don't get it," said Warren. "It's like the Fairy Queen combined her strength, along with the Omega Star and Vasilis, into one powerful weapon. One so powerful, it destroyed Murdred's evil eye."

"But at what cost?" asked Brillia. "The impact appears to have done away with Mother and the five instruments."

"Is she really gone?" asked Opal. "Is the Fairy Queen gone?"

"What about the instruments of eternal power?" asked Clover.

"If the Fairy Queen is gone," said Passion, "who will lead us?"

Brillia sighed. "I know not what happened to Mother or to the instruments. However, with the Fairy Queen missing, along with Father in no condition to be in power, being the Fairy Queen's eldest child, I hereby pronounce myself as the new ruler of the fairies. For the time being, at least."

"All hail the new Fairy Queen," said Bravia, as she bowed before her elder sister, as did the other unicorns, fairies and dragons. Kendra, Warren and even Seth all bowed as well.

"What do we do now?" asked Bright. "Murdred may be gone, but we still need to find Mother and the instruments. Where would we even start looking?"

"I have absolutely no idea," replied Brillia.

"But, what if we never find her?" asked Brook. "Or the instruments?"

"I know no more than you do about the situation at hand. I am just as eager to help as the rest of you are. But none of us have any leads as to where we should start looking. And besides, we have another urgent problem to deal with. Look around you."

Everybody, including Kendra and Seth, looked around at the desolate wasteland that Fablehaven had been transformed into. The place was a living nightmare, with geysers of lava bursting out of the ground in the distance.

"Fablehaven has been altered. Most of its residents have been transmogrified into savage monsters. "We must restore it. Bravia, Brook, Bracken, Bright. Let us place our horns together."

Brillia bent her head down, pointing her horn forward. Likewise, the other four unicorns all gathered around in a circle, so that all five of their horns were pressing against each other at their tips. The five unicorns then pointed their horns upwards shooting one large beam of energy into the air.

The beam formed a rainbow that arced across the horizon over the entire preserve. A myriad of colorful sparkles then poured down from the rainbow, scattering all across Fablehaven.

"What's going on?" asked Kendra.

Warren smirked. "Now that's what I can a rainbow."

As the sparkles made contact with the ground, Kendra and Seth watched as the world around them magically transformed from a demonic landscape, back into the lush greenery of the Fablehaven preserve. The garden, lawn and surrounding forest had returned. Even the house and barn appeared to be back in their proper positions.

"It's back!" gasped Goldenrod. "It's all back!"

"Of course it's back," said Brillia, as the unicorns backed away from each other and reverted back into their fairy bodies. "Murdred's power only altered Fablehaven. It didn't actually destroy it."

"What about our family?" asked Seth.

"We're okay!" said Mr. Sorenson, whose voice came from the edge of the lawn. Standing there with him was the rest of the family, all back in their human bodies.

"Mom!" gasped Kendra. "Dad! Grandpa! Grandma! Dale! You're all okay!"

"That was weird," said Grandma, as she and the others walked towards the group. "What happened during all that time?"

"We stopped Murdred!" said Seth, tension surging through his veins. "And I even slayed Demoric! But, Murdred and Helwic got away. But... the Fairy Queen is gone! And so are the instruments! And Sarah..."

"What about Sarah?" asked Mrs. Sorenson.

"There's, uh... quite a bit we need to discuss," said Warren.

"Worst of all is that we didn't even kill Murdred," said Seth. "I failed."

At that point, a small troll magically appeared by Seth's side. "Are you Seth Sorenson?" it asked in a slimy voice.

"Where'd you come from?" asked Dale.

Seth rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"

"I am a hologram, sent here on behalf of the Singing Sisters. They've detected Murdred's defeat, and they've sent me here to tell you that you've fulfilled your contractual obligation to them. I don't say this very often, but congratulations, you're off the hook."

"But, Murdred's still alive..." said Seth, unable to tell if whether or not all that weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"The Sisters asked for you to see to it that Murdred was defeated. Exact words. He may not be dead, but he was weakened and forced into retreating. As such, since he has in fact been defeated, your part of the bargain is complete. Thank you and have a nice day."

The troll then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I don't believe it," said Seth. "I'm free! I'm actually free! But, I wasn't even the one who defeated Murdred. That was the doing of the fairies."

"Who cares?" said Warren. "I mean, don't look a gift unicorn in the mouth. You're a free man now!"

Seth nodded, then let out a pleased smile on his face. At this point, Ingrid walked out through the front door of the house.

"Ingrid?" asked Seth. "What's going on?"

"Oh my god," said Kendra. "I'm so sorry about earlier!"

"I just had the strangest dream," said Ingrid, walking over towards everybody. "I was having this nightmare where I turned into some ugly monster. And I think I was back in the Demon Domain! But at the end, everything was back to normal. And I felt... happy."

"Ingrid, I think we all owe you a big apology," said Bright.

"The Sorensons will look after her for now," said Brillia. "I want you, Bravia, Brook and Bracken to return to the Fairy Kingdom with me. We have a lot attend to right now."