The Tale of the Darkest Faerie: Part Two

     To Dark Faeries everywhere...

     The Dark Faerie sighed and put her pen down. It was impossible, this letter, this thing that she had to do. She shook her head and removed the fancy stationery. The old, tattered notebook glowed in the moonlight as she gracefully grasped the quill. The quill was still as the faerie looked outside the window, dreaming away to the past that had been. More memories returned as she started to write.

     -

     The path to being a full-fledged dark faerie was long and tough. Few could endure it, and even fewer graduated from the Academy. Delia was aware of it, but she was sure that her friend Desdemona would graduate. The naive little faerie didn't doubt her friend's abilities, though sometimes she thought about that interesting comment.

     "The Darkest Faerie of them all!"

     However, as with any legend, the problems were there. There were rivalries, obstacles and more... and she would have to prove to be worthy.

     Delia was grateful of the bond of friendship between her and Desdemona. She was quite proud to have a powerful friend like that. There was no more bullying after that incident in the library, which was a thing that Delia was very grateful for.

     The light friendship that began turned into a deep one, and soon Delia was like a shadow. She followed her savior everywhere and helped out whenever she could. The little dark faerie had believed that her friend was invincible and that no one would even dare to think of challenging Desdemona, but one day she learned that she was wrong.

     It was a quite dark and gloomy day. Delia was walking down a hallway when she heard some shouts and taunts. Desdemona had gone ahead, and now her friend was worrying that something bad would happen to her. Delia walked faster as she heard the voices grow louder.

     "Such a shame," she heard a dark faerie say. Delia turned around the corner and saw Desdemona and several faeries. They had heard her come, and the dark faeries turned their heads around. Delia froze.

     It was the dark faeries that had teased her in the library, on that fateful day. What were they doing here? Delia quickly walked forward to Desdemona, but the leader that had been hit by her book stopped her.

     "Trying to defend your friend, weakling?" she asked as she tossed a black orb in the air. "Sorry, but this time you don't have any books." The leader turned around and glared at Desdemona.

     "Well, well... Trying to outdo us..." she muttered as Desdemona brushed her arm away and positioned herself beside Delia.

     "Trying to corner me?" Desdemona asked. "Tsk, tsk..." She waved a finger in front of the dark faerie's nose.

     "Don't think that you're good for anything, you little brat!" the leader growled.

     "Of course not, cousin Mesmeria," Desdemona said, grinning.

     "How dare you! I'm a lady!" the faerie named Mesmeria cried out as her two followers took a step forward.

     "Ah, how picturesque," Desdemona commented sarcastically. Delia admired that brave spirit and the satire... Oh, how she wished that she might be as good as Desdemona someday! "The three Dark Faerie Sisters," the Dark Faerie declared.

     Mesmeria shot an angry glare before she continued icily. "Our family's honor is at stake... and you're making it worse!"

     "We're not family," Desdemona said coldly. Delia stood still. She had never seen her friend so serious before. The verbal battle that was waged between the two parties was too deep for her to understand. All she got was that Desdemona and these scary bullies were cousins.

     "Of course we are, dear cousin," the faerie to Mesmeria's right said. "Enough with your games and fun... It's time to join the winning side."

     "And drop that little parasite," the faerie to Mesmeria's right said, pointing at Delia. The little faerie shuddered as all three of them glared at her. Then she felt a touch on her back, and felt quite relieved.

     "I believe," Desdemona said, "that I'm on the winning side. You are the losers."

     "By sucking up to an ancient, noble freak who can't do anything?" Mesmeria raised her eyebrow. "Now, really..." She gave an elegant wave to her sisters. "Let's leave, Desiree, Cruella." The two faeries quickly followed the leader, and Cruella blew a raspberry at the two friends.

     "You may not be it yet, but you will..." Desdemona muttered darkly as she watched her cousins leave.

     "What was that?" Delia asked, feeling that it was somewhat safe now. The air had held so much tension when the faeries were insulting each other, so much dislike and hate... She shuddered, thankful at the fact that she didn't have horrible relatives like those three.

     "My annoying relatives," Desdemona replied calmly. Delia noticed that her normally pale skin was even whiter at the knuckles, if that was possible. "My family doesn't happen to have a high rank in this society, while their family does. Overall, we're okay but not really respected..."

     "I respect you!" Delia said. "I don't understand why they were so snooty..."

     "They just want to be the best, and perhaps they're angry that I'm friends with you," her friend said thoughtfully. Delia felt a little bit happy over the fact that she was of some importance. "Anyway, it's not over yet..."

     "It's not?" the little faerie asked, wondering what Desdemona had in store for them. If it had been her, she would've just given up because she didn't have any talents or the courage to fight. This is what she liked about Desdemona... If things didn't come, the Dark Faerie came to them.

     "Well, I've got to do something," Desdemona muttered. Gritting her teeth, she growled, "Revenge..."

     -

     Desdemona's revenge was carefully planned. The spell had been prepared and the items were ready. Delia watched as her friend recited the incantation and held out the items. She could feel the powerful magic coming from the pot that the Dark Faerie was stirring. The hair on her skin stood up and she shivered as Desdemona's voice grew louder and louder.

     Bang! The explosion was much more forceful than Delia expected. The whole room shook and a black fog came flying out from the pot and disappeared through the window.

     A somewhat scarred Desdemona turned her head around, her eyes glowing of a sinister red that Delia had never seen before. She mumbled something and moved her hand over the pot. Intense waves ran through the room, centering on the pot, and then it was gone.

     "There," the Dark Faerie said. "Now let's see who's the best..."

     Delia was scared. Her good friend, who had always been nice but quiet... Like this? She recalled the red eyes with a shudder. She would remember those for the rest of her life. The little faerie took out a crystal ball and touched it with her magic. Instantly the bluish mist inside cleared and showed of the Dark Faerie Sisters.

     "Success," Desdemona stated as they observed a little black cloud of fog coming through the window and hovering over the sisters.

     "It's a little bit small, though..." the Dark Faerie trailed off as she watched her creation. "But it will last longer that way."

     Delia had read about the spell in one of the old books at her private library at home. She knew it was a very hard spell to do, especially for someone who hadn't graduated from a magical school. She admired her friend even more, if that was possible.

     She giggled as she watched the Dark Faerie Sisters' unfortunate occurrences the following day. Delia made sure to follow them, and laugh loudly whenever Mesmeria did something funny, like tripping on a box and falling into a puddle of dung, getting up again just to be hit by a twig.

     "You're really great," she said to Desdemona when the day ended. "They were having 'bad luck' the whole day..."

     "It was nothing," Desdemona said. She was soon off to her own land, leaving Delia behind. The little faerie decided to think about the events that had happened. She recalled the happy times... the sad times... But she couldn't forget how scary Desdemona had looked when she uttered the words 'The Darkest Faerie'.

     Delia didn't have any doubt; her friend would be a true dark faerie. She was a little bit worried about herself and that graduation... Suddenly she remembered something.

     There had been a fuss over something in the Academy that was called the Dark Faerie Queen. The Queen was a person of power, having quite an amount of power. She had to be a student and quite clever, in order to stay on the throne. Anyone could be Queen if they just had that grip of terror around the school, but few did. Therefore, mostly the new Queen was decided by a brave faerie challenging the old Queen. Was that what Desdemona meant with 'The Darkest Faerie'?

     A black Beekadoodle flew through the window and landed in Desdemona's hair. She quickly grabbed the petpet and snatched the letter that it had carried. Delia quickly took care the poor little petpet and let it sleep in one of her dresses.

     "What does it say?" Delia asked, curious. Desdemona looked up from the letter, her face a little bit flustered and her fists clenched, scrunching the letter.

     "A duel." Many things flashed through Delia's mind. Thousand possibilities... anything could happen, but it certainly didn't sound good.

     "Don't," she whispered, having a bad feeling about it all. "It's rather fishy..."

     "I'll have to," Desdemona replied. "For my honor, my family and the future that I plan to have."

To be continued...