A Fairy Tale by Acy Ash (top ten books of all time txt) 📕

Once upon a time there was a little fairy that lived far away on a mountain. It was cold up there, so the fairy didn't fly very often. Most of her powers wouldn't work that good as well, because they needed warmth to work. All she could do was creating fire to keep her warm and to let some special plants inside a cave grow. Every morning she melted some snow to drink and ate some plants to live. She also had to wear special furs to keep her warm when the fire burned out. It was a hard life she lived, but for her it was   honour to guard this mountain.

It was a secret even for the most fairies, but on the top of this high and gigantic mountain was the location for a portal that could carry you in a far known world with strange creatures and even stranger powers.

No one was allowed to enter this portal except the royal family. Her job was to defend the portal from wretched creatures that have to come to know of its existence.

But on this day something happened that nobody did expect. It was still dawn when she woke. Inside the cave the walls were glowing and changing colours like nothing she had seen before and there was a loud whistling sound which alarmed her even more. Something was wrong.

She grabbed her alarm horn as well as her spear and ran outside the cave, expecting to see magic creatures trying to storm the portal. But when she reached the outside, no creatures were waiting in the shadows of the dawn. Everything seemed normal, except the portal itself. The small glowing light had grown to a pulsing colourful heartbeat and it won more power with every wave of light. Astonished stared the fairy into the light, unable to sort her thoughts. What was happening? There was nobody around; nothing seemed to endanger the portal. Why was it glowing like this?

When the royal family informed her about the portal, they told her that only a member of them was allowed to open the portal. But they did not tell her that a gate like this could be opened from both sides and that someone was opening it. 

The pulsing light got brighter and brighter and it started to hurt her eyes. Mel tried to protect herself by looking away and holding her hands up. But even the shadows seemed to start shining so all she could do was flying back to her cave. 

A loud sound thundered through the air, blasting snow and coldness into the last corner of the cave, freezing the plants, the water and even the burning fire she had enlightened over the dark night.

Mel was too confused to be furious of what this blast of coldness had done to her home. She got up the instant this sound faded away and stormed still alarmed outside again, ready to kill what has started this explosion.

Again nothing met her eye except the normal snowy top of this mountain. It was strange how peaceful and quiet the landscape looked. She seemed to be the only witness of the explosion. Worried she climbed to the top where the now friendly shining portal was located. How irritating this was! There had been no sign of anyone. Had she failed to be a guard? Had there been something unseen that now lived in the far away world?

To be sure what happened she checked the surroundings of the gate, but everything looked right. It was frustrating. Even if she wasn't able to understand the situation, she had to give message to the royal family. They had to know that something crossed the border and the sooner the message was sent the better for defence.

Unlucky she started to climb down again when she suddenly heard someone moan. Surprised she turned around, waiting to hear the sound again. 
There was no other moan, but the rustling of clothes and snow right under the portal. That had to be the villain! He or she must have tried to travel through the portal and failed, lucky for her. Mel took her spear and remembering her training and education she jumped at the moving thing in the snow, ready to kill.

But as soon as she saw what creature was under her with her blue shining spear at its neck, she snapped for breath.

Warm dark blue eyes of a male fairy stared at her, widened with fear and fury. The emblem on his crest shimmered in turquoise light, showing a symbol Mel never had seen before. If he was a fairy than his crest should have told her either from which family he came or what his duty was.

She herself wore a golden crest showing a circle and a spear, the symbol of the highest duty, the duty of a guardian. And before she was allowed to do this task, she had to do a lot of tests. One of them had her learn all the existing symbols of the fairies. She knew a symbol when she saw it, but his showed a diamond over waves, thus this was not a sign from this world. 
Mel thought about the rebels. Was it possible that they created their own crests with the symbols of the revolution? She didn't know and there was only one way to find out. 

"What is that symbol on your crest?" She asked and lowered her spear closer to the throat of the strange fairy. He continued staring at her without answering her question as if he wasn't able to understand her. Than shock moved his stoned face and he spoke surprised: "You speak my language!" Mel, now confused, just pressed her spear closer and repeated growling: "The symbol. On you crest!"

Recognition flooded through his blue eyes and a cold and diplomatic look manifested in them. "The diamond on the waves refers to the great royal family of Orca, the crystal water city. You should have heard of us. We are friends of the royal family of Ica, the grand ice city. I hope you have at least heard of them."

Mel put her spear away as she heard his words. She didn't know Orca, but as a guard of Ica, she knew the ice city, a place with white buildings and snow crystals everywhere. The city was situated on the top of a mountain, not as high as this one, but high enough for a good defendable position. She knew some of the city guards who patrolled in the outer circle. They trained beside her and only the best were able to get a position in the inner ones. 

As she was told every fairy city had a crystal stone which was shining over the city, marking it as a place of high magic and so had Ica. The crystal of the icy city was shaped in a big snowflake. She knew there were a few of the other cities deep down the valley and visitors said they had crystals shaped like leaves or flowers. But she never had heard of a diamond. That wasn't natural.
The male fairy looked unsure at Mel than he decided to get up. "Are you one of the guardians?" He asked mustering her golden crest and the spear in her hand. 

Mel noticed that he was taller than her so she stood as straight as possible; waiting for one wrong signal for him thus she knew he was the enemy. But he didn't seem to be dangerous at all. He had no weapons, no horn, no warm clothes, no bag with food - he was the worst prepared fairy Mel had ever seen. 

She just nodded at his question. The fairy clapped the snow of his thin clothes and finally shivered against the cold. Mel had expected that reaction much sooner. On the top of the mountain it was even cold for her in all her furs. His silk should have been frozen by now. On the other hand she knew nothing about his powers. If his crest was really the symbol of this water crystal city and if it really belonged to the royal family, than he had a very high status. Should she help him? In her heart she had already decided that he wasn't a rebel but a real traveller though the portal. Well, she couldn't rely on her heart. All of her decisions were made with her brain, but she wasn't completely heartless.

"I live in a cave a few jumps down there. If you want to warm up…” - "Yes!" The winged man replied instantly and started to head to her cave. Oh yeah. What a nice person, Mel thought while her grip on the blue spear tightened. The best probably was to blow the horn anyway and send an alarm to Ica. But first things first. There was a strange male fairy who claimed to come from an unknown city and she had to figure out if he was lying or not.

While he stepped down the mountain, Mel mustered him more closely. He had blond bright hair, broad shoulders and moved like he knew how to use a weapon but in the same time he was walking straight and conscious as someone who was used to command. He didn't seem very cautious as if he didn't expect any attack. His body language was one of a royal family and not of a rebel.

When he stepped into the cave he snorted: "You don't even have a burning fire in here? You must really be from Ica..." Mel grimly got in front of him and started to light the fire again. "The portal froze everything when you tried to open it." She explained and took old dry hey out of a bag. 

"Tried to open?! I did open it, otherwise I wouldn't be here!" He snapped. "So you say." She countered calmly. She hit her fire stones together, again and again. The sound of them filled the sudden silence. Then finally sparks enlightened the dry plants and she put it under the burning stones. The burning stones were a gift of the guardian before her. These precious stones were very rare and expensive but necessary in order to survive here. Once inflamed they kept on burning for a long