by Virlyce
Rella burst out into laughter as tears streamed down her cheeks. “You look beautiful, Vur. Absolutely stunning,” she said as she rolled around in the air.
Vur frowned at the frilly, white dress adorning his body. “I’m pretty sure the bride is the one that’s supposed to wear the dress.”
“No, no,” Bella said and shook her head. “That’s for olden times only! Times have changed while you were comatose! We’re entering a new era. Everyone knows that the groom also wears a dress. The books you’ve been reading are way toooo old.”
“Right,” Rella said and nodded. Her body shook as she gasped for air. “Now you just have to wear this wig and everything will be perfect!” She held up a bright-red wig with shoulder-length hair.
“I refuse,” Vur said and crossed his arms over his chest. “I think my hair is an appropriate length.”
Rella sighed as she dropped the wig. “Well, I’ll take what I can get,” she said and grinned. “Let me trim some edges and apply some hairpins.”
“And this dress won’t be complete until you have breasts,” Bella said with a nod. “I can illusion those up for you. And here, these heels totally match your outfit.”
Vur frowned as he stared at the pink heels in front of his feet. Bella tugged on his dress. “What are you waiting for? Tafel’s going to be wearing heels too, you know? What if she ends up taller then you?”
“Makes sense,” Vur said and slipped on the shoes as flecks of his hair drifted in the air.
“How about some earrings?” Rella said as she put away her scissors. “I think a tiny diamond stud would suit you perfectly. Actually”—Rella hid a needle behind her back as Vur glared at her—“we probably shouldn’t poke any holes in you.”
Rella and Bella flew in a circle around Vur. “I’m almost jealous of how pretty he looks,” Bella said and frowned.
“He’s still missing something,” Rella said and rubbed her chin. “I know! Get the primer. He needs some blush.” Rella nodded and picked up a bottle of foundation.
“What are you going to do now?” Vur asked as he eyed the bottle in Rella’s hand.
“Some wizardry,” Rella said and giggled. “Just trust us and don’t ask any more questions. Close your eyes too. Everyone’s going to be speechless with awe by the time we’re done with you.”
‘You’re sure he’s not going to kill us, right?’ Bella mouthed as she applied the primer to Vur’s face.
‘It’s okay,’ Rella mouthed back as she waited for Bella to finish. ‘No one’s going to say anything because they’ll be too scared to criticize him. Remember that donkey tale about the king who went around naked that Mom used to tell us?’
Bella nodded as she placed the primer back on the table. ‘I think it’s best if we stay away from him for at least a hundred years afterwards though,’ she mouthed as she got the blush ready.
“Are you done yet?” Vur asked.
“No!” Rella said. “Stop talking. I almost smeared your face.”
***
Gale sat in his room with his feet propped up on his desk. His robes were discarded on the bed behind him, and a mug of ale was on the stool next to him. He scratched his naked belly and sighed as he closed his eyes with a smile.
“Ahem.”
Gale’s eyes shot open as he scrambled to get his feet off the desk. His head whipped around, searching for the source of the noise.
“Up here.”
Gale raised his head. A golden spirit’s face floated just below the ceiling.
“Weren’t you attending the wedding?” Gale asked as he covered his crotch with his hands.
“Yes, but we were conducting a final round through the temple to make sure everything was in order before we went,” the spirit said in a monotonous voice. “So far, we only found one thing out of place. You.”
Gale’s face reddened as he lowered his head. “I’m not good with skeletons,” he mumbled. “I can’t attend the wedding. It’s just not possible.”
“That’s fine,” the spirit said. “Carry on with what you’re doing. We’ll be going now. If any problems arise, call us back right away with a crystal. The capital is surprisingly void of any humans. Except for you.”
“I understand,” Gale said, still not looking up.
“Good,” the spirit said as it dispersed.
Gale sighed and propped his legs back up on the desk. He grabbed the mug next to him and took a swig. “Nothing’s going to happen,” he said and burped. He shook his head as his body shivered. “Damned skeletons.”
Below him, in the temple’s basement, a crack formed on one of the runes in the sealing formation.
***
“Where’s Vur?” Lindyss asked Paul. The two were outside a small building on top of a hill. To the north, there was a sea of people surrounding an altar with a single red line splitting the crowd down the middle. They were waiting in the fields where the fairies had set up their base, but the holes had been filled in earlier by skeletons.
“H-he’s over there,” Paul said and pointed with a trembling finger at a building to the south. “Two fairies came by and said they had something really important that needed to be done before the wedding started.”
The door behind Paul swung open, and Lillian stepped outside wearing a pink dress and no shoes. “Did you see my heels?” she asked. “I swear I left them next to the door.”
Paul shook his head as Lindyss flew towards the building he pointed to. He let out the breath he was holding. “I swear,” he said and clenched his hands, “I’ll never get used to Vur’s relatives. They’re the kind of people you hear about in tavern songs.”
“Hey. I’m a hero too, you know?” Lillian stuck out her chest. “I was blessed by Lady Solandra, remember? And I’m also a duchess, you plebian.”
“You haven’t done anything though,” Paul said and shook his head. “It’s not the same. She’s the Corrupted One: the person who guards over the Fountain of Youth, the person who established the treaty between our nation and the wilderness, the person who founded a kingdom by herself through necromancy.”
Lillian smacked his shoulder. “I thought you liked Michelle,” she said. “Why do you sound so infatuated with Lindyss? Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for her too.”
“What?” Paul asked and furrowed his brow. “Don’t be stupid. She just makes me feel so small. I would still be some backwater noble if it weren’t for Vur. And look at that mountain”—he pointed towards a mountain in the southeast—“over there. Those are real dragons. Those”—he pointed towards the west—“are real elves and dryads. And I’ve never even seen or heard of anything like those snake people to the south. There are so many things I would never have encountered if I hadn’t met Vur.”
“Eh, I suppose you’re right,” Lillian said and scratched her head. “I wouldn’t have won that competition if it weren’t for Vur. But that just means we’re blessed with really good luck, right? That’s a strength in itself.”
“Only you would count good luck as one of your strengths,” Paul said and shook his head. “Luck’s not something you can rely on. You’ll run out one day when you need it most.”
“Hey,” Lillian said and slapped his back. “Don’t say something so ominous to me, you jinx. Don’t you know this is how death flags are raised in stories?”
Paul exhaled and rubbed his back. “This is why you have to rely on luck,” he said. “You’re always reading stories instead of learning something practical.”
***
Rella giggled as she capped her lipstick and tossed it onto the table. “All done,” she said and beamed. “You can open your eyes now. Twirl around and look at your back too.”
Vur frowned as he stared at himself in the mirror. “What did you do to my face?”
“Wizardry! We already told you this,” Bella said and placed her hands on her hips. “Tafel’s going to love how you look.”
The door behind the trio swung open. The two fairies froze, including their wings, but they somehow managed to
stay in the air. Lindyss furrowed her brow when she met Vur’s gaze through the mirror. “Sorry. Wrong room,” she said and closed the door. The fairies’ wings flapped again as they glanced at each other.
The door opened again. “Vur?” Lindyss asked with a frown. “What the hell are you doing?”
Vur tilted his head. “What do you mean?” he asked. “You told me to wear this.”
“Flee?” Bella asked Rella.
“Flee!”
The two fairies managed to dart outside the room before two tendrils shot out of Lindyss’ shadow and sealed their movements. “Explain,” Lindyss said as the tendrils squeezed the sisters.
“We were wrong! Please don’t kill—”
The fairies’ wails were silenced as their mouths were gagged. “Rella and Bella told me you wanted me to change clothes,” Vur said as he frowned at the struggling fairies.
“So you changed into a dress?” Lindyss asked, raising an eyebrow.
Vur nodded. “They said you wanted me to coordinate better with Tafel to make her wedding special.”
“And you believed them?”
“Of course. I have no reason not to.”
“What do you two devils have to say for yourselves?” Lindyss asked as she smiled at the two fairies who were now hanging upside down in front of her. Her lips were smiling, but her gaze sent chills down their spines.
The two fairies’ eyes grew as big as saucers, and their lips quivered. “We were wrong! Please forgive us,” they wailed. “It’s our nature to play pranks and we haven’t tricked anyone in years. We couldn’t help it! You’ll forgive us, right?” They sniffled as they twisted their bodies to stare at Vur with puppy eyes.
Vur sighed.
“They must’ve known the consequences of their actions,” Lindyss said. “Feel free to punish them.”
“We didn’t!” Rella said and shook her head. “We never considered the consequences. We didn’t think we’d get caught. We were just going to hide for a few centuries until his anger cooled off.”
Vur opened his mouth, causing the two fairies to shut their eyes. “I’m disappointed in you two,” he said and picked them up, dispersing the shadowy tendrils. They hugged each other and trembled in his palms. “But I’m not going to punish you.”
“Huh?” Bella and Rella asked at the same time while opening their eyes. “Really?”
“Dragons don’t lie,” Vur said. “I know all too well how it feels to give in to your instincts. Luckily, no harm was done. Next time, you should prank someone who can’t retaliate.”
Rella and Bella hugged Vur’s face. “You’re the best king ever.”
“I know, but for some reason, Tafel disagrees,” Vur said and sighed. “Now do something about my breasts. It’s weird having them block my vision when I look down.”
Lindyss sighed before smiling as the fairies undid their work. “I’ll have a skeleton deliver an appropriate garment for you to wear. It’s a good thing I decided to check up on you before the wedding started; I had a feeling you’d botch it somehow. You have fifteen minutes to get ready before you walk down the red carpet with Tafel. Normally, the groom would wait at the altar, but you two are special. It’d be more meaningful if a human and demon walked together with their arms linked.” She glared at the fairies. “Don’t mess with him anymore or else.” She drew a line across her neck with a finger. “Now I have to make sure Floofykins didn’t eat the ring.” She closed the door behind her as she left.
***
The sun shone down on a white archway with silver double doors. To either side of the archway, there was a wall of mist that obscured the view of the guests on the other side. Vur waited in front of the silver doors while fiddling with his glossy red tie. He wore a black suit with dark-gold cuffs and a white collared shirt underneath. The makeup had been washed off earlier, and his pink heels had been replaced by black leather dress shoes. A ripple in the air beside him caused his suit to flutter.
Tafel appeared next to him. She shielded her eyes from the sun with her right hand over her veil. “Tafel,” Vur said and extended his right hand. “You look nice.” She smiled and grasped his hand with her left.
“You look nice? That’s it?” a voice asked from underneath Vur’s suit. His suit’s shoulder bulged as Rella crawled out from underneath his collar. “Your vocabulary needs some improvement. At the very least, you should describe her as beautiful or stunning.”
“Yeah,” Bella said and crawled out from the other side. “She spent hours to look like that and the best thing you come up with is nice?” She pouted at Tafel. “Say something to him.”
“But I do look nice, don’t I?” Tafel asked and glanced at her dress. “And I know Vur’s trying; his nice is a normal person’s beautiful. More importantly, why are you hiding in his clothes? You should be waiting with the other guests.”
Bella and Rella glanced at each other before darting back within Vur’s sleeves. “No one’s here except for some talking lint,” a muffled voice said before falling silent.
Tafel sighed. “Shall we go?” she asked and faced the double doors. Her heart pounded as she squeezed Vur’s hand tighter. Vur pulled Tafel closer, and she wrapped her arm around his. A muffled squeak sounded out from Vur’s sleeve.
“Are you nervous?” Tafel asked.
Vur shook his head and took a step forward. He pushed open the doors with his free hand and stepped through the archway, Tafel clinging to his side. The noisy field fell silent as the doors creaked open, their sound amplified by wind magic. A red carpet extended from the doors towards an altar that was nearly a mile away. The crowd was cleanly divided: the demons on the left side of the carpet and the humans on the right. The elves were located behind the altar with the humans and demons who were from Konigreich.
The earth trembled as thousands of skeletons’ skulls popped out of the ground between the legs of the spectators. They inhaled at the same time—despite their lack of lungs—and sang in a choir-like manner, surprising everyone around them. Hundreds of fairies flew up into the air, holding onto a silk screen with a projection of Vur and Tafel for the whole crowd to see. As the duo walked down the aisle, a dryad, cloaked by fairy magic, followed behind them, causing flowers to grow from the ground they stepped on.
The crowd maintained their silence as their leaders made their way down the aisle with their heads held high. A chilling pressure emanated from the mountain in the distance as the dragons residing there fully displayed their auras, watching the child they raised. The children in the crowd didn’t fidget, and the babies didn’t cry. The only sounds that could be heard were the angelic voices of the skeletons and the faint fluttering of fairy wings.
Twenty minutes passed in this manner before Vur and Tafel arrived at the altar where Michelle was waiting with a book spread open on a pedestal. A golden light surrounded the altar as a glowing sphere with eyes hovered in the air above it. As Vur and Tafel ascended the steps towards Michelle, Floofykins darted out of the silver double doors with a red pillow that had tooth marks on one corner strapped to her back. Two rings lay on top of the pillow: one gold and one silver. The crowd raised their eyebrows and one demon, Gabriel, directly fainted at the sight of the blue creature trampling the flowers.
“Welcome, everyone. We are here today to witness the union of His Majesty, Vur Besteck, and Her Highness, Tafel Besteck,” Michelle said, her voice amplified through wind magic. The singing of the skeletons gradually faded away. “This is not just a unity between the two nations they represent, but more importantly, it’s the union of two people who are in love with each other.
“Everyone present today was invited to this ceremony to bear witness to this miraculous event. You are here to listen to the vows that these two will exchange and forever be their witness. Will all of you do everything in your power to support this matrimony? If so, please respond, ‘We will.’”
“We will.” The ground shook as everyone, including the skeletons, responded at the same time. Grimmy ro
ared and belched a breath of black fire into the air above the crowd, nearly burning the fairies.
“And you, Vur Besteck and Tafel Besteck, have you come here today with the intention to be legally joined in marriage?”
“We do,” Vur and Tafel said, holding hands.
Michelle nodded. “Repeat after me,” she said and began to speak.
“I, Vur Besteck, do take you, Tafel Besteck, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death.”
“I, Tafel Besteck, do take you, Vur Besteck, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death.”
“May I please have the rings?” Michelle asked and glanced at Floofykins who was panting and lying on her stomach. Floofykins shook her head and ran behind Tafel’s legs. “Please?” Floofykins shook her head again. A small laugh escaped from Tafel’s lips as she picked the rings off of the red pillow and handed them to Michelle.
“These rings serve as a reminder of your eternal love. A circle has no beginning; a circle has no end. May your love forever be as unbroken as a circle. Vur, you may place the ring on Tafel’s finger and repeat after me,” Michelle said.
“Tafel Besteck, with this ring, I join my life with yours,” Vur said and slipped the silver ring onto Tafel’s finger.
“Now Tafel.”
“Vur Besteck, with this ring, I join my life with yours,” Tafel said. Her hands trembled as she slid the ring over Vur’s knuckle.
“Vur and Tafel, in the presence of everyone in the three kingdoms (except Gale), you have spoken the words and performed the rites which unite your lives. By the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride!”
Vur raised Tafel’s veil and gazed into her eyes. The two smiled before they embraced each other. A golden light shone down on them from the sphere in the sky, bathing the two in a soft glow. The audience cheered.
Lindyss sighed as she leaned back against Grimmy’s forehead, watching the two snog each other.
