by Callie Stone
“I’m not incompetent,” I protested.
“The only thing Kalgin did right is fool your frail, feeble human mind,” a grotty little voice echoed from the far end of the passage as a band of hairy little satyrs came waddling in from nowhere. “The lord of the underworld will make Kalgin pay for his treachery. Your daddy’s in hell, little boy.”
“No fucking shit, goat boy,” I snarled, thoroughly sick of that claustrophobic bardo and the way its transient inhabitants played with my mind the way demons were supposed to play only with human minds.
“Careful,” the demon sitting on my shoulder warned. “These are nothing more than lowly beasts of lower minds than the average dog or even cat. They’re not worth your time.”
“Stop it. I do the gaslighting here, buggy.”
“You’ll never be a demon.”
It became a chant, surrounding me.
“Shit!” I cursed, swatting fruitlessly in every direction.
“Except over millennia,” the thing nearest my ear buzzed. “He’s got more little spawn than you’ve got brain cells. What makes you think he gives half a cunt-fart about you, human?”
The thing became more irritating as it joined in the chant with its mates.
“You’ll never be a demon. You’ll never be a demon. You’ll never be a...”
“Just piss off, you lot,” I grunted, pushing my way out of the circle of demons.
I wasn’t going to let some smelly, greasy little demons with crooked horns get to me. I wasn’t. It was just my own fear that was doing this to me.
There was no use in blaming these poor, ugly little bastards who would be poor, ugly little bastards for eternity. With that in mind, I just let their dull yet noisy taunting wash over me, waiting for it to end but knowing that at least it would end, sometime.
At least none of them were crossing over into Earth or the fae kingdom.
Oddly enough, once I surrendered to it, every single one of the little shits chose that moment to scuttle back towards the lower realm. I figured they didn’t really feel like being in that cramped little realm any more than me. There was a notion that I just could not shake. Unlike all the other doubts I had been having, I was just too fucking tired to rationalize away the feeling, the knowledge, that those hairy, snarly, buzzy little beasts were correct about one thing: I was being used.
Maybe it was seeing all the hard work I had put into these portals being popped like party balloons, but I could not bear another moment labouring for Kalgin as my dignity dissolved before my eyes. Plus, I knew he could not care less about me. Why should I give a fuck about him?
I stepped away from my tiny post in the bardo and towards the only place where I could get some damned fresh air: the fae realm.
As soon as I could see the shimmering barrier where one world bled into the next, I walked up to it.
From the passage where I stood, there were no epic transformations and feverish visions and confused tumbling as I traveled between realms.
It was as simple as pushing the toe of my loafer into the doorway.
As I did, the barrier shimmered, flexed, and then nearly burst like a bubble before opening up a small doorway for me to step through.
The other side of the portal was lush and green. The air was great.
I could even see a beautiful castle shining in the sunlight not too far away.
The fae realm…
For a moment, everything seemed perfect. I could see fairies flitting about through the trees and smell the fresh flowers that were everywhere.
And then I noticed the ogre laying face down on a rock nearby, snoring as it blocked the only path to the castle.
It seemed like a place out of the story books I used to secretly covet and take comfort in during my days trying to make a life in London. I was not treated much better there than anywhere, but unlike Earth or the lower realms, the Kingdom of the Fae, which by then seemed more peaceful and quiet, had plenty of open space and places to just...exist.
Walking through the meadow, I was enjoying it already much more than I had during my time at the palace. I realised that the recent history of the place, its destruction, and my role in it were things my human side may have to reckon with. And when that reckoning came, it may have been enough to finally destroy my humanity once and for all. Or, it could potentially destroy everything within me—human and demon alike.
These thoughts were surfacing quickly and uncomfortably as I continued walking in no particular direction, down a path which led through the field of flowers in front of me towards the palace. As I made the decision to turn away from the palace for reasons I could not quite comprehend, everything I was thinking, feeling, considering, my entire thread of egoistic narrative was upheaved and forcefully redirected.
It happened in a heartbeat.
I never even caught sight of my attacker before my peaceful stroll was brought to an abrupt close with an array of bright green and blue lightning flashes all around me, as well as a powerful blow that felt like a blacksmith’s hammer had smashed into my head, followed by a searing pain that ran through my skull and down my spine.
The force was so great, I actually saw stars, and for a moment I thought both my demon and mortal sides had succumbed to the attack and I was indeed as dead as I could be.
I remained on the ground, holding my head and feeling its incessant pounding for what seemed like hours until the pain finally subsided to a dull ache. My usual perception of things returned along with some of my bearings after a moment of reeling from that ridiculously powerful blow.
At first, there was a sudden, powerful realisation that I had not been laying there for hours, but maybe half a minute at most. I had no time to contemplate my return to reality before serving that a massive boot was slowly descending towards my face.
“What’s this?” a voice from above moaned. “The second-banana of a half-demon has finally decided to grace us with his presence? What in the almighty fuck are you doing here, Zavier?”
I was still recovering when the boot quickly met its target, and I only barely managed to turn my head in time to avoid being hit directly in the face.
The top of my skull felt like it was on the precipice of exploding when it made contact with the giant boot. I grunted loudly, but managed not to shout. Instead, I focused on rolling out of the way before another blow could be landed.
“Don’t you ignore me, you little prick!”
The boot that had missed me landed a couple centimetres from my head, sending bits of debris into my face. As much as was still resonating through me, I decided it best not to stick around in that prone position.
Without waiting for another opening, I immediately jumped to my feet, or rather, I attempted to.
There had clearly been some fae magic in the way he had knocked me down at first. Those dazzling electric bolts of light out of nowhere, the sensation of pain which had suddenly surrounded me, followed by a slow-fading confusion. But by that point my attacker had given in to pure, unbridled anger as he stomped around wildly.
That was, until he decided to slam me to the ground once again with a tackle which, to his continued credit, I did not see coming.
Not even close.
“You little shit!” he growled, seething as he held me down on the dirt path. “Did you really think you could show your face here?”
I knew that voice. “Fae boy? I mean, Troy?”
The moment I uttered that name, I felt the weight on top of me start to shift and ease up slightly. “Do not try your tricks with me, Zavier.”
My eyes were still struggling to adjust as I stared up at the sky. I heard a few footsteps as the hands let go of my shoulders and arms.
“What are you doing here?” I managed to utter, slowly sitting up and rubbing my head.
“I could ask you the same,” he said, standing tall above me. “Are you following me?”
I shot up to a standing position, glaring at him. “No. Why would I follow you?”
> Troy, seemingly hesitant, stepped back, his face grim and stoic as ever. He cocked his head to the side, and opened his mouth to speak, but quickly shut it again.
“You’re up to something,” he said, narrowing his eyes at me.
I extended my hand out to him, so that he could help me up, but withdrew it before he could grab it. “I’m not trusting you enough to help me up.”
He huffed, rolling his eyes. “If you’re not here to follow me, and you’re not here to reign more destruction upon my, I mean, upon this kingdom, then why are you here?”
I smirked, my hand slowly moving closer to him. “You’ll see soon enough.”
Troy grabbed my hand, pulling me up. I kept my balance, resisting the urge to smack him in the face.
What’s more, I could not think of a real reason, or even a fake reason, why I was in the fae kingdom.
“You will have to come with me,” he said. “There is one thing that I need you for and right now I’ll tell you that you had better do it.”
“Fine by me,” I said, shrugging.
Troy folded his arms, still giving me a cold stare. “I hope you know where my father is.”
“So do I,” I said under my breath.
With that, Troy took a hold of my arm and led me out of the clearing and through the trees.
“I trust that you know where to go from here,” I said, trying to get a sense of direction.
Troy frowned, his grip on my arm tightening. “Shut up and keep quiet.”
He led me through the trees for a few minutes, before we arrived at a dirt path. It looked like a road, though it was dirt, not asphalt. It stretched out ahead of us, gently curving to the left down a hill.
“Where is he?” Troy snapped. “I don’t know. I know you will give me a hard time, so let’s get on with it.”
“Oh, I thought you knew,” I replied, honestly. “He’s in the other palace. You were going in the right direction, actually.”
Troy stood there for a good, long moment. A few long moments, I should say, as his arms uncrossed slightly and his eyes studied mine.
“You’re telling the truth, aren’t you?”
“You sound surprised,” I grinned.
My bearings from my recent time in the realm were returning to me as I was feeling a very curious sense of relief. I did not question why.
“There...” I pointed to the somewhat shorter stone turrets over the horizon, slightly to the left from where we stood to the towers of the main palace. “That is where your pops, the king, is currently, Troy. At least, the last I heard.”
The fae boy, and former fae prince, Troy, stood staring silently at the palace in the distance for another long few seconds. At first I was ready to tell him that I was doing him a favor, so let’s just get the fuck on with this already. But, as Troy had his poignant little moment staring at where his father dwelt—both his human and fae sides surely playing into the melodramatics going on in his head and heart—I realised that I honestly had nowhere better to be, so I let him have his cornball moment.
“Thank you,” he said out of nowhere, staring at the palace.
“Huh?” I furrowed my brows.
“Thank you for doing this for me.”
I opened my mouth to tell him where he can stick his fucking thank yous, but I quickly stopped myself. “Come on...” I started venturing off the dirt path. “I know a shortcut.”
The fae boy hesitated, looking at me with confusion. “A shortcut? Wouldn’t it be easier to just walk along the path?”
I glanced at him with a frown. “My charitability is starting to wear thin.”
Without another word, I took off into the woods, ducking under branches and jumping over roots. I did slow down a bit when I heard Troy struggling to follow at my pace.
“How do you know of this shortcut?” he asked.
“It just seemed shorter to go this way,” I shrugged, remaining honest. I laughed silently to myself as I heard Troy grumbling under his breath behind me. When I reached the entrance to the fae king’s palace, I stopped.
“Well?” I said, turning.
He’d caught up within seconds, trying his best to hide the maudlin sentiments written clearly all over his face.
“Well, what?” Troy did his best to look and sound commanding and royal or some shit. “Take me to see him.” I tried not to laugh too loudly as I pushed open the palace gates.
“Sure thing, Your Highness.”
“Your sense of humour is uncanny,” he muttered angrily under his breath. I threw my hands up as I strolled inside the palace gates. The palace guards did not even bat an eye as they recognised me and my companion. “It’s been like this for a while now. Like I said, your plan was not a bad one at all, Your Highness.”
Troy grabbed my arm roughly as soon as we reached the foyer. “And you said that they wouldn’t let me in to see my father.” It was more of an accusing statement than a question.
“I didn’t say that,” I replied, my voice low. “I said that I wasn’t sure if they’d let you in to see him. There’s a difference.”
He let go of my arm and crossed his own arms aggressively. “Fine. Let’s go see my father.”
I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying anything. As much as I wanted to tell him that he was an idiot and that there was no purpose to whatever he thought he was doing there, I decided just to let things play out. We walked through the hallway and approached the great wooden door at the end of the hallway.
I raised my clenched first and rapped my knuckles against the door. I could feel the lump in my throat growing by the second. That was not a usual feeling for me, but this situation was uniquely unpredictable, and that was something I enjoyed, sometimes more than others. What I did know was that Troy’s father would be in a rather interesting state.
The door cracked open slightly, and a single eye peered out from the crack. After recognizing me, the door swung open to reveal the fae king.
He looked the same as he did when I last saw him days earlier, when my own father and a few of his closer minions had just finished a little bit of a ceremony, one could call it, with the fae king. Long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. Clean shaven. Robes of various colors. Pointy ears and bright green eyes. The whole package.
“Zavier, what brings you here?” he said in his soothing voice that I had learned to despise and admire all at once.
I opened my mouth to answer, but Troy pushed me aside and stepped forward.
“We’re here to see you,” he declared, puffing out his chest and looking his father directly in the eye.
“I figured that much,” the fae king replied, not moving a single muscle. “Come in.”
He turned and walked farther into his home, leaving the door open for us. The door led directly into the modest throne room.
Troy wasted no time in walking into the palace, but I lingered for a moment.
I looked down at my feet, shaking my head. There was still time to go back. Why was I putting myself through this? It wasn’t like any of the work Kalgin asked of me was very difficult—including helping to put a mind control curse on Troy’s father. However, I was not currently in control of that, and Troy had no idea his father was under mind control at all. I did not know how he would find out, if he would find out, what would happen. So, I just stood back and watched.
The throne room was very elegant, obviously taken from some sort of French castle. The fae king was sitting in an armchair, not looking at us, as he stared into the fire. When Troy walked in, he stood and stared at Troy, and me behind him.
“Troy...Why are you here?” he asked, and I could hear a ragged bewilderment in his voice already.
“Father...” Troy started, then stopped. He clenched his fists, and continued, as if he was struggling to keep himself from crying. “Father, we need your help.”
“Who is ‘we’?” the fae king asked loudly. “Is this your entourage, boy?” I stepped around from behind Troy. The fae king looked at me for a mome
nt. Then he got a hostile, rage-laden look in his eyes. “You!” he shouted. “I thought I’d burned you to ash!”
“You did, Your Majesty,” I said, calmly.
“Don’t you dare call me that!” the fae king shouted furiously.
“Okay,” I said. “I would like to talk to you about the portals you made for the demons.”
“The portals? What?” he asked, bewildered again. His attention was torn between me and his anger at seeing me.
“Yes, you created the portals,” I repeated. The only thing I was sure of with the mind control curse was that the king would be agreeable to a fault and beyond.
“Yes... I did create them,” the king stated flatly, his voice empty of all emotion as he stared off into space.
“Stop this, right this minute!” Troy bellowed with an intensity that took even me by surprise. And I hung around with demons.
“What is this?” Troy continued, his emotions starting to come flooding out as his eyes reddened and he struggled to catch his breath.
“Troy,” I began.
“You!” Troy took a rather belligerent step in my direction.
“Your father is under a mind control curse.”
That did stop Troy in his tracks, but he continued to glare at me, clearly not believing a word I was saying until:
“I am under a mind control curse,” the king confirmed, his voice still sounding monotone and detached.
Troy spun around to face his father. “The demons, they only mean us harm.”
The fae king shook his head, “No, the demons are our friends, Troy. The humans are the enemy.”
As much as it pained me to see this display, I couldn't help but get caught up in the moment as I watched father and son argue about something neither of them were wrong about.
“I always thought I had lost you,” Troy said to his father. “But now I am sure of it.”
Well, goddamn, I thought. This fae’s over the top emotions are sure infectious sometimes.
“I can break it,” I said to Troy, who immediately spun back around to look at me.
