Manati cursed himself once more as he watched the alpha-fairy drawing closer. He had been captured by his own carelessness, and now his situation was moving from bad to worse. Rather, it was not carelessness, but shock.
Several months ago, the human had appeared and basically wiped the floor with the senior. Several of their kin, the strongest ones, had been killed, and the human did not seem to feel a thing.
Eventually, their Senior had capitulated to the human's demands, handing over some of their own to the bully. A sad state of affairs it had been.
Manati had been convinced the same plight would fall upon the fairies. He hadn't wanted to lead the man to the fairies, but who could refuse the commands of this powerful person? Hence, he agreed.
Soon afterwards, the human pulled out a sturdy cage from his ring, yes, ring. The man did not have a bag on him, so Manati has assumed there was no luggage. Now he feared being stuffed into that place.
With a cage in hand, the man had proceeded to move towards the fairies, easily snatching them up in the air. It seemed he wasn't satisfied with just one. Manati, the serpent, had wondered just how many he would snatch, that's when it happened.
Out of nowhere, the man came tumbling down from a tree. Next came a powerful attack by the top fairy. The man had been jumping up and down, trying to catch the fairy, but this one proved too quick to catch. Meanwhile, more fairies showed up, and they all started shooting at the man.
The rest is history. The man cracked under the fury and onslaught of the fairy arrows, looking more like a pincushion than anything else.
The thing that bothered him so was that this ultimate threat to his people, this nightmare, had fallen so easily among the fairies. They had not taken any damage, no fairy died. They even managed to bring it down.
When the fairies had first come to their basin, he, like many of his kin, had underestimated them. Some even wondered why the Senior bothered to be so respectful to such weak looking creatures. Would a human respect a praying mantis, even address it as an equal?
However, after witnessing this dreaded battle, coupled with his own entanglement with a fairy, he instantly understood why. This was a much stronger and powerful species than even their own.
"So, you brought him here?" Kigen questioned the trembling serpent. Manati could hear the accusatory tone behind those words.
After watching this fairy battle, Manati was sure he would not survive a single hit from it. This caused him to shake some more, fear quacking his body.
"Yes, Lord." he whispered, while bowing down before the fairy.
"Did Erebus command you?" Kigen continued to ask, his rage thinly veiled.
"No, Lord. I am, was, that human's captive," the serpent said. He then proceeded to tell the fairy everything; from the moment the human first arrived in their colony. Manati did not have much love for his people, since he had been sacrificed so unceremoniously.
Kigen listened intently. His expression was inscrutable. Deep down, he began to despise Erebus. How could such a leader exist, sacrificing his people? Selling them off to buy what? Some space in a river basin?
Once he was done speaking, Manati turned to look at the fairy, awaiting his judgement. He had sinned against the fairies, he knew that, but would he be executed because of that?
Kigen continued to hover above the serpent, not giving any answer. The next moment, he made a remark, "Bring him," and then, he was off.
Rising to the air in great speeds, Kigen shot out, leaving a stunned group of fairies. They too had been listening to Manati's explanation and awaiting Kigen's explanation. They could only infer based on their big brother's personality where he was going.
Several serpents were frolicking in the river, just under the waterfall. The immense pressure and current of the waterfall were like a big slide, and they enjoyed riding this current to the depth of the basin.
Usually, only a few of them were on guard outside the river basin. Some parties would go out to hunt and provide sustenance for the family, while others, like these four, were left to guard the basin, which was the gate to their home.
Just as one serpent was coming up after a successful slide, a fairy, moving faster than a bullet, suddenly descended in the water. The next moment, he grabbed the serpent and smashed against the surface of the water.
Ouch! Even though it hit the water, the speed and force at which it had been smashed with was so much that the surface tension of the water felt like dry ground.
Several serpents rose to see what the commotion was all about, only to see a proud fairy hovering over them. He was holding a long rod, proportional to his size. He was just too cool.
"Erebus! Show yourself!" Kigen shouted, quacking the river with the force of his voice. He eyed the serpents staring back at him with disdain, daring a single one to attack. Moments later, an elderly serpent rose out of the water.
"You told the human about us?" Kigen furiously demanded.
"Noble fairy, what are you talking about?" Erebus asked, feigning ignorance. Of course, from the moment the fairy descended, he knew what he wanted, but he was not going to admit it. He would deny everything, hoping they did not have any proof.
Erebus believed that the human managed to get away, possibly taking with him several fairies. The Lord that the human served would be interested in such things, which was why he brought it up.
If this was the case, then there was no evidence tying him to the human. He just hoped the fairies did not see Manati, or his lie would be undone.
Just as he was thinking, Manati himself seemed to descend from the skies. Dozens of fairies had their feet planted on the serpent's body, but they were not sucking. It was quite a sight to see, a ten-foot serpent the size of a small tree with fairies latched onto it, flying down.
Instantly, the color drained from Erebus's face. Manati was captured? That would mean that his lie was exposed. Just how much did the junior disclose, Erebus wondered.
"Care to try again?" Kigen asked once more, this time, his rod transforming into a javelin. Moreover, it was growing longer, extending several feet long. From the fairies' perspective, he seemed to be holding a sharp flagpole.
Erebus understood the threat, so he decided to admit it, "What choice did I have?" Kigen was mad! He was angry that the serpent had dared bring such calamity to his doorstep, and now he would ask such a question?
No sooner had he finished speaking, than Kigen struck, hurling his elongated javelin at where he assumed was the serpent's chest. The tip penetrated the thick scales of the serpent, almost skewering the serpent's heart. Kigen was not done yet.
With the javelin firmly planted in the beast's heart, the javelin grew and continued to dig into the serpent, aiming for the heart. Kigen wanted to finish it with one blow, a testament to his anger.
"Wait! Wait!" Erebus shouted, his voice sounding very panicked. He had lived for so long, was he going die here? "Great danger is upon us, you must listen!"
Erebus pleaded as he desperately tried to pull the javelin out of his heart. He could feel the little thing worming its way through his body, and it was not a very comfortable experience. Scratch that, it was painful as hell.
"Don't you want to know about the human, what he really is, and who he serves?" Erebus continued on, desperately pleading for his life. This caught Kigen's attention.
"What do you know?" Kigen demanded. He was not convinced this serpent had any information he needed.
"I know the human is not really a human, but a foul product of magic," Erebus panted. "They are called golems. The master of that thing is renowned for his ability to manufacture these things, and he had an army of them."
Kigen was taken aback. Could such a thing exist in this world, or was the serpent just making it all up? He could not be sure, so he continued his interrogation.
"How do you know this?"
Instead of answering directly, the serpent let out a deep sigh, as his thoughts wandered. His past flashed before his eyes, as it often did. He let out another sigh before turning to look at the fairy.
"To tell you this, I will have to start from the beginning."