The first Everafter was born from the despair and faint hope of a young man whose shoulders were weighed down by a heavy burden of responsibility. Not wishing to let anyone down, the hope he clung to—though smaller than a grain of sand—reached out and took his hand, lifting him out of the darkness of despair.
This young man believed himself to be just one among hundreds of millions of people in the world, unaware that every step he took would influence the fate of many in the future. Becoming a king at such a young age was no easy feat, yet that did not mean he would have to do it all alone.
An old wizard accompanied him as a mentor and guided him in the use of a weapon whose very name was unknown even then. He left a trail of blood with every step he took; what he sacrificed was not his wealth, but his very future.
With his Everafter—which took the form of a sword—he ruled a kingdom called Camelot and gradually gathered those who possessed weapons like his own, forming a group known as The Round Table.
One day, his mentor received a whisper from the God of Casualty, who implanted a piece of knowledge into his mind—with great enthusiasm, he explained everything he knew to his protégé, and as this information was passed from person to person by word of mouth, the world began to realise the existence of the Fables.
There was not a soul who did not recognise the heroism of the first Fable of that era; indeed, some had even offered prayers to that man rather than to the three gods of Neverland—whilst he walked amongst the crowd, everyone cheered his name.
'King Arthur Pendragon!' That name echoed throughout all of Britain; every action and decision he made was memorised by the citizens living in his kingdom.
However, even the most beautiful flower must eventually wither; he was killed by another Fable, his very own nephew—and that was when the king idolised by all breathed his last.
When the news spread, the world was thrown into chaos. The Fables, who had always believed that Everafter could only be used for good, began to use their powers for evil, inspired by the actions of Mordred, the nephew of what was then the world's most idolised figure.
The moon orbited the Earth tens of thousands of times, and the Fables had become stereotyped as savage creatures and time bombs ready to explode at any moment—everyone was terrified and no one dared approach them; who wouldn't be afraid when someone possessed the power to destroy a city with the mere clench of their fist?
However, the joy that can make people happy cannot last forever, nor can the chaos that causes everyone to lose all hope. When a pure and innocent heart is being consumed by flames, a golden light appears and saves that unfortunate soul.
The soul of a Fable who was executed by the very nation he had led into war; yet, despite this, his love for his own country never quite left his heart—she faced all the enemy soldiers before her alone when no one came to her aid, everyone thought that was the end of her life, yet to everyone's surprise, she suddenly shouted so loudly that all the soldiers before her could hear.
"Once Upon A Time"
"A girl who could hear the whispers of God was betrayed by her own country, yet her determination to stand and fight for what she wished to protect never wavered!"
"My name is Joan of Arc! And with this, I shall put an end to a hundred years of bloodshed once and for all!"
Her declaration caught all the English soldiers off guard and left them in confusion; as the girl unfurled her large banner, a golden light, the same colour as her hair, appeared beneath them—forming a book, with them standing upon its pages.
"Eternity, Sworn to Defend"
As soon as those words were spoken, all those standing upon the pages of the luminous tome vanished instantly as the book closed—trapping the girl within a realm where she could fight their enemies without a single French soldier needing to be harmed apart from herself.
The battle ended peacefully with a French victory, but shortly afterwards the hero succumbed to her injuries—her body unable to withstand such immense power—and that was the tragic end to the fate of the first 'Fairytale' to set foot on this land.
The reason why this unfortunate girl became a 'Fairytale' is that she had come to accept the fact that she was nothing without the whisperings of the gods. All this time, she had thought she could get through it all on her own; yet when fate decreed otherwise, she became utterly powerless and nearly turned into a speck of dust blown away by the wind.
Hundreds of years later, or more precisely in the year one thousand nine hundred and eighty-six—in the present day—we who listened to the story told by Mother came to understand what a 'Fairytale' really is. I am a 'Fable' who bears a great responsibility as someone possessing an 'Everafter' with almost limitless potential.
"If Alice could become a Fairytale, she'd be very hard to match," remarked the woman with thick green hair. Everyone's eyes turned to me—not because I was being praised, but because I'd raised my hand to ask a question. "Oh, right—what did you want to ask, Alice?"
"What is a 'Bad Ending'?" I asked, and this took almost everyone there by surprise, leaving a girl with light ash-blonde hair looking confused, clearly unfamiliar with the term.
The woman known as Mother let out a long sigh; she seemed to have known this moment was coming—she stood up straight once more and her expression grew serious again. "As the name suggests... It is a binding power from Everafter that can only be obtained if a Fable is on the verge of meeting a truly tragic end."
"You could say… if 'Fairytale' is a tier of the Fables, then 'Bad Ending' is a deviation from 'Everafter'—it's said that 'Bad Ending' came about because, long ago, the God of Causality could not bear to see a Fable fighting tooth and nail only to end tragically."
Hearing all this explanation piqued my interest and at the same time sowed a seed of suspicion in my heart—who exactly is Mother that she can know all this? How long has she been alive, and how much does she know about the Fables? Because whatever questions we ask about the Fables, she answers them all; there seems to be nothing she doesn't know.
"So what about Hansel and Gretel? We don't know anything about their abilities yet," the man sitting next to me suddenly asked—Oh right! I'd forgotten to ask about that; I'd been so focused on listening to the updates about the Fables that I'd completely forgotten—luckily Robin had asked on my behalf.
"Oh, right," said the girl with the tomboyish side-parted hair, realising she hadn't yet explained their abilities. "The two of them are 'The Glutton' and their Everafter is their teeth! So, their Everafter is shared between the two of them! Because, in the past, they experienced a near-death moment together."
"Don't be too shocked when you hear about their abilities…" The girl named Juliet giggled at what she was about to say, and that made me both curious and annoyed—just tell us quickly; don't keep us hanging like that.
"They can eat whatever they want!" she announced, but it didn't really surprise us as it made sense given his title as 'The Glutton'—rather than being shocked, I preferred to think of a way to defeat them both. "Err... Why isn't anyone shouting 'WOAH?!' or 'NO WAY!' Or something like that—at least bang on the table or something."
"From the moment you said their Everafter form was their own teeth, people could already guess—let alone with the added clue of their title names." Romeo left a comment with a little chuckle, leaving Juliet unable to defend herself and lost in her own thoughts—her silly behaviour really reminded me of Red; perhaps it's in their blood.
"Right, now that you've all gathered—Alice," Mother called out to me, forcing me—who had been focused on thinking through the plan—to shift my attention for a moment. "Please welcome Snow into the Pyxis team, won't you?"
"Eh?!" Snow looked taken aback, as if she'd only just heard this; I didn't mind at all, though—especially if we're on a mission together, I can ask her to give me a massage when I'm tired. "Um…. Uh…" She fiddled with her own fingers and dared only to stare at the wooden floor beneath her feet.
"Of course."
"EHH?! T-That's it...? You don't need to ask things like why I'm fighting and all that?"
"I don't really care about that; the main thing is that you can help and be useful to us."
Hearing that, her eyes widened and lit up; she smiled from ear to ear and her cheeks began to flush. "I'll definitely be useful! It's a pleasure to work with you!" she shouted, even though there was no need to get that excited.
"Oh? Is that your team's name, then?" Juliet chimed in, walking over and sitting next to her boyfriend again before her arm slipped back around Romeo's—I swear, I couldn't stand being in this living room any longer; I wanted to get out of here straight away. "Can I join in too?! Romy's in this team too, isn't he?!" From the tone of her voice, it sounded more like a demand than a request.
"But, July—you're not a Fable, are you?" Romeo replied, and that immediately deflated Juliet's spirits; she puffed out her cheeks in a huff. "But you can still help us!"
Although Juliet was sulking, her hand still hadn't let go of Romeo's arm. "Does your team really only allow Fables to join?" she asked, her cheeks still puffed out, making her look like a pufferfish.
Robin, who'd been silent up until then, decided to answer her question. "There have been one," and that instantly made Juliet's eyes light up again.
"Really?! So I can join in, then!"
"But… well, that caused a bit of a row."
Robin's dark eyes clearly glanced in my direction as I was busy hatching a plan, but his statement only made me relive a memory I'd rather never have for the rest of my life—I'd already been enduring the discomfort of being here and couldn't take it any longer; I stood up and didn't spare them so much as a glance. "Snowie, come with me." It was an order, and I didn't want to make it sound like a request either; my feet carried me out of the house, with Snow following behind.
"Oh dear… I've put my foot in it—she's sulking now," Robin muttered, beginning to regret what he'd said earlier.