Chapter 43.2
Chapter 43.2
The resolve of those who choose death for freedom is admirable. He respected their ideals. But Rune, having starved for five days and nights, had a different answer. He wasn’t a bird, but a butterfly.
He wanted to live. Even if it meant eating discarded scraps, he wanted to live. Even pinned to a collector’s frame, survival was preferable. That grand freedom, after all, ended with death.
“What’s this? When did we get an orange-haired one?”
He hid in the very fairy shop he’d been sold from, and was sold to a new ‘owner.’ Unlike Riche, this ‘owner’ beat and abused Rune, trying to force him to speak. The reason was obvious: a speaking fairy would fetch a higher price.
Thrown around, his ankles bound by shackles, Rune came to understand.
This was punishment. He was paying the price for trading his freedom for comfort.
When his wings were torn, Rune finally believed his time had come. The death that had claimed his friends—the reader, the mathematician, the marble champion, the orator—had finally come for him, too.
What kind of friend would he be remembered as? The one who forgot the sky and chose to remain a chrysalis?
“Get up and speak.”
It wasn’t death that greeted Rune when he opened his eyes again.
The Serpent King, gazing down with golden eyes, gestured towards a woman. She wore an expression similar to Riche’s, and Rune quickly grasped the truth. She wasn’t an owner, but a friend, and that meant there were no obligations between them.
Once again, his time as a chrysalis was ending.
“My name is Rune. Having given my name, I won’t lie. I don’t trust humans, but I’m not so ungrateful as to forget the kindness you’ve shown me. So, I’ll tell you the location of the teleport.”
“You know the layout of this building?”
“Yes. I was sold here after being expelled from the factory. Room 606 houses the fairy distribution department.”
“That’s a good idea, but why the fairy factory? You could go to another district.”
“The other teleports are all on the first floor, and we happen to be on the sixth.”
Rune lifted a small finger, pointing to the room numbers on each door. 612, 613, 614…
With the exits blocked, their best option was the single teleport.
Of course, their pursuers would know this, too. If they searched the entire floor without finding them, they would immediately turn their attention to the factory area. But if they could even briefly evade pursuit… that would be enough.
Adeline finally nodded.
With their destination set, the three moved quickly. There was no guarantee how long the poison barrier would hold. They could only hope the fumes reacting with the flames would create the most toxic gas possible.
609, 608, 607.
Room 606, its door slightly ajar, appeared at first glance like an ordinary office: desks, documents, partitions. At the far end, a door bore the sign ‘Storage.’ The moment they stepped inside…
Boom!
The ground trembled, a powerful tremor shaking the building. As if to amplify their fear, the office lights flickered and died. Silence descended upon the darkened space. For a moment, they stood frozen.
“…What was that?”
Darkness, punctuated by the dead lightbulbs. The only illumination came from the large window at the front of the office, allowing a sliver of outside light to filter in. And beyond that…
“Oh, my Queen.”
Crash! A curved talon ripped through the window.
“Duck!”
From one end of the office to the other, a sweeping, crimson claw sliced through the air, instantly transforming the mundane space into a decades-old ruin. Had they not ducked in time, they would have been torn in two. Papers fluttered, shards of glass rained down. As soon as she straightened, Adeline drew her sword.
“Adeline.”
“No.”
She didn’t need to hear him to know what he meant. Adeline added a smile to her denial.
“Your role today is the damsel in distress. I’m the hero.”
While Damian’s gaze remained fixed on her smile, a second attack came. Adeline swung her sword, slicing through the air from right to left.
Clang! The thick talon’s trajectory was blocked by the single blade, sending a whirlwind of dust swirling around Adeline.
The pale claw cracked with a sickening sound, followed by an earsplitting roar that reverberated through the air.
“Run!”
Grabbing Damian’s hand, eyes blazing, she ran blindly. The familiar intertwining of their fingers felt hot.
Crash! Boom! Attacks followed them, but they were too fast, their determined flight outpacing the dragon’s lumbering claws.
Finally, they reached the storage room door.
Click.
“It’s locked.”
Without hesitation, she summoned her gun.
Bang! The doorknob exploded. She kicked the door open with her right foot. And then…
Adeline gasped.
The room beyond was far larger than the office, easily over two thousand square feet, filled with cages. Like bookshelves in a library, they stretched from floor to ceiling, from one wall to the other.
“Inventory destined for the fairy shops,” Rune whispered bitterly, his voice barely audible above the fluttering of hundreds of wings.
Small faces, framed by hair of every imaginable color, peered out from the cages, their black eyes blinking anxiously. They must have heard the commotion; they knew something was happening.
Another roar echoed, followed by the swipe of a talon. There was no time for contemplation.
“I’m sorry. I’d love to free you all, but there’s no time.”
Apologizing to the caged fairies, she ran. Deeper into the windowless storage room, the darkness intensified. But darkness had one advantage: it made finding light easier.
Following the faintest glimmers, they rounded a corner and finally spotted a white light. Without hesitation, they plunged towards it.
White light engulfed them, the roars fading. The last thing Adeline saw was a small cage at eye level.
Perched on the bottom rung, beside his own filth, sat a tiny human. His reclusive face seemed to say that whatever happened outside, nothing would change for him.
Adeline knew she would remember that face for a long time.
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