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The sound of dry twigs breaking and dry leaves crunching reached Adeia's tiny yet sharp ears. It was a sunny morning. Adeia hovered beside a blooming sunflower, fluttering her shimmering wings, the distinct colour of a rainbow.
No other faery had wings like hers except her mother who was taken by a powerful warlock for her wings. No one ever saw her again.
Adeia grew up without a mother's love and guidance and hence did not know what her gift or gifts were. She was sought after by sorcerers and powerful faeries for her wings which made her hide more than reveal herself.
She had large, almond-shaped eyes that shone like emeralds, a small, upturned nose, and full, pink lips. Her skin was fair and smooth, and her long hair was the colour of golden sunshine. She had a slender and graceful build with delicate wings.
Beautiful like no other in Faery-dom and very shy, yet her heart was kind and true. Other faeries translated her introverted nature into pride and shunned her.
The noise from a part of the woods grew louder. She chewed her lips deciding whether to have a look-see or just be on her way to queen Diana's harem. What if it was a trap to finally capture her?
She sighed, frowned at her fearful heart and flew to the site of the noise. From mid-air, she glimpsed glossy scales of olive-green colour with dark oval spots scraping against the sharp thorns of a thicket.
Adeia gasped, fluttered her wings and quickly landed softly beside the thicket. A long and loud hiss from within the dense thicket made her heart skip a beat. It was the hiss of a trapped anaconda.
A narrow and slitted eye of deep, golden colour, like molten honey, gleamed with a sinister light at the sight of the tiny faery.
"Erm, I'm here to help. Stay still," Adeia waved her hands above her head so the giant snake could see her.
Instead, the giant snake writhed and struggled against the sharp thorns. Its thick, muscular body was covered in small cuts and scratches. It hissed and snarled, anger and desperation etched into its features.
"Stop! You'll only get more bruises," Adeia warned.
"Hiss. Get away from me, faery," the giant snake spoke with pain. "You can't untangle the thorns. It's spelled by a powerful warlock."
Adeia drew closer to where the snake's eye stared at her. "Warlock? You are a powerful anaconda. I don't understand how he put you in here."
The eye shone with a cold, malevolent gleam. "For once, I tried to do good and save the Faery-dom from the warlock. He was coming to kidnap your queen. He trapped me here! I should have ignored him and gone on my merry way."
Adeia felt sorry for the snake. "Don't be like that. It pays to do good."
The anaconda gave her a cold look. "Stay back so I can push my way out of this thicket and then have you for breakfast," it hissed in response.
Adeia shook her head at it, jumped on one of the thick shrubs, her wings fluttering and gently began to untangle the thorns.
"Say, I've not seen you around this neck of the woods before," the anaconda said. "I'll remember with that colour of wings."
Adeia froze for a moment in fear. The snake hissed. "Pff, I was joking about the breakfast thing. I don't eat faeries."
"I hide most of the time for my protection," Adeia confessed as she worked. The response surprised the snake into silence. She whispered soothing words and began to hum a gentle tune as she untangled the thorns.
"Your voice is soothing and lyrical," the anaconda drawled, its eyes half closed like it would fall asleep any moment. "What kind of faery are you?"
Adeia chuckled. "You would not believe me if I say I don't know what my gift is. But I love to sing."
"Mhmmm. I think you have the gift of bringing comfort and cheer to any creature you choose…."
"HOW DARE YOU?"
A dark bellow of rage frightened Adeia. She flitted like lightning up into the air and hovered, her small chest heaving. She looked down and saw a tall, slender man with a cruel and cunning expression etched upon his sharp, angular features. It was the powerful warlock that trapped the anaconda.
His skin was pale and he had long, black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. He exuded an aura of power and danger with his long, flowing cloak of black silk.
"Go! Fly away. I'll be fine," the anaconda called out to Adeia.
"Well, well. Undoing my magic, I see," the warlock grinned slyly and gazed up at the faery. "What a beautiful set of wings you have. You remind me of one like you. You will do better than your queen." The warlock took off into the sky in a blink.
"Fly away, faery. Save yourself," the anaconda shouted again and writhed to free itself from a few twisted thorns.
The warlock flew after Adeia who flitted around the woods with all her strength. Then she remembered the things the anaconda said about her gift, how she'd soothed him with her song and was able to untangle the magical thorns like it was a mere thread.
The giant snake was right. She had a special gift, one that she could use to help Faery-dom. The warlock was well known for his cruelty. He terrorised the creatures of the forest, causing fear and suffering wherever he went.
Adeia began to sing as she flitted through trees, to avoid the warlock who came after with determination. His dark eyes only reflected the rainbow colours of her wings.
Her voice was pure, clear and exquisite as she sang, silencing the birds in the woods and drawing out other faeries. They watched in shock as her wings shimmered brighter in the sunlight as her voice rose higher.
The warlock became weaker and slowly started to drop from mid-air into the woods. He fell into a wide net spread out by queen Diana's faery soldiers. Diana spelled the net and instructed that the warlock be taken to the dungeon.
"No, please!" The warlock called out to Adeia as he was taken away. "I am sorry for the terrible things I have done. Forgive me, dear lovely faery."
Adeia fluttered down and bowed before Diana as the faeries gave a loud applause that sprayed out colourful butterflies into the air in celebration.
"Thank you, Adeia. I see you have found your gift," Diana said.
"I think so and it's thanks to—" Adeia turned and saw the anaconda slithering away gracefully. Thanks to her gift, Faery-dom was once again a place of peace and harmony.