“So let’s start from scratch...”

- A memory of the Old Ones.

***Fairy***

***Gardener***

I am still screaming and jumping from one foot to the other as the fire burns my skin. It's so hot that my skin blisters. From all the possible deaths which I envisioned for myself, I never expected that I would burn to ash! What a horrible way to die, but I guess it's better than drowning. It was over pretty quickly for Summer's general. Oh, and not to forget being caught by an Old One and used as a lab rat. Winter surely didn't have a nice time while he was pinned to the wall.

And speaking of a quick death... shouldn't I be dead by now? Why is this taking so long!? I stop screaming when I realize that it isn't so hot any more.

Prying apart my index and middle fingers, I take a peek at the world. The flames are gone! And I am alive! How did that happen!? I pull my hands away from my face, which results in an awful, sucking sound, then I inspect myself. “I look like a fried sausage! Ow! Ow!” A totally new experience. This is what is must feel like to be skinned alive.

I scratch myself despite the pain. My regrowing skin itches like hell. I am so glad that I inherited my regenerative abilities from the Old Ones.

So why wasn't I turned to ash? I look around and take in my surroundings, then I slowly raise my arms and cover my mouth with both hands. The trees, the grass, the animals, everything is a layer of ash on the ground! The entire ecosystem was obliterated. I press a single tear out of the corner of my left eye.

And what about the fae?

I turn around and look into the direction in which Summer and Autumn ran off to. There is no sign of them. I start walking, but then I realize that I am walking through an ankle-deep layer of ash.

I guess it's pointless to search for bodies.

Deep in thought about the meaning of life, I scratch the dead skin off of my palms. Beneath it, I reveal fresh, baby-pink skin. When I have no idea of what to do next, I always make a handstand. Seeing the world from a different perspective gives me inspiration. Maybe I should write a book about it. I noticed that most other beings don't value different points of view.

So I was spared because the spell only targeted fae? But why did it also burn the trees and animals? Aaah, I see. It was only aimed at fae magic! What a devious solution. The ecosystem was obliterated because the fae manipulated everything in Fairy. Their magic was everywhere.

Only someone who sees the fae as nothing more than vermin would come up with such a plan. So I guess this proves once and for all that I am not a fae. Like the elementals, I am something else. No wonder, I never had the right ears to be a fae. More to the point, I have no ears.

Something which was sticking to my hip comes loose and falls to the ground in front of my face. It's the leather pouch which I use to store my meagre personal possessions. I return to my feet and pick up the charred item.

Digging through the contents, I recover a single seed which survived the hellfire. I took it years ago when I made one of my sparse and short expeditions out of Fairy. It's the nut of a perfectly normal acorn tree. Surveying the landscape, I slowly get an idea of what I could do for the next few hundred years.

I skip over to the small streamlet which supplied the former glade with water. Most of the water evaporated because of the heat, but I am sure that it will return in time. I poke my middle finger into the ash, then I drop the acorn-nut into the hole and cover it by swiping more ash on top of it.

“Perfect fertilizer!”

***Carinthia***

***Sely***

“So lucky that nobody thought about charging us for the damage.”

I stop abruptly and Magnus runs into me from behind. Then I turn around and smile up at him. “Why should they press any charges?”

He scratches his chest. “Well, um... The spell wasn't exactly intended to burn everything to a crisp. Pure disintegration is different from... disintegration, the version where heat is involved. They were supposed to dissolve into their molecular components. I guess we switched the two runes by mistake.”

Hatlix appears from the doorway behind us. “Don't worry, Grandson. All worked out in the end. The fae are gone and our troops are invading Fairy, searching for any survivors.”

I turn my attention to Hatlix. “There could be survivors?” I ask, alarmed.

He shakes his head and winks at me. “Unlikely, but we should make sure.” He turns around and intercepts Cecilia as she steps through the doorway. “Sugar! Do you remember our little bet? You said that you would do a lot of pleasurable things if we made it through this alive!”

Cecilia clears her throat. “I did say that, Honeybear, but-”

“Perfect!” Hatlix shoulders Cecilia as if it is the most normal thing in the world, then he walks off in direction of their private quarters with my squealing mother on his shoulders.

I watch them until they turn around the corner, but before Magnus can say something, I raise a finger to stop him. “You can't carry me like that! It would put pressure on my belly.”

He studies me with raised eyebrows. “Then maybe a princess carry?”

I allow him to pick me up and we head to the living room, where we find Leila, Tom and Tina who are already watching the news. “We should've gone to our own rooms,” Magnus grumbles.

Tina notices us and pats the sofa next to her, gesturing for us to sit down. “Oh, the hero! Come here and take a look at this. Someone recorded you when you activated the spell. The video was leaked to the news. Everyone knows that the demon lord ended the war.”

“Demon lord?” I ask. “Isn't that Magnus’s nickname among the local supernaturals?”

Magnus growls and rushes into the room. The TV shows him as he crushes the marble with a gleeful expression on his face. Simultaneously, the reporter declares the sudden end of the war by the hands of the 'demon lord', an Old One. The reporter continues to explain how everything would become better from now on. With most of the old governments crushed, society has to be rebuilt.

Of course. Everyone knows that this is a big pile of bullshit. But as long as it stops the masses from pillaging and looting, everything goes I guess.

I watch the report for a few more moments, then I kiss Magnus on the cheek. “I guess it's cute that they changed your nickname from demon lord to hero. It fits your actions much better.”

“I am not a bloody hero! They should fear me! This report makes it sound like I unleashed the marble in order to save the world!” Magnus complains with a shrill voice.

I pout and tick off his actions with my fingers. “But you saved me, took in a group of strays without a home, you stopped an evil maniac who was out for world domination, and you ended the threat of the fae. Sounds like something a hero would do.”

He stomps his foot onto the ground. “I am not a hero. I took you by force, collaborated with the elders to keep my possessions, forced some weaklings into a blood oath, took out someone who threatened my territory and wiped out an entire race. I am not a hero.”

“It's all a matter of perspective,” Tina mumbles.

“Whatever! Someone must've leaked all this to the media. Who?” He glares at Tina.

The other clan-head raises her hands. “I certainly didn't do it. But aren't you glad about your new reputation? Now that everything you did is seen in a positive light, much more people will try to join your clan. They might even forget about your territory’s bad reputation as a deathtrap.”

He grunts. “It has to be someone who has an interest in making the Bathomeus famous. There is only one person who wants the clan to be as big as possible. Oilell!?”

I think it was wise of Oilell that she didn't show her face that day. And the next.