A fairy with a half-shave cut made her way to Nico with a fierce and domineering look, carrying white clothes on both her hands as if cradling them like a baby.

"Here." She said with a flat face, although her red eyes were twisted to permanent sharpness. She knelt on the wooden floor and lifted the clothes for Nico to take. As soon as Nico grabbed the clothing, she stood up and went back on her way.

"Thank you?"

"Sassy." Kai nudged Nico. "I like it."

Nico gave him a flat look.

The crowd of people was now inside the tree; a hall carved from the inside of the trunk with glowing magic orbs fixed on the walls washing the empty room with yellow light.

Fairies made their way on foot towards the crowd with each of them cradling clothes, offering them to the people as if by an act of duty and humility.

"Why are they acting like that?" Nico asked.

"Like what?" Kai asked.

"Like that." Jason pointed to another fairy down on his two knees, raising the clothing on his hands for another person to take. The fairies bringing them clothes also weren't fluttering on air with their wings, instead making distance on foot unlike the queen and her officials.

"Discrimination probably." Kristine joined them, coming from where Saira and Andrei were at.

"Look at their wings." She pointed at the fairies. "They aren't shimmering or anything, plus their clothes are dirty brown to the fancy gold of the queen and her officials."

"That's messed up." Nico said, again realizing that this was not the world he knew of from before.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Jason said.

"Better leave it." Kristine said, shrugging off her shoulders. "We're in not much better a state to go off playing hero when we don't even know what's going on with our situation."

The group paused in silence.

"Anyways, thank god for these clothes." Kristine said, looking over the silky-white tank tops and shorts she held up. "The leaves were starting to itch."

. . .

The group took a long winding staircase up, through a set of giant wooden double doors, and into a giant hall bigger than the last. The room was a carved hollow inside the giant tree, which made it all the more wondrous with the walls adorned by magic orbs and golden banners.

The smell of grilled meat and baked food wafted through the hall, accompanied by the music of flutes and chimes as the crowd gathered to a single long dining table filled to the brim with foreign food and alien drinks. The crowd settled themselves on the table, then gave in to hunger like rabid animals as soon as the queen finished a prayer of unknown language.

"Is this safe?" Saira said, poking the food with a fork-like utensil.

The fairies on foot were scurrying around, refilling mugs with strange beer and wine and plates with more food.

"I'm sure." Andrei said as he took a bite out of a steak. "See?"

To the left of Nico were the two, chatting along to the rhythm of the music. To his right was Kai, Jason, and Kristine -rambling with themselves like children.

"You killed Tinker Bell!?" Jason said, chugging what seemed to be beer in a wooden mug. Tinker Bell was the name of the small pixie they found earlier on.

"It was an accident!" Kai said, although his face was ready to burst into tears. "I tripped on something and aghfk-"

Kai choked on a piece of meat, with Jason and Kristine moving to help. All the while Nico was staring at his plate filled with food, still pondering on the bizarre situation they were in.

"-Nico what do you think?" Saira nudged his shoulder with her elbow, pulling Nico back into reality.

"Sorry what?" Nico asked as he took a spoonful of food into his mouth.

"I was asking about the food. Is it good? Like, not-poisonous good?"

"It's good." Nico munched on the food, then took another spoonful.

"Yeah, it's pretty damn good."

. . .

"How do we go back home?" Jason asked, the hall now falling silent as he stared at the queen at the far end of the table. Everyone on the dining table were now on the edge, a stark contrast to the lively aura from before with the music cut off.

"You cannot go back." The queen said flatly.

"Cut the bullshit." Kai said, standing up against the table with a fist. "What about everyone back home?"

The queen did not answer, only staring back at him with cold eyes.

"Fuck." Kai said as he sat back down on his chair, gritting his teeth. Nico gave him an unconvincing pat on the back. Strangely for Nico, he did not share the anger Kai felt- he felt relieved in fact, and that feeling of relief ate at his conscience.

"I know what you all feel. However, the Creator brought you all here for a reason. And do not think you are all alone in this, there are many that came before you now."

"There were people before us?" Andrei said.

"Many, of different races. The people from the past arrived the same way and have all set out to climb the tower."

"Tower?"

The queen gestured with her hand and a glowing diagram of a tower appeared in the air like a screen made of pixie dust.

"This world, the one where you currently are standing on, is only but the first floor of a grand tower made by the Creator." She pointed at the base of the tower. "Hundreds of other floors exist above ours, bearing their own worlds."

"Other worlds?" Andrei murmured to himself, with the crowd falling silent to the bizarre news they were laid with. They all had already come to realize that the words coming out from the fairy's mouth were anything but nonsense.

"And why should we do the same?" A stranger asked from across the long table, prompting the others to start raising their voices. "Why climb this tower when we can just settle here and live our new lives?"

"Because at the top of the tower, lie riches and power. With that comes the ability to manifest a wish." She glanced at Kai. "Take that power for yourself, and you may find having the ability to go back to your previous world not a fool's dream."

The crowd was once again silent.

"And how can we climb this tower?" Kai said, breaking the stirring silence. A glint of determination unfolding within his eyes.

The queen held a hint of a smile on her face as she looked at Kai's determined expression, caressing a glass of red wine on her hand.

"You kill monsters."