“Is this heaven?” She asked the emeralds which hovered above her.

As pain left her body, replaced by warmth, her consciousness now only flickered—rather than fade.

This let her realize that the emeralds were not ethereal spirits come to claim her soul but were in fact, eyes. Eyes attached to the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. This was the type of maiden she’d woo with tales of chivalry, so…

“This must be heaven, I mean, a cute lady here to greet me at the gates.”

A healthy red blush dusted the gate-greeter’s fine porcelain cheeks. Her eyes darted to the side, too bashful to look. She didn’t halt the stream of warm healing energy though. She’s certainly dedicated.

As more focus and clarity returned, Aleria pieced together whom she’d flirted with and where she was.

Green. Cave. I’m still alive huh?

She glanced at the green-haired healer. Her eyes weren’t green, they were blue, like every other fairy. I suppose she does have little flakes of green but not enough to be emeralds. I must’ve been really messed up then.

Still groggy, Aleria shifted her gaze to where she expected to find the corpse of a snake. What greeted her instead were a dozen fairies, all looking concerned. While she felt touched to see them care, she really wanted to know something.

“Where is the snake?”

Her answer came in the form of every head turning upward; so her’s followed suit.

“It got away,” she said in monotone.

All that remained of the monster was a hole. A deep dark narrow one, which led further upward. Toward the mana-spring, damn. If that snake reaches the spring it could heal in as little as a day!

“Why can’t things ever be easy?” Aleria sighed and turned to the concerned fairies, “Alright, here what’s going to happen.

“Half of you will go back home and move everyone here.” They protested; she didn’t need to know their language to tell that much. “I know, I know, it’s a bad idea to spit up but nightfall is near. What will happen when we are caught outside by such monsters during the night?”

Especially when I’ve been injured the first time I fought. She added in her mind.

It really wasn’t a good idea but she couldn’t think of anything else. They needed that snake dead or if it healed, it would be an even greater threat to the fairy colony. It wouldn’t underestimate them again and all it would take to wipe them out would be to collapse the cave. Aleria couldn’t guarantee if the snake had the capability to do such a thing, but she wouldn’t take any chances.

She also needed to remember she wasn’t high level anymore. If the snake hadn’t had such high endurance, and slowed her momentum, she would’ve died upon impact.

This body is weak and cannot take such punishment from risks like that. I’ve also forgotten the benefits of Tier 5; without a strengthened soul any injury will take longer to heal and that’d be detrimental in this situation—I’m the only real fighter who can defend the colony.

If that mana-spring isn’t guarded by anything then that worry will disappear, yet knowing my luck… and the Systems’ sadism…

As Aleria, Miia, Green, 2 bow-fairies, and a spear-fairy parted with those returning and flew into the dark tunnel, Aleria felt a chill creep up her spine.

I may have jinxed it.

Upon exiting the winding tunnel they entered into a cavernous paradise.

Cave walls were draped with growing nature leaving no part uncovered. Bushes, flowers, hedges, vines, moss, all manner of plant-life had somehow planted itself here. All looked as if they had been pruned and were being tended to. Hell, it even looked like they were all spaced out proportionally.

Next to them lay the entrance to this grotto, overlooking the forest below. They must be quite high up as they could see the sky, unobstructed by any branches. Light shone through this gap, illuminating the cave in a twilight glow. Night was falling fast.

How long were we inside that passage for? I hope the colony is already on the move, or we’re going to have bigger problems than a slippery snake.

The hidden mana-spring, which Aleria had been lusting over, churned at the center of the chamber, releasing a deluge of the purest energy into the air. However, a tree took center stage, dominating the cave by looming over everything. The tree seemed to be growing out of nothing, or rather, the space just above the spring.

For the unenlightened—like the dumbfounded fairies—it appeared unreal, unnatural, unbelievable.

Aleria knew though, That must be the natural treasure, but what type? An actualized element? Maybe harvestable materials? Or perhaps it grows fruit, it’s a tree after all?

Everything came together to create quite the picturesque scene, at least it would, if there wasn’t an ongoing fight under the tree’s canopy.

The enemy they were chasing—the snake—had found itself embroiled in battle against a large bird. Yellow-green plumage flung like razor sharp needles kept the snake at bay, not giving it an inch. While the snake slithered around, tanking the barrage, as if looking for something.

The bird looked like it had it’s face punched in, it was as flat as a plate. It had a large gray beak, short stumpy legs with unproportional clawed feet, short wings and tail. These traits combined made Aleria question whether the so called bird could even fly.

On the other hand, the tail-less snake could now be made out more, due to better lighting. Its slimy black scales looked like they had seen better day, as they were being marked all over by the feathery projectiles. Orange eyes were dimming ever so slightly the more the fight went on, it seemed to realize it only had so much left to give.

To a small fairy, this might as well be a battle between giants.

[Tunnel Snake | Lvl 7],

[Forest Kakapo | Lvl 5]

Of course it’s my luck that there are more interlopers around this damn spring. Screw you Akasha.

Even thought she’d like nothing more than to secure the mana-spring, Aleria knew that time was not on her side.

After my people are settled I’ll have all the time in the world to conquer; after all, it isn’t like the bird will drain the spring, I doubt it even knows how to change its function.

Her priority here and now was to remove the snake, as it would always be a looming threat if it somehow survived.

Hell, maybe this bird will help and kill the damn thing for us.

And it seemed that this would indeed be the case, as the snake slowed with each passing moment.

It was then that things changed.

The snake suddenly rocketed forward, allowing serrated feathers to bury themselves deep. It didn’t care though, it had found its target.

When Aleria spotted what motivated it, her face drained of blood.

God dammit Akasha! You really are doing this on purpose! What are the odds of a Re-creation Fruit at such a low-level!? No way is that natural!

There, hanging on a branch, without a care in the world, swung a big yellow fruit. It looked mouth-watering even from this distance. On top of the branch, just above the fruit, sat a birds nest, a healthy white egg silently lay inside.

Aleria now knew for a fact that something was screwing with her, whether fate or maybe the Akashic System itself, it didn’t matter; everything which happened from her rebirth till now was unnatural, even the rebirth couldn’t be natural.

The bird is protecting the egg! The snake is going to enrage it. A mother’s defensive rage is shared between all species.

And that is exactly what happened.

The snake got blown of course by a sudden tempest as an enraged scree echoed around cave and out into the forest.

I hope there is no daddy bird.

Both beasts were now enraged and it wasn’t hard for Aleria to determine why: the bird, because the sneaky worm dared make an attempt on its baby; and the snake, because the crazy bird used its most hated element against it, reminding it why its in this current predicament.

“Its time,” she said. “We’ll do the same as before; you lot will blow me toward the snake, I’ll kill it in one swing, and then we will all book it back down the tunnel.”

The fairies didn’t look enthused by her orders, but they were too loyal to argue or question her.

Aleria called upon the wind to coalesce into her [Wind Blade]. It formed much easier this time than last, for one she had the Systems help, two there wasn’t an overwhelming amount of earth around, and three she was next to a huge opening with a breeze pouring in.

While she did this, however, the snake made a second attempt for the fruit—or from the perspective of an enraged bird, the birds nest.

This time though, it seemed to have learned, as it released a cloud of poison and used the gray sizzling smog as a smokescreen, slithering silently into concealment. It didn’t work against them, however, as the snake couldn’t cover the entire grotto, so it only used enough to blind the bird.

The toxic air didn’t discriminate and soon the tree suffered.

Green, who had been hovering next to her, began to twitch as if she were the one covered in poison used for tunneling through rock.

Is she really that attuned to nature? So she uses the Life Element when healing? Aleria kicked herself for not noticing before. While Air does have some healing ability, Green seemed capable of far more than what Air gave.

This development made Green even more valuable in Aleria’s eyes. Having dual-elements at such low-levels were the sign of talent. She reached out, placing her hand on the quivering fairies shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Any reply was cut off, however, as the bird bellowed out panicked squawks. It realized that it couldn’t dodge, while its instincts likely warned of the poison’s threat; so, instead, the bird began to flap its wings to blow it all away.

This, however, only served to help the snake.

By now it had already gotten close and its impromptu smokescreen had been lengthened by the air current, creating a trail toward the tree. Utilizing this pathway, it slithered right past the oblivious bird.

“It’s time.” She couldn’t allow that fruit to be ingested by the snake. It would only heal it and most likely even empower it, turning a looming threat into an immediate one.

“Blow~” She chanted, as the fairies around her added their own voices, resulting in a crescendo which launched her toward the snake for a third time—

—And last time.

The snake somehow seemed to realize—its instincts must’ve become a radar, looking for any telltales signs of fairy-projectiles—as it turned to glare at her with all the hatred its weakening eyes could muster.

Aleria brought her swirling wind blade to bare against snakes neck, with all the momentum and power her tiny form could muster, infusing the strike with super-fairy cutting power.

It didn’t even put up a fight.

It couldn’t, she realized. While the snake was still able to move, it had lost too much blood to do anything else.

The snake slumped against the tree trunk, dead. Blood poured from the cut she split open on its throat, coloring the mana-spring below dark-red as it started to slurp up the blood and dissolve the corpse.

Its Essence—accumulated stat-points—dissipated into nothing, all that progress lost. Only a single point filtered its way into her body, a reward for her kill. With that, a warm feeling filled her.

Aleria celebration had to be cut short once again, however, as a shadow fell over her.

The bird had taken up position behind her, staring into the spring.

Her head tilted, following the birds line-of-sight. She felt herself shake.

“Oh shit.”

The bird’s nest must’ve fell when the snake’s body lay against the tree, as it now floated in the maelstrom of energy, being consumed like the scaly corpse.

Aleria felt the surrounding air palpitate. She knew she’d received the birds ire now that the snake was dead. It didn’t matter that she didn’t really do anything. The bird just wanted vengeance and she had taken that away.

A sad squawk came from the cave opening. A second bird had entered at some point, green-yellow feathers denoted its similarity to the one already present. The only difference were the churning energies attached to its wings, enlarging them. It too stared at the bird nest.

The only thing Aleria cared about, however, was the fact that to blocked their path of retreat.

They were going to have to fight. And this time, Aleria knew they wouldn’t all make it…

Curse you Akasha.