It's been four months since Adair’s betrayal. No one knows what's going on with him. Many of us are worried for various reasons, mostly about the war. Mostly everyone fears that Adair will give away the greatest secrets of our defenses. I highly doubt he knows about them, but he knows about the pendant.

If Hametsu gets his hands on that pendant, it's game over for us. Unless there's a divine intervention by the Mother Goddess, whom I'm now worshiping on a daily basis. Every day I ask her for wisdom and strength and to help me get over my fears and protect everyone.

Whenever I'm not busy training on sword fighting or learning how to rule a kingdom, I'm usually at the temple praying for guidance and Adair's repentance. Even after his betrayal, I still love him. I mean, he's one of my older brothers.

Ryan's father was killed in a small battle against a small battalion of Hametsu’s soldiers in a field up north a few weeks ago. We still won that battle.

Ryan is currently the head of the guard, and I know that he feels completely unprepared for the job. Aidan helps him out though. Aidan has witnessed and been through enough army drills to know what to do. Ryan listens to everything Aidan says.

“You gotta make sure that you're firm in instructions, but not harsh. Don't be too harsh unless it's necessary. And above all else, don't use brute force. Instead, inspire your troops and speak in a very strong loud voice to the troops,” Aidan said. His voice was calm, but his tone was very firm.

Aidan really is a great warrior. He has a fiery personality and I found out that he's a fire fairy. I don't know why it took me so long to figure that out, like seriously! Sheesh I'm so oblivious sometimes.

Roxy told me that the color of your wings doesn't dictate the type of fairy you are. I've seen water fairies with red and orange wings and light fairies with purple wings. Some nature fairies have brown wings.

But I find it ironic that Aidan has ruby red wings that are sort of shaped like flames and he's a fire fairy. Adair's wings were emerald green and shaped like a butterfly.

Unlike most royals that I have read about when I was younger, I'm actually very outgoing. I love visiting the town and talking with everyone and I'm never incognito because it's nearly impossible to hide my gold wings. Apparently I'm the only fairy that was ever born with golden wings.

Then I decided to ask about the wings. Some kids, three rowdy boys, dragged me over to play with them and obviously I agreed. I love playing with kids. I asked their mother about wings when I went to take a small break from playing.

“A child usually gets their wings adult wings at around 14 or 15, sometimes as late as 17 or 18,” Their mother tells me. She’s a garden fairy with a large belly that signals that she's expecting and due within at least a few days. The crops she grows are very well tended. Her three young boys with clear wings come up to me and show me all of the bugs they found. I draw them a beetle with some paper and pens they have. They love it and they start drawing too.

I have fun talking and playing with them until Aidan comes by to ruin the fun. He’s all wet, which I initially assume is sweat but he doesn’t smell sweaty.

“I was looking for you for three hours,” he says. I roll my eyes, knowing it’s not true.

“No you weren’t,” I tell him, knowing that what he says is total crap.

“Why are you all sweaty?” The oldest boy asks him. He's probably around ten years old.

“This isn't sweat. It's water.”

“You saw Lamia again didn't you?” I ask. Lamia is Aidan's girlfriend. She's a water fairy. I found out about this romantic relationship about a month ago. I caught them making out in the back of the palace gardens. That got really awkward when Aidan saw me there. He literally threw a branch at me, which I avoided, and told me to go away. He really does not like being interrupted.

Lamia is a water fairy and often likes to splash Aidan with water. He doesn't mind though. They often spend time walking along the banks of a lake or a river or on the beach.

Fire fairies like Aidan can marry fairies of opposite elements. The kids, if they chose to have any, will either be water fairy or fire fairy or whatever other fairy is in the genetic makeup.

“Uh...well…” he starts. The look on his face says everything. He was spending time with Lamia for those three hours that he claims to be searching for me. He probably only spent at least five minutes looking for me.

“If you want me to come home that's fine,” I say.

“Awwww,” the young boys chime, pouting.

“I'll come by and visit soon,” I promise them.

“How soon?” the youngest asks. He is about five I think.

“Whenever I can.” I smile at them.

They smile back. I ruffle their hair.

“Thank you ma’am for having me over.” I say politely. I bow slightly, as a proper man should, according to my mother. I’m far too casual for my own good. She curtsies.

“It was a pleasure to have you in my home, my prince,” she responds.

After we say goodbye, Aidan and I leave.

However he has a dreamy expression on his face. It's obvious that he wants to be with Lamia. He even said it out loud.

“She's so kind and funny,” he sighs dreamily. He is very much in love with her.

“If you want to be with her, then go,” I tell him. He shakes his head.

“I have princely-warrior business to attend to,” he says. “That includes training you on sword fighting.”

“Race you back to the castle!” I exclaim. I then zoom past him.

“OH you're on!!” Aidan shouts playfully, trying to catch up to me. We both fly towards the castle as fast as our wings can take us, which is pretty fast.

I beat him by an inch. We are both very out of breath.

“I win!!” I declare, in between breaths. Who knew fluttering wings could exhaust you. Aidan and I are sweaty by the end.

Aidan laughs and then begins coughing. He is very out of breath. He regains his breath after a few minutes of breathing deeply.

“That was fun,” he says. “Let's do it again.”

“Some other time. You gotta train me, remember?” I tease.

After we grab a quick snack of berries in yogurt, we head off to the training grounds.

Five and a half hours of beginning sword basics later, we are finally done for the day. We go inside to eat dinner.

I didn't even think it was possible to make a soup out of fruits. Yet somehow, the chefs cooked a fruit soup. The broth is nice and thick, and it’s full of chilled fruits such as cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries, watermelons, pineapple, cherries, blueberries, and something they call a “moonfruit”. It's round and silver in color. The inside is pure white, has a texture like an apple and it tastes like high quality vanilla ice cream. It's really good. Especially when it's baked into a cake or a pie. I like eating it raw however since it’s so cool and refreshing, once I get through the tough peel. I literally have to cut the peel with a butcher knife and then pry it open to get to the sweet, sweet fruit inside. The kitchen staff has lost many knives trying to peel it and I don’t blame them. We even lost a sword to that thing. These things are hard to peel and finally getting it unpeeled is the most satisfying feeling in the world. Not to mention it’s so worth it. The fruit inside is really good.

The dessert is blackberry pie and Aidan and I practically eat the whole thing. Mother and father tell us to slow down, but we are starving from all the training.

After dinner I decide to take a bath. I really need one, not only did I have a ton of anxiety for the future, but I smell like sweat and gym socks. At least, that's what Aidan told me before I left the table, with this mischievous smile on his face. I laugh a tiny bit.

I put my favorite scent in it after the heated water fills the large marble tub. Somehow, the fairies managed to capture the scent of freshly fallen rain on the grass. It's gotta be some sort of magic.

The scent of rain relaxes me. Luckily, I have the bathroom all to myself unlike what I have seen in movies.

I decide to test my powers. I try to grow some sort of flower on the water. The result is some disgustingly deformed flower, like it didn’t even look like a flower at all. It looks like some sort of ball of petals with some pollen mixed in. I got rid of it by dematerializing it. I try a second time. This time, I create a white water lily, then a yellow one, followed by a pink one, and lastly a blue one. They all smell so relaxing and good. I snap my fingers and they all disappear.

Then I think about the war. In the past four months, Hametsu has captured more territory. As of right now, half of the Fae is lifeless and under his tyrannical control.

He sends me many letters gloating about how he's going to win and how I'm going to lose and be humiliated.

...Fae will be mine Kallan, and you can do NOTHING to stop me!! Everything you know and love will bow before me, begging for mercy. Unfortunately for them, I'm not the merciful type. If anything, I will feverishly enjoy their constant begging and pleading for me to stop torturing them. Their pain will bring me satisfaction and amusement, ESPECIALLY yours Kallan…

I really detest him, that complete and total genocidal, heartless maniac. I resolve that I'm probably going to have no choice but to kill him, no matter how badly I don't want to. This dilemma is starting to take its toll on me, anxiety wise, as well as everything else regarding him and this endless, senseless, war. I hate it and I'm the one prophesied to end it.

“What do I do?” I silently pray to the Mother Goddess, “please give me wisdom.” I duck my head underwater. I come up about thirty seconds later for air and heave a large sigh.

The bath is supposed to help me relax. Instead, I just get more anxiety.

I wash myself off and a servant, with his eyes closed and head turned away, hands me a towel, which I quickly wrap around myself so he doesn't feel so uncomfortable about seeing my privates. As quickly as I can, I fly to my room and change into some pajamas. I jump onto my bed and fall into a fitful sleep.

I have a horrible nightmare.

I dream of my traitorous brother, Adair. He does not look okay. He is bruised and bloody; his arm, hand and leg are twisted in a way that completely defied fairy anatomy. There is a silhouette of a figure with his foot on Adair, from the sinister, pale green eyes burning with pleasure and cruelty, I know it is Hametsu. Hametsu laughs a laugh that defies all known knowledge of insanity. It is an impossibly cruel, insane laugh.

I jolt up, dripping in a cold sweat and shaking, trying to catch my breath and calm down.

My dreams are warning me about what's happening to Adair.

It is past midnight judging by the position of the moon. So I lay back down and try to go back to sleep which I finally do after nearly two hours of trying.

The next dream is just as horrible, if not WORSE than the last one.

The second dream is of Hametsu taking over and ruling Fae and Earth. Humanity is on the brink of extinction and Hametsu happily kills them off, one by one, while he ushers in an era of fear and bloodshed to the Life Fairies. Enslaving, torturing, and killing them. It’s horrible. But what terrifies me most is seeing Hametsu torturing me in front of everyone. I’m begging him to stop. I have bruises and it’s obvious that I have broken bones because they didn't heal properly. Hametsu re-breaks them and continues to torture me and taunt me.

I wake up screaming. My guards come running in.

“Your highness!! What happened?!” one of them says, his voice filled with concern and worry.

I am shaking and start to cry.

“Bring my parents to me.” I say in between sobs.

They rush off silently. A few minutes later my parents rushed in.

“Kallan!! Honey what's wrong?” Mother asks.

“Please tell us son.” Father says. They both sit on my bed and hug me.

I begin to tell them about the two dreams I had, about Hametsu torturing my brother and then literally everything else.

I can't stop crying. Aidan soon rushes in.

“What happened?!” He asks. He is extremely worried as well as frightened, “did you have the dream too?”

“The one about Hametsu torturing our brother, then me?” I ask him in clarification.

“Yeah, that one. Except, he was torturing me in mine.” he says. He walks over to me. Mother makes room for him. Aidan hugs me, and mother and father hug both of us. Aidan begins crying. He is just as terrified as I am.

Now we’re all extremely worried about Adair.

After about an hour of soothing us and calming us down. Aidan and I go to sleep, except, we sleep in my room. He claims to not want to leave me alone, but I think he just wants some comfort. To be honest, I welcome his company. I didn’t want to sleep alone either.

The third dream is not about Hametsu torturing, but about Lilly and Adair coming back. Lilly is holding Adair and trying to carry him across the border between the Death Kingdom and ours. After a few miles of trying to drag a beat up Adair to the castle, she gives up. A local farmer and someone else help her carry him to us. It also looks like they are carrying someone else too. Then Aidan and myself wake up.

“That dream was surprisingly pleasant compared to the other two.” I tell Aidan. He nods in agreement. We don’t even question how we shared a dream. We got up and head down for breakfast.

The servants have prepared my favorite and Aidan's favorite: pancakes.

There are all sorts of flavors to choose from. I pick banana, chocolate, and strawberry-blueberry pancakes. Aidan takes one of everything. His pile is huge, so he has two plates. We eat until we can’t eat any more. Then we get ready for the day.

The day is pleasant...too pleasant. Something is about to happen. Something major. Sure enough, I’m right.

“Kallan!! I need you over here now!!” Father shouts urgently. I fly to him as fast as I can.

“What happened?!” I ask.

“Hametsu has challenged both of us to a duel.”

Great. Just great. Excalibur isn't even ready to become a sword again, as far as I’m aware. But I am wrong.

“MY PRINCE!!!” Excalibur’s high pitch voice shouts. He flies over to me as fast as his wings can carry him, which isn't very fast.

“What’s up?” I reply.

“It's time. It's time for me to become the sword. Once I do, I can never become a butterfly again...I will forever remain as a sword.” He says glumly. I pet his head and try my best to comfort him.

“You're a magical sword. Nothing can defeat you.” I say.

He sighs. Then he looks at me bravely.

“I will defend my home. If it means sacrificing myself to remain a sword, then so be it.”

Excalibur lands at the palm of my hand. In a flash of light, the butterfly morphs into a sword. A beautiful, white crystal sword with a golden handle with leafy vine designs.

It is beautiful. I wield it. The sword seems to guide me on how to fight.

“Where's the duel held?” I ask.

“At the temple of Màthair Nàdar,” he replies.

I have a very bad feeling about this.

“When is the duel?”

“Sundown.”

I still have time to panic, which I do. Father calms me down, sort of. I am still having very bad anxiety.

“We can do this Kal. We can win.”

I nod.

At sunset we head off to the temple and sure enough, Hametsu is waiting. What he doesn't know is that we brought a few of the guards with us.

“Took you long enough,” he sneers. Then he laughs a bit.

“What's so funny?” Father demands.

“Don't think that I don't know that you brought some guards with you to carry your dead bodies,” he smirks.

I growl at him. He ignores me and points his scythe at my father.

“I want to battle you first, your highness,” he hisses. A strong hatred is burning in his eyes.

Father nods.

“Very well,” he says, “Kallan, stay back.” He draws his sword.

I back up a bit.

Hametsu charges at him and throws his scythe. It barely misses him and I avoid it quickly. It lodges into the column next to me. Hametsu flies up and easily, gets it out and continues to attack my father. There is the sound of metal-on-metal multiple times, not a pleasant sound mind you. Hametsu furiously tries to damage him. My father seems to try to avoid hurting Hametsu, but he ends up making a small cut on Hametsu’s cheek.

Hametsu stops and touches the cut on his cheek. He looks at his blood and gets super pissed. In a blindingly fast move, he gives my father a deep gash in his hand where he holds his sword. Hametsu quickly grabs the sword and pins my father to the ground.

Hametsu states something before he stabs my father in the chest.

Hametsu laughs evilly. I became outraged and tackle him and he lands with a thud against the statue. I scramble next to my father and try to use my magic to heal my father, but my healing magic isn't that strong. I manage to make the wound less severe, but it still looks terrible.

Hametsu kicks me out of the way. I fell to the floor about ten feet away from my father. I try to get up, but Hametsu pins me down. He points my father's sword at my neck. I feel the bloody tip touch my neck.

“This blade,” he starts “contains a haunting memory for me. A memory I've been trying to deny for four hundred and ninety-five years. But now I have to face it.”

“What do you mean?” I ask him, pissed off.

“Kallan,” he starts to say with this sickeningly sweet voice, “you don't know do you?”

No, I don't know. That’s why I asked. What the hell is he talking about?

“Your father, your precious, pathetic, father is hiding a very shameful secret from you,” he says.

I am still hopelessly confused.

“What do you mean?” I ask. He growls.

“This blade, the one that belongs to Oberon Aelfdene, is the very same blade that stabbed my father.”

The realization hits me hard and Hametsu knows it. He takes the words right out of my mouth.

“That's right Kallan. OBERON KILLED MY FATHER!!!”