Way of the Knights

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The area around Raven become greener.

Out of nowhere, flowers bloomed, winds danced and wisps of light started adorning his whole body. 

As he turned around, he could see a majestic aurora making itself extremely obvious and was seemingly beckoning towards him. Even the pixies in front of him were stunned by the sudden development. 

In the end, it was Jenny who recovered from her stupor and knew what this sign entail. She flew closer towards Raven and said:

"Human, our Mother seeks audience with you."

"Mother?" Raven tilted his head, a bit confused about what's going on. 

In the end, before he could even speak, the thorny briars that's covering the entrance of pixie's home suddenly parted and revealed a path. Raven hesitated, so Aina flew towards him and grabbed his finger saying:

"Come! Come! Mother wants to see you." Aina called making Raven smile wryly, "And I still have to give you lots and lots of flowers remember?'

Raven shook his head and walked forward, entering the home of the Pixies for the first time. As he stepped inside, the entrance closed behind them. 

There was a brief flash of light that temporarily blinded Raven. When he regained his vision, he was shocked to see at least hundreds of Pixies looking at him with curiosity in their eyes. He could even hear them whispering to each other.

"That's a human right?"

"Yeah. It seems that he's been called here."

"But why though?"

"Beats me. Frankly, I'm scared."

"Yeah, me too. What if he's a bad guy?"

"You guys, have some faith to mother."

"Yeah, yeah. She wouldn't invite someone who's bad."

"I know, but still…"

"It's been a while since a human visited us."

"Right, from what I can remember the last human visitor came 50 years ago."

"Wait, why are the twins with him?"

"Eh, now that you say that..."

"Yeah, that's strange."

"Coincidence maybe?"

"How can that be coincidence?"

"Maybe that why he's been called here?"

"You guys know that gossiping like this won't take us anywhere right?"

"…"

The home of the pixies appeared to be more of a very large garden instead. 

Everywhere he looked, his eyes will be filled with images of flowers of different kinds and colors. He could see pixies flying about everywhere as he walked down the clearing. Raven looked curiously at them and they obviously did the same. 

But if there's anything that caught Raven's attention. It would be the thing which is placed in the middle of this vast garden of flowers.

No matter how he looked at it, that thing is alive. Just from the fluctuations around it, he could feel the enormity of its energy. If it weren't for the fact that it's relatively calm and unperturbed by his intrusion, Raven might've already ran away from here. 

Jenny lead the way, however Raven couldn't help but notice that they are going closer and closer to that thing. This made him a bit wary, he was even thinking that this invitation was a trap, that this was in fact a lure to keep him here so that, that thing could eat him. 

The adult pixie was seemingly aware of his thoughts, so she said: "Don't worry. Our Mother doesn't have any ill intentions to you."

"Wait…" Raven frowned and asked: "That's your mother?"

"Yes." Jenny nodded, she this expression of stating something painfully obvious. "She is our Mother. Every single one of us came from her. In a sense, all of us here are related."

That confused him even more. He couldn't help but think: 'Something's weird here. That's not how Pixies are made. From what I can remember, Pixies are created by the Desire of the Nature to protect itself from those who abuses it and to protect its secrets. That desire is then poured out to the land as a sprout which would then later bloom and produce a Pixie. I never heard about this version.'

Then again, Raven could be mistaken here. He knew about the creation of Pixies through some old texts that he read during his idle times at the Divine Realm. And since it is an old text, it is possible that it's incomplete. 

From what he knew, Pixies had the ability to form some sort of 'contract' with nature. In exchange of defending her well-being, Pixies can enjoy perpetual youth and life, they could also wield Laws. Of course, there are some limitations to the contract, but once a Pixie 'signs' it, they will be bound to that piece of Nature and will continue to stay there. 

In his mental absence, he just noticed that they were already standing in front of the thing. Raven swallowed hard and started sweating, he prayed that he didn't have to confront whatever's behind this stone in battle. He could tell that this thing is stronger than the King Stormbird, and that didn't make him comfortable at all. 

'Don't be afraid, Child. I hold no ill intent, I merely wanted to talk.'

An ethereal voice echoed in his head, making Raven rooted to the ground. The voice sounded feminine and it's like there's three of them talking the same words. One sounded pitchy, similar to the voice of Pixies. The other sounded like a human lady and the third voice sounded aged. 

'Touch my carapace and close your eyes.'

Raven took a deep breath and did what he was told. When the Pixies saw what he was doing, they backed away and gave them space to talk. Aina pulled Aisha's hand, asking her to help her gather flowers for him. As for Jenny, she retreated to a respectful distance but stayed just in case she was needed. 

A gentle rainbow-colored light enveloped his body. Raven's body floated several inches of the ground as his eyes were closed. His hair and clothes fluttered with the wind as he felt that he was being transported somewhere. It didn't take a long time before Raven felt like everything around him changed.

***

When he regained his sense, he opened his eyes and confirmed that he was really transported somewhere else - well, his consciousness that is.

The ground beneath him resembled clouds, the sky above him was a cosmic wonder filled with stars. This space was seemingly endless and frankly, Raven had never expected that the stone was hiding something like this. 

Suddenly, the clouds in front of him parted and revealed an ascending figure. 

It is another winged creature. This time however, instead of boasting and aggressive appearance, this creature boasted peerless beauty.

Its body took on a form a female human, be it featureless. Instead of arms, she has four enormous wings that fluttered ever so slowly as it faced him. Instead of feet, she has a tail that looks like the head of a brush. The creature was surrounded with milky white radiance, her transparent wings seemingly contains stars, she also has a rainbow colored horn on the top of her head. 

Raven almost couldn't believe it. His mouth was agape as he stared at this creature. He couldn't wrap his brain around the fact that he would meet something like this in this place. 

He laughed at himself and said: "And I thought the King Stormbird was a rare sight in this land. Who knew that I would meet someone like you here."

He cleared his throat and said: "Greetings, Moonlight Butterfly. I am Raven." 

The Moonlight Butterfly's wings fluttered as she spoke: "Greetings, Raven. It is surprising that someone as young as you knows about my kind." 

"I'm just as surprised as you are." Raven replied, "I've only seen records about your species and frankly, I even doubted that your kind existed. But lo and behold, I got the chance to meet a real one."

"And?" The Moonlight Butterfly asked: "How do I fare compared to the records?"

"Those records didn't do any justice to you at all." Raven said in a straightforward manner. 

The Moonlight Butterfly's wings fluttered once more, she chuckled and said: "I'm flattered. It's been a while since someone praised our beauty."

Moonlight Butterfly, Raven still couldn't believe that he gets to see one, specially in the lower realm. 

What he said was true. He had never met one in person, and that he was skeptical about their existence. But of course that changes today. Moonlight Butterflies are certainly one of the rarest creatures that one could ever meet. 

Rumor has it that their kind actually came down from the Moon. Some even said that they are the most intelligent type of Demonic Beast - if one even has the heart to call them that. Raven also heard rumors about their disposition and the things they could do if they were provoked. 

Long story short, all those rumors always end up with a Kingdom or even Empire being destroyed overnight. Which is why Raven is a bit flustered upon meeting her, since there is no telling if those rumors are actually true or not.

"May I know the reason why you called me here?" Raven finally asked. 

The Moonlight Butterfly was silent for a bit before replying:

"I can feel my Husband in you."

"Huh?"

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