Faerie Games by Patrick

Chapter 1

It was a dark and... No, not doing that. It’s true, but I’m notstarting it that way. It was dark and stormy, but I hate cliches. Iwas never great at beginnings. Wasn’t ever great at talking, either. Probably why they took me.

I guess I’ll start it with a warning. Don’t ever go into the woods at night. You know which woods. Every town has them. You can even find them in cities. You don’t even need to read the story. Just. Don’t. Go. In. The woods. At night, or on full moons, or new moons, or solstices, or equinoxes. They’re dangerous places.

I think. It could just be that I’m unlucky and picked the only one that was dangerous, on the only day it is dangerous. I don’t know. There’s too much I didn’t figure out. Only so much that I could’ve learnt or understood. It’s so... Alien, to say the least.

I guess I’m rambling and might as well finish, and begin. Whoa, that sounded poetic. Wish that could’ve been on my tombstone.

So, it was the beginning of summer. Literally, June 21st. The Solstice. I got kicked out of the house, I won’t get into how it happened. Doesn’t matter. Got kicked out, and just went into the woods. They were right in my backyard, so, why not? Just jumped over my fence and walked into the woods.

Looking back, it was a stupid decision, not like I didn’t have friends I could’ve stayed with, but the woods were just calling to me, so I went.

When I left, it was bright, clear skies, and just hitting sunset. I walked into the woods the moment it got dark. Y’know there’s a word for that? It’s twilight. Just when the sun is below the horizon, but
it’s still light out. Guess what the word means, now, though? I’m sure you know, just felt like educating everyone... Or complaining. Whichever.

After about five minutes of aimlessly walking in the woods, well, not aimlessly. I did have a direction. Away from my house. Shhh. Stop rambling. Again, after about five minutes, the first signs of weirdness started. Weird sounds. Extra rustlings, random sounds that almost sounded like falling. Howling, growling, moaning, lowing, and shrieking noises. Most of them inhuman, all of them creepy.

It was incredibly stupid, but I just kept going. After five minutes, there were no more noises. At all. Complete silence. I couldn’t help it, I just stood completely still. I think I held my breath for a few
seconds. It was... Suffocating. Again, I hate cliches, but, it fits.

After 5 full minutes of this silence. Me standing still, barely breathing, and it was broken by a sudden lightning bolt. And by sudden lightning bolt, I mean the tree in front of me was struck and set on
fire. Later, I noticed that my bangs were singed. That’s how close it was.

After the tree was set on fire, I’ll admit I screamed for a full thirty seconds. High pitched as possible. Then, I started running, heading towards home. Yeah, I’m a wimp. But, I’m a track wimp, so I ran. Fast and hard as I could, fifteen minutes later, I’m still surrounded by woods.

When I finally stopped running, breathing heavier, and half hyperventilating from fear and exhaustion, it stopped raining. Instead, the world started tilting. Sopping wet, exhausted, and somehow cold, even though it was literally just the beginning of summer. I felt the temperature dropping, down, down, and down. I felt the clothes freezing to my skin, and could suddenly see my breath.

“Stop scaring the child, Robin.” The voice that spoke was high pitched, but not unpleasantly. It was almost angelic, with a Welsh like lilt to it. Nearly a song, in that one sentence. The tone was still harsh, though. And very frightening.

“I’ll do whatever I want, M. You hold no power over me in the Half Realm.” This voice was worse. It had the same Welshy lilt to it, but it was deeper, harsher, and scratchy. Scary, but not as scary as the
first.

After the second voice spoke, a figure came walking out of the woods, from my right. He was impressively tall, almost 7 feet tall. He was blonde, with shoulder length hair, that curled towards the ends, almost wavy. He was so pale, I could see his blue eyes from 10 feet away, they were so bright. He was literally dressed in leaves, which added to the creep factor. Green, and blue leaves.

“Do you wish to be my enemy, Robin? I will fight you, here. As you speak, in the Half Realm, there are no rules.” He walked completely silently, and stopped a few feet away from me. The moment he stopped walking, a new shape appeared, directly on the opposite side from me, coming from the left.

He was absolutely miniscule, perhaps 4 foot nothing. With extremely spiky red and black hair. It added at least another 3 inches, and he was dressed in the same type of leaves, but darker. Almost black. And he was hunched over, with the pointiest noise to ever exist.

“Mister M, I believe I saw the child first, which makes it mine. What fun we shall have, playing until she bursts.” He said, while walking towards me, and stopping at the exact same distance from me as the first one.

“No. I saw the human first. It’s my toy.” They were like brothers fighting over a toy, unfortunately, I was the toy, and I literally couldn’t move.

“Perhaps a game, to win it? If it lives, you may have it, if it dies, then I have won.”

“Very well. I accept. A 5 point game?”

“Yes, that’ll do! 5 games, 5 points, winner takes all.”

“Do you accept our game, child?” This time, the tall one was talking directly to me, and God were his eyes distracting, they were almost spinning, the colors changed around so often. Always blue, but so many shades.

“I... What?” Very intellectual, I know, but I had no idea what was going on.

“The rules are simple. There are five games. One to test your mind, your body, your soul, your heart, and one to test your will. If you win, you may come with me to my Court. If you lose, you’re dead.” The taller one said.

“Do you accept?” The smaller one looked absolutely terrifying.

“... What if I don’t?” I asked.

“Then you go to play games with Robin.” The taller one answered, and the smaller one looked even scarier at that.

What choice did I have? I accepted.