From Parvaneh’s back, Tera pushed out her still-beating heart.
It pulsed weakly for a few seconds in the fairy’s grip—red and glistening, wet with blood—then Tera squeezed it tightly.
A final, wet squelch... Then the heart burst between her fingers, blood dripping in thick lines to the ground.
"Hey, Tera, you really get on my nerves!" Titania whined, hands on her hips. "You care too little for human life."
"No, I loathe humans generally," she shook her hands to flick off most of the blood, droplets scattering across the dirt. "They hurt you for generations and you just sat there and took it. Humans are the most evil beings that need to be exterminated."
"I won’t let that happen, you know," Titania frowned, her voice firm.
"And I will never realistically end the human race," Tera replied coolly, "Even if it could be as easy as turning off their life, like day tonight."
Tesa suddenly froze as she hovered, her eyes narrowing as she squinted at two faint, round hazes drifting upward from the dead bodies;
The souls of Parvaneh and Coal, clinging tightly together, frolicking in slow, mournful circles like lost children refusing to separate.
"Your Majesty... There is a problem."
"What now?!"
"These two girls’ souls are clinging together." Tesa said, pointing with one delicate finger.
The hazy orbs twirled around each other, bound by sothing deeper than death, all tangled into one unbreakable knot that refused to let go.
"Eh? How is that possible?" Titania’s eyes opened wide, crystalline violet widening in genuine shock as she stared at the two clinging soul hazes—round, luminous orbs twirling slowly around each other in mournful, inseparable circles. "Didn’t the dark-haired one die a while ago? So she was haunting the one who killed her group, then."
"This will be difficult now," Tera added, arms crossed tightly as she hovered closer, frowning at the stubborn pair of souls. "And the foolish human is clinging right back. We cannot make three fairies at once for now."
"Ehhhh?! Fine, we’ll make more offspring flowers!" Titania desperately suggested, wings fluttering in quick, agitated beats as she clasped her hands together in pleading hope.
"Actually, since their souls are so weary," Tesa chipped in thoughtfully, tilting her head while studying the hazes, "why do we not simply reincarnate them into soulless fairy bodies? We would cultivate strong bodies for them and have them possess it."
"Will you cultivate it?" Tera asked her twin imdiately, eyebrow raised.
"No, I cannot go so far for human trash. Will you do it?" Tesa threw the question back without hesitation.
"Nah. It is not worth the hassle."
Titania pouted deeply, cheeks puffing out in exaggerated frustration as she huffed. "Then I’ll do it."
"No can do, Your Majesty!" Tesa responded instantly, shaking her head. "We, your servants, must do such tedious jobs, not our Queen."
Titania’s face lit up in sudden joy, eyes sparkling. "So you will actually do it for ?"
"No."
They went back and forth like that: arguing in circles about how aningless it would be to reincarnate two fairies at once, how much extra work it would take, how the offspring flowers were already at capacity, how the souls might destabilize if forced together.
The nagging soon grew louder and more theatrical, wings buzzing in irritation while the village’s stench of blood, charred wood, and decay continued to drift around them in heavy waves.
Normally, Vaelora dealt with such soul matters for the fairies; not Tera and Tesa.
[Enough noise, Tera, Tesa.] [Vaelora]
The voice rang inside their heads, calm and deep, being authoritative, as it cut through their squabbling like cold steel.
"S-Sorry, Vaelora."
"Ugh, relax. We were only playing with Titania for a change."
Tesa and Tera tensed imdiately, wings stilling as though caught in a sudden freeze. Their playful bickering evaporated in an instant.
[My Queen, it is possible to join the souls with others in one offspring flower. I can make it so the souls do not rge and cause problems later.] [Vae]
"Truly?!" Titania clasped her hands in prayer position, her eyes glistening with renewed excitent. "And they would be healthy?"
[The one Tera killed already experienced severe trauma. I cannot guarantee she will not still have so of it in her fairy days. And it might take 400 years or so to complete her rebirth... But I will do my best for Her Highness.] [Vaelora]
"Ohhhhhh! I so love you, Vaelora!!" Titania hopped happily in mid-air, doing a little spin that sent sparkles of light cascading from her wings. "Unlike so genocidal duo I know, you are really helpful."
As they drifted away from the village—leaving behind the overpowering stench of blood, dirt, smoke, and rotting flesh—Tera’s voice cut through the quiet.
"Your Majesty... They are all following her..."
"I noticed too," Titania made a wry smile, glancing back over her shoulder.
Behind them trailed a multitude of faint, shimring hazes—hundreds, perhaps a thousand—souls rising slowly from the massacred bodies like fireflies stirred from grass.
They drifted in silent procession, clinging to Titania’s light as though it were the only thing left in the world that felt safe.
"I thought maybe if we ignored them they will all go back."
"I could eat them if you want?" Tera insisted casually, licking her lips once. "Human souls are quite the delicacy."
"You savage beast..." Titania cringed visibly, her violet eyes twitching in discomfort. "Uh, Vaelora, the entire village worth of souls are following us... Can you help?"
[I can reincarnate all of them as fairies, if you wish.] [Vae]
"I wish! I wish!" Titania thrashed excitedly again, in the air, clapping her hands.
"Hey, Vaelora stop spoiling her!" Tesa mumbled under her breath. "Be more like little Isabelle; she’s more harsh on her."
Titania made a sad face, lower lip jutting out dramatically. "Isabelle used to hug and call Big Sis. Now she won’t let sleep on important etings. The young shall grow, it seems."
And they left the burned village with a multitude of souls that day.
People who could see them in the years that followed called the woods near the village the Forest of Souls—where three young girls with wings were forever haunted by a thousand shimring ghosts, trailing behind like a mournful wake, whispering regrets and half-ford prayers into the wind.
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