Page 8 of Eight Embers

“You said I was here to save the race?”

“Did I? Perhaps I was a little overly dramatic.”

“So, the unicorns…don’t need saving?”

“Oh no, they definitely do,” she says with a manic smile. “Does that clear things up?”

I stare at her blankly, wondering how the hell to get home. I edge my way around her covered-in-fur human body that looks like an upright unicorn and approach the window overlooking the city.

Down below, many clouds float around and house neighborhoods as far as the eye can see. To get between the different clouds there are slides or ladders, making traipsing through this world similar to a real-life version of chutes and ladders.

The window in front of me goes opaque suddenly and I spin around, feeling the goddess standing far too close. She’s breathing heavily and her eyes are beginning to glow red, putting me on instant alert. “Maybe I wasn’t clear. You will come here and help my people. I only get this one chance to help the people I created. They have real lives, real hopes, dreams even, and quite enjoy a good Sunday roast. Veggie based, of course.

“I am forced to play by the rules that are pushed upon me, and I might be a cheerful, loving goddess to my people, but make no mistake, I will protect them at all costs. I am going to assume that your lack of enthusiasm for this opportunity is due to a lack of information.

“If this is such a burden for you, I can just as easily kill you and make it look like an accident so that I may retrieve someone else who would be more…willing.”

I hold up my hands to slow down her incredibly rapid spiral, brain too foggy to comprehend anything that’s happening. “Please. I do not want to disrespect you at all. I find myself…very confused about a lot of things, and it would help if you laid out in plain terms what you need me to do. If people need help, and I am able to offer that help somehow, then of course I will. I just am unsure what overloading me with mates will do.”

Her smile relaxes a fraction, and she takes a small step back. Progress. “I like your backbone. I’ve heard you have…abilities. My people, they don’t suffer from infertility or lack of females or anything like that. Yet we decline. Do you see how gray most of the clouds out there are? This is a result of the disease spreading through my kingdom. Unhappiness.”

I nearly choke but manage to catch myself. “Unhappiness. That’s what’s killing off your people?”

“Yes,” she spits, definitely judging me. “Unicorns are supposed to be happy. Happy people fall in love and fuck and reproduce. Unhappy people…unhappy people keep to themselves and remain in their own little bubbles and grow anxious. This world depends on happiness to continue to operate. If I can’t lift their spirits soon, then the magic that keeps these clouds afloat will fail and we’ll …well. Let’s just say it isn’t a giant pit of foam waiting for us if we fall.”

“You want me to start some orgies.”

Fairygoddess cocks her head to the side. “I want you to remind my people why war is started in the name of love; why countless songs and art pieces are dedicated to it. They need to get their sparks relit in them, need a reason to pull themselves out of the muck and come together to heal our kingdom.”

I nod, but it still doesn’t make very much sense. “What do you need me to do? What are you hoping I can affect? I am one human. They are…many. Did someone tell you I was a trained motivational speaker? If so, they straight up lied.”

She reaches for my arm, fingers tracing over the new marks on my arm. “This is too many.” She looks over my other arm that’s mostly filled up and begins to reach for that as well, but I snatch it back.

“No.”

She looks caught with her hand in the cookie jar, then deflates. “Forgive me. I will not take any of your mates away from you. I can… reduce the number you mate from here if I fix some stuff.” She closes her eyes and immediately someone starts screaming from the distance.

“What the hell was that?”

“I must erase part of their souls to unbind you from them.”

“THEN FUCKING STOP!”

The smile she gives me then is calculating, and with a wave of her fingers, a man with pastel blue hair appears on the floor next to us, on his knees, clutching his chest and looking around wide-eyed. He takes in his surroundings and falls to a deep bow with his head on the floor when he sees The Fairygoddess. “Your Majesty.”

“I’m sorry for the pain I caused you.”

His eyes meet mine briefly before landing back on the ground in front of the goddess. In that brief moment, I note a hint of steely defense there. He definitely doesn’t like me.

“I serve your needs, Goddess.”

“It seems your soul is meant to be joined with my guest of honor.” She closes her eyes and instantly, one of the marks she ‘gifted’ me fills in with a pale blue unicorn horn on a rainbow pastel background. “Saladriel, meet your soul mate, Delaney.”

I give a really stupid wave. “’Sup?”

“You will accompany her home and help her prepare for the upcoming games. Get to know each other. When I summon you again, we will discuss the next part of my plan to fix the kingdom.”

“Of course, your majesty. Whatever you think is best.”

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