by Ebony Upward
Flow opens her pretty dark blue eyes as she lies on the grass looking at the bright sunset on the dark green hills. She looks to her left at all the memory gems in the blossom tree, as a little flower from the blossom tree lands on her smooth, pale forehead. The gems begin to shimmer and sway gracefully in the cool breeze that starts to blow. They begin to whisper softly while pictures from old times form in them, like one of her mother’s birthday when Flow danced gracefully for her mother, a dance she called the ‘blossom’s whisper.’ She watches her mother with her two wings. She looks down at herself with only one sad, shiny, blue and green wing hanging from her back, and she wonders what it would be like to have two glamorous wings instead of one useless one.
“Flow, dinner!” her mother yells happily from the kitchen window.
“Coming!” Flow quickly responds, as she lifts her head off the grass. As she stands, her half-purplish and blue hair dances gracefully in the cool breeze that starts to fade away. As Flow gets closer to the portal door to her house, which is covered in leaves and twigs so it will never be found, she turns back to look at the hill full of fairy houses with lights that are bright and colourful at night, a whole kingdom she can never see.
Flow takes a deep breath and opens the green grass and twig door, walking in and shutting the door behind her to a cosy little cottage. Inside is a table full of human hamburgers and chips on one side and on the other side there are fairy droplet cakes, ladybug shell blossom chips, and water from the forest creek in cute wing mugs.
“Come take a mushroom, blossom,” Flow’s mother says cheerfully.
“Thanks Mother, what a lovely dinner,” Flow replies, as she takes a seat on a red, squishy mushroom and begins to dig in to her half-human and half-fairy delicious dinner. For the rest of dinner, Flow and her mother don’t talk until Flow starts to do the washing up.
“Mother?” Flow asks.
“Yes, blossom,” her mother happily replies as she puts the plates in the sink.
“What happened to my father?” asks Flow.
“Well, sorry Blossom, but that is none of your concern,” her mother replies.
“Why do I have one wing, Mother?” Flow immediately asks.
“Well, I will tell you when you’re older, but for now it is also none of your concern,” her mother says, starting to sound a bit angry. Flow has asked the same questions many times before.
“Why can’t I go to the Fairy Kingdom?” Flow quickly asks her mother.
“You will learn when your older, but for now it’s none of your concern,” snaps her mother angrily.
“But why can’t I …?” Flow starts to talk but gets interrupted.
“I said it’s none of your concern!” her mother snaps loudly as she flies up high close to the roof with her face bright strawberry red. Flow starts to get a bit frightened.
“Any more questions?” Her mother slowly calms down.
“No, sorry Mother,” Flow says, with a face of disappointment. She is feeling ashamed for what she has just asked.
Flow walks to her room when she finishes washing up. Across from the kitchen, bathroom and her mother’s room is her own, as it is a tiny house. She lays on her pink bed in a room full of five toys, seven books, four Lego boxes and one two-player board game, with posters next to a closed window.
She picks up one of her favourite toys, a soft knitted doll. As she holds it close to her chest and curls up on her bed, she looks up at the roof to see bunches of shiny star stickers randomly scattered across it. She takes a deep breath, rolls over and looks at the dark, starry night outside the window with a view of a creepy mysterious forest, which no fairy of any kind would dare to go into, except her mother, who goes to find dandelion and dark flowers so her wand will work. Without any of that, she couldn’t make this cottage; make food or objects appear. She can’t do things too extreme, like going back in time or giving Flow a wing, or especially, bringing her father back.
Sadly, Flow doesn’t have a wand, as you can only get one from the fairy queen when you’re eighteen years old and a wand must choose you to be worthy, which is not Flow as she can’t even fly. She clenches up her hand into a fist as she gets annoyed with herself. Closing her eyes, she starts to drift off to sleep. She has the same dreams she always does, of meeting her father, seeing humans, having two wings, and visiting the fairy kingdom, if that is even possible.
“Aarrh.” Flow leaps up from a terrifying nightmare. Luckily, she can’t remember what happened, except that it was in a scary place. She quickly tiptoes to the kitchen to see what time it is: 3:11am. That’s early, she thinks. Suddenly, she gets an idea. Her mother is still asleep and the fairies at the kingdom will be, too. No one will know she even went there, and she will be back before the sun comes up.
“Yes, that is a great idea, and I should make decisions for me and not let my mother make them for me. Why didn’t I think of this way before?” Flow cheerfully whispers, trying to be quiet.
But Flow has no idea what is waiting for her at the kingdom, for you see, even though there are lots of fairies like the nice queen who gave Flow’s mother her wand a long time ago, that queen has been murdered and a new fairy has taken her place—the one who killed Flow’s father. The new queen is Nox, a Night Fairy who wants to kill half-wings and humans for good and bring more Night Fairies to her kingdom to make an army. Flow better brace herself; Night Fairies don’t sleep at night.
*
Flow can’t contain her excitement about going to the fairy kingdom, but she must be quiet. She dodges the forest trees so tall and scary, ducks under the branches, leaps over rocks, looks out for spiderwebs and after a while she makes it to the river across from the fairy kingdom. Flow takes a breath, for this is the first time she will see the kingdom. It will be so beautiful. Even if the fairies are asleep, at least she will get to see it—better than being only in her dreams. As Flow gets closer to the kingdom, all she can think about is how beautiful it is. She wonders if she will see fairies with one wing like her if she sneaks out again.
“At least I didn’t get lost.” She sighs happily, admiring the beautiful kingdom. Or so she thinks. Beautiful is one word for it and evil is another.
The wind begins to blow through old, twisted trees with not even a leaf on a branch. Flow walks through mist so thick that it is more that she has ever seen. Mushrooms are everywhere, but not the edible ones; ones that are poisonous, that can kill you or make you really sick. With every step Flow takes, she can hear voices. The mist starts to fade away, and she feels cold and unsafe. She wants to turn back but she can’t; she is so close.
“Welcome, my fellow Night Fairies, to a show you will never forget!” A loud, pretty, high-pitched voice echoes from up ahead, through the shadows and trees that look like they could make you possibly lose your mind. Flow takes a deep breath and follows the voice into the shadows and trees so dark and spooky. Flow gasps loudly as she sees a crowd of people with two wings.
“Fairies!” Flow happily yells from the back of the crowd. When one turns around, she sees it is a fairy with dark blue and green wings, a dark blue jumpsuit, dark green shoes, wildly long, light sparkly purple and blue hair, and wickedly bright yellow cat-looking eyes. The fairy creepily limps over to her instead of using her wings.
“What and who are you?” the fairy mumbles.
Flow wants to run but she can’t, it’s like her legs are glued to the ground. She can’t speak. The only thing that comes out is a small shriek, loud enough to startle the first fairy she heard. She didn’t know that it is Nox.
“Let me go!” yells Flow.
“I’m so sorry about that, but why are you interrupting my show—umurrr …” The queen fairy stops with a face of shock.
“I’m Flow,” Flow says with a gulp at the end.
“Yes, pleasure, and I’m Nox, Queen of the Night Fairies. Are you a half-wing?” Nox says sarcastically with confusion.
“A what?” Flow replies.
“Stand up now, then!” Nox yells angrily.
As Flow stands up, the queen runs over and looks at her back. Nox touches and moves her wing around. Flow feels uncomfortable and wants to run home but doesn’t want to be rude to Nox, especially to a queen, and to the other fairies.
“How, how …?” gasps Nox.
“How what?” Flow asks.
“Everyone gather round!” yells Nox, and all the Night Fairies gather around Flow and Nox.
“What are your father and mother’s names?” Nox asks angrily.
“Ummm … it’s … I know that my father is dead and I’m different. My mother’s name is Nya,” Flow says, unsure about what Nox is talking about.
“Nya!” yells Nox fiercely. “Well, well, Nya and her half-wing are still alive, and her daughter is right in front of me … ha ha ha ha!” Nox laughs evilly into the night.
“What is a half-wing?” asks Flow impatiently.
“Oh, didn’t your mummy tell you about your father and how that disgusting human fell in love with a fairy from the River Tribe. And how a baby called a half-wing was born, who was half-human, half-river fairy, and that the human father was killed when the war began. I fought the River Queen for this land and killed all the fairies, half-wings, and the queen once I won. And now I will kill every human, every fairy from every other tribe, and all half-wings so there can only be Night Fairies in the human world and fairy world forever!” screams Nox wickedly out to the Night Fairies who crowd around in curiosity.
“No, you’re a liar!” Flow screams out to Nox.
“No, I’m not and there is one thing that definitely is true though!” yells Nox with a pause, for she is about to say something terrible.
“I … killed … your father!” Nox confesses to Flow, with a smile that goes up to her ears creepily. The truth strikes Flow. She lets out a gasp and her eyes fill with tears, her face turns red as if she has cried for hours, and inside she feels a mixture of scared, sadness, and depression, weighed down by a truth that will haunt her for the rest of her life.
“You … you … you killed my father?” Flow gulps, as she trembles and shivers, feeling extremely unsafe.
“Remember what I said about half-wings and killing them, well …” Nox pauses for effect. The next two words that come out will cement Flow’s feelings towards the queen forever. “You’re next!” screams Nox. She lifts a hand up with a purple flame roaring from it and walks towards Flow with her wicked smile. As the flame gets closer to Flow, she feels sick. It’s as if she is getting pulled towards the flame, very slowly.
“Purple flame, purple flame!” chants the curious crowd loudly. Flow wants to run, hide or speak but all that comes out is a little shriek of horror as she gets pulled towards the purple flame, known to Night Fairies as the curse of death.
“Nox!” A familiar voice screams from the shadows in the trees, and a figure comes running out of the dark and into the crowd that is making a path for the figure. All the fairies are now looking at Flow curiously.
The fairy who stands before Flow has a face of absolute beauty, dark blue wings, a dark purple dress—so long and beautiful—and a light blue belt around her skinny waist, dark aqua high heel boots, long elf ears like Flow’s, and straight, light purple hair down to her waist.
“Free my daughter. Show mercy!” yells Flow’s mother. She starts to walk towards Nox and falls to her knees, begging, but as Nox gets closer and closer to Flow, her mother runs with the speed of a cheetah towards Flow, grabbing her hand before it is too late.
“Mother,” Flow gasps with confusion, as if she doesn’t remember anything about the flame or her mother’s entry.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m here now. But what did I tell you about this place?!” Flow’s mother sounds scared about the place, Nox, and the truth that Flow has just found out.
“I … I … I’m sorry, I don’t know,” replies Flow, too scared to tell her mother why she came here.
“How cute. The family will be back together!” Nox laughs evilly.
“What do you mean?” Flow and her mother reply together, confused.
“I mean, you’re going to see your father in Fairwyal” Nox yells happily. Fairwyal means hell and Fairweaven means heaven in each fairy tribe. They all have their own unique language, but only half-wings and River Fairies can understand and speak each language without learning or trying.
“Never!” Flow’s mother yells, as Nox charges at her. Nox and Nya fight each other using magical powers that Flow has never heard of or read about before.
“Run home, Flow! Run! Run!” Flow’s mother begs, as Nox and the others attack her.
“You seven, get her, GET HER NOW!” Nox wails, as she is pushed to the ground hard.
Flow gasps as seven Night Fairies fly towards her like a jet at full speed.
“I’ve almost got her!” yells one Night Fairy, about to grab her.
Flow bolts—without a wing to fly, it is useless to even try at this point. When Flow approaches the entry to the dark, thick forest to her house, she follows her same path back the way she came. She looks up to see the Night Fairies gliding over the forest in search of her. Flow looks back one last time before going into the safety of the cottage; she looks back at the kingdom she shouldn’t have gone to. Her mother is nowhere to be seen, which scares Flow. As she closes the door, she feels comfort knowing that she is in an invisible home and thankful that she got back. Now her mother is all she can think about—and the truth.
Flow hides in her home under her bed for the rest of the night, with tears streaming down her face. She closes her eyes and soon falls asleep, while fairies fly over her small home in search for the first half-wing seen in twelve years.
“Mother!” Flow wakes with a start, remembering what happened to her mother. She runs to each room in search of her mother, but she is nowhere to be found. She sits pondering what she should do next.
“Oh yeah, the memory gems!” Flow says, excited that she has thought of an idea. The memory gems don’t just show you your memories, but they also flicker red for two days if a family member has died. Flow frantically starts looking around for the gems.
“I hope not, I hope not,” Flow repeats to herself, hoping to see no flicker of red. Then she sees it … “Noooo!” screams Flow, not caring if the Night Fairies wake in the daytime.
Have you ever lost a family member or even a friend? If not, then you can’t possibly imagine how Flow felt, even if you tried. The feeling is too powerful and sad with the loss of a loved one, especially the only one person you have left in your life—gone, leaving a hole in your heart, leaving you feeling empty and all alone.
Something flashes in Flow’s mind about the confrontation between her and Nox. Nox told her, “I will kill every human, every fairy from every tribe, and half-wings for good. So, there can only be Night Fairies in the human world and fairy world forever.”
“Not if can help it!” Flow vows. She wipes away the tears that have begun to fall and a surge of anger prevails. She walks inside and grabs a bag and puts in two books— ‘Fairy Beginner Spells for Magic’ and ‘Next Level Survival and Spell Tips’—as well as food and essentials. But most important of all, a picture of her mum, who always told her, “One day your purpose will come. Even though I know your purpose, you still must find it. Never stop trying, my blossom.” Flow starts to cry as she looks at the picture and wonders if her mother wanted all this to happen—after all, she knew Flow’s purpose and what must come for Flow to succeed.
“Wait, where should I go first if I want to find every half-wing in the human fairy world? Cause if I find them all, I could make friends, explore both worlds, save the half-wings and convince both worlds that half-wings aren’t useless freaks and that we are all the same,” Flow says happily as she pulls a jacket over her wing. Suddenly, she gets an idea of how to find every half-wing.
Flow runs into her mother’s room and looks through her cupboard. She finds a locating device and presses the ‘on’ button. The device turns on, and as she types in half-wings, five dots are placed on the map.
One of the dots points to the Nature Tribe and others to the Light, Sky, Fire and Wind Tribes. They must all be fairy tribes, she wonders. The closest one she finds is the Nature Tribe, which she decides will be the tribe she will go to first in search of a fairy like her, before Nox can get them.
Flow follows the map, walking towards the Nature Tribe, and begins her first journey into the world, knowing that her story has only just begun.
*
“What?” Flow says, confused, as the Wind Tribe’s half-wing starts to move away on the map to the portal to the human world.
“It’s okay, I’ll figure it out later, but now I have to hurry to the Nature Tribe before it’s too late.” Flow huffs and puffs as she starts to run faster and faster, trying to make up time while it is still daylight.
The journey to the Nature Tribe is the easiest one on the map that she can find. She makes great time, but not before the sun starts to set. Flow grabs her bag and pulls out a tent—her bag is her mother’s and therefore full of magic. She could fit everything she would ever want or need into the bag.
“This is so heavy!” Flow puffs, as she puts the bag down and pitches the tent quickly before the sun sets fully.
“Wow, the tent is huge!” Flow looks surprised as she finishes the tent and decorates it.
Soon, Flow looks at the locating device and sees how close the dot is. “I’ll get there tomorrow,” she sighs.
Focused, Flow tries to remain positive about her mission and soon falls asleep in the tent in another little forest more than six kilometres away from her home, where Nox will probably never find her.
*
“Tweet, tweet.” A blue belly crying bird wakes Flow up.
“Aww, such a pretty little birdy.” Flow smiles as the bird flies towards her. A blue belly crying bird has a high-pitched tweet, yellow body and blue belly, and when it cries, its tears have healing properties. If a tear drops onto your injury, it can be healed, and it can make you happy when you’re sad by just touching it. If only it could have healed her mother when she was injured.
Flow gets up and packs up her tent and sets off on her mission.
After a while, she sees a sign saying, ‘DON’T PASS’. Flow gets a bit nervous but it’s a risk she is willing to take. She heads towards the kingdom and as she drops her bag to take a breath, she notices it starts to feel cold and the air smells fresher the closer she gets.
“Nice try!” Flow exclaims, rolling her eyes as she sees vines hanging down to look like a wall. When she pushes through the vines, she sees the exact opposite of the Night Kingdom. It isn’t just beautiful and not evil, it is extraordinary, with cabins as houses, and trees and grass in all shades of green. There is a cool, clear rushing creek, with rocks randomly in the creek for stepping stones, pretty flowers of all types in the grass, a sun with the warmth to bring life to the nature surrounding them, and a breeze so cool and fresh.
As Flow takes a step up to her ankles into the creek , she feels calm and relaxed and full of energy. She looks up to see in the distance a whole world of fairies with leaves curled around their bodies like dresses. Their hair is all shades of green, brown and blonde, decorated with flowers, and they are wearing tiny boots tied up with bunches of grass as laces and flowers for a belt. They have pointy ears, green and blue eyes, and innocent beautiful faces with dark freckles, but each one still looks very different from the others.
“Wow!” Flow gasps happily, as dragonflies and butterflies circle around her, forming a tornado, and then fly up and away. To Flow, it is the most beautiful place she has ever seen. She looks at the locating device in her hand, which is pointing north. Flow paces in that direction with no fairy looking at her as if she doesn’t belong. They go on as if it is a normal day in their lives. Her hand holding the locater starts to vibrate and she looks down to see some of the dots from two other half-wing tribes being covered by a purple dot, then all the dots fade away including the purple one.
“Nox!” Flow says fiercely, as Nox must be fairynapping half-wings or worse, killing them. Flow starts to pick up her pace to find the half-wing here and, to her surprise, a tree so tall with the sun acting as a spotlight on it. Through the shade of its brilliant emerald green leaves, and with moss all around the trunk of the tree, she sees the most shocking and surprising thing she has ever seen—a figure next to the tree.
“Excuse me!” Flow says.
As she gets closer to the figure, the figure turns around, and Flow makes eye contact with the first fairy like her. The half-wing is small; she looks the same age as Flow, with light creamy skin and light brown freckles, pointy ears, and emerald coloured long straight hair with a bright red rose in it. She has extraordinary dark green eyes with long eyelashes, a long pretty dress in all shades of green with pretty roses sewn into the dress, green long nails, and a welcoming smile, and her one wing, which is white and light green smudged together, looks beautiful. She walks, step by step, down towards Flow.
“Hello, what is your name?” the half-wing asks in a soft, calm, posh and elegant voice.
“I’m Flow … a half-wing … Are you a princess? … I mean, what’s your name?” Flow says, as a sense of panic passes over her.
“Pleasure to meet you, Flow … I’m Zinnia, which means ‘vibrant flower’,” Zinnia smiles.
“Oh sorry … you just look so pretty, elegant, royal and …!” Flow quickly says without thinking.
“Shh … sssshhhh!” Zinnia hushes Flow by pressing her pointer finger to Flows lips. “Sit. You look exhausted and I get that a lot from visitors … It’s okay though!” Zinnia politely says as she walks back to the tree and takes a seat on the grass. She taps the grass as a sign for Flow to sit next to her. Flow walks up and sits next to Zinnia and something unexpected happens. Zinnia wraps her arms around Flow in a tight warm hug.
“Finally … a half-wing … someone like me. News has already travelled the land of your tales from the Night Kingdom,” Zinnia whispers.
Butterflies in all the colours of the rainbow fly around Flow and Zinnia for a short moment, as a sign of a beautiful friendship about to begin.
“Wow!” Flow gasps again as they stare at the butterflies and then at each other.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it, Flow?” Zinnia says.
“Yes, it’s beautiful” Flow replies as Zinnia and Flow smile happily at each other.
“By the way, this is the Tree of All Life. It heals animals and fairies and gives life to all you see around us.” Zinnia smiles as Flow feels the trunk of the tree.
“That’s awesome!” Flow replies.
“I know. I can’t believe I have met a half-wing … someone like me!” Zinnia says as she puts her hand on Flow’s. They both smile at the same time, and in that moment, Flow forgets all the sadness and anger she has been feeling.
As the sun shines over the two half-wings, Flow knows they must still find the others before Nox does. This is the start of a beautiful friendship, and they know their journey has only just begun.
