SmolNarwhalWrites

As the ruler of a small country, there are many problems you have to solve throughout your day. Trade agreements, border disputes, even the outcries of the people invade your thoughts and nearly every waking moment. Even so, your beloved country was flourishing under your leadership, and the people love you.

That is, until the sickness came.

The country's finest doctors had been working on a cure as fast as they could. You were doing everything just to keep it together, but your people were dying off in droves, the streets littered with bodies.

You had almost given up hope when you heard about a powerful magician who had been able to cure themself and several others of the plague. You went to find them, desperate for a way to save your people.

When you begged them to save your country, they agreed... But for a price.

"My firstborn?" You asked, surprised.

They nodded seriously. They almost didn't look human, with beautiful features and a slender, perfect body.

"Okay," you agreed. "But please, save my people."

They agreed and the deal was sealed with blood. The magician smiled, their face somewhat triumphant. It was a short ceremony, the words of power spoken in a thundrous voice. There was wind and lightning and a blast of energy spread out from their body, the epicenter of the spell. When the magician was finished, their body slumped from exhaustion, their glowing eyes fading.

"That's it?" You asked, startled by the simplicity of it.

They nodded, "Yes. But this isn't over until I have the child."

"Ah, okay. When do we start?"

They stared blankly at you, blinking slowly. "Start...?"

You grinned, "We are going to have a child?"

They stared at you, mouth dropping open and cheeks turning beet red.

"Oh."

There was a forest at the edge of the town where you grew up. No one ever went inside, not even you. It wasn't that you were told not to, there was just this presence around it, like it was forbidden ground. It was just ignored and left alone. No one ever even talked about it.

You always thought it was pretty, though, with its tall dark trees and ominous presence. As an adult, you purchased a house that bordered the edge of the forest. You didn't have many neighbors, so it was quiet and peaceful.

One night, as you're sitting on your back porch enjoying the cool night air, you notice movement in the trees. Looking closer, you make out a shape walking slowly through the outermost edge of the forest. Shimmering silver, a lithe, elven person slips out of the forest and into the moonlight. They stop dead when they see you, freezing in place with wide eyes. Then, as quickly as they arrived, they disappear back into the trees, fleeing your gaze.

When you were a child, your mother told you stories about magical creatures. You loved these stories and she never told the same one twice.

After your parents were killed in a car accident, you were sent to live with a distant relative. The relative was uncaring, neglectful, and sometimes even abusive. But one day, when your relative begins to abuse you, they are suddenly thrown across the room. Standing between you and the relative is one of the powerful beings your mother had told you about. Broad-shouldered and inhumanly gorgeous, the being stands taller than any human you knew by at least a head. Four feathered golden wings protruded from their smooth back, their windswept hair long and tied back in a braid.

Their eyes are filled with an icy flame as they look upon your relative. Turning to you, their gaze softens. Gently, they reach down and help you to your feet. "Don't worry," they say, "You're safe now."

They look back at your relative, then back at you. "They'll never be able to hurt you again."