How Many Lives Is Enough?

Chapter 7

Painting nr. 1

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there were two fairies, who loved each other very, very much. One of them had hair and wings that were the colour of the weeds that grew on the bottom of the lake by their village. Her name was Sam. The other fairy's hair and wings were purple, and fierce like fire, but soft as the silk of her robes. These two very special girls had grown up together and had been inseparable since birth. Naturally, they grew to love each other in every sense of the word and for a very long time, they were happy. They ran a quaint little shop, where they sold children's toys they'd carved themselves to all the children in the village. Both the shop and their home were hollows, carved in their tree of marriage. Every couple of the village grew a tree when they decided to spend the rest of their lives together, and by doing so, they connected their bond to the life force of the tree. This meant that it was very important to take good care of your tree, for a healthy tree was a healthy marriage.

Sam and Alex loved their tree with all their heart, and would have given anything to keep it healthy. But there was nothing they could have done.

James and Allison's tree was the first to fall. The shadows had started in the roots of the tree, devouring the inside as they climbed higher and higher. By the time anyone noticed, the tree was already rotten to the core. There was nothing they could do. James and Allison had once been Alex and Sam's best friends. When they were children, they used to soar over the lake together, and pretend the shimmering lights in the waves were diamonds they could hold in their hands. What a cruel twist of fate it was to make Spring Lake their final destination.

While the Village Elders were discussing what to make of this threat to the trees, Sam and Alex witnessed their friends' entire descent into madness. It started with a general dissatisfaction towards each other and grew to be true hatred for everything they'd ever stood for.

The last time anyone ever saw them, it was the middle of the night, and they were flying over the village, fighting, kicking, scratching, and biting while they swung back and forth through the air. People were screaming at them to stop, but they only ever looked down once, and then continued their fighting as they flew towards Spring Lake. People stopped yelling when they saw how the couple's eyes had turned black. At one point, James tore off a part of Allison's wing, and she screamed until Sam was sure all the animals of the forest must have fled. The torn piece of wing floated down until it landed at her feet. It was still twitching, and had turned pitch black. Somehow, Sam could feel it cry.

That night, the entire forest was silent. The next day, the roots of all the trees in the village were inspected for shadows. All of them had been infected. Many potions and spells were used in an attempt to fight the disease, or at least stop it from spreading, but all were ineffective. One week later, the grass turned black. A few more days passed, and nearly half the marriage trees were visibly turning black on the outside. Nobody knew what to do, and everybody was scared of what was coming, but there wasn't a single fairy who fled. It was not the way of their people.

So when the shadows started rising from the lake, and taking the shape of large, ogre-like creatures, all fairies were ready for battle. But fighting the shadows was like trying to fight the wind. Their swords and arrows sliced right through them, and they walked straight through every defensive spell. Many fairies were swallowed by the shadows, never to return. The rest was forced to retreat, while their marriage trees continued to turn black. Sam and Alex realised they would never be able to defeat these monsters, and decided to look for help before it was too late.

And so they fled from the shadows, towards the part of the forest that was still green and alive, to find anything or anyone willing to rescue them. The journey was hurried, the two of them always glancing over their shoulders, always on the watch for the shadows. Nighttime was the scariest time, especially when the moon wasn't out to guide them. They spent this time huddled close, trying desperately to warm each other until the cold, anxious pits in their stomachs would melt. Instead, they grew more anxious as each day passed, and they felt their tree dying in the distance. Helplessness threatened to overwhelm them many times, but still their fairy hearts gave them the courage to persevere. At last, they discovered a little cottage in the middle of the woods. They held no real hope that their saviour would be living in a small, wooden cottage, but they were longing for warmth even more than rescuing at this point.

They were in luck; the cottage was warm. Inside lived a scrawny old man, who, judging by the amount of spell books on the walls and his uncombed grey beard, appeared to be a wizard. He was very welcoming and made them some tea while he listened as the two fairies told their terrible tale. They thanked him for his hospitality, and warned him of the danger to come. In return, he told them his own life story; how he had been part of an elite group of wizards, but how the shadows had come for all of them, and he'd had to flee to this remote part of the realm. He told them they were probably one of the few remaining living creatures in this universe, and that soon the shadows would be here too. He had a map of where he knew the shadows to be, and the girls quickly saw they were surrounded. They were going to die. And their own little village, where everybody had been happy, and they'd wanted to spend their entire lives, had been swallowed by the darkness.

Images of everyone in the village started flooding their eyes: their families, friends, and neighbours: all of them now dead. And the trees. All of them had probably turned black by now. But when they tapped into their life forces, they could clearly feel that their own tree wasn't gone entirely. At the crest, a few leaves stubbornly shone green, which meant their bond was still fighting back against the darkness. But it wouldn't stand much longer. And in that moment, both fairies knew there was something they feared far more than death. And that was losing each other.

They decided they would spend their last moments close together, and begged the wizard not to let them hurt each other once their tree had been completely turned. But the old man had a better idea. He took off a necklace he had been wearing, and placed it in Alex' hands. The pendant was no ordinary gemstone, but what seemed to just be... light. She tried to touch it, but her finger went right through. The wizard told them it had been a gift of his sister, and that it would grant anyone who held it one wish, as long as it only affected themselves. At first, the girls were hesitant to accept such a generous gift, but the old man assured them he had no more use for it, and that time was pressing. In the end, there never really was a choice to make. As you know, they would have done anything for each other. It wasn't clear who was the one to speak the wish out loud. The words seemed to be coming from both of their mouths simultaneously. It didn't really matter. Their wish would never truly be fulfilled anyway.

"I wish for us to be together forever"

It would have been a pretty ending to such a dark fairytale. Unfortunately, neither Sam nor Alex had asked what type of tea the old man had given them. It was willow root tea. None of them could have known, of course, but the root had already been infected by the shadows. The shadows inside of them couldn't stop the wish from being granted, but they made it impossible for the girls to be alive while they spent that eternity together. Forever would they be together, and forever would they be haunted by the shadows deep inside of them.