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Venilia Side Story #1: Meeting Ailsa.

"There is some mistrust of humans among your people, I understand. I hope by working with you, I can help iron out any misunderstandings." The one with the soft teal hair pulled up into a white bow held a hand out to a pixie warrior. The young human woman looked at the pixie with bright soft blue eyes, and a smile. She then chuckled, feeling the tension. She hadn't identified herself to the famed wind warrior of the pixie clan, and understandably the pixie was more than reasonably questionable about a human popping up on her doorstep.

Venilia was dressed much unlike how anyone would expect a warrior. Her pixie counterpart was visibly armed, and it was only by the grace of Venilia's innocent appearance that a sword blade wasn't in her face. In a simple white dress with a basket of flowers, not even with a pair of shoes on her feet, Venilia had boldly come to Ventus, the village of the Clan of the Wind Pixies.

"And why would that be?" Ailsa asked. "Who are you?"
"I'm Venilia," she said, pulling a handmirror out from behind the flowers for a moment, then recovering it. "I am one blessed with the powers of water and wind, and I was born to be your ally."

Ailsa sighed, grabbing the wrist of and pulling the young woman into her home, for fear of panic arising from a human in their village. Safely inside, Ailsa stared at the human, wanting an answer and a few more depending on what the first one was.

"If I may?" Venilia asked, holding her mirror, gesturing that she was going to do something.


"What are you--" Ailsa was cut off with her own gasp.
Venilia held the mirror in front of Ailsa, the reflection of the pixie staring back her herself. The amount of power that quickly flittered from Venilia surprised Ailsa more than the magical object. No more than a half a second later, the mirror was flipped to its backside, and then lowered. The girl no longer wore the simple white dress, and even the flower basket was gone. In their place was a suited warrior standing still in front of the pixie warrior. She was no longer the sole magical sailor suited senshi.

The girl's outfit was a quirky mixture of blues. A soft blue tiara, subtly glowing at the center of her forehead, reflecting light off of her earrings. This same soft blue tied itself into a bow upon her chest where a golden locket set. Her choker and her ruffled skirt had the same deeper teal, though her skirt was lined with gold trim as were her gloves. The same teal drew a design down the girl's legs, and the navy upon her shoulders colored between the boot's design. Lastly, the blue ribbon tied around the mirror was a bright sky blue. Still, it was a sailor fuku all the same, and the aura of bright, positive energy shone from the young woman.

The girl before her re-introduced herself. “I am Typhoon Wing.” She moved her hand to gesture at her back, and a soft glimmer appeared there, the gossamer vanishing quickly. “Still, pixies can fly, so I’m sure you’re wondering how I even managed to get here, but that’s an explanation for another time. At least I think I’ve shown you enough to keep me off the pointy end of your sword, yes?” Ailsa gave the girl a hard look, but said nothing, so Venilia continued nervously. “We met briefly before, actually. You perhaps remember that nearby village, it’s gone a few years back, but you met with their leader and his wife. I think you met with them more than once, actually. I was just a toddler, but you were the most pretty thing I’d ever seen, and I couldn’t stop following you around like some baby chick.” Venilia’s face softened a great deal at saying this. “I swear I can remember you patting my head.”

Ailsa gave no gesture to this. She felt she had no reason to trust a human ever again, for causing the war that plagued her own people. She couldn’t entertain the random musing of this young girl, warrior or not. “That kind of thing only exists in the past.” She said coldly. “You have announced yourself as a warrior, and as a human, you are my enemy. You have a lot of nerve coming here, asking for my attention and my patience. You deserve neither.”

“This is more than a mere trinket, Lady Ailsa. Yes, I know your name.” She held up the mirror to her once more. In it, Ailsa could easily see the shimmer of three lights, blue, red, and green. 

“Fuoco, Silva, Fiume.” Ailsa whispered with pain in her voice. “You can see them?”

“Sort of. I’ve been searching, with some help, the human encampments. See most people will let a girl with flowers in just about anywhere. Call it pity or trusting nature. I’m not like most of my kind in the respect that I possess magic myself. These objects. I can’t find them among my own kind. Perhaps it is not modest to admit, but I am stronger than most humans in regards to magic. I might not be well trained as your kin, but I know my power is nothing feeble. Those stones. Those who have been victims, perhaps blame the humans because there is some false comfort in the fact the items would be in the hands of a race who does not practice magic as a whole, or even in a large minority. Also, it make sense that if humanity wanted to fight pixie kind, they would need to acquire great magic to stand a chance, right? It’s a pretty believable cover up. Of course, no one is going to believe me. My kind I think has an inkling of being a scapegoat and instead of investigating the matter, they just blame the blamers. War has not brought out the best in my kind either, Lady Ailsa.”

“If what you speak is even true,” Ailsa responded. “Then who is responsible? I’ll admit it can be a tactic to have your enemy fight another of your enemy. It is not noble, but possible for someone who is trying to divide my kind and the humans.”

“I am sorry. Though I see much I’m afraid I am limited. I have only sparse experience with this mirror. I would like to ask you a question. Do you know the butterfly?” Ailsa offered no response, the stone faced warrior waited for the girl to speak more. “I first saw it the night of the fire. There wasn’t much left to my village when my parent passed in the war. I still managed to survive these long years,” Ailsa scoffed, correct in thinking the girl was about fifteen, “on the kindness of who was once left behind. Sometime ago, it was burned to the very earth, leaving nothing but soot. I nearly suffocated in the flames, and I saw a figure. I am certain, very certain I heard their voice. “Too bright of a power shone here. Let the pixies take the blame.” I will never forget it, the red eyes and the fire that burned my home. I awoke in that burned earth, as if the Papillion in my dream where a phoenix and saw fit to raise me from ashes, in this new garb as if my life had only begun that day...."

(Venilla left out the part that she actually woke up in ashes stark naked, and discovered her senshi form shortly there after. The story was just too embarrassing in full detail.)

This butterfly,” she held up the mirror once again, summoning a soft pair of wings, a red light form, hovered above the pane. “I am certain they are the first of us. The first one of us is the red butterfly, and there are more too. I feel this more strongly that the sun beaming from the sky in the day. Honestly, though, if I hadn’t met you when I was younger, I probably wouldn’t have found you now.”

Ailsa sighed. “And why is it you think I’m going to help you? Because I don’t need your fancy mirror to know that’s what you’re going to ask? I haven’t any intentions of allying with a human.”

Venilia bowed to her. “I’ll give you some time to consider. Surely, I have no loyalties except to the butterfly and another person who’s agreed to help, though he is not human either. Either way, I’m looking for our leader. I hope we’ll meet again one day.”

Ailsa was completely thrown by sudden intrusion, transformation, story, and abrupt leaving of this human girl Venilia. For Venilia walked willingly out the door, and before Ailsa saw it, the girl had vanished in the thin air.

Part 0 (Prequel) History: Caelen Meets Venilia

gaia_star gaia_star gaia_star Though based off my original idea, most of this writing is Cel's work. I have her permission to post it here.

Dark times had stirred up once more on Gaia. Suspicion and animosity brewed by the day between the pixie clans and the humans. Caelen had the sneaking suspicion that they were being played against each other by some third contender yet unknown. The demon decided to do some investigating in an effort to determine what was happening. Caelen was on his way to follow up on a lead he had picked up when he saw a billowing column of smoke in the distance. Using his incredible demon vision, he zoomed in on the source of the smoke. To his horror there appeared to be a village on fire. People in danger always tugged at his tender heartstrings, and thus Caelen put on a burst of speed and rushed to the village. He was too late. By the time he arrived, the entire place had been raised to the ground. The smoke still issuing in droves from the charred wreckage would have choked any normal being. Caelen was born of fire and ash though; he was used to the flames of Hell. He listened carefully for any sign of a human heart beat among the rubble. It appeared the whole village had been wiped out. The essence of death hung heavy in the atmosphere above the village. Those who suffered death by fire were always restless, their spirits often unable to move on. Despair overtook the demon at having been too late to save even one solitary soul. A single tear trickled down Caelen’s face, etched with grief. That was when he heard the slight stirring.

He let his hearing lead him to the center of the village. To his disbelief, one little girl stood covered in ashes in the center of the village. How on earth did she survive this? He wondered.

Taking much care to avoid scaring the young girl, Caelen walked slowly toward her. He was about five feet away from her when she turned around. Tears streaked the soot covering her face. The demon could not tell if she was in any physical pain from injury, or if the tears were from emotional agony. For all he knew, it could have been both. He took a cautions step forward, and the girl quickly stepped back several paces. Fear was beginning to enter her expression alongside her sadness. Cae stopped. This would have to be handled very delicately or the girl would never trust him. Knowing submission to be the best tactical approach, he lowered himself to the ground down on one knee and lowered his head a bit. It was a classic submission position. He spoke very quietly and gently to the girl.

“Young one, please do not fear me. Doubtless you have been told all of your life that demons are nothing but evil. It is true that the vast majority of them are. I am the one exception. Even those of my kind cast me out and would rather be rid of me because I do not follow demon ways. I saw the smoke from afar and hoped to help save the village, but…..I was too late.” He ended in a choked whisper highly uncharacteristic of demon-kind.

Venilia probably should've been concerned with the fact her home village was in ashes around her, but full denial and confusion were in place. Her eyes screamed from the soot, mostly, and she couldn't even see herself that well. So why on earth did she have a handmirror now? She'd swiftly hidden it behind her when she heard a noise, a habit the homeless girl had ingrained in herself to conceal any precious object. She'd lived for about a decade on the scraps of her village since the death of her parents during the war.

Now she found herself trying to take a deep, calming breath, but her heart pounded as she saw a tall winged warrior and heard him speak. At least her ears where working right. At that moment she was grateful her long hair which, why that and she hadn't burned in the fire, was all that covered her besides soot and, more reluctantly, the mirror as she nervously tried to conceal her person. Somewhere a piece of advice came to her mind. An enemy usually intending to harm wouldn't give a name to their victim. Venilia tried, spitting ash, to ask the man's name. Between coughs the word "name" came out. Still, if there was anything she'd honed in her life, it was a quick judge of character. She hoped moving toward this stranger was the right move even though she couldn't speak well.

The girl’s voice rasped from the smoke that had gotten into her lungs. The only audible word Caelen could make out was “name”. Luckily, he had enough sense to catch the girl’s intended meaning. How careless of me. I should have told her my name up front. Caelen chided himself.

“Please, try not to strain your voice. You’ve been through a lot. In my haste I seem to have forgotten the most important thing. I am called Caelen Evernight. Although rarely used, I am sometimes known by my patron status as the Dragon Demon. What should I call you?”

He wasn’t sure why he had divulged his patron title to this girl he hardly knew. Something just compelled him to be open with her. He also found himself oddly wishing that he had been in a habit of carrying a water flagon, though he himself was not in any need of water. The poor dear just looked like she could use a drink to clear her throat.

Tears still ran from her eyes, trying to clear the soot from them. She made an odd expression, trying to communicate pain rather than fear. She blinked a lot which might have attributed to a curious look. After all, who wouldn’t be looking at the kneeling demon curiously?


Venilia inched closer to Caelen where he still knelt on the ash-covered ground. At least she hadn’t run away and seemed to be giving him a chance. Her big blue eyes gazed down at Caelen in both wonder and a lingering touch of hesitation. She was brave though. Her soot covered face was breaking Cae’s heart. He slowly reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out the only handkerchief he owned. It was so white and soft, he almost hesitated to ruin it, but then he chided himself for being so ridiculous about a mere replaceable possession.

“If you will permit me?” Caelen asked, holding up the white handkerchief. Venilia stared at first, but then nodded ever so slightly. Caelen brought the cloth up to her face and began to carefully blot away the soot. He figured conversation would help her to relax.

“I’ve heard that charcoal is good for cleansing one’s complexion, but I don’t think it suits a young girl,” He said, joking mildly. Venilia just stood there. Caelen’s expression softened.

“It can’t be easy to lose everything you knew. In all honesty, I can’t say that I know what it is like because I’ve never had anything to lose, save for maybe my life. But I understand the pain. Whether it is from loss or rejection or some other source of grief, the pain is always a difficult thing to bear.”

Caelen looked directly into the young girl’s eyes. She was so very young. She should never have had to go through such a trial. At that moment, Cae decided to protect her if he could, even find her a home if possible. She mattered to him. They were bound together mutually by pain, even if it was not from the same source. He would help her bear the weight of it as long as she would permit him to do so.

Caelen slowly stood up, his handkerchief an unrecognizable black scrap of cloth now, but the girl’s face was completely clean. He smiled tenderly at how youthful and kind she looked without all that soot.

“There now, you look a thousand times better. I knew there was a pretty face hiding under all that ash. Now, we just have to do something about the rest of you.”
Caelen frowned and crossed his arms over his muscular chest in thought. Clearly the girl’s clothes had been destroyed by the fire, but as far as Caelen could tell, all the black covering her body was ash. There were no burns. What strange power protects this girl, I wonder? He briefly mused to himself. Then he noticed Venilia just staring up at him and snapped out of his mental meanderings. Chuckling at his own tendency to let his mind wander, Cae spoke to the girl again.

“Well then, let’s get this soot off of you and find something to cover you up a bit. Don’t worry. I won’t have to touch you at all for this. There are a few advantages to being a demon. One of which is elemental power.”

Caelen drew in a good lungful of air and then carefully let the air out in a gentle stream in Venilia’s direction. The air blew the soot right off of her. Not one speck of ash was left. Even her hair was completely clear once Caelen was finished. A rosy blush colored the girl’s cheeks now that the ash was gone. Cae stared off to his right, a bit embarrassed, and then an idea hit him. In one swift movement, he unclasped the black and gold half cape from around his shoulders and placed it around Venilia. She was so much smaller than Caelen, so the cape, which was just right on Cae, completely covered Venilia like a shroud. After securing the cape so that it would not fall off of the girl’s slight frame, Caelen stepped back to assess his handy work. He chuckled.

“Well, I suppose it will do for now, but I think we’ll need to find something that fits you better fairly soon.”

Venilia gestured in a direction, and thanks to Caelen’s gifted sight, he could see a nearby stream. “Ah, alright.” He nodded to her.
Quietly, the odd pair walked over to the stream. As they got closer, Venilia ran up to the stream and quickly drank from the gently flowing water. It was ungraceful work, drinking and spitting up unwelcome ash from her throat, but she’d been running around nude moments before, so she hardly felt the need to care. “Ahhhhh, that’s so much better.” She said before taking more greedy mouthfuls of water. The soot was still a little painful, but she could speak without much trouble.

“Mr. Evernight...Venilia is my name. And those were the ashes of Lilly Valley I just climbed out of. And naturally, I have no clue as to why or how.” She glanced at her hand, “And I certainly felt those flames just the same as any ordinary being would.”

Venilia swallowed, going for broke, asking the question that torn at her mind above all other things, what she'd heard as everything around her had burned. She literally had no one else but the demon before her in whom she had chosen to place her trust.

"Why is someone trying to get the humans to blame the pixies? Why is the there a light that shines too bright here?.....Why....."

She looked at the mirror, which took on an ethereal aura and shine. A high pitched sound signaled her surprise, and in a way, she received her answer. She parted the cloak and spun around, high pitched as the cloak parted and revealed the senshi garb and, even more curiously, a pair of nearly invisible wings that caught the gentle light of the fading sun.

“No!” She shook her head, and pulled the cloak back around her, “I don’t want to be the reason! I don’t want to be like this! I don’t understand! I don’t understand!”

Just as quickly, another gentle gleam of light withdrew the senshi form from her person. She pulled the cloak around her and sank to the ground. She shook in her emotional distress.

Caelen knew that the girl was distressed, but he was unsure as to what had caused it. She had seen something that he had not. Mildly baffled by Venilia's state, Caelen cautiously approached the girl where she had sunken down in the dirt. He tenderly placed a reassuring hand on her small shoulder and spoke to Venilia, trying to calm her.

“While I am unsure what it is you saw, we do have one thing in common. I myself have been searching for answers to the growing animosity between the pixie clans and humankind. This fear and mistrust should never have occurred. Why now of all times, I wonder? I doubt very much that an innocent young girl could possibly be to blame for all of this. Don’t put the burden of blame on yourself. I have a feeling there is much more to the situation than anyone realizes. As much as I hate to get others involved in potentially dangerous situations, I would ask that you come with me for now. I may be able to find you a home along the way. On my honor, whatever happens, I will protect you. ”

Caelen gently placed his hand under Venilia’s chin and lifted her head to meet his gaze. He hoped he wasn’t being overbearing or too presumptuous. He knew of several small villages and one or two slightly bigger towns along his current mission route that would more than likely take in an orphaned girl. The trick would be for Caelen to keep out of sight so that the locals would not fear the girl because of her association with a demon. He wanted to stick close enough to her to make sure she was accepted by trustworthy people.


Venilia took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She was willing to follow Caelen wherever he was going to go.

Along the way, Venilia started stopping every now and again as she spied a wildflower. She began singing quite the silly song. “See a flower, its face knows where it’s bright. Pick and sweetly kiss the light.” She hummed and tied flowers together. After a while, Caelen was being to realize she was not just dragging her feet to play with the blooms. There was a flower crown on her head, and her eyes were heavy.

“It’s very far to the next town,” she said. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually walk so much,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “I’ll try to keep up.”She said this, but looked as if just standing were too much for her.

Then, much to her surprise, Caelen lifted her and carried her on his back. “I do not require rest, so I will carry you for now. All you need to do for the time being is sleep.”

He’d safely stowed her mirror away somehow.

Venilia, a little surprised, wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to sit politely as he carried her piggy-back style. She was still very much wrapped in the cloak, and as only a few moments passed, she settled down. “Thank you, by the way,” she said, and not long after she drifted off.

Part #3 -- Meeting the Butterfly

If there was a pretty part to Barton Town in this era, it was a small grove in it's northwest corner. Normally Venilia would be with the plethora of blooms, little flowers of blues and pinks which normally would've been plucked and put into her basket. Instead, she listened to bright voices, children playing with little care for the tumultuous world outside of the tree-lined haven. There was one girl, older, closer to Venilia's age that did not play but quietly watched over the tiny oasis of innocent joy. A brightly colored set of wings landed on the equally vivid hair of the quiet young woman. Venilia nearly leaped out of her skin, her foresight practically screaming at her.

"It really is her." She said almost inaudibly to Caelen. "I'm going to go talk to her." Caelen nodded. He would stay back and observe.

Venilia slipped out of her new boots, and pretended not to see Caelen's small look of exasperation at that.

Venilia slowly walked over to the girl, taking careful steps in the grass. Almost as though she approached a sleeping animal, she tread carefully into the grove. She approached and said to the girl, "Butterfly..."

"Pardon?" She asked Venilia.

"Zinny, Zinny, look!" One of the young children ran up to the woman, a rather dirt covered boy, "Look at these flowers!!" The young child had a bundle of them and shoved them, dirt and all, up to the one being called "Zinny."

"Those would look nice in a flower crown." Venilia interjected, seeing the woman's face trying to smile at the child despite the clumps of dirt landing on her.

"Ooooh! That would look nice. I don't know how to do that though." Said the boy.

"I can show you." Venilia sat down on the grass and took the flowers. The boy ran off to play with the others. She carefully stripped the flowers of their excess leaves and dirt.

"Why did you say butterfly earlier? Who are you?" asked the girl while she brushed the dirt off.

"I am Venilia. And you have a butterfly in your hair."

"Oh!" The girl turned and the little insect fluttered away. "I am Zinnia."

The butterfly's name was Zinnia! "Pleasure to meet you, finally."

"Finally?"

As Venilia tied the flowers together, she said, "You're named for a flower yourself? Do you often have butterflies confuse you for the real thing? Do you often have strange meetings like that?" Venilia was being purposefully cryptic. "I am something of a refuge of war. I haven't been able to settle in one place though. I've had this dream where I'm chasing a butterfly. I've seen it ever since I survived my village's fire. I had this crazy notion" Venilia finished the flower crown and placed it on Zinnia's head, "That the butterfly saved me. And I've been wondering why ever since."

"I'm sorry but I don't know what you mean. I've seen butterflies. I've seen people hurt by the war and tried to help them, but I've never heard a story like yours."

Venilia felt a little frustrated. This person sitting in front of her what the reason why she'd looked everyday for an answer. Here she sat, insisting that she wasn't what saved Venilia. Venilia did not believe this at all, but she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Zinnia was the butterfly, and the one who could lead the warriors to victory in this war.

They walked the children to their homes, and then it was just to two young women. "There is a pixie village, I once managed to get in and see their warrior." Zinnia looked at Venilia a tad surprised, but said nothing. "She didn't seem to know what I was talking about either. But she seemed very interested when I showed her my uniform. I wonder how many there are..." Venilia again, cryptic."There is a pixie village, I once managed to get in and see their warrior."

"This must have been before the start of the war." Zinnia noted.

"Nope!" Venilia said brightly, then frowned. The ground was shifting in her mind's eye, she saw the lines of dark energy tumble over the town, and felt the sheer force of radical change. Then she flipped back

"What's wrong?" Zinnia detected the shift in Venilia's attitude from mysteriously lighthearted to frightened and apprehensive.

"You can get the people out of this town, can't you?" She asked. "They trust you. They don't know me but I need you to believe me when I say, this town is about to be taken over by a force that it can't handle."

"What? How on earth would you know such a thing?"

"The same way I knew how to find you. I keep seeing it. I keep seeing a red butterfly, a power that can counteract the chaos, but you can't alone. I am here to help you! However, things are looking bad here right now. My town, my town burned to the ground, and I couldn't save anything I thought I'd died myself! I don't want that to happen here!" Venilia said in a hurried whisper. "Please..."

Zinnia nodded in understanding. "We can fight."

"Not what's coming. There aren't enough of us yet. We need everyone. Whoever everyone is, we need all of them!"

Zinnia nodded, and before Venilia could even believe it, she'd stood with Zinnia as she contacted the leaders of the town and with impressive charisma, convinced them to evacuate. Venilia could scarcely believe it, but as she felt the dark energy approach, she was grateful.

"I'm sorry. Your home, we can get it back one day. I know it." She told Zinnia as they were at the end of the group leaving the town. "Don't look back." Venilia then said, stricter, knowing what was happening as they lead the villager away. The town was being crushed, twisted, and turned into another place entirely. Already she was trying to protect her butterfly, because the dark forces already snapped at their heels. "We'll find the others soon."

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Okay reserved the second page now.