The old man seated himself on a rock before he was accompanied by a huge black tortoise which began munching at the greenery surrounding them, "You, my dear are quite an unfortunate case of the fairy wings hunt," He stared at the missing part of Epoine who instinctively hid away from him. Casimir instantly noticed Epione's discomfort with the old man immediately came to hide her using his figure which overtowered her immensely, "Quite the protector isn't he?" the old man chuckled as he went to pet his tortoise in an attempt to calm it, as also came to protect him. Both the tortoise and Casimir glared at each other, stuck in a stalemate.
The old man went to grab a stick from the ground before hitting the tortoise on the head to stop him from trying to provoke the young man, "I didn't have them for a long time so I can live without them." Epoine responded as a pixie gave her a berry which she had eaten aplenty before. However, seeing that all of the pixies were offering the same berry as she had eaten, "Don't eat anything that is offered to you." Epione began gently swatting those pixies away before politely declining the offerings of foods for her friends.
The old man chuckled as he watched the girl trying to protect the group of people that accompanied her, "You flew through didn't you?" The old man piqued up as he knew that even though she had essentially lived her life without wings that she would yearn for them. It was natural instincts. Wings were an indicator of how much magic a magical being had so the bigger the better. It was almost like a status symbol that could earn respect from others showing how indispensable their magic reservoir was. Of course, many high fairies naturally possessed wings that were humongous so it was natural for them to be higher in rank. as well as to be hidden from the human realm because of their huge wings that would make them a natural target for many non-human and human magic-users who want that highly condensed magic source.
Throughout the years there soon began the slow decline of magic in the realm and the scarcity of magic sources scared many. So, many magic users who had relied on magic to perform spells were actively seeking out other sources of magic. Magic-users soon began turning to other sources of magic namely magically being whether it be the weakest being sprites and the pixies or the higher beings like fairies or high fairies. High fairies were the ultimate magic source that any magician could ever obtain since they had such a high concentration of magic that could easily be replenished. Containment of such a high-level high fairy was very difficult and only those with enough abilities as a magician could able to capture them.
Those who were unable to capture one due to their inability were desperate for a high fairy's magic powers. Eventually, they would usually turn to the dark arts to be able to force a high fairy to their submission and drain their magic. Such magic arts were taboo against any being as they would only cause suffering to the victim of the dark magic. Thus this was the cause of the start of the Magic War. Humans sided with the magicians as they were of their race as well as used their assistance to be able to defend and pillage those from the magic race. Any and all magic being that was captured alive was rewarded by magicians in exchange. In contrast, the magic beings soon began to conceal themselves in any dangerous place in the Empire.
There was a counter for high fairies so that magicians couldn't use their magic. Magic belonging to any high fairy was unusable for anyone besides their own race by itself. The only way for magicians to be able to use it was through a process of refinement that could allow for high fairy magic to be usable for any magician. However, the process for refinement to transform high fairy magic to mana tend to create waste mana which was unusable for both high fairies and magicians. A magician who dwells in the use of dark magic was able to use the waste mana to create chimeras.
This causes a rise and demand of high fairies as the waste mana produced from the refinement process produced incredibly ferocious beings who could track down the high fairies or equivalent. The chimera which originally came from the fairy could naturally find the being that was magic came from if they were alive. Chimeras were a double-edged blade for humans to use as the waste magic that they came from was sourced from a specific fairy's wing. It would become sentient and become the wingless fairy's protector if they were alive. However, if the fairy had died the chimera would be non-sentient and would require a magician to source their magic, and thus the magician gained control over the chimera.
High fairies who had been captured would be imprisoned and have their magic extracted and their wings surgically removed. However, once the high magic was deemed drained their magic would be killed so that the chimera wouldn't return to the fairy. Many magical beings' lives were wasted especially the high fairies who couldn't see the future of their race being erased. So they created a portal that required the magic of much high entity magically beings. The rest of the magically being escaped the human realm and return to the magic realm where there wasn't a threat to harm them.
The portal was not long-lived so many rushed to the magic realm while the majority did escape to the magic realm. The rest who weren't able to remain in the human realm concealing their existence for the rest of time. The sudden disappearance of only being that were supplementing the realm with magic caused a collapse of the magician world. Thus it was the end of the magic era which brought out a new era, The Golden Age of Humanity where technological advancement soon follow to recover from previous human dependency on magic to survive in the world. Even though humanity was now going through this golden phase there are still people who are still reliant on the remaining magic pockets that still exist. Magic has now been deemed a mythos to many, especially to those who already embraced the new era as well as those who grew up in it.
Until Epoine was revealed to be a high fairy solidifying that magic still existed and that there was still the existence of magic. The hidden magic community which had laid in dormancy for so long has now begun to stir but someone already had taken the jump at Epoine while at the Monciaux Dukedom. Her existence has completely vanished along with the Monciaus Dukedom causing many magicians to want to claim the land of the Dukedom to build a magic tower seeing as it housed a high fairy belonging to a bloodline that had been well known for magic. However, Epione didn't seem so know that not like she care. She wasn't Eos Monciaux anymore nor the Fairy of the Monciaux Dukedom. She had left that life behind. Never to look back again.
The old man lamented as he nodded his head, "You may be able to very soon." He went to stand up brushing off the moss from his pants before being led by the tortoise who supported him into the foliage of the forest, "Dear Epione would you be so kind to relay to your mother that preparations are nearly done." before completely disappearing from the group's eyesight.
Courtney tilted her head at the old man's words, "Preparations?" But even if she were to question Epione. She didn't even know about the preparation that the old man and her mother were talking about with each other. So the groups decided to return back to the Ferdinand residence since the day was getting late and his majesty and her friends needed to return to their estate to rest. Epione remained at the estate saying her goodbyes before everyone. Preparations for some things between the old man high fairy and her mother piqued Epoine's interest who immediately went to find her mother who was chatting with both Lisa and Helios in the common room where everyone would congregate together after meals.
Epione stood at the entrance, reservedly. As if wanting to wait for her mother to finish talking with Helios about her continued treatments which had vastly improved her condition far better than any other doctor that she had assigned to when she was in the Monciuax Dukedom. It was definitely for the best that she had assigned Helios to her mother, "Epione why are you standing over there?" her mother called her out as Epione flinched like a cat being drenched in water. After being called out Epione was forced to walk over to her mother projecting her noble confidence which was just a cover-up, "You seem to have something you want to talk about something." Her mother dismissed both Helios and Lisa so that she could be able to talk with her daughter in private without having others hover over them as they talked.
Epione sat on the opposite couch in front of her mother in a very straight posture. She hesitated. The words couldn't come out. So there was an awkward silence between the two. Crickets could be heard but Epione decided to break the silence first, "The high fairy in the forest asked me to send his regards to you and the preparation is nearly ready." Relaying the message that the older high fairy had for her mother. Her mother's eyes sparkled as she heard the good news of the hidden project that she had underway was making some progress, "What did high fairy in the forest and you do?" Epione enquired as a curiosity on what the high fairy and her mother had done to work together, keeping the secrets with each other.
Her mother smiled as she ruffled her daughter's head, "Mother, ruffling my head won't help you from not making me wait for the answers." Funnily enough, it did. The soothing motion was quite therapeutic to the touch starved girl who instantly laid on her mother's lap essentially in a dazed state as she nuzzled in her mother's hand. Her action reflected very much like a cat. It didn't take much time before the girl was completely asleep in her mother's lap. It was quite ironic that this woman coddling the young girl into her lap was once one of the guardians of the High Fairies. Incredibly fierce as well as powerful would turn into such a loving mother who had been stripped from her child only to have come periodically for a short period of them. To retrieve what was once hers brought out the wrath and pain that had been bottled for years being deprived of being a mother.
The witness to her baby's explosive birthdays filled with immense food and people on a congratulatory day, her first days at school filled with nerves from being separated, the mother-daughter time where they would spend time together shopping and dressing up in the most beautiful gowns, the father-daughter dates where they would spend time having dinner where she would be treated like a princess, watching her daughter fall in love with a loving man who would give the world to her and more. Protect her. Love her. Till their marriage and have a loving family where she too would become a mother herself.
As well as to watch her own daughter being deprived of the most basic essentials that all living beings were granted yet her daughter was abused, tortured, toyed with, and used for the Monciaux benefit. Seeing her daughter state every time she visited would only bring back the most painful event that would mark all magical beings. Destroyed by humanity's cruelty. Their disappearance would last until their existence was of the fairy tales until the magical barriers between the realms break. Epione having been birth by herself and her father had brought on more unwanted attention to their poor child which had caused riots in the Monciaux to obtain their daughter to resolidify their position as the Monciaux Dukedom. Once they obtained her and the rumors of the new daughter who had come to be in the Monciaux Dukedom was of High Fairy which had been known to have long disappeared from the human realm.
It garnered attention, enrapturing the capital's curiosity. There were a few nobles who were unable to relieve their curiosity requested to see the child who had entered their estate just recently. Upon viewing the half-high fairy and human child who was sitting in a chair that was much too high for the child swaying her little feet that were dangling over the edge of the chair. A lovely shade of brown that was so light that it had the color of tea that was heavily doused with milk. Those beautifully round eyes encapsulated limes that had been soaked in honey, sparkling with innocence. Her ears were ever so slightly pointed that it was barely noticeable. To the nobles, it was one of the many things that differed the child from any other human child. The child was very much like a fine china porcelain doll; fragile and beautiful. But there was an element of etherealness that had solidified the fact that she had High Fairy blood running through her.
Once the news of the child had been spread from those nobles. It spread like wildfire to the point that the story had become much more exaggerated than what it was first told. This began the zoo exhibit where Epione had to be scrutinized by adults and children as they view her as anything other than a person. She had to endure the overwhelming eyes that were on her for the first half of her life before she was whipped into shape to be that of a proper lady of noble society. Even more, eyes grew on her as she attended the academy to undergo her studies. Other noble children were trying to give her more attention so that they would be able to connect with the Monciuax or that they found her attractive. It was the sort of attention that Epione wanted so she often retreated to the forest behind the school where she was able to catch a breath during the schooling periods.
Eventually, Epione would be accustomed to the stare as she continued through her education and this was where she had also met her friends that would both debut with her but also be the ones to support her even the times were difficult times.