Strike You Down

Epione rushed over in a hurry to see many blackened figures clawing at the magic folks who were running away. The others who had been captured were dried off their lifeforce and had sunken-in figures, completely devoid of life. Epione immediately rushed to cast some magic out with some wispy strings that clung onto the blackened figures, holding them in place. All magic folk who was nearby, ran to safety, away from the blackened figures as Epione began to tie all the figures into a massive ball. She had taken one of the figures, mostly intact, "Send any more of your kind here and I will strike you down." The animosity in her voice was apparent with the time that she continue to allow these foul creatures to live. The pungent smell of rotting flesh and tar was very upfront to Epione who was very close to these blackened figures who groaned as they clawed their way to reach Epione to no avail.

The one that she spoke to pointed its finger at her before a crooked smile was etched on its melting face, "The child of magic, lives!" He crowed before the rest of the blackened figure cheered in unison before the Epione burned the back abbess ball into a cinder, "You may strike us now but this isn't the last of us." The rest that had escaped were exterminated by the iron-clad man riding the chimera fighting valiantly. But, Epione began to tend to the mana leylines hoping that were still in a state where it could aid other magic folks that were in a state of near death. Some were able to be revived from the near-death state, however, most that had been deprived of their life were immediately turned to dust giving an abundance of mana to the mana leyline to convert the energy so that the magic folk could be used.

The interaction with blackened figures didn't settle right with Epione who was spooked by the fact that they would return, "Everyone rests up for the night." All magic folk began to return to their abodes while the main defenders returned to their post to guard the forest from any blackened figures that remained, "Come with me and rest for the night." She acknowledged both the chimera and iron-clad man followed close behind her. Her footsteps were light as if she was floating above the ground as if to go through the motion of walking but her wings were ultimately lifting her off the ground. The light from the sun soon began to stream through the tree as it soon began to rise to welcome a new day. The twins, Aimee and Teo, popped their heads to see Epione beforehand but they were quickly frightened by the knight that was close by and proceeded to run away.

Casimir on the other hand was shocked to see children in such a dangerous forest and decided to go rescue the children. "Wilhelm! The bad knight is trying to catch us!" The Twin quickly rushed behind Wilhelm who heard their shout and immediately grabbed them and ran back to the safety of the house, clutching at the hem of his shirt, "Bad Knight is scary…" The twins nuzzled against Wilhelm's arms scared of the terrifying knight who had a stern expression and was shocked to see even more children. Epione followed behind seeing as the children were still quite frightened by people that weren't familiar.

They soon reached the plentifully lush garden which encompassed the majority of the land where a comfortable house was lit up by some light source from within. The laughter of the children could be heard as soon as they approached the house, "My Lady, the children have already dressed and fed themselves breakfast." A dryad materialised itself from the ground politely informing Epione who had returned from the Spring Solstice celebration. Soon, the door of the house burst open and all the children came running toward Epione engulfing her with hugs of their own before realising that there was another person there. They soon quickly hid behind Epione who chuckled at the children's sudden change of disposition towards the stranger made her know that the children would be on guard if it came to meeting strange people.

Epione ushered the children forward to greet the man, who she knew wasn't going to cause harm to either the children or her wellbeing. The energy that he projected was like a gentle warm sun that would envelop you with the best comforting hug. It wasn't rough around the edge but it was still a comforting presence, especially with all the other smaller magic folk all fluttering around him. They were attracted to the energy he was emitting, but the children were human and wouldn't know that he didn't have bad intentions so they could only hide behind Epione. The day was soon settling down into night when the nymph took the children to the lake to bathe before eating dinner but it would also be a time when Epione could prepare dinner.

The man took off his armour revealing his strong physique where it was evident that he had undergone intense training and battles, "Do you need my help?" He was willing to offer his help watching Epione start to get things prepared for dinner. Epione stared at him before sending him to the same lake as the children to keep watch over the children. Along with a nymph who was taking care of the girls while he was to take care of the boys who were both excited and wary of his presence, "How long have you been with Epione?" He began to ask the three boys question about Epione and they answered him honestly. Eventually, the children began to open up to the older man who was akin to a father figure.

Soon, all the children, as well as the man, returned to the house which was emitting a delicious smell of food that immediately caused the children to begin setting up the table to eat dinner even the man. It wasn't long before everyone began eating except Epione who began making some clothes based on some rough estimate of the man's body. Her hands were fluid with the movement of sewing and it took her a while before she could finish the man's garments. But, by then dinner had already settled and cleaned before the children were escorted back to the room. However, the man was carrying Eloise who was sound asleep on his shoulder as he carry a small bowl of dinner that she had not been able to eat.

Epione who was finally finished with the garment measured the shirt up against the man's body to see that it was slightly loose which was ok since it was sleepwear. She quickly took Eloise into her arm before she made the man wear the garment so that they could all sleep, however, she had duties to attend to since she was High Fairy of this forest and the mana leyline were still very much in need of her services. So, she checked the infant's temperature before heading out of the house by herself however the man followed her out, "Don't humans need to rest for the night?" She continued to walk into the forest bush. The man silently continued to follow her.

He shook his head, "I mainly sleep during the day when all the monsters don't come out." This was news to Epione who was told that there were no monsters left in this world besides the magic folk but this was the human world where all the realms were all within reach of each other, "More monsters have begun to rise." Epione continued down into the forest where the leyline was situated into a humorous tree with a shape of a woman protecting the leyline. The blue orb in the centre of the tree glowed softly as mana circulated within it webbing itself to the base of the tree. It soon responded to Epione's presence as it was wired to her magic so she began to calibrate leyline to aid in its flow and prevent any future blockages. It was slowly improving with its ability to somewhat function independently on its own and repair itself.

Leylines themselves were also magic folk of lesser intelligence, remnants of past high fairy folk who were deprived of their wings and died during the magic war. It was their last act of duty to serve the magic folk to preserve the magic as long as possible. But, it has been decades since the travesty that has forever marked magic kind, however, to the humans that inflicted such pain and human suffering. It would be long forgotten by future generations and the magic kind would be reduced to folklores and myths which in hindsight means the magic kind would have a revival era. Epione began gathering some of the mana into her hand condensing it into a small orb that could fit into her hand. She began walking to the same lake where the blackened figures had caused casualties, releasing the orb into the water before the small orb began to unravel in the water.

The mana began to disperse between Epione began to cup the water into her hand before lifting it to the man, "Drink, it would help with your body's recovery but I would suggest you not rely on this." The man cupped her hands as he bent down to drink from her hands. His chapped but warm lip settled on her finger as he gulped down the water. Before a look of surprise as he felt the effects of the water immediately revigorated him, "I never got your name because of the chaos that happened today." Epione was about to scoop some of the water but the man quickly stopped her giving her the chance to drink from his hand. Her lips grazed against his calloused fingers as she began drinking the water instantly feeling refreshed.

As soon as Epione was finished drinking. The man began to wipe his hand from the remaining water, "Casimir. Casimir Beausoleil." He stuttered with his last name as if it wasn't something that he would often say. This intrigued Epione since Casimir didn't say his name in confidence nor did it come naturally to him.

Epione was amused by the man's actions trying to reciprocate everything for her and even willing to help her with anything despite not knowing each other that well, "It seems to me that you aren't quite used to your new surname." Casimir nodded confirming her assumption. It caused her to giggle, "Even though I'm not so used to my wings every time I fly I feel a sense of panic so that's why I walk a lot on the ground." Despite having the conscience to fly anywhere she much preferred the ground where she could feel the ground underneath her feet. Even the other high fairy folk back in the magic realm teased her a lot for walking while they all flew in the air. It wasn't a natural instinct for Epione.

Casimir thus quickened his pace to reach her before a burst of blackened figure splatted itself on the ground in front of them, "Leylines... Mana... Child of Magic..." Pointing at Epione who was hidden by both Casimir and Chim with their weapon of choice branded towards the blackened figure. However, the blackened figure couldn't hold its form properly as it hazardously spat out its substance which was blocked by a magic barrier created by Epione, "You can bring forth the era of magic once again if you join us." The figure continued to lose control over its body as soon as it tried to reach its tendril toward Epione not minding the two protectors in front of her. It wasn't long before a materialised spear pierced through the body of the blackened figure between it and began to dissipate into a puddle of black goo along with the spear.

Epione began to conjure up flames to burn away the black goo that was beginning to disintegrate the ground beneath. She began the arduous process of converting the black goo through a process of refinement to produce a different type of mana. This mana was incomplete and unstable which would need further refinement to be able to purify the nature of the destructive substance. But, for now, Epione encapsulated the incomplete mana into a small orb of glass for storage so that it wouldn't contaminate any living being. It still wasn't the best option to keep it on her as she didn't want it to harm any other magic kind that she would have to interact with as well as the children that she lived and cared for. So, she would just be sent it off to the magic realm for Hel to deal with by ripping a seam into the magic realm before sending it off.

Epione began repairing the dimensional tear that she had created before moving on to clear up any mess from the blackened figures. She also began harvesting some mushrooms that were in prime condition to prepare for breakfast. Casimir also began helping but he had to be directed on which mushrooms were edible and their distinguishing features to determine whether they were poisonous or not.