Following The Faeries

"I'm not sad anymore, okay?" She said annoyed, angrily that her dad managed to catch her everytime without fail.

"Alright we can go, but you have to promise to take your training seriously. If you can do that, I'll take you wherever you want." Minos said, offering Rinka a deal she couldn't refuse.

Just like Minos expected, after thinking for a moment, Rinka finally nodded in agreement.

While the pain and exhaustion from training was bad, it was worth it in Rinka's mind if her dad was really honest with his deal.

"Then let's pinky promise on it!" Rinka said, reaching her small finger out.

Smiling, Minos hooked his pinky finger around Rinka's, the two shaking three times before splitting apart, sealing the deal.

"Now you can't go back on your words!"

"You either." Minos laughed.

"Well then, shall we head to the Festival of Faeries?" Tinka asked with a soft giggle.

"Hey, a promise is a promise." Minos said, taking the reins and controlling his horses to turn to the left, heading directly towards the Festival of Faeries.

…

Following the dense crowd, the family of three soon arrived at a magical forest, the petals from the multi-colored trees lining the floor, as if the carriage was riding on a rainbow.

Rinka couldn't help but look around with fascination at the sight that she couldn't have imagined in a hundred years.

Tinka, despite being much more mature, was also mesmerized by this spectacle, her eyes glimmering as she looked at the beautiful view of hundreds of multicolored petals falling from the sky, like shimmering stars plummeting towards the earth.

Minos was much more traveled, so while he still enjoyed the sight, he wasn't absorbed into it like his two girls, instead more focused on the road.

Soon enough the family arrived at a large valley that had dozens of other carriages already lined up, hundreds of families gathered in the area as they stood in front of a large cave that gave off a soft red glow.

Parking the carriage, Minos helped his family dismount before joining the crowd in front of the large cave, still not quite sure what was going on.

But before Minos could ask anyone, Tinka beat him to the punch, gently tapping the shoulder of a nearby woman.

"Excuse me, do you mind telling us what's going on?"

"First time? We're just waiting for the faeries to awaken from their slumber." The woman explained succinctly, before turning back and focusing on the cave.

Realizing the woman wasn't likely to answer any more questions, Tinka pulled her hand back, deciding to just find out first hand.

"What's going on, I can't see anything!" Meanwhile, Rinka was screaming out complaints, the adults in front of her making it impossible to see what was happening.

Laughing, Minos picked his little girl up and tossed her over his shoulders, giving her the best view available.

Minos was already a towering man, standing heads above even the next tallest person in the crowd, so with his height plus her own, Rinka could see everything with ease.

"Awesome!" She couldn't help but say, fascinated with this much bigger world compared to the small one she was used to.

Looking to the side, Minos noticed Tinka standing on her tiptoes, trying her best to see over the crowd.

Smiling, Minos put Rinka onto one shoulder before picking Tinka up and tossing her over his other.

Gasping, Tinka was shocked by the sudden movement, only realizing what had happened when she was already seated on Minos's shoulder, the view suddenly opening up to her completely.

"Put me down, this is embarrassing." Tinka complained, her cheeks slightly flushed red as the crowd looked back at her with strange eyes.

But what she didn't notice was that the women were looking at her with envy, nudging their husbands beside them as if to ask why they didn't do the same thing?

Some of the men realized the cues instantly, flexing their muscles before trying to pick up their wives, with most failing due to their weak strength as mortals.

"What are you embarrassed about? Don't you see those other women trying to get their husbands to do the same for them?" Minos laughed, pointing out towards them.

Seeing them, Tinka realized Minos had a point, no longer as embarrassed, instead appreciating her husband's strength even more as she saw all the other men fail to do the same for their women.

Before Tinka could reply to Minos, the red light from the cave suddenly got brighter, the entire crowd focusing back on the cave, their breaths held.

Some men even accidently dropped their wives back off their shoulders as the vision distracted them, causing Rinka to let out a laugh.

Shushing his daughter, Minos looked straight towards the cave as the red light got stronger and stronger, a soft humming sound beginning to spread from within the cave.

The hum was akin to a young girl's, filled with soft feminine tones, almost hypnotic in their subtle charms.

The humming got louder and louder as the seconds turned to minutes, the red light similarly getting stronger, and soon enough, a strange creature took the lead leaving the cave.

The creature was akin to a butterfly, but its body was much more humanoid, like someone had been shrunk down a hundred times, though it was still clear that these things weren't human at all.

After the first left the cave, the second joined them, then the third, fourth, fifth, and so on, each faery having different colored skin, like the spectrum of a rainbow.

"Wow!" Rinka said with captivation, her eyes completely absorbed by the rhythmic flight and humming of the multicolored faeries.

Meanwhile at the back of the group, a few figures in dark cloaks were looking on with interest, their eyes glued on the faeries, waiting for them to find the geniuses within this dense crowd.

Soon enough, the faeries gathered together in the sky, forming a large cloud, dancing among themselves as if the mob below them didn't even exist.

After what seemed to be a ritual dance, the faeries split back up, each heading off in a random direction in the crowd, flying past the many people.

Occasionally a faery would stop by a person, sometimes for a few seconds, other times for minutes on end.

Some people even had multiple faeries dancing around them before eventually heading off, their hearts filled with joy at the faeries 'good news.'

The cloaked figures at the back noted all of this down, keeping in mind those that the faeries preferred most and ranking them.

Eventually the faeries were finished with the first half of the crowd, finally flying off towards Minos and his family who had been standing in the back.

As the first faery flew by Rinka and Tinka, it suddenly stopped, as if shocked, before flying back and flying between both of them, as if it couldn't make up its mind.

Flying for a moment, the faery seemed to confirm something, sending out a soft hum that immediately caught the attention of all its sisters.

Hearing their sibling calling for them, the faeries all stopped what they were doing, heading directly towards her.

As they reached the location and sensed Tinka and Rinka, they suddenly understood why their sister was calling them, causing them to also let out hums of joy.

The next moment, under the incredulous eyes of the crowd, the entire group of faeries abandoned everything they were doing and flew towards Rinka and Tinka, forming a small cloud above Minos's head.

The cloud figures in the back were also shocked by this sight, having experienced the Festival of Faeries dozens of times, but having never seen anything like it.

Laughing, Tinka and Rinka enjoyed the soft ticklish feeling as the faeries flew among them, gently brushing across their skin as they let out their hums of joy.

Soon, a few faeries stopped what they were doing, tugging both Rinka and Tinka as they pointed towards the cave, as if asking them to follow them.

Looking at each other, Rinka and Tinka both realized what the faeries were asking, Minos also noticing.

Despite being a little worried about the true origin of this faeries, with his Heart Path, Minos could tell they held no hostility at all, instead filled with feelings of love and admiration, so Minos decided to follow them, Rinka and Tinka still on his shoulders.

As Minos's large body walked through the crowd, the people instinctively moved out of the way, not only because of how intimidating Minos was, but also because of this strange move of the faeries.

Soon enough, the small family, under the lead of the faeries, entered the large cave, disappearing from the crowd's vision.

Some of the cloaked figures looked at each other as if to confirm what they just saw, before bolting towards the cave, soon reaching the front of it.

Stepping towards the cave, one of the figures was about to enter, but as he crossed the cave, he hit an invisible wall, his body ricocheting back like a rubber ball.

Skidding across the floor, the figure eventually came to a stop, but couldn't help but look at his companions with shock, before signaling them to come give him a hand.

With the first figure taking the lead, he charged forwards, his companions at his side, bashing into the forcefield with full power, but their efforts still proved futile.