Dying fairy

When he returned to the potion store, Atlas was carrying a large bag full of broken artifacts.

'This cost a month of my salary...'

He had ended up buying more than he thought, but he had enough artifacts to learn what they looked like on the inside. Research took time and patience, and above all resources.

Atlas had all three so now he just had to get started.

"All the cats ran away..." said Thyme pitifully. Then he rested his cat chin on his paws and said: "Hey kid, make me a potion to attract those cuties"

Atlas frowned again.

"Pay me then"

"I don't have any money" replied Thyme quickly.

"Then work" 

"I'm a cat, who would hire a cat?"

Atlas simply shrugged and soon arrived entered the apartment.

There he explained to Aryn everything he had done, then dropped off the food and a few things he had bought and headed to his room with the bag full of broken artifacts.

"Why are you following me? I thought you weren't interested in what I did" asked Atlas watching Thyme settle into his bed.

"Pure curiosity, you can just ignore me"

Atlas sighed and sat down at his desk after emptying the contents of the bag in front of him. There were dozens of artifacts in front of him that it was complicated to know where to start.

'Hum... let's take this'

Atlas grabbed a rusty knife and studied it externally. An artifact was always created by a mana core or more than one. But Atlas couldn't see how the mana core was implemented inside the artifact.

With no other options, Atlas put the knife down on the table and picked up a hammer he had bought especially for this. Then, without thinking too much, he struck the knife several times until it cracked and broke into two parts.

Atlas took both parts and squinted his eyes trying to see something inside the knife. But after trying for a while, he gave up.

All he could see was the material the knife was made of, an ordinary metal. If there was any inscription or anything extraordinary, then it would be difficult to see it with the naked eye without any tool like a magnifying glass.

'Are there even such things as magnifying glasses?'

Atlas sighed and leaned back in his seat without having learned anything.

'Never mind, either way it's the first artifact. Let's move on'

For about a couple of hours, Atlas continued to investigate the artifacts, then he picked up a staff that had a cylinder shape at the end of it. Atlas moved the staff slightly and listened as something moved inside the space.

'What's inside? The mana core maybe?'

Atlas took the hammer and raised it, when he was about to hit that part of the staff, he stopped.

'I don't want to break the core by mistake...'

Atlas lowered the hammer and then tried to open that part of the staff very carefully. Finally, after a few minutes he managed to remove the top part as if it was a lid and looked inside expecting the mana core.

But then his expression of curiosity turned in an instant into one of bewilderment.

"That's... a person?"

Thyme who had lost interest quite a while ago jumped up on the desk upon hearing Atlas and looked inside that one in the compartment.

"What are you talking about? How could there be a person in such a small space... holy crap, it is a person"

Inside the cane compartment, there was a mini person. This one was no more than 10 centimeters tall and was wearing ragged clothes.

The person was a woman, her long, light blue hair was completely dirty and disheveled. On her chest there were two small bumps that identified her as a woman. But most important of all were the two small transparent broken wings on her back.

"A fairy..." murmured Thyme.

"A fairy, do they exist?" asked Atlas in clear disbelief.

It went without saying that fairies didn't exist in his world, but Atlas had heard that fairies did exist in this world. But it was very rare to see a fairy if not impossible, they lived far apart from any other race and were very cautious by nature.

The fairies were physically weak, but that led them to develop their magic and a unique connection with nature similar to that of the elves. But being a race very proficient with magic and nature, they were highly sought after, which led them to be hunted and therefore went into hiding.

"What was she doing inside an artifact?"

Atlas never expected to find a fairy inside an artifact. But there was a simple problem.

"Is she dead?" asked Atlas seeing how bad the fairy was. 

Thyme closed her eyes in concentration and a couple of seconds later denied. 

"No, she's alive. Her breathing is very weak... she's on the verge of death"

Atlas contemplated the dying fairy for a couple of seconds and then very carefully removed her from the staff and laid her on the desk.

"What do we do with her?" asked Atlas not knowing what to do.

"Can I eat her?" Thyme licked his lips.

Atlas frowned and looked at the cat before exclaiming: "Of course you can't, you damned savage!"

***

It was already late and the merchants were gathering their things to go home. Among them, the merchant who had sold Atlas all the artifacts were also preparing to return. At one point a limping man approached and leaned on the table scaring the merchant.

"W-what?!"

The man looked at the merchant seriously and asked: "Give me back the staff I sold you a couple of days ago"

The merchant was surprised by the request and also by the condition of the man. One of his eyes was completely swollen and purple, blood was running down his head and he had several more bruises on his face, as if he had been beaten recently.

"U-unfortunately I don't have the staff anymore... I sold it"

The man hit the table in anger. 

"Who the fuck would buy a staff in such a bad condition?!"

The merchant shuddered in horror and simply murmured: "A-a boy with a cat"