Before dawn, while my family sleeps, I leave a note apologizing for my sudden disappearance and a promise to return as soon as I can. If I could explain the situation to them then I would. If I stay any longer, I risk basking in our old life, in seeing them alive and well, thus risking losing them. I can’t go through that again. I can’t let them down. I can’t let anyone down.

“Sorry, I’m doing this for you, for everyone,” I whisper to the darkness, then slip out the front door.

The sun has yet to rise, but the rays are beginning to peek over the horizon. The capital is a two to three days ride. With no idea how to get to the capital and my mana as weak as it is, traveling alone is too risky, so taking one of our horses is my last resort. Not to mention I already feel bad enough leaving my family one person short on the farm. My only other option is the local trading fairies, a group of hobgoblins residing along the barrier of Fateir. While humans do not have access to Fateir, the same isn't true for fairies venturing into the human world. They come and go at their own risk, trading goods that no human could obtain otherwise. Special treatment for special wares.

Before the treaty, there was no special treatment. If humans caught a fairy outside the barrier, they were slaughtered or captured. Mermaids cried in ponds owned by the rich, forever stuck far from home. They caught pixies in jars, used as decorations by the wealthy. The fairies were trapped within Fateir, unable to see the world and, sometimes, even attacked from within by those fairies that may work with humans for their own selfish reasons. Briny told me these stories, and more, some too terrible to repeat. Though he tried to protect them, even the Demon King couldn’t stop every fairy from dying or suffering the wrath of humans, that was until he offered his own heart in the treaty, and a tense peace began between the realms. 

When coming upon the hobgoblins, I double check my pockets. I have my iron dagger, which is a bigger threat to them than even magic. Iron kills fairies, or if they’re strong like the Demon King it will make them incredibly weak. Steel harms them too, but not like iron. I’m not accustomed to having such weak mana anymore, so I have to be extra careful.

The hobgoblins are short, hairy creatures with long, pointed ears and sharpened teeth. Their eyes shimmer brilliant gold then flash nearly white in direct light. Many walk with arched backs and hiss between their yellow-ish brown stained teeth. Six currently scurry about their cart outside the waist high huts that litter the field when one notices me.

“What have we here?” the hobgoblin sings. “A wee lass come to trade?”

“I’ve come to pay for a ride to the capital, if you would be so kind,” I answer, shifting through my pockets for a hobgoblin's favorite deal; shiny objects. They don’t have to be expensive, just shiny.

The hobgoblin grins wide enough to reveal his crimson gums when I dangle a silver necklace with a single pearl cradled within a golden sun. My grandmother’s necklace that she passed on to my mother then she gave to me. To think I’m trading it for a ride, but it is all I have to give.

“Quite a pretty thing indeed,” the hobgoblin chuckles. “But I have many pearls, many silvers, many shiny things.”

“And I’m sure you would love another, especially one that comes without any monetary payment from you. All I need is a space to sit at the back of the wagon.” I swing the necklace, grinning when his eyes follow, then he reaches for it. I veer back. “Ah, you have to give me your word that I may ride with your convoy to the capital. The convoy and those traveling with us will not leave me behind or cause me harm. Do I have the word of you and your kin?”

The hobgoblin gnaws at his bottom lip then turns to his kin. They huddle together, whispering. Then he returns, bowing his head. “My kin and I give our word. The wee lass may safely ride with us to the capital and no harm will come to you by our hands.”

“You are most kind,” I say, handing over the payment that the hobgoblin takes with beaming delight. He gnaws at the silver, licks the pearl, then stashes it in his jingling pockets, probably already filled with gold.

“Hop on, wee lass. We got quite the ride, quite the ride,” he says, snapping his taloned fingers to float from the ground and place himself on the cart. His kin do the same, levitating or crawling up the sides to take position among the precariously stacked goods.

Ropes are tied along the open back, keeping everything from falling out. I slip through them, perched at the rear with my legs dangling. The horses huff with the crack of the reins and we lurch forward in time for the sun to rise. My hometown slowly disappears from view, engulfed by rolling green hills and thick forest. By now, my family is waking to find me gone. I finally get to see them again only to leave them in less than a day.

I mustn’t think of missing them, or of the comfortable and joyous life I once lived. They are meaningless if I do not complete my mission. I cannot let anything deter me.

With my eyes closed, I breathe slow and steady. Mana trickles through me, weak as a dying spark. Commoners becoming mages is rare. One needs money to get into a good school, or natural talent that catches the eye of the right person. I never had either. My mana was built during the apocalypse, over the years through the need to survive. I stole books from ruined libraries, whatever I could to learn what I must. Now I have to rebuild from scratch, just like I have to build this plan from scratch.

Couldn’t Maven have given me some more clues?

For now, when I reach the capital I will try to find him first before becoming Valerie’s handmaiden. I couldn’t tell my family of the future, but perhaps I can tell him. Better yet, maybe he is aware of the future too. Wishful thinking, I know, but when the fate of the world rests on my shoulders, wishful thinking keeps me sane.

Have I made the right choice? Is there a better way? Only time will tell, and time is limited.