Shiomi was there, with her long golden hair, hanging hand and foot form a very high pillar. Completely naked. Full of bruises and scratches. Soaking wet; as if she had spent the entire storm confined to that pole, while thunder and lightning covered her screams for help and pleading.

The crowd was throwing everything they had at her: tomatoes, courgettes, mud, cow shit…
… even rocks, stones, boulders, pieces of glass and bottles.

“DIE SLUT”
“BITCH”
“SCRAWL!”
“DISAPPEAR FROM THIS WORLD”

They were screaming.

“YOU HAS NEVER BEEN ONE OF US”
“YOU BELONG IN HELL”
“DISAPPEAR”

They were shouting.

“TAKE THIS BITCH” railed one of the many stoners as he began to throw a rock.

The stone vibrated in the air.
The trajectory it drew in the atmosphere was followed all the way by the man’s eyes, who, confided in his aim and throwing skills, was looking forward to the moment when the rock would land on the poor girl’s Mons pubis.
The stone, however, hit something unexpected.
A red liquid dyed the ground below.

Seiji, who had put himself between the girl and the crowd, right in the middle of that madness, had just received a huge stone in the forehead.
Half his face was now completely covered in blood.

“GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE MORON” shouted the pitcher
“YOU JUST RUINED MY PERFECT SH-“ a shiver that ran down his spine at the sight of Seiji’s eyes interrupted him.

Two blood-red eyes, the same colour as the blood that was covering half his face, completely barred and fearless, furious and mighty, as if they were watching their preys form a privileged position, just before committing carnage.

All those present froze instantly, they felt overwhelmed by a strong fear, they clearly perceived that their lives were hanging on a razor’s edge and that from then on, their every slightest movement would have meant life or death.

“IT’S THAT THUG AGAIN!” said a familiar voice, it belonged to one of the five hooligans who had assaulted Shiomi and had already been thrown against the wall by Seiji
“HEY FUCKER, DID YOU ENJOY THAT STONE ON YOUR HEAD? I DON’T REALLY KNOW HOW YOU DID THAT BEFORE BUT THIS IS DEFINITELY PAYBACK”

He then throwed another rock at Seiji, who, however, just before it hit him and with impressive ease, caught it in the palm of his hand, only to crumble it into a thousand pieces and dropping the fragments on the ground

“IIIIIIIII” immediately shouted the rascal

“What kind of monster are you to use your powers like tha-“SPLAT
A huge boulder, almost four times the height of a man, had just crashed down on him and the whole crowd, hurling them against the building behind.

“Are you all right?” asked Seiji while turning towards Shiomi

At the boy’s feet now lay an immense crater, the same size as the boulder.
Even the girl from her height didn’t grasp what really had happened.

“Y-yes… now that you’re here… yes…” the girl replied, crying
Her face was completely covered in tears and snot

“I’m sorry… you were right… I shouldn’t have taken you to the police…
… but even so rule 10…”

“Don’t worry…” she interrupted him
“D-don’t worry… it’s not your fault… I’m used to it” she resumed while trying, as much as she could, to bend her lips into a smile
“N-nothing bad happened… really…
…anyway you… you’re bleeding…”

“Ah… don’t worry… it doesn’t even hur- AHIA” Seiji cried out from the pain as soon as he touched the wound

“Hehe” smiled Shiomi as she closed her eyes
“…”
“BEHIND!” she then shouted as she opened them again

Seiji turned over: a humongous flaming spear was threatening his chest

SBABAM

As if by magic, the weapon went through the boy, sticking onto the pole where Shiomi was hanging

KYAAA – she screamed as the wooden pillar began to tilt and fall

“Ah sorry” said Seiji before jumping, untying Shiomi and carefully taking her on his arms
“It’s dangerous here, let’s go away” he then said as he began to leap here and there between the rooftops

“H-how did you do that?! The fire!... The spear… it didn’t get you?” the girl asked as she clutched on Seiji’s neck tightly

“Ah no don’t worry I’m fine… as you already know, we humans other than having enhanced physical abilities can also change our own body shape to our liking, so, all I did was creating a hole on my chest wide enough for the spear to pass through… see? Just like this” Seiji replied while a huge hole formed in his chest

“Ah…
…heh heh…
…I see…” Shiomi replied with a smile. Then she closed her eyes and softly clung even tighter to the young man’s neck, as if entrusting her body and soul to him.

“Look…
…the village is on fire” said Shiomi as she looked in the distance, from a hilltop, at what had been the village where she had been abandoned, adopted, raised, despised and hated.

“Ops…” replied Seiji
“…”
“the spear fire?”

“Probably… the water in the tanks wasn’t even enough to fill a bucket…
… that spear…
…Surely it was Giacomo who threw it…” muttered Shiomi to herself

“What now? Homesickness? What’s done is done” Seiji urged her

“No no, I’m not homesick…
… I found something dearest to me…” Shiomi replied while staring at him in the eyes
“…anyway… what are you doing?”

“Who? Me?
I’m looking for something for you to wear… um… how should I put it… you’re still… n-naked”

Shiomi slowly looked down at her own body…
KYAAAA she screamed before covering her breasts with her hands and assuming the same curled position she had already assumed a few hours earlier

“…”
“… …”
“D-did you see?” she said, blushing

“…”
“J-just a little…” acknowledged Seiji

“…Okay”

“Okay? You don’t car-AH FOUND IT” exclaimed Seiji after a moment of uncertainty before pulling out a female garment from his adventurer backpack
“This was sold to me along with a strange charm and some supplies by a merchant… he said they belonged to a group of Nightwalker and that he came into possession of them shortly after the party was wiped out by a Wüstenkillerwal…
… ah…
… here’s the charm too” Seiji pulled out of his bag some kind of bracelet: it had the colours of the rainbow and an equally vivid bird feather was adorning its center
“Mhhh… I think this is too big for you to wear though…” he then resumed as he looked more carefully at the dress

“That’s not true, don’t worry… it’s perfect” said Shiomi as she touched the garment
“You see, we fairies have the power to bestow a piece of our own soul to inanimate objects” the dress glowed bright gold, the same colour as Shiomi’s hair
“By giving a part of our soul to an object we can then choose whether to bringing it to life or simply shape them as we please” the garment, which now was shining less and less, no longer even vaguely resembled the long piece of cloth that until moments ago Seiji had on his hand, but had instead became the same dress that had been torn apart by the hooligans who had tried to rape Shiomi.

Silence.

“Hem…
… C-can you turn around for a second?”

“Ah… yes… sorry” Seiji apologized, turning around

Shomi smiled and, once she put the dress on, while laughing up her sleeves said
“Hehe, there we go, does it look good on me?”

“It’s very cute on you” Seiji congratulated her as he turned around again

“T-thank you” Shiomi blushed
“You know… mom… um… the lady who raised me used to say that the fairies abandoned me together with this dress…
… unfortunately the original was torn apart a long time ago…
… …
… do you… do you think it was a gift from my real mother?”

Seiji put a hand on her shoulder

“I don’t know for sure… Kaneda-san…”

“Shiomi”

“Kaneda-san…”

“Shiomi” repeated the girl while pouting and bringing Seiji’s hand to her head

“…”
“… …”
“Kaneda-san”

“Huff…” huffed Shiomi again before giggling

Seiji smiled and then continued
“But I promise you that sooner or later you’ll ask her in person…”

“R-really?” she asked

“Yes… I’m looking for fairies too… we just have to figure out how to find them…”

“Um…
… Do you know about the prophecy?”

“The prophecy?”

“Yes, the prophecy!” nodded Shiomi, motioning Seiji to start patting her head

The boy hesitated for a moment at first, but after realizing that without caresses the girl would have never opened her mouth ever again, he began to perform the so-called rite of the pat-pat

The pretty fairy, blushing and extremely pleased by her new special treatment said
“O-one of the oldest prophecies handed down by chieftains of every race reads thus:

… I’ve never quite understood what “able to converse” really means but…” Shiomi resumed
“But of one thing I’m sure, if we want to find the fairies, we’ll have to ask as many races as possible for information, and since all races discriminate against each other without exceptions… and I’m a fairy while you are a human… if one of us says that wants to fulfil the prophecy and shows both symbols engraved on the body…
…I’m sure… I’m sure something will happen…”

“Understood…
…and how do symbols pass from one body to another?” asked Seiji

Shomi immediately became red. She turned her back to him, took a deep breath and said
“I-in order to pass a symbol from one body to another c-contact is needed…”

“What kind of contact?”

“S-skin against skin”

“Ah okay, anything else needed?”

“Whoever surrenders the symbol to the other must be willing to do so and must also completely trust the person who will receive the symbol…
… …
… but that’s not the issue here…”

“You’re right… as a matter of fact we just met… it’s rather difficult to completely trust each other in such a short tim-what?” he stopped
“”That’s not the issue” you say?”

“N-no… I completely trust Seiji… the problem is…”
Her pointy ears were going redder and redder; you could have almost used them for cooking.

Shiomi assumed again her favourite hedgehog stance.

“I-in order to pass a symbol, the two b-bodies must remain in contact for one night, as the transferring drains away so much strength that puts both the parties to sleep…”

“Ah…” Seiji had just realized
“So we have to sleep together naked?” he then asked without the slightest embarrassment

Upon hearing so Shiomi leaped to her feet.
In an agitated manner she turned toward Seiji, trying to mumble a few sentences that made sense, although all that came out of her mouth were just a series of “Nh” “Ah” “Esn” “ni”

“Don’t worry… don’t worry… it doesn’t matter, we’ll find another way” Seiji said

“…”
“If it’s Seiji… It’s fine” said Shiomi as she joined the index of both her hands before her nose, red from the embarrassment

“Huh?” exclaimed the boy
“But even if it’s fine to you, my rules don’t allow me… to sleep with a beautiful maiden who is not my wife…”

Apparently, those were the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
Shiomi had overstepped all her limits, she was completely red in the face, embarrassed to the point of lashing out with a mighty slap on Seiji’s wound as she screamed her usual KYAAA this time accompanied by a volley of BAKA

Blood gushed like water from a fountain from the boy’s head, who, feeling his strength running out, fell to his knees before passing out with his head against the ground.

… Embarrassed girls truly possess superhuman strength. »