Unbeknownst to people like Tinz, who had never gone too far outside of towns before, the higher you go in the mountains in this area, the less air there was. And not the mention the fog just kept getting thicker. Is that contradicting itself? Tinz wondered. At that point, Magnolia was also riding on Ferry, whining about how she couldn’t see the phone. Ferry was astoundingly keeping a keen eye on the light ahead of them, the light being Laura.

    “Hey! How much longer is it?” Tinz wheezed in an attempt to get Laura’s attention.

    “Not too far!” she announced back. Tinz wasn’t sure what that meant. It could mean anything. They could get lost in the fog, bound for certainties like Hell. Would they even go to Hell if Magnolia was with them? How does that work?

    Suddenly, Laura stopped. Ferry almost bumped into her, or more accurately, ran her over. She squeaked and got out of the way at the last second.

    “What’s the holdup?” Tinz asked, looking around Ferry’s neck to see in front of them. Laura shuddered. 

    There was another light in front of them, slightly bigger but not much taller. It slowly waddled over, approaching the group as its light became clearer.

    “Hi, Grandpa…” Laura muttered. Tinz still couldn’t quite make out what was in front of them besides a small glowing fairy… with a large mustache. He stood only a little taller than Laura, and held a cane in his left hand.

    He glanced up at the group of travellers and scratched his mustache. “What brings humans all the way up here? Did you bring them here?” he asked, looking back to Laura. She looked down at her feet.

    “Well… one of them wanted to learn how to use Healing, so I lead them up the mountain. They would have–”

    “They would have gotten lost if not for your help, yes,” her grandpa interrupted. “Thank you for coming along with Laura, she can be a bit scatterbrained sometimes,” he smiled up at Tinz.

    “Oh, uh, yeah no problem,” he somehow managed to say. Socializing was still not his strong suit.

    While the man looked skeptic of the group, he sighed and gestured for them to follow as he made his way back into the foggy depths. Laura wasted no time in following him, and Ferry was insistent on following as well despite Tinz’ sudden hesitation. 

    “C’mon, they might be able to help!” Magnolia poked at Tinz’ back from where she sat.

    “Won’t be much help if I’m too fucking anxious to listen to their teachings,” he grumbled. Magnolia gasped.

    “Language! Ferry’s just a puppy!” She covered her ears. 

    “You’re telling me this gigantic dog is a puppy–” their banter was interrupted by a singular bark from Ferry. They directed their attention to her, and then around themselves, as they were outside of the fog and in a small clearing up in the mountains.

    The elder fairy hit the ground with his cane a couple of times to grab their attention.

    “This is the fairy’s village. As you can see,” he gestured around himself to the various small houses, “We live here. But there’s not many of us left…” He stretched with a groan and a pop of his back, “And I’m much too old to be teaching anyone but my granddaughter how to use Healing. So I’m afraid you came up here for nothing.”

    Tinz stood there in disbelief. All this way? For nothing? His mind began to swirl to the days he spent travelling, the tavern he was mocked in, even as far back as when his illnesses began. He had no idea what the black ooze that plagued him was, and the only hope he had managed to get was just pulled out of his grasp.

    “Grandpa! They came all the way here! You gotta help themmm!” Laura whined with a stomp of her foot. “Everyone else left, this is your chance to keep the… the craft alive! Isn’t it?”

    Laura’s grandpa simply sighed and shook his head. “Since you’ve travelled for so long, I’ll offer you a place to stay for a bit, food, and possibly some healing services if you really need it. But I’m afraid I have nothing to teach you.”

    That night, in a much too small for a human being house, Tinz was wide awake in a guest bed. He was short enough to walk through the house with ease, but Magnolia’s horns and halo hit the ceiling. Even the guest bed she slept on was too small, but Tinz supposed that was just how it was going to be. He was crumpled up in his blankets, mind still wandering far off into the past. The present. And what was to become of him in the future. If the elder fairy could use healing, maybe he could figure out what’s wrong with Tinz. Just that would be good enough, then at least the trip wasn’t for nothing.

    As he drifted off to sleep, he remembered when the illness started…

    And then, he was awake. He looked around himself, eyes not able to focus on anything around him. He was back in school, walking through the halls, unable to get himself to stop. He was in a hurry to the bathroom, but what for? The laughs from behind him caused him to remember. He wasn’t exactly well liked at school. As he approached the bathroom, a flame burst open inside his chest. He stumbled towards a toilet, and before he realized it, the black ooze was all over his hands, the toilet, and the floor in front of him. The laughs got louder, and he realized the people from before were in the room with him, asking what was wrong with a smirk on their face.

    “Teach! I think Tinz got sick! We’re friends, so I’ll help you out here,” they said with a lie.

    “You’re not my friend,” he choked out. “Now leave me alone.”

    Their smirks only grew as their hands got closer, gripping open the stall door. Everyone could see the ooze and how frail Tinz was. His facade fell as his heart rate went up, and before he knew it he jerked awake. He was halfway off the bed, but that wasn’t much of a feat considering how small it was.

    “You alright?” a sleepy voice asked from the other bed. He looked over, sweat dripping off his forehead. 

    “Yeah,” he lied through his teeth. His expression must have betrayed him, because Magnolia didn’t seem to budge on her worry.

    “Worried about what the fairy dude said today?”

    “I guess you could say that.”

    “Mm…” she responded with a hum. “I think it’ll work out. It always does.”

    Tinz rolled his eyes. “Wish I could say the same.”