The Fairy Folk: Bell of Beginnings

Prologue

Some nights hold more power than others. Not the thirty-first of October, though it held some powering its own right, or even the twenty-fifth or December, though it was a blessed night. It was nights where the stars aligned together in order to form a certain pattern in the sky. The day or month, or even year did not matter, the alignment of the stars was what was important.

It was on these nights that one could glance outside the window and each star in the dark night sky would be perfectly visible, no matter the amount of pollution or gun smoke present. It was on these nights that one felt a strange sense of longing in that part of the brain that was rarely used by humans. It was in these nights that even the richest, happiest man in the world felt that he was missing something, something that, no matter how much money he made or what number of people he bribed, he would never receive.

Some say that it was on these nights that history was made, with the air crackling with power and parents keeping an extra eye on their offspring, which was not entirely a overprotective thing to do. With the War going on and the human race being slowly wiped out, no loving parent was willing to take a chance with their child’s life, even though they never directly killed a child, human or not. It was on this sort of night that the War began.

The War between the fairy folk and the human race had been going on for centuries and should little sign of ending soon. Only a few centuries ago would the belief of magic and fairy folk have been ridiculed, the believers though insane and unfit for society. Magic was the stuff of myth and fairy tales. Fairies, dragons, elves. All were hoaxes, meant to amuse and mislead the weak ended. Such was the belief of the majority of the world. Until the Fairy Folk grew tired of the human’s treatment of the earth, tossed aside the teachings of their forefathers, and forsook their peaceful nature in order to protect their home from mankind’s greed and negligence. The world had a rude awakening the day the fairies revealed themselves and, in one day, wiped out all of the world’s major cites, including New York City, Tokyo, and London. After all, it is a bit hard to deny the existence of imps and nymphs when they severely reduced the world’s population.
The humans had not been ready for the first attack. Nor had they managed to prepare for the second, or even third one. No one, aside from a scare few whom had been labeled insane by society, ever expected to attacked by beings that only appeared in books or on the big screen. And the fairies had used this to their advantage. They had spent centuries planning and waiting while mankind grew fat on fast food and lazy with the invention of more advanced technology. The faires had made sure that their second attack had been on the cites that were inhabited by world leaders. Next to go were cities renowned for their technological advances. Then, they began picking off cities, one by one. They had allowed humans full regain of the earth for many years, only to have the humans succumb to their greed and slowly kill the land. Global warning, the hole In the ozone layer, the destruction of the rainforests. In the fairies eyes, all this was unforgivable. They would take back the land that was right fully theirs if the humans did not have the responsibility to take care of it, and start all over. Without man kind around to mess it up this time. Enough was enough.

And it seemed that they would succeed. Mankind did fight back once they had gathered their wits, but it was difficult. Extremely difficult. All advance they had had over the years was useless and lost. Working computers were a thing of the past, cars were few and treasured, the internet a myth, and airplanes were washing up on beaches in bits and pieces. In short, mankind had fallen back into the Dark Ages, with a few exceptions. Amazing, light bulbs had survived the fury of the fairies, as had many hospitals and advanced medication. The fairies were mad, but not all had managed to fully forsake their peaceful nature and harm the injured and young. At least, not directly.

Don’t think humans gave up immediately though. No, they fought back, long and to the best of their ability. Centuries had passed since the first attack, and humans still walked the earth. True, the number had greatly decreased, but there were still humans alive. Many towns fought back when invaded, and even managed to hold the Fairy Folk at bay for years. Mistflower, a small town on the south-western coast of what had once been the world’s most ethnically diverse nations had managed to keep the fairies at bay for well over one hundred and fifty years, effectively putting both sides in a bitter stalemate. Few places were left on the planet that had not been devastated by the war.

Greatoak in what had once been Canada was one of those fortunate few.