The voices silenced but a new sound replaced it. A painfully violent thrum that caused even Corabelle’s hands to cover her ears. So loud that Zaramir felt blood against his palms as he did the same. The Fae retreated from his mind as powerful magic filled the room.

  The pressure in the room suddenly dropped as though all air suddenly was sucked out of it. The nearby stone of his floor shifted, undulating, shifting from a solid to a liquid then a smoky gaseous form. The colored crystals shimmered brightly among the foggy greyish whiteness, but soon even their vibrant colors were blotted out by a bright shimmer of bluish-purple spell. The sound was deafening.

  The mist and color seemed to indicate this was teleportation magic, but the sound of the magic was far too loud. A teleportation spell from across the globe wouldn’t have produced this volume, even the delivery of ingredients from the Fae Realm didn’t consist of a spell this loud.

  Though, the answer was as simple as that. They were sending something from their realm, but something far bigger than plant samples and something alive.

  Faescript runes appeared around the mist, glowing the same purple as from the gaseous stone a shape began to form.

  For a moment, it looked like a human child, tiny, curled in a tight ball, hands over its bowed head as if cowering, but then as its form solidified, a second set of arms became visible, wrapped tightly around its bony legs. A thin fleshy webbing connecting the two sets of arms, a nearly transparent membrane made of the same grayish blue skin as the rest of its body.

  It was dressed in woven strips of stained white fabric, coiling its body in an outfit that seemed slightly oversized; on its small frame, garment slid off the upper shoulders of the creature, revealing numerous small scars, some old, some fresh.

  A mess of white hair shrouded its face save for the tiny tips of pointed blue ears that escaped the halo of safety.

  The ground resolidified, the runes leaving small charred stains on the white stone.

  The small creature was left trembling in the wake of the spell, curled into a tight ball.

  He’d not seen a Fae before in person. The depictions of them in his books showed them with more vibrant skin and far taller and more elegant, though this thing was still clearly a Fae.

  A Fae sent for experimentation. A Lesser and a juvenile at that.

  A large solid sea-blue eye peaked out from the white coils before the small beast squeaked, curling impossibly tighter, shielding its face behind in skinny legs.

  As his full hearing returned from the onslaught of noise, Corabelle’s voice became clear, “... that a Fae?”

  “I think it’s a Lesser Fae child.” he confirmed, having only been able to hear half her question.

  “It will die.” The tone in her voice was uncertain, as if she couldn’t tell if she should feel joy or sadness from this news.

  And Zaramir felt similarly. While still a Fae this was not the same kind of Fae that wielded Demons; In fact, judging from the scars on the creature, in the Fae Realm they had a similar fate to him. Despite the fact that the High Fae had sent it to be a trial for his work that would likely result in it’s horrific death; he couldn’t help but feel a small amount of guilty disdain for it. Though another great part of him felt pity. It was sent to die, even if he saved it, he doubted it would be allowed to live in this world, nor would they bother taking it back.

  The wounds over it’s skin weren’t healing in fact the flesh seemed to be cracking around the fresher lashmarks. It was perishing as any of its kind would in the world, but not as quickly as it should.

  He addressed the small creature with a voice he hoped didn’t come off terribly harsh, “Adul, Ve o’ix Myn?”

  Child, you are Lesser?

  His large eyes widened as it peered out from behind the curtain of hair, perhaps startled to hear its own tongue.

  It’s small voice replied softly, it’s words not proper High Fae, “Ara… Oryn?”

  Yes….Master?

  At it’s words, the resentment he felt fizzled away. The child had been trained, almost certainly brutally, to submit to any creature that addressed to it.

  “I’ra, dei de’ix da veh Ory. Dei de’ix Demyn’na. Vei o’ix Demyn.” He corrected, gesturing to Corabelle.

  No, I am not your master. I am a Least. We are Least.

  Its head instantly returned to its lowered position, its body stuttering as it made soft squeaking noises he realized were sobs, “Y’t’! Y’t’! Ira! Flyrefe ja de!”

  He couldn’t understand the first of its words but its last words were, “No! No! High Fae save me!” and he realized it was terrified, more terrified of him now then when he thought he was its new Master.

  Even among the Fae they were considered monsters.

  Corabelle spoke before he could, her voice, shockingly gentle and kind, “Qi’da eri’i, Dul’a. Vei ah’da zhri ve.” She was now kneeling on the ground, not approaching the small Fae but reaching her hand out toward it like it was a wounded animal.

  Don’t be afraid, little one. We won’t hurt you.

  The young Fae’s head raised cautiously as it peaked out at her with one tear filled eye.

  “Dei qi’da sci na ory’hena dix ve I da om Demyn’hena o’ix Bel.”

  I don’t know what the masters told you but the Least aren’t Monsters.

  The tiny Fae child stood up shaking legs, arms still coiled around itself, “Ja de’ix dei hu?”

  Why am I here?

  Corabelle looked up at Zaramir, her eyes sad. She knew as well as he did this child wouldn’t survive.

  “Ve o’ix hu aux veia.” He spared the child its true fate.

  You are here to help us.

  “We can’t help them can we?” Corabelle asked, her voice cracking.

  “My work will be able to save them from the death they would usually face in this world, but after that I doubt the High Fae will bother sending them back, and they’ll certainly never let them use the technology to save themselves.

  Corabelle’s jaw clenched, “They sent a child here to die.”

  The small creature was looking at them with curious eyes, unable to understand the human language. It couldn’t so much as understand the concept of a lie, tusting Corabelles words implicitly. Zaramir didn’t know if it thought it was safe here, away from its masters. It was likely too young to even know the fate of Fae in this world.

  While the High Fae were immortal, the Lesser were not, they didn’t evolve in the same wealthy districts, didn’t have the same abilities, were able to get sick and be hurt. Perhaps this meant, as a whole, the Lesser were more resistant to this world's concept of time.

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  This one, however, was already degrading in this world, perhaps it was a half breed.

  Zaramir’s master would have died if they’d come here to complete the ritual of his creation, so he’d always suspected they’d used a half breed child to get their blood to this realm.

  Zaramir gave a solemn nod.

  “Can we kill it?” Her words were so unfathomable, he was sure he heard her wrong, but her expression was dour. “Don't look at me like that.” She said sharply, reading the look of shock that was surely gracing his own face. “We could make it quick and painless. It’s better than the alternative.”

  While he never expected something like this from her, she was right. The death they could offer this child would be far better than its fate with the High Fae.

  Nevertheless, that was a mercy they couldn’t afford, “No,” he shook his head. “They sent it here to test my technology on. They said if we don’t save it, they’ll kill us both.”

  Her attention returned to the curious child, “Would that be the worst thing?”

  “They said they kill us,” He replied bitterly. “Not destroy us. They’d resurrect me, then force me to do the same to you. They wouldn’t free us that easily.”

  The Fae child rubbed its scarred shoulders, the skin peeling away in tiny painful looking strips, streaks of deep blue blood streaking its palm as fresh tears formed, “Noct zri.” It whimpered.

  The air hurts.

  “Qi’da eri’i, Dul’a, Vei ah aux ve je.” Corabelle spoke kindly.

  Don’t be afraid, Little One, we will help you too.

  Making good on the promise, however, was far less simple.

  Building a housing unit for a space devoid of the concept of time, much less a mobile one suitable for life, was a task beyond the timer quickly running out to complete it.

  Corabelle helped where she could, but beyond the immense magical skill necessary, it also required one to be able to smith Draconic Rhenium, anything with a lower melting point would be a puddle the moment the Elemental touched it.

  The nature of his home had given him the foresight to acquire a decent amount of it, and the basic skill of how to form it, despite its rarity. However he didn’t have much. It stretched remarkably thin as he built a set of armour capable of housing the subdued Elemental.

  The only fortunate part of this whole ordeal is that they sent a body small enough not to require adult sized armour, giving him even a shadows chance of building the housing unit.

  Toward dawn however, Corabelle’s hands became occupied, holding those of the child, trying to take away its pain as its condition worsened. Its skin began to peel not only from its fresh wounds, but anywhere it was touched, any time it dared to move there was dull cracking noise like damaged tendons and grating bones. Though her efforts were mostly in vain. Taking away pain required a body with pain receptors that could be dulled.

  Each time the child cried out, he drowned the sounds in those of hammered sheet metal or fusion sparks of his Blaze of Stars.

  Not because it bothered him, but because it didn’t.

  Zaramir felt awful for it, but some part of him felt some comfort from its pain. This child wasn’t his enemy, he knew that. It was not even the same sort of Fae that had made his life and the lives of others worse than the hells but still, despite himself, everytime he heard the Fae language begging for help, it sparked a tiny flicker of guilt-ridden joy.

  Eventually the armour was complete. Four arms, built to house a small body. It was rushed, haphazard construction. This was not warriors armour, this was desperation. He would never let this work see the light of day given another option.

  He released the Elemental, barely glancing over at Corabelle cradling what was left of the Fae child.

  Her eyes flickered up briefly, glancing at the Elemental, her shoulders tensed and the child flinched at her movement, the only sign it was still even alive. It had fallen unconscious hours ago, which was likely fortunate.

  Corabelle was now coated in inky blue blood, little of the child’s skin remains intact, its white gown entirely stained. The thin membrane connecting its sets of arms had nearly disintegrated, leaving only shreds of delicate flesh.

  Zaramir didn’t even bother to open the lid before tossing the jar of Fireroses into the Elementals core. While enchanted, the magical differential between the interior of the jar and exterior shattered the glass with a startling explosion, once cracked the enchantment dissipated and the glass melted instantly, turning the shards into puddles of molten glass on the floor.

  The Elemental froze as the Roses were absorbed. Its form shifted from plasma to something akin to the puddles of glass on the floor.

  “Bring them here,” Zarmair instructect Corabelle.

  Now came the easy part, he just had to hope that his theory had been correct.

  As Corabelle stood up, a sickening crack resonated from the little Fae as one of its arms fell limp hanging at an impossible angle and it whimpered, too weak to scream. What was left of its body was too fragile to move, it’s time practically ran out.

  Corabelle froze, “I can’t,” she barely breathed, trying to stay balanced in her half standing position, balancing the child precariously between one knee and her arms, trying desperately not to move the little Fae.

  Unable to be drawn back into the amulet in this ambiguous form, moving the mindless Elemental was a challenge. Without a solid form, nor the ability to give it a command, it was like trying to move a humanoid sack of water. Even moving it less than a body's length to the Corabelle was a struggle.

  Corabelle’s legs shook, her own body in an awkward position not used to supporting weight at this angle, despite her new strength.

  Eventually, however, Zaramir managed to get the Elemental to them. As he shoved the Elemental's mutated form over the Fae Child and Corabelle’s tangled bodies, the child’s skin began to heal rapidly where it’s body was in contact with the time-morphed space.

  Zaramir almost felt relief in the half second before the Fragment of blue in Corabelle eyes began to glow brightly.

  She cried out, her hands flying over her blindly bright eye in an involuntary reaction. The child tumbled to the floor. The healing ceased, wounds reopened as easily as if its skin was made of paper. Its skull cracked against the floor, fresh blood spilling into a rapidly growing puddle.

  He quickly grabbed the child, pulling its body upright back into the strange space. Its small body was easily engulfed by adult sized Elemental. The bleeding stopped; its fleshwounds mended nearly instantly, but the deeper wounds took time. The bones didn’t draw together, quickly, the webbing between its arms had to regrow, the deep blood loss had to replenish. The child didn’t wake.

  “I am so sorry!” Corabelle apologized, though he wasn’t entirely sure if she was talking to him or the unconscious child.

  One hand still covering her eye, she scrambled back over to the two. A small drop of her red blood trickled from under her hand.

  A number of theories traveled rapidly through Zaramir’s head, too quickly to find a precise cause of this reaction, “Don’t apologize,” he told her. “Please move your hand. Let me see.”

  “Are they alright?” She stared at the child with her one good eye, as she slowly peeled her hand away from her bad one.

  “I believe they’ll be fine for now,” He answered.

  There was still a tiny glow of blue peering through her tightly sealed eyelid, though it seemed to be quickly dimming.

  Zaramir wanted to stop her pain, but given her previous reaction to the healing potion after something like this, he didn’t think he should make the attempt.

  She was at nearly full power, if she overloaded now, he doubted he’d have to wait for the Fae to kill them.

  “Can you open your eye?” he questioned instead. He could at least assess the damage, even if helping seemed out of the question.

  She grimaced as her eyelid fluttered rapidly trying to pry her eye open, before finally managing to override her instinct to get it partially open.

  The glowing had entirely faded. The sclera was entirely red with healing bloodshot. Red tears rolled down her cheek as she did her best to keep it open. The one small fragment of blue had now spread, a small line of blue running out from the opposite side of the iris.

  “Can you see?” He questioned.

  Her response went unheard as Master’s presence suddenly pierced his brain, as he squeezed his eyes shut, “You have not yet entirely failed. We are surprised. Yet, this doesn't seem like the solution you seemed to think it was.” They hissed in his mind.

  “It’s nearly complete. The housing unit’s components are complete, it just needs to be built around this space. The child was too fragile to move to a more ideal location.” He forced the thoughts back to them.

  “Build it. We will wait.” They replied shortly, their presence lingering in a hovering threat.

  “Have they come back?” Corabelle questioned,her face a mix of worry and rage as he opened his eyes.

  “Yes,” he replied. As they put pressure on his brain, blood trickled down his face. “If you can,” he strained. “Please construct the housing unit. Just be careful, please.”

  He couldn’t move without the child falling from the temporally safe space. He didn’t want to risk her accidentally touching the Elemental again, but he didn’t have much of a choice.

  Without a word of argument, she hurried to his workstation, scooping up the shoddily constructed pieces of ‘armour’. She returned to begin to carefully place them over the child, carefully gripping the edges of the metal to avoid the cold flames.

  As she placed the pieces, the elemental warped and morphed, sliding into the pieces of the housing unit effortlessly to better fit the wearer.

  Corabelle flinched, her eye glowing dimly for a brief second as he finger grazed the timeless space. Regardless, she didn’t not cease her construction.

  It wasn't a few moments before she was switching places with Zaramir to place the final back panel of the unit.

  The Fae stared at the work for a long moment through his eyes before they finally spoke, “The Lesser lives and this appears to be an acceptable prototype. You will construct more.”

  With the placement of the final piece of poorly smithed metal, the Fae would now be able to enter this Realm.

  As simple as that, Zaramir’s original mission was finally complete and a new era was dawning.