Minx knew it was the day of the attack because her father said they were born the day before. Suddenly, her mother's belly was no longer swollen.
The trees reported to her as they had always done up to that point. There had been a small army of large beasts heading toward the castle. She led a small force to attack. They had never encountered winged beasts so their tactics of fly in, attack, and get out were effective.
At first, things were going well. They were winning, killing every beast in their way but then they met beasts stronger than they had ever seen. They were large, fast, and resilient to weapons. Cybil's sword hurt them, but it wasn't an instant kill even with blood activating the full force of its powers. Whatever these things were, Minx watched in shear terror. These weren't like any demon-tier beast she had met except maybe her wyvern friend.
There were three flying in the air, three on the ground and three underground who could launch themselves high into the air. Knowing her mother was injured in this battle, knowing what condition she was in on Amazonia, she still wasn't prepared to watch her mother get battered.
Minx dug her nails into her palms trying not to scream at the painful memory. Cybil flew down to fight something that could have resembled an elephant in some horror movie.
The thing was black with red splotches the way a cow wears their black spots. The tusks, instead of one tooth on each side, there were three. The ends of each also had three points instead of one like a pitchfork. The truck had spikes from the top to the end. Seemingly in random directions. While the tusks had the same form, the spikes on the trunk didn't seem to have any pattern.
When she swooped up, a sharp-toothed worm perhaps better described as a land-based lamprey with hinged jaws, launched up and bit down on her foot as it fell back to the surface.
A large insect-looking creature resembling a mosquito swooped in while she was trapped and grabbed the bottom of her wings while her allies were fighting others. It swooped in and out so fast, there was no time to protect her.
There was a tug of war between the two beasts. Cybil screamed as an enormous amount of pain ripped through her body. She was already in immense pain and now she was close to passing out.
The others heard her and rushed to her rescue. Two females flew to her side while the others fought the beasts to distract them. The mosquito beast ripped off her wings and Cybil collapsed into the arms of the two fairies.
The worm, which was the same color as the neighboring desert, snatched one of its new foes from the air in one more jump and disappeared below ground. The rest of the fairies distracted the mosquitos, while they got Cybil out of there.
Minx could hear the girls, "hang on Aunt Cybil. We'll take you to your babies. The twins need you…"
And the other, "Queen, focus on your babes. They need their mother. You'll make it through this."
They had tears streaming down their faces at the torment their leader endured. A fairy with no wings… It was the worst possible thing to happen to a fairy.
Minx watched as they flew as fast as they could, which wasn't very fast. They even almost dropped her. Twice. While there were no plants inside to further the tale, she could hear the one who called her aunt call for her father. He was distraught but called for medical attention.
When Minx asked her father about it much later, he explained the rest of the story.
Healing was generally for females in this species of fairy. Cybil had taught the others, but they didn't have as much power as she did. They could only do so much.
Her wounds were treated to stop the bleeding and nothing more could be done.
When she woke in massive pain, she discovered her babes were at her breasts eating. She was unable to lean back so they had her propped up with some stiff pillows to keep anything from touching the wounded area.
She tried to heal herself, but her fairy powers seemed reduced somehow. She clung to her hungry offspring wondering what was going to happen to them as the tears once again formed rivers down her cheeks.
The twins fell asleep to her gentle sobbing, but her tears continued to flow. She heard the gently sound of the doorknob turning and wanted to wipe her face hastily but the idea of putting a baby down to do so broke her heart.
She heard footsteps rapidly approach and knew it could only be her husband, the most perfect person she had even known.
Just looking at her, head bent over in pain, shame, and terror, Cyrus wrapped his arms around her neck and cried with her. When at last their tear ducts were so empty their heads hurt, he whispered to her, "it is as was foretold."
Cybil gasped into his neck where she had hidden her face, even from him.
"You remember what she said, Phantasma… One of us would be terribly wounded and would need to leave this world. The twins must go with the parent to ensure the survival of our species."
Cybil's nod was barely perceptible, but he felt it. He left the room to have someone prepare a harness for the babies. They needed to be carried with her arms free but not hurt her back, and she needed to carry supplies. He also noticed the green tinge in her skin was fading away.
She was returning to her human form. It didn't mean she lost all of her fairy powers, just that she wasn't as powerful as she once was.
The next morning, Cyrus sent his family, the most important people in the world through a portal, not knowing but trusting in the word of a woman who lived among them just long enough to teach his wife magic.
Minx lay on Shalt's leg, wrapped in the tender hug of Caser's tentacles crying at the thought of what her mother endured. Three fairies died that day, a sacrifice really, to make sure she got out of there safely. She began to realize fairies weren't necessarily as strong as she was.
The newly announced princess made a decision. When she got back, there were going to be some serious changes made. In the meantime, she needed to pay attention. She wiped her tears away and sat up.
As Minx looked around, Yenthar announced, "we're here."
She looked confused, "here where?"