It Wasn't Meant To Turn Out Like This

After several minutes, Mayza disentangled herself from Brian, pulling away and wiping her tears roughly away with the palms of her hands. She blinked at Brian, looking slightly better than she had only five minutes previously.

“You don’t have to explain—” Brian began, not sure if Mayza would be able to handle explaining whatever traumatic event had occurred so soon.

“No, I need to,” Mayza interrupted harshly. She wiped her eyes again, took a deep breath, and began:

“A few weeks after the portal to Earth was reopened, wars and controversy exploded across the land. The entire fairy population split in half, with half wanting to keep the information on how to open the portal, and the other half wanting to destroy it all. The entire population became so passionate about their opinion on the subject that armies were created and battles began to rage all across the land. War broke out, and nowhere was safe from it. Brother turned on brother; husband turned on wife; child turned on child; rulers turned on their allies. Everyone hated everyone else. The fairy world began to crumble away at its seams.

“Radical groups of fairies fought to get the information on how to open the portal so they could return to Earth, kill as many humans as possible, and enslave any humans left alive. They said they wanted to give humans some of their own medicine. My homeland was being destroyed by wars and battles and protests and deaths. My father was king, and even he was completely powerless; most of his troops had separated and absorbed into other armies, turning on each other.”

Mayza sighed, absently messing with a rip on her shirt.

“The fairy dimension is in ruins,” Mayza continued. “My home is destroyed, my family torn apart; there is nothing but ashes and death. That damn portal destroyed us.”

“But, how did you get back to Earth then?” Brian asked curiously. As Mayza explained, she felt herself being pulled back into the fresh, cutting memory of what had happened only an hour before.

Mayza watched in horror as two large armies converged on the castle, each army coming in from opposite directions. She stood at the window in her room of her father’s castle. Her father was the king; he possessed the information of how the scientists opened the portal. The scientists had given the information to him to keep safe in the castle. It was the only place that seemed safe from the destruction of the war. However, it looked like that would all change.

Word must have gotten out somehow where the information was hidden. Both sides of the subject—Pro-Portal and Pro-Destruction, as they were named—sent their armies to the castle, and now the castle would be torn down in search of the information. Depending on which side found it first, the information would be hidden or destroyed. If the radicals got hold of it, the portals would be opened and this destruction would move onto Earth.

Mayza ran out of her room as the armies reached the front door of the castle. It would not be long before they tore it down and swept into the castle. As Mayza ran towards her father’s study, she heard the front door bang open three stories below. She veered off-course with a gasp; her mother was downstairs in the throne room, overseeing the monthly cleaning of the thrones. She might not have realized that the armies were advancing.

Mayza flew down the stairs into the entrance hall. The two armies filled the entrance hall, tearing down paintings and searching every nook and cranny. Mayza sank back into the shadows, keeping an eye out for her mother. Finally, she saw her, and stepped from the shadows to beckon her over.

Her mother spotted her and hurried across the hall towards her. Ten feet away, Mayza’s mother stopped suddenly. She looked at Mayza in shock before looking down at herself. Blood was blooming from her chest, staining her dress. Neither armies cared who they shot and killed; bullets rained down like confetti at a party as the armies fought and searched simultaneously. It was only by chance Mayza’s mother had been hit.

But none of that mattered. It didn’t matter whether it was an accident or completely on purpose. Mayza screamed, taking one step towards her mother as she dropped to her knees. Her scream sounded muffled; she felt faint. She only noticed the strong arms clamped down over her torso when they began to drag her backwards.

“No, Mom!” Mayza shrieked, struggling against the arms dragging her back up the stairs. Mayza’s mother fell sideways, staring at Mayza with blank, dead eyes.

Mayza felt herself lifted clean off the ground and carried up the staircase. She stopped struggling and looked around to see that it was her father. Tears streaked down his cheeks and Mayza felt fear grip her through the pain of losing her mother. Her father never cried.

Silence fell around them as Roland stepped into his study, placed Mayza gently on the ground, and wedged a chair against the door. Mayza stood trembling on the carpet, both of her arms wrapped across her chest and tears streaming down her face. She had no way of knowing where the rest of her family may be.

Roland walked over to the mantle over the fireplace in his study. He pulled out a loose brick and from the compartment inside pulled out a thick scroll of paper. Mayza knew it had to be the instructions on how the portal could be opened. From his desk, he took a letter written in his handwriting and slipped it into an envelope, sealing it with a wax seal.

He handed it to Mayza.

“I wrote this in case this situation happened,” Roland explained quickly and quietly. “I really hoped it wouldn’t, but I guess now I should’ve known it was inevitable.”

“What is it?” Mayza asked, her voice shaky.

“Give it to Brian,” Roland said as he hastily unrolled the scroll. Within minutes, he had a portal made in the wall. The only way Mayza could tell was because the portal rippled subtly. “Go back to Earth and return to the friends you made there. There is nothing left for you here.”

Mayza unfurled herself and threw her arms around her father, sniffling and stopping her tears to stay strong.

“I love you so much, Daddy,” she mumbled into his ear, wondering how she’d ever be able to let go.

“As I love you, princess,” Roland answered. He seemed to sense Mayza’s hesitance in letting go and gently pushed her away. “Go now. I hear them coming.”

Mayza pressed a kiss to her father’s cheek before gripping the letter and stepping into the portal. As she looked over her shoulder to see him one last time, she saw him throwing the scroll into the flames, where it would soon become nothing but unreadable ashes.

Mayza didn’t realize she was crying again until she felt Brian’s hand brush against her cheek. She looked up at him, dragging herself out of the horrible memory. She didn’t know what had happened to her father, but she could guess. The armies had probably found him, and the Pro-Portal army had probably murdered him in retaliation for burning the document. The portal had closed up for eternity once she’d stepped through it.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Brian said, gently seizing Mayza’s hand and pulling her to her feet. “I have some of your clothes still. You need to sleep.”

“Yes,” Mayza answered with a nod, allowing Brian to pull her upstairs.