224: Heritage -Carl-

The plan was simple; seal the magic that Melissa would use to revive her race. Qaliphus only needed two things, The sword Excalibur, and time. Qaliphus knew where to find the first part, but the last was left to me. My job was to keep whoever Melissa tossed at them away while he worked his mojo on the blade, which was conveniently stuck in a massive stone and sitting in an abandoned warehouse.

Just walking into the room with the legendary blade made me dizzy. The room exerted a pressure of power that nearly brought me to my knees.

"Wow. What power." I forced myself to stand, which wasn't easy, and glanced at the small fairy.

"It was forged in The Other Lands and imbued with the power of the fairy queen at the time." Qaliphus had failed to stay standing, but soon after falling to his knee he was able to stand again.

"Why would the queen give a blade like this to a human?"

"She was foolish and fell in love with a man." Qaliphus spat the word love out like it was a curse. "This man asked for a way to keep his king alive and she sacrificed herself to create this blade. Sadly, her gift failed it's purpose and was stuck here."

I laughed, "Let me guess, only the worthy can pulled the blade from the stone? Maybe I should give it a try?"

Qaliphus frowned at me, "No. Do not touch the blade until after the sealing ritual. To do so would contaminate the magic."

Something about the situation was eating at the back of my mind. It didn't seem right; magic didn't seem like something that could be sealed away. At least, not unless it was attached to an object and even then it was only that instance of magic.

I shook my head. Where had that come from? Since I walked into this room, my mind had started becoming increasingly clearer and the pressure from the sword had started lifting. Now I was pulling information from seemingly nowhere. Qaliphus was busy readying his spell to notice my confusion.

"All set, now make sure I'm not disturbed for forty minutes. If I am then we'll have to start over." He sat down and closed his eyes.

I had barely heard him. Everything around me seemed brighter, more focused. It was the best I'd felt in a long time.

"Welcome back, my king."

I wasn't prepared for the pain that shot through my head as the voice spoke. A quick glance revealed that Qaliphus had not heard it.

"I only speak to you my lord. I am your blade after all."

More pain. I fell to my knees as the voice invaded my skull.

"Oh dear, you aren't receiving me right. I wonder how far down the family tree you are? Are you still refered to as 'Pendragon'? Hold on let me adjust."

The pain escalated to an unbelievable intensity that made spots appear on my vision, "AH! My apologies, you are familiar with fey magic which means I need to calibrate for that too. Tell me if the pain gets worse or better."

My breath was knocked from my chest as another wave of pain sent me to the ground, "Not . . . better."

I had spoken aloud, but the person who responded was not the voice.

"Oh no! Carl, my darling, are you alright? Did this mean fairy bigot hurt you?" Melissa was here. I pushed myself to my feet; fighting against the pain that dotted my vision and made the world sway. I had to protect Qaliphus.

"Unbelievable. You certainly have the Pendragon spirit!" The voice brought metaphorical sledgehammers on my head. I swayed as I tried to stay standing.

"What's wrong with him? He looks sick." Another voice I recognized invaded my ears; past the ringing pain. Christina.

"There are many hostiles in this room with you, sire. I'm trying to situate things better, but it's going to take some time. Perhaps if you start fighting it will go easier?" The voice's command flooded my ears and slowly the pain faded, "Ah, there we go. Now we're both in the same train of thought which will make things eaiser."

My vision cleared and I saw Melissa, and Christina standing at the doorway. Behind me was humanities only salvation, and it was up to me to keep it safe.

223: Simple -Christina-

"Is that how you respond to everything?! Beating it to death?" He was angry, and at the time I hadn't realized that not only had I been in the wrong but his anger was less about what I'd broken and more about molding me into a person that could exist alongside humans.

"It wasn't working! The stupid thing never works and the retarded human landlord never tries to fix it!" I stomped my foot.

"Excuse me, I guess that means that we punch it until it works. What was I thinking?! I mean, you're only human right? It's not like you could punch a hole in solid steel!" He pointed at the wreckage that was once a stove his eyes furious.

I curled my hand into a fist, "Your stuff is so pathetic and weak, how was I supposed to know!?"

Sam stepped up to me and stared into my eyes, "Right now, you're stuck with weak and pathetic so get your act together!"

I admired his bravery, which at first I'd taken as being uninformed. Soon, however, I realized that he'd learned how much I was capable of and still wasn't afraid to tell me off. It was part of him that made my heart flutter sometimes; something I'd gone to the doctors several times about and was always told that I was fine and then smirked at.

"Why do you even care?! You met me in a corner store and all I seem to do is break things! It's not like I'm a friend, or family. I'm a no one that you'd probably be better off getting rid of!"

He didn't respond, and I took this chance to make the killing blow, "Yeah, exactly. I've been here for nearly two months and so far I've broken most of the things in the house! Is that what you intended by bringing me here? Am I your wrecking crew so that you can get your revenge against your ass of a landlord!?"

"No." His response was low and meek.

"Then why!? Why would you keep me around for so long?!"

"Because I love you!" I hadn't expected him to respond like that. and the roles were suddenly reversed; now I was quiet and unable to respond, "At first you were the most annoying person on the planet and I couldn't wait until I'd helped you enough to get you out! Do you remember that night last week when you ran off? God, I was so happy; I'd thought you'd gone forever! That lasted only a few moments before I realized that the house was so empty without you here. I found myself staring at your log-in on the Xbox and being unable to eat because you weren't there to talk to. The more time passed the more I found things that I missed about you; Your hair after a shower, the way you hide your smiles so badly that it's obvious your smiling beneath your hand. You are the most difficult woman I know and even though you won't explain anything to me I still find myself completely and unstoppably entranced when you're around. I even missed how I could never win against you in a video game; it was insane. It IS insane!"

That was the first time Samuel had confessed his love and it wouldn't be the last time either of us said it.

"Wake up!" In seconds I was yanked from my dream and forced into a reality where everything had gone wrong.

"Are we there?" I sat up.

"Yeah, any moment now." Melissa, the arrogant, loud fairy of evil sneered, "So who's Samuel? You wouldn't stop saying his name the entire time you were sleeping. I've never seen your kind cry like that."

I didn't dignify her questions with an answer; she was just trying to get under my skin. I knocked on the window between the back of the truck and the drivers seat. It slid open.

"We're almost there. I don't have any idea why you'd want to be brought out here in the middle of nowhere, nothing here for miles."

Carl and Qaliphus had been tracked here by the powerful fairy magic Melissa commanded. Here was where they'd try to revive the fairy race and make this world their own. In the end we decided that Ben should be kept in the dark. Not only wouldn't he trust the word of Melissa, but he didn't even know me.

So it was just me and Melissa trying to save the world we'd come to love like our own.

And it made me feel human.