Using the faint moonlight above, we slipped into the shadows. Beyond that, we only focused on keeping our footsteps quiet. While fairies could see well in the dark, it was still more difficult to see than in daylight. In the shadows of buildings, we were far more difficult to see.

       However, occasionally, we could see guards atop towers, surveying the entire area. The towers were dotted around City Proper, making it easier for guards to see the whole city. However, from over a hundred feet below, we were difficult to see.

       Suddenly, Jade stopped.

       "Ahead, guard." He whispered.

       Through the street we were walking through, a guard was flying, we were in the shadow of a building, but in plain sight of them. We all looked around for a place to hide, but there were none.

       Then, Rey pointed her finger towards an alley on the other side of the street. Everyone could hear the shuffling of feet. The guard flew over to investigate, their spear at the ready. We took that opportunity to slip past the guard and continue onwards.

       Wait, I could have done that as well. I could also create small illusions. But Rey was thinking about it more. She had very little magical power to work with, so she had to push it to its limits.

       Could I do similar things with my power? Could I make it do things I didn't expect it to do? Could I have it ready for any situation? As much as I tried, I couldn't answer this question.

       Due to the sheer impracticality of the pathways' construction, it took hours of searching before we found something promising. It was a sign that pointed towards a prison.

       We crept towards the prison on curving pathways before we finally made it to the front. The building was a monolith of dark shadow and moonlit stone before us. We silently crept closer. Strangely, no guards stood atop its towers.

       "Now, we just need to get in, and bust the wingless out." I whispered as quietly as I could.

       We crept closer to the front entrance.

       "I'm guessing we have to force our way through this door and immediately subdue anyone on the other side." I whispered. Iegis crept up next to the door and the rest of us prepared.

       Then, he yanked the door open and we all rushed in. Our eyes had already adjusted to darkness, but there was no one in there. There was a front desk illuminated by a small magical light above, but no one else was there.

       "We must run!" Jade shouted, pointing out the door.

       Just outside, about two dozen guards burst out from various hiding places, all armed with spears.

       "Jade, transform into an owl, me and Iegis will get on. Fly slow so Rey can keep up!" I instructed.

       Jade's form morphed into that of the large pale owl. Iegis and I leapt onto his back. He charged through the door and took off. Rey wasn't far behind. I frantically looked around at the guards all around us. Several of them were gathering their magic.

       Several of them had destructive powers.

       "Look out Jade!" I shouted.

       Jade sustained several various blasts of power, but he managed to maintain the form he was surrounded by. Rey used Jade's slipstream to follow at a pace faster than she normally could, and faster than the guards behind her.

       Suddenly, Jade's form dropped, and he was rapidly reverted into his normal form. We had started flying away, so it was a long way down.

       I grabbed Jade and pulled him close to me, angling myself so I was between him and the ground. Then, as quickly as I could, I called my power to reinforce my body. It was almost like the first time I discovered this power, only we were falling from about three times the height.

       I slammed into the ground, and it hurt badly, but I wasn't seriously hurt. Iegis on the other hand lay still.

       "Iegis!" I shouted. I looked wildly around for what had struck Jade down.

        Hovering in midair alongside a fairy with a dagger, was Queen Elyrie herself. Her icy wings reflected the pale moonlight.

       Rey swooped down and crouched next to Iegis, placing her hands on his chest. In the dark night, sunlight poured from her hands, and Iegis sat up rapidly breathing heavily.

       "Owww." He muttered. Firelight pulsed through him, reinforcing his body in a similar way to mine.

       "I had a feeling you would be here. It's taking a lot of our guard to keep them in there, but I saved some to keep your groundkisser hands off potential criminals." Queen Elyrie declared. Then, fog poured from her form, creating a small cloud and guising her location.

       One of the guards gathered violet fire before hurtling it towards us. I braced for impact, but it didn't harm us, instead outlining our forms. Almost all fairies could do it; Rey in fact, was one of them.

       Actual fire built within Iegis' hands, and two bolts of flame blasted from them, soaring towards the two nearest guards. One of the guards was struck from the sky, while the other was flung back from the sheer force of the impact.

       The armed fairy flew forward with a large dagger in hand. I stepped forward and let crackling vantablack pulse through my arm. I reached forward, but he ducked back. I let my power protect me as he lunged forward with his dagger. I parried the strike, and it bounced off my arm perfectly. The man then flew back.

       Jade took off running away from the guards and towards escape. Rey joined him, as she had no way to help fight.

       "Come on, let's go!" She shouted.

       One of the guards flew forward with his spear in hand and struck Iegis. Most of the spear's impact was subsided, but a gash was torn across Iegis' chest.

       He gathered crimson flame in his hands before hurtling it towards the cluster of guards that had begun to flood forward. All of them were engulfed in flame, and the entire courtyard we were fighting in became warm. Almost ten guards were struck from the sky, their scorched bodies slamming into the cold stone ground.

       I grabbed the armed man in front of me, and crackling power pulsed through him. He groaned as he convulsed, and I ran past him.

       Then, I felt a chill run through my body, and I immediately began to shiver. It didn't actually harm me, but it broke away at the magic I had used to protect myself. Looking up, I saw Elyrie's hand outstretched at me. Then, she flew right back into the cloud of fog she had created. The cloud was large, and she could be anywhere in it.

       "Zyara, just go!" Rey screamed, I followed her advice and began running.

       "Wait! Iegis!" I realized, looking back towards Iegis. He was letting his power shield him from harm as the guards advanced forward.

       "Go!" He insisted as he struck a guard from the sky with a bolt of flame. So, I joined Jade and Rey as they ran.

       The pathways made it difficult to progress forward. Rey would occasionally have to fly up in order to see the best way forward. Glancing behind, I could see guards flying after us. They followed the downward incline of City Proper and dove toward us, so they gained quickly.

       "What should we do?!" I asked.

       "Get to the outer city, my magic's useless here!" Jade said.

       "Maybe I should fight off these guards." I suggested.

       "No, we've continued being confrontational and it hasn't gotten us anywhere good! Maybe if we didn't harm them, they wouldn't be so aggressive towards us!" Jade shouted.

       He had to be right, it wasn't a good idea to be extremely reactionary and violent. But, something was telling me that the guards would attack us either way. I was probably wrong, Jade was best at keeping a level head, so I trusted his reasoning.

       Rey flew above us, occasionally soaring upwards to get a better view.

       "They're all on our tail now! We gotta move!" Rey shouted.

       "Alright!" I called back. But the streets weren't doing us any favors. We were so close to the edge of City Proper.

       I charged my power into my arm and fired it at one of the many pursuing guards. They were instantly shot out of the sky.

       "Zyara! We shouldn't fight!" Jade shouted. I continued running, and thankfully, my aggression had given the rest of the guards pause. But, they continued chasing us after a brief moment of hesitation.

       Finally, we made it to the edge of the City Proper.

       "Wait, are those groundkissers out there?!" A voice called out from a nearby house.

       "We're gonna have to hide somewhere." I said, realizing we were getting the attention of nearby houses.

       "Yeah, maybe it would have been easier if we hadn't fought back with destructive magic." Jade muttered.

       The guards descended from the trees above, zeroing in on us. Jade reached his hands out and the trees surrounding us rapidly began to grow new branches. The branches wrapped around the guards in midair, constricting them and holding them back. Vines flew all around, creating a web of vegetation in the air. The shrubs, bushes, and small trees in our immediate surroundings became more dense, giving us more places to hide.

       Rey grabbed my arm and pulled me into a nearby bush. She pointed her hand, and illusions of us ran away. I decided to add to the illusion by making the sound of frantic footsteps.

       The guards fell for our trick and followed the illusions deeper into the forest. Other guards tackled Jade to the ground and put restraints on him.

       I desperately tried to quell my deep breathing, but it was difficult.

       "They went off into the woods away from City Proper, find them. One of them's got wings!" A guard shouted. And so, the guards left us there alone in the twilight.

       After half an hour of horrible waiting, Rey finally crawled out of the bush, allowing me to follow her.

       "We need to find a better spot." Rey whispered. I nodded in agreement.

       We found our way beneath a magically grown bush that had plenty of hollow space for us to lie down beneath it. The bush had dark green leaves. Rey used her magic to grow the bush over the natural tunnel that had formed within, sealing us off from exit, but also not allowing anyone to enter.

       It was only then that I noticed Rey's tears, and I noticed my own as well.

       Two of us had been taken into custody, where they would be given less food than they needed. Fairies could magically grow food and somehow there was a shortage of it to feed a ton of prisoners that had no reason to be imprisoned.

       I thought about the current situation. Now, it was up to just me and Rey to stop what was happening. I had tons of magical power that was only really useful in combat. Rey had plenty of extremely useful power, but the amount she could call upon it was severely limited.

       As hours passed, guards flew back towards the City Proper, evidently dissatisfied with what they had found of us.

       Eventually, Rey began crawling from the bush, I followed her.

       Morning was a few hours away, it would be a miracle for anyone to be awake at this hour. But here we were. I was beginning to feel it too, the urge to lie down in sleep. But, it was mixing with my residual adrenaline, so I was still on high alert.

       We made our way further from the City Proper. We made sure to not be loud, but we had to move quickly. Deeper into the outer city, there were less houses up in the treetops, and thus it would be easier to hide by daylight.

       However, about an hour and a half of walking had passed when we heard a noise, the shifting of armor.

       "Get down!" I whispered, ducking behind a bush. Rey followed, but her wings meant she couldn't quite make herself small enough.

       "Who's there!" The guard said loudly. When he didn't get the response he wanted, he began approaching the bush we hid behind. I took a deep breath.

       Vantablack wrapped around the man's limbs, holding him in place. He groaned against his restraints, but he couldn't move a muscle.

        I took the chance to lunge from the bush, wrap my hands around his throat, and send crackling power pulsing through him. I slowly lowered his body to the ground and began dragging it towards the bushes.

       "Hide it, if someone finds it, they'll know something bad is here." I instructed. Rey nodded and took a few minutes to grow the bush around the man's body as thoroughly as she could until he was almost completely hidden. Then, we tossed his spear into some thick grass.

        I silently hoped no one would find either of them.

       We continued, and about half an hour later we began to see the first light touch the sky. So, we wriggled our way into a tangle of bushes and undergrowth. Once again, Rey manipulated the plants to hide us better.

        We weren't perfectly hidden, but we were far away from any of the surrounding houses.

       In that time, before anybody woke up, we took the chance to cry, and the events of what had transpired finally hit us.