“Damn it...” She muttered under her breath. Her eyes focused just enough to make out the shape of her opponent.

The beast, -or rather, the Paladin-, stretched out its magnificent golden wings and swept them forward, as if daring her to strike again. His armor was cracked and broken where she had hit him with a nasty lightning spell, but other than that his appearance was perfectly immaculate; posture straight and in a knightly stance.

She on the other hand, was anything but immaculate.

Her wings were battered and almost broken, and could barely hold her weight as she tried to support herself. Her outfit was now turning a light shade of brown because of the blood stains, and her right arm was rendered totally useless after being hit by the butt end of the Paladin's sword, shattering the bone.

Tears pricked out of the corner of her eyes, but she knew she couldn't give up. Not now, not after she had come so far in school. The pain was nothing, she had to tell herself, and she was lucky to be alive.

With a mighty cry, the Paladin came forward, and swung his golden longsword as he charged forward to finish off the tired Fairy. Calling upon the last of her reserve strengths, the fairy held up her hands in defense, and bellowed with the last remaining magic in her:

“PROTECTRA IMPREGNIS!”

The Paladin's sword came down slicing through the air, and contacted with a bright magical shield, generated from the hands of the Fairy. The bubble encased her soundly, but quivered at the might of the Paladin's strength, sending tiny waves all round it. Knowing it would not hold for long, the Fairy again geared up for one last attack: her final attempt to win this.

“KYRIS IMFLAMMEL!”

In a split second, the white shield had disappeared, and a rumbling tornado of fire had taken its place, engulfing the Paladin within its melting embrace. The Paladin screamed like an unholy banshee, wings flapping like mad, only succeeding to feed the fire that ate at its clothing and armor.

The panting Fairy watched with satisfaction, and proceeded to finally crumble in one spot, closing her eyes to try and block out the Paladin's screams. Bits of her blond hair got in her mouth as she shoved them out of the way irritably with her one functional hand. Dirt and blood mixed together as she layed upon the ground, and waited for something else to happen.

After a few grueling seconds, she had finally heard what she had been waiting to hear all her freshman year.

“Test completed and passed: Returning subject to Main Entrance.”

In a swirl of binary digits and numbers, the reality she had been in disappeared, and she was deposited on the floor of Frost Spire's Magical Reality chamber. Small gasps and surprised yelps were met when she returned, but all she could think about were the results.

She passed. Passed! That meant she was still alive, and she could stay!

A small grin appeared on her face, caked with dirt and blood as it may have been. Her green eyes cracked open a little bit, and she saw three healing elves on their way with a stretcher. As they reached her, one of them told her to lie still and hold her broken arm while they put her on the stretcher. But she didn't care. All that mattered was that she had passed. She could die now with a clear conscience; though it would've defeated the whole purpose of wanting to pass the test in the first place.

And that was how Emily Grey, single and only Fairy to ever step into Frost Spire's gates, had passed out. On a stretcher, happy, smiling, and beaten to a bloody pulp.

-

-

“I told you you'd pass, didn't I?”

Emily managed to smile, despite the pain it brought to even think at the moment. She shifted her weight on her plush bed, having just woken up from losing consicousness in the Magical Reality Chamber. She saw her most trusted friend Helena Zanders towering over her, wearing naught but her simple jeans and T-shirt attire, flashing an encouraging smile at Emily's pathetic bloodied form.

“Yeah, you did. Though it was really thanks to all your training that I survived, not my skills as a Fairy,” Emily replied. Helena rolled her eyes, but still patted her head like a big sister would.

“Hey, you know what? Just be proud. You're the first Fairy to ever pass the Angel test. I won't bother to tell you how many people thought for sure you'd fail and die. But I had faith.”

Emily snickered, and tried hard not to sneer sarcastically. Despite Helena's good gesture, Emily knew she wasn't that dim-witted. Of course Helena thought she'd die; everyone did. Fairies were delicate creatures, raised with love and care and taught to avoid fighting if at all possible. Angels, on the other hand, were born battle-ready, and made their living off of fighting Demons and their ilk. This final test was to weed out the weak Angels from the strong. It wasn't meant for any Fairy to pass.

Helena then looked down, and wrinkled her nose at Emily's sullied bandages.

“Are they going to change them soon?” she asked, “'cause that's kinda gross. It's nasty to look at.”

Emily shrugged nonchalantly.

“Feel free to do it yourself. I don't think Miss Ophrey or her helper elves will be back anytime soon. They still have more freshman who need to take the test.”

Helena cringed at the mention of re-doing the bandages herself, and went a light shade of green.

“No thanks,” she squeaked. Emily again chuckled, because she was fully aware of Helena's dislike for anything goreish, and her squeamishness. Emily even remembered having to fetch a pillow once, because she fainted when she'd gotten a rather ghastly papercut.

“Oh, by the way Helena, how did your exams go?” she asked. Helena shrugged.

“Alright I guess. I aced it grade-wise of course, but everyone said it was because of my wings; and the Professor made me do it again to make sure. It wasn't fun,” she sighed. Emily gave her brunette friend a sympathetic look, because everyone in the school knew all too well about Helena's.... special attribute. Non one knew exactly why her wings were different, just that it brought her a lot more attention than the poor girl wanted.

But then there was Emily herself, and she couldn't say she was much different. She hailed from a far distant planet of nature loving creatures, and was a Fairy. Originally though, she had no idea she was a Fairy and was shocked to learn she had been accepted at Frost Spire, a secret and grand school for Angels only.

And my, what a ruckus she had caused when she earned her charmix powers, revelaing she was a magical Fairy instead of a battle-ready Angel.

Emily smiled to herself as she remembered the headmaster's angered response to the Professors pushing for her expulsion.

“She was accepted here because of her 'angelic' powers. Now, I have no idea why she turned out to be a fairy, but you all know as well as I do that our magic selection process is flawless in its choosing candidates. Not only that, but if we transfer her to Alfea, everyone in Magix will know of us! We are a secret school, discreet and powerful, and we shall remain so. She stays here, and we shall train her just as we would any other Angel at Frost Spire.”

And so it has been, and she had just taken the final freshman exam like everyone else; and survived on top of it. Where half the freshman Angel class had fallen, she had risen, and as a Fairy nonetheless. Nothing could express her joy. Now, she would no longer be the butt end of the jokes at Frost Spire, and actually gain some much-needed respect amongst its crowd.

“Emily? Helllllloooooooo? Are you in there?”

Emily shook her head.

“Uh, sorry, zoned out for a second.” Helena grinned.

“So I noticed. Anyway, as I was saying, I'm going back to my room. I'll check up on you later, 'kay? Maybe tomorrow I'll bring you some tasty chocolate to eat and my home-grown plants to keep ya company!”

“Sure,” Emily said, ignoring her friend's unhealthy plant obsession. Helena had always been an avid plant and nature lover, and after a year of training and being friends with her, she learned to just overlook it. She then watched her cheery friend retreat out of her room and into Frost Spire's old-fashioned stone hallway, following the darkness.

Emily sighed tiredly, and curled up on her bed as best she could without damaging any injured limbs, or kicking the white lump at the foot of her bed that was her tamed wolf, Kight. She adjusted about three times before she finally found a comfy spot, and knew tonight was going to be a very long night.

But, in the end, this all had to be worth it. She was a Fairy going to Frost Spire instead of Alfea, for a reason... a very good reason...

... whatever that may be.

Her eyes narrowed in annoyance as she pulled the covers up close, yanking a few of them off of Kight, who seemed to mind very much having his source of warmth so abruptly taken from him.

“Sorry,” Emily muttered, before drifting off to a deep wonderland.

The wolf only glared.

-

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