From inside the bird cage, I looked out at the street and the dirty humans passing by. " Oh shit, if I had paid attention in magic class, I wouldn't be in this situation." I muttered to no one in particular .
"Being treated like a commodity, what a curse." I would do anything to get out of here. "How much for the fairy?" The voice caught my attention. A man was approaching the shopkeeper, his face hidden by the hood of his gray cloak.
"Oh, you have good eyes, it's a fairy captured near the forest of" I interrupted the wretched shopkeeper "go to hell, you damned devil!" They both looked at me, the shopkeeper picked up a piece of wood from his side.
"But as you can see, he needs to be POLITE!" He hit the cage hard and made me slam my back against the bars, the pain felt like I had broken my wings.
"How much?" The man said, still indifferent. "Okay, let's get to business." The shopkeeper said, leaning on the counter. "49 silver." Reaching into his cloak, the man pulled out a bag that rattled with the sound of metal.
The shopkeeper counted the coins while the man watched, separating a portion and handing the rest to the man. "For 5 more you can have." "Just the fairy," cut off by the man. The disgruntled shopkeeper handed over the cage with me inside and without saying anything the man left.
Damn, what now? I never thought I would be bought, could it have been for my wings? No otherwise, he would have bought only them.
The endless possibilities ran through my head as the buyer led me down the street to a dark dead end.
I looked at him without knowing what he intended, when a mist began to appear and the man went through it, he walked confidently as if in a few more steps he would not hit the wall.
But nothing happened and the previously dark mist began to let in sunlight. It couldn't be the dark alley, I thought, covering my eyes with my wings as I adapted to the light.
When I looked ahead I was no longer in an alley, now in front of me stretched a green plain, wooden houses, forests and mountains stretched out on the horizon.
"Master," Two voices spoke together, a brown-furred orc with a broken horn running to greet the man, while an elf struggled to keep up.
I looked at the man who had now taken off his hood, he was fixing his light brown hair as the two arrived "Boss, we want to see where you want the warehouse to be built"
Shit, I'm going to be his slave, I thought. "It doesn't really matter, build wherever you want, and you don't have to call me master." Now i was confused; they had respect for him, and he wasn't aggressive.
I was speechless as he opened my cage and handed it to the elf. " Take care of him, please." What the hell? They waved as the man walked off toward a house larger than the others.
"Is this normal?" I couldn't help but ask. "Yes," the orc said hesitantly. "The chief has his own… different ways of looking after us." He said, sounding uncertain about his answer.
"If you want to get out of the cage, we'll show you the place." I started to fly, but it soon started to hurt, so I sat on the elf's silver hair. "Where is this place? Until a minute ago, I was in an alley."
"We are not sure either," said the elf. "The chief who brings us here through the mist, so we just accept that it is magic. What type, how it works, what its limitations are, are things I do not know."
"But one thing is certain," the orc added, "The name is deserved ." He stopped and the two spoke together, "Paradise." Looking at the almost untouched nature, the crystal clear water of the stream and the birds flying in the high sky, it really looked like a representation of heaven.
But one thing bothered me : "How can you elves and orcs live together?" They looked at each other as we walked towards the main village. "We can say we have a common past and goal," said the orc, touching his broken horn.
"We were all slaves and were saved by the chief," said the elf, stroking his amputated thumb. "Ah." Realizing the situation, I remained silent, but they soon returned to the guide.
"That's where you can get water for anything," he said, pointing to the stream. "Following it, you'll reach the orchard and you can get whatever you want, just try not to waste it." I listened, surprised by the freedom they showed.
"I don't know how fairies live, but you can stay wherever you want. If you're going to enter a house, just knock on the door first," the orc said as we passed by the houses. "I usually just sleep in the branches of the trees," I said.
" What do we have here? Did you bring a fairy this time, Robert?" An elf spoke behind us, turning around the elf replied. "Good morning Tania, it wasn't me, it was the boss." She looked at me with interest but soon her focus changed to the orc.
"Since the master has arrived, what did he say about the warehouse?" She asked, and the orc replied, "We are to build it wherever we want, so I think we will place it near the canal as I suggested."
She nodded in agreement and said, "Okay, I'll pass the message on to your team, Carlos," she said, leaving. "Who was she?" I asked, "Tânia is the one who coordinates most of paradise," Carlos replied.
"So," I asked before continuing, "what will my job be here?" They thought for a moment. "I don't really know what a fairy can do, but if you want to do anything, you can; no one forces you." Robert said .
"But generally speaking, the functions are divided between the administration and care of paradise or the Aqueduct ." Not knowing this new term, I asked, "Aqueduct?"