Ace in the Feywild ~ Prelude

Ace and Jub are good friends despite Jub being an air spirit and Ace being a water spirit. The two of them are basically family and would do anything for the other.

Ace is a Kappa and is rarely far away from her companion Egg.
She's a very simple girl who is happy where she is and wants everyone else to be happy to! She never asks for responsibility, but she feels obligated to help and push herself to drastic lengths for those who need it.
She's also the closest thing that Jub has to family and wears one of his feathers in her hair at all times

Egg is a Kalpie and yes, traditionally, Kalpie are water spirits that take the form of a horse, but Egg is a much smaller Kalpie and so she takes the form of a cat.

She's been with Ace since Ace was a small child and though she doesn't really look older than 11, she tries very hard to appear grown up in her human form, but that comes out as her choosing a very showing outfit. Her maturity is about in line with a late 20-year-old and she likes to pretend and joke that she's much older XD this includes insisting that Ace carries her everywhere because, "you wouldn't want these brittle old bones to break would you?"

Kalpie in this world as often employed as guardians for young water spirits because they are such an ancient and respected species of spirits and are meant to watch over the younger spirits until they pass onto their next form(return to the fey magic.) Ace is Egg's second ward...  her first charge that she was guardian to made a brutal deal with a lying Archfey and was never heard from again. Egg was blamed for this and disgraced as a mentor... But, she was determined to make up for her mistake and was eventually assigned another young water spirit, Ace. 

Egg and Ace get along very well and often interact more like friends than mentor and student.

Jub is Taken

Ace waits for Jub

After the Harvest Festival where Jub never showed up, Ace goes home... She's not sure what happened and doesn't want to believe that Jub forgot or abandoned her. Egg waits with her and Ace ends up staying out on the show for several days. 

Egg is getting sick of Ace's persistence in waiting and wishes she would just make the choice between letting it go or going out to find Jub herself. Egg decides to give her a little more time when Ace starts to cry while arguing with Egg.... Ace never cries and even though she is clearly worried about Jub, Ace kept looking on the bright side and believing there was just a harmless misunderstanding.

Ace falls asleep on the bank. Egg unravels her stripes to provide a safe place for Ace to rest through the night. 

Egg feels bad for arguing with Ace earlier and prays that she will be safe. Egg also prays that she will be able to protect Ace and keep her safe unlike the last ward Egg was responsible for.

Ace didn't want to fall asleep at all, but her energy was gone and she eventually drifted off.

Ace and Egg awake to a strange fae... This creature doesn't speak, but they can hear a muffled voice in their heads. Ace hears the caterpillar say that she is here to show Ace where Jub has been taken.

This new guest conjures a oval sphere of light in front of her and while Ace is staring into it, she sees Jub. He is limp, hanging in the air, and doesn't appear to be hung or tied to anything. 

Ace asks where he is but the caterpillar just stares at her. Ace asks who sent her but she doesn't hear the caterpillar's voice in her head.

The sphere slowly melts into a mist that covers the silent caterpillar and both the mist and the stranger disappear. 

Ace and Egg decide to leave immediately. They aren't sure where they should start looking for Jub, but they take the only road that leads them away from their home in hopes of finding more information as they go.

They aren't on the road long before they come to an adjacent pathway that seems more well traveled. The sun is high in the sky when they meet a strange caravan. 

The caravan looks as more like a wagon that was decorated with tattered silks and pillows to appear more luxurious than its rundown, wobbly frame disclosed. There were two occupants of these conditions. A driver and a passenger. The passenger, a lady in a stained dress and greasy hair calls out to her driver and the caravan stops. Ace sees her stands and wave to them to catch up.

Ace was not used to walking so long and Egg's complaining was not helping. So she gladly accepted the invitation to ride with these two travelers. Perhaps if she had been less naive to the world she might have questioned her trust of strangers, but she had never gone farther than a few leagues from her home. 

And so the four started off again in the rickety wagon. The lady who had called to them introduced herself as the Duchess and the driver as her cook. It did not take long for Ace to be bewildered by the strange behavior of their host... She was barefoot, and dressed in clothes that might have once been quite fine and royal, but had long past become threadbare and stained. Her hair was done up in an elaborate gold cage that seemed to dig into her brow and cause slight bruising. However, the strangest things the Duchess exhibited were first, that she held a log, wrapped in a burlap sack and bundles of sticks as if it were alive and introduced it as her child who was, at present, quite sick. And second, despite her cheering conversation, there was a steady trickle of tears down her face.

When asked, the Duchess told them that she was headed to the Ivory Court to visit an old friend who she was confident could cure her baby's cold. 

Ace told her what had called her out to travel and confessed that she honestly had no clue where she was supposed to find Jub or even where to start. At this point, the driver, who had been silent before, volunteered that they were headed past the directory- a place to verify coordinates and receive directions or advice from a dryad who lived there.

The Duchess cheerfully shoos Ace and Egg to the front of the wagon "so that her baby can sleep" and tells them to go pester her cook because she's sure he gets quite sick on her company alone.

Ace is rather shy around the cook. He wears a partial face mask and has red spikes poking through his skin. They don't say anything for some minutes. However, Egg is much bolder and after growing sick of the silence, asks why he's covering his face. He seems rather amused at the question and tells them, with good humor that he has allergies. The three of them share a laugh and naturally slip into conversation. 

Eventually the cook thanks Ace and Egg for treating the Duchess with respect despite her peculiarities. He tells them that she was a gracious, happy, and well-loved ruler of a small court and had a real child about two years old who she loved more than anything. However, she was envied by a neighboring court who wished to have her remove. So, they stole her child and left in its place, the log and burlap that she was now inseparable with. They had enchanted it so that only the Duchess was blind to the truth and appeared quite mad to her subjects. 

He believed that there was no getting the Duchess's true child back- however, they were indeed on their way to the Ivory Court and the cook hoped that they might make her a clay child that she might love and love her back. After that, he believed that they could return to her court free of shame and that she could return to her throne. Even though the cook expresses confidence in this plan, he seems tired and admits with a sigh that the enchantment might not have been fully effective... He says that his Duchess's eyes have not stopped crying since her child vanished.

Ace and Egg say goodbye to their companions as they part ways and Ace starts in the direction the cook points out to her as the Directory and tells her that the dryad there should be able to answer her questions. 

Off the path, Ace and Egg stumble into a clearing with a tall, curved tree in the center. Affixed to this tree are labels and signs, some of which Ace can read and others that she cant. Surrounding the clearing are several trees with doors carved into them however, non of them seem to open. There also does not appear to be any dryad in sight... 

Egg is suspicious that the dryad abandoned her post for a lunch break or that she simply never existed. Ace hears a voice off to the side, deeper in the woods, and starts heading towards it, hoping to find help.

Ace follows the voice she heard and finds a strange sight before her.

In a low branch of a tree, there is a mirror held in place by twisting branches and a strange, menacing creature in the reflection. Hung on the tree are organs, blades, bones, and different skins. Sitting in front of the mirror is a lady in green wearing bone necklaces and piercings with bloodshot eyes and a desperate, hunted look. 

Ace is pretty sure that this person will not be able to help her, but before she can leave, the dryad looks her way and sees her. "Oh- your eyes are beautiful. I wish I had beautiful eyes like that" as soon as she says this, Ace sees the figure lean closer and seems to whisper to the dryad, "If you want beautiful eyes, she should just take those- we'll never be beautiful without those beautiful eyes." As this twisted figure spoke to the dryad, the dryad's face changes and becomes hateful and desperate. She reaches out towards Ace and says, "You will give me your eyes." Ace turns to run back to Egg as she hears the creature in the mirror start to laugh and the dryad let out a furious shriek as she gives chase. 

As Ace sprints through the trees, Egg appears beside her and demands to know what Ace got herself into?! Ace insists she didn't do anything- but that she thinks the Directory wont be any help after all. 

Their conversation is cut short as the howels behind them increase and they focus on escape. Their panic rises and stamina decreases as the situation becomes more desperate. 

A strong gust to Ace's right makes her stumble when she sees a bright yellow figure streaking alongside them on a levitating carpet. The newcommer held out a long fingered hand to Ace. Without having a more favorable option, Ace scooped up Egg and took the stranger's hand. 

In one strong, elegant movement, the jackalope lifted Ace practically onto his lap and without asking, stole Egg from Ace's arms and placed her on the other side of him, closing any conceivable distance between them. Egg audibly complains of this individual's rudeness, but with no audience. The carpet shoots into the night sky quickly leaving the dryad's echoing voice behind.

 Jack stares down at Ace in a suave, confident manner and introduces himself as her prince in shining armor. Ace is very uncomfortable with this "prince's" familiarity and wishes Egg would come back and sit between them. 

They traveled in the air for only a short time before coming to a well-hidden, cavern entrance. Besides being quite fresh with a person he has just met, Ace finds that Jack is a considerate person, if not rather self-absorbed and personal.

Despite all this however, both Ace and Egg are quite relieved to discover that they wont be alone in the cavern with Jack.

When the flying carpet lands on the floor within the cavern, Jack jumps to his feet and again offers his hand to Ace to help her stand. Egg rolls her eyes in exaggeration and reserves nothing when scowling at Jack throughout the night. 

Jack stands about as tall as Ace and appears lean and limber with dramatic poise and elegance that confuses Ace on whether he is of court status or simply delusional.

Walking up to meet them is a towering, six-limbed sphinx with the torso of a lady and wings of a falcon. Her eyes are gold and there are simple air-affiliated prints on his waist and face. Her deep maroon hair is done in a dignified casual bun gathered first on her head and then again on her lower neck wrapped in respectable green fabric. 

She smiles graciously at Ace and Egg and waits patiently for them to introduce themselves. Ace is rather star struck by the sphinx's beauty and size, but Egg steps forward and introduces herself as well as her travel companion. Jack again pulls Ace close to his shoulder and boasts heartily about his daring rescue as the great lady raises an eyebrow at him and he goes on to describe in great detail how had slain the beast that had endangered his new sweetheart. Ace struggles to correct him, but before she could speak, the sphinx's tail lashes out and sweeps Jack clear away from Ace and sends his skidding into the cavern wall.

This sudden movement makes both Ace and Egg jump, but the sphinx's motherly face remains gracious and Jack recovers himself, though a little sobered, and he scolds his own bad manners and offers to go make them tea. 

As Jack lops off to farther into the cave, his mentor speaks to her guests and listens closely to their journey and objectives. She regretfully says that though she hasn't heard of Jub specifically, she knows that the cults south-east of her are known for their hunting of rare creatures and their is a truly sad look in her eyes when she says that those lands are long past their golden age. She also apologizes for her ward's impropriety and says that since he's come to live with her, she has been slowly breaking some of his bad habits and teaching him dignity.

Ace and Egg rest there for the night. Before setting off again, thank the sphinx for her kind hospitality as well as her firm handle on Jack's behavior. The sphinx takes this with good humor and offers them a limited map that will take them to the south-east courts as well as back to Ace's home. Ace takes the map and notices that there is a blackened, burned circle in the upper right corner. 

The map is incredibly helpful and Ace and Egg make good time after leaving the sphinx's cavern. 

Their travels were comfortingly peaceful and the forests here were beautiful with sun-rays reaching from the leafy room to light the path with a gentle glow. 

Late morning they hear a call from above them. Looking up, in a tall, thick tree there sat a stout dodo with an obnoxious beak wrapped in a purple blanket wearing a pink bowtie. They peered down at them with small beady eyes and were surrounded by strange red fruit. Dodo hails them and asks what they are doing in these parts- explaining that there are very few travelers that come through here. 

Though hesitant to explain the extent of their purpose, Ace responds that they are on their way to the south-east courts. "Ahh, the former Bandersnatch courts..." the Dodo considers. "Well, if you do make it there- be sure to avoid mention of dodos. If their vermin caught wind that there might be one of me left, there wouldn't be one last sad bird alone in this tree." 

Ace remembers what the sphinx said about the hunters of rare creatures in these courts and feels a sense of urgency to continue onto find Jub.

Ace comes to a wide valley. There is a sign on a nearby tree that warns, "don't lose your footing, pitfalls."

Egg suggests they risk it because it will cut their time in half by crossing the valley and offers her powers to help keep Ace balanced.  Ace is still anxious about what the Dodo implied about Jub's fate and agrees. 

Walking through the valley was unexpectedly smooth and Egg's stripes did little to improve Ace's balance. However, as they neared the center, the whole valley's plane began to circle and shift. Ace shrieks and realizes that if Egg wasn't steadying her, she might've already fallen off the earth discs to a dark below.

Egg yells at her to run and Ace bolts and jumps from the rotating planes back towards the outskirt of trees. With a last desperate jump, Ace throws herself off the last circle and lands hard on the solid ground. 

Ace stays on the ground for several moments catching her breath and recovering from the shock. When she looks up, she sees an ugly, threatening faun sneering down at her.

The Faun is irate and screams at Ace that she had cheated his "game." Egg gets in the Faun's face fearlessly and accuses him of setting a trap, not playing a game! 

The Faun insists that Ace had cheated and that he will hold a trial to determine her guilt. Ace pleads that she doesn't have time for this but the Faun teleports them to a preset courtroom. The seats are full of puppets and translucent ghosts and Ace and Egg realize with horror that the Faun himself is the judge.

Ace and Egg are powerless in the Faun's enchanted courtroom as he finds Ace guilty of cheating with some overdramatized explanations and puppeteered witnesses. 

Ace is sentenced to be tied to a tree til the sun sets. Egg recognizes this common sentence for minor offenses but realizes that the Faun has chosen this punishment with the intent to kill Ace.

She protests violently and tries to help, but she and Ace can't overpower the Faun's ghost prisoners and Ace's cup empties as she is hung upside down.

Ace closes her eyes and opens them in a dark, empty space. In front of her she sees her life play out and cries at the memories of Jub and her failure to rescue him.

As she weeps, she calls out for help in her desperation. Suddenly, Ace is no longer alone in the dark space and before her floats a beautiful creature with green wings, a small face and big eyes that looks at her lovingly and with understanding. 

Ace chokes out a weaker plea for help and the lovely creature stoops to look Ace deep in the eyes. Without moving her lips, the radiant being's voice speaks in Ace's head. She introduces herself as the Butterfly and tells Ace that she has been watching her travels. She asks how badly Ace wants to save her friend. Ace sobs again and insists she wants to save Jub more than anything. The Butterfly again smiles at Ace and rises once again.

In Ace's head, the Butterfly explains that she can give Ace another chance and stronger odds, but that in exchange, Ace would be her ambassador help end injustices like the Faun in the deepest waters and highest skies. A chiming, light laugh in Ace's head as the Butterfly equates her to a flying fish. Ace is confused and informs the Butterfly that she can't fly. Patiently, the Butterfly tells her that as a her ambassador, Ace would be given new wings along with her second chance.

Ace's body rises and forms wings as her soul returns.

Egg is in disbelief that Ace came back and is even more confused when Ace tells her about the Butterfly she met and her new wings. Privately, Egg has never heard of the Butterfly and is concerned that Ace made the same mistake that Egg's previous charge did... But Egg reassures herself that Ace is back and that is more than can be said for Ghost.

The Butterfly speaks to Ace's mind and tells her that she will need the Faun's blade to free Jub. So Ace and Egg sneak into the Faun's underground layer where they find him gloating over his previous victims who he has confined to cages levitating in his cylindrical dorm. 

Ace and Egg argue in whispers about what to do. Egg reminds Ace that the Faun is too powerful for them to just attack straight on and that they need to be sneaky. Ace asks the Butterfly if she can help but she doesn't sense her presence in her mind like before and assumes she's on her own for now.

Thankfully, the Faun descends further into his tomb where he takes off the sword at his hip to enjoy the underground hotsprings there.

Egg uses her stripes to stealthily ferry it away and with sword in hand, the two dash up towards the entrance. 

Ace stops short at the cylindrical dome where the miserable cages are. She sees the faces in the bars and the fearful, sorrowful eyes and can't bare to leave them behind, Egg is frantically hisses to Ace that they don't have time to play heros but Ace doesn't listen to her and when the doors to the prisons don't open, she uses the Fauns sword to slice through them. 

Egg realizes that the blade must be a ghost blade which has the ability to cut through magic and enchantments.

Ace continues to free the captives with Eggs begrudging help. But when she can't reach the other cages from the floor, she tries to use her new wings to fly to them. Ace has never flown before and crashes into several pens and torches, sending flames rapidly along the wall and several enclosures catch fire. 

Ace tumbles to the ground and Egg, seeing the dome go up in flames, drags a screaming, struggling Ace away and out the entrance while the remaining captives catch fire. Ace continues to shriek wildly at Egg to let her help them and tears fill Egg's eyes as well.

Within minutes the whole valley is in flames and Ace and Egg stand there watching. Ace is in shock and can't stop staring into the flames while clutching the Faun's sword.

Still shaken from the fire, Ace and Egg continue on south-east towards the Bandersnatch Court where the Sphinx had told them where Jub might be. 

They came to a thick, dark, overgrown forest that smelled like moss and swamp. It is unusually quiet for a forest and no birds seem to be singing, though from time to time, the two do here a flutter or scurry of movement around them. 

Egg looks around them constantly, sure that they are being watched. She looks up and stops walking. Ace immediately notices that Egg isn't moving and turns to see what's wrong. Following Egg's gaze, she looks above them and her mouth falls open.

High in the air, tethered by thin strings of white light, were about a dozen figures. Humanoids, wings, scales, big, small, young children- They were all motionless, suspended like morbid balloons above the tree tops.

Ace gasps and her hand flies to her mouth as her eyes are drawn to one figure while large black wings. Hair billows up over his face, but contrasting the silky black is a braid of Ace's white hair.

Egg snaps out of it first and together, she and Ace work on finding the light sources for each lifeless form and severing it. Once the cord was severed, the figure slowly floated downwards and slowly roused itself. Some were alert and healthy while others were weak and needed to be carried by healthier parties. One silver pixie, once she came to rest on the forest floor, remained still and didn't breath again. 

Seeing this dead pixie frightened Ace and she hurried through the last few cords. After severing Jub's cord, she stood there, looking up, for what felt like an hour as he slowly descended. Ace itched to use her new wings to reach him faster, but her shaky flight methods planted her feet firmly on the ground.

Egg kept her eyes on the surrounding forest. There was movement coming closer, shrouded by an eerie, teal fog. She started assuring the refugees away from the oncoming sight, towards the edge of the forests while keeping an eye on Ace, who still stood captivated by the last, slow descending body.

Finally, Egg breaks Ace's focus and points out the horned, approaching figures that were growing clearer to the eyes. Ace takes up a defensive stance and once Jub is within Egg's reach, Egg's stripes take hold and she starts guiding, mostly pulling, the weightless body towards safety. Ace follows them backward, her sword pointed at the nearest wendigo. 

Ace's eyes are wide with fear as the skulls and bony bodies stalk after them. Once or twice, Ace takes an untrained swing at the figures that were still at least four arm lengths away. Her panic builds and builds until the light from outside the forest breaks through and Ace and Egg, still carrying Jub, sprint the rest of the way through the trees, throwing themselves out of the forest and scrambling to pick themselves up and keep running.

Ace and Egg continue forward as quickly as they can, following the map back to the Sphinx's cavern. Jub's body soon regains weight and between Egg and Ace, they half carry, half drag him along. Ace tries to talk to him, but his head hangs between his shoulders.

When the sphinx's entrance is within sight, Ace sends Egg ahead to tell her of Jub's state and ask for help. Ace lowers Jub gently to the ground and kneels beside him. She doesn't check if he's breathing, she tells herself that of course he's alive. But looking over him, she does notice that his chest bares a large crude scare, almost like a burn, on his left side that wasn't there before.

Jack and his carpet arrive and he helps Ace courteously seat Jub between them and flies carefully to avoid any risk of him falling. Jack's behavior has a gravity to it and where before he wouldn't stop talking, now he looks ahead and when Ace catches his eye, he looks at her with a deep compassion and sympathy.

At the Sphinx's home, the Sphinx scoops up Jub without help and rushes him to a back room behind a heavy curtain where she insists he rests and no one but Jack help her. 

Ace and Egg spend a sleepless night in the Sphinx's living room, not talking, barely moving, listening for any footsteps that might signal news about their friend. However, every time they did hear movement, it was only Jack appearing for a moment and then disappearing again.

It wasn't til the early hours of the morning when the Sphinx came out. She looked tired, but as gracious and loving as ever. She told the anxious friends that though Jub would be okay, it would be several days til he woke up again. The Sphinx nodded when Ace asked if she could see Jub, and she lead her back behind the curtain where Jub lay on a thin table with a pillow under his head and a blanket pulled up below his ribcage. There were heavy bandages around his chest and the Sphinx patiently explained that there had been an anchor wedged in his heart. It was meant to siphon his life force through the silver cords the hunters used and feed their civilization. The Sphinx explains, with some disbelief, that though she had heard rumors of the cult's behavior, she had never seen someone escape them before.

Ace sleeps in a chair next to Jub and barely leaves his side til the Sphinx persuades her to let Jack watch over him for a few hours a day while she teaches Ace to use her new wings.

Learning to fly is difficult and Ace scratches herself up many times either on tree branches or the unforgiving ground. Slowly but surely, Ace grows accustomed to it and agrees to let Jack teach her how the basics of sword fighting. Though no expert, within a few days Ace is more confident with the blade and in the air.

On day 6, after the escape from the Bandersnatch court, Ace is flying over the trees at sunrise when she sees a dark figure rise into the air from the direction of the Sphinx's cave and approach her. Her speed increases and the figure pauses, his great black wings beating in the air as she  practically tackles Jub and he let's her push him over in a giddy embrace as they fall out of the sky and land lightly below the trees.

Now that Jub is better, Jack insists they have a party! Ace requests lots of sweets and Egg just wants a nap. The Sphinx supervises and seems to calmly enjoy herself as the three rowdy ones tell stories and talk over eachother. She cuts Jack off because she suspects he's been spiking his own tea, while Ace tries to trick Jub into eating more than he wanted to.

Somehow Egg sleeps through it all as Ace tells Jub everything that happened since he's been gone, Jack fills in his part in the story with flowery language and embellishes that have Ace and the Sphinx rolling their eyes and Jub tells them everything he remembers, which is simply being on his way to the Harvest Festival and then waking up with a funny jackalope next to him.

It is a warm afternoon and everyone smiles and laughs more than they have in a long time. The stress and fear from the past few days seems to melt away in the company of friends and the sun.

When Ace tells her encounter with the Butterfly, the Sphinx looks troubled. Jub notices this change and asks her if she has heard of the Butterfly and all heads turn towards her waiting. The Sphinx considers carefully, but says that she's only heard stories of rumors, and these were all so long ago she doubted they were very credible.

This is where Ace and Egg traveled in their adventures.