The Dark Fairy King
Chapter 68: The New Era

Chapter 68: The New Era

With the fall of an old cathedral that no longer mattered, we stood beneath the eclipse, watching the sun vanish behind the moon.

The sky darkened. Night arrived. And for the first time in a long while—it was calm.

"So... what happens now?" Devran asked, still eyeing the prison orb pulsing darkly in his palm.

"Nap? Massage? Food?" Lumera offered, stretching with a groan.

Her stomach growled on cue.

"Excellent order," Devran smirked. "I’d follow that to the letter."

"Right?" Lumera beamed.

"You all did amazingly well," Scarlette said, her voice warm.

"Even me?" Lumera asked, wide-eyed with hope.

"Especially you," Scarlette replied. "Thank you for letting me teach you."

Lumera pulled her into a hug.

"My teacher, my friend, my Queen. Thank you for helping me embrace my chaos."

"We get it, Lums. You’re the most improved," Devran muttered, rolling his eyes.

But I stayed quiet—still reeling.

Scarlette’s fake death.

My chaos unleashed.

Her return.

Devran’s blades when I was cornered.

Lumera’s light tearing through sigils.

Nathaniel’s betrayal.

Judorah’s twisted resurrection—and her final scream.

Everything had changed.

"This is the part where you say something, Dark Fairy King," Scarlette teased, linking her arm through mine. Her smile nudged me back to the present.

"Oh. Right, my Queen," I said, clearing my throat. "Well... we need to get back. The workers are returning."

"Right back to work, huh?" she smirked.

"Oh!" Lumera gasped. "We still need to remove the tattoos from the Fairies who joined the Mages."

"Yes. Those who survived," I added.

"So they just get a pass?" Devran asked. "No ’they must pay’ speech?"

"Oh, they’ll pay," I grinned. "But for now—I’ll offer them grace."

Scarlette raised a brow, clearly surprised. But what really caught her off guard was what I said next:

"And a little transparency."

She pressed the back of her hand to my forehead.

"Scar, I’m fine," I laughed, nudging her hand away.

"Then why are you talking like that? You never say things like that."

"Well... what can I say?" I looked at her, at Devran, at Lumera. "People change."

"I’m still keen to make them pay,’" Devran muttered, sliding his blades into their sheaths. "These bad boys need a polish."

"Justice has to be fair," I said. "But the real war is in the mind. The enemy isn’t the people. It’s the belief system."

Scarlette looked like she was falling in love with me all over again.

Devran just smiled.

And Lumera? She blinked like she’d missed the whole point.

"So... do we skip back to the palace holding hands like old friends?" she asked.

"Who’s your friend?" Devran scoffed, walking ahead.

"Rude!" Lumera yelped, chasing after him.

I laughed, watching them—chaotic and unbothered, like a war hadn’t just happened.

"King Veravos and Queen Scarlette! Hurry!" Lumera shouted.

"They’re royalty, not bouncing goats!" Devran called back.

"I’m not a goat!"

"Grow up, Lumera!"

She stuck out her tongue and bolted toward the palace.

Scarlette shook her head, laughing. "Looks like council meetings won’t be boring in this new era."

"Yeah... some team we assembled, huh?" I smiled.

"Rebels. All of us," she said, nodding at the two ahead.

"You don’t say."

I laced my fingers with hers as we walked.

She looked up at me with soft affection.

I pulled her closer, wrapping my arm around her waist.

"Veravos... they’re going to watch us," she murmured, slightly embarrassed.

"So what?" I said. "They’re too far away."

"Rebel," she whispered.

"Takes one to know one," I grinned.

Then I fell silent.

Scarlette noticed. "Why’d you go quiet?"

"I almost lost you," I said softly. Something in my voice cracked.

She leaned in and kissed me.

"Oh, no," I said. "You’re not kissing your way out of this. I know your patterns. Not after faking your death."

She kissed me again.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"I needed you to get mad earlier. You need to own your chaos too."

She looked up at the sky.

"All of it."

"So... you faked your death?" I asked, still processing it.

"You thought I died the moment the Midnight Orchid touched me?"

I didn’t answer.

"I turned into red mists before it did," she explained. "Nathaniel needed to believe I was gone—and he did."

"What about me?" My voice was low now. "Don’t you know it destroyed me?"

Scarlette rested her arms on my shoulders, her palm on my cheek.

"I’m sorry," she said. "I should’ve told you. I just... needed you to believe I was gone too."

"I was a breath away from destroying the cathedral on a cosmic scale," I confessed. "Darkness they can’t even imagine. What if one day it consumes me?"

Then came her voice—confident, sure.

"It won’t. You’ve overcome the darkness, Veravos. Don’t you see? You’re something more now."

"I am?" I scratched my head, half-smiling, but her words struck deep.

Scarlette smiled. "Funny you mentioned the cosmos."

She recited, word for word:

A Love Fairy will marry a Dark Fairy and give birth.

Something born not of natural magic, but of strife, pain, and greatness.

A hybrid with a dual nature—great power—walking the line of Light and Dark.

He will be a force of change.

A harbinger of doom.

A destroyer.

A venomous spider in the cosmos.

A threat to all who will not bend to his will.

"Guess the Mages weren’t wrong about the harbinger," she said. "They thought it was some hybrid—but maybe they were just describing you."

"Because Judorah made that up?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." She paused. "But maybe you were the spider all along."

I laughed.

"Sure, I’ll humor you." My tone softened. "But am I really just made to destroy?"

"That’s the flaw in Judorah’s fake prophecy," she said. "Destroy what? Doom for who?"

I laughed again. "So I’m a savior now? That your pitch?"

"Venomous spiders don’t waste venom," she grinned. "And you? You always choose what’s right."

She squeezed my hand.

"You’re the exact person who should be doing this. A king. A protector. A guardian. And yes—a former boogeyman."

She stepped closer.

"It’s what you do with your darkness that’s extraordinary. You might lose control sometimes. But you always come back. Because you care. That’s the man I love."

A tear welled in my eye. Goosebumps rose.

"You’re always on your redemption path," she said, smiling. "No spell or prophecy could ever rewrite that."

"Let’s go back," I whispered, quickly wiping my tear. "Devran and Lumera are waiting."

She caught my hand, gently turning me to face her.

"It’s okay to care. To love. To cry."

I pulled her into a deep kiss beneath the moonlight.

She hugged me tight, cheek pressed to my chest.

And then I whispered softly in her ear:

"If I wrote a love letter, it would only be for you.

If I built a home, it would be with you.

And if I ever said ’I love you’—it would be to you."

Yes, I said that.

And I’d choose her—always.