Beyond

Prologue

Izthe raised his snake-like tongue over his lidless eyes to moisten them. He hopped down the corridors of Gandor’s castle, as he had been called. Being a goblin, it was his duty to serve as Gandor’s slave. But everyone, even the goblins, feared him. Most people, be they mortal or immortal, did. Even Jasmyn!
Yet, Gandor was more afraid of the fairies than anything in Manaria. It had been rumored that he had had a bad experience with them, but no one dared to ask him. The only thing Manarians feared more than Gandor was his temper. If you made him angry, he could pick you up by the hair and throw you all the way to Zalystha.
Izthe knew what it felt like to get his “boss”, so to speak, mad. He ran his long finger over his eyebrow, where Gandor had hit him with his scepter. Well, not necessarily with it, the Darkness Ray coming from it.
Izthe ran down the massive halls, and finally found the throne room. Gandor was, as usual, in the massive throne. His long eyebrows stuck out, giving him a more owl-like appearance. He got up, and casually walked towards him.
“How is it, Izthe, that after all the warnings I gave you, you still manage to be a complete idiot?” he said, in a calm, cold voice. “I want an explanation. Now, if not sooner.”
Izthe gulped. The last time a goblin had had one of these talks, it had not ended well.
“Uh… actually… Which incident are you referring to?” He said meekly. “I am an idiot, I agree with you on that one.”
Gandor was not pleased with Izthe’s foolish attempt to amuse him. He rose his scepter in the air. He waved his hand around it and shoved it into Izthe’s face.
“Look!” he ordered. Inside the small green globe was a vision of a goblin in a hunting suit. He held up a long net, and then brought it down on some-thing. The image zoomed in, and Izthe could see the thing was a fairy. Then the image changed, and it showed Izthe in a hunting outfit. He too rose the hunting net, and tried to catch something. This time, the fairy got away.
“But, Sir!” wailed Izthe. “It was only a Fairlette! What difference does it make?”
“You learn nothing, Izthe. What do you think the Fairlette is going to tell Jasmyn?” Gandor said, leaning close to Izthe’s face. “Well?!”
“Um…” Izthe looked up at Gandor. “That she saw a Goblin in the forest?” Izthe hoped the meeting would end soon. His mother would be angry if he was late for supper, and her temper was almost as bad as Gandor’s. Besides, it was Toadstool Stew. Izthe’s favorite.
“EXACTLY!” shouted Gandor. Izthe was taken by surprise and jumped backwards, knocking his warty head on a shelf. “Ow.” He said, under his breath. He rubbed his head.
“Izthe, I’m afraid we will have to execute the…” an evil smile crept across Gandor’s face. “Plan.”

Chapter 1- Too Young

Lola sat on the edge of a lily overlooking the sea. It was beautiful, and it almost made one forget about almost being caught by- “Seen Izthe lately?” sneered Lumena as she fluttered out of her buttercup home. “Lay off, Lumie.” Said Assiley, Lola’s best friend. “It wasn’t her fault Izthe was stupid enough to try to catch her. And at least she was brave. You would have run screaming through the forest, leading that corpulent mass right to our camp!”
Lumena tossed her head, and the sun shone on her bright blond hair. For the 9455th time (Lola had been counting), Lola envied her. She was beautiful, cunning, and her sister was the Queen’s right hand girl! Lola sighed and continued staring out at the sea.
“Just once, I’d like to see what the world is like.” She said, dreamily. Harrilla laughed as she flew from the top branch of an oak tree, “I’d think having a goblin chase after me was enough!” then she added, “Lola, has Queen Jasmyn sent the ‘rescue’ party out yet?” last night, Belinda had gotten caught by a goblin. It would be more than easy to break her out of the so called “dungeon”, but still, being caught in the first place was not a fairy’s cup of sap!
“No, not yet.” Replied Lola. “I’m going to try to sneak along when she does!”
“Typical Fairlette.” Said Lumena arrogantly. “They never learn.” “You should talk.” Spat Assiley. “Remember last month? When you put honeydew in Geraldine’s water dish? And promised never to do it again? Well, guess what I found in her dish last night?” at the sound of her name, little Geraldine poked her head out of the Dark Fairies’ iris.
Lumena remembered all right! The poor flozzle was sick for three days! She had no catty reply to throw back, so she said nothing.
“Oh, stop bickering!” snapped Leah, climbing out of the lily. “You all have major flaws, and if you don’t shut up so help me I’ll roast you over a fire and feed you to the orcas!” Leah, Lola’s older sister, was always cranky in the morning. Usually, Lola would have pointed that out (good old sibling rivalry), but she was terribly afraid of orcas, so she kept quiet.
“Assiley!” called Rellita. “Please come eat! These pancakes aren’t getting any warmer!” Assiley loved pancakes, so, without hesitation, she scooped up Geraldine and joined her older sisters. Lola hopped off the lily and walked down to the water. She patted the water, making little waves.
“Metilda?” she said, hopefully. She splashed the water harder. “Metilda!” Her friend was probably still sleeping, no surprise there. Wait. What was that? Lola squinted, and could make out the shape of a water fairy swim-
ing closer to her. She saw with disappointment that it was Corilla, not Metilda.
“Hello, Corie.” She said. “I’m looking for Metilda.” “I know.” replied the water fairy. “My sister’s still sleeping.” “Oh. Thanks anyway.”
Lola flew into the main part of the Fairy Camp, where the village fire was kept burning day and night, and where Queen Jasmyn held meetings for all of the fairies in camp. Jasmyn lived in a rose the size of a castle (from a fairies point of view) and kept all the flowers blooming so that there was nectar to drink and homes for the fairies.
Outside the “castle”, a few fairies were lined up, and Blade was shouting things out, which meant she was a good mood; “Bregita! You were injured on the last mission! Out of line!” and “Mahema! We don’t need a rainbow fairy on this mission! Out of line!” and “Japalia! You aren’t properly armored! Out of line!”
Good old Blade, thought Lola. Always giving orders. After Blade had rejected several fairies, Queen Jasmyn stepped out of the gigantic rose. She nodded approvingly at the volunteers, and gave the signal. The fairies marched forward.
“Presilla Breezetwinkle, Air fairy, reporting for duty!”
“Icy Snowdrop, Snow fairy, reporting for duty!”
“Lunessa Moonshine, Space fairy, reporting for duty!”
Lola snuck into the back of the line, hoping no one would notice her. When it was her turn to “report for duty”, Lola stood tall and said, “Lola Lightsong, Harmony fairy, reporting for duty!”
In reply, most fairies laughed. Jasmyn looked amused. “Don’t you think you’re a little young to go on a rescue mission?” she asked, her eyes laughing. “You certainly look that way!” This made the volunteers laugh harder, which annoyed Lola very much. “No!” she said. “I’m brave enough!”
“Little Lola,” said Queen Jasmyn, in a soothing, motherly tone, “it isn’t the way for someone so young to go into potential battle. You must stay here
until your ceremony-” “That will take to long!” wailed Lola, painfully aware of how childish she sounded. “And I want to fight now!”
“You have the makings of a battle fairy.” Commented Blade, sounding impressed. “Leah wouldn’t be pleased.”
Lola stamped her foot and flew back to her lily, all the while stewing in anger. How dare they say such things! How dare they call her small! How dare they go over The Way as if she were just born yesterday! How dare they!
When Lola finally got back to her lily, Caparee and Matilda were awake. They would understand how much she wanted to go to battle. They were some of the few fairies who did.
“Caparee! Matilda!” she called, flying faster. The two fairies turned and waved wildly.
“Could you please try not to sleep so late?” laughed Lola. Metilda yawned. “I was awake very late last night! Besides, sleep is good for you!”
Caparee laughed. Then Lola poured out the story of wanting to go on a rescue mission. No one knew that they were about to embark on the biggest adventure of their lives…