The fairy of the roses

It was the time of the trees and they ruled over the natural world ,tall and proud their leaves would get lost in between the clouds.The great canopies that were so vast ,that only a few rays of sunlight were able to touch the ground and warm the small bodies if the fairies and creatures alike , resources were scarce and the only way to survive was to become a massive tree.

In the middle of this madness there was a small fairy named Galica,she was as fragile as a petal on the middle of winter ,her hair was as red as ripe strawberries on a summer afternoon, her big eyes always glistened with the first rays of sunlight since she would spend her nights watching the playful spectacle of the floating fireflies.

One day Galica was at her work, her job consisted in helping other creatures on their journeys of becoming the next generation of trees.She would water their roots and fluff their canopies, since she was so tiny , she needed the help of her eagle friend Nadya.Nadya was Galica’s only friend and she would always joke with her and say,Galica,”How can you fit such a big heart in such a tiny body?”

They would spend entire nights laughing and drinking lavander and honey tea.Nadya felt the need to care for her since she was so fragile but full of love.They would sometimes fly across the landscape, she would put Galica on her back she could feel the warm rays of sunlight on the cold mornings.

When Galica was preparing one of the fairies, she went to get more buckets of water, when she came back , she heard when this entitled fairy saying rude comments about her,this arrogant fairy had the audacity to tell Nadya that her best friend would never be able to become a tree, or maybe she will only be able become a raggedy and tiny bonsai tree.Nadya was furious but when she was about to defend her friend , it was already too late, Galica had heard the horrible comments, the tears on her eyes blinded her momentarily and she slipped with the water from the buckets and fell of a bunch of prickly vines.

Galica flew the scene as fast as she could ,until she arrived at a nearby spring ,with water so crystalline that she was able to see the colorful fish.She then started to wash away the thorns and the blood from her wounded body.Her heart was shattered , her tears and blood got mixed and fell on the water of the spring , not knowing that an ancient creature was about to emerge.

All of the sudden her body felt frozen,her breathing had become shallow and cold air escaped from her mouth.She couldn’t believe what she was looking at, standing right in front of her , a Gancgan.This was a mischievous,but handsome fella,a creature so ancient that is said to bring good or bad fortune to those who fall under his magical spells. He wore a dark cloak,only revealing his snake like eyes , paired with a charming smile, the wind carried away his alluring aroma , that to Galica, it smelled like lavander and honey tea.

-What do you want ? Galica asked with a nervous and cracked voice.

-Whatever your heart truly desires, he answered.

-I know what you are, and I’m not falling into one of your deceiving traps, you just want to collect my soul…

But before she could finish her sentence , the Gancgan replied, I just want my ancestors to see the power of my abilities,so they can be proud of me , when they see how I can transform such a tiny fairy , into a magestic tree.

The little fairy knew he was a deceiver but she was so desperate to become anything different than herself that she risked everything, knowing that her soul was at stake.

The Gangcan gave her instructions:

Wait for the first full moon on the time of the falling leaves , climb the highest mountain and wait for the morning, then collect a couple of dewdrops and take them with you, meet me at this same spot at midnight.

-That’s very difficult, Galica said.

-That is the cost of your creation , he then said with a cocky attitude.

The Gancgan was certain that he had impose an impossible task , she would never be able to climb that mountain , even less collect dewdrops, the mountain was bare, nothing grew on it, she was set up to fail.

Not thinking about the hardships of the road , Galica prepared herself for her journey and didn’t tell anyone about her dangerous adventure.

Meanwhile ,her friend Nadya , had been flying for hours all over the woods looking for Galica, she asked every creature she saw , but no one had seen her, some of the fairies dare to say that Galica was so tiny , that she would likely had already become dinner.Nadya refused to believe that Galica was gone and continued searching for her friend.

On the other side of the forest , Galica was already walking towards the mountain , the sun was at it’s highest peak and she was flying pleasantly, when all of the sudden , she started to smell the humidity of the air approaching,a drop of water fell on her wings, gray clouds started to approach, lightning and thunder brightened the sky and heavy rainfall started pouring.She was cold and tired but she continued and started walking , it was common for fairies to walk , but they never walked such long distances.Soaking wet , she imagined the fire of the chimney of her little cottage, the memory brought her some comfort.

All of the sudden , she saw saw a little gnome with a cherry red and pointy hat , she saw him struggling on the side of the road, his legs were to small and he was to heavy to walk on the muddy trail , he was drowning and there was no one around to help him.Galica was short of time , she was only halfway and she still had to climb the mountain , but she would never be able to forgive herself if she let the gnome to his own faith. She quickly grabbed a rosemary branch and told him to hang tight, she pulled with all her might and saved the little gnome.

He was very grateful and as a token of appreciation, he gifted her with his most precious possession, his cherry red, pointy hat ; at first Galica didn’t want to accept it , but then he told her. “In my journey , I’ve learned the importance of accepting the blessings of the universe , your actions have made you worthy , don’t deny it or the universe will close it’s doors to future bounties”.

She thanked him , accepted the hat and continued with her journey.

The clock was ticking , there was not time to loose , the sky had no more rain to offer but the road and her wings were still wet,she didn’t mind it , she had a mission at hand, she kept on going.

All of the sudden she heard a crackling noise behind her, it was dark and she could only see fog as white as a white curtain, she thought it was just her imagination, but she started feeling the crackling sounds getting closer and closer, she felt an adrenaline rush and screamed on the top of her lungs ,”Who’s there , and what do you want ?

The crackling noise intensified and suddenly made a cold stop.

Galica was petrified but then she started noticing a faint orange light approaching,she wasn’t sure what it was and took a closer look,then started to feel a warm sensation, it actually felt quite nice , but the mysterious light was getting brighter and brighter ,she then realized who it was. She was being followed by Belenus, the Celtic god of fire.

Belenus saw her walking towards the mountain and saw her helping the gnome , he knew she had s pure heart, he desperately needed to ask her for favor.He then said”Galica I need you to help me with an important task.” This was terrible timing since Galica was already running late, so she replied “I’m sorry Mr.Belenus , but I cannot fulfill your request , I’m already running late.”

The god would not accept no for an answer , he desperately needed to save a terrestrial kingdom.With his imponent voice he said, ”Galica , you must obey , I need you to find the long of the mushrooms and Carey his seeds to the top of the mountain and blow then to the air, you must do this , lives are at stake.”

Galica was furious , she couldn’t deny a request from a god, especially when she had the power to save innocent lives.

She accepted the task and and Belenus gave her a special gift to guide her on her journey, he gave her the the eternal torch of the never ending fire.

Guided by the fire, she arrived at a dark cave on the bottom of the mountain , it was cold and humid and it also had an awful and pungent smell, the smell reminded her of the famous garlic wine that the trolls would make back at home,she almost threw up upon her arrival.

She got lost since everything looked the same , with no sign of the mushroom king , she decided to sit on a big rock to get some well deserved rest, she started singing and then started to cover her swollen feet with some tumeric leaves that she found along the way.

While she was distracted , the mushroom king was quietly looking at her , he was amazed on how the fire god had only sent a tiny fairy with fragile wings to save the entire species of the mushroom kingdom, but at the same time , he was amazed that wish a small fairy had been able to walk such a long distance and still manage to sing so beautifully.

-“I’ve been expecting you, said the Mushroom king.”

Galica jumped of the rock and grabbed her eternal torch of never ending fire.

-“Are you the mushroom king?”

-Yes, he replied.

The mushroom king then said , I’m entrusting you with my most precious possession , promise me that you that you will take it to the top of the mountain and release it.

-Yes ,I will,she said.

But there’s one big problem Mr .Mushroom king , I don’t know how I’m going to be able to climb the mountain , my wings are to fragile , I cannot compete with the strong winds of the above, she then started crying and saying , I should never have accepted the deal with the Gangcan or the task from Belenus , I’m not worthy, I’m just a total failure , I’m barely even a fairy.

The Mushroom king saw her crying , tired and hopeless and he said to her in a calm voice,”You are more worthy than you think , the fact that you made it here , where no other fairy or magical creature has never made it before, walking nonetheless, makes me believe that you are worthy, but dear, you have to believe in yourself if you are to reach the top of the mountain.”

Galica cleaned her teary eyes, she then reached for her pocket and pulled the cherry red and pointy hat that her friend the gnome had gifted her, she was using it to store her food , she decided to share her last breadcrumbs with the mushroom king.

At this time they talked for quite some time, the mushroom king explained to her what had happened to his mushroom kingdom and she shared with him the story of her journey.After this conversation she realized how far she had come , now it was not the time to head back home , now it was the time to carry on with the strength that she had left , even if she didn’t become a tree, she would at least be saving an entire kingdom, she promised him that she would try her best and continued with her journey.

The mushroom king then gave her the sacred spores that contained the Mushroom Kingdom and wrapped in a little golden rose leaf and told her that she could use the stairs that were inside of the cave , that way she wouldn’t have to face the strong winds on the outside.

Galica agreed and jokingly said,”So you’re telling me that I can just take some stairs and get to the top of the mountain? “ That’s going to be easier than tricking a dumb troll with a blueberry pie.”

The mushroom king showed her the way and wished her good luck, not knowing that he had sent her trough a dangerous trail.

She started climbing the long and tedious stairs , but she didn’t know that the stairs were actually very difficult to climb , her heart was pounding with every step that she took because they were covered in slippery moss , so she had to be careful, falling down would mean imminent death.Her wings had become mushy with the humidity of the cave, they were of no use.There was also another tricky situation with those stairs, they were enchanted with Oizys magic.Oizys was the ancient god of sadness , he was always tricking humans since he despised their ability to feel love and he would create artifacts infused with sadness and misery.

The Poor Galica started to feel weird and flashes of her saddest moments started to haunt her.With every step that she took she would remember all the rejection that she had experienced and all the humiliation that she had lived.Struggling to continue and to make things worse, she dropped the the torch of the eternal flame, with tears in her eyes she continued her way on the dark, praying that she wouldn’t slip. She wanted to quit so bad , and she even though about letting herself go and fall into the abyss of the darkness below, when all of the sudden she looked up, there she saw floating lights, they looked like her dancing fireflies, the ones that she used to spend the nights watching at home.She started rushing up the stairs, it became clear that she was not seeing fireflies, she was finally able to see the stars of the night sky , finally she had reached the top of the mountain.

Her lungs filled with cool and sweet breeze once again, she looked down and was able to see the whole forest. The leaves on the trees would reflect the moonlight. She was so high above that she could see the chimney of her cotttage like a bright little dot on the distance.

There she was , on the top of the mountain , way above the tallest trees. Impressed by the immensity of life she was able to change her perspective and understood how insignificant it was the battle of the trees.

She didn’t want to become a tree anymore, but she thought ,”I have gone trough all of this just to realize that I don’t want to become a tree!

She laughed and cried at the same time , but there was no time to cry , she needed to complete another task, she then opened the golden leaf that the mushroom kind had given her and released the spores of the mushroom kingdom, they flew away on a swift breeze.The moonlight made them glisten with a variety of colors , it was very beautiful , an entire species had been saved.

She fell asleep looking as the colors , too tired to go back home, she knew that the Gangcan had won, but at least she was satisfied because the mushroom kingdom would thrive.

The sun started releasing its first rays of light into the mountain and she notices that dewdrops started forming on the golden leaf that once wrapped the spores.She laughed and decided to collect the dewdrops on the cherry red and pointy hat.She didn’t collect the dewdrops for the Gancgan, but she did it for the satisfaction of knowing that she had made it to the top of the mountain.

When the light of her eyes was almost gone , she felt at peace with the fact that she would lie in there for all eternity , she was ready to become part of the mountain , ready to become stone , covered by the green moss of the spirit world, forgotten but grateful for her journey.

Briefly she opened her eyes ,then she saw the light of the sun penetrating the formation of the clouds, for her surprise she saw her friend Nadya.

“I’ve been looking for you for quite some tine Galica ,I knew you hadn’t become dinner my little fairy friend.”

Galica let a smile escape from her cracked lips and closed her eyes once again.

-I will take you home, Nadya carried her away and together left the top of the mountain.

Galica was too exhausted to notice the the rays of the sun warming her cold body , but at that moment she felt at peace.

it was almost midnight and Galica woke up on her cottage next to a warm fire , she had recovered her strength thanks to the efforts of her eagle friend, she then drank some lavender and honey tea that Nadya prepared and she went to meet the Gancgan.

She quietly went to the same spot where she cleaned up her wounds and grabbed the same prickly vines that had once wounded her.She approached him.

There he was, sitting on a big pile of leaves , enjoying a handful of sweet grapes, he was singing , thinking he had won ,he was ready to collect her soul, to his surprise, he almost choked on a grape when he saw little Galica standing on the same spot they were supposed to meet.

“I completed the task Mr Gancgan , now give me what you promised me.”

The Gancgan couldn’t believe his eyes and he arrogantly said,”You made it but the dewdrops didn’t.”

She then reached for her pocket and gently handed him the dewdrops.

“But there’s been a change of plans Mr.Gancgan , I don’t want to become a tree anymore, I want to become a beautiful,fragrant and delicate golden rose”

The Gancgan smiled , thinking it was going to be easier to collect the soul from a rose than to collect the soul from a big tree, so he accepted the deal.

He then turned her into the most beautiful , fragrant and delicate golden rose that has ever existed.

When he tried to grab her , his skin was penetrated by the thorns she had once removed from her wounded body,after many attempts to rip her from the ground he finally gave up.He was surprised, he knew that the little fairy had won , he had underestimated her and she was able to teach him a valuable lesson, he then decided to respect her soul and let her be untouched, protected by the same thorns that once hurt her.

After many years , the Mushroom King went to Galica’a cottage to thank her for saving the mushroom Kingdom,but she was no longer there, so he left feeling sad that he couldn’t thank the savior of his kingdom.He walked and arrived at a nearby spring , he sat on the shore and saw a beautiful golden rose , in that precise moment he knew, he knew that it was Galica ,next to the rose he saw the cherry red and pointy hat that she was carrying on her journey, he remembered the breadcrumbs that she shared with him and decided to return the favor.The mushroom king carefully grabbed the beautiful rose by the roots and placed it in one of his golden leaves , he called Belenus, the god of fire.Belenus asked his firebird phoenix to take them both to the top it the mountain.

When the mushroom king arrived , he then decided to plant the rose above the trees, where she could clearly see the stars every night and the sun every morning , he carefully spread her seeds on the mountain breeze so her generations could live forever , every color of the spectrum glistened like a rainbow when he released them, she will be remembered, he said, always resilient , always delicate, above the trees of the above , living as her truest form , as the Fairy of the Roses.