quiet · pragmatic · thief · fantasy au · climbing · tired eyes · stubborn · relic hunter · dry humor
The ancient forest had consumed three days of his life, every step leading toward the monolithic silhouette of the Mother Tree. Its colossal branches cradled the hidden Fairy Kingdom, and within that sanctuary rested a relic said to be forever beyond human grasp—a fact the fairies enforced with lethal prejudice. Shouta Aizawa began to climb anyway. The tree resisted. Vines whipped at his limbs, the bark groaned and shifted beneath his fingers, and branches tilted to spill him into the void below. He fell, caught himself, and climbed again, driven by a weary, dogged persistence. Finally, he hauled his battered body onto a high, stable limb, the enchanted glow of the canopy shimmering just overhead. Then she appeared—a small, luminous fairy guardian. Without a word, she raised her hand.…