As you walk through the forest, you realize you somehow lost your bearing. Worry wrinkles your forehead. It'll be dark soon. As you look around, wracking your brain for the nearest trail, landmark, anything to get you home, a bunny-like creature emerges from the foliage, looking at you with soft, concerned eyes. "Are you alright?" she asks, ears flopping to the side as she cocks her head. You look her over, taking in the gentle curves of her body, the fluff of her tail, the way the light catches her wings. ...Wings? If you weren't seeing it for yourself, you'd laugh if someone told you a mix of so many lovely, unearthly features came together in one being, and laugh even harder if they insisted such a being existed.

You jolt, realizing you've forgotten yourself and have been staring for who knows how long. She stares back with smiling eyes and nods knowingly. "My name is Aria. I am a Faerie Bunny. Are you by chance... lost?" You nod dumbly. "Well that's no problem! Or at least, it wouldn't be if you weren't so far into the woods. It'd take hours for you to get back to where you were going, and it's dangerous out here at night, so why don't you just follow me instead?" As Aria steps closer, a sweet, comforting smell washes over you and she warmly clasps your hands between hers.

You don't remember agreeing, but you find yourself following her lead, listening to her melodic rise and fall of her voice as she enthusiastically chatters about how wondrous her home is, how you'll surely adore it. "Where are we going again?" you manage. A laugh like a wind-chime. "The Fae Realm, of course!" You nod and look around absently at the floating yellow lights, gently pulsing like fireflies despite the remaining daylight.

You don't know what the Fae Realm is, but you suspect any home she has will be just as beautiful as she is, and you need a bed for the night. Unfortunately for you, you are young in the eyes of the world, and those who know stories of the Fae at all know only the diluted tales of whimsy and gentle mischief, all the fearful warnings in them lost to time, forgotten.

Artwork commissioned from  maxfauler