text: Bel, short for Jezebel, was an introverted only child who preferred her own company to a crowds. As an adult she fell deeply in love with nature and you could often find her on a forest trail, hiking in her free hours. Today was no different, she blissfully hummed to herself over the singing birds and crunching leaves beneath her feet. She had walked this trail many times, so she was familiar and well conditioned for the winding trails up the mountain slope. Her friends would often ask her if her solo trips were ever frightening and she would always answer no with a shrug. She was smart about her trips and was sure to always send her mom her location in advance. Something she however didn’t tend to share was how she carried a gun in her pack and kept five bullets in her pocket, her lucky number. She urged forward up the steep incline, eager to get to the top and around the bend where she knew would sit a ginormous red boulder. It was her favorite part of the hike and she had made it a tradition to climb to the top of it every single time. She remember the first time she had climbed it, how it made her feel... well at first it made her feel pure terror and bit of nausea. Though once she got past the image of the boulder tipping off the cliff and rolling to her to her death. She had felt unstoppable. It was the first time in her life that she didn’t feel trapped. Felt as if she was standing on top of the world. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and the blood scorching through her veins. Bel reached the boulder and began climbing, proudly doing it in half the time than the time before. Once she reached the top she scanned the entire valley with her hands on her hips. It was an absolutely incredible view and if you knew where to look you could even see the tip of a lake poking out behind the million shades of orange and yellow leaves. She closed her eyes against the chilled breeze, tilting her head toward the sun that burned bright even through her eyelids. Once she finally allowed her eyes to open again they involuntarily locked on a clearing below, the leaves green instead of the fall hues of the surrounding trees. Besides it looking bizarre and out of place, she felt as if she was oddly drawn to this clearing. Convincing herself it was only from mere curiosity, she decided to make the trek down which couldn’t be longer than 15 minutes. So with one last glance she committed the direction to her memory and began scaling down the side of the boulder. When Bel found the clearing it was bathed in streams of sunlight that illuminated everything within in a warm glow. Her legs buckling as she stepping into the sunlight. Before her in the clearing was a blooming field of wildflowers of every shade. Bright pinks, soft blues, fluorescent oranges, every color imaginable exploding before her. Too in awe to recall if she saw a single flower on the trail prior, she now stood in the center of thousands of blooms. She watched her step, careful not to crush any of the beautiful flowers. She tipped her head back towards the canopy above, the branches were covered in bright green leaves. She had found a pool of spring in and ocean of fall. Her eyes fell to the soft grass where she found herself centered in a perfect circle of brown mushrooms with large flat tops. Without thought she bent down and plucked a mushroom from the ground, holding it out in the light. She rotated it left and right, noting how it reflected red to orange in the sunlight. Once she plucked it though, her fingertips began to tingle and then then turn numb which quickly spread down her arms like fire. “That’s not yours to take, child.” An angry voice purred from behind her. Dropping the mushroom, it fell softly to the forest floor. Bel turned around and couldn’t believe her eyes. Before her stood a tall, fair skinned woman whose skin was made of tree bark. She had branches that stretched, forming almost a crown above the head. Her flowing green gown was the color of aged moss. Fear wrapped around her gut, as rage warped the creatures face. Bel had angered a member of the Unseelied court. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Bel's voice wobbled weakly when she whispered the words. Then could only continue to stare at this creature in terrified awe, baffled by the inhuman beauty it possessed. “Pick it up.” It demanded coldly. Bel took a step back stumbling, the movement caused the burning fire to spread throughout her body until she was utterly paralyzed. She began to weep in fear, all she wanted to run but her feet would not obey. The creatures face twisted in delight. It watched Bel squirm and fail to break free from the paralysis until it was breathless in laughter. The creature crept close to her and pinched underneath Bels arm hard enough to draw blood. When she cried out in pain the creature doubled over in laughter again. Then a snap of its finger Bel fell hard to the ground, her head thudding again a sharp rock. “What a pathetic thing.” It mocked “Pick up my mushroom right now.” The pain shooting through Bels head was nearly blinding but somehow she reached her hand out finding the mushroom. She pulled herself into a crouch and handed the mushroom over. “I’m feeling merciful today, you may keep the mushroom. Leave this place and never return. ” The unseelied woman surprised her by returning the mushroom to her hand. “Thank you..” Bel said confused. Tears still blurred her vision but she saw the creature freeze when the words left her lips. This time when it laughed it seemed to reverberate through her entire rib cage all the way to shuttering heart. Terror melting all the way into to her bones, Bel knew something was deeply wrong. In a tone as hard as stone the creature said, “ and by the light of the eastern sun. You belong to me, Aeylinay Vailh of the Oakwood Flesh Court. You shall do my bidding among the shadows until the blue moon rises again.” Shadows danced into the corner of her vision until she felt her body drop defenseless again against the ground. The last thing she heard before being consumed by darkness was Aeylinay’s mocking voice “foolish girl.” Before it drew its leg back and kicked her into unconsciousness. When she awoke to her new life she found herself sleeping in a makeshift tent with many other human slaves of the unseelied. Aeylinay Claimed her nights with servant work while pain an exhaustion chased her through the day. Waiting on her hand and foot mean that Aeylinay would always have a toy to torment close by. Most humans didn’t survive long. She watched many die until she was numb to the day to day sorrows. Sometimes they would go off into the night to serve their keeper, never to return. Others would pass silently in their sleep, sunken in hunger or exhaustion. Life with in the Unseelied court is an awful and cruel life for any being beyond its court. She had come to learn the unbearable pain of dancing for days until she felt her bones grinding together. They would tie her hair in knots as she slept, send monsters to chase her into dreams. They would feed her berries that cause terrifying hallucinations that gripped her for days. Hallucinations of her close friends and family abandoning her or dying in her arms. Or of little bugs that would crawl over her skin and devour her flesh while she sat paralyzed in unimaginable pain. Sometimes they would hold events and watch their slaves fight to the death. Occasionally allowing weapons and armor, other times forcing them to fight bare with only their hands. They were brutal, warped creatures that she sometimes believed enjoyed torturing humans equal to their love for sweet wines and elaborate gowns. The people of the Unseelied court were beautiful creatures, some radiated power strong enough that a glance could feel like a winded punch to the gut. Some with tall antlers or horns, others gnarled roots similar to Aeylinay. Everything she owned was taken or hidden in another wicked trick years ago. All besides her five bullets that she was smart enough to bury in the roots of an oak tree beyond the forest line. She sadly wondered if she would even be able to find the tree again after all this time, even if she had tried. The last keepsake from her formal life. She lost a lot of things among the court of the Unseelied. Bel wept as she realized she could no longer recall the exact shade of her mothers hair. Or when she lost the memory of an old favorite song she use to know by heart. Another thing that was stolen in this realm, possibly the cruelest was time. Her life fading away and the person she once was slipped slowly from her grasp. Scared and alone she was made into something else entirely. One day she stood in the shadows of the ball room, lined with other masked human slaves. Sure nobody was looking at her, she stretched up onto her tip toes to see what had caused such a commotion. Everyone of the court stopped dancing and the music drifted off into chilled silence. The banished prince had entered and approached the queen directly at her throne. The knights drew their weapons, metal sliced through the air ready to stop the prince if intervention was needed. The queen nodded in approval and the knights let the prince pass with his token of forgiveness. His gloved hands held a necklace to the moonlight, presenting a ruby red pendant that could reflect the sun even in the darkest of chambers. However when he placed the pendant around her neck, it caused an agonized scream to rip from the queens throat before she dropped into a motionless heap on the floor. Chaos erupted, the prince was dragged away. The queen, close to death simply by a touch of the pendant. She’d later learned that the queen had survived the attack but that day was the first day Bel had ever seen weakness of a member of the Unseelied court, much less the untouchable, beloved queen. That was also when she learned that of the most powerful weapon against the immortal creatures was something as simple as iron. It took a few days to recall the bullets she had hidden and with realization, hope began to bloom in her chest for the first time since she’d arrived to this realm. However if it was one thing she had learned from these foul creatures was that sometimes the best revenge took patience. So in a months time when the court gathered again for their blood moon gatherings, she waited by calmly with a single bullet clutched in her sweaty palm. Deep inside she was willing to risk her life for what she was about to do. She had already said her silent goodbyes to those tortured souls she had come to love in this realm. And to those she lost and mourned in her mortal realm long ago. Moments before the challises were passed for the queens grand toast. Bel slipped by the wine fountain and dropped the bullet to the bottom, watching it as it sank and disappeared into the dark red liquid then she turned and evaporated into the crowd unnoticed. The queen rose from her throne and toasted again to their marvelous immortality and once she did they all began to drink their wine, even the children of the unseelied drank deeply from their cups until empty. Where they once stood in their riches and glory. Now lay on the ballroom floor dying an agonizing death. They were being burned alive from the insides. The iron infused wine dissolving their insides to liquid. And when they all lay motionless the silence echoed across the vast room. The once enslaved humans stood in confusion at the dead court before them. They didn’t understand yet but because of Bel they were now free. The silence snapped like a rubber band as Bel’s cackling laugh bounced across the room. Then she began to dance and the other humans quickly joined her. She danced and danced over the bodies of the unseelied court breathless in laughter and delight. Delirious with joy she slipped in the puddle of blood that formed in the center of the floor, it staining the bottom of her ragged, torn dress. Unsure of how long she had danced along the other humans. A voice shattered the mirth as a chiming laugh rang out through the ball room. It was the banished prince and he hunched over in laughter at the sight of what Bel had done. When he finally regained himself again he looked directly into her eyes as if he knew exactly what she had done. “It is because of you I am free, I thank you for your actions, child.” The prince said with a smirk, dipping into a low bow. Her legs buckled and collapsed cracking against the granite floors, she didn’t notice the warmth seeping into her dress. All the heard was his words repeat in her head. “...thank you.” He was now in-depth to her. He turned and began walking away, she wasn’t sure exactly what to say but Aeylinay words returned to her after all these years, clear in her memory as if she had spoken them yesterday. Loud and clear Bel’s voice called out to the prince, “by the moonlight of the Oakwood Flesh. I demand you return all of our lost souls to the mortal realm as we were before we were stolen.” He didn’t turn around but he halted as her words and with one flick of his wrist, he snapped his fingers. The world faded around her and when she opened her eyes she was no longer underneath the stars of the Unseelied court. She was now sitting in a pool of sunlight surrounded by blooming flowers. She sat up slowly and looked around. She was still in the blood soaked dress but she felt it within her that she had finally returned home. She began to sob. Sob in pity for what she had endured, sobbed in relief that she managed to free herself and the other slaves of the court from their misery. Then in the distance she heard dogs barking and people shouting her name. With no hesitation she screamed for their help. Within a few moments police burst into the clearing wearing baffle expressions at finding the lost girl with knotted hair and a bloody gown standing in the middle in a blooming field of spring flowers in the middle of fall. Before she knew it she was emitted into the hospital where her mom was already waiting for her in her room. They held each other crying while neither of them spoke a word, afraid to burst the reality of the moment. She stroked her mothers chestnut hair until she cried herself to sleep. Bel had learned, what was 8 years of her life in the Unseelied court was only a weeks time in the mortal realm. Her mother feared the worst but she knew where to send the search parties looking. Bel was of course never the same , as she returned unrecognizable by the people she had mourned a long time ago. It took a long time for the fear to settle within her but she finally did find peace and eventually happiness in the mortal realm. She would often think and wonder about the other slaves she freed from the court. However with enough time it all seemed to fade from her memory as if a distant dream. Bel lived a full life and grew to be 84 years old before she passed peacefully in her sleep. Not a single soul left alive that knew she was responsible for the mass slaughtering of the entire Oakwood Flesh Unseelied court. -BDS