"Those idiots!"

Ann seethed in anger.

Nobody was perfect.

Everyone had their own strengths and weaknesses.

The weaknesses that we have are our own responsibilities. It is upon one's self to either overcome or succumb to it.

Ann stormed through the forest like a wild bull on a rampage. Unable to think, she went deeper and deeper into the woods without a sense of direction.

"I may not be an expert. But I'm not the worst cook!"

After saying that, Ann felt a prickle in her conscience.

"Fine. So what if I am the worst?"

She shouted with all her might, stomping her feet.

"At least I'm trying!"

Ann took a deep breath to calm down.

It was relaxing to let the anger out in the air.

It was just one of their usual squabbles. All will be back to normal once she smacks Noah and Oliver a few times.

Just the thought of pulling the hair out of their heads brought immense satisfaction.

A thought occurred to Ann.

If they were so worried about her cooking skills that they bought her a book. Then they should have it in them to be the first ones to taste the dishes made from recipes present in the book.

"Just you wait... hehe"

An evil smile crept upon her face. Being bad at something might come in handy in times of need.

Now that the rage was out of her system. Ann noticed the strangeness in the atmosphere.

The forest was quiet. No animals, no insects, or even the wind. It was too quiet to the point that it was eerie.

It was because before she knew it, she had wandered into the depths of Eldom.

"I am an idiot"

Ann placed her hands on her hips and looked around.

Thanks to the moons the forest was bright enough to navigate without the use of an alternate source of light.

Though Ann denied it during the day when she was with Eugene. Officially, she was lost.

After contemplating for a few minutes she decided to head north. If she were able to pinpoint the location of the river. She would be able to walk downstream and find the camp.

Suddenly Ann felt something strange in the air. It was as if she had walked through a thin and soft wall.

"Huh? What was that?"

She turned around and searched behind her. She waved her hands around back and forth to check.

But there was nothing in the air.

'Am I seeing things now that I'm lost?'

Unknown to Ann she had walked past a magical barrier that was hidden in Eldom.

Before she could pry more into it, Ann heard a familiar sound.

*chirp*

Though she could not see it. She instinctively knew who it was.

It was the bird.

The bird that frequently appeared only to her but disappeared before she could catch it. Earlier when she asked Eugene about the bird he could neither hear nor see it.

Ann frantically searched the sky.

The little bird flitted about in the branches enough to gain Ann's undivided attention without revealing itself. And it worked since soon, she was following the voice like she always did.

There was something about the bird that was mysterious and irked her heart.

Up ahead in the distance, she could see light between the veins hanging from the trees. It was not from the moon. It was bright from the ground up.

Ann quickened her pace and headed towards the light. When she moved the veins blocking the way, Ann was greeted with a view, unlike anything she had ever seen.

"Oh... my..... God!"

Ann's jaw dropped seeing the magnificent sight in front of her.

It was a breathtaking view of a beautiful lake surrounded by crystalline flowers. The moons on the sky were reflected on the water surface as if the galaxy was painted on glass.

"Did I walk into another dimension?" Ann stepped out of the bushes and went into the clearing.

It was like walking into another world. More than enough, to make her forget the bird.

A world that was void of any darkness but filled with mystical nature.

Ann walked closer to the lake and touched the lake surface with her finger.

It was cold.

The ripples from her touch sent waves across the water in rings and reflected her face once they settled down. Her emerald green eyes and bright blue hair shone among the countless stars on the water bed.

An idea came to Ann.

She started removing her clothes one by one, dropping them on the grass, and untied her hair.

"Ooooo... it's cold" Ann moaned.

She slowly stepped in until completely submerging into the water.

Once again she was taken aback by the beauty of nature.

It was a picturesque view under the water. The bottom of the lake was covered with beautiful coral creating an intricate ecosystem of reef-building coral.

'Do coral reefs exist in lakes? Don't they grow in the ocean?' Ann was fascinated.

This was a magical world. The only thing that made sense was that not everything makes sense.

Soon after, the answer to her question swam to her in groups. Small heads started poking out from between the corals.

They were cautious at first. Then swarmed around her like bees attracted to flowers.

"Quiee! Quiee!"

Ann couldn't feel any animosity from them. If anything she felt joy. They were happy to see her.

'Water pixies live in coral reefs!' Ann couldn't hold her smile.

Water pixies create coral reefs as their habitat for living. The more beautiful the coral reef is, the higher in rank the pixie.

Judging by how beautiful the reef was, the pixies here must be of higher rank than the ones in the ocean.

Water pixies had tiny bodies with a scale attached to their bodies that glittered under the light. Though they did not have fishtails, their bodies were adorned with jewel-like fins.

Each pixie had a crystal grown into their foreheads that shined whenever they smiled or expressed any emotions.

Ann had seen pixies only in picture books when she was a baby. Back then she was so captured by their existence that she kept insisting on reading the same book over and over again until Lorenz eventually folded.

The pictures in the book may have been impressive. But the real deal was always greater.

"Quiee! Quiee!"

The pixies spun around her playfully creating small twisters the size of her palm. They ran through her hair doing peek-a-boos and chased after her hands as she played with them.

Ann chuckled.

Two pixies collided with each other while performing tricks as they tried to make her laugh with all their might.

Suddenly as if by command, they started separating and paved the way for who looked like the queen.

Ann felt a bit pressured.

Unlike the others, the queen pixie was dressed in bright bluish-green scales. She had five crystals embedded on her forehead with scales glittering on her face. The fins on her back rattled in layers like a peacock opening its feathers.

The Pixie Queen came up to Ann's face and smiled warmly as if seeing an old friend. She tilted her head and stared at her in silence.

Ann blinked. She didn't know how to respond. She was almost out of breath. At the same, time she did not want to move afraid of spooking the pixies around her.

The queen giggled and backed away putting some distance between them.

She started to twirl around like a tornado causing a wave of light particles to burst through the water.

"!"

Ann closed her eyes, blinded by the brightness. When she opened her eyes back, the queen was gone.

When she searched everywhere all the pixies were gone too. The coral reefs became quiet just like when she first came into the water.

About to lose her breath, Ann swam towards the surface to get air.

"Haaah!"

Ann rose to the surface, flipping back her hair.

Glossy platinum blonde hair glimmered under the moonlight as if goddess Eir descended from the heavens.

She ran her hands through her hair pushing back the ones stuck to her face and gazed at the sky.

Droplets of water fell from her eyelids like diamonds falling from the sky.

The water was magic.

It was cold yet comfortable. For some reason, she felt complete and full of life.

The lake was deeper than it seemed from the outside with the corals at the bottom. She felt serene, floating at the center of the lake.

At that moment the sky was filled with fireflies. They were of various colors circling around coming out of the bushes from all directions.

"She's back! She's back!"

The fireflies spoke in high pitches.

It was like the voices of excited children.

On a closer look, the fireflies were tiny humans with wings grown to their backs.

"Fairies..." Ann's emerald eyes widened.

They were real.

For a person reborn in a magical world, she was foolish to think that fairies were extinct.

Fairies are the purest existence of mana. As long as there is magic in this land, fairies will prevail.

She remembered hearing about a hidden fairy forest inside Eldom. And somehow during his rage outburst, she had wandered into it.

"She's back! She's back!"

The fairies kept chanting.

They were over-excited by the appearance of the human.

'I'm back?'

Ann was perplexed. Don't fairy folk usually hate humans? How could they be friendly towards a strange human who trespassed into their territory?

Moreover, it was her first time seeing a fairy in real life. The chances of forgetting ever seeing a fairy were unimaginable.

Thousands of fairies flew all around the lake to make their presence known to the human.

Ann held out her hand.

A fairy resembling a cute little boy landed on her palm and flailed his wings releasing silver particles in the sky.

The rest of the fairies followed suit and sat on her head, shoulders, and all over her hands.

"Ha ha ha..." Ann's smile widened. She had turned into a landing pad for them.

While she was mesmerized playing with the fairies, a pair of dark red eyes were visible between the trees.

They were focused on the bewitching woman in the center of the lake, radiant amongst the fairies as if she was a fairy herself.

"Heee?"

A fairy wearing a flower as a dress hovered in front of the red eyes. Having been the only one to spot the eyes dwelling in the darkness, she was curious and decided to take a look

"Sssh"

The eyes motioned her, putting a finger to his red lips.

"Ssssh!"

The fairy repeated his action and flew away back to her friends.

"Hmmm..."

The red eyes curved like a crescent moon seeing the fairy place a peck on the woman's nose. Then fly away feeling embarrassed and blushing.

Ann wondered how much time had passed. Being in the fairy forest, she had lost the sense of time long ago.

It was late. She had to return to the camp or else her friends would be worried and come out looking for her.

The fairies reluctantly let her go as Ann stepped out of the water and picked up her clothes.

The moons were still high in the sky.

"Waah..."

"Waaah!"

The fairies tried to stop Ann from leaving, holding onto her hands and tugging on her clothes.

"Aww... sorry little ones. I need to go back" Ann smiled, putting on her jacket.

The fairies had tears running down their little faces, unwilling to let go.

"Don't be sad. I will be back when I make a return trip home"

She appeased them, took the dagger from the ground, and attached it to the belt.

It was then that Ann noticed something different in her reflection in the water.

"Ah sh...."

She was about to curse when she remembered she was in the presence of children,

"Crap"

The blue dye that Elijah procured for her was gone and Ann's natural hair color was visible.

As she was too engrossed in playing with the fairies she had not realized that the crucial part of her new persona had come undone.

The hair dye she used was a custom-made color to match the twin's hair that was also waterproof. She did not have any extra in hand with her since the dye only needed reapplication once every three to four months. And there were two more months to go.

Even if she wanted to change the color to something else. She had to wait till they reached Parthellam to purchase a different shade.

The fairies were amazed by the constant change of expressions on her face.

Wanting to help her in any way possible, they brought a small red flower and placed it on Ann's hair.

"Are you trying to help me? Thank you"

Ann was touched. She wanted to take some of the fairies with her back home. But knowing that it would be dangerous for them. It was not ideal.

She removed her jacket and covered her head with it.

"This is who I am now"