The Monochrome Garden

A large crystal jutted out of the ground, nearly as tall as the trees around it. It stood slightly askew, the light reflecting off its pearlescent surfaces giving it an unearthly glow. A pale white lichenous carpet spread out from its base, through which the stems of thin white grasses grew. And resting on top of the crystal, lying on her belly, was a fairy.

“I’m finally out of that stupid place! That took way too long!”

The fairy couldn’t have been more than a foot tall, with pale skin and long white hair that grew down to her waist. She had two black wings, resembling those of a swallowtail butterfly, and was wearing a black leotard, black elbow gloves, and black heeled thighhigh boots. She happened to be called Aur.

“So the sky’s blue here, huh... Nothing like in there. It’s really pretty. Too bad I don’t have a clue where I am.”

Aur looked at the sea of trees spreading out all around the crystal.

“Some sort of forest, I guess? That probably won’t help Arg narrow it down. Oh well, I just hope there aren’t any humans around. Those things are way too big, I mean come on.”

She stood up and stretched.

“I guess I should scout around or something. I’ve got enough lumen to fly for a while; I should be able to get away from anything dangerous. At least if I don’t use much magic.”

Aur sighed and darted into the air.

“Why does this world have to be full of this gross mana stuff? It’s so nasty. If it wasn’t around this place’d be perfect...”

Grumbling, the fairy headed off into the forest, her path meandering as she stopped to check all the plants and animals she came across.

“At least not everything stinks of mana. Some of these bugs look like they’ll be pretty tasty; I’ll have to catch some on the way back. And I bet Arg would have a field day with some of these flowers. She can go pick them herself when she gets here, though. I’m not carrying petals around unless they taste good.

“Speaking of tasting good, I wonder how that beetle’d taste... It looks really juicy... Ahh, whatever, I’ve explored enough for now! Don’t think you’ll get away, beetle!”

A short chase ensued, the tragically juicy beetle losing out to the fairy’s speed and maneuverability. Once caught, Aur’s sharp teeth made quick work of the beetle, easily tearing through its tough carapace.

“Oh man, this is good. Way more flavorful than anything back home. I wonder if it’d be any good with nullspice. I should get Arg to bring me some. And some cooking equipment too. Oh! There’s another! Get back here!”

Several beetles later, having eaten her fill, the fairy headed back toward her crystal.

- - - - -

“So Arg, I found these really tasty beetles when I was scouting and I wondered if you couldn’t send some cooking equipment over or something.”

“... Aur, where would you even *keep* any cooking equipment? Also, no, I’m not wasting lumen on pots and pans.”

Aur pouted at the fairy she could see through one of the crystal’s facets. This fairy had vibrant green wings, almost crystalline in appearance, and chin-length white hair. She was wearing a short, fur-lined white dress with sturdy black elbow gloves and thighhigh boots. This fairy happened to be called Arg.

“Come on, Arg~ How am I supposed to go on without anything tasty to eat~?”

“Call back when you have something actually important to say.”

Reaching out to her side of the crystal, Arg tapped something and vanished from Aur’s sight.

“I guess we can’t all have good taste.”

With a shrug, Aur looked at the plain white field around the crystal and the sea of trees beyond.

“I guess she’s not completely wrong, though. I really don’t have anywhere to put anything...

“I’d rather not just leave things lying on the ground, and I’m pretty sure anything I put on the crystal will just fall off. Plus, Arg’d probably chew me out if I used it like a table.”

She flew up to one of the trees and settled on one of its larger branches.

“Hmm, I could probably set up a nest here. At least until some proper lumenwood grows in. What’ll I use for materials, though? I’m not used to this world’s wood. Haa... Let’s find some good sticks first...”

Flying off through the forest, Aur kept a close eye out for usable building materials. She managed to find a fair few sticks that met her exacting standards, as well as some rope-like vines she could use to hold the sticks together. However, as she was returning to the crystal with a length of vine in hand, she spotted something resting up against the trunk of a tree.

“Huh? Is that..? Woah! It is! It’s a human! A pretty dead one too, by the looks of it. Seriously, they’re way too big... It’s just unnecessary. I’m glad I’m not that big. I’d be way too heavy to fly. I’m glad I’m not that ugly too... Maybe they looked better when they were alive or something, but I doubt it.”

Aur shook her head dismissively, the looked at the vine in her hands.

“Though maybe I can take advantage of that size... I mean, a corpse is a corpse, right? A human wight shouldn’t be any harder to make than a beast wight. Stay right here, free labor, I’ll be right back~”

The fairy darted away, returning shortly after sans vine but carrying a fairy-head-sized chunk of crystal.

“Arg won’t be mad at me for breaking this off the crystal if she never learns about it, right? And you wouldn’t tell her, would you my corpsey friend~”

Chuckling to herself, Aur jammed the crystal shard into the corpse’s chest and laid her hands on it. She began glowing, giving off the same unearthly light as the original crystal, and poured that light into the shard. From the shard, the light spread throughout the corpse’s body, additional shards of crystal growing out through the corpse’s skin where the light shine brightest. Eventually, the light faded and Aur collapsed onto the corpse, exhausted.

“Phew... That should have done it. Stand up, wight!”

The corpse, now crystal wight, shuddered, then slowly and creakily rose to its feet. Withered and run through with crystal, the wight was not the sturdiest being, but even as it tottered in place, it managed to remain upright. Seeing that it could stand without much issue, Aur flew up and landed on its shoulder.

“All right, wight, let’s see how much you can carry!”

No longer having to carry any building material herself, Aur cheerfully directed the wight through the forest, having it pick up sticks as it went. With its aid, the fairy only needed a few more trips to gather every thing she needed. Returning to the crystal, Aur let the wight rest and recharge while she looked over what had been gathered.

“Mmm... Yeah, this should be okay. For now, at least. Maybe I can get Arg to send over some furs or something, I’m not sure if this mossy stuff is going to cut it.”

With a shrug, Aur got started, carrying sticks into the branch she had chosen earlier and tying them in place with vines. As she worked, a roughly spherical, basket-like nest began to take shape; sticks and vines bound together into a sturdy, weatherproof shelter. Once she finished the base and walls, Aur started working in the roof, incorporating leaves into the construction to keep out rain. And once she finished the roof, she added her finishing touches, and laid the moss she had gathered out onto the floor like a bed.

Stretching and wiping the sweat from her brow, the fairy looked over her new nest. She flew into the entrance on the side of the building, one just small enough for a fairy to fit in. She tried out the mossy bed, tested the strength of the shelves when had woven into the walls, and checked to see if any wind was getting through.

“It’s kind of dark, but if I broke off another crystal shard for light, Arg’d definitely notice. Oh well, I can just make some light myself if I really need it. Now then, all that work got me hungry. I wonder if any more of those beetles are around...”

Flying back into the forest, Aur sought out her dinner, the crystal wight following her like a lost puppy.