The Fae have walked this world for eons, watching carefully as civilizations were born; they watched these civilizations branch off into smaller communities and tribes. The Fae watched when the wars began. Wars over religions, lands, politics, and jealousy became common place. The Fae helped when they could intercede without notice by speaking to a sleeping human's ear the plot of a neighbor, they would help the poor by quietly taking a starving babe home to the bright Fae city, which started all kinds of nasty rumors of the Fae stealing sleeping babes right out of their cradles.

There were times when the Fae would even fight beside those soon to be eradicated. They tried to help Rome, which in her splendor fell to the Visgoths, but their help was ignored causing its the fall. Silently, the Fae started to totally close themselves off from the human world. Once they lived among humans, but slowly the Fae migrated to more hidden areas taking to the deep green forests, the buzzing jungles, sparkling blue springs, metallic smelling wells, marshy bogs, crocodile infested swamps, and the wind-whipped side of mountain tops. Completely cutting themselves off from any human interaction.

Lifting her head, her turquoise eyes beheld the luminous sphere in the twilight sky. Bathing in the silvery-warmth of the pale moon light, Queen Mab contemplates the survival of her dwindling race. The Fae were slowly disappearing, as children were rarely born in the deep forest. The deep forest where no mortals dare to travail. The heavy burden has fallen on her straight shoulders to carry.

With Queen Mab’s recent ascension to the throne, after the death of her glorious mother, Mab inherits not only the Crown of Merlin, but also the decline of her people. With her midnight tresses and almond shaped eyes, she reminds her people of her radiant mother, who reigned supreme over the Fae for centuries. However, the young queen is uncertain of her own abilities to rule with her mother’s iron fist and soft heart. Most worrisome are her doubts on being able to save her most noble race; they keep her up late in the council rooms with her advisors.

Shimmering, the moon glides through the sky by the burning chasing sun. The courtiers crowd into the palace, built into the rocky mountainside to protect the Fae from all enemies, except one. Queen Mab lays out the major issue at hand, imploring her council members, who are regarded as the aristocracy of the Fae, to comb through all documents in the Sacred College. They are to see if, at any time, the Fae has encountered the same problem and the outcomes recorded. All of the council members have their own ideas on how to fix the dwindling of their race, with each plan being more outrageous than the last.

Lord Shaaner, with his silvery-blue hair, suggests in his deep baritone voice, “a sacrifice to the Goddess of fertility and sacrifice.” The vote is cast and the majority rules, so now to find the perfect martyr.

Queen Mab, not liking the idea of sacrifice, gives the nod to her assistant to have a decree struck stating, “I speak to you from the depths of my fluttering heart, as a mother to her children. I ask that you bring the most precious of your children to the palace for the honor of saving our people. A sacrifice is planned in hopes of saving you, my Fae race. I ask, as your Queen, to submit to the decree and make haste to the castle gates so we may pick the very best to send to Anut.”

To the Fae, a person must make the sacrifice willingly, so they gather at the gate in their best clothes of purple silk and cloud-white lace. Discussing their fate as they gather, several of the older Fae make way to the front of the golden palace gates. Loudly, they discuss if this new Queen has what it takes to save their dying race; yet there is one who speaks up in defense of their Queen.

“Our Queen is of noble parentage, as well as one of the most gifted healers of our people. Do not doubt her tender years, which were spent at her mother’s knee as she dispensed her justly deeds,” spoke a young Fae daughter who grew up alongside the Queen when she was a princess. “I will show the Queen and the Fae people my devotion by submitting to the sacrifice as decreed by our most lovely Queen Mab.”

Overtaken by devotion, the other Fae bow low to the outspoken one as she steps through the bright palace gate with a toothy grin upon her face and a calm serenity in her pearl white eyes, the Queen in her wake. The ritual is done by all specification: the Queen was in attendance, the sacrifice willing, and the Sword of Sacrifice, in all its bloody glory, is to be the tool to send this willing Fae to the Goddess Anut. Before the sacrifice takes place, Queen Mab asks for a few moments alone with her childhood friend. Nostalgic for their easy days swimming in the indigo blue lake, running carefree through the palace gates loudly laughing and pretending… but back to the business at hand. She kisses her friend on the forehead in silence while wondering if she was doing what her mother would have done. Hoping this isn’t all for naught, her outspoken friend’s sacrifice.

The silver light of the young Fae girl being snuffed out by the down-stroke of the Sword of Sacrifice goes unnoticed by Anut, the Goddess of sacrifice, leaving a trace of uncertainty in the heavy, sea mist air. Shedding not a single tear, Queen Mab, keeps her composure until she is able to barricade herself in her plush rooms. She says not one word to the council as she passes each of them on her way to her much needed moment alone. As soon as the cherry oak door to her bedroom closes, she sits reverently in front of the portrait of her mother. Noting the chill of the room, Queen Mab floats across the diamond floor to the window overlooking the mountainside that plunges down to the foaming waters.

She lets a crying falcon catch her gaze when she hears, “never let them see you cry, Mab.” The chime of her mother’s voice echos, “remember, show your heart, but not your tears because then they know your fears.”

Queen Mab felt there was some unknown element to which none of the council’s suggestions would be able to counter attack. She could not fail her people, she could not fail herself, and she could not fail her family of Fae rulers. From her childhood she was taught that in order to care for her people she needed to stay updated on the human world. So, it’s no oddity that Queen Mab knows about the drop of fertility among male humans. Human birth rates have dropped in recent years and she knows deep in her belly that the answer to the noble Fae’s infertility lies within the human realm.

After her arduous day, Queen Mab dresses in a dark purple dress with intricate gold designs woven through the sleeves; her raven black hair is adorned with sparkling amethysts and shiny emeralds. Looking like a confident queen, she wanders the shimmering green streets of her city. Speaking to her subjects as they kneel and bow, porcelain smiles glow with admiration while lavender eyes cast doubtful looks upon her. She promises to find out what is causing the women’s womb to shun life, accepting no seed to plant.

The city itself was constructed with the Fae’s magic and nature according to the Book of Life, which carries the history of the Fae along with forgotten knowledge such as how to keep the balance of all elements so the Fae stay strong and safe. The city shines bright with the deep greens and azuls of the forests and lakes, cloaked in a shield of invisibility so no eyes but that of a Fae could lay upon the Eternal City. While walking this magnificent city of hers, she prays silently to the Goddess Islet for wisdom, clarity, and strength as mother of her people.

Finally coming to a stop, Queen Mab finds herself on the outskirts of the city, leading to the Valley of Shadows, dedicated to those Queens before herself. It was time to commune with her ancestors, to put right the wrongs done by her predecessors, who had cut them off from any human contact. Knowing all too well the upheaval to come at the next council meeting, where starry-eyed Queen Mab will rule that to save her race she would marry a human mortal deserving, strong, and handsome.