Nothing had gone wrong, nothing.. Everything was perfect. That’s what he told himself.

He could defeat his enemy, Annalise, if he just thought hard enough. He stared at the map on his table, lost in various different strategies and none seemed like the perfect combination to take down his opponent. He spent the night like that. The sun dipped down below the hills and the stars came out to shine… time went on and on and on and before he knew it; the sun was rising and it was time to fight.

If he was confident enough he could do anything. That’s what everything boiled down to in the end. His footsteps echoed against the stone walls of his hallways, torches glowing softly. You’d think a royal like him would have better lighting, but remember.. If it’s too light, he’d be at a major disadvantage.

He was met with a legion of his own court’s warriors, standing with him and waiting for the Seelie to join them. They waited, and waited.. Nothing came.

Just as they were letting their guard down an arrow whizzed through the air and hit the metal chestplate Nyxeris was wearing.

The battle began, officially, at that moment. The screams and cries of his warriors beside him boosted his morale and led him to take down his enemies with ease. He snared one with illusions and shadows, used brute force on another with his sword and all through the pile of decay and confrontation he was heading in a straight path towards Annalise.

The path was so clear, he was just one footstep away from her when suddenly the world went blank.

He was met with an eerie silence and he felt like he was floating? That.. can’t be right, can it? Even though he could fly, this was something completely different. This felt.. Uncomfortable and strange.

He found himself standing by the bed of what appeared to be a… human? He had read about these creatures, but only because they were described in fables to be much like fae but weaker, pettier and lacking in appearance. Not that they weren’t lovely to look at, according to the fae that met them, but they didn’t have wings or tails or anything noteworthy.

“Wait.. where’s my crown?” Nyxeris patted his head when he realised the crown of twisted brambles and withering roses was no longer sitting atop his head. He set a glare on the human, staring with the intensity of a volcano on the brink of eruption.

He wouldn’t wake her, however. That would be quite rude and besides.. He had streaks of blood on his clothes. Wait! Even his clothes looked different now.. They looked… sleek and surreal.

There was no blood on his clothes, but there were splatters on his hands. He tossed one last glare towards the human woman and headed off to search this quaint little apartment. His footsteps didn’t echo here like he was used to. They did make rhythmic tapping on the floors below him. It was interesting to see how the humans found their own living situations but it was no castle like he was used to.

He found a sink and washed his hands under cold water. The sound of the water soothed him a little, probably only because he liked the sound of rain back home and any little thing could provide comfort.

He walked back to the human girl’s room, pulled a chair up to a corner of the room and grabbed the book now laying at the foot of her bed. He flipped it open, carelessly skipping the page it had been open on and went all the way back to the beginning. Nothing could have prepared him for the shock when he saw his own name being the first word in the first chapter.

They even spelled it the exact same! What kind of magic is this?! He absorbed the words as fast as possible, thoroughly reading through a book that described his entire life. His black eyes took in each word and he was still reading the book when the girl woke up.

He didn’t even notice her, he was half way through.

Nyxeris didn’t notice anything. His acute hearing failed him at this moment. As the human stirred, sat up and saw him all he did was turn another page. Flip.

He looked up from the book when she screamed, it was too dark for her to notice his fully black eyes.

“What’re you-” Nyxeris began, quickly silenced by the ceramic lamp hitting his head. He was stunned, momentarily of course. Not once in all his years had someone thrown a lamp at him. Sure, maybe a weapon or two but a lamp? That was new.

She was already down the stairs by the time he stood up, though fate was not on her side. Nyxeris was still quicker than the average human and he bolted down to where he heard her fall. She seemed to be gone but not far, he easily found her running to the phone as if he was some common thief.

“Calm down!” Nyxeris growled as he scooped her up from the floor just before she got her hands on the phone. “There’s nothing to worry about goddammit. Stop being so clumsy. It's unbecoming.”

Nyx took her along with him as he walked to the corner of the room and flipped on the lights. Obviously, he hated it but for the sake of having a small chance of a regular conversation with this.. Human. He placed her down gently onto the couch, standing above her intimidatingly but he didn’t intend it like that. He just wouldn’t move for the sake of not letting her make a run for it again.

“By the twisted roots..” Nyx muttered. “Would you care to have a normal conversation? Calm down a little.”

Nyx waited for her to calm down, watching her intently. He backed off a little bit, but only a little. He stayed close, standing not far from the couch and still blocking the way to the phone. He tried to bend her reality, create illusions to help her calm down and make her see him as human… but something was wrong. It didn’t work.

Why is this happening? First a book about my life in the hands of this heathen, and now I can’t use one of my favourite spells?

This situation was horrible, but he would have to make due.

“I think I deserve an explanation, why do you have a book dedicated to me and my life?” He set a withering glare on her and hoped he wouldn’t have to do more than create expressions for this human woman to give him answers. She read the book about him, right? So she knows what he’s capable of.

She can’t tell I can’t use magic… well.. my wings are gone so it may be a tad easy to observe but for the moment she’s scared, she wouldn’t put it together properly for now.

(Lovely short responses lol)

“I did not break in. I never came here because I wanted to, let me make that perfectly clear.” Nyx huffed. He watched as she calmed and logic returned. The way she processed it was interesting… he was no mere book character.

“No, I’m perfectly real. You’re not insane either, as far as I know.” Nyxeris peered down at her, waiting for her eyes to open again after pretending like sleep would happen.

“I’ve created many illusions in my time, but this isn’t one of them.”

“Yes, for the love of Cimmerian, I am the real Nyxeris.” He sighed. “I’d also love to know how I got here, all I know is I was just about to win everything when everything went black. And that’s when I found myself standing by your bed and the book by the end of it.”

He sat down on the edge of the couch not wanting to touch her. It would be weird for the both of them, plus touching someone in a panic might get another lamp thrown at him. Though.. It may convince this crazy lady that he was in fact real and was never a book character.

Still.. Why would she have a book about him and still not know who he was otherwise? Seems suspicious. Maybe she was correct.. Maybe he was a book character.

No.. that’s nonsense. He’s always been around, for almost five hundred years as well! Who wouldn’t know about him? Surely if he went outside, grabbed a random person and asked if they knew who he was, they’d know. Right? Right?!

First.. His sword and crown.

“Where did you put my crown? And my sword.” Nyxeris got up from the couch and went straight for the kitchen. He began raiding the surrounding cupboards, the pantry and any openable spaces he could find. It all sounded silent though, as he despised loud noises. Safe to say, he didn’t end up finding his crown there.

He marched back to the human on the couch. He towered over her like an ominous silhouette with his arms crossed against his chest.

“Where are they? Where did you hide them? Thief.” Nyxeris accused. Clearly if he had no crown and no sword with him and on his person, this human woman must be a con artist who stole them from him.

She acted like he didn’t know him, or only as a character from the book but that didn’t mean it wasn’t just a cover for her petty crimes. Maybe she did know him and stole any valuables on his person when he appeared here.

He would learn the truth before long.