In a world where fairies were hunted for their magical wings, the air of the forest always smelled of danger. To the people of the nearby village, fairies were nothing more than commodities—priceless beings whose shimmering wings contained the power to heal even the gravest wounds. Greed drove most hunters, but for Elias, it was desperation. Elias’s family was crumbling. His younger sister, Lena, lay on her bed day after day, her body wracked with an illness no doctor could cure. Their father had long passed, and their mother worked tirelessly in the fields, her health declining with each passing year. The thought of losing Lena filled Elias with dread, so he had taken up the dangerous trade of fairy hunting. Not for gold, not for glory, but for the one chance to save her. The forest was dense that day, sunlight piercing through the canopy in fleeting beams. Elias had spent hours searching for signs of fairies: the faint glow of their trails, the sound of their melodic laughter carried by the wind. His net and knife were at the ready, though his heart ached every time he thought of what he had to do. He approached the edge of a steep cliff, hoping to spot something from the vantage point. But as he leaned forward, the loose ground gave way beneath him. Panic surged as he tumbled, arms flailing, the jagged rocks below rushing closer. His mind raced with regret. Lila… I’m sorry. Suddenly, he felt something—soft but firm—wrap around his arm. The fall stopped abruptly. Hovering above him was a radiant figure, wings shimmering like liquid gold in the sunlight. It was a fairy, their emerald eyes wide with effort as they held him aloft. They struggled to pull him to safety, their small frame trembling under his weight. But they didn’t falter. When they reached solid ground, Elias collapsed panting. The fairy hovered before him, their delicate wings glowing faintly. “Why?” he managed to croak, staring at them in disbelief. “Why did you save me?”