Temple_GD_
patreon
[REND] 8 - The Fairy King Sees All Sometimes
🕑 Added 2025-06-16 14:39:46 +0000 UTCReo Hinode (Oberon)
Reo Hinode had been in complete darkness for more than two hours now, the longest time he had had his eyes closed while awake.
Well⊠not counting the times he couldnât sleep at night, lying in bed with eyes shut tight, alone with his thoughts. Heâd berate himself for the idiotic decision of joining the group. Heâd be afraid of dying, just like any sane person would beâthe difference was he had been close to death a few times. Worse, he had experienced death through his fairies several times before. He remembered the pain each time one of them was defeated.
But Day-Reo was not that spineless piece of shit Night-Reo right now, for he was Oberon, the king of the fairies!
He conceded that royalty across history wouldnât consider the backseat of a 2007 Mayfair Galleon as a throne fit for a king. With only four fairies under his command, perhaps this was as royal as he could get.
He wasnât complaining about his spot in their spy car, though. It was as comfortable as possible, given the circumstances.
Johann, ever-reliable when it comes to vehicles, befitting of his codename, Ride, removed the backseats so Reo had space to kneel and stretch his arms. Johann also secured firm cushions on the floor, arranged to hold Reoâs legs and butt in place so he could kneel for long periods with ease, even if the car were movingâit was more like sitting than kneeling with all the support cushions.
Slings hung from the carâs ceiling that attached to Reoâs wrists, holding up his hands as required to maintain his summon. Just because he had a superhuman body didnât mean he could hold the summoning position while his mind was focused on controlling his spy fairy. Johann also had the windows heavily tintedâDario paid for the worksâso no one could see the weird shit inside. Without context, someone seeing Reo in his summoning pose would think that it was some kinky sex thing.
And someone who knew the context would report them to the BID.
Using their van wouldâve been more convenient since it was pretty roomy, and they couldâve easily decked it out for his use. But they realized they couldnât easily park a large van anywhere without inviting suspicion. Not to mention that they couldnât agree on how to disguise the van: a laundry van, pest control, or a move-in van. They settled on using the van as their service vehicle. Myra was using it now to drive Amber and Erind to their hideout.
âYou okay there, Obe?â Everett asked from the driverâs seat.
If Reo needed a ride during espionage missions, either Everett or Johann would get paired with him. Reo hoped it wouldnât always be a sausage fest, but choices were limited⊠limited to one. Myra. And she thought he was a creep. That was a valid assessment, one that Reo wouldnât dare contest. Heâd phrase it as âa couple of levels below a gentleman.â But with their prospective members, Amber and Erind, things might change for the better.
âWhat do you think?â Reo snapped.
âI donât know. Maybe youâre having fun back there?â Everett said, snorting as he held back laughter.
âOh, yeah. Most definitely,â Reo replied sarcastically. âFive-star accommodations, lobster buffet, coffee rub spa. Itâs awesome back here!â
âCoffee rub spa? Is that a thing?â
âDunno. Just something I saw on Snippet. The internet and its vastness. Anything goes there.â
âSounds like one of those trends that are actually scams,â Everett said. âA waste of coffee, if you ask me.â
âNo oneâs asking you that.â Reo cleared his throat. âThereâs something I want to ask you, though.â
âReally? Popping the question?â Everett chuckled. âNo, no. I may be single, but Iâm straight as aââ
âIâm also straight, you idiot.â Reo coughed. âCould you get me a drink and maybe some gum?â He heard Everett rummage through some stuff. Then he felt a straw pressed to his mouth. He sipped the water, hoping Everett didnât pour hot sauce in it like last time.
âOpen your mouth,â Everett said. âHere comes the gum. Choo, choo.â He made steam train noises before plopping the gum into Reoâs mouth, then he laughed out loud, banging the headrest of his seat.
âThanks for that.â Reo was just thankful for the gum. He badly needed to stave off the cravings.
âNo prob, man. I know you must be dying for a smoke right now.â There were squeaking and creaking as Everett probably stretched in his seat. âHow long are we supposed to stay here? Iâm getting bored with just sitting.â
âYouâre complaining? Want to trade places?â
âNah, Iâm good. Are you sure that you really canât move while Sneak is out?â Everett asked, referring to Reoâs spy fairy. âWhy can you move when summoning other fairies?â
âHow would I know? Why do you need to eat a lot of food to fuel your powers? Thereâs fucking no point asking about that. On some level, there might be some mind-bending explanation for how our powers work. But Iâm not on that level. I donât care about that shitty, emotional level. I care about the real world.â Reo groaned, remembering his real job as a line cook at Phoenix Wings. âI missed a shift for this. Do you think I can get Blank to pay me for my lost hours?â
âWhy donât you unsummon Sneak, for now?â It sounded like Everett shifted in his seat again. Judging by the sound of his voice, Everett was looking at Reo, peering in between the front seats. âYou donât need your fairies to enter your mouth again, right?â
âTheatrics and rituals are important in my court,â Reo haughtily replied. He then grinned. âYeah, thereâs no need. But if I unsummon Sneak, I donât think I can get him on the package again. We need to stick to the package to make sure they donât switch trucks on us. Sneak has to be inside the right truck to be safe from scanners and the bunch of techie crap protecting the 2Ms bases.â
Everett forcefully sighed. âI get it, I get it. If Mergeâs here, sheâd say something like, âItâs so bizarre hearing you sound responsible.â Know what? Iâm going to say that too. Itâs so bizarre hearing you sound responsible.â
âIâm not gonna mess this up because Blankâs firm on hitting the docks come next week. This stupid truck makes rounds only once a week. We should be with the next delivery, or else weâd wait another week. The 2Ms wouldâve done something nasty by then.â
âYouâre worried about them, too, huh? The girls,â Everett said. âI canât help but feel bad about the situation. They donât have⊠uh, a deeply personal vendetta against the Adumbrae like we do. I get that Blank wants to test any possible candidate for the artificial Core, but I donât agree with it. Those girls are trapped now.â
Reo tilted his head, still seeing darkness in front of him. âYou think theyâll be compatible?â
âI felt it. You did too, didnât you?â
âEh⊠yeah.â The artificial Cores began to âbeatâ after melding with Amber and Erind. More than likely that itâd stick to those girls. There was no backing out now, and they should know it.
Reo felt slightly guilty about what happened. He willingly joined here, and there were times he wanted out. Going to be hard to say that Amber and Erind âwillinglyâ joined. They had no choice. Part of it was because they already had contact with the 2Ms. Another part was Dario taking them in.
Reo didnât say anything because⊠he was scared of arguing with Dario. That guy wasnât normal. Reo would bet that Dario had undergone some child indoctrination program in a secret government facilityâif the government was making artificial Cores, it wouldnât be too crazy to assume they trained kids to be agents. Top secret business. Dario most certainly knew who they were working for.
âThis is for the best, thatâs what I think,â said Everett. âThe girls wouldâve been in danger ifââ
âHang on,â Reo interjected. âLight. The back of the truckâs opening.â Sneak could finally see. If Reo pumped Sneak with power, he could see in the dark, like some night vision ability. But it took a lot of energy, multiplied by the range of their connection. He didnât want to exhaust himself looking at nothing. Right now, he had to provide wi-fi energy to push Sneakâs stealth to full.
âWhatâs going on?â Everett asked
âTwo guys. No, three.â
âAre you sure they canât see Sneak?â
âThey couldnât find Sneak even if they wanted to,â Reo replied, a bit insulted at the question. âYouâve tested for yourself Sneakâs stealth abilities.â
Sneak could become completely invisible if he stuck on something and stopped movingâthis time, he was perched on one of the packages inside the truck. Not simply invisible. Sneak wouldnât even register in peopleâs minds if they accidentally bumped or touched him while in this unmoving state. Some scanners could detect Sneak, but that didnât mean that the person using the machine could comprehend Sneak being there.
âTheyâre moving the packages,â Reo continued, reporting what Sneak could see. Contrasting with Sneak, the other fairies didnât share their senses with Reo. Fortunately, he could provide them with instructions, and they were smart enough to follow them.
Reo continued to narrate what was happening. They were inside a garage large enough to fit three mid-sized trucks. The men took the boxes out of the truck and piled them next to another truck disguised as an UPN delivery truckâthose wouldnât look out of place at the docks. These guys were going to great lengths to hide the packages that came from Eve, an ultra-exclusive club owned by the 2Ms.
âI bet my left testicle those are mutant brains theyâll ship for processing,â said Everett.
âI bet my right testicle that youâre right,â Reo replied. What other important item would the 2Ms send to their mysterious main base on some fucking secret island? âOh, wait. Trouble. Theyâre stacking the packages inside a large container.â
âHowâs Sneak?â
âHe might get squished.â Even if Sneak was in invisible mode, it still had a physical body. A couple of times before that, Sneak had accidentally died without the enemy noticing. âDamn it. Letâs seeâŠâ
Reo had to gamble. He willed Sneak to look over his tiny shoulder and instantly stop moving. Luckily, the men arranging the boxes didnât notice. Even if they did, Sneak wouldâve been seen for only a split second. With a view of the men, Reo waited for them to bend down to get the next box to shove into the larger container inside the fake UPN truck.
There! Sneak spread its tiny wings and buzzed off the package and into the truck.
The men turned to the sound. Sneak landed on top of the large container and stopped moving. The truck was a few feet away.
âIs everything okay?â Everett asked.
âNo problemo, my friend-o. This is just like playing Statues.â
âStatues?â
âI think the game has other names. Red Light, Green Light? You know, the one where you canât move if the âitâ is looking at you? Ah, anyway, Sneak is inside the truck.â
Sneak still had a view of what was happening since the back of the truck was open as the men loaded the containers. Reo caught a glimpse of the driver and two guys with him. It was them again for this truck then? Possible that one or all of them were either augmented humans or Adumbrae.
Ten minutes later, the truck left the place that was disguised as a once-busy repair shop, which had seen better days, and headed in the direction of the circumferential road. If it kept its course, it should be heading to the docks. Reo pictured the ship to pick up the goods inside the truck must be arriving soon. Once there, theyâd pick these up and immediately leave.
âIs the traffic heavy?â Reo asked.
âNot at all. An hour or so before afternoon rush hour. Trust me, I can stick to that truck like a tick on a dog.â
âNo need to be that close. Did you forget I can maintain Sneak up to a couple hundred feet away? Donât make it too obvious weâre following them. Stay a hundred feet back.â
âI canât eyeball how long a hundred feet is! About seventeen, eighteen of me, lying down in a line? Do you think itâs easy looking for a spot to hit this truck while estimating a hundred feet? Just leave this to me. Weâre turning right onto Magnolia Street. Theyâre probably avoiding the PCM protests. Those guys have so much free time to protest everything.â
âThey do have a point, though, that Adumbrae have infiltrated the government.â
They continued to drive with no issue. The UPN truck was truly heading to the docks.
âAnother police car,â Everett said after around fifteen minutes of driving. âOne was back there too.â
âCorrupt cops providing some shadow escort to the UPN truck?â
âI think so.â
As the traffic shed westward, and the vehicles alongside them became mostly trucks, Everett had no choice but to make some distance to not looking suspicious.
âMan, my palms are sweating,â Everett complained. âI donât know how long two hundred feet is!â
âYouâre doing well,â said Reo. âI havenât lost connection with Sneak. Are we nearing the 2Msâ base?â To be accurate, it was an area of the docks they suspected to be controlled by the 2Ms. No actual paper trail to prove that. But this suspicious part just had way too many guards and way too tall fences.
âWe are. Iâm hanging back some more. There are no more vehicles between us and the truck.â
âOkay. Iâll do one last look.â Reo felt his body start to sag as strength left him. In his mindâs eye, the inside of the truck became a brightly lit room. He committed to memory every detail Sneak noticed while struggling to maintain the summoning position.
âWe're almost at the gate,â said Everett. âThe truckâs slowing down. Itâs preparing to turn and enter.â
Reo felt the car speed up a bit. Itâd be more suspicious if they also slowed down. And Reo needed the car to be close to the truck when it passed through the scanners and other machines by the gate.
âThe truckâs getting scanned,â Everett said. âThe guards are opening it. Theyâre not opening large containers. And I canât see anymore.â
âI still have control of Sneak.â
âThe truckâs through. It was just a cursory check inside. No problems.â
âSneak is still inside⊠Still inside⊠Okay, I lost connection.â The car and the truck had parted far enough and the summon was canceled. âThatâs our way in. Inside the truck. Inside the containers.â
Comments
Temple (REND)
Oh, right. The group should have a name. I think the group that Taylor joined in Worm was the Undersiders or something. Let's just have Dario's group think of a name after Erind and Deen joins in then, to make them sound more official. Yep, I'll just put 'I bet.' As for the codenames, Erind wouldn't think of them in her internal narration, so let's just use real names. Thanks for the feedback!
Temple (REND)
He really is against Adumbrae, that's for sure. And most likely he's game to do anything for his mission.
Temple (REND)
- I'll make this one whole chapter, so it's just 8 haha - Amber and Deen, lol. Maybe Deen has twin powers. - Everett's not practicing gun safety. Thanks for the help proofreading! -------------- - Reo isn't really thinking of hitting on Erind or Deen, but he also acknowledges he's not a gentleman. He does appreciate there's someone else other than Myra. - Ninja expo. - I felt it'd be too difficult if Corebrings can detect the artificial Cores. - I think Myra would be pro-Dario only because the Professor might have a cure for Kelsey. And maybe there's also the threat of Kelsey getting killed by the government. - I'll think I'll use real names in the narration to be consistent, but they'll use codenames in dialogue when in a mission. - Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Temple (REND)
Thanks for the feedback! I see the problem and will be working on it going forward. This was also my problem in the previous version.
Temple (REND)
Oops, I should've just went Oberon throughout. However, I'm not thinking to just go with their real names in narration. Thanks!
Temple (REND)
The chapters are around the same length. I think what's happening is that the pace has slowed down, and that's my bad. I recognize this. We got bogged down during the warehouse and Dario parts. That's why my aim is to hasten the pace going into the second half of the book. More should happen in a chapter essentially.
Vaporus
Excellent writing, good stuff! Not actual complaints just an observation, pace seems to have slowed greatly and chapters feel like they're getting shorter and shorter. I haven't done any metrics so for all I know chapters are actually longer... Can't remember which series it was where people were complaining about short chapters and the author busted out numbers 'proving' their chapters were consistent in length then going on a rant about toxic fans but... really not a complaint..
Flying Goat
You called Oberon "Obe" in the 4 paragraphs after Emcee did, before going back to Oberon. I don't have strong opinions on naming, but probably best to at least be consistent about full codename vs nickcodename(?) in the narration (as opposed to the dialog)
Karp Paul
Overall, I think it is a good chapter, it is quite good at pacing, and it is easy to follow the story here. "joining Darioâs group" - Maybe the group should have a name? Deen and Erind might not know it yet, but for the others it would be more convenient to refer to themselves somehow. At least "the group" should work, but can be more sophisticated. âIâll bet my right testicle that youâre right,â Oberon replied. - âIâll bet your right testicle that youâre right,â Oberon replied. - For comedic effect, lol. Also, "Iâm going to bet" -> "I bet". There is no need for future tense here. Do you think I should just stick to their real names, while they call each other codenames, or should I use codenames all throughout? - That depends on Erind. Does she bother remembering the codenames? Since the story is told from her perspective, it would be more appropriate to call them whatever she might call them.
OmniHumanist
And make sure to come up with good ones for Erind and Deen this time. -> Johann finally got a codename this time, so it's only fair for Erind and Deen to each get a codename. I don't think Deen was ever on a mission with the rest of the group in the last version, except to infiltrate Eve, so it got kind of ignored.
Lyre
Creator, youâre truly a genius! You were rightâliving with the Rules makes things so much easier for someone like Erind!) Iâm sincerely grateful; itâd be better if everyone used them. By the way, you really slowed down the storyâs pace too much. I, half-independently and without experience, easily crafted a more interesting and beautiful story, even though you have years of experience. It feels like you focused on quantity over quality..)
OmniHumanist
Typos: [REND] 8 - The Fairy King Sees All Sometimes -> [REND] 8.1 - The Fairy King Sees All Sometimes Myra was using it now to drive Amber and Deen to their hideout. -> Myra was using it now to drive Amber and Erind to their hideout. He made steam train noises before plopping the gun into Oberonâs mouth, then he laughed out loud, banging the headrest of his seat. -> He made steam train noises before plopping the gum into Oberonâs mouth, then he laughed out loud, banging the headrest of his seat. (Everett, be careful with guns! Never point them at someone you aren't going to shoot) ----- That was a valid assessment, one that Obe wouldnât dare contest. Heâd phrase it as âa couple of levels below a gentleman.â But with their prospective members, Amber and Erind, things might change for the better. -> Is he seeking to hit on Erind or Deen? I thought Reo had a girlfriend last time, but maybe he's single now. Or is he thinking that the vibes will get better if it's not just men around him? âNah, Iâm good. Are you sure that you really canât move while Sneak is out?â Emcee asked, referring to Oberonâs spy fairy. âWhy can you move when summoning other fairies?â -> So you could have this conversation with Oberon lol. âEh⊠yeah.â The artificial Cores began to âbeatâ after melding with Amber and Erind. More than likely that itâd stick to those girls. There was no backing out now, and they should know it. -> I remember that in the last version, Corebrings could detect if the Cores weren't melded to someone. Here, the artificial Corebrings can detect if they meld to someone. It'll be fun to see if Erind gets any sensations from her Core. Oberon didnât say anything because⊠he was scared of arguing with Blank. That guy wasnât normal. Oberon would bet that Blank had undergone some child indoctrination program in a secret government facilityâif the government was making artificial Cores, it wouldnât be too crazy to assume they trained kids to be agents. Top secret business. Blank most certainly knew who they were working for. -> I think it's a nice character detail that not everyone is pro Dario this time. I imagine they would gossip about him a lot. Or perhaps Everett can be more pro-Dario. But Reo and Myra are less so. Reo because he is more conspiracy-driven, and Myra because she values Kelsey over this. âThatâs our way in. Inside the truck. Inside the containers.â -> Corebrings in a container. A new product. In the previous version of REND, I didn't get to develop side characters much. I hope to improve on that now. -> I like seeing the others' perspectives. Great to see more of their thoughts. Do you think I should just stick to their real names, while they call each other codenames, or should I use codenames all throughout? -> I would stick to codenames unless you have an emotional reason to refer to their real names. Thanks for the chapter!
No Name
Stick with codenames in spoken dialogue; it doesn't really make sense for people trying to hide their identities to be using their real names openly. And make sure to come up with good ones for Erind and Deen this time. If the codenames end up sticking for a long time, we don't want Erind and Deen to end up as another Clive.
Klakkers
He kinda makes up for it with his range and versatility no?
Beeees!
Hmm, blank definitely has something going on. But maybe he just really really hates adumbrea and is a any means necessary kind of guy
Metal(Liz)ardđłïžââ§ïž
I think them speaking their codenames but having the text show their real names works since it was established already they only use codenames on missions and it helps reinforce who is who. I always feel reo got shafted by the core lmao everyone has powers without such restrictions that he has
