10 minutes later, Daniel was on the couch. Next to him was the creature, laying cross legged on the cushions in a way he didn’t know an insect could. Or an insect-like creature, he supposed. Across from him, over the coffee table and sitting on a wooden chair, was the brown-haired teenager. Sitting in the palm of his hand, the fairy began the discussion by introducing herself.

  “My name is Petra Astraea, princess of the Trivon empire.” She said calmly, a stark contrast to her past exuberance.

  Daniel was already confused, as he’d never even heard of the Trivon empire before. As far as he knew, humans had done away with empires a long time ago. The fairy glared.

  “It’s the largest empire in the Auriga cluster. Don’t you bumpkins know anything?” She snapped.

  The creature shifted on the couch suddenly, causing the fairy to shriek and shrink back. The creature finished adjusting itself, and the fairy shot it a resentful glare, before taking a deep breath to calm herself.

  “About 1 solar year ago, our planet received an announcement. The Galactic Empress is dying.”

  “Since when did we have a galactic empress?” Daniel asked.

  “Since forever. God, do you earthlings not know anything?”

  The creature’s gaze locked onto the fairy, making her shiver.

  “Look, Empresses live longer than most, but they don’t live forever.” She explained quickly. “Whenever the previous empress is about to die, they start a galactic contest. The Princess War. A female heir is chosen from every eligible planet, and they have to go a suitable middle-ground to decide the victor. That place has to be advanced, but not too advanced. Populated, but not too populated, and so on.”

  “...Alright,” Daniel said, barely following. “But why’d you attack me? Or this thing, I guess?”

  At this, the fairy held up her hand, showing him a tiny ring on her ring finger.

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  “This is what signifies a contestant in the Princess War. Everyone has one.” She explained. “You can tell when a contestant is nearby, because the rings resonate.”

  Daniel frowned, confused. He looked to the creature, looking it up and down, noticing a distinct lack of Jewelry.

  “But it doesn’t have one?” He asked.

  “Oh come on, give me a second.”

  She shook her hand vigorously for a bit, and the ring slowly began glowing. As it increased in intensity, Daniel noticed a dimmer light coming from right next to him. Something was glowing underneath the creature’s body. He gingerly lifted it up, tilting it backwards to reveal that the source of the glow was coming from somewhere inside the creature’s underbelly.

  “Tch, figures.” The fairy said, clicking her tongue. “It’s inside that damn thing’s stomach. No wonder it was so hard to find.”

  Daniel nodded in understanding. So, this fairy was an alien princess from another planet, here to fight a war over who would rule the galaxy. For whatever reason, they chose little old earth to have this big fight, and no one else was the wiser.

  Yeah right.

  “Alright, is that all?” He asked.

  The fairy gave him a strange look.

  “What do you mean ‘is that all?’ This is the Princess War!” She replied. “Mikey over here couldn’t settle down for 3 whole days with how excited he was when I told him.”

  “Petra, could you leave me out of this?” The teenager said, trying to hide his embarrassment.

  The fairy rolled her eyes, and the teenager coughed.

  “So, can we go now, mister? I have to get home soon, or else my parents will start worrying.”

  “Oh, sure.” Daniel said. “You know the way out, right?”

  The teenager got up, relieved, and made for the door. Daniel followed him up to see him out, and the creature stayed by his side. As they left the threshold, the fairy turned to him to warn him one last time.

  “Hey, you need to take this seriously, alright? You can’t stay out of this. That thing,” she said, shooting the creature an angry glare. “Is good at hiding, but you can’t hide forever. Like it or not, your world will never be the same.”

  The youthful pair made their way towards the elevator as a storm of thoughts raced through Daniel’s mind. He stood at the threshold of his apartment, the cool night air brushing his side as he turned to look down at the creature. The creature looked up at him. While he wasn’t sure how much he believed the fairy, Daniel knew that the creature was intelligent. It might not have known how to speak, but it could understand him somewhat. And of the many things he wanted to ask it, one question above all stuck out as the most important.

  “You...” He said, hesitating. “You’re female?”

  The creature titled its head in incomprehension. They stared at each other for a while, before Daniel shrugged.

  “Well, whatever.”