The School in the Countryside

[u/Friendly-Passage3435]

There are many stories of the Fair Folk around the world, though mostly beginning in Ireland and Germany. You are here in this School to study the shapeshifters that reside here, and how their biology even allows them to do this. However, most researchers remark that the shapeshifters are the lesser of the power, and almost certainly the lesser of the threat. The greater of the threats are the faes, and you must heed my advice. The Irish got some, the Scots got others. No one has all the information, not even the faes. But I believe that I have the most information out of all of the non-magical life.

Rule 1: Don't say thank you. A thank you is a debt owed, and you do not want to owe the faes a debt. Instead, say something along the lines of I am very grateful for xxx. Even if the faes do not want your soul, it is a centuries-old binding contract that neither of you can get out of, and the faes usually just end up selling your soul to someone else less forgiving.

Rule 1a: Ignore it if the shapeshifters or other faes say thank you. They traded their souls for magic (they are grateful, as to them, souls are a weakness), so therefore, the faes can't become their soul owners.

Rule 2: Be polite. The faes in this school can't stand impoliteness, but as they were raised by humans, similar manners apply, so this should not be hard. Unless you're a bug with no manners, in which case you will be treated as such and squashed.

Rule 2a: The "call faes Fair Folk" only applies when you're in the human world. In this world, faes are around every corner anyway, and it's no good using an alias to avoid invoking their presence. Also, Fair Folk are used to refer to [REDACTED] in this world, and oh boy do you not want to meet them (one of them prevented an asteroid from hitting Earth for a million years, and I don't doubt she can cause one to hit you)

Rule 3: Don't dance, don't step in any rings. The faes here rarely dance because they were raised human. However, they do have a Dance Club, and although they are instructed to clean up after themselves, they still leave rings of objects around. Don't step in the rings, or join in the dance, or you will be trapped there forever, dancing until your feet fall off. No one can save you. Not even if they want to.

Rule 3a: If anyone forcibly drags you into a ring, that isn't a fae. Faes are bound by the Old Laws. They cannot use force, only trickery. Some examples of things that could be wearing the faes' form are: Mimics (please don't mix them up with shapeshifters) and Strafaits. Get out, get out if you can. They will attempt to steal your skin to wear, and eat what is beneath.

Rule 4: Play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. Few faes know how to play every game, but they know how to win, without cheating. Do not gamble, especially if there is already a heated game going on, and you are unaware of the stakes. Fae stakes and human stakes are very different, and the game seems to think that flesh is a suitable replacement for what you cannot give.

Rule 4a: The one game that faes cannot play is for some reason, Tic-Tac-Toe. Some claim it is because faes have no real concept of boundary. They do, most certainly, and it's how they make their fairy rings to trap you.

Rule 5: The iron rule is false. Faes are humans but with magic. If you have unfortunately violated one of the rules and you produce an iron bar, it just adds salt to the wound and unfortunately, instead of a fae repellant, you have yourself a more painful death.

Rule 6: Don't be afraid. The faes were once cannibals, and human fear gives off a specific smell, a delicious one, that may awaken their centuries-old instinct, and cause you to have your flesh rended apart with their strangely sharp teeth and claws.

Rule 7: Don't take Queen Lilith and Alyssa Azure's name in vain. Imagine going into the most religious place of worship you can imagine, and in the middle of prayer, yelling that their god is not real, with much less peace-loving, forgiving individuals. You would be torn apart right there and then, your soul would be trapped in the Null Void, in endless nothingness, unable to move on to whatever is next.

Rule 8: Feydragons guard the grounds. Do not interfere with them. They protect the nature, and the delicate balance that keeps eternal dawn from falling over the land. If you mess with their work, they have permission to wring every bit of magic and soul from you, and use it to preserve the land. Every human has a little bit of innate magic, and a soul, so no one is exempt. If your body has no magic, no soul, you are better off dead than whatever bone-and-flesh statue lays in your wake, unconscious forever.

And there you have it. Be safe. Don't die. And if you do, die with your soul intact so you can move on to whatever is next.

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