Fae phantom (Phantom fairy)
Guardians of the Inbetween
Common names: undead fairy, skel-fae, fairy ghost, goth fairies, corpse fae, “ahhhhhhh!”
Basic info
Fae phantom (of the pale variety)
Size: varies
Mass: varies
Lifespan: immortal
Description: Phantom fairies can vary quite a bit in their appearance as they come from several types of fae (see below for details). They tend have either extremely pale skin, or very dark, nearly black, skin, usually with a tinge of blue. Their eyes are completely white, and their lips are permanently tinted blue or black.
The change into undead has an odd side-effect on the Fae phantoms’ appearance when they leave the Inbetween. From some unknown reason, while they look perfectly complete inside the Inbetween, once outside it, their flesh seems clear and only their skeleton is visible. Their body seems to emanate a strange glow, creating a vague halo around them. These changes did cause them some alarm in the beginning, but they soon found out that this gruesome appearance was actually quite useful in their line of work.
Habitat: Phantom fairies live in the Inbetween, the interval between worlds. Very little is known about the Inbetween, as most beings only pass through it in order to get to another world or realm. We only know that space and time function differently there, which is why a living being can’t exist there for long (hence the undead guardians).
Diet: Phantom fairies, like many undead, don’t require nourishment. They are sustained by the magic that made them. However, it seems that phantom fairies are capable of digesting small amounts of food, and do enjoy some cookies or pretzels every now and then.
Fae phantom moving out of the Inbetween
Watch an introduction video about the Fae phantom
Habits & Culture
Fae phantom are a unique case among the fae because they are undead, turned so they could serve as guardians of the Inbetween. Centuries back, the Realm Separation Decree was signed with the purpose of regulating all movement between the different realms. However, it soon became clear that if the decree was to have any effect, someone will have to keep watch. Some magical beings opposed to the idea of movement regulation, and others were just terrible at keeping time… There were several attempts to establish a guard, and different magical creatures were involved, but in the end the task fell to the fae because many of them have the innate ability to move between realms at will.
The guardians need to live in the Inbetween, and while fae can easily pass through it, staying there for long periods of time proved fatal, so they did the only thing they could – they became undead.
Fae phantom outside of the Inbetween
When a fae is chosen to become a guardian, they go through a secret ceremony in which they officially cut all ties with the living, and are “born again” as undead. The ceremony is a closely guarded secret, but rumor is that it takes three days and nights, and involves the ingestion of a pretty nasty potion. The blue-black tinge of the Fae phantoms' lips led many to suspect that this potion is blue or black. There were several open debates about the exact shade of potion, but the Phantom fairies never got involved, though they do seem quite amused by it all. These ceremonies are incredibly rare, because, well, undead don’t die, so it’s only when a guardian is somehow killed that a new one is needed.
Phantom fairies mostly keep to themselves, partly because their job keeps them busy and partly because most other creatures find their appearance outside the Inbetween rather alarming and confusing. In a rare interview from 1432, the interviewer seemed quite fixated on it:
the 1432 interview manuscript
Interviewer: so you have to die to become a guardian?
Phantom fairy: no, we don’t die, we go through a transformation to become undead.
Interviewer: and you lose your physical form…
Phantom fairy: We have a physical form, even if you can only see our skeleton, it’s still physical, and as I explained before, this isn’t how we look in our realm…
Interviewer: “ah-ha ah-ha, so… fairies can die?”
Phantom fairy: “for the last time – we’re undead! ‘Un’, as in ‘not’, the opposite of ‘yes’, ‘not dead’! Is that clear now or do I have to demonstrate the meaning of ‘yes dead’?
Needless to say, the interview wasn’t very useful, and Phantom fairies have refused giving any since. But they don’t hold a grudge against us, in fact they rather like visiting our world, and especially on Halloween. It seems that because the boundaries of the realms thin on that night, they become visible in our world and even though they don’t exactly look human - it’s Halloween, and their appearance can pass as a costume.
In fact, there’s a group of phantom-fairies that became particularly fond of Halloween after discovering that their looks pass as super-cool in goth parties, and they have been joining them ever since.
So if you celebrate Halloween with the goth community, and happen across someone who looks and sounds a bit nonhuman, and well – has wings, do show some hospitality and offer them a drink or a dance.
Just, well, maybe don’t ask them if fairies can die…
