Two shadows stood silhouetted against the clear night sky. The twinkling stars and shimmering crescent moon illuminated the scorched Baluchistan Plateau behind them, a vast sprawling land bare of vegetation. Worn away ridges, formed by wind erosion, were scattered among the sandy and dry ground, leaving no sign of any lifeforms.

Even though the Baluchistan Plateau resembled a deserted barren plain, the shadows seemed to be fashioned from flora and fauna. They were fraternal twins; they both shared golden-brown curls (though the girl wore a hijab over hers), pointed ears and emerald-green eyes. The girl wore a simple long black dress and the boy wore a black T-shirt and dark jeans.

The twins were fairies who controlled elemental magic. While the girl could summon animals and grow plants, the boy was cursed to harness the powers of ice and snow, the opposite of life and all that fairies stood for. The Queen of the Seelie Court, who presided over summer and spring, had banished them from Alfheim, the realm of fairies, for wherever the twins would go, death and destruction would follow because the boy could not control his emotions and would release his powers whenever he got upset. They were now confined to the human realm and forced to hide their uniqueness in the dull and ordinary life of Pakistan.

“We won’t get another chance, Amir,” the girl took a deep breath. “We must strike now.”

Amir shook his head as he replied, “I’m not ready, Adiva.”

“The planet cannot wait for you,” Adiva hissed, but not unkindly. “If we don’t target the factory now, it will continue to destroy the world.” She closed her eyes as she remembered how ice and snow had laid waste to Alfheim, no matter how good Amir’s intentions were.

The factory in question was Shadowfall Industries, a towering, dominating, steel factory. It was one of the biggest pollutants in the world, and it was no surprise that it was surrounded by high-tech surveillance cameras and iron-wrought gates.

The twins stood on its roof. Amir clenched his fist in frustration and a thin sheet of frost and ice crept over the spare steel boxes on the roof.

“Stop it!” Adiva exclaimed, worry etched clearly on her face. “You know that ice prevents sunlight and nutrients from reaching plants, right? Do you want to destroy Pakistan like Alfheim?”

Amir took a deep breath and when he exhaled, the frost and ice vanished into thin air. Turning to his sister, Amir asked, “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

“We get inside and persuade Javed Khan to stop mining and selling fossil fuels. If we cut off his coal, oil and natural gas supply, Pakistan will become greener,” Adiva explained as she raised her head determinedly.

Javed Khan was the notorious owner of Shadowfall Industries, whose only goal was to earn enough wealth to make his life heaven-like, even if it killed Earth.

The fairy twins crept inside the factory. Expensive steel machinery dotted the vast hall that was the main work centre. Sliding conveyer belts were utterly still beneath dangling metal claws and hooks; next to the conveyer belts were the various blast furnaces.

“Thank God, there’s no iron,” Amir muttered. Iron was lethal to fairies: it burned and stung them like little daggers.

A slow, deep chuckle echoed through the factory. Amir and Adiva tensed. The silhouette of a tall man stepped out from the shadows. He was in his forties with close-cropped ash-grey hair and steel-grey eyes.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that if I were you,” Javed sneered.

Amir and Adiva gasped as powerful bright lights flashed to life, illuminating the darkness. The walls of the factory were coated with a thin layer of iron and spiders built from the same hideous material crawled over them. The twins exchanged a terse look that conveyed all their despair, fear and shock. Amir clenched his fists as a wave of hopelessness overwhelmed him and he focused all his concentration in not blasting the room with ice.

However, his sister didn’t hesitate. “Earth, be with me!” she cried and thick green vines surged into the room, overlapping the steel machinery and trying to crush the iron spiders. But the spiders kept on coming. In waves and torrents, they clicked and clacked, like horrible clockwork toys out of a nightmare.

Javed shook his head in mock disappointment. Grinning, he spoke, “Oh, what a shame to destroy such beauty. I’d heard so much about you, the Aziz twins, how you were powerful and cunning enough to destroy Alfheim. In reality, you’re really foolish, but as pretty as flowers. But who needs useless nature when you can have the largest skyscraper, the fastest sports car?”

“Me,” Adiva forced out through gritted teeth. Her hands were outstretched as she controlled the looping and nimble vines — but the iron spiders were weakening her. With a cry, she was thrown backwards against the wall. Crash!

Adiva bit her lip to stop herself from crying out; the wall was constructed of iron. A few hundred spiders swarmed her and pinned her down. In a flash, the vines vanished as pain and exhaustion took their toll on her.

“Amir!” she shouted. Her brother’s green eyes snapped on her. “You have to freeze the spiders!”

“I can’t!” Amir sounded on the verge of collapsing from stress. “I could kill you! Look what I did to Alfheim; that was a whole realm, you’re just one fairy!”

“But you won’t!” Adiva forced back a scream of suffering. “I trust you! You have to believe in yourself, because I believe in you! This is your chance to save the planet. No matter what you have done before to Alfheim, no matter how many mistakes you make, you can still be a climate hero! A climate warrior!”

The words resonated deep in Amir’s soul. He took a deep breath and raised his hands. J

“Careful, fairy boy, you have no idea of the power you are unleashing,” a panicked Javed warned. Then his steely eyes widened as a blast of ice and snow erupted in the room.

A few weeks later …

The hot bright sun beat down on the lush green grass of the Baluchistan Plateau as Amir strolled over to his sister. Not a cloud scudded across the clear blue sky.

Adiva hummed to herself as she waved her hands and flowers bloomed in the barren land, their colourful petals unfurling. She was single-handedly restoring the flora of the Baluchistan Plateau; since she had come over, she grew a hundred plants daily and soon it was teeming with life as more animals gravitated towards it.

Only a smoking crater showed where Shadowfall Industries had once stood. Amir’s powers had not only destroyed the spiders, but also the factory. This time, unlike Alfheim, he had destroyed what was needed to benefit the world. Soon after, whining sirens had pierced the cold night air. The police arrived and arrested Javed Khan on the charges of mining, owning and selling illegal fossil fuels.

A happy Amir watched quietly as a brown sparrow landed on Adiva’s shoulder and chirped enthusiastically.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 18th, 2025