(INSPIRED BY THE PROMPT: “Write about how you became the world’s most powerful person...by accident.”)
In retrospect, offering to get groceries for the old lady next door wasn’t an accident. While the rest of the kids in the neighborhood thought she was crazy, Bailey never understood why. It seemed like something that they had just adopted as the truth even though as far as she could tell the old lady next door had never done anything particularly suspicious. She was definitely someone her parents would consider eccentric with her penchant for adding a gargoyle or two to her roof every May instead of only having them up for Halloween, but the old lady always waved to her when she got home from school from her front porch.
All of eight years old, Bailey had started taking on more responsibility around her house. Her parents were pretty busy and she wanted to help so she volunteered to go to the store to pick up some essentials for her parents. Since there was only really a need for eggs and milk, she was confident she could get everything in one trip but knew she’d have time and energy to spare. She realized she never saw the old lady leave to get groceries but figured she could do something nice for her and asked he if she wanted anything from the store.
The twinkle in the old lady’s eyes as she asked “What do you want in exchange?” did strike Bailey as a little odd but she just shrugged and said she didn’t need anything in particular. She was curious why the old lady seemed surprised, but ran along to the store to get her some chocolate she’d asked for.
Bailey dropped off the chocolate on her way home and the old lady kissed her on the forehead and said “I give you my blessing.” Bailey smiled and nodded, albeit setting her confusion aside and merrily went on her way home to drop the milk and eggs off in her family’s fridge before heading off to play with her friends.
Over the years, Bailey continued helping those in need. Every so often she’d encounter other slightly eccentric people who continued to give her blessings and forehead kisses. Young and old alike, they always seemed to be a little in awe of her. Throughout her life, Bailey always felt like she was extraordinarily lucky -- from the schools she was accepted into easily, to the jobs she took that rarely ever felt like work and she thoroughly enjoyed.
When she turned 25, Bailey was approached by two young men with twinkling eyes. They introduced themselves as Sebastian and Avery and said they were volunteering to act as her knights and would stay by her side to protect her against those who would seek to take away her blessings. At first, Bailey thought they were just being funny and accepted them into her friend group, but once she started explaining the Fairie hierarchy and proved to her the amount of blessings she’d amassed made her the most powerful person in the world, she had to take them a bit more seriously. After all, there were some immortal beings arriving in the mortal realm next Tuesday that were anxious to meet her -- and some of them weren’t happy that a mortal was owed so many favors from some very powerful Fairies.