Things were not going well for W.I.T.C.H. their plan to tick Phobos into losing the stolen power of the Seal of Nerissa, which he had renamed in a great show of his narcissism the Staff of Phobos.
The plan was straight forward yet difficult to pull off. Once Phobos had stolen the staff it became apparent that the Guardians couldn't beat him in a fair fight, or an unfair fight for that matter, so they devised a plan to get him to Kandrakar and cause him to lose his new found powers because he had sworn on the Power of Kandrakar not to use the seal and to return the powers of the Seal had stolen back to their rightful owners, namely Elyon Brown, Queen of Meridian, and Kadma Starlighter, queen of Zamballa.
Unsurprisingly Phobos had broken his word and used the powerful magical artifact to reconquer Meridian before being tricked by his former knight Raythor, who had switched sides after finally seeing just how dishonorable Phobos was, into attacking Kandrakar.
However just as Phobos was about to step onto Kandrakar he was swallowed whole by his most loyal servant, Cedric, using the loophole that since Phobos had bequeathed him a fraction of his power, so that he may step onto a freshly conquered world, and that four fourths was a fraction so that he could take all of Phobos's power. He was also immune to the plan the Guardians had created because he had made no oath to Kandrakar.
Cedric had then set his sights on Earth, W.I.T.C.H's home, hoping to take the unsuspecting world for his own. This led to the Guardian's current life threating situation, battling a giant half snake-man in their hometown of Heatherfield, only being kept a secret from the world because of a Glamour Zone, put in place by the Regents of Earth, Matt Olsen, Napoleon and , making everyone only see the battle as cartoon on a large television screen outside a department store.
Cedric was just as power as Phobos was with his stolen powers and the girls simply had no hope of winning with how the battle was going. With hope slipping away to nothing Taranee Cook, the Fire Guardian, was contacted by those trapped in the Seal of Nerissa, the former Guardians C.H.Y.K.N with Yan Lin's Altemere and Elyon Brown each trapped as part of Nerissa's evil plans. They had agreed to work together with Nerissa so that their combined powers would be enough to reach the girls and come up with a plan. Upon seeing just how bad the situation was the trapped Guardians came to the conclusion that the only way to beat the Seal powered Cedric was to become one with the beings that powered the Heart of Kandrakar, namely the Four Dragons and the nymph Xin Jing.
"Focus Guardians, reach down to the core of your power, find the dragon within" Nerissa yelled to W.I.T.C.H through the telepathic link, the tone of her voice expressing just how much the Guardians need all of the Hearts power to fight Cedric.The Guardians flew in formation towards the giant shapeshifting serpent man "Guardians unite" exclaimed Will, her eyes glowing white with power.
"Water" came from Irma Lair her form changing to made of crystal clear water, almost completely transparent and always changing ever so slightly as the water she had become rippled as she flew on.
"Earth" Cornelia Hale cried out as she became what seemed to a sculpture of herself stone and dirt. The hair that she had always taken pride in was now more than twice as long as she was and it looked flawless, like pure golden silk, with yellow leafs entwined in it.
"Fire" howled Taranee Cook clocking herself in brilliant flames of crimson and pure white. The ends of her body flickering with great strength as she burned with great power.
"Air" Hay Lin bellowed like a mighty wind as the air around her seemed to become solid but still moving as it should. The air did not hide her away, seeming to cling to more tightly then a second skin. A twister of air surrounded her form seemingly also a part of what she now was.
Will Vandom inhaled so as to proclaim the power she had and in that brief time the glow in her changed form a peaceful white to a menacing red. "QuintessaaaaAAARRRRRHHHHH" the Keeper of the Heart screamed as it felt like something slammed into her soul and began borrowing itself inside. Will's form burst into energy, crackling red energy. There seemed to be to nothing within the mass of energy but slowly it shrunk down to resemble a human being. The mass of energy had long skinny arms and legs as a person would as well as a torso, neck and head but there was no definition to any of it, simply a smooth mass of energy in the shape of a person. Four red tendrils with three fingered claws on the end extruding from its back being the only thing not keeping with the human shape.
0o0o0
"Arh" Elyon shrieked and bent into the fetal position clutching her head as a massive backlash burst through the telepathic connection, which she was acting as the nexus for.
"What's wrong" a concerned Yan Lin quickly asked the hurting queen hoping that nothing had happened to the Guardians as they were not only the only hope for stopping Cedric but also their only hope of getting out of the crystal prison they had been trapped in.
"Irma, Cornelia, Taranee and Hay Lin changed and I could barely hear their voices but when Will changed it was like something had started screaming in my ear" the sound had been deafeningly painful, she had been close to passing out.
"That shouldn't happened" the worry in Nerissa's voice causing the group to give her looks of concern. "The process should have been a calm transition for all of them something must have gone wrong with Will transformation" Nerissa looked over at Elyon "is there anything different in her power than the others, is she weaker than them?"
Closing her eyes to concentrate on feeling out Will's power "no … in fact she seems stronger than the others, much stronger"
"That's good but what could have caused this?" Kadma asked Nerissa determined to ensure that they escaped from the seal of Nerissa.
"I don't know, I can't think of anything that would disrupt any of the Guardians from reaching the zenith of their power unless … no never mind it's not possible"
"What is it?" Cassidy questioned her former friend, seeing a look of fear flash over her face so quickly she almost missed it.
"It's nothing" Nerissa sighed shaking her head, as if to dislodge whatever thoughts she was having. "If it was what I thought it was then the Oracle would have the Heart locked up away so no one could get at it"
Her fellow prisoners looked around at each other hoping that one of them would know what the former Keeper was talking about. However each of them saw only the same puzzled expression that they had themselves.
Standing up a determined look found its way to Nerissa's face "whatever has happened to the girl is not something we can change from in here but there is one way we can still help. Cedric feeds off the power of my seal, if we taint that power from within"
"We can give him a mega kung pow case of indigestion" Yan Lin finished seeing the logic behind the plan and with that they got to work trying their best to disrupt the power Cedric was leeching from the Seal of Nerissa.
0o0o0
The sound of cars being crushed could be heard as Cedric chased after the annoying little fire creature, uncaring for the destruction coursed by his giant form. Since the Guardians had changed into … whatever they were now they had been ducking and weaving through the maze of giant buildings, the little fire one shooting powerful fireballs at him as she did so.
The exception being the red one that seemed to be made of raw energy. Just when Cedric thought that he had one of the little brats cornered the red one would burst through a building blasting him with some kind of laser or bashing into him and then drill away, using her own body as said drill, through a different building. In the back of his mind he realized that her hit and run tactic was doing far more property damage then he was doing.
Rounding a corner Cedric spotted the fiery little pest. 'If I can't catch her the perhaps its best to fight fire with fire' he thought exhaling a stream of flames at the Fire Guardian. Only for the girl absorb his flames growing in size as she did.
Not seeing this or perhaps simply not caring about the uselessness of his attack in his enraged mindset Cedric continued his attack, until the power supplying his blazing breath caught in his throat causing nothing but smoke to fill his mouth. With a wheezing, dry cough Cedric's attention left the Guardian he had been attacking as he focused on trying to breath.
His curiosity caused him to concentrate on his surroundings as he heard the sound of rustling leafs and the feeling of something rapping around his arms and torso. Looking behind him he saw one of the Guardians, the one that now looked like a tree, stretching out her golden leaf filled hair trying to constrict him by binding his arms to his chest, and it was working.
Cedric roared "I still have power" as he struggled to break the bonds that now held him. As he did so he noticed a large blob of water float, with almost dancing movements, towards him. 'Another of the Guardian, it doesn't matter when I get free I'll…' the thought died in his head as the mass of water pressed itself against his lips. Shocked at the 'attack' the colossal snake man's mind went blank.
Cedric soon felt wrong as a thirst the like of which he'd never know filled his senses. It was with a shocking insight that he realized what was happening 'she's draining the water from my body'. Struggling to get his lips away watery Guardian Cedric shock his head from side to side hoping to dislodge the water sucking monster.
When he realized that this wouldn't be enough he was filled with a primal fear of what would happen if he didn't escape. Adrenaline shot through his body he broke the mud-like Guardians binding and shoved the water Guardian away from him, watching her brake up into hundreds of tiny drops of water. Then to his terror reform as if nothing had happened.
Seeing her come at him again Cedric decided now was the time to flee, turning from her and slithering away with as much speed as his new form would allow. He didn't get far as the a fourth guardian, the Air Guardian judging from the cyclone around her form, appeared in front of him, cutting off his exit.
Before Cedric could plan a new escape route the Air Guardian summoned a column of air him sucking all the oxygen from his lungs. "Can't … breathe" wheezed shape shifter trying desperately to get even the smallest of breaths into his body. Had his need for oxygen not been so great as to take all of his attention then he may have noticed the final glowing red Guardian floating above him.
For a moment Will did nothing but float there, watching the power stealing snake man gasp for breath. As she watched a primal hunger seamed to bubble up from the depth of her soul. While it didn't have any out signs the pressure it placed on her, or what was left in her current condition, was so great that she would do anything to relieve the stress.
Much to Will's relief something from the same place that the pressure came from gave her the solution to that problem. With her goal now set the glowing mass of energy that was once Will shot towards Cedric, twisting and spinning her body like she had been doing to tunnel through the buildings.
Cedric never knew what hit him, one moment he was struggling for breath within the Air Guardians cursed twister the next a pain that dwarfed any other burst from his chest. No longer feeling the need to get air into his lungs the colossal being looked down to see what could cause this absurd amount of pain. He couldn't see his chest simply because it wasn't there anymore.
Unable to truly comprehend what had happened Cedric looked around him, hoping to find a reason that his chest, and by extension a number of vital organs, weren't where they should be. When he looked behind he saw the Guardian that was covered in red energy, the Keeper he realized in the strange moment of clarity he was having, with her arms stretched out in front of her where a red magic circle had formed, the appendages from her back coming forward towards her hands to aid in bringing the magic circle into existence.
The last thing Cedric saw was the color red.
The last thing he heard was his own scream.
The last thing he felt was his head disintegrate under the power of the Keeper's attack.
Will watched as Cedric head vanished into nothingness then waited for the pressure to dissipate. When it didn't she began to panic, again with no outward effects, but then she saw the monsters still standing corpse seemingly implode in on itself. She watched as the body got smaller and smaller, not paying attention to Phobos, the Staff of Nerissa or the now creaked Heart of Meridian as they all fall to the sidewalk below, until Cedric's remains were nothing but a floating purple ball, small enough to fit in the palm of her hand, with a small wisp of fire coming from the top, darker purple markings that matched the red area on the now dead snake-man's face,a small snakes tongue flicking out the front.
Feeling compelled, and still with no true willpower from the zenith transformation, Will moved to grab the orb, 'soul' spoke the voice that wasn't a voice from the source of the pressure, then lowered herself to the ground, along with her fellow Guardians, the other four forming a line and her behind others with her back to the them.
Ignoring the sound of people talking behind her Will was about to do what her instincts were telling her to and swallow the soul. Or was it the not voice telling her to eat she wasn't sure? However before she could so much as twitch she felt something stir in her own soul. It seems she was waking up from the sleep this transformation had put her in, and something else was coming with her.
0o0o0
It was beautiful. Will had no idea how she had ended here, or even where 'here' was for that matter, and she almost didn't care. This place was a sea of stunning colors, which she was floating through in her Guardian form, constantly but slowly flowing around her. She couldn't remember being so at peace in her life.
As much as Will would have liked to stay here longer, a lot long, she knew she couldn't. She and the other Guardian had to beat Cedric. That was the last thing she remembered, she and the others fighting, and losing to, the giant snake creature, then nothing. Just as they had come up with a plan she remembered a massive pain throughout her whole body and then she was here.
Her first thought was that she had been caught off guard, killing her and that this was heaven or some kind of really nice limbo but when she remembered what she was trying to do she came up with a more positive theory. This must be inside the Heart of Kandrakar.
It made sense to her when she thought about it. Her goal before the blackout was to make contact with the nymph Xin Jing which was inside the Heart, or was the Heart, that part of its creation legend was confusing. The many colors could also be the essence of the four dragons mixing and forming new patterns in the seemingly empty space.
None of that mattered in the long run however as her only goal at the moment was to get out of here and back to the fight against Cedric. So she flew as fast as she could thought this place looking for anything different, something that might lead to the power she needed to defeat her enemy or maybe even an exit.
"Come on there has to be something here" Will said to herself, desperation slowly beginning to seep into her voice. She looked in all directions hoping to see anything.
"Nothing … this place is completely emp... wait what's that?" there was something to her left far off in the distance. The colors were different over there. Everywhere else the colors just moved without any order or reason, but over there was a big black mass that, while the edges moved and calmly thrashed about, was unmoving and at its center was a small red dot.
Seeing it as the first lead she had Will flew towards it with all the speed she could managed. Arriving moments later the Keeper began to feel a sense of unease and fear wash over her. Within the black mass all the colors outside seemed to be muted, almost grey scaled But it was the small red ball with a wisp tale on top of it that seemed to be the source of the sensation.
"Something isn't right with this thing … but I need to get out of here and this is the only thing that is even a little different to everything else" the Guardian muttered to herself considering her options. She could try and do something with this red ball or she could keep flying. The ball was a risk, she didn't know what it was and it was giving off really bad vibes but on the other had it was the only thing she had seen here that might be able to allow her to leave and she had no reason to believe that there was anything else in this place.
Making up her mind Will moved to touch the red orb "well here goes nothing".
The moment her hand made contact with the orb she knew she had made a mistake.
A huge mistake.
The whole place began shaking, even flying around in the air Will still struggled to keep upright. Next the black space that surrounded her appeared to start melting. Deciding that getting caught in the lake of dark sludge that was starting to form under her she flew out of the liquefying area and saw just had bad things had got in the minute since she had touched the red ball.
The entre void was turning red, all of the other colors that made this place so beautiful looking as if they were being consumed by the same crimson red that the ball had been. Black lightning with a red glow danced around her, a crackling sound following where ever it appeared. Even after escaping the black space it seemed that the sludge was here to, leaking down from the top of this place, looking down the lake had quickly expanded filling the bottom of the area and still growing.
"This is not good, this place looks like it falling apart" Will muttered in a panic. "I need to leave NOW".
Looking around just like before in hopes of seeing an exit, or at least a place that wasn't falling apart, Will's eyes again fall on the red orb, not because she still thought of it as a way to escape but because it was now staring back. In front of the orb were three eye shaped bundles of the lightning that was filling the area, all three fighting with each other as if trying to get the best view, but all of them seemed to be focused on her.
Making the assumption that getting as far away from that thing as possible was a good idea Will turned to fly away, however it was not going to happen as she felt something grab her leg. Quickly whirling back to see what had taken hold of her she was shocked to see a sickly pale skin colored, and almost completely flat, tentacle had shot out of the ever-growing pool of black sludge, which now seemed to fill a full quarter of the void.
Panicking, Will shot out lightning at the hindrance to her escape and to her relief the tentacle burned away, as if it were made of paper. Fear quickly replaced that relief as many more of them shot out from the black mud, all with the apparent same intent as their disintegrated friend. Doing that same to them as the other Will zapped as many as she could before they could get her but there were simply too many of them and eventually one got a hold of her arm followed by another grapping her around the waist. Many more bound themselves to Will's body and tried to pull her down, fortunately her wings were still free and she was able to slow down the things attempting to pull her into the black sludge.
"Why fight it?" came a calm disembodied voice.
"W-who's their" Will stuttered being taken by surprise by the sudden voice. She tried turning her head hoping to see whoever, or whatever, was talking to her.
"Why try and find a reason where there is none, not in what you have done and not in what you are doing, so why not just give in?" the voice came again sounding closer this time.
"I don't know what you are but I'm not going to let you pull me into that stuff" Will growled back, still struggling against her bindings as they lowly drag her towards the black sludge and hoping to catch a glimpse of what ever was talking to her.
"You don't have a choice in the matter, first insanity will consume you a then you will grow strong so that you may give everyone the peace of madness" again the voice sounded closer than before, in fact it was almost like it was talking in her ear.
"Never" Will yelled increasing her thrashing against the constricting wraps. "I don't care what you are but I helped take down scarier things then a something that doesn't even have a body".
"I know I have seen it, every fight, and every battle. I've also felt it, all the fear and paranoia." the voices tone shifted taking on a slightly more sinister tone "The paranoia that I've helped empower as to breed more madness in you like have done to so many before you" glee seemed to briefly fill the voice "you were so much easier to influence then Nerissa"
"What?" the shock of the statement caused Will's wings to stop for a moment, before starting up upon being sharply tugged at by the things trying to drag her into the inky blackness. "What have you got to do with Nerissa?"
"Ah Nerissa she was a challenge, clinging to her friendships until the very end" Will saw a flash of movement to her left where the voice was coming from but before she could see what it was it wasn't there anymore. "It took so long to get her to believe that she needed more and more power to keep her safe from everything around her" another sign of movement, from the right, again were the voice was coming from, and once more nothing there. "And then just before I could clam her we were separated but I still called out to her and she came for me even going through that chatty little water pest".
"Y-you turn Nerissa into the power crazed psycho she is now?" the fear Will was feeling now was suffocating. This … thing had twisted Nerissa into something she wasn't and it had ruined so many lives. That left only one question "what are you?"
As if summoned it flew in front of her. The red orb, the three eyes still fighting with each other. "I am the Kishin, the madness at the core of the Heart of Kandrakar".
Will opened her mouth but was cut off by the Kishin "it was so nice of you to open your soul to me, it sped along my work by a great deal. No need to slowly drag you into madness when I could pull you in with one yank"
"I'll never let you control me" despite the defiance in her voice Wills eyes were filled with nothing but fear, something that the Kishin picked up on.
"Control? I'm not going to control you. No, when I'm done there will no longer be you or me, just us" Will could hear the smug smile in its voice.
Before she could ask what the orb meant by that Will felt her something touch her foot. Looking down she saw that her feet were beginning to submerge beneath the black sludge.
"No no no" soon her waist had disappeared under the dark slime "please someone, anyone, help me" she screamed as it reached her chest "NOOOOO…" was the thing Will said before her head was swallowed up too.
"Finally no more waiting, madness will prevail" spoke the Kishin following the Keeper under the surface of the black ocean. Leaving only a chaotic red void filling with a maddening black sludge.
0o0o0
"Why isn't she changing back?" Matt, still in his Shagon form, asked to everyone around him felling like he had the least information of everyone present.
After Cedric's defeat it had been simple for those trapped inside the Heart of Meridian to escape by harmonizing with each other. Nerissa had, predictably, tried to escape on her own in order to use the temporarily mindless Guardians to conquer the still recovering worlds but it had backfired on her, leaving her stuck in her own little fantasy world while the others escaped.
Upon returning to the real world the former Guardians and queen of Meridian, joined by Matt Olsen, one of the regents of the Earth and Will's boyfriend, saw what had become of the W.I.T.C.H girls and hoped that they would come back from their power up.
It wasn't long before that, much to their relief, that four of the girls returned to normal, albeit in disoriented and in Guardians form. However Will still remained in her zenith form still eyeing the orb that was left behind by Cedric's death, something that the girls were still trying to come to terms with.
When they had tried to get close to Will the tendrils on her back had lashed out keeping everyone about two meters away from the still powered up Keeper. So here they were standing around the last Guardian trying to think of anything that could bring her back.
"I don't know she wasn't with us in the black space" Taranee said trying to calm the panicking Regent, not that it was doing much good.
Hay Lin had been rubbing the side of her head trying anything to get an idea to help her friend. "Think … think, I know what if we … huh?" cutting herself off the Air Guardian noticed something different about Will that had slipped her mind. "Is it me or is their more lightning coming off her then before?"
The others all took a moment to see if Hay Lin was right, which she was, but before any of them could theorize what this meant Will began to move for the first time since the others had surrounded, minus the defensive lashes. She had opened her mouth, or the cartoonish zigzagging pattern that past as a mouth, so wide that the angle of the joint was almost 90 degrees. Following that she placed the orb in her mouth and quickly slammed it shut then swallowed.
"Eww, did Will just eat what was left of Cedric?" Cornelia asked rhetorically with a look of disgust on her face.
"Maybe it tastes like chicken?" Irma joked, getting deadpanned looks or glares from the others. "Ok, ok it was just a joke".
Whatever repercussions Irma would have face for making light of the situation quickly took a back seat the large bolts of lightning that had started shooting off Will's body. A bright flash followed this not only blinding everyone but sent them flying backwards. When they had all picked themselves up and could see again they all look towards Will and were shocked at her appearance.
Will looked to be the same age as when she was in her guardian form and that was where the similarities ended. The only clothes that she was wearing, if they could be called that, were strips of … something that formed some kind of long skirt that came down to her knees as well as wrapping around her chest. She also appeared to be wearing a scarf, or maybe two, with four ends sticking out, like they had replaced the tendrils from when she was in her zenith form, each one have three stubs on the end, looking almost like fingers. The strangest thing she was wearing was a hood that covered her face from the nose up, seemingly blocking her ability to see. All of it was the same color as her now pale skin, the only thing not that sickly color were three black eye shaped markings on the front of the hood. The Heart of Kandrakar was hanging around her neck as always.
For a moment no one moved, they just stood there trying to understand Will's odd transformation. It was Matt that recovered first rushing up to Will from the place he had landed behind her.
"Will are you ok? What happened? Wha…" Matt was cut off from any more questions as Will waved the back of her hand in front of his face, a red streak following it. A look of confusion past Matts face, as hard as it was to tell with his golden mask in place, the still moment ended when blood shot out of his nose and a large red pulse burst from Will's hand, were it rested at the end of its swing, throwing the Regent back several meters and through a store window.
"Will what has gotten into you?" Yan Lin yelled out in complete confusion, a confusion that Will took full advantage of. One of the scarf arms shot out towards the former Air Guardian, who was too shocked to even think of dodging out of the way. Just before it hit her forehead the fingers curled back, , then lashed out flicking the old women in the head, leaving a mark that look just like one of the eyes on Will's hood.
A look of confusion planted itself to Yan Lin's face, that looked similar the one Matt had worn before he went flying, then vanished as blood fired out of her mouth and nose and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.
"Grandma!" a panicked Hay Lin screamed watching her grandmother hit the ground like a sack of bricks.
The others, realizing that something was very wrong with the Keeper, all took defensive positions, the remaining Guardians standing guard over their fallen mentor while the rest got between the crazed Guardian and the store that Matt had been thrown into. Will looked between the two groups, at least that's what it looked like with her eyes covered by her new hood.
Deciding that the best thing to do in her current position, surrounded and outnumbered, would be to avoid the coming fight Will chose to retreat. Her escape came in the form of a fold she quickly opened with a flick of the Heart. Yet before she could move through it Kadma, who had quickly recovered the Heart of Zamballa upon being freed, tried to stop her by trapping her with arms made of the stone beneath her.
Reacting quickly to the attack Will placed her hands together, as if preying, and a red barrier covered in many strange symbols surrounded her stopping the stone arms for coming within a meter of her. Using the gap between the failed attack and any that might follow Will leapt through the fold shutting it behind her but not before some of the others got a look at where it lead.
"What the heck is going on" Irma yelled out voicing everyone thoughts, clearly just as panicked as everyone else.
"That couldn't have been Will, Will wouldn't do this" Hay Lin spoke her voice soft and full of fear, trying desperately to understand what had just happened. She had knelt down to check on her grandmother who was thankfully still breathing.
"It doesn't matter if it was Will of not, did you see were that fold lead?" Cornelia said grabbing everyone's attention. "It was Kandrakar, whether that thing is or isn't Will it's dangerous so we need to follow it and make sure it doesn't do any more harm"
"And then we can concentrate on turning Will back to normal" Taranee agreed, determination showing in her voice "just one question, what do we do about Irma and Matt?"
"Don't worry we'll can take care of them" Cassidy spoke up as she gestured to the other former Guardians, as well as Yan Lin's Altemere. "We're all still pretty drained from escaping the Heart of Meridian" she looked to Kadma who was panting on her knees after her failed attack. "We'll look after them, you go fix your friend"
"With that settled, I'll open us up a fold to Kandrakar" Elyon said using her returned powers to create a way to follow Will
Through the fold they went following after their crazed friend hoping that she could be returned to normal.
0o0o0
And that's it for the restart. For those that read the old chapter 1 don't worry most of that info will be carried over to a future chapter.
Also the reason for the slow updates is simple because I do this for fun and don't have a schedule, plus I'm easily distracted (monster hunter and xenoverse are awesome).