Chapter One: Some Unexpected Events
Daphne clutched Bloom tightly as she ran down the corridor of the palace of Domino. The sound of the Ancestral Witches' laughter echoed behind her. A sudden certainty hit the Supreme Nymph of Magix. She couldn't get away from the witches.
The princess of Domino looked at her baby sister in her arms and an idea stuck. First she transferred the guardianship of the Dragon Flame to the little girl she held as she ran. Then she opened a portal to take Bloom to safety. There wasn't time to tell the spell exactly where to take her; all Daphne could do was ensure her sister would be safe from the Ancestrals.
As soon as the portal was closed, Daphne turned to meet the witches. When the dust of that battle settled, Daphne was gone.
Many years ago when the lands of Magix came into being, legend said that the breath of a Great Dragon created all. Most people assumed the legend to be untrue but they were wrong. A Great Dragon had used its flame to create every part of the Magix Dimension. Then, tired out, it settled down on the most beautiful planet of its creation and went to sleep. It had lived on this planet – Domino – ever since.
Most of the citizens of Domino knew this, but none of them knew that the dragon was capable of shifting into the same appearance they had. In fact, the Great Dragon spent most of her time in a human form as it was more convenient for her.
She was in this form when a portal opened and an infant came through it.
"Hello little one," she said as she picked the child up and looked at her. To the Great Dragon's surprise, she recognised the little girl as the youngest daughter of the King and Queen of Domino. And she held the Great Dragon's own flame. This confused the Great Dragon a little as she was sure the elder princess had been the flame's guardian. It didn't take long however for the Great Dragon to put the pieces together.
"I don't think I'm up to child-raising," the dragon murmured as she placed a kiss on the child's forehead. "There, you have my blessing. It will always protect you now."
Turning back into draconic form, the Great Dragon breathed out a stream of fire over the infant, sending her away through a second portal. This time she ended up on Earth, inside a burning building.
It was one of the firemen, Mike, who found her. He and his wife Vanessa had been trying to have children for several years but found that they could not. When no one could find the child's parents, custody was given to Mike and his wife. Vanessa felt a voice in her head, telling her the child's name was Bloom.
Daphne came too slowly and in confusion. How was she alive? Then she noticed that one of her hands was rather opaque.
The Princess of Domino looked carefully at herself and came to a realisation. She was non-corporeal. In other words, she was a ghost.
Just then, Daphne became aware of her surroundings. She was inside a cave at the bottom of Lake Roccalucci. Daphne knew the place well. A large basin, which she had often used for scrying stood in the middle of the cave. Floating over to it, Daphne placed her ghostly hand over the basin and recited the spell that would allow her to view her sister through the basin. The image appeared.
Daphne saw a male firefighter take her sister from the flames of the fire he was putting out. The ghostly princess resolved to watch over her sister forever.
Many years had passed since Mike and Vanessa had taken in the child he had rescued from a fire. The couple had never told their daughter that she was adopted and she remained in ignorant bliss. She dreamt often of fairies but didn't realise it meant anything. Even though it did.
It was the first day of her summer holidays and Bloom was feeling frustrated at the overprotectiveness of her parents. She was leaning against a tree in the park and grumbling to herself about the unfairness of not being allowed to go on holiday with her friends when Kiko, her pet rabbit, came running towards her in a panic.
Bloom got up to go and see what had scared her pet. Hidden from her former line of sight behind some trees, Bloom found a battle taking place.
One of the combatants was a tall, tanned girl with a pair of wings on her back. Golden blonde hair was separated into two bunches. Her outfit was also Golden and glittered in the sun. In her hand she held a staff.
The girl was fighting against a creature Bloom had only ever seen in books – an ogre. It seemed that the ogre wanted the staff the girl had.
As Bloom watched, the ogre gained the upper hand and took the staff from the girl. Without thinking Bloom stepped forward and demanded the ogre let the girl go. The ogre laughed and ordered the Ghouls it had with it to attack Bloom.
"Get back," shouted Bloom, thrusting her hand out in front of her. To her surprise the ghouls all fell back away from her. The ogre growled and picked her up by both arms shaking her like a doll.
"Get off me!" Bloom yelled, anger and something she couldn't identify welling up inside her until it pushed out. The ogre was forced to let her go. In the confusion, the girl reclaimed her staff.
Staff in hand, the girl began to attack the ogre once more. A ghoul ran over to Bloom and tried to bite her leg. A stick took care of the ghoul, but a piece of Bloom's jeans was ripped off and taken by the ghoul. The ogre backed away and suddenly, it and the ghouls vanished.
"Finally," the girl murmured with a smile, before collapsing in a dead faint on the grass. As she fainted, her clothing changed and her wings vanished.
"Run that by me one more time." Mike was a very practical man and his daughter was sprouting off some nonsense about fairies and ogres in the park. He really couldn't believe what she was telling him. It just wasn't possible that the girl currently passed out on his sofa was a fairy.
A groan alerted the family that their unexpected guest was waking up.
"How do you feel dear?" asked Vanessa kindly.
"I'm alright. Thank you for your help. I really must be going now."
"I don't think so. You ought to be visiting a hospital young lady," said Mike.
"But I have to get to Alfea Castle in Magix. I was on my way there when that ogre attacked me and I had to land."
"What's Alfea Castle?" asked Bloom.
"It's the best school for fairies in Magix. Are you not enrolled?" the girl asked.
"I'm not a fairy," Bloom protested.
"You must be," retorted the other girl. "You used magic against that ogre." Bloom's jaw dropped. "You should come with me to Alfea," the girl said.
"I don't even know your name," pointed out Bloom.
"Oh of course, how rude of me, I'm Stella, Princess of Solaria. I'm the fairy of the sun, moon and stars."
"I'm Bloom."
The front door of the house flew open with a crash. The ogre and ghouls stood in the doorway along with another creature. Stella informed Bloom that it was a hunting troll.
Quickly, Stella removed a ring from her finger and threw it into the air with a cry of 'Solaria'. The ring grew and stretched into the staff, Stella had had in the battle earlier. As her hand closed around the staff, her dress changed into the golden glittery outfit she had been wearing earlier and her wings reappeared.
Stella began to shoot beams of magic at the ogre and troll. Bloom tried to attack herself and found she was picking the ghouls off one by one whilst Stella distracted the other two.
When all the ghouls had gone, Bloom turned her attacks upon the ogre despite knowing she wasn't strong enough. But with both Bloom and Stella attacking, the battle moved backwards into the street. A misaimed spell of Bloom's caused the street to crack and the hunting troll fell into the new chasm.
A flash of light pre-empted the arrival of four guys around the same age of the two fairies. The ogre looked at the new arrivals and disappeared again. One of the boys knelt down and placed a collar round the hunting troll's neck.
Stella introduced the boys as students of Alfea's brother school; Red Fountain.
The boys left with the hunting troll whilst Stella and Bloom set about tidying up the mess of the battle.
"Stella, I want to come to Alfea and learn to use my powers," Bloom decided when everything was done.