The Dragon and the Demon
A Winx Club Prequel

Part One: In The Beginning

Chapter One: The Person in the Poison

The wooden doors to the main temple of Light Haven burst open, and Lord Knight Inalden of Magix burst through, clutching a bundle for dear life. Immediately, Saramel ran to him. "Lord Knight!" he cried. "How are you feeling? For Dragon's sake, why were you out in that storm?"

The Lord Knight handed the bundle to his friend and servant. "It was His will, Saramel. He called me to be out there. He called me to the gardens."

"Lord Knight, there are no gardens. It's winter, one of the harshest known. The gardens are all but destroyed... impossible to find, too."

At that, Inalden smiled. "Not where He is concerned, Saramel. Your faith must be broken today. A patch of nightshade grew out of the drifts... and a little girl as well."

As if on cue, the bundle that Saramel hold shivered, and he looked at it for the first time. "A child! A baby child!"

"Yes, Saramel. A true daughter of the dragon, surviving for at least an hour in that storm, with only one blanket to protect her. There was a fire in that snowstorm tonight, and I have brought her in. She will be beautiful and death defying, like the flowers she was found among. Nightshade," he mused. "Belladonna... no, no, much too long. Let's shorten it a little. Belladonne. Her name will be Belladonne of Magix, and she will grow up to be a priestess of the great Dragon that preserved her life."

"But, Lord Knight... who will care for her? She cannot live with the training priestesses, the youngest of them are nine. A baby child has no place at Light Haven."

"Fear not. I will raise her." Inalden took Belladonne from Saramel and held her tenderly.

"B...b..but sir. You are much too old to be her father!"

The Lord Knight frowned. "You are correct. She will call me 'Grandfather' instead."

And that was the end of that.

"Grandfather, grandfather! Look what I did?"

Inalden, sitting in the best of the gardens, looked to his ward, the three year old Belladonne. In her years at Light Haven, she had become well loved. Those closest to the Dragon said that she was touched by fire, just as the Lord Knight himself had assumed. In fact, he sometimes believed that her connection was so strong, she melted the patch of snow that concealed the flowers she was found in all by herself. He always shook off the thought. That was magic, the word that they used when someone was so connected to the Dragon that part of his power resided in them... and by his reckoning, magic was impossible.

Sweet Belladonne held up an eraseable tablet. She had taken many colors of chalk and scribbled all over it. Her long, straight black hair flopped into her face, covering one of her clear blue eyes, and her little white robe was stained with chalk dust. Inalden felt an overwhelming feeling of love for the girl. Even if he hadn't been commanded by the Dragon to raise her, he felt that he would have. She was a daughter to him. "What did you draw, little one?" he asked.

Belladonne grinned. "It's you, grandfather!" she said, her voice filled with pride.

She handed the tablet to him for closer examination. "Ah, yes," he said, "I see." He really didn't, but nobody could expect a three year old child to be a master artist. "Now, Belladonne, a lesson. An easy one. Who made Grandfather?"

"The Dragon," she answered, smiling. This lesson was a favorite game of hers, and important to her training later. To become a true priestess, her faith would have to be unshakeable.

"And who made you?"

"The Dragon!"

"And who made the colors?"

"The Dragon!"

"And who drew the picture?"

"The Dra... me, silly!" Belladonne fell down in a fit of laughter. She always fell for that. Inalden was starting to suspect that she did it on purpose.

He scooped her up, and she laughed louder, loudly enough that some of the priestesses tending the flowers stopped to stare. They smiled at the sight of the little girl being raised up by the eldest and most important warrior in the monastery. After all, who couldn't? The Dragon had bestowed both with something that they might not have had otherwise- a family.

"But I don't want to leave our quarters," Belladonne argued.

Inalden pursed his lips. His child was a week from nine years, and soon to live in the training priestess dormitory. Truthfully, he didn't want her to leave either, but it was something that she had to do. "Belladonne, look into your heart. What does the Dragon want? You usually know."

"I know he wants me to be a priestess, grandfather," she said impatiently, "but couldn't I please go to lessons and then come home with you?"

"Belladonne," Inalden said, a stern tone laced through his voice, "you are growing fast. In five years, you will be a woman. The Dragon has created us to grow, and part of growing is living away from those you love. You are luckier than most. You will see me every day, and you will be able to spend every weekend with me. Many of the other training priestesses will have to stay far from their families, as it is much too far to travel. Be grateful for your blessings, and let go of your concerns."

"Yes, grandfather," Belladonne agreed, but she looked far from happy about it.

They packed, all through the week, a little at a time when they could. And soon, it was Belladonne's birthday. With a heavy heart, they walked across Light Haven to the training priestess dormitories, and Inalden kissed his child on the forehead.

"But I don't want to go!"

He looked at Belladonne for a second before realizing it was not her voice. Inalden glanced behind him to see a couple, and a small girl between them. The woman and child were both crying. "I will never see you and mother again!" she said.

The father took his daugher by the shoulders, rougher than Inalden thought necessary. "You have been promised to the Dragon since birth. Your mother and yourself have begged to wait, and it is already three months past your birthday. Today you will go and serve, and that is that."

He unhanded the child, only to push her towards the dormitory. He then turned and walked away, his wife trailing behind unhappily.

Belladonne ran towards the girl, who was crying. Belladonne hugged her until the tears stopped, and then ran a hand through the other's wavy brown hair. "The Dragon has created us to grow, and part of growing is living away from those you love," she said quietly. "I have to do it too, but I'm lucky. My grandfather lives here. Maybe he can be your grandfather, too."

The little girl dried her eyes, and Belladonne took her hand. "My name is Belladonne of Magix," she said. "Who are you?"

"Lysslis of Eraklyon," the little girl whispered, with a sniffle.

Belladonne smiled. "Lysslis is a pretty name," she said. "It's my first day too. We can be best friends because of that."

"Let's talk about magic," said Priestess Renna

Belladonne was hunched over in her desk, and Lysslis glanced at her. "Pssst, Bella, what's wrong?" she whispered. Belladonne didn't answer.

Priestess Renna stood in front of the chalkboard, looking at each of the ten twelve year old girls training to be priestesses of the Dragon. Lysslis and Belladonne were towards the back, along with one other girl... three others sat in front of them, and four sat in the first row, crowded in. "Who knows what it is?"

Lazily, Belladonne held up her hand. Nobody else did, so although she was always called on- after all, as the only girl raised at Light Haven, she knew most of the lessons and issues that they were supposed to learn about- she was picked. "Magic is the phenomena that occurs when someone's connection to the Dragon is so deep that the person can channel His power."

"And do you believe it possible?" Renna pressed.

Belladonne pondered, and Lysslis wondered if she was going to say 'yes.' Plenty of people did believe in magic, and nobody was really against the idea, but it was thought to be foolish. After all, if the Dragon gave people access to godly powers, wouldn't everyone be a god? Or the Dragon be a human? That was the true scandalous idea, that more than two gods, the Dragon and his dark brother the Shadow Phoenix, existed.

When Belladonne finally spoke, it was with words picked carefully. "I think the Dragon acts in our lives in ways that could be seen as magic. Was it magic that my grandfather knew where to find me in the garden? Is it magic when the candles flicker during worship? Before we talk about magic, we must first define it more thoroughly."

Renna nodded. "Wise beyond your years as always, Belladonne. Alright, I think that is enough for today's religion class. You are free to do as you wish."

Lysslis and Belladonne left together, as always. "That was a pretty speech," Lysslis commented to her best friend of three years.

"It wasn't me. The Dragon told me to say it. And in a way... I think it was a lie."

They turned into one of the gardens, this one being particularly overgrown and abandoned for unknown reasons. It had quickly become the girls' secret spot. "What do you mean, Bella?" Lysslis asked.

"I mean, magic exists. But the world isn't ready for it. The Dragon told me so. He gives me magic, sometimes... just to show me. But I'm not going to get it forever until I am the high priestess."

Lysslis's jaw dropped. "The high priestess? But that'll take forever!"

"No, no, it won't." Belladonne ran her fingers through her friend's hair, just as she did when they first met. "It will be when I am still a young woman... and you will be my healer, helping me. Maybe someone else, too. Three people... that would be nice. Balanced. What do you think, Lissa?"

"I think magic doesn't exist."

Belladonne smiled. Lysslis had learned early on that it was nearly impossible to make her unhappy or excited. The effects of living in a monastery all her life, most likely. Her hands up, palms outreached in the prayer position, she said, "Dragon, grant me proof to teach a faith in you unlike any before. Grant me fire in your name."

With a wave of her hands, a ball of fire appeared, floating in front of them. It was warm, but did not grow or burn. Lysslis's eyes widened.

Suddenly, it disappeared, and Belladonne sighed. "He won't let me keep it for long. Someday, though. It will change the universe, Lissa. Please be there for me."

Lysslis swallowed hard, then agreed.

Author's Note: Welcome to my Winx prequel. As you may have noticed, it tells the story of how magic came to be, how Belladonne, Lysslis, and Tharma became the Ancestresses, the origin of fairies and witches... it's pretty much all my beforeWinx!headcanons placed in story form. I hope you like it, and if you do, please review- reviews are what keep me going and updating.

Also the chapters of this story might be shorter than my chapters of Fly or Fall, so if you read that, don't be surprised.

This story is based off my Official Winxverse Timeline, the collection of canon and headcanon that I use in the majority of my work, including Legacy of Light, You Were My Best Friend, Give and Take, and Blood Magic. If you wanna spoil yourself on what happens, you can find it at winxverse dot wikia dot com. :) But I swear reading it this way will be more fun.