Chapter 3
Standing in the middle of the wrecked laboratory, Flora and Mirta still wondered about what they just have seen.
"Wha...what was that?" asked Mirta, confused.
"I already told you," said Flora. "I think it was Griffin's past. Remember that she was a close friend of Baltor."
"I know that. What I mean it's why did we see it," clarified Mirta.
"I don't know," said Flora with a shrug. "But I'm sure that hat has something to do with what happened here. Let's keep moving."
Mirta nodded as they both left the laboratories and entered in another hall.
"Wait, I remember this," said Flora. "We're near the bedrooms, right?"
"Yes," replied Mirta. "That door leads to the bedrooms, but there are more in the upper floors."
"When Baltor attacked Cloud Tower, he stored his mind controlled witches in their rooms so they could restore energy," commented Flora. "We should take a look, maybe we find somebody there."
"I hope you're right," said Mirta.
Flora then began to shiver.
"Is it just me or is it a bit cold in here?" asked Flora while rubbing herself.
"No, you're right," said Mirta, suspicious. "Suddenly it's colder."
Suddenly, Flora fell flat on her face, letting a small shout of pain. Mirta quickly turned back to see what happened, and saw that some invisible force was pulling Flora away.
"Flora!" screamed Mirta as she rushed to her. "Grab my hand!"
Flora did so, but Mirta wasn't as strong as whatever was trying to take Flora away. Flora instinctively kicked her attacker, but all what she did was kick the air.
"Flora, I can't hold you much longer!" said Mirta in desperation. Flora didn't reply. Suddenly, Mirta knew what was going on, although it was a bit hard to believe.
Mirta raised her hand, trying to hold Flora with her other hand. She had to be fast. Her raised hand began to glow purple.
"Come out of the shades, creature of nightmare, and let mortal eyes witness your shape!" shouted Mirta.
Mirta's spell worked immediately, since both she and Flora could see a ghostly creature grabbing Flora by one of her ankles. The spectral being was translucent, with two long arms and a ghost tail. His face was just two small, glowing eyes that looked menacing at them.
Now that her foe was visible, Flora didn't think twice.
"Wrath of Nature!" shouted Flora as she cast a green energy beam that blasted the ghost, who let out an horrid scream, and released her. Mirta helped her to stand up.
The ghost didn't seem to give up, and advanced towards the two fairies again, with his arms raised. However, Flora wouldn't let that creep to touch her again, and blasted the ghost repeatedly until it vanished. Flora was gasping. Mirta looked at her, worried.
"Are you okay?" asked Mirta.
"Yes," said Flora, a bit unsure. "When that...thing touched me, I suddenly felt a cold surge coursing my body. It was so..."
"Unpleasant," said Mirta, finishing her sentence. Although the term she used was an understatement.
"What was that?" asked Flora, shivering a bit.
"It was a wraith. A kind of ghost," explained Mirta.
"A ghost?" asked Flora.
Mirta nodded.
"Whoever did this, is skilled in necromancy," deduced Mirta.
"Necromancy?" asked Flora in shock. "But...I though it was forbidden in every world!"
"That doesn't mean that there aren't people who practice it," said Mirta. "Although many schools of magic are forbidden due to its dangerous nature, that doesn't stop them from being used."
Flora was horrified the first time he heard about necromancy. She was shocked, to say the least, when she knew that there were people who played with life and death so lightly.
Mirta was about to say something, but she suddenly fell flat on her face, like Flora did before, and was dragged away by an invisible being. Flora reacted instantly and blasted another energy beam near Mirta. Although she was shooting blindly, her attack hit the target.
A loud scream could be heard, and another wraith appeared next to Mirta. Mirta moved away in a bump. She was ready to attack, but she suddenly had a bad feeling. Instead, she raised her hand, and cast again the revelation spell.
Mirta and Flora froze in shock when they saw half a dozen of wraiths surrounding them. They knew what it was time for.
"Enchantix!" shouted Flora.
"Magic Winx!" shouted Mirta.
Once they transformed into their fairy forms, they were ready for battle. Three wraiths rushed towards Flora, but she wouln't give up without a fight.
"Nature Symphony!" shouted Flora.
The three wraiths were trapped in a powerful tornado. The fairy of nature was about to cast a spell to finish them off, but she was attacked from behind by another one. Flora rose in the air, to put some distance bewteen r enemies and had a better perspective of the battle.
Menawhile, Mirta was struggling with the remaining wraiths as her powers and skill let her.
"Crimson lightning!" shouted Mirta before casting a beam of red light. The attack damaged the ghost and pushed it back, but there were still other two enemies to face.
Mirta always knew that her powers came from human emotions, both hers and others', and was able to project illusions, such as monsters when she was angry, or colorful birds and butterflies when she was happy. But over the last years, she learned to expand her powers beyond casting illusions. She could cast destructive beams of energy when she was angry, revelation and foreshadowing spells when she was focused and cloaking spells when she was afraid.
After taking down (temporary) another wraith, she found herself facing a single opponent. She tried to blast it again, but the ghost dodged the attack. The wraith then said something in an unknown tongue, and shoot a frost missile. Mirta shielded herself with her arms, but received the attack with full force.
She stood up, and removed the frost from herself. Seeing that the wraith was still coming to her, and the other two were recovered, she joined Flora in the air. Of course, being there wouldn't save her from the ghostly creatures.
"My god, these things are invincible!" said Mirta.
"My powers don't work well here," lamented Flora. "And there isn't any ground to summon my plants."
The wraiths flied towards the fairies, who cast a bubble shield to protect themselves. The wraiths, however, began to hit the shield with their ghostly arms.
"We can't stay like this forever!" said Flora, out of desperation.
"I know," replied Mirta.
"Mirta, you seem to know about these things" said Flora. "Do you remember if they had some weakness?"
"Sunlight," said Mirta. "But there isn't any here."
Flora then wished Stella was with them.
"Wait!" said Mirta, realizing of something. "One of them attacked me with an ice spell. Maybe they're vulnerable to fire."
It made sense. Too bad that Bloom wasn't here either.
"Do you know any fire spell?" asked Mirta. Then she realized that it as a stupid question. "I guess that we have a problem."
The shield began to weaken.
"I think that I have something, but I'm not sure if it will work," said Flora.
"Considering the situation, it's worth of trying," said Mirta.
"Okay, try to release as much energy as you can" said Flora. "Leave the rest to me."
While the remnants of the shield protecting still protecting them, Mirta began to release her energy like Flora told her, while Flora concentrated in something. When the barrier finally went down, Flora extended her arms, and released a huge wave of green light. The wraiths screamed in agony, and flied away. When the light was over, none of the wraiths were still there.
The two fairies reverted back to her normal outfits, and flopped down on the floor, gasping for breath.
"Flora, it worked!" said Mirta, full of joy. "I didn't knew you were so powerful! What was that spell, by the way?"
"Believe it or not, it's a spell I use to heal and restore the energy of living beings. I mostly use it on dying plants and forests," said Flora.
Mirta looked at her rather confused.
"A healing spell?" asked Mirta.
"Well, ghosts are undead, which is the opposite of being alive," explained Flora. "My spell restores life force. But in their case, it would inflict damage."
"Of course!" said Mirta in realization. It was such an obvious thing, she was ashamed she didn't think of it first, since she studied undead creatures during her year at Cloud Tower.
"Oh, and if the spell was so powerful, it was because I also used your energy," said Flora. "In my current state, I couldn't take down all of them."
"I'm happy to be useful," said Mirta with a smile.
"We should rest a bit," said Flora, less upbeat. "The fight drained most of my energy."
"Let's go to the bedrooms," said the redheaded girl. "and hope that we're not ambushed again by more creeps."
The two fairies took a look at the bedrooms, who presented the same deteriorated state as the rest of the tower. Many of the doors were broken, or weren't simply there. Also, several beds were missing, but they found them rather quickly.
"Flora, come here!" said Mirta, who was looking at something in the hallway.
Flora saw what Mirta was looking at. Several beds were piled in a stack, blocking the hallway.
"Weird, huh?" asked Mirta. "It seems that this path is blocked."
"Is there any other way to continue?" asked Flora, still looking at the beds.
"Yes, but it'll take us longer" said Mirta.
"Hmmm..." grumbled Flora as she took a closer look at the ruined beds.
"Did you see something?" asked Mirta.
"These beds are forming a barricade," said Flora. "They put them here as some sort of protection."
"Protection? From what?" asked Mirta.
"I don't know," replied Flora, then she sighed deeply. "But I wouldn't like to find out."
They stood there, looking at the piled beds a few minutes. Mirta then said that it was about time to rest a bit. They dragged a mattress to one of the bedrooms which still had a bed, so they could be together.
"Mirta," whispered Flora.
"Yes?" asked Mirta.
"What time is it?" asked Flora. "I was wondering if they realized that we're not back yet."
Mirta took a look at her cell phone, and saw that the clock showed 36:79. She frowned and put her cell phone back on her pocket.
They didn't say anything anymore. They were too tired to even speak. Even if the fight against those wraiths wasn't as hard as the fights against some of the enemies Mirta and Flora faced before (especially Flora), they felt incredibly tired. Mirta remembered that Flora said that her powers were limited by Cloudtower's negative aura. Maybe that's why she was so tired. However, despite Mirta having a incredibly high tolerance to dark energy that made her unique among fairies, she felt that Cloudtower's aura was damaging her too.
Just when Mirta was about to fall asleep, her cell phone ranged and startled both her and Flora. It was another text message. It was very explicit.
Don't fall asleep.
But neither Mirta nor Flora couldt follow that advice. In less than five minutes, they were asleep.