Okay, I didn't update for quite a long time. I have good reasons! To start off, my dad broke our computer and refused to have the hard drive taken out so we could get the files off of it even though I told him that I had a half-finished novel in there. (Like a real novel. I was going to publish it.) I lost the next chapter for this and I lost the will to write for a while. Then I could not work up inspiration for this story. Just when I did, I found out my friend was in an abusive relationship and she needed me. So I took a break from the internet life for a while.

Now I'm back and ready to jump back in.

"Argh!"

The ogre stumbled back from his mistresses as they screeched. Lately, he had begun to feel like something was wrong with them. He knew they were wicked before, but it seemed as if every day they became worse. When he tried to sleep at night, he heard screams from the dungeons. He wasn't sure what was in those dungeons as he was never allowed in there, but he had concluded that it was a few fairies and witches that had either not escaped Magix or had been captured from wherever they'd run off to.

"Knut!"

He hurried to one as she called him. He wasn't able to decipher which it had been. He turned the corner and came face-to-face with Icy.

Of course it was Icy. She was the one who gave most of the orders.

Icy's stare was venomous. "What took you so long?" she demanded. Knut stammered an excuse about having to walk but she ignored him. "Oh, shut up! That doesn't even matter. Now, listen: we need you to go back to Earth. Stella is there again. You will find her and bring us her ring. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes, of course!" he cried, hoping for his life.

"Then what are you waiting for? Go!"

Episode 6

The Ring of Solaria

Whenever Stella was nervous, her first instinct was to play with her ring. It wasn't a ring that should be toyed with; after all, it was a priceless magical object and if it were to be broken, she would be in trouble with more than just her parents. But Stella couldn't stop and she didn't know why. She wasn't even a fidgety person! It was just that her ring was there and . . . .

"Stella?"

She turned to look at Bloom. The little Earth girl was beginning to worry Stella. She twirled her ring around her finger one more time. She had only met Bloom for a short while before she'd continued on to Alfea, but she did remember that the Bloom she'd met then had been a bit fiery. Still shy and unconfident, sure, but fiery. She didn't know if the biting sarcasm counted as fieriness, but Stella was sure that Bloom hadn't been half as sarcastic back then. Stella had to wonder what had happened. When she'd mentioned magic on her first visit, Bloom had seemed mildly interested. Now, she seemed to fear it.

"Yes?" Stella answered quietly as she pondered and played with her ring. She threw in a smile to reassure Bloom.

Bloom sat on the chair next to Stella and asked, "What's that ring?"

"It's the ring of Solaria," Stella explained. Bloom gave her a look. She sighed and continued, "Solaria. My realm. As I was saying, the ring of Solaria is an object that is given to the heir apparent of Solaria so that the heir will have protection. It can channel magic akin to twelve warlock guards. Other kingdoms have similar objects. Like, if you ask Sky, I'm sure he has one too."

"How many, er, kingdoms are there?" wondered Bloom. What had sparked her sudden interest? Stella tried not to question it. She wanted Bloom to attend Alfea eventually and she would need to know this if she did.

She replied, "I'm not sure. Many. Hundreds, thousands?"

"And they can all be used at the same time?" Stella nodded. "Well, then, why weren't those witches looking for those objects?"

Stella paused. She remembered the multiple attacks on her and other princesses during the school year. "They had," Stella said eventually. "For most of the year. Then, all of sudden, they stopped. And one day, they returned with the Dragon Flame and destroyed everything."

She watched as Bloom nodded and tucked a curl behind her ear. She took all that in and turned back to Stella, asking, "What—?" but Stella continued explaining with no prompting, "The Dragon Flame is kind of the object for the heirs of Domino. There's this big complicated legend that goes along with it, but I don't know much about it to be honest. All I know is that the Dragon Flame is much more powerful than the other objects combined.

"Anyway, Bloom, sweetie, I think it might be best to not concentrate on depressing stuff like that. Let's talk about boys! Do you have a boyfriend? Or maybe you prefer the Specialist type, if you know what I mean. As long as you stay away from Prince Sky, I'll be fine!"

But when Stella looked back to gauge her reaction, Bloom was already racing down the hallway.

Sky turned the corner and was rammed into by Bloom. As per the law of momentum, he was tossed back slightly while she fell to the floor. "Watch where you're going!" she cried and cradled her head. Sky had to wonder if all of the girls from Earth were as annoying and rude as this. He opened his mouth to snap back at her when suddenly she stood up and faced him. Being below his shoulders, he had to look down quite a bit.

"I'm sorry," said Bloom. "For this, because I was hurt and I took out my anger on you when really I shouldn't have been running through the hallway. And also for this whole time. I've been kind of rude to you."

Sky shrugged. He was probably too nice to forgive her this easily, but when she wasn't being snappy she was kind of funny and maybe if they'd met in different circumstances, Bloom would have been much more pleasant. "It's fine. Just don't start up again, okay?"

She laughed kind of awkwardly and nodded. "Actually, I wanted to speak to you."

"Of course!" he replied and smiled. "But I have to go out and look for others. We can speak if you come along." Bloom nodded and hurried out the back door in front of him. She skipped down the steps happily and onto the grass. Sky followed her. The dew soaked through his shoes. It was a cold morning and it made his feet freeze. Bloom on the other hand was barefoot and wearing short shorts. Granted, she had a jacket over her loose t-shirt, but it still wasn't much. He wondered how she could stay so warm.

"I rarely feel cold. I mostly feel hot," she answered.

Sky asked, "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

She told him to wait. When they had gone far enough from everyone else, Bloom said, "First, what's your real name and please explain the whole name thing." There was the sound of their feet crushing the debris while she waited for her answer. They made their way into an area that looked a bit like a forest, but who knows what it looked like before everything happened.

Sky sighed. "My name is Sky. His is Brandon. Everyone at Red Fountain—the specialist school," he added to remind her, "knows that. Everyone else in Magix thinks my name is Brandon and his is Sky. Brandon is my squire. My parents wanted to protect me so he would pose as me. But I slipped up and told you my real name."

Bloom nodded. She kept her gaze on the ground at the clover patches. She hoped to find a four-leaf. She could use some good luck as of right now. "Okay. Got it. Next, Stella was telling me that the royalty of . . . realms have objects that are meant to protect them."

Sky found it kind of intriguing that she very rarely asked him direct questions. He couldn't help but smile again. "Yes. I'm not allowed to tell you about mine though.

"Is Stella not supposed to tell me about hers?" she asked in a guilty tone, looking back up at him. He tried not to laugh. The face she made was so innocent and unlike the other expressions she'd given him.

"I'm not sure," he answered honestly. "That rule was given to me by my parents."

"Are you parents strict?"

Sky paused, a bit of a frown on his face. ". . . Yeah."

Bloom smiled. "Mine too. Oh, and the last thing is, Stella started telling me about the Dragon Flame and it being an object but she said there was a legend and she didn't know it. Do you?"

"Of course. And Stella should too. It's an important part of history. But I'm not really supposed to tell you," he said.

Bloom said, "Please? I won't tell anyone that you did, I promise. What's it going to hurt if some Earth girl knows?"

Sky took a deep breath and relented. He didn't even know why he was doing this, but he couldn't refuse her. "You can't mention it to anyone, ever. Understand? It's something that's been kept hidden from the general public."

He stopped and leaned against a tree. Bloom sat down in the clover, using her hands now to search. "The Dragon Flame is the object of the heir apparents of Domino. Now, there's a whole lot to this story and I'm going to have to chop it up into pieces because it's so complicated. I'll start with how the Dragon Flame was created. The legend is that there was this giant dragon that created the universe. He settled down on Domino. When he died, the last breath he made was pure fire. There was something about him promising the young princess that he'd always protect her"—he smiled apologetically—"I'm sorry. I always thought this story was kind of boring. I didn't pay as much attention as I should have.

"As I was saying, because of his promise, that breath infused itself inside of the princess and she was able to use the Dragon Flame to protect herself. See, the Dragon Flame is kind of like special fairy powers and it made the princess very strong. But unlike other objects, it always stayed with the fairy that had it until death and it could only be given to women. Then it would move to the heir apparent. So if there was a woman who had it but she wasn't queen anymore and her daughter was and if her daughter had a daughter, the princess would receive it and not the queen. Understand?"

Bloom shook her head, twirling a clover between her fingers. "Not really, but continue."

"Before the Dragon Flame, people from Domino generally had little to no magic. With it, everyone's magical abilities were increased and it ended up that they became a bit conceited. They thought they were better than everyone else." Sky looked particularly irritated by that, but shrugged. "It doesn't matter now. Domino's gone."

He began to move away.

"Wait!" Bloom called. "What happened to Domino?"

He sat down in the grass next to her. "No one knows for sure. One day, some dignitary went to visit and the planet—which used to be really hot and green all the time—was frozen."

"What happened to the Dragon Flame? We know that the witches have it now, but between now and then?"

"Don't know that either. Let's go back now." Sky stood up and held out his hand, raising Bloom to her feet. His stomach fluttered as their fingers touched.

"Race you!" she cried as she tumbled down the path. Sky waited a moment.

Shoot. He wasn't supposed to like her.

Bloom raced to a stop as she realized the somber atmosphere that was around. One of the boys turned to her. It was the one with glasses—Timmy, she thought.

"Stella's ring was stolen," he said.

"By who?" she asked.

Timmy shrugged. "I'm not sure. But it just seems like it keeps getting worse."

She nodded even though it didn't feel like it to her. Bloom had been reassured that whatever it was those witches wanted from her, it wasn't all that important. It probably wasn't even magic.

I'm sorry it's sucky. I'm out of practice. Sorry again.