Your powers, may they be born from darkness or light, do not define you. Your intentions do.
Liatris had been positively thrumming with energy. She ignored her classmates looking at her as if she had grown a second head.
She finally transformed, and while it may not be much of an accomplishment for other fairies, to her it was the world.
'You are happy today.' Willow remarked goodnaturedly as she smiled at Liatris, both girls walking towards their Winxology class. Even the thought of seeing Bloom did not deter her.
Lein greeted them as Willow and Liatris walked in, books clutched in her arms. The fairy of the Dark Stars sat down, ignoring the stares in her back from Candace and her friends.
The girl was, for lack of a better word, a bitch. Willow turned around and glared at Candace, who had been snickering and talking behind Liatris' back, who blisfully ignored her.
Marin, who was one of her croonies, only did this as a favour towards Candace. Maybe she was scared to be counted as a loser like Liatris and Willow, she did not know.
But Candace...The girl was two years younger and even Willow thought it better not to cross that one. Willow kept on glaring at the instigator, who looked taken aback at Willow's expression.
Something silver seemed to flash in her eyes, and she seemed, dangerous. The girls quieted down as Willow turned around, their 'Professors' coming into the room.
Bloom's gaze rested on Liatris who was staring before her, deep in thought. 'Liatris? The lesson is starting.' Willow whispered as her friend blinked and smiled thankfully, attention back on the lesson.
'Today will be...something different.' Layla said, as she sat down on the desk. 'In our many battles, there is one thing that is very important.' She continued. 'Does anyone know what I mean?'
'Having each other's back?' Lein tried as Layla smiled at her. 'That also, but this is something a bit more different and not something you always think about. Can you give me an answer, someone?' As the silence continued, Layla's gaze fell on the girl with ashblonde hair. 'Liatris?'
The fairy of the Dark Stars looked up, eyes scrunching together in thought. 'Professor, you should not ask her, she does not know anything.' Marin said, as Willow turned around, her eyes seeming to spit fire.
'She is thinking, keep out of it.' Willow snapped at the girl, who huffed and sat down. 'Willow, I will not have you snapping at your classmates.' Bloom said, as she reprimanded the girl.
'Than you should also tell our classmates to keep their nose out of Liatris' business. Or do you have favouritism for them too since it concerns my friend?' Willow snapped again, as Bloom gasped.
'How dare you talk to Bloom like that. She is your Professor!' Stella said angrily. Musa held up her hand, intervening before it became a fight. It was easy to forget Willow and Liatris were as old as them, so she could understand it to be difficult to treat someone as your teacher when they were the same age as you.
'But she is not wrong. Marin should have kept her mouth shut.' Stella opened her mouth to argue but a voice stopped them.
'Defensive spells.' Liatris said. 'Defensive spells are one of the most important things when fighting a battle. You need to be able to protect yourself.'
Tecna nodded with an approving smile on her face. 'Yes indeed. I see you have been studying, Liatris.'
'How can she know that when she did not even transform yet?' Candace burst out. 'Candace, enough.' Tecna said, as the girl sat back in her seat with a pout. 'What Liatris can or cannot do, is not the subject of this lesson. Or you listen, or you can get out.'
'But she did.' Lein came to Liatris' defense. 'She what?' Flora asked, expression confused. 'Liatris transformed.'
'She what?' Marin said, as whispering filled the room. 'When we went to get the plant two days ago, Liatris transformed. She managed to get us free from a Dark Nymph.'
Willow nodded in confirmation as Liatris shrugged. 'Congratulations, Liatris.'
'Today, we will study defensive spells. Each fairy has different ones, depending what your powers are. But each fairy has some. This can go from summoning a barrier to using a spell that defends and attacks at the same time. It's obvious we need to go outside for this one.'
The class laughed as they followed their professors outside. Liatris closed her eyes and hummed as she felt the sun shining on her face. It was once again a beautiful and bright day today.
'You can all go ahead and transform.' The girls did not need this to be said twice as Willow grinned at Liatris.
Liatris smiled as she felt that power surge once again, feeling like darkness was slithering through her veins. A red light seemed to explode around Liatris as the two red stars appeared, starting to turn around her.
She blinked when Willow stood next to her, silver shining around her. Her friend's transformation seemed different than the first time she transformed.
It seemed more in sync with her, not just transforming, but as if her powers were actively participating in her transformation.
And that was something none of the other fairies had.
Even the Winx seemed interested by Liatris' transformation.
While the two giant rubyred stars started to circle around Liatris, she remarked that all sorts of silver shimmery light bulbs appeared, a strong light coming from them. They collided into the ground under Willow's feet as they made a silver circle under her, the light coming from it so brightening it was difficult to look at.
Liatris squinted at her friend as Willow put her hands on her chest, the circle underneath her exploding in silver light. The circle made some kind of impenetrable shield around Willow, as the silver bulbs collided in her arms, legs and belly and started her transformation.
Her friend's hair put itself into the french braid linked to her transformation, the silver crop top with sleeves and the wavy silver skirt with ruffles appearing next.
Silver ankle boots with a golden wedge heel appeared on Willow's feet. A golden shimmer appeared on her eyelids as did two silver studs on her ears.
Finally the two wings appeared, which slowly opened and shuddered as silver shimmered around them.
Liatris smiled and decided it was time to get the show on the road. She grabbed both stars, throwing one into the air above her, the other colliding into her chest.
Her hair floated up, binding itself into a high ponytail, the rubber band fastening itself at the base of her ponytail.
Her frilly dress was next, as she smiled at her boots appearing. Rubyred lipstick appeared on Liatris' lips as did something akin to a cateye on her eyes. One of the giant stars, that still floated around Liatris collided once again in her chest, forming a rubyred star on her corset.
The other star seemed to burn into her back, transforming into wings. She flapped her wings as she stood in all her shiny glory, feeling less nervous than the first time.
'Well, that is...' Layla blinked. 'Different but two beautiful transformations all the same.' Flora smiled at them.
'Okay, let's get this show on the road.' Willow grinned as she flew up, Liatris not far behind, determined to not fail this time.
To say the lesson had been brutal, was an understatement. While everyone learned a lot, all the girls had still pain in their muscles, and Liatris was one of those.
She cracked her back as she followed Willow to their next lesson, the one with Professor Wizgiz. They were learning about magical objects today.
Liatris sat next to Lein, who smiled excitedly at her. Willow sat on Liatris' other side, as their professor walked in as well.
'Hello everyone, we are going to study magical objects today. There will be two, even if I say so myself, very interesting ones. But that is for at the end of class.'
As their lesson started, Willow and Liatris were shocked to see how many there were. Most were not too dangerous, but there were some that brought their whole own transformations with them.
'There are two more magical objects we are going to study right now. Two scepters, to be exact. Two objects of immense dark power. And evil power, if used in the wrong hands. As you all know, every object of light has a dark counterpart. We have talked about the Scepter of Eternal Light and it's connected scepters.'
Liatris looked up as Professor Wizgiz stopped before her. 'As you all know, Liatris' powers, the Dark Stars, are the opposite of the Dragonflame.' The fairy nodded as she took a deep breath.
'The scepters of Chaos and Infinity are such objects. Both wield an immense dark power and can be used to unlock the Ultimate Dark Power. If that power is ever released, it will bring darkness and chaos and all that is evil in this world. If you go to pages 101 and 102, you'll see the two scepters'.
Liatris opened the book on that page and could not stop a gasp from escaping her lips. The scepter was, to her, beautiful in a dark, alluring way. At Willow's reaction, her friend had the same with the Scepter of Infinity.
The scepter of Chaos was long and tall. The staff itself was entirely black, the top itself was a black circle with thin edges, a rubyred jewel in it, the form of a star. Out of the dark circle came a sort of black 'spikes' which each had red stones in them. At the base of the circle, where the staff meets the circle, lay a rubyred star with wings. The Staff itself was adorned with swirls where red jewels seemed to shimmer through.
Underneath the picture of the staff was a drawing of what it looked like activated, but it was written in a note under the drawing that they were not sure if this is what it looked like, since no one had ever been able to activate it.
The scepter of Infinity was beautiful in it's own way, but it did not speak as much to Liatris as the other had.
It was of the same length as the scepter of Chaos, but the staff was of a silver colour. Golden and black swirls ran through the staff. The top had the form of a crescent moon, a silver jewel in the form of what you could call a teardrop, in it. Out of the silver jewel ran silver strings with gold in them, which connected to the crescent moon. In the crescent moon itself were black and golden stones as well. At the base of the half circle, where the staff meets the circle, was a silver teardrop with wings, the wings itself golden with black linings.
It was all in all, alluring in it's own way, but Liatris did not feel such a strong connection to it.
She had a feeling that this scepter was going to play a role in her journey here at Alfea. And as she saw Willow's look on her face, she felt the same.
She did not know how or when, but it was going to play a role, for sure. And knowing the Magical Dimension, it was going to be big.
Alfea became much more interesting at once. Not just school, but a place where Liatris' journey started. And for the first time in long, she was excited to see what the future brought.