Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter- 7
Drip. Drip. Drip. It was raining as if it will never stop. The hero looked around, tearing his eyes away from the windows and the rain. The palace, Tir Nan Og was huge. Enormous. Gigantic. The wizard's dark eyes gazed at the lille-colored walls of the room, all the while wondering what exactly lie behind them. Getting up, Nabu perched on the side of the bed. This room was frustratingly depressing. It wasn't like it wasn't pretty, if anything, it was lavishly furnished. A beautiful mahogany sofa set sat in front of the bed, a big one, accompanied by two small ones that could also be used as chairs. The roof above was simply breathtaking. It was painted all kinds of shades of colors that Nabu could possibly think of. Literally. The bright chandelier just made it all better. At the corner of the room lined these elegant artifacts. They were precious, Nabu could tell. The wall in front of him was filled with paintings. Small and big. And the bed itself was too comfortable. It was just the idea of staying in the room that made it depressing. Staying and resting. Staying and sleeping. Staying and getting healed and fed. The wizard got out of the bed, slowly but steadily. It was as if Nabu was compelled to get out of here, his legs moving on their own. Out of the room with no one in sight, Nabu started towards his right. Not a very well-lit path but there was something intriguing about it. The hero continued walking, crossing a dimly-lit hallway full of paintings.
Exactly how many paintings does this place have? Nabu thought.
"God, this palace is a tardis." Nabu muttered under his breath as his legs jogged the never-ending hallway and the paintings flew by. The wizard frowned, realising the more he went inside the hall, the more the paintings increased. The hero started walking again in favour of jogging, running out of breath. A streak of sweat rolled down Nabu's forehead and he swiped it away with the back of his hand. When Nabu was about to give up, almost turning around, his eyes registered a rich brown door up front. Taking a quick glance around, the wizard opened the door with a quick flick of his wrist. Lights blinded him. The room was too bright for Nabu's eyes and they took a fleeting moment to adjust. The hero's eyes widened in surprise. And in awe. If Nabu thought that his room was beautiful, then he didn't know what this room was. It was...majestic. Magically awe-inspiring. The shape of a sphere, the room could easily be called a ballroom except that it was too strikingly beautiful for that. A low whistle escaped the wizard's lips.
"Wow..." Nabu's voice echoed.
The room was full of realistic statues. Statues of fairies. Hero fairies. Thats when the realization hit him. This was the hall of fame or something like that. A smile flashed across the hero's face when he walked past Ms. Faragonda's statue. She was in her believix form maybe. It occured to Nabu that he never had seen the headmistress of Alfea transform. Not even once. Her wings were the prettiest shade of vibrant purple. A few more statues of fairies were seen, he recognised Morgana was one of them. Nabu continued walking until skidding to a halt at the statues of them. The winx. They were the last in the room. And probably the youngest, all in their believix form. Bloom in her pretty blue suit, Stella in her fashionable honey-golden suit, Musa and her majestic purple-violet suit, Flora in her cute pink-green suit, Tecna was sporting her fab violet suit, and then the hero lost his breath completely. There stood his girl, in her breathtakingly gorgeous aqua-green suit, her cheek bones perfectly chiseled and lips a sculptor's dream. Her hair was left open, down by her side in a curtain of curls. And those eyes. Those mesmerizing turquoise eyes. Inadvertently, the wizard reached for her cheek, gently stroking the statue's cheek. Nabu let out a wistful sigh, getting lost in her beauty. Oh, how he longed to hold her in his arms again and never let go. Helplessly, the hero stroked the statue's cheek again, his lips curved into a smile. How much he had missed her.
"Oh, Layla." A voice whispered feebly and it took a second for the wizard to realize that it was his.
"What are you doing here?" Someone said from behind, snapping Nabu out of his thoughts. The wizard turned around and his eyes met her sea-green ones.
"Ciara?"
The healer just sighed at Nabu, her expression that of disbelief.
"Shouldn't you be resting?" The girl asked finally, her eyes demanding an answer.
"Um..." Shrugged the hero before turning back towards the statues.
"May I ask you a question Ciara?" Nabu whispered, his eyes on Layla's statue.
"If you want to."
"Do you believe in soulmates?" The wizard asked, his voice dreamy.
The healer let out a dark chuckle and Nabu spun around to look at her, his eyebrows flying up to his temples.
"Uh...maybe. I have not met mine...yet." The healer said, her eyes locking with Nabu's.
"Well I have." The hero smirked, turning away towards Layla's statue.
"The princess of Andros?"
"She is gorgeous, isn't she?" Nabu breathed, sighing.
"She is." Ciara agreed. Something told Nabu to turn towards his right and so he did, walking towards a wall.
"What are you doing?" The healer sounded panicked, close behind Nabu.
The wizard gazed at the wall in front of him closely and stretched his hand out to touch it. A low rumble was heard as the wall disappeared and left behind a dark room in its place. Nabu squinted in the dark, ambling forward.
"Come back here, please." Ciara was saying as she followed him.
"A cloacking spell?" The wizard turned around to look at the healer before starting to walk again.
"Yes. Because no one is supposed to be in this room." Ciara whispered. "We should just go."
The room was not that well-lit but was bright enough to see and look around. This room was different than before. A complete opposite except that it was filled with statues too. But Nabu was sure that they were not heroes. There stood, with his thin, sheer cape, the statue of Lord Darkar. And beside him stood Valtor. Nabu continued walking, his brows crinkling into a frown. He walked on, recognising every single statue. The Trix were next. Icy stood there, with that cold look on her face, with Stormy beside her, scowling and in the end stood Darcy, her face seemed eerily calm but mad at the same time. The ancestral witches were there too. In fact everyone and everything was there. How much evil exists in this universe. Nabu's hands dangled by his side's, balling into fists. He walked on and saw them. The wizards of the dark circle. Their leader, Ogron, his flaming red hair was windswept and the gleam in his eyes was monstrous, beside him stood Anagan, wearing a dirty grin and at the end was Gantlos, his blond head covered by a hat and face twisted in an animal snarl. The fairy hunters looked deadly in their medieval armors. Nabu resisted a strong urge to break the statues in front of him with his bare hands and then something occured to him.
"Where's the fourth one?" Nabu frowned. "Duman?"
"This is the hall of the defeated. They have to be remembered so that we can remember the techniques that were used to defeat the evils of all time."
"The hall of the defeated?" The words rolled on Nabu's tongue. "But they are in the Omega Dimension aren't they all?"
"Um..." The healer did not say anything else.
"Noooo..." Nabu almost shrieked, realizing the predicament. "He's not...he's alive?" Nabu asked, as fury washed all over his being. Ciara just moved closer to the wizard who was shaking with rage right now. One of her hand cupped his cheek while the other held his shoulder, her green eyes locked with his dark ones. As much as the hero wanted to, he couldn't look away. There was something holding him in place and all he could do was continue staring at the girl in front of him.
"Nabu..." The girl said, looking at him closely before closing her eyes. Helplessly, as if Nabu had no control over his own body, the wizard closed his eyes too.
"What do you mean the ship's going to crash? Why don't you just do what you always do in that system of yours, Timmy." Stella's voice shook with panic, raising an octave.
"The system's not responding." The spectacled hero said, his voice barely a whisper.
"Emergency." Helia was screaming into his screen in vain.
"How long?" Bloom asked, already weaving a plan in her head.
"We have got 10 minutes. At most." Brandon replied, his fingers flying on the controllers in front of him.
"I don't wanna crash." Stella spoke to no one in particular.
"Oh, you think we do princess?" Riven said bluntly in a dry voice.
"Let me see. Bloomix." Tecna said, closing her eyes in anticipation. Nothing. Tecna frowned as a feeling of worry washed over her. "Bloomix." The fairy of technology screamed, waiting for the transformation to happen. Nothing.
"Winx bloomix." All the girls shouted at the same time and no one transformed. No one said a word as everyone exchanged worried glances.
"We are not able to transform!" Flora exclaimed, her face scrunched up in anxiety.
"That's what we needed." Sky called back, his voice sounding vacant as he pushed some buttons around.
Hhhhhhhhaaaammmrmm...
Another lighting strike and the ship shook, inducing everyone to loose their footing.
"This is not looking good." The spectacled specialist said.
"I don't understand. Why can't we transform?" Layla strived to sound calm and miserably failed.
"Something is not right." The princess of Domino muttered.
"Ya, I feel it too." The fairy of music agreed.
"It's in the air. This energy..." The princess of Solaria whispered.
The relentless rain continued pouring down, but the sun didn't leave it's side. Large rain drops continued dripping down on the roof of the ship. The latest model of Red Fountain ship was not responding. This bothered Timmy. This was a failure, not only of Red Fountain's technology but also of Red Fountain's words. This is what they called their best? This ship was supposed to withstand harsh weather. It was supposed to travel through space. The hero knew that this should be the least of his concerns right now but you couldn't blame him. He loved this ship. He had helped in it's making. It's technology, it's materials, it's interior. In fact, Timmy was one of the very few trainee teachers that worked on this project. A privilege given to very few and Timmy was proud. Conceited if you will. But right now the ship was proving to be nothing but trash, frustrating the hero even more.
"Let's all converge to shield the ship." Musa said and the winx closed their eyes in concentration, their hands outstretched. Even if they couldn't transform, they could use magic, though it was humongously less when compared to the magic they could do after transforming.
"Winx convergence." The boys heard the girls shout and fair enough, a pink-white shield surrounded the ship. The specialists could breath now, at least their landing would be cushioned and maybe, just maybe they won't actually crashed.
"Nice job girls." The king of Eraklyon smiled, spinning around in his controller chair to look at the fairies. Bloom smiled at him and his face mirrored it.
"Phew." The squire sighed. A sigh of relief.
"Let's minimize the speed." Helia said, his eyes on the controllers in front of him. The heroes obliged, spinning around in their chairs to push a few buttons. The ship was break-dancing. Literally. Another bolt of lightning was seen outside and soon enough a rumble of thunder was heard. Loud, animalistic almost. The next thing everyone noticed was that the shield outside had disappeared in thin air, as if it was never there. The amount of panic in the room rose to a whole new level. As if it wasn't enough already. Everyone gasping for breath.
"The shield won't stay. We are not strong enough." Tecna spoke in a rush.
"We need to transform." The fairy of the dragon flame said.
"Winx. Bloomix." The fairies gave the transformation another try only to be disappointed. The specialists were trying their best to get a handle of the ship.
"You need to work. Come on shooter." Timmy frowned at the screen in front of him.
"Shooter?" The magenta haired hero frowned back at the spectacled specialist.
"Yeah, Timmy named the ship shooter." Brandon murmured offhandedly, his eyes fixed at the controlling board.
"Shooter?" Riven repeated the word, his brows flying up.
"That's a decent name." Timmy protested childishly.
"Not a good one, Tim." Brandon chuckled.
"Whatever. It's much better than the one you gave to our last ship."
"Hey, Rosa was a beautiful name. And Rosa was beautiful herself." The squire shot back, meeting Timmy's eyes.
"Aah. Forgot all about Rosa. It's still in Red Fountain's garage?" Riven asked casually, as if strolling through a park.
"Um...actually it's not it. It's she." Brandon pointed out.
"Guys? Facing a problem here?" Helia's tone was serious.
"So..." Brandon heard Sky say somewhere behind him, realising that he wasn't beside him in his seat.
"You guys can't transform or shield the ship?" The king of Eraklyon asked. Layla just shook her head as an answer.
"Hmm..." Sky just nodded, brooding.
"So what's the plan?" The keeper of the dragon flame looked at him. Her eyes looked disappointed. Sky knew that look very well. The look she wore when she couldn't help in a situation. The hero suppressed an urge to scoop her up in his arms, just wanting to comfort her.
"Hey, its not your fault." The blond specialist stroked her bright fire-like hair, giving her a weak smile.
"Yeah so this ship is...a disgrace to all the others ships out there." Timmy shook his head, abandoning his chair to walk towards the girls and Sky. Giving up on the ship. His face puffed up with anger and disappointment. The other heroes joined him shortly.
"We will fix it." The fairy of technology gave Timmy's hand a quick squeeze.
"Well, there's only one thing we can do." Brandon said with a dark face, instantaneously grabbing everyone's attention.
"And what's that?" Sky looked at the green eyed hero.
"Jump." The squire shrugged before breaking into a grin. Sky shook his head, Riven let out a small snarl and the rest of them just sighed.
"Brandon..." Helia warned.
"Alright, alright. We can...um...maybe take the Levi bikes then." Brandon was quick to say.
"Brandon, could you please be serious for a...wait. That's not actually bad." The pacifist sounded surprised.
"Really?" The squire sounded surprised himself.
"Wow, nice Brandon. Let's do that." Timmy smiled.
"Oh you know, am not just some pretty face." The green eyed hero smiled back.
"Okay. Let's leave before you suggest something stupid again." Riven muttered before turning away towards the gear room.
"I didn't think that he will come you know?" Jared said as he looked over at Nex.
"Yeah, me neither." The paladin agreed. After saying goodbye to Layla and the others, Nex had just come back to Red Fountain. He did not live here, but it was kind of his temporary home right now. Thoren and Nex were trainee teachers back at Eraklyon but lately these days, the two Eraklians were thinking of moving here. Layla was here for crying out loud. They had been dating for a few months now and the hero could see it turning into something serious. That girl made him wanna bang his head in the wall or something. He was, to put it simply, crazy about her.
"Was Musa happy seeing him?" Jared derailed Nex's train of thoughts.
"Oh I don't know man. They hugged and well..."
"And well what?" Jared pressed.
"Well, I don't know. We all left." Nex replied.
"Huh. So Riven is back." Jared crossed his hands across his torso.
"Yeah he is." Nex said. "Hey, how did your assignment with Saladin go? Your level increased?" The blue haired hero asked as they continued walking down the hallway. Red Fountain offered these trainee teacher courses to get you certified. Thoren and Nex were taking one of those. As were the others. A certificate from Red Fountain was like the most prestigious one there was. You could teach, fight and train specialists anywhere. Open your own school if you want to.
"The results we be out tommorow." Jared replied, stopping abruptly.
"I'll see you then." Nex nodded as Jared gave him a half smile before walking into his dorm.
When everyone had agreed to the Levi bikes, it was clear that no one had thought it through. Not even Timmy or Tecna. They couldn't be blamed but, no one was thinking straight anyway. There were six bikes in total. Sky and Bloom took one, Brandon and Stella shared another one, Timmy and Tecna took the third one, Flora sat with Helia, Layla and Musa took the fifth one and Riven had his maroon one. It should have been a cakewalk to drive the bikes down to the land but no one had thought about the weather and the rain drops and the lighting did not make the bikes any easier to maneuver. The plan was simple. Everyone was supposed to get out of the ship, landing on the ground, safe and sound while the ship was in it's minimum speed and was on landing mode. It was supposed to land somewhere, or crash or whatever and then the group was going to find it and fix it. Well, Timmy and Tecna were going to anyway. But the rain had made the driving a bit more tricky and a lot more tiresome. Now, as everyone lay down on the ground, not bothering if it was wet and sloppy, or showing not be bothered in Stella's case, looked tired and out of breath.
"Boy, that was rough." Brandon gasped for breath.
"Tell me about it." Sky retorted. Looking around, the blue eyed specialist frowned. Everything looked so dull. So...lifeless. Letting out a slow breath, Sky looked at Bloom with a tinge of panic in his eyes.
"It's so different than the last time we were here." Brandon concluded and everyone nodded. Memories flashed in front of his eyes. The wizards of the dark circle. The palace. The beautiful surroundings. The vortex that took away Nabu. Sadness hit the squire hard as a feeling of guilt washed over him. His eyes met Sky's briefly and the squire knew that he was thinking the same thing. Silence settled around except for the pitter-patter of rain around. No one spoke. Everyone was exhausted. The green eyed hero closed his eyes, his back on the ground as he took a deep breath.
"Brandon, behind you! Get up!" Musa's voice rang in the squire's ears and he turned around and his eyes widened.
AN : So this was a small chapter. Spoiler alert- Nabu will finally meet the squad and the winx in the next chapter. Stay tuned. Let me know what you think. Peace out!
