All right everyone, sorry it's taken me so long to post back. I've been busy getting ready to go to college. Okay, so we have Flora captured by the witches and about to be used to steal the power Guinevere needs to rule all the realms. Happy reading!
Chapter 7: Power Absorbed, Broken Seal
The Winx girls and the heroes could only watch as they saw Flora being spirited away by the witches. It took several minutes for it to sink in. Their best friend was in danger, counting on them to rescue her, and they had no way of getting to her. She was depending on them, as was Ms. Faragonda, and they had let them down. They all sat down on the cave floor, hardly daring to believe it. She was gone.
"That's it then," said Tecna. "We've failed. There's nothing we can do to stop Guinevere now."
"Don't say that," said Bloom. "There's a way, there's always a way."
"You have to admit she's right Bloom," said Musa. "What else can we do?"
"Listen Musa, I don't want to hear that from you," said Riven, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her hard, which took her by surprise. "You're always the confidence of the team. The phrase 'give up' isn't even in your vocab. I'm not going to let you change those principles now." Musa just nodded, trying to believe what he was saying, but it was hard when all hope seemed gone.
"And that goes for you too Tecna," said Timmy. "You're usually so calm and logical. I've never known you to give up. Now why don't you come up with one of those famous plans of yours and figure out how to get us out of here?"
"All right, thank you Timmy," she said.
"Do you think there's another way out?" asked Sky.
"Maybe, there's a tunnel branching off this cave," said Brandon. "There's nothing in the back of the cave, but maybe there's a secret way out or something." The others all looked at him like he was nuts, but he just shrugged and said, "believe what you want, but you've got to admit, it's our best option." Knowing he was right, the boys all tapped on the walls, searching for hollow spots, but couldn't find any. While they did that, the girls tried to think of a way to get past the bars at the cave entrance, but none knew any spells that would do the trick.
"What do we do now?" asked Helia, his eyes to the ground and all his thoughts centered around what might be happening to Flora.
"We'll think of something bro," said Brandon. "And while we do, why don't you let me take a look at your arm?" He gestured to Helia's left arm, still wrapped up in a sling. Helia nodded and Brandon ran his fingers up and down his arm. He could feel his friend wince every so often. "It's broken all right," he said, and Helia gave a frustrated and defeated sigh. How was he supposed to save his girlfriend when he couldn't use one of his arms.
"I can fix that," said Layla, walking over. She waved her hand over Helia's arm and said, "brazus amendus." Helia felt a soothing energy flow into his arm, making the pain stop. Knowing it now fully healed, he took it out of the sling and stretched a little bit.
"Thanks," he said. Layla just nodded.
"Now, we're just back to the question of how to get out," said Stella.
"Tecna, can you do a scan of those bars?" asked Bloom. "There has to be a weakness or something."
"Just a minute," said Tecna. She did a quick scan and read what was on her computer screen. "If there's a weakness, Guinevere's done a good job of concealing it. I can't find one anywhere."
"Hey, do you guys remember that vidrius spell we learned in Palladium's class last year?" asked Layla. "It's supposed to be able to turn anything into solid glass."
"Yeah, but the few times we tried it were on solid objects," said Musa. "This stuff is just dark energy."
"But Palladium did say anything," said Stella. "We've got to at least try it."
"All right, this is going to take all our Charmix power," said Bloom. The girls all nodded and with a moment of concentration, their Charmix appeared on their outfits. They fired a strong, five person combination attack at the bars, and after a few moments, they could all tell the bars were starting to get clearer and more reflective. Another few power blasts and they had turned to solid, crystal glass.
"I knew it'd work," said Layla. With renewed confidence, she flew towards the crystal sculptures ahead of her and kicked at the bars. The glass broke easily and they all dashed out of the cave. They hadn't realized quite how long they'd been in there. Night had fallen and the sky was a pitch black color.
"It's already after eleven," said Riven, checking his watch. "We have to hurry if we want to break that curse around Guinevere."
"And we have to find Flora," said Helia. "Before it's too late for both of them."
--
While the others had been breaking out of their prison, the witches had taken Flora through a series of tunnels under the palace, tunnels she never knew had existed. She looked at her surroundings and wondered if they had been built at the same time as the palace, if they had served some purpose other than to conceal the evil of another realm. Finally, they came to the end of the tunnels, to the doorway of a secret room. She knew immediately what was behind it: the supreme power of Rampara.
The door had been locked for a thousand years, ever since Lilia had taken the power from Earshra. But both Flora and Guinevere could feel the energy flowing through the door out towards them. Smiling evilly, the Princess of Rampara just waved her hand, and the door flew open. Years of time had weakened Lilia's spells, and aided by the desire to get her true power, the witch was stronger than Flora had ever seen her.
Flora just had time to register that she was in a small circular room, made entirely of stone, when the witches forced her inside and shoved her into the middle of the room. Then they shut and locked the door, so that no one could get to them until after the spell had been performed. They stood back as Guinevere cast a spell to make Flora transform again. The poor fairy sat on the ground, and looked up at her captor, fear written all over her face.
"Please don't do this," she begged.
"Sorry pixie, but you're the only one who can do this little job," said Icy.
"Are you ready Flora?" asked Guinevere.
"Guinevere please," said Flora. "It's me. I'm your friend; we can still be friends if you'll just let me help you."
"I'm sorry Flora," said Guinevere. "But Good Guinevere is about to be gone forever. In just a few minutes, the spell will become permanent and there's nothing you can do about it."
"But Guinevere," said Flora. But she didn't have the chance to finish. Guinevere fired a dark shadow attack at her and Flora fell back to the ground.
"I've had enough of your babbling," said Guinevere. "Let's just get my ancestor's powers, so I can lead the forces of Rampara through all the realms, conquering them all one by one."
"And with us at your side, no one will stand in our way," said Icy laughing.
Flora knew she was running out of time, so she said silently, "please my friends. Please help me. If this spell I'm sending you works correctly, you'll know how to find me. Hurry please." She hurriedly sent a telepathic message to the girls and to Helia, which would allow them to find the tunnels and eventually the room she was being held in. But before she could even begin to hope that they got the message and would get there in time, she heard the sound of a church bell in the distance, sounding the hour. It was midnight on the dot.
"Oh no!" yelled Flora. She watched horrified as a dark light began to glow around Guinevere and she rose a few feet in the air. Her hair fanned out behind her, as though an invisible wind was blowing around her, extinguishing what was left of the good spirit that she had shown Flora just a few hours before. Flora half expected to see a stream of energy flow out of Guinevere's body, meaning that her good side had been destroyed forever, but it didn't. This gave Flora the idea that her good self was just imprisoned deep down and an exceptionally powerful spell would be able to release it again. But this thought vanished when the witch started laughing evilly. It was a loud, ruthless laugh that filled the whole room. The spell was officially permanent.
"All right Flora, ready to fulfill your destiny?" asked Guinevere.
"Guinevere, I beg you, don't do this," said Flora.
"It's too late for begging Flora," said Guinevere. "It's after midnight and the spell is irreversible, so there's nothing you can do to stop me. There's nothing anyone can do to stop me now. I know it's a little hard to believe, but you'll get used to the thought. Now hold still. It'll all be over in a minute."
She closed her eyes and stayed silent for several minutes concentrating, letting the dark energies flow through her. She could feel the power of Rampara hidden just below the floor, and she knew it was as eager as she was to be reunited. Flora had to work hard not to scream as a dark glow started to form around the two girls. The two of them rose a few feet in the air, Flora looking nervously at the ground. She struggled, trying desperately to free herself from the ropes around her hands and feet so she could fight back, but they were too tight. Guinevere then started chanting and beams of light started pouring out of both her and Flora's hearts and flowing into the floor in the center of the room. Flora could see at once that it was a retrieval spell, and she also knew at once that it wouldn't take them long to get what they were after. She screamed, hoping her friends would get to her before Guinevere took control of the power of Rampara.
--
By this time, the rest of the group had reached the tunnels that the witches had taken Flora through. The place was an absolute maze, created by Lilia so that intruders wouldn't be able to find the power of Rampara. But with Tecna's computer, and the telepathic spell Flora sent them, they were able to make their way through the corridors. All the girls nearly jumped out of their skin when they heard Flora screaming.
"Oh no, they've already started!" said Bloom.
"We have to hurry, there's no telling how long it'll take them to finish retrieving Earshra's powers," said Tecna.
The girls and the guys all ran down the tunnel, Bloom and Helia in the lead. But they reached a dead end in the tunnel. It was the door behind which Guinevere and Flora were trying to get Earshra's powers.
"It's locked!" said Musa.
"Then get out of my way," said Helia. He started doing everything he could to break the door down but it wouldn't budge. The girls tried all sorts of spells, but they couldn't get the door open.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Stella.
"We'll think of something," said Brandon, putting his arm around her.
"Flora, please hold on," said Bloom, pounding her fist against the door.
--
Flora screamed even more as her Winx drained out of her into the bottom of the room and in another minute, a large ball of light appeared in the middle of the room. There was no doubt what it was: the power of Rampara. It moved towards Guinevere and when it got close enough, she absorbed it. Guinevere laughed, a loud, malicious laugh as she realized that she had gained more power than she ever had before. She broke the connection between her and Flora and the flower fairy fell to the ground, taking deep breaths, trying to recover some of her strength. She looked up horrified at Guinevere, basking in her new found power.
"What's the matter Flora?" she asked. "Don't you like the new and improved Guinevere?"
"No, frankly I don't," replied Flora.
"Well, get used to it," said Guinevere. "This is how I'm going to be for the rest of my life. You're never going to be able to stop me."
"Nice job," said Icy. "You've got the power of Rampara and now you're an all powerful witch. I love it when the bad guys win."
"Speaking of Rampara, I think it's time we broke the seal and reopened the gate."
"But the gate is on the other side of the realm," said Stormy.
"No matter, we can break it from here," said Guinevere. She started chanting again and the connection between her and Flora formed again. Beams of light poured out of both the girls' hearts and headed for the door. Flora tried to break the connection, but she was too weak and with her hands and feet still tied, she could barely move, let alone fight Guinevere.
--
"Everyone get out of the way!" yelled Bloom. They did as she said, just as the beam of energy went soaring past them.
"What was that?" asked Sky.
"That was the power that'll reopen the gate into Rampara," said Tecna. "And if my calculations are correct, they've already retrieved power they need."
"Luckily, that beam smashed the door open for us," said Stella.
They all dashed in and hid behind some large rocks. They saw Flora and Guinevere's powers being combined to open the gate. Helia tried to run out to grab Flora, but Sky pushed him back.
"It might hurt her even more if we get her down before that connection's broken," said Sky. "And the witches won't let you even get close to her. Just wait a minute." But Helia didn't want to, he wanted to get up there and help Flora, but he did what Sky told him to. He knew trying to get her down might result in more injury for her and that was the last thing he wanted.
After a few minutes, they heard a large rumbling sound and they knew that the gate had been opened. A minute after that, the connection between Guinevere and Flora was broken. Flora fell to the ground, back to her regular form and unconscious; they had used up so much of her power that she had barely any Winx left and all her strength was gone.
Guinevere laughed malevolently and said, "now it's time to gather my army in Rampara and conquer all the realms."
"What'll we do with her?" asked Darcy, gesturing at Flora, lying still and pale on the ground.
"She's played her part," said Guinevere. "And we certainly can't keep her around, if she has the potential to put an end to all this. There's only one thing we can do. Dark Shadow!"
"No!" yelled Helia. He jumped out, scooped Flora up in his arms and jumped out of the way of the attack. He backed away from the witches, holding Flora tightly and protectively in his arms. The rest of the heroes and the Winx girls came out of their hiding places.
"How did they get here?" asked Darcy.
"Who cares, let's just kick their butts," said Stormy. "Psycho Cyclone!"
"Dragon Blast!" yelled Bloom.
"Digital Web!" yelled Tecna.
The girls were so angry at the witches for hurting their friend, that they put all their strength into their attacks, not focusing on anything else. They were so busy fighting that they didn't notice large cracks beginning to form in the walls and ceiling. All these attacks were beginning to become too much for that cave. Rocks began to fall from the ceiling as the room started to cave in.
"Let's get out of here!" yelled Musa. The four witches disappeared in a puff of smoke, mumbling about how they were going to destroy the girls soon. The Winx girls and the heroes ran back into the tunnels, dashing through them as fast as they could until they reached the entrance hall again. By the time they got back to the entrance hall, they were all out of breath and panting, yet relieved that they'd managed to keep Guinevere from destroying Flora.
"Where do we go from here?" asked Stella.
"Flora's room, that's the only place I can think of," said Bloom.
"Come on, it's this way," said Helia, starting to lead them through the hallways. The rest looked at him as if they were asking how he knew where her room was. He sighed and said, "I came to visit over the summer, I know the basic layout of this place." They walked through the halls and up the stairs until they came to her room. Helia laid her on her bed and quickly untied her hands while Bloom untied her feet. Helia gently rubbed Flora's wrists where the ropes had cut into them. "Will she be all right?" he asked.
"I think so," said Tecna. "This whole thing took a lot out of her. She just needs to rest." The girls powered down their Winx, all of them realizing they were tired. All the girls and the boys fell asleep pretty quickly, except for Helia. He was determined to stay awake until Flora woke up. He caressed her hand gently, wondering if she really was all right. He soon fell asleep though too.
When they all woke up, they couldn't believe it was morning. The sky was pitch black and there were dark clouds all over the sky. They saw the gate into Rampara from a distance and people from that evil realm were pouring into Lynphea. The scene from a thousand years ago was playing all over again, the evil and the darkness spewing out everywhere. Helia had to look away in agony as he realized how much Flora's heart would break when she saw this.
"Now what do we do?" asked Musa.
"I don't know Musa," said Layla. "I just don't know."
Is this bad or what? Evil is pouring into Flora's realm, thanks to Guinevere's evil plan. How's Flora going to take this when she wakes up? What are they going to do to stop Guinevere? Can she be saved? Stay tuned!
