Chapter Ten: Promises of Darkness

Classes had ended for the day, and the halls began to fill with fairies heading back to their dorms or outside. Flora found Laura as she was leaving her divination class. She smiled when she saw Flora. "Hello, were you waiting long?"

"No, I just got here," Flora replied, returning the smile. "How was your class?"

"All right; my teacher says I'm making great progress. So, are you ready?"

"I'm ready," Flora replied.

"Then come on." Laura took her friend's hand and led her to a dorm not far from Bloom and Stella's. Inside the floor was covered by a silver carpet and light blue wallpaper. A table and chairs occupied one corner on the room near the bed, and a prayer mat with the different phases of the moon sat in the center. What really drew Flora's eye though, was when Laura closed the blinds and the ceiling became a night sky, with a moon slowly making its way across.

"Wow!" Flora exclaimed. "That's incredible."

"Thanks, it took a lot of work to get the ceiling spell right," Laura said, taking a seat on the mat. "Come on, have a seat."

"What am I supposed to do?" Flora asked as she took a seat in front of Laura.

"First, close your eyes, then try to empty your mind of idle thoughts. Concentrate only on your dream," Laura urged. She watched Flora close her eyes and slow her breathing. She grasped Flora's hands in her own and began chanting in a language Flora had never heard before. Soon both girls could hear each others thoughts. Musa was astonished at the order in Laura's mind. She felt as though she was in a library with a cool breeze gently flowing through it. "It comes from meditation," Laura explained.

"I see. Could you teach me sometime?" Flora asked.

"Sure, but for now let's get started." Flora found herself standing beside Laura on a hill overlooking a green meadow. She sky overhead was a sparkling blue. "This is the beginning of your dream I believe, part you didn't remember before," Laura said.

"This is definitely the sort of dream I'd have," Flora replied. Then suddenly she felt a cold wave of air pass over and the flowers and grass in the meadow wilted and died, as if the wind had been poison. A ball of fire streaked down from the sky and struck a tree, exploding it and sending flaming leaves and wood chips out to spread the conflagration.

A moment later Flora saw herself running down a low hill, the fire following her. "This is where I remembered the dream starting," she said.

"Yes, something is very wrong here. I can sense it," Laura said, her eyes searching the sky through the smoke. There! A small black portal, hiding in a column of smoke. "That portal's causing it!"

…

Avalon was in the middle of class, reading through is students reports on the Oricalcos War while they read from their textbooks when he suddenly felt a shiver run up his spine. Someone was entering Flora's mind, and they were close to discovering his tampering.

"Please excuse me class. There's something I just remembered I have to do. I won't be long," he said as he quietly left the room, breaking into a jog as he made it to his chamber. He took the shadow mirror given to him by Lord Darkar and activated it with a spell. He saw Flora and another fairy he didn't know, but he could sense the second fairy's power of perception was strong.

"Well, I'll just have to take care of you," Avalon smiled. He gathered just enough dark energy that he wouldn't be detected and sent it into the mirror.

…

Laura touched the dark portal with her mind and physically recoiled from the evil she felt. It was the soul of something once pure but now corrupted. She was about to delve deeper when a bolt of black energy erupted from the portal and struck just below her neck, sending her plummeting towards the ground.

"Laura!" Flora cried out when her friend was struck. She raced toward her, the nature fairy barely making it in time. The impact of Laura knocked Flora onto her back. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," Laura replied weakly. "But I think we should get out of here." She concentrated and the burning meadow vanished, replaced for a brief moment by a silver mist and stars twinkling in the background, then both girls were back in Laura's room. The Moon fairy placed a hand on her head and groaned.

"Are you all right?" Flora asked. Laura nodded.

"I'm fine, just a headache. Something was definitely in there with us. All I could sense was that it had once been pure and good, but dark magic had completely corrupted it."

"Well, I promised to meet Bloom and Stella in a few minutes," Flora said, looking at the time. "Are you going to be all right?"

"Yeah, I had much worse during by early training," the blue haired fairy replied. "I'll see you later Flora."

"Ok, I hope you feel better soon," Flora replied as she hurried off.

After Flora was gone, Laura collapsed to the floor. In truth the dark energy bolt had done more damage than she'd let on. Her skin burned from where it had struck her. She pulled her top down just enough that she could see the burned skin. It was still filled with dark energy. "This will take some time," she said to herself. She crossed her legs and placed her hands on her knees. She lowered her head slightly and began reciting a healing spell from her realm. It was slow acting but could neutralize even the most potent dark magic. A silver light surrounded Laura as she levitated a foot into the air. She was glad classes were over, because she knew that whatever had been within the black portal in Flora's mind was also very close, near the school if not already inside it. She would have to be very careful, for it had sensed her and knew who she was.

…

Darkar called his witches to the throne room, where several of his demon fairies hovered around him.

"You called LD," Icy said as she and the other witches entered the room. Her eyes spotted the demon fairies. Their black feathered wings and the short horns growing from their foreheads drew a smile from Stormy.

"Hey, so who are these girls?" Stormy asked.

"They are my newest creation; fairies spawned from the dark magic of Shadowhaunt. I want you to take them with you to Cloud Tower. There you will steal the second piece of the Codex."

Icy smiled. She'd been waiting to get revenge on Griffin for expelling the Trix sisters. Now she had her chance. "It'd be a pleasure," she said, her smile broadening.

"Once you have the Codex feel free to have some fun," Darkar said. "I think you've earned it."

"Done and done," Icy replied. "Come on girls, let's do it." Six of the demon fairies clustered around each of the witches, who then vanished in a flash of purple energy.

"It won't be long now," Darker gloated. "Once I have the Codex, the Ultimate Power will be mine, and that fool Anubis will bow down to ME! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

…

While the witches were receiving their sendoff from Darkar, Anubis was creating the latest division of his army, which now numbered in the thousands. Darkar of course, only new of the few hundred he'd placed around his small fortress, which extended much further underground than Darkar knew.

"Soon," Anubis vowed "my army will be strong enough to take control of this realm from Darkar. Once that fool is out of the way, I can use the Shadow Fire to open my doorway to the Shadow Realm and bring forth my true army." The army Anubis had commanded in ancient times had been nearly unstoppable. Only the Egyptian gods and the guardian dragons had allowed the Dominion of the Beasts to defeat him. But now, with the power of the Shadow Fire and the Dragon Fire, nothing would stop him from dominating all three dimensions.

So, how was that? The action will start to heat up in the next few chapters. See ya all soon, and don't forget to review!

ENTILZA