Chapter Ten: The Star of Hope

Helia opened his eyes slowly as his vision came back to him. The surroundings of the Owl got clearer as seconds passed, the pacifist's head was aching from the impact when the ship crashed. When he finally got his bearings, he rushed over to his two comrades who still looked unconscious. Timmy ended up flying backwards when the ship hit solid ground, even if he had been holding on to something for dear life. The ginger haired Specialist was now lying on the floor of the Owl with traces of blood in various places on his body. The impact was so great that some of the equipment on board went in every direction, and unfortunately for Brandon, he got bombarded with heavy weaponry, resulting in plenty of wounds of his own. Helia, being a lot less worse for wear than his friends, wasted no time assisting them to safety the best he could, he gently removed all the rubble off of Brandon, and immediately got the first aid kit to disinfect and bandage his friends' injuries.

"Timmy, Brandon, can you guys hear me?" He asked them desperately, trying to get them out from their unconscious state. Moments later, the two young men came to, opening their eyes and groaning in great discomfort.

"I don't believe it, we're alive, how in the Magical Dimension is that even possible?" Brandon asked with astonishment, trying with little success to move his broken arm. Timmy had no broken bones, and was more able to move to the front of the ship to examine just how much damage was done.

"Don't move your arm too much, Brandon," Helia advised him, "it's seriously disconnected from the crash, just try to rely on the makeshift sling and sprint I made you."

"Thanks man, you were always the best out of all of us when it came to first aid." Brandon replied, trying to move to what Timmy was seeing.

"Well, even if we are still alive, we're pretty much screwed if we can't get off this abandoned rock," He informed the other two Specialists, "All the Owl's electrical systems are shot, the crash did some pretty serious damage to the outside of the ship, and until we are completely healed, we don't have the physical ability to fix the ship ourselves."

"Timmy, is anything working at all?" Helia inquired, and with his un-injured hand, Timmy tried to use the ship's backup generator for some sort of power.

"Nope, any source of electric power that the ship had was overheated when we crashed." Timmy sighed, "Although I still had my PDA, I can use that to figure out where we are." Taking it from his Red Fountain cape, he began pressing buttons furiously, just in such an emergency, he decided to put in the coordinates for their destination and their location on his handheld device as a backup plan.

"So, anything?" Brandon asked after moments of silence, seeing the genius Specialist's jaw drop.

"I don't believe this, that bright light that we saw that caused us to lose our focus and crash, and the gravitational pull, that was because we had, in fact, reached where we needed to be. Illogically enough, the Star of Hope pulls in those who wish to seek it, but only if they're worthy of its acceptance."

"So we actually made it to the Star of Hope?" Brandon stood awestruck by this new information, knowing that they would be at risk of dying of severe injuries, or anything else that came their way, they didn't think they'd actually reach where they needed to go without meeting their doom first. Timmy nodded as a response to his question. Helia assisted Brandon out of the ship after Timmy began his decent into the great unknown, since he had the map of the Star on his PDA, he lead the group onward.

"So, what do we need to do to find this powerful wizard?" The Eraklyon squire questioned, leaning on Helia for support.

"My uncle said he dwells in a dark, mountainous cave, the Cave of False Realities." Helia told the others, ."Legend has it that he uses the illusions of the cave as tests for those who want to prove they are worthy of having a wish granted by him."

"I just entered in the name on my map, it should be within a couple hundred metres or so of our current position." Timmy informed them, a logical, even tone to his voice. He was trying not to let any false hope get to him, he thought there might still be a possibility that the three of them were not worthy enough for the wish, or they would fail the test. He would forever regret it if they came back empty handed, and lost the ones that meant the most to them. They continued their journey towards the Cave of False Realities, and once they reached the entrance, it was completely pitch black looking into it. Strong flashlights in hand, the three young men ventured down the winding pathways of total darkness.

"These paths should lead to the centre of the cave, the wizard waits there in eternity, answering to those who are brave enough to seek him." Helia continued telling the others what his uncle had informed him about the wizard that resided there.

"Hold on guys, I think I see light up ahead." Timmy pointed forward as a small bit of light could be seen in the corner of his eye, and it began to grow brighter as they came closer to it. That had to be the exact centre of the cave. The Specialists had reached their final destination, and were ready to endure anything else they may encounter while they are there. As if by magic, the boys relocated in a gigantic room made from the stone walls of the cave, and just as expected, the wizard himself was sitting on a throne in the far end of the room.

"Welcome, Squire Brandon of Eraklyon, Helia and Timothy of Red Fountain, I have been anticipating your arrival and encouraging your journey." He began, "Your love for the Winx is unconditional, your passion is great and your determination will serve you well. However, it must take you into a place of tremendous emotional torment."

"What.., what do you mean?" Timmy inquired with a shaky voice, having heard this, all sense of logic escaped him, he must've gone through the most out of all the boys. Flora and Stella were able to be spared some of the pain that Tecna had gone through, what else could he possibly need to take. Although it didn't matter, he was willing to do anything to take away all her agony.

"Each of you will re-live a terrifying memory, involving the very ones you are so desperate to save, if you can endure the entire memory without trying to alter it, you have passed the test, and are worthy to have me cure your beloved girlfriends." The wizard explained, "Keep in mind that these memories are altered to end in great tragedy." That being said, the three mens' faces went white with complete fear, anything at all could happen at this point.

"The Cave of False Realities, the legends were true." Helia gasped in amazement and uncertainty.

"And for you, Helia," The wizard continued, "since you have not experienced anything life threatening with Flora just yet, you have not been around for this memory of hers, but believe me, it will still remain just as tragic as the others." The pacifist's throat closed up when he heard this, Flora told him about how she gained her Enchantix form, and that she had to save her younger sister in the process. She left out no details when she described the event to him, especially that one moment that she thought she was going to drown while she got tangled in the weeds at the bottom of the river, if she hadn't gotten her Enchantix, she wouldn't have had the magic energy to survive. Was this the tragic memory the wizard had in mind for Helia to endure? And if so, he only could guess how it was going to end. Deep in his own thoughts, he didn't notice his surroundings becoming darker and darker until he drifted off into unconsciousness, and he was petrified of where he would be when he woke up.