Author's note: Sorry once again for taking so long to update, but I'm in the middle of an epic writer's block, plus I have lost a lot of interest in Winx Club (Season 5 only made this worse). Anyway, I want to make clear that I'm not going to abandon this story until it's finished, no matter how much time I take to write new chapters. Hopefully I'll find a way to rekindle my interest in the show. Meanwhile, enjoy this chapter, and don't forget to review :)
Chapter 37: The Witch World
A couple days have passed since Tecna and Timmy got the Forge's blueprints from Zenith. After their little adventure they were picked by the Prometheus, where the rest of the group (plus Lucy) was, and headed towards Casyopea, Mirta and Lucy's homeworld, in hopes to find the mysterious Oracle of the Swamp, who would provide some information about the Man in Black and his relentless horde.
Mirta had called her parents to tell them about their journey, and they offered her and the rest of the group their house as a place to stay. Mirta pointed out that they were fourteen people, but her mom
assured her that she'd find a solution. Hours later, the Prometheus landed on Casyopea, in a glade in the middle of a forest, since Mirta and Lucy's town was too far away from any large city with a starship dock, and continued the trip by walking. Mirta and Lucy were leading the group while the others took a moment to contemplate the fauna and flora of the place.
"The air here is impregnated with dark magic. It's almost like a planet-sized version of Cloud Tower," Musa commented.
"Well, most magic users here are witches, while fairies are few. In fact, we don't even have a Guardian Fairy," Mirta commented.
"Really? Maybe you should offer yourself for the position," Bloom suggested.
"You think so? I don't really see myself as a Guardian Fairy, even if there wouldn't be too much competition..."
"Sure! You're an Enchantix fairy, and you're strong, smart and compassionate. I can't think of anyone better for the job," Aisha commented.
"I don't think we need a Guardian Fairy," Lucy said, with a slight grimace. "Our world doesn't have any problems the Circle of Witches can't handle. But having Mirta as a Guardian Fairy is something I could live with."
"Was that a compliment?" Musa asked.
"It was. It's just that witches aren't used to displaying affection in public," Mirta said.
"It's true. I got to know a few witches when I dated Darcy," Riven said, getting a glare from Musa, who evidently wasn't happy with her boyfriend bringing that memory up. "They weren't as bad as the Trix, they just have... a different moral code."
"I don't know if I'm going to feel comfortable on a Witch Planet," Musa said, uneasy.
"Don't worry, people here don't discriminate against fairies," Mirta reassured.
"But if I were you, I would avoid saying out loud that this planet needs a Guardian Fairy," Lucy remarked.
Flora had been mostly absent from the conversation, since she was distracted contemplating the plants and flowers growing at the side of the road. "The plants here are like nothing I've seen before. I can't even sense the trees."
"That's because those aren't trees," Lucy interjected, and pointed upwards.
Flora looked at the direction Lucy was pointing, and saw that what she thought were trees were actually huge mushrooms.
Shortly they got out of the mushroom forest and saw a town nearby. Mirta and Lucy lived in a rural town named Ravenwood. It was a big town mostly made up of single story houses and stone paved roads. Despite the town's size, it was relatively easy to go from one place to another without vehicles or magic. Everybody noticed that their bright and colorful clothes clashed with the dark green, red and purple clothes the townspeople were wearing, and earned a few stares.
"Well, see ya later," Lucy said as she deviated from the group.
"Um, Lucy, don't you want to come with us?" Flora asked, confused.
"No. This is my hometown too. I have a house here," the green haired witch explained. "Well, I hope that my parents haven't rented out my room..." Lucy wondered. "Anyway, call me when you're ready to go."
They waved Lucy goodbye and the rest of the group headed to Mirta's house. It was a bit more isolated from the rest of the town, and was quite bigger than most of the other houses. They also noticed a large greenhouse behind it.
"Mom, Dad, I'm here!" Mirta said cheerfully as she entered her house.
Inside the house there was a woman in her fifties, with long red hair and pale skin, wearing a dark blue blouse, a purple long skirt, and a black pointy hat. The woman turned to Mirta upon noticing her presence, and rushed to her smiling.
"Mirta!" The woman said in an overly happy tone. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you!" The woman then started to kiss Mirta fervently all over her face.
"Mom! Stop it, please!" Mirta said blushing, embarrassed as she pushed her mother away.
"Sorry sweetie, you know me, I can't help it," Mirta's mother said, also blushing a little. "So, I see that you brought some friends."
"Yeah. Mom, these are my friends, the-"
"The Winx Club," Mirta's mother said, interrupting her daughter. "I already know of them. But I didn't know that you had such celebrities for friends!" She then looked at Marco, raised an eyebrow, and asked: "But I'm pretty sure I haven't see you before. Such a handsome face is hard to forget," She said, making Marco to blush a little as well. Then she turned at her daughter, and asked. "Is he your boyfriend?"
Mirta was taken aback by the direct question, and for a second she found herself a bit lost, until she nodded in reply. Her mother just winked at her, and said "Good catch!" (much to both Mirta and Marco's embarrassment).
"Uhmmmm, guys, meet my mom, Scarlett," Mirta said, in a desperate effort to change the topic.
"Nice to meet you all!" Scarlett said. "Oh, before I forget, which one of you is Flora?"
The fairy of nature raised her hand, not sure what to expect. Scarlett pulled Flora close to herself and covered her in kisses like she did with Mirta. Everybody tried to suppress their laughter.
"Mirta told me about what you did for her at the end of her freshman year. I wanted to thank you so much for saving my baby from those skanks!"
"Uh, it was nothing really," Flora said as she tried to push the redheaded woman away as gently as she could.
"Uhm, where's dad?" Mirta interjected.
"Don't know," Scarlett said after releasing Flora, shrugging. "He should be here by now."
At that very moment, a crow flew through the window, and landed on the floor.
"Ew, look at that. You guys need some pest control," Stella said in disgust, as she pointed at the crow.
"Who are you calling 'pest', missy?" the crow replied, clearly offended.
The crow then began to glow with a green light as it grew and transformed into something more human-like. The crow was now a man who was also in his fifties, tall, thin, with black hair, a black mustache and a soul patch. He was wearing a dark brown cloak over a dark red vest, black pants, and a fedora.
"So, Mirta, these are your friends you told us about?" the man asked. Mirta nodded in response.
"So... I deduce he's your father," Tecna mentioned.
"Your deductions are right, milady," Mirta's father said as he walked towards Tecna, with a charming smile on his face. "Victor the Lord of the Skies, at your service," he said as he kissed Tecna's hand.
Scarlett slapped her husband on the back of his neck. "Cut that silly act already! 'Lord of the Skies'... just because he can turn into a bird...I dream of a day when you won't embarrass yourself and me and the child by extension in front of guests!" Scarlett then turned to the Winx Club, putting another warm smile on her face. "So, would you like to see your bedrooms? The girls will sleep in Mirta's bedroom, and the boys will stay at the guest room. Come on, follow me."
Scarlett lead the Winx to the upper floor, and showed them both rooms. Mirta's room was abnormally large. There was a single bed, a wardrobe, a desk, and three sets of bunk beds, that occupied most of the room. There were also some posters of rock bands decorating the walls, but the walls around the bunk beds were strangely bare. They guessed that Mirta's mom had used a spell to expand the room so seven people could fit there. She had used the same trick with the guest room, which also had three bunk beds in it.
After that, Scarlett gave them a small tour through the house, until they ended back in the main floor.
"Dinner will be served at eight, so be sure to be here by then or you'll go bed with an empty stomach!" Scarlett said with another wide smile.
Flora cleared her throat. "I've noticed a large greenhouse behind the house. Is it okay if I take a look?" the fairy of nature asked.
"Oh, sure you can! Come on, I'll show you," Scarlett said as she took Flora to the greenhouse, leaving the others behind.
"You know Mirta, your mom is a lively spirit," Bloom said, grinning a little. "All the witches I knew were rather stoic, at best."
"She isn't usually like that. She gets all hyped when people come to visit us, which (with the exception of Lucy and her parents) isn't often," Mirta replied.
"Well, she's certainly happy to have us as guests. I couldn't see my parents being happy living with so many people, even if it's going to be brief."
"So, now what? When are we going to look for that Oracle?" Marco asked.
"As soon as we are prepared. The marshlands are huge and home to very dangerous wildlife. Mom and dad asked a friend to lend them all the books and information they have about the Oracle. They should be here by tomorrow."
…
Meanwhile, at Scarlett's greenhouse, Flora was admiring all the plant specimens there. She noticed that most of them weren't native to the planet, since they barely resembled the plants she spotted in the forest next to the town. The fairy of nature managed to identify most of the flowers there, but there were a few that escaped her knowledge.
"This is amazing. Some of these flowers are very rare. What moved you to collect so many types of plants?" the fairy of nature asked. It was obvious it wasn't a hobby.
"It's related to my job. I own and manage a potion shop, and in order to craft the best potions I need the best of ingredients," Scarlett replied as she spread her arms, pointing her many plants. "They cost me a small fortune, but they were worth it."
"You sure are passionate about your job. That's something good."
"Oh, I knew it'd dedicate my life to this since I first learned about potions at Cloud Tower!"
"Mirta's really good with potions too. Guess that she inherited that from you," Flora said. Then she looked a bit uneasy, thinking in what she was going to ask next. "Maybe it's not my place to ask, but..."
"Oh, you can ask whatever you want, dear."
"Well... what do you think about Mirta leaving Cloud Tower for Alfea?"
Scarlett mood's became more somber. She forced herself to smile, and said, "To be honest, I was a bit disappointed at first. All the women in our family, both past and present, went to Cloud Tower and became renowned witches, at least on this planet. I was hoping that Mirta could continue the family legacy... but... well, Mirta looked much happier at Alfea, and her happiness is all that matters.
"Plus, she was hexed by a witch, but restored by a fairy. It's almost like fate itself wanted Mirta to become a fairy."
"What would you think of Mirta becoming the Guardian Fairy of this world?"
"Funny. I'd say that I'm all for it, but I don't know if I would support having a Guardian Fairy if it wasn't my daughter. I must admit I wasn't too fond of fairies until Mirta told me what you did for her, and I thought that her ideas of witches and fairies getting along was ridiculous, though to be fair I've never meet any fairies before."
"It's okay. We all thought that witches were nothing but pure evil before. Though some of them are."
"The Trix. They're a shame for all witches everywhere. Hell, they aren't even witches at all, given their actions."
That last statement confused Flora a bit. "What do you mean by that?"
"Dark magic is something hard to control. It generates from negative emotions, such as anger or hate. This means that witches need to learn to control their emotions properly, or else they might go insane. Rather than avoiding this, the Trix embraced their own madness, and in return they were turned into nothing but a force of chaos and evil which seeks nothing but power and destruction. I'm pretty sure that not even they know what do they want to do with their lives anymore."
"Now you say that, I'm having a hard time remembering that you're a witch, being so cheerful and sunny," Flora said, hoping Scarlett would know she meant that as a compliment.
"Oh, that's because I have a complete control of my emotions. I'm only angry when I need to be. And if I ever meet the Trix, I'll show them how scary I can be when I get angry," Scarlett said in such a menacing tone that sent Flora chills down her spine. Then she smiled brightly again, and said, "So being a fairy of nature, could you give me a few tips about taking care of plants?"
…
The rest of the group decided to split and explore Ravenwood, though they soon realized that the rural town was far away from Magix or Domino's capital when it came to leisure and tourism.
"So, did you had another dream?" Nabu asked to Riven. They were both walking down one of the town's streets. Several meters behind them, their respective girlfriends were walking and talking as well.
"Yes. In fact, that's pretty much why we're here," Riven replied. "It was Musa's mother who told me about the Oracle, and this place. Speaking of which, what do you know about oracles, seers, fortunetellers and such? Because neither Alfea nor Cloud Tower actually teaches that."
"Well... predicting the future is something hard to do. Many wonder if it's even possible, since unlike other fields of magic can't be examined, or determine how it works," Nabu said. "When I was a kid, I studied many wizards who were said to be able to see the future, and many of their predictions came true, but the skeptics claim that this is nothing but incredible luck."
"And you? Do you think their predictions were genuine?" Riven asked.
"Depending on the prediction itself. Most seers predict the future in an incredibly vague and generic way, to the point that, when you look at it closely, those predictions could mean anything. But those wizards I told you about made very clear and detailed predictions that eventually happened. Now that I think of it, doesn't Bloom have a book like that?"
"Yes, but the book's prediction was wrong. It showed the Man in Black victorious and Bloom's parents defeated, and neither event happened."
"Well, the Man in Black sabotaged the Forge of Wonders, so it was a partial victory. Even if now we have the means to fix it. Still, we're not here to see the future, we want the Oracle to tell us about the Man in Black and his minions."
"Well, hopefully we will be able to find him and this whole trip won't be a waste of time," Riven added sourly.
Some meters behind the boys, Musa and Aisha were also having a chat as well.
"Okay, these people staring at me all the time are getting on my nerves," Musa said as she glared back at the town inhabitants who gave her weird looks. Some of them even whispered something to each other.
"Relax. I know that our choice of clothes make us to stand out a little, but don't think about it too much," Aisha said.
"Still, I don't feel comfortable here. I counted like twenty witches in the past ten minutes," the fairy of music said with a shudder.
"They aren't going to chase you to beat you up for no reason, if that's what you're thinking," Aisha said, trying to calm down her paranoid friend. "You heard Mirta. There may not be too many fairies here, but it's not like they give them the pariah treatment."
"You seem to trust these witches a lot," Musa said sourly.
"Call me naive if you want, but I don't like to mistrust people I haven't met. I don't like profiling either. I don't think witches are all that bad, despite the Trix and everything."
"How many witches have you met?"
"Aside from Mirta, Lucy and the Trix, a few. I got to know some more during the days we studied at Cloud Tower, but that's it. Oh, and now Mirta's mom. You have to admit she's really nice."
"Yes, it's hard to believe she's a witch. But not as hard when you realize that she's also Mirta's mother."
"See? I'm pretty sure that most of the other witches from here are also nice like her."
"Still... I can't help but wonder what they're thinking when they look at us."
"I know. They're thinking 'oh look, foreigners! They must be fairies', right before forgetting about us in the next two seconds. Now I want you to cast all your paranoid thoughts away!" Aisha demanded, a bit annoyed at Musa's paranoia.
"Guess I can't say no to that since you asked me so sweetly," the fairy of music replied with a chuckle.
…
Meanwhile, in a glade outside the forest, Mirta and Lucy sat down in front of each other in the lotus position. Mirta was teaching Lucy Arthaia's technique to draw power from your home planet. Since they were on Casyopea, it should be easier for Lucy to do it.
"Fill your mind with all the good memories you have of this place. The time we met and became friends. All the fun we had afterwards..." Mirta was saying.
Lucy was trying her best to do what Mirta was saying, but recalling good memories and using them as fuel for her power wasn't her thing. She sighed in annoyance as she opened her eyes.
"Sorry Mirta, this isn't working. Whenever I do what you say, I feel my power dwindling, and trust me, it's not a pleasant feeling. I really, really appreciate the effort but-" she started to rise.
"No, wait, don't go!" Mirta said. "Maybe we aren't looking at this from the right perspective, a witch perspective. Just let me think... oh, I know! Come on, close your eyes again."
Lucy sighed, and did so. She knew this fairy technique wasn't going to work.
"Now think... uhmmm... oh, think of that time in sixth grade when Gary the class bully wanted to steal your money, yet you beat him easily."
Lucy chuckled. "Hee hee, that was a good day. He didn't even want to be near me after that."
"And think of that time you got Shia and her friends expelled a whole month when they forced us to do their homework and they presented that essay written by you that was about how much they hated the teacher."
Lucy's smirk grew wider. "Those suckers had it coming."
"It's working!" Mirta thought, jubilantly, sensing Lucy's emotions, as well as a new power flowing through her body. One final push and Lucy would be ready. "And lastly... think how good it felt when we won the gymkana during the town festival!"
Suddenly, a strong wind began to blow. Lucy glowed with a green light, and she slowly elevated in mid air. She opened her eyes, which were also glowing green. Lucy released an energy shockwave that knocked Mirta backwards, and finally landed on the ground again.
"What... what was that?" Lucy asked, confused.
"Lucy! You did it!" Mirta said in joy as she stood up. "I knew you could!"
"Really? I did it? How? "
"Well... not all positive emotions are all cute and fluffy like friendship or love. There's also satisfaction of seeing somebody who wronged you getting his just desserts, or the pride of achieving something important, which are emotions more associated with a witch."
"Wow... that was pretty smart, Mirta. How did you think of that?"
"Well, I'm the fairy of emotions and I used to be a witch, so I know that kind of stuff," Mirta replied. "So, how did you feel?"
"It was incredible! I've never felt so much power before! And my senses... it's like they became one hundred times better!."
"Well, you've pretty much got it now. Anytime you need an extra boost, try to recall a memory similar to those."
"Oh boy, when I show this to the other girls at Cloud Tower, they're going to be so jealous!" Lucy said, grinning.
"Well, you still have to practice a bit more to get the hang of it, but I'm pretty sure you'll master it without any trouble," Mirta said. She looked at the sun, hiding on the horizon, announcing the end of the day and the beginning of night. "Mom will make dinner soon. Do you want to come with us?"
"I don't see why not. Plus it will be a good chance to brag about what I've accomplished today," Lucy said with a smirk of satisfaction.
…
Everybody enjoyed the dinner at Mirta's house. Scarlett revealed that she had tried a new potion on the food that she recently discovered and would sell soon, which gave any food an incredible taste. After stuffing themselves, they went to the living room, where Victor had brought several books about the legend of the Oracle, as well as the place he lived in.
"Alright kids, listen carefully,because you're for a very complicated trek," Victor began. "The Oracle lives somewhere in the marshlands, near the equator.. Where exactly is unknown. Many people have overflown the area, but nobody ever found him."
"So how are we going to find him, then?" Sky asked.
"I was going to say that now, kiddo," Victor said as he picked a book and opened it at an apparently random page. "If the oracle can't be seen from the sky, it is because he uses a very powerful magic to hide his presence. That would make him nearly impossible to find, but there's a way - according to our people's folklore, the marshlands are the Oracle's domains, and he can see everything that happens there, so he will be aware of all the people looking for him. In order to find him, you must travel through the marshlands on foot, and if the Oracle judges you as worthy, he will reveal himself to you."
"So we have to go to those swamps and wait for that guy to show up based on his impression on us? We're for a good time then," Marco said as he rolled his eyes.
"That's not all. The marshlands are a very dangerous land, home of deadly predators of all sizes and shapes. You must be extremely careful when you're there." Scarlett added.
"Do you know of anybody who has been there?" Helia asked. "Maybe we could hire a guide or something."
"No. Nobody goes to the marshlands for the reason my wife just gave. You will be on your own," Victor said.
"I don't think we will find anything worse than the Man in Black in those swamps. Plus we have no other options," Bloom said.
Everybody nodded in agreement, and decided to travel to the marshlands the next morning. Finding the Oracle was their only chance to defeat the Man in Black. Plus, if the Oracle saw the lengths they were willing to go to find him, maybe they will be worthy in his eyes.