Chapter 38: The Witch Trance
For their trek to the Green Swamp, all the girls we wearing explorer outfits just like the ones they used during their first trip to the Black Mud Swamp during their freshman year. It was more appropriate for the terrain than their usual fancy and fashionable but terribly impractical clothes. The specialists, Nabu and Marco were wearing the Red Fountain uniform, a purple, short sleeved wizard robes and a white and silver armor, respectively.
Everybody was expecting that the marshland wasn't as bad as Scarlett and Victor made it up to be. And they were right: it was much worse. The ground was muddy, plants and bushes kept getting in their way (and Flora identified half of those plants as poisonous), the air smelled horribly and insects were constantly biting them. It came to everybody's attention that the bugs didn't bother Lucy at all.
"Lucy, why is it that the insects aren't biting you?" Aisha said as she tried to swat a small flying bug. "It's not because you're a native, is it?"
"I surrounded myself with an aura that scares the insects and other smalls animals away," Lucy explained.
"Shouldn't be surprised. That's so witch-like," Musa commented, swatting bugs as well.
"When we get back, let's check our skin and see which one has fewer insect bites. Say what you want about witches, but sometimes our magic comes in handy," Lucy retorted.
Mirta heard Lucy, and decided to use that same trick on herself, since the bugs were eating her alive. She reached for her dark power...and found it mysteriously blocked.
"Oh yeah, the Black Seal," Mirta thought as she instinctively put her hand to the Seal on her neck. "I didn't realize how much I use dark magic until now."
"Lucy, can you spread that aura to the rest of us? These bugs are going to eat us alive," Riven asked.
"You only have to ask," Lucy said as she snapped her fingers.
A few moments later, they weren't bothered by insects anymore. Musa was a bit mad for having to accept a witch's help, but she had to admit that it was much better now.
"I just hope that that masked freak and his cronies don't decide to drop by to attack us while we're here. For some reason I don't feel as strong as I usually do," Stella said.
"The air here is impregnated with darkness, and it weakens our power," Bloom commented.
"But it increases mine," Lucy said with a rogue smirk.
"Don't worry, remember that you still have us in case things get ugly," Brandon commented as he put an arm around Stella.
"Yeah, but playing the 'damsel in distress' role doesn't go well with us. Or at least with me," Aisha said with a bit of scorn.
"There's no shame in letting others help you when you're in trouble, Aisha," Nabu intervened, hoping to soothe his girlfriend. "Nobody here questions your abilities. Besides, I'd be in the same position as you, since my magic comes from the Light."
"Plus we've already been through this. Remember Melody?" Flora asked.
"But come on, this can't be as bad as Melody was, right?" Mirta objected.
"Uh, can somebody explain me what are you talking about? I thought Melody was a fairy world," Lucy asked, a bit confused.
"And it is. But that Lich – don't know if you have met him already- decided to install a base there, in a place that was strong in dark magic, which caused our powers to weaken," Musa explained. "It was a miracle that we came out of that hellhole alive."
As they continued walking, they reached an area where the vegetation was even thicker than before, slowing the group's pace and making their trek more difficult. They could also hear the sounds of many plants rustling, probably due to animals passing by. This did nothing but make some people grow a little more nervous.
"I'm starting to like this place less and less the more I'm on it. Can't we go flying?" Stella asked, looking around.
"Stella, the guys can't fly, and we aren't going to leave them behind," Flora said.
"Still, I prefer the sky, it seems better than the ground," Stella said as she transformed.
"Then be of some use and explore the area from above," Lucy said as Stella went up in the air.
Suddenly at that moment, Mirta remembered something. "Stella wait! Don't go up there!" Mirta said, but when she realized that the blond fairy didn't hear her, she also transformed and went after Stella.
Stella was in the air above the swamps, contemplating the forest of giant mushrooms. It was quite beautiful from above. She looked around, trying to find where the Oracle could be hidden, but saw nothing of interest. A loud roar above her snapped the Solarian Princess from her thoughts, and saw a huge shadow looming over her. A huge winged reptile dived at her with its mouth opened, showing its many sharp teeth, letting out a loud screech.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Stella yelled in panic as she cast a solar blast at the wyvern, but the winged beasts dodged it.
Mirta appeared in time and pulled Stella out of the wyvern's diving trajectory. The rest of the Winx joined them shortly after, and together they scared the flying reptile away. They returned to the ground, were the specialists and Lucy were waiting.
"What the hell was that!?" Stella yelled in anger, still a bit shocked.
"Sorry Stella, I tried to tell you not to fly, due to the wyverns, but you didn't hear me," Mirta said.
"And why didn't you warn me?" Stella said pointing at Lucy in an accusatory manner..
"I forgot about them, honest!" Lucy said with her arms raised in defense. "I'm not into nature as much as Mirta!"
"Let's all calm down, okay?" Tecna intervened, sensing that this could devolve into a heated argument. "Fortunately nothing happened, and neither Stella nor any of us is harmed. Let's just continue."
Fortunately everybody listened to Tecna's words and decided to ignore the incident for the moment, and resumed the march. Still, it wouldn't be long until their trip was interrupted again by the local fauna. The Winx decided to remain transformed not just in case they were attacked, but in fairy form they could resist Casyopea's darkness better.
"I'm sensing something," Flora said, rubbing her temples.
"The Oracle?" Bloom asked.
"No. An enemy. Something is following us. Four of them. No, now they're five."
"Undead?" Helia asked as he instinctively put his hand to his weapon.
"No, it's alive. It's something... feral. And it's hungry," Flora said. This did nothing but worry everybody.
"We're in a big group. No predator would dare to attack us," Marco stated.
"No, not until they outnumber us," Riven added sourly.
"Keep walking, maybe we can lose them," Sky suggested.
"I don't think so, they're really close. Now they're ten," Flora said, more distressed. "Twelve."
"To hell with it, RUN!" Aisha said.
Since their prey was about to escape, the predators made no effort hiding their presence anymore – despite being already noticed- and chased them through the swamp. The girls had it a bit better than the boys since they could fly, but they couldn't rise very high or else they would be prey of the wyverns. Sometimes they would look back and see huge reptiles chasing them. Said beasts had six legs, green skin, yellow eyes, jaws full of sharp teeth, and two membranous fins at the sides of their head.
"What are those things?" Bloom asked.
"Basilisks! Whatever you do, don't look directly into their eyes!" Mirta warned.
They kept feeling, until they reached the shore of a huge lake. The basilisks slowly surrounded the group, making hissing sounds as they cornered them. The girls could continue flying, but they weren't going to leave the specialists behind to be devoured by those beasts.
"Come on, we've faced far worse than a bunch of lizards!" Aisha said as she took off to attack.
"Aisha, wait!" Mirta called.
"Morphix blasts!" The dark skinned fairy shouted as she cast a pink morphix bolt at one of the reptiles.
And much to the Princess of Andros' shock, the basilisk she tried to blast opened its mouth and swallowed Aisha's attack whole.
"That lizard just ate my attack!" Aisha said, more outraged than shocked.
"Tried to warn you. Basilisks are magic animals, and they feed off magic. In fact, that's why they attacked us. They probably smelled all our magic, and thought that we'd be delicious," the redheaded fairy said.
"So our magic is useless? Why does this keep happening to us?" Musa complained.
"Only direct magic! Let's see if they like this: Green Luxurious Ivy!" Flora shouted.
Large vines grew from the ground and began to wrap around the basilisks. However, some of the reptilian beasts cut the vines with powerful bites. Flora tried to grow more vines to stop the basilisks
"Some help would be appreciated! I don't think I can hold them for long!" Flora said as she summoned more vines.
"Specialists, don't let those lizards near the girls!" Sky said as he unsheathed his sword and put himself between the girls and the predatory beasts. The other guys did the same.
It wasn't long until the basilisks broke free from Flora's vine wraps, and charged forward. Sky, Brandon, Riven and Marco struggled with the oversized lizards, while Helia and Timmy attacked from behind.
"We have to help them! The guys won't keep them at bay forever!" Flora said in panic.
"They may eat magic, but magical or not I don't think that they can eat sound!" Musa said as she elevated in air to have better angle. "Sonic Boom!"
Musa cast destructive sound-waves at a trio of basilisks that, like she predicted, were unable to absorb, and made them to bring their fore legs to their heads to futilely resist the sonic pain. However, that only made them angrier and set the Fairy of Music as their new prey. They climbed to the top of a big bush and jumped at Musa trying to pin her down. The first two failed, but the third one would have reached Musa if Tecna hadn't covered her with a protective bubble.
"Thanks Tecna! I owe you one!" Musa said from above.
"Let's see if we can think something to actually stop them rather than making them angrier," Stella sourly commented. Then an idea flashed through her head. "Hey, I think I got it!"
The Solarian Princess flew above the specialists, who were fighting a bunch of basilisks, and said, "Hey you disgusting geckos, look at this!" Stella said, spreading her arms, making her body shine with a powerful golden light, which momentarily blinded the basilisks, allowing the specialists to gain the upper hand, even if they were unable to finish them off permanently.
"Who'd guess that the amnesiac blonde could have a good idea," Lucy said.
"Well, she has already done more than you," Musa said, shooting a sharp glance at Lucy, which the witch returned.
"Still, it wasn't enough. We need to find a way to incapacitate them permanently, or make them flee or something," Bloom pondered.
"Some help over here!" Timmy said, firing bolts with his guns at a basilisk that passed the melee fighters, and set sights on the carrot headed specialist. For being such a large animal, he dodged Timmy's shots with uncanny speed.
"Hang on Timmy!" Tecna said as she rushed to help her boyfriend.
The Fairy of Technology landed besides him, and surrounded both her and Timmy with a green protective shield.
The basilisk began to furiously bang with his fore legs and head against Tecna's shield, but he couldn't break it. Understanding that brute force wasn't of any help, the animal changed tactics and stared at Tecna and Timmy with his glowing green eyes. Both fairy and specialist began to feel weird. Lucy, who was watching the scene, realized of what was happening, albeit too late.
"NO! DON'T LOOK THEM IN THE EYES!" Lucy yelled as she rushed towards them.
But the damage was already done. Both Tecna and Timmy felt victim to the basilisk's paralyzing stare, and unable to move, the pink haired fairy was unable to hold the shield. Tecna and Timmy were now defenseless against the basilisk. But before the reptilian beast could taste their flesh, he was tackled away by Helia. Nabu and Aisha carried the paralyzed Tecna and Timmy away.
"Bloom, see if you can heal them!" Aisha called.
Bloom nodded and used her healing power on them, hoping to undo the basilisk's spell.
"These beasts are strong as hell! It's like they don't feel pain!" Marco said as he tried to wrestle his sword away from a basilisk's jaws.
"I think I have an idea! I can fool them by creating an illusion of their natural predator, the Horned Hydra!" Mirta said.
"Then do it! I don't think we can last much longer!" Nabu said.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and loud footsteps could be heard, followed by the sound of a large mushroom being toppled. The basilisks stopped struggling with the specialists and perked up their head fins (which seemed to act like ears), trying to figure out what was coming out. And finally, an impressive beast made it's entrance: it was a large reptile, eight meters tall and ten long, walking on four short legs that ended in sharp claws, with three long necks each of them with a horned head at the top. Everybody assumed that this was the Horned Hydra Mirta was talking about.
The hydra let out a chilling roar, making all the basilisks to forget about the Winx and ran away for their lives, some of them even jumping into the water. Everybody began to cheer when they saw the deadly reptiles flying away.
"You did it Mirta! You saved us!" Stella said as she hugged her. The blond princess than realized that Mirta wasn't happy at all, and looked even paler than usual.
"Mirta? Are you okay?" Marco asked, noticing Mirta's predicament as well.
"Guys... that wasn't me," Mirta said in a whisper.
Everybody stopped cheering, and turned around to see the hydra, its three heads staring at them.
"Oh, so you mean..." Musa said as she slowly backed away.
"This has to be a joke," Riven said, looking at the new reptilian monster.
But it was no joke. That was indeed a real Horned Hydra in flesh and blood. The three heads launched themselves against the group with their maws open ready to catch any of the tiny people below. Everybody jumped (or flew) out of the heads' trajectory and spread in a semicircle around the large reptile, which carefully scanned the crowd, thinking who could be an easy prey.
"So, anything we need to know about this thing? Besides the fact that it can crush us or eat us in one bite?" Musa asked.
"Yes, the three heads have a corrosive breath, so keep that in mind," Mirta said.
"Let's attack from two fronts; girls from the air and guys from the ground! It can't fight against all of us like that!" Bloom suggested.
"Do I need to remind you that it has three heads?" Lucy asked sourly.
"Just do it!"
They followed Bloom's strategy, and while the specialists attacked from the ground, the fairies and witch bombarded the reptilian behemoth with energy beams from above. Unfortunately, it didn't cause much harm, and they only succeeded in making it angry. The hydra was surprisingly good at keeping up with both groups, probably due having three separate, but somehow interconnected brains. Back on the ground the specialists were brewing an strategy.
"Let's see if we can kill this thing using the same tactic as with Mandragora's giant worm," Sky suggested, "Nabu, Marco, draw the attention of one of the heads!"
Wizard and paladin nodded, and cast a blue electric beam and a golden crescent blast at the monster respectively, effectively causing one of the heads to lower at them.
"Helia, now!"
Helia threw his chain sword which wrapped around the beast's neck, and pulled down. Brandon and Timmy helped him to pull down when the head tried to pull the long haired specialist back.
"Now!" Sky yelled as he and Riven jumped, beheading the monster in a quick series of slashes.
"Alright, one head less!" Riven said as he pumped his fist.
Suddenly, much to their horror, the beheaded neck generated a new head in matter of seconds.
"What? What kind of animal can regenerate its head?" Brandon asked, outraged.
"Mirta! Why didn't you tell us about this?" Marco shouted.
"Sorry, I kinda forgot!" the redheaded fairy replied sheepishly. Then she realized of something the multi headed animal was about to do. "Watch out, it's going to use the corrosive breath! Take cover!"
Unfortunately, there was no place that they could use as a cover, and the hydra had already fired before Nabu or Marco could cast a protective shield. The specialists could see a woman figure standing between them, which blocked the hydra's extremely poisonous breath.
"LUCY!" Mirta yelled in horror.
"Relax kid, I'm okay," Lucy said as she shook the venomous liquid off her, which caused a hissing sound when it touched the ground, releasing green smoke.
"Thanks, Lucy, that was close," Brandon said.
"Hey, why didn't you melt?" Timmy asked.
"Comes with my powers. Being the Witch of Poisons makes me immune to them," Lucy explained.
Back in the air, the fairies were thinking what to do.
"This beast is too powerful, and our powers are weaker on this world," Tecna said. Then she turned to Mirta and said, "Mirta, we're on your world. Arthaia's technique should give you a huge power boost."
"I'm not sure if I can do it, now that I don't have my dark magic anymore..." Mirta replied.
"Yes, you can do it! And remember that you're not alone, I'm from this world too, and know that technique!" Lucy said as she rejoined the girls.
"You do?" Aisha asked, rising an eyebrow.
"Mirta taught me. Now let's go!" Lucy said.
Mirta and Lucy flew towards the three headed behemoth, and recalled their memories of Casyopea. The planet's energy soon began to course through them, and they began to glow, Mirta with a pink light and Lucy with a green one. But it didn't stop there for Lucy, as she suddenly emitted a bright, blinding green light, and when the light stopped, Lucy had transformed into something else: her whole body was nothing but a black silhouette with green glowing eyes, surrounded by an aura of green flames.
"What...what's going on? What happened to me?" Lucy asked as she took a look at herself.
"Lucy, what happened? Are you okay?" Mirta asked, worried of what Lucy had become.
"Yes. Strange as it sounds, I feel so... good. In fact, I've never felt better in my entire life!" Lucy said in excitement. "And so much power! It's incredible!"
The Winx were watching from above, just as amazed at Mirta.
"Lucy's power increased in almost two hundred percent! What did she do?" Tecna asked.
"I don't know. Maybe a witch transformation?" Flora suggested.
"But witches don't have transformations, only fairies have! ...right?" Musa asked, not sure if that was true anymore.
The hydra attacked, launching its three heads forward, but Mirta and Lucy dodged them by flying in opposite directions.
"Lash of Agony!" Lucy yelled as she cast a blue and green energy beam that wrapped around the three heads of the huge reptile. "Mirta, now!"
Mirta nodded, and prepared her next attack. "Mystic Bolt Storm!" Mirta yelled, casting a barrage of purple, arrow-shaped energy bolts at the hydra, which roared in pain.
Lucy couldn't hold the energy wrap anymore, and released it. "That hurt it!"
"Yes, but not as much! We'll need something far more powerful! Maybe if we combine our powers in a convergence..."
"You and me? But you're a fairy and I'm a witch!" Lucy said.
"It's possible! The Winx told me that Faragonda and Griffin used convergence spells!"
"Yeah, but we don't have as much experience as them!"
"No, but we have a great bond with each other!" Mirta said as she extended her hand to Lucy. "Come on Lucy, it was you who said that I wouldn't do this alone!"
Unsure, Lucy's burning hand grabbed Mirta's, without causing her any pain. Mirta and Lucy tried to synchronize their minds and energy to release a spell that would get rid of the hydra permanently.
"Convergence: Light and Shadows Merging!" Mirta and Lucy shouted at the same time.
The fairy and the witch cast a purple and green energy beam with their free hands, which wrapped around each other forming a thick orange beam that blasted the hydra, causing such an explosion that sent the multi headed animal flying away, landing back into the swamp, as it emitted another roar of pain. The hydra did survive, but that was enough to make it realize that such prey wasn't worth the effort.
"Lucy, we did it!" Mirta said, cheering. However, Lucy merely returned to her original form and fainted, causing her to fall the the ground. Fortunately, Aisha caught her inside a morphix bubble.
"Lucy!"
Aisha put Lucy on the ground, and Tecna quickly checked her out.
"Is she okay?" Mirta asked, worried.
"Yes. But her power levels are dangerously low. She used up almost all her energy. Fortunately, she will be better after getting some rest."
Exhausted, the group decided to find a spot to rest, deciding to postpone the search of the oracle the next day. Others besides Lucy also seemed to need some time to rest and recover from their injuries. They found a clearing, good enough to set up the tents and spend the night there. The girls covered the area with multiple camouflage and protection spells so no wild animal would try to attack them while they sleep.
…
Lucy woke up next morning, her whole body aching.
"Uuuuughh..." Lucy moaned as she got up. For some reason, she was inside a tent. She didn't remember how did she arrived there in the first place. She decided to go out outside, and saw Mirta chatting with Tecna and Flora. The three girls noticed their witch friend.
"Lucy! You're okay!" Mirta said with a bright smile. "How do you feel?"
"I've been better. What happened? Did we beat that hydra?" Lucy asked.
"Of course you did! And it was amazing!" Flora gushed.
"I see. Where are the others?" the green haired witch asked, looking around.
"They went to explore the area, and see if we can track the Oracle. We stayed here to take care of you," Mirta explained. "Your transformation left you almost completely drained."
"Speaking of which, I'm intrigued by that transformation. How did you do it?" Tecna asked.
"To be fair, I'm not sure. I used that technique to extract power from my home world, and I suddenly transformed. I've never felt something like that in my entire life," Lucy said.
Tecna was checking on her handheld computer as Lucy spoke. "There doesn't seem to be any kind of information about the transformation you experienced yesterday. Maybe we consult the Cloud Tower archives when we return to Magix."
"Maybe is an effect Arthaia's technique has on witches. Arthaia told me that no witch has used that technique ever," Mirta wondered.
"Mirta, Lucy, if that's true, do you realize of the implications?" Tecna asked, her eyes wide opened. "This means that you could have discovered a new witch power!"
"Yes! Lucy, you will pass into history as the very first witch who achieved ... uh... does it have a name?" Flora asked. "Then we should name it before somebody else does!"
"Alright, but I don't want it to be ended in -ix or similar," Lucy said, making Mirta chuckle.
"Well Lucy, I think that such honor belongs only to you, so go ahead and think of a name you find worthy," Tecna said.
"Okay... let me think... I'm not really good at this... let's see... how about Witch Trance?" Lucy asked, not sure about the name.
"I like it! Sounds cool!" Mirta said.
"I was expecting you would choose something more evil sounding," Flora commented, getting a sharp look from Lucy. "Witch Trance is great."
"You know, with this kind of ability, I feel like I could beat the Trix with both arms tied behind my back. Hell, I can't wait for the Trix to break out from prison so I can get some payback!" Lucy said.
"However, you should be very careful when using that power, since it consumes your magical energy at a much faster rate, almost five times faster, meaning that if you stay in that form for too long, you could faint for exhaustion, or even die," the pink haired fairy warned.
"I'll keep that in mind," Lucy said.
"HEY!" They heard a voice shouting from above. They looked upwards, and saw Bloom flying above them. "Come with me, hurry!"
"What's going on?" Flora asked.
"I think we've found the Oracle!" Bloom said.
The four girls looked at each other, and quickly followed Bloom.
Author's note: That was chapter 38 my dear readers. Fortunately you didn't have to wait another four months to see another chapter. Lucy achieving Witch Trance was something I've been planning from the very beginning of this story, and I'm quite happy on how it came out. But this isn't the last time you see this new witch power as it should be obvious, and not just from Lucy, since other witches will get this power in the future too!
So next chapter, the Winx visit the Oracle, who tells them about the Man in Black and Gaul the Lich. And while I write that chapter, don't forget to review this chapter! See you soon!