They had to move quickly. The higher the ground for Tecna's beacon, the better it would work. Musa took the lead and tied them all together in a line to keep them safe as they climbed; Musa and Tecna up front and then Bloom between Stella and Flora in case she needed emergency warming-up or healing from them. Two hours into their trek through the deep snow, a blizzard started.

Bloom's legs were shaking from the cold and from the exertion it took to climb the mountain, so when the snow began to fall she almost started crying. Bloom had been struggling with the cold the entire time and now that the wind picked up and she was shivering uncontrollably as she struggled to stay upright in the gale. Her trembling travelled up the rope and caught Musa's attention. The message she sent had to be passed back through Tecna and Stella so Bloom could hear it.

"Do you need to stop?" Stella asked, yelling above the wind.

"No," she said through gritted teeth, her voice wobbling. "We should keep going." Her answer was unconvincing but was passed back up the line to Musa anyway, who paused for a moment and then replied, motioning to further up the mountain to the remains of a long destroyed building..

"Musa says we should get to those ruins and try and camp there until the storm passes," Stella said. It was hard to see her expression through all of her protective gear, but she sounded worried. Bloom nodded and they made a push for the old building that wasn't too far away now. Looking at the ruins made her feel queasy. It was easier just to focus on the snow in front of her.

By the time Musa reached the building, Flora was having to push Bloom up while Stella was pulling. Her legs felt dead and her toes were stinging from the cold.

The roof of the building was long gone, the curses that had gripped Domino eons ago having ripped it away. But most of the high walls remained, sheltering the floor from the centuries long freeze. The building was made out of tall blocks of limestone stacked together and there were remnants of carved pillars dotting the floor. At one point it had sported tall stained-glass windows but the pains had long since shattered and all that was left were the corroded lead frames. The building had once been furnished with ornate wooden chairs, but now they were strewn across the flagstones in perfectly preserved pieces.

Musa started a fire with the wood and Stella's light. Bloom watched as the rest of the girls set up a little camp, Flora handed her a blanket she could shiver into as Tecna got out some of the mint cake for everyone to snack on. Bloom didn't care much for the mountaineering snack but found a pack of cookies in her bag and worked her way through those.

"We need to be eating way more than normal in this weather," Tecna said, pressing a cake into Bloom's hand. "Especially you because you're running cold. We'll wait out the worst of this storm here before we carry on, it'll be too dangerous to keep moving with such low visibility."

They all struggled to take down their scarves and balaclavas so that they could reach their mouths. Even out of the wind it was almost unbearable to expose any skin. Musa put on a kettle of milk over the fire and they all watched and shivered until it was hot enough.

"I'm sorry, girls, if I still had my powers then we wouldn't be suffering in this cold," Bloom said miserably. Of all the places her fire magic would have been useful, a frozen planet was the most obvious. Musa handed her a cup of the warm milk which Bloom found was mostly cream and had a stick of butter floating in it.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "We'll all be fine."

They ate and drank in relative silence, the noise of the wind too loud to really hold a conversation over. Flora warmed herself on the fire as she lamented the real lack of any plant life. The way she sounded so melancholy forced Bloom to face the reality that Domino was truly dead. Even that little spark that she could feel was faint, close to an ember, and she knew that soon there would be nothing left but snow and rock. The fire left on Domino couldn't sustain itself, there was no way that she could regain her power from.

Tecna got up from the group and went to have a look around. She couldn't sit still and needed to move her legs. Bloom could see that she was twitching a lot, unable to look at anything for more than a few seconds. The rest of them stayed close to the fire and drank up a lot of tea, coffee and cocoa while the snow fell. They shared a few packs of deep-fried, double smoked bacon too.

"It's nice that we can just eat all this chocolate with no consequences," Flora said, trying to smile through chattering teeth. While she had to admit that she enjoyed that, Bloom was wondering what her dentist would say after.

"Hey guys!" Tecna yelled, her voice drifting to them from the back. "I think this place used to be a temple."

They all got up and followed her voice to where she stood in front of a shrine. The offerings left out were fresh, they hadn't decayed a day since they had been left for the god. Freshly picked purple monkshood lay out with their petals still vibrant, and half-burnt incense surrounded a pair of rats that had their throats slit. The rodents were so preserved that the blood around their wounds was still bright red. Everything was unnaturally stuck in time. Many carvings in a strange hieroglyphic language surrounded a two foot tall statue of a bird with its wings outstretched. It was made out of red zircon apart from its feet which were cast from gold and its eyes that were black gemstones. Whoever had made it was clearly skilled; it was unnervingly realistic and Bloom couldn't imagine how they'd managed to texture the feathers so beautifully.

"Woah," said Stella, raising a gloved hand. "That's super pretty."

"Don't touch it," Tecna said sharply, throwing up an arm between her friend and the shrine. Stella wrinkled her nose. "This is a temple to Argulus, I think. We don't know what curses or enchantments there are here."

"Argulus?" Flora asked.

"One of the oldest religions in the universe worships him," Tecna explained. "I don't pretend to be an expert but it worshipped a God of Darkness, kind of in the hopes that praying would appease him, and his followers would be spared from plagues and misfortune or whatever else you used to be able to blame on demons."

"Ew," Stella shuddered.

"'Bit weird that it's here though," Musa said. "What I heard about Argulus was that he's supposed to be the Great Dragon's opposite."

"I guess people on Domino didn't follow just one religion," Flora suggested.

The others kept talking but as they discussed what they knew about this god and his following, their voices faded into the background as Bloom studied the statue. Something about it wasn't right. It was hard to put her finger on exactly what it was but it was filling her with fear as she met the dull gaze of those black stones. It was the same uneasy fear she had felt when she'd looked at the ruins earlier. She had no problem believing that what this bird represented was the source of all darkness and evil in the universe because its statue exuded both of those things. Bloom shuddered, reaching out in her mind's eye for the spark that was still in the heart of Domino for the comfort it gave her.

The next moment the dark eyes of that bird started to glow an eerie orange and she leapt away from it with a shriek. The other girls looked between her and the idol and Tecna blanched.

"Everyone get their stuff now," she said. "Whatever that was, it wasn't good and we need to leave."

"Let's get out of here," Stella agreed as she started jogging back to the camp. "I've seen enough horror movies to recognise the start of one."

They grabbed their stuff, shoving cooking tins into bags and clipping bags onto backs. Flora had to help Bloom with hers because her hands were shaking too badly to do it by herself. She wasn't sure that she'd warmed up at all during their break. Musa tied them together again and they started frog marching up the mountain again.

"There should be a system of caves somewhere up ahead," Tecna called over the wind and the message was passed back. "At least, that's what my scanner says."

They were close to the summit of the smallest mountain when the ground started to rumble, snow shifting under foot. Bloom turned to look at Flora who was as confused as she was. It felt like an earthquake but the tremors seemed to be localised and rapidly approaching where they were. There was a sharp tug on the rope and Bloom didn't need another reminder that they needed to get moving.

It was impossible to run fast in the snow and as Bloom looked back she saw that the snow behind them was rapidly melting and then freezing into ice again in an instant.

"We need to transform!" Flora yelled. That sent real panic flooding through Bloom's veins; she couldn't reach her fairy form any more and she was right in its path. The others were dropping their packs and growing their wings, the ropes on either side of Bloom went slack as the snow not two meters away from her erupted in a hiss of steam. Boiling water froze into droplets of ice that rained down on her, and Bloom came face to face with the creature.

It was a skeletal centipede thing with a spiny comb running from its head down its long neck to the first set of its many legs. Glassy grey eyes stared at her as its two sets of antenna, one on the top of its exo-skull and one on the cheekbones, twitched erratically and its disjointed mandibles clicked. It was entirely a bone-like grey colour but for the many pairs of glowing red vertebra running down its exposed spine. Bloom stopped breathing as she stared back; it had only partially emerged from the ground. She had no idea how big this thing was.

In the next beat it dived at her, the only thing still on the ground and she threw herself out of the way, landing in a heap of snow, struggling to right herself.

"I've got you," Tecna shouted as she landed beside her and enveloped them both in her glowing shield. The next attack the creature made hit the barrier she had cast around them. It vibrated and Tecna winced from the impact.

"We'll distract him!" Musa yelled. The three of them in the air were struggling to fly in the storm, being battered off course by the force of the blizzard.

From behind Tecna, Bloom couldn't see much of what was going on, and she couldn't hear anything either. The others must have been successful in distracting it, though, because Tecna was comfortable enough to split her concentration from the barrier to retrieve her palmtop and thrust it at Bloom. She caught it clumsily in her gloved hands.

"There should be a bestiary of dark creatures in there," she said, and returned her attention to the shield. "We need to know what it is we're fighting." Bloom struggled to operate the little computer with her gloves but was able to get the right database up and start searching.

"It's not just an ice creature!" Flora cried over the gale. "It's back burnt my vines right off!"

"Why the fuck does it have fire magic too?!" Stella screamed and set off a solar flare at it. Her magic lit up the mountain around them. It gave a squealing shriek and lunged at her, propelling more of its many-legged body out of the snow. Bloom gasped for air as she did what Tecna asked, no matter how fast she breathed it didn't feel like she was getting any oxygen.

There were so many different beasts to search through and she had to pull a glove off with her teeth to scroll. It was so cold that her fingers started to tingle in pain the instant that they were exposed to the cold air. Her eyes ran down the list until she saw the right picture and her heart jumped in terror.

"It's a Remorhaz!" She yelled as she frantically jammed her completely numb hands back into the saftey of her protective gloves. "I have no idea if I'm saying that right!"

"And what about it?" Tecna said. "We need more information!"

"Don't let it touch you!" It wasn't just the patches of red on its spine - the whole thing was super heated and would burn them badly on contact. Bloom desperately searched through its profile to see if there was anything else of any use.

"It can only tunnel through ice!" Tecna shouted, turning as she suddenly remembered. She grabbed Bloom's arm. "We need to get to rockier ground!"

"But the whole place is covered in snow!" She protested as she was dragged along. Tecna's grip on her was impressive and Bloom could only stumble after her.

"Yeah, and underneath that is a layer of ice, but further up the mountain the snow is shallower and harder for it to manoeuvre! Now move!"

They moved as quickly, forgoing stealth and inadvertently drawing the Remorhaz's attention. It ignored Stella and lunged at the shield that Tecna was still holding in place. She let out a pained groan as the impact made her barrier flicker and she renewed her efforts to keep it in place.

"Why does it want you?" She asked Bloom, sweat forming from the strain of keeping the Remorhaz at bay.

"I think I was the one that messed with the statue?" Bloom confessed. Why was it that everything that could go wrong, was going wrong? Musa let off one of her sonic bombs at the creature and it screamed angrily, thrashing about and trying to reach her as she flew out of its range.

The ground was shaking from the writhing and as Bloom's foot went down as the snow beneath her split. Her scream alerted Tecna who caught her arms just in time. The snow and ice had parted to reveal a crevasse and Bloom had dropped straight down it, now the only thing holding her up was Tecna's upper body strength.

"I can't hold you up and keep the barrier," she gasped. She was trying hard to keep hold of Bloom, but her inability to keep up her shield was making her panic.

"Don't drop me!"

"It's all rock and cave systems under there, the Remorhaz can't reach you there. It's not far to the first ledge, use the sides to slide and take my palmtop. I'll be able to track you if you keep it on you."

"No, Tecna! Don't!" Bloom didn't think she would be able to land safely, the bottom was too far away and the sides were too slippery to do what Tecna was suggesting.

"Trust me, please!"

Bloom closed her eyes and nodded. She let out a squeal as Tecna let go and she dropped, flailing her arms as she plummeted down. The curve of the ice bounced her onto the first ledge, and she landed painfully on her shoulder. Carefully, she tried to make a controlled drop onto the next plateau but lost her grip and hit it hard. She was winded by the impact and struggled to right herself, her breathing stilted from the shock. Her many layers helped break her fall however, and she would only have bruises.

From above she could see Tecna hovering above her, barrier still in place. She gestured with her palmtop and dropped it down to Bloom who only just managed to catch the computer.

"There's a map of the cave system on there, use it to head to the rockiest, thickest part of it. We'll keep it busy and then we'll come find you."

Bloom nodded and started to climb further down to get away from the layer of ice that the Remorhaz could travel through. It was hard with her gloves and the heavy pack, and she was shaking with fear because she was descending without a harness of a rope. She was bitterly aware that if she fell and broke something she would be in serious trouble. The rock was jagged and pulled at her clothing and rucksack, enough that she eventually had to unclip her bag and let it fall ahead of her.

By the time she reached the bottom she was covered in bruises and her coat had ripped open in several places, pieces of down were strewn all over the place and wafted in the air. Shaking with adrenaline, she picked up her pack again and followed the map of the palmtop into a wide opening in the rock.

It was actually warmer once she got into the caves and she was able to stop shivering. Although she had to stop to find her flashlight so that she could see anything. She wasn't very good at interpreting the scan Tecna had given her so she ended up in a few dead ends until she got the hang of which symbol meant what. The further into the caves she went the shallower the passages became until she was having to stoop to get through. Bloom clenched her fists and tried to ignore the claustrophobia creeping up on her.

Eventually the palmtop directed her through to an unusually straight and uniform tunnel that she soon realised had to be man-made. There were carvings on the wall, decorated with red and orange paint, and Bloom let her hand trail over the glyphs as she wondered what they said. She felt like she was meant to know what they said. Not long after the writing appeared, she came across faded wallpaper and stone floors. She was in the basement of some building.

The place looked oddly familiar to her and that was a comfort as she wandered through corridors and halls on her own. There were pictures on the walls of people in finery, although many of the canvases had faded or were ripped. The building hadn't been touched in years, centuries probably, and Bloom tried not to disturb anything as she went.

Eventually she had to stop to eat something though. She found a small antechamber and sat down to unpack the food she had on her. There wasn't a way to heat anything up, Musa had the equipment to start a fire, so Bloom just unwrapped whatever she had that could be eaten cold. When she was full she found that it was especially hard to move any of her limbs, and even more so to keep her eyes open. Despite the danger outside, Bloom let herself slip into an uneasy sleep.

"Bloom."

Someone was saying her name and she looked around to see if one of the Winx had found her yet but couldn't see anyone. She resisted the urge to call out in case this was another of the traps left behind by the Ancestral Witches. She was sure it wasn't a dream, but that only frightened her more.

"Bloom."

There it was again,it definitely wasn't a dream, but this time she could tell that the voice was coming from ahead of her and it did sound familiar. Cautiously, she crept towards the direction of the sound trying not to let her guard down as she got closer. It led her to a set of large double doors and she steeled herself before she opened them.

Bloom breathed a sigh of relief at the soft, golden glow that was waiting for her. Daphne smiled when they saw each other. Her sister was as Bloom had seen in her dreams; a hovering, translucent spirit dressed in her nymph finery. Around them were piles of treasure - she didn't know how else to describe it, there were jewels and gold and fine silks everywhere - and Daphne was floating in the middle of it. She smiled at her little sister and opened her glowing arms to her. Bloom went to hug her.

Daphne wasn't solid, but she didn't pass through her either. It was somewhere in the middle as they tried to hug each other. She could feel the shadow of her sister's arms around her, the almost-embrace comforting if not satisfying.

"I'm sorry," Bloom gasped, and then was unable to stop herself from bursting into tears. "I failed you. The witches have the power."

"Oh Bloom," Daphne stroked her cheek with a hand that felt like a gust of wind. "It's not like that. You've done so well, I thought I would lose you. But you're here, you're still alive and you're still fighting."

"I'm trying to get the Dragon Fire back, I promise, but I don't know how." She was still crying, hard enough that it was difficult to get all of her words out. "I thought if I came back I might be able to find a spark or an ember of it, or something. But there's nothing left."

"Bloom, I promise you, there is a way to get your powers back. No fairy or witch or wizard can ever be fully deprived of their magic, your flame is not gone forever." Daphne shook her head as she held her sister's face with both hands, fingers trying to brush away tears despite their lack of substance. "But you won't find it here. There is no power left on Domino."

"How do I do it then?"

"I only have a short amount of time and only a small amount of my power here; I have to return to my lake soon, but if you come to Roccaluce I can help you better," Daphne said as Bloom clutched onto her. "While I still have the power to be here, I want to show you something."

Bloom nodded and her sister flitted away from her to a box on the shelf behind her and lifted it down with difficulty. Opening the delicate case, the one she recognised from her dreams, Daphne showed her the exquisitely made tiara inside. It was made from white gold and intricately twisted into beautiful shapes that held small pink and purple gemstones.

"It's beautiful," she breathed.

"It's yours." Daphne smiled, offering the crown towards her. Bloom tentatively reached out to touch it.

"Are you sure?" It was so beautiful, clearly expensive, Bloom wasn't sure that she could be trusted with something so precious.

"It belongs to the royal family of Domino, and our father planned it to be yours," she insisted, smiling despite the sorrow in her eyes. "Your friends have almost caught up to you now and I need rest. Please, take this with you."

Bloom lifted the tiara out of the box and Daphne gave her sad smile before she faded out of existence. The box dropped to the ground without her there to hold it. Bloom was on her own once again with just the riches left to keep her company, the room dark without Daphne's warm glow.

It didn't feel right to wear the tiara, so she put it back in its box and carried that with her as she tried to find somewhere easier for the rest of the Winx to meet up with her. She wandered around the empty corridors until she found a great hall with a partially broken glass dome as part of its roof and was filled with old furniture. Bloom sat down and waited for the others to find her as she admired a fresco of the Great Dragon on one of the walls.

If it wasn't for the fact her friends were close to finding her, she would have been happy to curl up and nap again. She wasn't warm exactly but she also wasn't shivering uncontrollably anymore and the palace, which was what she now realised this place was, felt safe and comfortable. Earth was where she had grown up and where her parents were, but here, in amongst the rubble and the snowdrifts, here was home. Bloom understood why her parents hadn't been able to just stay on Magix and carry on as normal. It hadn't been because of some vain desire to become proper royalty again or be revered, it had been the urge to come home.

There were noises outside, way above her near the hole in the domed roof, and she was sure that she could hear Stella's voice from up there. Bloom got up and went to stand in the beam of light under the hole in the roof that she could wave at them. All four of them gathered around the outside, only their head visible and waved back.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" Tecna called down.

"Yeah," Stella seconded. "I can't believe that this bitch dropped you!"

They were able to fly down one by one to join her and she showed them the box Daphne had given her which held her tiara. Stella cooed over jewellery, asking to touch it and then holding it up to see what it would look like on Bloom's head if she wasn't wearing a hat and a hood. Tecna hugged her tightly as soon as she reached Bloom.

"You did what you had to and your plan worked out perfectly," Bloom admitted and then let Flora take her turn to hug her. "Are you guys all okay? What happened to the Remorhaz?"

"We managed to lose it a little while back," Musa said. "I'm not sure that we could have kept up fighting it much longer with having to fly to stay safe and there being a blizzard. Tecna's planted her beacon and that should be going off now."

"It's over now, though. And you've found your palace," Stella said, looking around the hall. All of a sudden Bloom felt very protective over the palace and resented that Stella might be being critical. It had been abandoned for a long time; it didn't deserve to be judged harshly.

"Yeah, but it's not much of one now. Everything is trashed and now the Trix are going to do the same to Magix," Bloom sighed.

"Hey," Flora put her arm around her. "We're not going to let that happen."

As she finished speaking, the Winx were greeted by an ominous rumble that shook then building so hard that now fell from the edge of the hole in the roof, dusting all of them below like it was icing sugar. They all looked at each other before Bloom found all sets of eyes on her.

"Run," said Musa.

She made it halfway back to the corridor before the roof exploded into shards of ice and glass as the Remorhaz burst through the hole that was already there. Bloom yelped as she tried to avoid the debris falling on her head.

It's ugly face lunged at her as she was saved from its jaws only by a solar flare from Stella knocking it off course. It hissed and squealed in pain, rounding on the person who had hurt it and Stella had to launch herself out of the way.

"Get down the hall!" Flora cried to Bloom.

"No!" Tecna shook her head. "Stay with us."

"What?" Bloom didn't know what to do.

"Trust me," Tecna begged. "Help is almost here."

Bloom took a deep breath and decided to put her trust in Tecna once again. The Remorhaz was definitely after her but it was distracted by the others when they attacked it which gave her enough time to keep moving out of its way.

It was exhausting. She was stopping and starting, not wanting to keep running long enough for the monster to predict her movement. Even with her pack dropped behind, her heavy winter clothes were enough to weigh her down and make her limbs heavy. She was gasping for breath, each inhale rattling her chest as she began to get light-headed. The Remorhaz seemed to sense that too because it made feints towards her to get to keep running and tire her out.

As Bloom made another mad dash across the hall, the light pouring in from the hole in the roof was blotted out by something. She looked up to see what was going on and missed an old chair leg poking out of the rubble into her path. She went sprawling over onto her front, trouser leg hooked on the splintered wood.

Stella whooped at something but Bloom was too busy trying to roll onto her back so that she could untangle herself to see what was going on. She managed to get free from the remnants of the chair but as she sat up all she could see was the skull-like face of the monster hurtling towards her. Bloom screamed, unable to get up in time and hoping that Tecna was close enough that she could shield her. She threw up her hands in a futile last ditch effort to protect herself, closing her eyes as the shadow fell over her.

But the burning jaws of the Remorhaz didn't reach her. The light that shone on her face was blue from the phanto-shield and Bloom looked up to see that she was being protected by a figure in Red Fountain uniform.

Sky was holding up his shield to protect them both, teeth gritted with the effort. He gave her a strained smile before he swung his sword up to slash at its face. It shrieked and recoiled, only to be set upon by the rest of the Winx and Brandon. Once the beast was safely distracted, Sky offered Bloom his hand to help her up and she took it.

He pulled her to her feet and she burst into tears, ugly crying into her goggles. Sky looked surprised as she clung to him tightly, arms wrapped around his waist but stroked her hair.

"I'm pleased to see you too," he laughed, his body warm and his voice comforting. "But you need to let go; Brandon definitely needs help."

Bloom sniffled and released him reluctantly. He sprinted off to help shield his teammate from the Remorhaz while Flora warned the boys about the superheated skin of the creature. Both Brandon and Sky were much more prepared to fight this thing than the Winx were. Tecna landed next to Bloom, shaking with exhaustion.

"Timmy's in the Owl above us," she said. "We need to get you up there."

"How?" Bloom was still sobbing and bent double from the exertion of running.

"Sky and Brandon dropped down on ladders, you've got to use those."

"I don't think I can," she cried. "I'm too weak…"

"Give yourself more credit," Tecna said. She laid a hand on Bloom's shoulder and looked her intensely in the eye. "You're not as weak as you think you are. Even without your powers." Bloom might not believe that but she knew Tecna did and she wasn't going to let her friend down.

"I'm not giving up," she said, gritting her teeth. "But I'll need help."

Tecna nodded and flew over to the fight. She gave short instructions to everyone there as they dodged and flew out of reach of the flailing head and legs. Stella and Musa took over harrying the creature with Tecna and Flora switching in when needed, while Sky ran back to her.

"Sorry about this," he said and, before Bloom could say anything, he lifted her up over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. She completely lost the ability to speak as his hand gripped the back of her thighs to keep her steady.

Bloom had daydreamed about this situation plenty of times before. She wanted to get the hell out of here and away from the monster, but she also wanted this moment to never end.

Sky raced back to the ladder, Brandon climbing on the other one, and called up to Timmy in the cockpit to retract them. Bloom grabbed fistfuls of his cape to make sure that she stayed over his shoulder as they ascended.

Once they were inside the ship Sky gave the girls the signal and they flew in one by one. He tried to put her down after that but Bloom refused to let go of him once her feet were on the floor. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and she buried her face in his neck. Gently, he rubbed her back through her many layers of clothing.

"Hey," he said softly. "It's okay."

Tecna came up last and, as she scrambled onboard, told Timmy to leave as quickly as possible which he did. The Remorhaz snapping at the air where they had been just seconds before. The Winx breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, so what's going on, why are you here?" Stella asked, dropping her fairy form and stretching her arms. "Like, I'm glad you guys turned up but I wasn't expecting it."

"It's a long story," Brandon said. "But your return strategy wasn't going to work so Faragonda asked for help from Red Fountain."

"What was wrong with our plan?" Musa asked indignantly, crossing her arms.

"Nothing, technically, but you were going to teleport back to the main station in Magix, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Magix has been overrun," Sky said, his arms tightened around Bloom. "You would have walked straight into the Army of Decay."