Chapter 58
Time's Labyrinth
The day of the Tournament arrived, accompanied by the cold. The temperatures kept decreasing constantly, but that wasn't a problem for Icy, who serenely continued to wear sleeveless shirts like it was summer. If it was just her, she would've worn crop tops and called it a day, but she found out Lzzy was very envious of her resistance to cold weather, so she used longer shirts to not act pitiless.
Alfea's arena, like that of Cloudtower in the last edition, was in no way protected from climatic events: it was a sort of huge flower levitating over Lake Roccaluce, a pink water lily longer than wider, with no covering. The mayor of Magix had granted the principals nice weather for the entirety of the Tournament.
The Winx and the Trix sat on the East bleachers together with the Specialists and Halestorm. As advanced class, their manche would probably take place late at night, or even the following day.
- What is this Tournament about? - asked Josh.
Headmistress Griffin was in the middle of the opening speech, which in respect of the tradition was held by the principal of the school that lost the previous edition, and the teams of the first year were already in the arena.
- It's nothing but an ability test. - answered Musa, - Alfea and Cloudtower's teams try to conquer more victories than the other school, but without using their major powers. -
- Major powers? -
- Yes, well, without transforming. -
- And do you win something other than glory? - asked Arejay.
- Funds for the school and individual prizes. Motivation isn't lacking. -
- Look, they're sorting the opponent for the first years. - said Flora.
An enchanted vase flew over the arena, making its content fall. Lots of tiny pieces of paper twirled in the air. An archer shot an arrow, which pierced a paper on a target. Taking the paper, Griffin read its content.
- The opponent to defeat is… time. -
There was a murmuring. It didn't sound like an easy test.
- I have a sort of déjà vu. - commented Stella.
- Feel you. - said Icy.
At their Tournament the opponent was fear, symbolized by an invasive ivy immune to magic that in a few minutes had turned the arena in a forest.
- A nice opponent. - giggled Arejay.
- The opponent can be a person, an object or a concept, but the last category isn't usually assigned to the first classes. - said Tecna.
- Maybe it isn't a concept. Look. - said Aisha.
Walls were rising from the ground, taller and taller, covered by a huge transparent surface.
- It's a labyrinth. - said Bloom, - But what does time have to do with it? -
- The teams must go through the labyrinth without falling into its traps as soon as possible, or they won't be able to come out anymore. The team that gets to the center of the labyrinth first will win. - said Griffin.
- I hope Aire does well. - said Stella, looking at the young witch who was walking towards one of the labyrinth's entrances.
On the opposite side, Alfea's team was near its entrance as well.
- Shouldn't you cheer for your school? - Lzzy asked her.
Stella thought about it.
- No. - she said.
The others laughed.
§§
Aire wasn't totally sure she was happy she had been selected for the Tournament. The individual prize was a nice perspective, but being in the same team as Laverna was an ugly present. She couldn't even insult her since a magical camera would follow them the entire time to document the manche. At least she had Henna and Yami.
They reached the entrance of the labyrinth, a simple interruption in the yellowish walls. Henna held them back before they entered.
- There are drawings on the floor, but they disappear further. - she said.
In fact, there were long horizontal lines along the first few meters of the corridor.
- It's just a decoration. Let's go. - Laverna dismissed her, entering in the labyrinth first.
Henna frowned, but she followed her together with the other two. They were only a few steps in when the walls began to close behind and around them at a noticeable pace.
- Run! - yelled Henna.
The corridor was rather long, but soon the thuds of the walls stopped. Looking back, the witches noticed the trap ended just where the lines on the floor ended.
- Next time listen to me. - Henna said dryly.
They continued, led by the light coming in through the ceiling, until they reached a fork.
- Should we turn or go forward? - asked Yami.
- Forward. - said Aire.
- Forward. - confirmed Henna.
They looked at Laverna.
- Fine, let's go forward. - she said with an eyeroll.
They proceeded quick until they reached a new drawing on the floor, which from earthy and uniform became almost checkered. Mindful of the lesson learnt, the girls stopped.
- Well, what do we do now? - asked Laverna.
Aire got closer to the point where the floor changed and, staying close to the wall, stepped on the checkered section. A light pressure was enough to make the floor crumble, revealing a black abyss underneath. She almost lost her balance.
- Sweet. - commented Henna.
- I have an idea. - said Aire, - If we all walk through the trap we couldn't come back because the floor would fall. One of us goes on to see what's at the bottom of the corridor and then comes back to call the others. -
- I'll go. - said Yami - I'm a good runner. -
No one had anything to say about it, so Yami run through the corridor leaving a trail of fallen floor behind her. She took a turn, followed by the magical camera. She came back in a few minutes and crossed the abyss again, letting it swallow another portion of pavement.
- It's a dead end. We must go back to the fork. - she said once she was safe.
They went back and took the other road, just as wide but more curvy: first they turned right, then right again, then left for three times, actually four counting the turn that led them in another dead end making them lose more time. They noticed that as time went by humidity formed on the floor, and soon it became a thin layer of water that rose constantly. A humid incentive to quickly end the test.
They walked faster, water splashing at every step they made, when they saw a new drawing on the floor. It seemed like two concentric circles.
Like Aire had done earlier, Laverna put one foot on it to activate the trap. Instantly rotating blades came out of the walls, disappearing as fast as they appeared.
§§
Outside the labyrinth, Joe cursed.
- Are you sure this Tournament doesn't aim to kill off students? - he asked, and he wasn't really joking.
Both groups were facing the same difficulties and Alfea's team had lost quite some time deciding how to get past the blades.
- I'll tell you what Joe, that may just be the real goal here. - replied Icy.
- Damn, for real! If this is the first years' test, what are you guys going to get? - said Lzzy, already worried.
- Suffocating plants. - Icy and Stormy replied simultaneously.
§§
Meanwhile, Cloudtower's team decided the blades weren't worth using magic. Walking on all fours would have been enough to avoid them. The water got up to their ankles now, it was better to get it done fast.
- Are we sure it's the right move? We'll have to use magic at some point. - said Henna, still in doubt.
- I think it's a symbol. - said Aire.
- You don't need to face an obstacle directly if it's just a waste of time? I like it. - said Yami, preparing to pass.
Laverna was already waiting on the other side. Henna's impression of having gone wrong accompanied her up to the next obstacle, moving platforms that came in and out of the walls (which they surpassed without using magic), to the fork where they took the left road since going forward hadn't helped much until then. Then they reached what looked like a dead end. Water was now up to their calves.
- We took the wrong road again! - exclaimed Laverna, kicking the wall.
- It's impossible, the other road was a dead end. - objected Yami.
- Well this here is another wall! It means we got the wrong road at the crossroad before! -
- Stop arguing. - Henna scolded them while looking carefully at the water near the wall.
She thought she had seen a movement different from the one water on a closed wall has, there was a sort of...
- Current! There's current, the water runs below the wall! - she exclaimed, kneeling down and touching the base of the wall looking for openings.
She found it soon, it was small and now covered by water. A big cat could've gone through it.
- How do we get through? - asked Yami.
- Metamorphosis? - proposed Aire.
- Makes sense. - conceded Laverna grimacing.
- We better turn into amphibians, we don't know how much water is on the other side. - said Yami.
The others nodded and casted the spell.
- To go through the narrow passage water and earth we must cross, amphibians we want to become! -
It definitely wasn't the best rhyme, but it worked: four iguanas wriggled out through the hole into a corridor were water was even higher. They went back to their human selves and continued as fast as they could, going by another section of crumbling floor, higher than the water.
They reached the umpteenth fork. In front of them was a sharp curve, on their right a long corridor filled with traps.
- I say right. - said Laverna.
- Yeah, it's odd that there's so many traps all together. - Henna agreed.
- Then let's go. - said Aire.
The first obstacle were the rotating blades, which they avoided by walking on all fours again, although it meant to get completely soaked. Then they found themselves in front of a mix of moving and crumbling floor, placed higher so that water didn't fall into the void. Continuously risking to slip due to their wet and muddy shoes, they got through those as well, then the ground went down again and soon enough they were walking with the water reaching their hips.
- Another fork. The road on the right is completely submerged, let's go forward. - said Yami.
- No wait. - Aire stopped her, - I think I can see the gallery going down, maybe we took too much time to get here and the passage is underwater. I'll go check if you want. -
Yami and Laverna looked doubtful, but Henna told her to go. Aire evoked a shiny bubble, took a deep breath and dived. She didn't have to go too far to see the submerged tunnel.
- This is the right way. - she exclaimed as soon as she emerged.
- Good, the fairies are at the top of the corridor. Let's hurry! - said Henna.
The four witches dived in, seeing at once the passage Aire saw: a tunnel almost five meters long, which wouldn't have been easy to reach without water since it was quite up high on the wall and flying was against the rules.
Beyond the tunnel they rushed to the surface, short on oxygen. They were in a square room with a dry hill in the center. There, a pillar held a small blue and shiny sphere. The girls hurried to get out of the water and reached the sphere.
- Ready? - asked Yami.
The others nodded. Together they touched the sphere and the labyrinth vanished. The test was over, Cloudtower won the first round.