Chapter 72

Distraction

A pulsating pain crossed every inch of her body, making every breath unbearable. Despite that, Rebecca forced herself to open her eyes and sit up. a cloud of shiny dots covered her sight for a few moments, then it faded, showing her her friends lying near her, still sleeping.

- Congratulations, little girl, - said a sweet, mocking voice, - you're the first one who came back. -

Rebecca turned to look at Valtor, still confused. She felt really weak and didn't attempt to get up, even less so to attack him. She had to buy some time, she had to wait for the others to wake up. She had to believe they would wake up.

- Your plan won't work. - she said.

She wanted to add more, but she stopped to cough.

Valtor, sitting on his throne again, gave her an amused smile.

- You think so? I know the Winx and the Trix well enough to know they have some skeletons in the closet, and you and your friends have no chance against me. -

Valtor's smile turned into an expression of disbelief when he saw that Flora and Stella were waking up too.

Rebecca followed his gaze and felt slightly relieved when she saw them.

They seemed as weak as she was, but at least it was them and not their alter egos.

- I'm afraid that you didn't spy on us enough, Valtor, or else you'd know that we were already victims of a similar spell in the Dark Dimension and we broke it. - said Stella.

While she spoke, Francesca woke up suddenly, opening her eyes wide and gasping. It was already too many failures for Valtor.

- No! It isn't possible! - he screamed.

That spell was among the most powerful ones from the Mystérion, capable of rewriting an individual's identity!

Seconds later, Musa woke up too and with her Bloom and Tecna. Darcy was the next, and with her woke up everyone's fighting spirit as well. She was livid. She got up and pointed at Valtor, saying:

- You won't dare play with my mind or anyone else's ever again. -

§§

Meanwhile on the shuttles the Specialists still fought the monsters in the cave, with renewed energy. Thanks to Tecna and Timmy's devices they heard the girls waking up and, even though some were still missing, now they were sure they would make it.

§§

More and more desperate, Valtor observed the awakening of Maria, Desirè and Stormy. When the remaining four also woke up, he couldn't contain his anger and freed a wave of negative energy.

Their powers still weakened by the Nocturna Suppressio, the girls couldn't defend themselves and were thrown against the columns and walls of the hall. Darcy, who was less affected by the spell, had an idea to buy some time. They needed everyone's powers to defeat Valtor, so she had to distract him to give the others the time they needed to be able to use magic again.

Valtor prepared to attack again and this time in a more lethal way, but he stopped when he saw a red halo forming between him and his enemies. Slowly, the halo took the form of Lord Darkar from head to stomach, if you could talk of a stomach, to then end in a red, semitransparent puff. He looked like a ghost. Valtor instinctively stepped back.

- How dare you take my palace, give orders to my army? - asked the ghost, threatening.

Valtor was confused.

- You cannot be here. -

- My body is dead, but I didn't fade completely. Give me back my powers, wizard, and I could spare you a painful death. -

Meanwhile, the girls stared at the scene in terror. Before one of them opened her mouth, Darcy telepathically let them in on her plan: the fake ghost would distract Valtor for a few minutes, giving them the chance to reorganize themselves.

Having learned that that half skeleton was nothing more than an illusion, Lzzy focused at once on her duty, irradiating the others with courage, trust and other positive feelings. Doing so they had more chances to succeed and their powers would be more effective. The others carefully got up on their feet, taking their places. Valtor was still focused on the ghost, who kept asking him back the Phoenix Flame.

When they all felt strong enough to fight, Darcy let go of the illusion. Valtor didn't have the time to understand the trick because Flora started the attack.

- Come on girls, contact point! Nature's energy! -

Mighty vines trapped Valtor, together with rocks. It was the same containment spell they had used against Mandragora: if had been able to hold her back, filled with the powers of the Ancestral Witches, it would be able to hold back Valtor and the Phoenix Flame too.

- Net of darkness! - exclaimed Rebecca, followed by Stormy.

- Eye of the storm! -

- Strength of light! -

- Jade cage! -

- Electric sphere! -

- Sound barrier! -

The wizard fell on his knees under the weight of the spells. He tried to break free, but the girls' barriers turned his powers against him. He couldn't escape. Even if they weren't at their maximum strength, all those spells together were too much even for him.

- Orion's belt! - called Cassandra, now transformed into a witch.

- Magical digital web! -

- Endless darkness! -

- Marble chains! -

- Enchanted fluids! -

- Perennial frost! -

Bloom inhaled deeply. Her task was to banish Valtor into Oblivion. There his powers wouldn't grow during his imprisonment like they had in the Omega Dimension, and maybe he wouldn't even be able to break free from the spell. She spoke, and each word was imbued with magic.

- As guardian fairy of the Magical Universe, I banish you into Oblivion, Valtor! It shall be your last, eternal prison! - she said.

- No! No! - screamed Valtor.

Too late: the unbearable light that shone from Bloom faded, just like the containment spells of the others: there was no wizard to hold back anymore. Valtor was never coming back.

The girls landed, some more gracefully than others, tired and relieved, while the boys cheered for their victory on the shuttles. Lzzy stopped giving out energy to everyone, accentuating their fatigue, and stepped towards Icy when the castle trembled.

- Oh, come on, can't we get a break? - Stella asked, exasperated.

Tecna scanned the structure with her powers and said:

- It isn't a natural event! The cave was kept up first by Darkar's powers and then by Valtor's, now it's collapsing! -

- We must get out of here, now! - exclaimed Desirè.

- The monsters retreated to the tunnels, we'll wait for you on the east side, above the river. - said Sky through their communicators.

- It isn't far, follow us. - said Stormy before flying away together with Darcy and Icy.

Aisha called them back.

- Wait! -

She flew fast to the throne, grabbed the Mystèrion from the bookrest and went back to the others.

- Now we can go. -

While they flew through the corridors the ceiling began covering with cracks, but Flora kept the debris from falling with her vines. They reached the shuttles as the first rocks fell from the cave's vault. There was no time for greetings.

- We can't get out from the tunnel, it's too dangerous. - said Misha.

- Andrea, take us to the Infinite Ocean. - ordered Vanir.

The fairy opened a portal in the underground river and the two hawks dove towards it. Aisha created a morphix barrier around the shuttles, so that the immersion wouldn't damage them.

- Hurry, I don't know for how long I'll be able to keep it up. - she said, her voice broken by the fatigue.

Once they crossed the portal they arrived in an endless sea which they abandoned at once to emerge in the sweeter and more familiar waters of Lake Roccaluce. Then Stella couldn't hold back and hugged Brandon.

- We did it! - she exulted.

- You scared us to death, after Valtor casted that spell there was a terrible silence! - said Aire, canceling her transformation.

The others did the same.

- He made us fight with our nemesis over the control of our mind. - Tecna explained.

- Honestly, I don't think I could break out on my own, Icy. I owe you my life. - said Flora taking the witch's hand.

- It's true, without you and Lzzy I wasn't going to get out either. - said Musa.

- Me neither. -

- Same here. - Cassandra and Francesca joined in.

Icy looked down.

- Don't thank me, it was Lzzy. She got me out, I… I was giving in. - she confessed.

Stormy raised her eyebrows, surprised. She didn't expect that at all. Darcy, instead, understood.

- Yours was a child too, wasn't it? - she asked.

Icy nodded.

- A child? - repeated Maria.

- Yes, for me and Icy there was a thirteen years old fairy. - explained Darcy.

- How strange, there was a fairy for me too, but my age. - observed Maria.

Lzzy, knowing that Icy and Darcy weren't fond of sharing that part of their past, tried to divert the others' attention.

- Well, mine helped me get out and had no powers. - she said.

- Mine was powerless too. - said Cassandra.

- Mine was... well, it was me under Darkar's control. - added Bloom.

Sky hugged her, comforting her. Timmy brought them back to the ground.

- Prepare to land! Next stop: Alfea. And let's hope it's the last time we have to report a mission for a few months. - he said.