"Okay, I'm confused," said Paige. "Cole said this is fantasy magic, right?"
"Right," said Cole.
"But fantasy magic isn't real," said Paige. "It only exists in someone's imagination. So how can it be affecting anything let alone doing everything it's doing? It doesn't even exist."
"Normally that's true," said Cole. "But in this case Phoebe was able to bring fantasy magic into the real world when she brought the slippers with her. That makes it real. I know a few demons that have been looking for the secret to that for centuries."
"And the magic is so powerful nothing can resist it," said Leo.
"Why?" Paige asked.
"Because there's nothing more powerful than fantasy magic," said Cole. "Not even the Power of Three. Remember when you were a little girl? Do you
remember what your fantasies were like?"
"Yeah, I guess so," said Paige.
"There's nothing you can't do in your imagination," said Cole. "You're bigger, stronger, more powerful than anyone or anything. That's because it's your fantasy. You're the hero. Nobody can stop you because it's your imagination."
"And the fantasy magic here is reinforcing the warlocks spell," said Piper. "Since he was originally cast as the wizard that makes him undefeatable in this reality."
"Exactly," said Leo. "It's also altering our reality to conform with its magic. That's why we all reverted to the roles we had been cast in for the movie."
"But the manor hasn't changed," said Phoebe. "And we were able to change everyone back with my spell. How come the slippers didn't change any of that?"
"It will," said Cole. "It's only temporary. Eventually the magic will become so strong nothing will be able to resist it. You're strongest here at the manor. And the power of the Nexus is probably holding the fantasy magic back some. But it won't take long before the slippers' magic will overwhelm even that. Just like in a real fantasy, if you need more power you simply get it."
"So how do we stop it?" Piper asked. "You said we couldn't destroy the slippers. How do we put things back the way they're supposed to be?"
"I don't know," said Cole. "I'm not sure anyone knows. As far as I know no one has successfully moved fantasy magic into the real world"
"I brought the slippers out with me," said Phoebe. "Wouldn't that have done it?'
"Not really," said Leo. "The slippers aren't really magical. They only exist that way in the movie. Which means they shouldn't be magical in the real world."
"Unless the Power of Three that brought us out of the movie also brought the magic with us," said Cole.
"You think that's possible?" Paige asked.
"It makes sense," said Cole. "Look the slippers are magical in the movie. The Power of Three spell you girls cast created a bubble of sorts around us so that we could be extricated from the movie."
"Except I was wearing the ruby slippers at the time," said Phoebe.
"Right," said Cole. "So when you left the movie this bubble kept the slippers intact including their magic. When Prue died the bubble was weakened allowing the magic to begin seeping out and begin altering everything."
"And the magic is reacting to the spell cast by the warlock,' said Leo, "just as it was designed to do. Which also explains how the warlock is still alive. He was trapped in the magic of the slippers until the bubble weakened enough to allow him to escape."
"That's what I figure," said Cole. "Now the magic is expanding, altering everything. It may be in the real world but it's still fantasy magic operating on the rules of fantasy magic."
"There's our solution," said Piper. "If the magic is reacting with the warlock's spell we just vanquish the warlock. Once we do that his spell will be negated and everything returns to normal."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple," said Cole. "Fantasy magic has a life of its own. It's partially responsible for why people dream when they sleep. The magic dictates what the dreams are. Which means that in order to stop this the warlock is gong to have to agree to do it. Since it's his spell that's doing this he'll have to cooperate. Otherwise there's no way to stop it."