Chapter 28 "You will do as I say"

Last night had been pretty eventful and disappointing for the Winx. They had spent the whole night trying to destroy this gigantic wall that had magically appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the neighboring lake. Not only had they been completely soaked by the rain because of the raging storm at the time, but also none of their attacks had worked! They didn't even make a crack on the wall's surface.

Right now the girls and their classmates were following Faragonda and Darkell to the location of their class. Which was strangely located somewhere in the forest outside of the school. The girls had asked Flora if she knew what their history teacher had planned. She told them that she had no idea. They finally stopped in a small meadow near the lake . From where they stood they had a perfect view of the unmovable and indestructible wall peeking out from the water. The sight made the six friends frown in annoyance.

"Well everyone, I'm here to announce that next week you will start attending a new subject that will be taught by professor Darkell."

Just the thought of spending more time with their handsome teacher made most of the girls smile in glee. Darkell continued the explanation in her stead

" Until now you have been taught how to use magic instinctually. From now on l will teach you that magic doesn't only revolve around your natural talent or brute power. It also needs technique and knowledge. You will learn all about incanted magic. You will learn very precise spells and enchantments where a good pronunciation, memory and focus and perfect gestures are necessary for them to work."

He noticed that some of the girls didn't seem very excited about the prospect of having to learn all of these things by heart.

"I'm sure you have noticed by now that some are born more magically powerful than others. That can be seen as unfair. However what I like about incanted magic is that everyone starts at the same level. On equal ground. Because you can't rely on brute force to incant a spell but on your hard work." Some of the students, including Flora and Musa, smiled at the information. Being friends with Bloom and Stella, two very powerful fairies, they had often felt insecure about their magical powers next to them. This new form of magic might actually give them an opportunity to close the gap.

However some of the girls like Stella and Tecna still seemed skeptical about the whole thing.

" How about l show you?" he turned around and approached the shore. All the girl's attention was on him.

" Yesterday night we asked six of the best students in this class to try and destroy the wall. After two hours of trying none of them succeeded. Why ? Because this wall is a magical object SO you CAN'T just use the first little spell that comes to mind. That might work on normal things but on an enchanted item it's just a waste of energy."

The young man lifted his arms in front of him . He made a lot of mysterious hand signs while chanting a dozen of words in an unknown language. To the shock of the girls, numerous cracks started appearing on the wall's surface. They could see red runes sipping out of them. It didn't take long for the wall to crumble apart and land in the water. The students looked awestruck by the display.

" You see ? The incantation was complicated but I didn't need to use a lot of my energy reserve. And incantation magic isn't only useful in destroying magical items. It is also used as a way to cancel very difficult curses. For example if a group of witches casted a very nasty curse on beautiful presents dedicated to first year students, you could team up with your friends and chant the incantation together to cancel out the curse." He said the last part with a smirk on his lips and staring amusedly at Flora. By her blushing face, he could tell that she remembered the Winx's little counter curse stunt during the start of the school year ball their first week at Alfea.

The rest of the presentation went on for about half an hour. Then the students and Faragonda walked back to the school. Most of the girls wanted to celebrate the end of the week of school. Like every Friday evening they all wanted to go out in town. But only one of them stayed. Flora hoped that Dimitri wouldn't mind if they walked back to Alfea together.

" How are you Dimitri? It seems that we haven't talked for a while." Flora was the one to start the conversation. She had felt her shyness go away little by little when she spent more time with him.

He was glad that she came up to him. This past week she had spent most of her time with her obnoxious pixie friend or that Layla girl. He had, to his horror, missed the time they spent together in his office talking about the things they discovered in books.

" I' m good, especially now that I have more magic at my disposal and a new class to teach. Did you like the presentation?" He was curious to know her opinion.

" Absolutely loved it! I can't wait for the classes to start!" She smiled in excitement.

" I'm pretty sure you'll excel at it. It's often the most studious and hard working students that succeed..."

But before he could continue on telling her about this new subject, his head suddenly started to ache, he began to have a hard time breathing properly. And as his sight became black and he felt himself falling to the ground, he heard a voice. A voice he swore he had heard before. It was really familiar but he just couldn't put a finger on it's owner's identity.

" You will do as I say when I say it. You don't have a choice in the matter. "

How dare this voice enter his mind without his permission. And why couldn't he stop the voice from echoing in his brain. How could it shut down his whole body without any difficulties?

" You will be quite useful to me Dimitri Darkell."

" Dimitri!?" The cold voice was replaced by a soft and warm one. He had his head on something soft, two small hands shaking his shoulder.

" Dimitri, wake up!" It was Flora, THAT voice he could recognize anywhere. He slowly opened his eyes trying to get his blurry vision to go away. The first thing he saw was a pair of beautiful green eyes. The owner of those green eyes placed a hand on his cheek.

" Are you okay? What happened? You really scared me there." She whispered softly to him. He placed his hand over hers, a reflex he didn't know he had.

" I'm okay, I guess I was just really tired. I didn't sleep at all yesterday night." He lied because he didn't want to worry her. And Faragonda might learn about it and as a precaution take away little by little his well earned magic. That was not an option.

The nature fairy frowned at his words. He had forgotten that she was quite perceptive. But she chose not to question his lie, if he didn't want to talk about it now then she would wait for him to tell her.