Chapter 7: Day of the Rose
Erasiel had woken up earlier then he would've any other day but today was special day in the Magic Dimension, it was the Day of the Rose otherwise called Mother's day, he noted that humans on Earth celebrated it a month earlier in May and celebrated Father's day in June, which was off for Erasiel, but it didn't really bother him. Anyway, the chief reason he got up so early was because he had a gift for that special somebody that the holiday was about for him anyway, Erasiel, despite his disagreements that he had with his mother when it came to ethics and how he lived his life, loved his mother Avarra Darkar dearly; and he knew her better then she probably knew herself; which allowed him to make sure he knew what to give her as presents for her birthday, Mother's day and Christmas. Speaking of gifts he had made the presents he was giving her himself, a golden statute of him and his siblings was the first, followed by a cloak of his own feathers, a broadsword he had forged himself for her, and lastly fine silver threaded pillows which had images of the crest of House Darkar; that of a Phoenix with a crown on his head with 7 stars above the scene as well as the crest of House Brightstone which consisted of large meteor being mined by Dwarves, Humans, and Phoenixes.
Erasiel soon arrived at Brightspire Palace the home of his mother during the summer and spring, during the autumn and winter she lived in Shadowhaunt with his father, but for now she lived in Brightspire. Erasiel took in the view once again of his mother's home, its many ziggurats and spires decorated its walls and many buildings that made up it however they were all dwarfed by the grand Brightspire in the center of the Palace which towered over the citadel. The Palace however was heavily fortified and protected by 4 great walls, however Erasiel and other Phoenixes could fly over these barriers, however those barriers offered protection against anything else that wanted to attack the Brightspire. The Palace itself was populated by his Mother's followers and worshipers, as well as her retainers and many handmaidens, there were also city districts in which the lesser races of Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Orcs, Lizardmen, and Dragon Ogres, amongst others lived. To call Brightspire a palace would only be referring to part of Brightspire, Brightspire was a metropolis, the gem of Solaria which answered to nobody but Avarra and Asha.
Erasiel arrived at the Palace, he was welcomed by the elite guards and the towering Relix armored Dragon Ogres at the front gates and allowed entry, he was followed by two Faceless servants Maldox and Rentar who carried the presents, he proceeded thru the passageways, being greeted by retainers, courtiers, and handmaidens alike. The Handmaidens were especially fond of him and a number of his brood-mates were handmaids of his mother or were until they moved in with him, Erasiel moved about the palace with relative calm, despite the fact that this was one of his two childhood homes Erasiel never exactly felt comfortable in his mother's house because of the fact that she had tried to throughout his childhood to teach him her dogmatic beliefs ones which had no interest in whatsoever as well as tried to block every attempt at flirting with her handmaids, courtiers and retainers who had interest in him, however these were completely unsuccessful and she eventually gave up on that fortunately, Erasiel never had these problems with his Father, in fact his father encouraged him to do so, but with his mother his womanizing and nymphomania was always an issue however she never tried to beat it out of him not that doing that would have changed anything.
As he had been musing however Erasiel had gone farther into the palace then he liked but was pretty sure he knew where his mother was; during this time however his thoughts went to Winx, specifically Bloom who he was still trying to grasp her origins and arguing back and forth if she was the Bloom, the princess of Domino who had gone missing 16 years ago, something which dogged him to no end however whenever he got too stressed with the matter he thought of the other Winx: Musa with her beautiful voice and her kind heart and extreme interest in him, Sweet Flora and her shyness but all so cute, kind, caring, and sweet all the same and her feelings for him, Tecna and her emotionless demeanor however he knew how she really felt about him. Then there were the Trix, all three of them had the hots for him, as did other faeries and a number of witches, Erasiel noted that his schedule had a date with Jennifer the blue haired ice fairy who had been quite good at what they needed to do which at the time was beating the crap out of a T'zeentch marked four-armed Minotaur and before that a large group of Goblins.
Erasiel's thoughts were closed as he walked into the Grand Orchard, a large garden in which fair plants from all over the Magic Dimension grew, however the center piece were the grand Hesperide Apple trees; the golden apples spoken of in many tales often thought of as mythical, how wrong they were; these were ancient trees that were taller than many of the minarets, ziggurats and spires of the Palace and city itself; tall enough to dwarf most skyscrapers, they had silver bark and electrum colored leaves however these things weren't what the trees were known for no they were known for their golden apples the Hesperia, solid golden apples that only Phoenixes knew how to turn into actual edible apples which had the greatest taste of all things, however these trees were guarded by the Dracos, poisonous wyrm dragons with five heads and could spew their poison if need arises, they were always vigilant and in addition to these beasts were the Hesperides, fair Phoenix maidens that tended to the trees but were some of the mightiest warriors in the entire universe they were clad in glorious gowns which were armored and they wore numerous variety of decorations in their hair most of which were apple like. The Trees themselves however were rare, only a few of the oldest houses and the greater phoenixes themselves having them in their gardens, Erasiel and his siblings however had their own orchards in their personal palaces, however the trees in those gardens were relatively young, the towering giants in their mother's orchard were twice their age and that was saying something considering the fact the orchards in Erasiel's palace on Magix were planted when he was 23 and now he was over 3 billion years old.
Erasiel searched the groove and found his mother, she was wearing a golden yellow and orange gown, as well as circlet of gold with the crests of a sun and stars decorating it, these were studded in the finest citrines and diaspros which shimmed in the radiant sunlight of Solaria's three suns which always shined proud and rain rarely occurred, his mother's long black hair flowed like a lion's proud mane and her eyes met his, the eyes were the same as his own as he had inherited her brown eyes, her figure was generously endowed however it was graceful, and she walked with the grace of ballerina dancing beside her sat a basket of golden apples Hesperia. "Erasiel I am glad to see you my son" Avarra greeted but she was quickly cut off by a firm loving hug and received a kiss on her cheek.
"Happy Mother's day" Erasiel stated calmly then released his mother.
"I'm so glad you remembered" Avarra responded.
"I'd never forget Mom, you know we may have our disagreements, but I still love you, also I brought presents" Erasiel stated and then nodded to the two faceless who accompanied him to bring them to her.
"How thoughtful, I hope you didn't go overboard though" Avarra responded she liked his mother's day gifts but she didn't like him spending too much on her.
"Don't worry I have something special for you, I made all these myself with some help from others, but you'll love them" Erasiel responded, then handed the gift-wrapped presents to his mother who opened them, she was shocked to see each gift and the lengths at which Erasiel had gone for her.
"I hope you like them, that sword is Relix by the way and it took me six months to forge it, also the statutes are the finest gold, and the silver-threading in those gowns is actual silver though the they are as much from Irietta as they are from me" Erasiel explained.
"I'm so grateful Erasiel, you have outdone yourself, and importantly you made these yourself I am so proud of you my son" Avarra responded then kissed Erasiel on his cheek.
"Have my brother and sisters given you their presents yet?" Erasiel asked.
"Indeed they have, Zephyr was well reserved and emo as usual but she did smile when I opened her presents and when I hugged her, speaking of Zephyr she misses your touch, be good Brood mate and visit her later, same goes with Irietta, but she was extremely happy to see me happy with her presents, Eris was as affectionate as usually and was glad when I told her I loved her gifts, and Arantir, well your brother is as queer as he ever is but he did smile at least" Avarra explained, Erasiel was happy to see that his siblings had done their part, and he noted that he had to pay his brood-mate older sisters Zephyr and Irietta a visit. Erasiel's siblings were well, eccentric: Zephyr was full emo and full goth, and was long before it was a thing on Earth, but she did have a happy side that she revealed only to him and their mother, Irietta was caring and fully loving and Erasiel loved her more than anyone else and that meant anyone else and those feelings were mutual, Eris well his twin sister was over-affectionate too over-affectionate to the point where she had caused his first death by accidently crushing his wind-pipe in a hug when he was 14, it really irked him, fortunately Eris rarely left Shadowhaunt and was quite content to stay in her room, well room was an understatement it was her own private dimension she ruled over and had many adventures in, so he was glad she rarely got out much, of his siblings she was the one he avoided like the plague because of her attitude and over-affection. Then there was Arantir, his little brother, extremely queer in that he was Bi-sexual and thus was attracted to beautiful women and handsome men, he was also the most powerful Necromancer in the Magic Dimension, as well as a fervent follower of Asha's spider god aspect and was always wandering, Erasiel regarded his younger brother with a great deal of both respect and annoyance as they disagreed on Asha's principles with her religion, though Arantir always stated that his opinions were a bit biased as he was her Consort and the Phoenix King, which left him with a lot of clot; however his brother was interested in his own games which as long as they didn't mess with Erasiel's own plans he was perfectly fine to leave his younger brother to his own devices and on occasion help.
Erasiel spent about an hour with his mother before returning to Magix he had a lot planned for today, and was keen on finding out more about Bloom, Erasiel soon returned to Cloud Tower and soon the Trix's room where he found a pretty excited Darcy holding a flyer.
"Nice to see you handsome, I got news for you, the Race of the Rose is on and got into the competition this year, I'm so excited to finally get a chance to get my Windrider in the race" Darcy explained to Erasiel, he noted Icy and Stormy looking rather calm but noted they were ignoring Darcy and focused on their own thing.
"That reminds me Darcy I have a gift for you" Erasiel stated, he knew what she loved having been dating for a week now and had spared no expense in the gift.
"Really show me Nathan" Darcy responded Erasiel nodded and she followed him.
They arrived shortly at the Cloud Tower Garage where Erasiel had docked his Space Strider, he knew which Hover-Bike was Darcy's Windrider as it had been excessively modified and had purple paint job with images of Darcy's Vacuum crystal and the heliotrope on her favorite blouse, beside it however was something covered by a large tarp with a note on it that said to Darcy from Nathan, she walked up and took of the tarp and let out a yelp of joy seeing the gift, Brand-new Space Strider hover-bike, which Erasiel had bought for it also had a custom paint job on it however he had painted the image of a five headed hydra breathing fire into the air, the symbol of house Trix, but she didn't know why, however it was otherwise decorated, and sitting in the driver's seat was a purple colored Space Strider suit and helmet, the suit was purple but was clad in high-tech armor to protect from injuries also allow the rider to go at faster speeds. Darcy soon affectionately hugged him and kissed him tenderly, soon she broke the kiss and said "Thank you for this wonderful gift"
"I knew you'd like it, so what about trying it out in the race later" Erasiel commented.
"I couldn't do that, its Windriders only and even if I did have the option I would still take my Windrider, this baby is fresh off the market and even though you've had it painted, love the image of the Hydra by the way, I still haven't had the opportunity to bring this baby up to my standards with modifications, I will however take the suit, it will make me stand out more than my regular one, and with this suit I can go faster" Darcy explained. "Anyway, I have to get my bike to the track, the race starts in two hours and I can't be late" Darcy followed up then took her new suit and put it on over her day clothes then parked herself on her bike and started it. "Get my sisters, I'll meet you at the festival" Darcy stated, Erasiel nodded then left to get Icy and Stormy.
"Hey Icy, Stormy, get yourselves ready we are going to the Festival of the Rose to go see Darcy compete in the Race of the Rose!" Erasiel shouted causing Icy and Stormy to jump up in alarm.
"Oh, that'll be exciting I can't wait to see Darcy kick the other racers asses in this race" Stormy commented, soon they were ready and high tailed it for downtown Magix.
Erasiel and the two Trix sisters wandered the bazaar which had been packed, then he noted the Winx, well four of them, he had no idea where Musa was, but he could see Stella, Flora, Bloom, and Tecna he also noted three specialists were with them, he recognized Riven but also recognized the two other specialists, a fair skinned specialist, with blonde hair and blue eyes and a young man with tan skin and a medium, athletic build. He had short dark brown hair with bangs angled sharply towards his right eye. His eyes were brown. They wore common civilian attire he recognized them as Prince Sky (the Blonde) and Brandon his squire, he also noted that Riven stayed close to Tecna and she wore a purple blouse and red skirt, she rushed immediately to great him. "Nathan!" Riven shouted rushing and tackling him in a flying glomp.
"Hey, Riven nice to see you gorgeous, Hello Winx!" Erasiel stated and Winx walked up to greet him.
"Hey Bloom, who's this" Sky asked.
"Oh, my apologies we haven't met, Erasiel Nathan Darkar of that most prestigious house Darkar, son of Argulus and Avarra Darkar, Consort of the Phoenix Queen and as am the Phoenix King, glad to meet you" Erasiel greeted.
"Nice to meet you I'm Brandon, and I see you've met my girlfriend Bloom" Sky stated, he didn't notice Icy as she glared icicles at him and frowned.
"And I'm Prince Sky of Eraklyion, nice to meet someone as distinguished as yourself, normally I wouldn't believe you but that staff it a dead giveaway that you are nobility" Brandon.
"Nice to meet you as well, having fun with Stella I wager" Erasiel noted, Brandon smiled at that comment.
"So, Nathan what brings you here?" Flora asked.
"I came here to watch Darcy race and hopefully win" Erasiel responded then kissed Flora on the cheek and she blushed. "Hey where is Musa?" Erasiel asked.
"She went off to celebrate the Day of the Rose somewhere else, she seemed rather distant this morning" Bloom responded.
"Well hope you enjoy the race, why aren't you rooting for me though" Riven asked.
"Well I didn't know you were in the competition, I hope you win or at least place second" Erasiel responded, Erasiel then noted Bloom stumble for a moment then recover, almost as if she had briefly seen something. This concerned Erasiel, the group continued to wander around the bazaar, he noted however that Sky was glaring at him non-stop for him looking at Bloom, he ignored this and continued watching her for any unusual signs. Soon they came face to face with a dancer who was dressed as Sirenix nymph, she had curly black hair, caramel skin and wore an orange dress and mask she also wore a necklace of beads and two bracelets, then he saw Bloom stare at her for a long moment almost as if she had seen something other than the dancer; Erasiel was about to ask Bloom a question when Sky obstructed his view of Bloom intentionally, he noted this and realized that if Bloom would have another incident it wouldn't be noticed by him unless it was major.
Bloom herself had seen something though a spectral orange woman, twice the first a glimpse, and second time clearly dancing in place of dancer, she had twice however said her name, which concerned her, she was Bloom Peterson a normal Earth girl who turned out to be a fairy, well normal was beyond that point, what did this mysterious woman have to do with her? Bloom was also weary of her surroundings and couldn't help but notice Erasiel glancing at her, at first she thought it was just him checking out her looks, but it was something else, as if he knew she was seeing something or suspected it, the first thing only last a few seconds and the latter well everyone was watching the dancer. They continued onward pass the bazaar an into a large stadium, where at this point Darcy, Sky, and Riven left them to go down a hallway that was labeled racers only, leaving everyone else to head to the viewing booths.
Erasiel sat down and ended up sitting in between Icy and Flora, Bloom next to Flora and Stormy, while Tecna was next to Icy and Stella, who sat by Brandon who himself sat at the end of the row while Stormy sat at the other end.
Meanwhile in the racers lounge Darcy had donned her new rider suit which belonged to her new Space Strider, she held her helmet at her side. Riven and a number of others noted this and then Riven came to talk to her. "Nice suit where did you get it?" Riven asked as she studied Darcy's outfit.
"It was a gift, by the way good luck Riven and may the best girl win" Darcy responded earning a glare from the guys in the room, Riven laughed at the remark.
Then everyone went to their Bikes, Erasiel had brought Darcy's own Windrider in advance earlier, each competitor was allowed to bring their own Windrider if they wanted to; Darcy's however had been excessively modified to suit Darcy's desires and she made a few last minute checks to make sure everything was ready also she calibrated the engine to allow her to go faster than before as her new suit offered her the ability to endure faster speeds, she wasn't allowed to use magic apart from spells used to protect herself and the internal functions of her bike, however she didn't need to use magic to win though if she had been allowed to it would have guaranteed it as she would have been able to crash her opponents into each other with mind-control.
Soon the Riders began take off and began the speed accelerations as warm up to race start. Erasiel watched from his vantage point which had been good seats, then noted the snacks vendor. "Hey, get me four packets of honey roasted peanuts, a large popcorn and large Root beer!" Erasiel barked to the snack vendor who nodded and returned to his cart then came to Erasiel with his food in hand. "Thanks" Erasiel noted then gave a generous tip, he had no shortage of money and would never have a shortage of it. "Popcorn" he offered to Icy who took some, he also offered to Flora who also took some, he intended to split the popcorn, but the peanuts were his. The race was soon to start.
"Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the 276th Day of Rose race, our competitors will be going for the grand prize, good luck out there today racers" an announcer boomed, Erasiel popped some peanuts into his mouth, the lights lit up going from red to yellow and then GO!
The race began and the riders accelerated, Darcy was left in the middle until she got an option to hit the nitro which allowed her to dash ahead of a number of other racers, she passed two specialists and a fairy from Alfea, then dashed to the head at the first lap, going in to first place, on the second lap she was overtaken by Sky who had become aggressive behind her and knocked aside the other racers, later on in the lap she caught up with him and began a contest of metal and speed to get ahead of him as they entered the third lap, Riven caught up behind and was jockeying to get in front of Darcy but she wasn't allowed her to get past her, once again she locked with Sky. "Give up you're not going to win, this is my race to win and I'm not going to lose to some witch from Cloud Tower, or to girl from my school who thinks she too good for her own good" Sky taunted to which Darcy responded with rough bash to his bike, her intentions being to knock him off, Sky then let out a number of misogynistic taunts which gave Darcy anger and adrenaline she then floured it and dashed ahead leaving Sky in the dust, he was soon knocked of his bike by Darcy as he caught up to her, allowing Riven to pass him, they soon were neck and neck in the final lap until Darcy hit the nitro once again and accelerated to the finish line in first, followed by Riven in a close second and an Alfea Fairy named Ahisa in third. Sky had placed dead last however he was unscathed from his fall due to the security precautions that had been in place in case of that specific scenario.
"YAH!" Icy roared into the crowd. "Hell Yeah! DARCY! DARCY! DARCY!" Stormy chanted jumping out of her seat, and the crowd followed her up, everyone applauding and chanting Darcy's name. Soon a few minutes leader Darcy stood atop a champions stand and received a trophy which was solid gold and decorated with blue stones and had the golden figure of a Windrider on top, she then removed her helmet and more people cheered, Riven grinned and fist bumped Darcy, while humble Ahisa just clapped for her.
Shortly afterward everyone was celebrating the race's conclusion Erasiel included however Sky was bitter, very bitter having been defeated "I can't believe I lost, and not just lost came in dead last, and on top of it all lost to a girl, not just a girl but a witch from Cloud Tower, me Prince Sky of Eraklyion" Sky thought to himself.
Erasiel noted the bitterness of the prince and was concerned he might do something he would regret, soon Sky snapped and tried to punch Darcy, who dodged him, he attempted to follow up his punch but Erasiel kneed him in the groin and punched him in the nose coming to Darcy's defense faster than Sky could blink (Not an exaggeration, Phoenixes are extremely fast and Erasiel is extremely fast among his own kind) any other man would have been knocked out by these blows but Sky was on his knees angry, his anger now on Erasiel.
"Come on Bloom, we're leaving" Sky stated, and Bloom reluctantly followed him.
Erasiel was only left to think on the events of the day, however he wanted to see Bloom and ask some questions about her incidents earlier, he wasn't sure and needed answers.
Later at Alfea… the Winx had returned to their Dorms, Erasiel arrived shortly afterward and walked in on the conversation about mothers. "So, Musa how is your mother?" Flora asked curiously, Musa looked rather grim and sad at the question, Erasiel sat at the table they were talking at without them noticing him either having entered or sitting down.
"Dead" Musa answered tearfully.
"I think it was would be better to touch open a lighter subject" Erasiel stated surprising everyone and making them jump, he knew Musa's mother Matlin and was not in the mood to have Musa have this conversation and be crying for the rest of the evening, he knew Musa too well thanks to her Father; Erasiel held himself to blame for Matlin's death to an extent it rivaled Musa's grief; his grief was stronger he had loved Matlin dearly and was one of her oldest friends and she was one of his former students from Graynor he held himself responsible for her death, she had died of an illness, not a natural one however as Faeries were immune to death from those though not immune from getting them, the illness was the venomous kiss of death from a Shade, one of the most violent and unforeseen deaths and Matlin had suffered it; one day during her performances with her husband Musa's father Ho-Boe, a former prince of Melody who had given up his claim for love and to become a musician, Matlin fell to ground will singing clutching at her side. She was bed-ridden for a month, Erasiel checking in on her, Musa being a little girl was said that her mother was in that state and even more so when she died bed-ridden and in agony from the kiss of death, Erasiel attended her funeral and blamed himself, he had thought of ways to bring her back, however most of those involved necromancy something that while his brother Arantir would have no qualms against using was something Erasiel had no desire to use for this purpose as he wanted her back alive, he blamed himself and to Matlin to a minor extent, she hadn't allowed him to give her the fire spark that would have resurrected her if she died. Erasiel still hunted for the shade responsible and vowed vengeance and hoped that maybe Musa could end the vile creature once and for all.
On a more lighter note Erasiel talked about his mother and how he felt about her both good and bad, as he wasn't going to shy away from talking about her faults which while few annoyed him to no end, mainly due to ethics, then Stella explained how her parents were divorced and Flora explained how her mother was caring and dear, Tecna commented that her mother was well, as much a mother as anyone could ask for but refused to go into further detail beyond her name Titania and some of her moments. Again, Tecna was all secret about her family, Erasiel knew she had something to hide a great deal, either she viewed them with disappointment or they were in a position of power she didn't want to disclose for personal reasons.
The conversation went on for hours but soon the time came for everyone to rest, Erasiel rested on the guest couch though not after watching Bloom for signs of unusual dreams, which she clearly was having but he wasn't going to wake her.