Chapter 15: Heartbreaker
It was a new day on Magix and at Red Fountain Headmaster Saladin was with his daughter Kordatura watching the Specialists spared. Saladin was a tall man with long black hair and who was quite handsome he wore white and gold robes and carried a staff with the carved head of a dragon atop it. Kordatura, sometimes called Kordatura the Cruel, was a tall woman of Amazonian build she towered over her father at about 7ft and she was well-endowed but athletically built she was also beautiful she shared her father's gray eyes and black hair though she kept it shorter then him she wore a coat of plates over a blue and purple blouse and this included plate graves, the armor was made of Relix, what was different about her from her father was that she was a battle-wizard, someone who used spells but was also someone who was a melee combat monster, she held her sword an enchanted cleaver of the two-handed variety it had an indigo blade and golden hilt and cross guard the sword itself was made of Relix and had been made by her husband Erasiel Darkar, Kordatura was the chief marshal at Red Fountain and by that the top fighter at the school as well as the chief teacher with regards to any combat whatsoever as she was a master in every fighting style on offer at the school and some not because she was educated the best. "Well look at them good to see them in shape for the grand exhibition and they are bringing out their best right now" Saladin commented to which Kordatura groaned and then picked up a megaphone.
"Alright you maggots! Listen up; you're not even trying to practice; Sky your posture is terrible; Riven show him what he's doing that is a mistake" Kordatura roared into the megaphone; Sky was immediately knocked off balance and to the ground by Riven who took advantage of his footwork. "Artesia! Your form is off double step and allay!" Kordatura stated and Artesia who was sparing with Brandon parried some attacks with her rapier and then countered to good effect. "That's better Riven! You're getting to cocky! Be patient and see what Bishop does next!" Kordatura barked and Riven patiently waited for her opponent a purple haired man with a pony-tail Bishop to make an attack, he rushed her, and she used his momentum to catapult him into the wall with her shield. "The rest of you! Focus on what you're doing!" Kordatura ordered and everyone did as she said, she turned to her father. "Now they're doing their best; father it's almost as if every year they get stupider, too many of these students are either spoiled nobles or arrogant pricks; the only ones with some decency are those who aren't from high nobility like Brandon over there or Artesia or Riven or Timmy they are the ones who enjoy teaching but even they need to be reminded, and Sky well he's the worse of them all; the way he thinks he's better than the others and the way he looks down on me as if I'm beneath him; sometimes I wish you would let me put some of these pricks in place" Kordatura noted.
"I see, you worry too much about them Kordatura, but I can see where you are coming from and I have devised a strategy to make them perform better; this tournament will count for over 60% of their grades if they fail to acquit themselves well then they will have to explain their failure to you and their parents, also have you readied the Dragons" Saladin responded.
"Yes, I have; their keepers are making sure they're fed and readied for the show; trust me the crowd will surely be impressed" Kordatura. "Also I know my husband will be here so I'm giving these students twice as much hell to preform good; if they do badly it reflects on me; oh I'm wasted on this I miss the days father when we fought thru waves of Light Haveners and Mordan warriors now look at us we are teaching idiots in a school that haven't even seen war; I miss those days it's so dull around here; I wish you would let me take this class Cygor or Arachnorok Spider hunting then it would be enjoyable" Kordatura commented.
"I've told you many times Kordatura Cygor hunting is dangerous and attacking Arachnorok Spiders causes the Forest Goblins to go mad" Saladin commented.
"Fine then; you watch these students I'm going to hunt a Cygor by myself that will be more enjoyable then watching these 'students' if you can call them that practice" Kordatura replied and stormed off.
"She takes more after her mother and husband then me well at least she does what she does well" Saladin stated.
Meanwhile at Alfea…
The time had come for the grand exhibition at Red Fountain and Erasiel couldn't be warier then before: at this event things had a potential to go well or spiral out of control. Erasiel had gotten information from his spies on Eraklyion that King Erendor himself was coming to observe his son at the competition and who was he bringing but of course the prince's fiancé Princess Diaspro of Isis. This meant there could only be trouble mainly involving Bloom, she would find out Sky's true identity and that he had been masquerading as Brandon the whole time for his benefit the only thing that was a problem was what would happen when she did, in most scenarios he saw her ending up in a fight with Diaspro and Sky after her, but there was a huge issue that Diaspro would look down on her, so there was only one thing for it: reveal Bloom's heritage to Diaspro that way she would respect Bloom enough to trust her, as for Sky's lies Icy would make a suitable character witness to expose him, the best scenario he saw was Sky being utterly humiliated and beaten up with Bloom and Diaspro ending up as friends for their mutual hatred of him.
In all those scenarios there was one thing that was difficult to counter: Erendor. Fortunately, Erasiel had leverage: he knew full well why Domino was attacked without warning; Erendor chickened out in front of the Ancestresses when they attacked Havrum one of Eraklyion's largest cities and destroyed it, his failure to warn the people of Domino and fight the Ancestresses and their army had led to the state of Domino at the moment, a frozen lifeless world, the living inhabitants frozen in time with the past glories preserved beneath the ice. That Erendor had been responsible for the fall of Bloom's home world and indirectly responsible for Daphne's horrid state of being was something he wanted to let Bloom know that above all else she was betrayed by someone whom her parent's regarded as a friend: Erasiel knew that Erendor took the actions he did to preserve the lives of the people on Eraklyion but in doing so he had consigned billions of people to a vile fate; he didn't even warn Domino when he could have, instead now the blood of many people on Domino was on his hands along with fates of those frozen in time and most infuriating of all to him: Daphne's fate.
With all this in mind Erasiel was going thru his things looking for one thing in particular; and that was when he found it: the Bracelet; the one Marion had giving to him to give to her child if they fell in battle the one who wore it was rightfully heir: she had been referring to her son Thoren Bloom's twin brother but Bloom was the older of the two twins by five minutes and thus had the stronger claim as the succession on Domino was absolute Cognatic as were a number of other Kingdoms in the Magic Dimension. "At last after 16 years I'll fulfill that promise" Erasiel stated he then walked out the door that lead from his room in his private dimension; the door lead to anywhere he wanted it to and it deposited him in front of the Winx dorm. Erasiel had told the Trix he would meet them at the event and thus had allowed the three of them to do as the pleased: Erasiel held the bracelet which was in a box which had the royal seal of Domino on it.
Erasiel opened the door and found a surprised Flora in front of him; she had been about to open the door. "Hey Nathan, is that a present for me" Flora asked.
"No; it's something for Bloom and it isn't a gift merely something that I should've given her when I found out about her true identity" Erasiel stated then walked past Flora and turned to the next room where Bloom was brushing her hair; the tournament or exposition as Saladin had called it would start in an hour and everyone was preparing for it.
"Hello Bloom" Erasiel greeted and she turned around.
"Oh, hey Nathan what brings you here and what do you have there?" Bloom asked.
"Something your mother wanted you to have, not Vanessa, your birth mother Queen Marion" Erasiel stated and handed her the box, she studied it and noted the royal insignia of a dragon in gold and crimson.
Bloom opened the box and revealed a Bracelet, the bracelet was made of solid gold and decorated with rubies and sapphires; she put it on and it covered most of her wrist, she then noted that the same insignia was on the bracelet that was on the box and runes that also decorated it glowed abnormally. "So, my mother wanted to have this?" Bloom asked.
"Yes she said it should go to her heir, that bracelet was made for your great grandfather by the legendary dwarf master rune smith Thorek Ironbrow; it has a powerful set of runes forged into and allows you to invoke the Rune of wrath and ruin; this bracelet was given to Great-grandfather and passed down to your grandfather after he was murdered by the Grand Templar of Lighthaven along with most of his sons; he gave it your father on his deathbed along with the family sword, shield and armor, and your father gave it to your mother as a wedding gift and she wore it until well before they met their fate, she gave it to me for safe keeping, Bloom what you have there is proof of your royal lineage as only a member of the royal family by blood or marriage can wear that bracelet; anyone in the Magic Dimension that sees that bracelet will regard you with much respect and as the royal heir" Erasiel explained.
"So why are you giving this to me now" Bloom asked.
"Well the reason is only found it recently after going thru my things and the other is that nobility will be visiting at the Red Fountain tournament and there are some who would look down on you otherwise, plus it is a powerful magic artifact something you will have need of in the future" Erasiel answered.
"Alright then so are you going to Red Fountain with us?" Bloom asked.
"Yep" Erasiel answered.
"Good now I've got to bring this hair conditioner to Stella Flora said she would enjoy it" Bloom stated.
"Here I'll take it to her, also you should put that Bracelet on, it is the Bracelet of Honor and it will help to protect you" Erasiel stated; Bloom handed him the bottle to take to Stella and put on the bracelet; the bracelet locked on and fit perfectly as if it was meant to do so.
"Anything else I need to know?" Bloom asked.
"Yes, that Prince Sky's father King Erendor will be at the event along with his mother Queen Samara; also, Princess Diaspro of Isis will be with them you should meet her I'm sure the two of you will make great friends: I have it on a reliable source that she is transferring to Alfea, so she might end up in your dorm" Erasiel responded.
"That's interesting so what do you know about her?" Bloom asked.
"Not that much other that she is Sky's cousin, and that her home the Kingdom of Isis is one of the most powerful kingdoms on Eraklyion" Erasiel stated.
"I thought Eraklyion only had one king?" Bloom asked.
"Eraklyion's royal family rules over a world that is composed of many other kings, princes and warlords, the Royal Family has many relatives and controls directly the largest of the cities and kingdoms while they have married into every other notable house; therefore, they control Eraklyion through intricate politics and a number of interesting things, they also control all of Eraklyion's colonies and thus have the largest armies and most wealth, though this all has a cost" Erasiel stated.
"What cost?" Bloom asked.
"Sometimes the politicking leads to infighting and revolts against the royal family, one bad king can lead to bad heirs and thus another branch of the Royal family would have to or want to assert themselves onto the throne in their place; Princess Diaspro has one of the strongest claims as King Erendor is her uncle and her father is his older brother who gave up the throne a desire for other pursuits and that he had enough trouble managing Isis let alone the whole planet" Erasiel commented.
Later that day… Erasiel had made sure that he had the top seating and that was as close to the royal family as possible something that his position allowed him to pull off. His efforts required though to follow the royal party which was doable but that would require a bit of subtly which fortunately because of millennia of experience was something he had in abundance; chiefly involving the arts of making sure the Winx wouldn't wander off. Finding the Trix was easy as they had waited exactly where he expected them to. "Come on let's get our seats, I've managed to get the best ones in the competition, no wandering off" Erasiel stated and everyone followed him without much complaint; they made their way to the seating which was next to a set of reserved seats that had been specially decorated with signs that explained who they were reserved for. "Bloom you sit here next to me" Erasiel stated, he managed to get Bloom to sit next to himself but also the place where Princess Diaspro would be sitting, on his other side Icy sat next to him and wrapped her arm around his, the crowds filled out the seats beneath them.
Then they saw the arrival of the Royals, which was heralded by trumpeting heralds. "Hail to his Majesty King Erendor IV of Eraklyion father of Prince Sky and his wife Queen Samara; hail also to Princess Diaspro of Isis and betrothed to Prince Sky" The crier shouted. Everyone turned to view the monarchs and their royal retinue: four halberdier guards stood to either side of each member of the royals they were clad in blue plated armor and had warpaint under their eyes; on their heads they wore salat helms which were made of the same blue alloy. At the center of the group was King Erendor a big bellied man with dark brown hair. He was clad in royal clothes, which consisted of a crown made of gold with a large diamond shaped ruby in the center, short red robes, a cape and tan pants he kept tucked into his knee-high brown boots. To his side was a young a beautiful woman who was about the same height as Erendor she was Queen Samara and had long red hair, light green eye shadow, wears a gold tiara with a light green, gold and light green earrings - shaped like layered triangles. She wore a light green dress with a short dark green poncho, as well as circular framed glasses with gold frames. The last of these three was the youngest and the one who was about the same age as the Winx; Princess Diaspro. Diaspro had wavy and curly pale blonde hair, citron orange eyes and medium to tan skin. She wore a red-and-ivory colored corset dress with puffy sleeves and two light purple swirly bracelets that traveled up her forearms, with this was a fur cape of similar design. She also wore a light purple silver headband tiara, which was probably adamantine Erasiel guessed, with a large red jewel that was a jasper, contributing to her name; Diaspro being another name for jasper. The party moved down from the entryway and took their seats Diaspro sitting next to Bloom. "Who are you and what are you doing here" Diaspro asked Bloom.
"I'm Bloom Fairy of the Dragon Flame and the Princess of Domino and before you say you don't believe me I have this to prove it" Bloom responded showing her bracelet to Diaspro.
"Well another Princess good you are more than welcome to sit by me you must tell me your story and how you got the bracelet" Diaspro responded in a tone of serious interest, she wasn't entirely sure whether or not to believe this girl who was about the same age as her however the bracelet was too unique not to be genuine and replicas of Royal artifacts from Domino were impossible to acquire apart from going to Domino itself or to the moons of the world where some replicas and genuine artifacts could be found.
"Well it all started when it was very little when I was a baby Domino was attacked and my parents weren't on it when it was but my sister Daphne, Erasiel, and my adopted guardian Vanessa were there, they tried to take me to Solaria but they were blocked from escaping by the Ancestral Witches so Vanessa and her Faceless Lighthorn took me to a world called Earth a place where magic is well regarded as fiction and there I was raised until I met Princess Stella of Solaria fighting an Ogre and some Ghuls and helped her; well I say helped lightly my use of magic at the time was complete random and surprised me Stella did much of the work am I right Stella" Bloom explained.
"She is right I did do most of the work though without Bloom I'm sure that ogre would have made off with my Ring" Stella commented from her seat next to Icy.
"I only recently found out about my heritage from Erasiel some time ago about a couple months actually and he gave me this bracelet today as he only remembered it" Bloom continued then turned to Erasiel.
"Don't worry I wasn't holding onto it until today I mean in keeping it from you Bloom, it just took me a while to find where I put it; I have a lot of and I mean a lot of things so it takes me a while to find stuff especially if it's a magical artifact I have two places for those: one for safe for general use and one for dangerous keep away from ignorant, stupid, or insane mortals and immortals" Erasiel commented.
"He's a Phoenix" Icy commented.
"I could tell by the tail" Diaspro responded. "He's also handsome shame I'm betrothed to Prince Sky" Diaspro continued, at this Bloom gasped.
"You're betrothed to Prince Sky? Stella did you know about this?" Bloom asked.
"No, I didn't wait so- THAT CHEAT!" Stella responded with anger on her face.
"Wait are you saying that my fiancé has been going behind my back!?" Diaspro asked Bloom.
"Yes, apparently he has been: I can't believe it; he's a double timer he's been seeing my best friend behind your back and on top it he kept it a secret from her" Bloom responded.
"That lecherous fiend! When I get my hands on him he will pay! Thank you Bloom for telling me this information when I get my hands on him I'll rip his arms out!" Diaspro stated.
"You'll do no such thing" King Erendor stated.
"Oh right: the betrothal's off! I won't marry a man who won't be faithful to his wife much less a man who is a liar!" Diaspro responded indignantly.
"Yes, King Erendor she is right, and you will do well to comply with her request otherwise I'll let slip that secret you've been hiding for the last 16 years" Erasiel commented non-challantly. At this statement Erendor cowed down as that information would get him mauled to death by everyone in the audience.
"Thank you for telling me about this Bloom; I was right about you; your honesty is an important thing I'm sure we'll make great friends at Alfea" Diaspro stated to Bloom. "As for you Princess Stella I'm more than willing to forgive you he lied to you and I'm not going to fault you for believing his lies; I fell for them" Diaspro stated to Stella.
"Well I'm glad you're happy about how this went down" Bloom responded to Diaspro.
"Well it isn't over yet" Diaspro stated.
The show began: the clashing of specialists fighting each other in mock combat with a variety of Phanto weapons left a rather interesting display, each weapon was different, so you could see something as out of place as katana wielder fighting a wielder of a maquietel club or a sica wielder fighting a man with fighting claws. Then came the dragon fights, dragons of various breeds with Specialists riding on top of them clashed in battle. All was going well until Riven began a fight with Prince Sky: the real one that is. "This bout goes on between Prince Sky of Eraklyion and Riven of Altura Riven is holding a steady lead but what's this something is happening in audience" the Commentator rambled.
That something going on was Diaspro jumping out of her seat and transforming into Charmix. "Diaspro Princess! Fairy of Gemstones!" Diaspro yelled and assumed her Charmix form in which she wears a dress with an ivory bodice and a red skirt. She has maroon boots, and a red bracelet and hair piece. Her wings are maroon with red tips. She also wears a headband that is decorated with jewels. Diaspro had a look of rage on her face "I've had it no more of this I'm going to let you have it now Sky!" Diaspro yelled and started flying towards Sky who was noticeably scared. "Crystal Shards!" Diaspro casted and sent out a barrage of white crystalline shards in the direction of Sky who dodged the attack. Riven backed off and got out of the way and Sky used a grapple on his wrist to climb into the audience only to be blocked by Diaspro who incased his lower half in gems "Ruby casket!" Diaspro casted and the trap encased his entire body bar his head. "Now let's see you run away Crystal shards!" Diaspro casted.
"Flame ward!" Bloom casted as she landed in front of Sky the barrier disintegrated the crystals.
"Bloom what are you doing!?" Diaspro stated in anger.
"I'd like to ask the same thing; why are you attacking Brandon?" Bloom asked.
"What do you mean Brandon he's Sky" Diaspro responded.
"Bloom you don't believe her do you" Sky stated.
"Why should she Darko?" Icy stated approaching she had followed Bloom and Erasiel had as well.
"What do you mean Darko?" Bloom and Diaspro asked at the same time.
"I mean what I said; Darko, Brandon and goodness knows what other alias you've gone by Sky!" Icy stated, at this point Sky used his Phanto-Blade to break free.
"You're all nuts!" Sky stated running off.
"Ice Slick" Icy casted causing Sky to trip and fall down the stairs he tried running down.
"You lied to me Sky! I don't know how many Girls you've broken the hearts of over the years but I'm going to end it right now!" Bloom yelled. "Dragon Energy!" Bloom casted.
"Bloom wait!" Erasiel stated but it was too late Bloom had cast the spell however she hadn't aimed it properly and the spell went off course and crashed into a group of priests in white gold robes frying most of them to a crisp. The Entire audience stared at the scene; Bloom with shock on her face and half of the crowd getting ready to get out of their seats.
"Bloom do you realize what you just did?" Erasiel stated.
"I just killed a bunch of people accidently" Bloom responded with tears running down her eyes.
"No, you've done something that is far worse; those people you killed were Lighthaven Priests: now most people here are going to not care about their deaths but their people will: Bloom you've just brought the wrath of Lighthaven down on Magix, you've just started a war!" Erasiel responded leaving Bloom in grief; the surviving priests fled thru a portal they summoned.
"I'm getting out of here" Sky shouted as he ran off, nobody tried to stop him.
An hour later…. Stella had talked with Brandon about the whole incident and he apologized for misleading her and that they had swapped names for security purposes. Stella had broken up with him however on good terms they both agreed that it was a relationship built on a lie and that the relationship wouldn't work out in the long term due to social positions: Stella being the Princess of Solaria and the heir to the throne of Solaria while Brandon was a squire of a minor noble family in service to Eraklyion's royal family. Speaking of the Royal Family of Eraklyion Prince Sky had returned home with his father not willing to take part in the upcoming conflict with Lighthaven; Diaspro had stayed with them. With regards to everyone else they returned to their schools with the exception of Erasiel the Trix and the Winx who now found themselves in Faragonda's office alongside holographic figures of Saladin and Griffin.
"This is a serious incident Bloom I'm of half a mind to expel you for killing those Lighthaveners but doing so would be foolish their deaths weren't intentional on your part and I'm sure Erasiel would completely overrule me from expelling you" Faragonda stated, she was sitting and her desk one hand holding her head in contemplation.
"You would be correct in your assumption Faragonda however the matter of Bloom's punishment must come later; the Light Haven forces will be readying themselves for a crusade; no doubt the Grand Templar himself will show his face to deal with the matter of the schools; we must make a stand, the schools will be besieged also there is the matter of the city of Magix however the Lighthaveners will ignore the city until they've dealt with the schools as we know from experience and over 25,000 years of war that they like neutralizing all resistance before purification" Erasiel stated. "Therefore, I devise a strategy of defense: we will fortify the Schools and bulk up, I leave the defensive planning to you three for the moment I'll see what I can scrounge up in terms of allies, traps and anything that can allow us to win; ultimately the strategy is the kill the Grand Templar if he dies they will surrender and negotiate peace terms" Erasiel finished.
"A sound plan Erasiel however can we not negotiate with them already" Saladin inquired ever the diplomat.
"This is Grand Templar Arsonious we are talking about Saladin; he isn't the type to negotiate anything short of surrender or die" Griffin stated.
"My sister is correct the only option we have is to fight now Erasiel what do you have in terms of things that can be done to hinder the Lighthaveners and who should we call for aid" Faragonda stated.
"Well in terms of allies I can send messages to King Wulfstan and the Dwarves; they hate the Lighthaveners with every fiber of their being and I have a marriage to King Wulfstan's daughter Aida. I can also call for Queen Ylaya and my own subjects among the Dark Elves in Ygg-Chall, it will take some time for them to get their armies together and to get here but their forces will be able to allow us to beat back Lighthaven if we can kill the Grand Templar, as to other allies we have the Undines in Black Mud Swamp; they may not be the best fighters but they are unpredictable opponents and good scouts; as for anyone else I think I can agitate the Beastmen into fighting the Lighthaveners for us; they won't be able to stop them by any means but they can sure slow them down; also I can do the same with Goblins in both the Forests and Swamp" Erasiel stated.
"The Dark Elves and Dwarves are reliable, the Undines an interesting choice in allies it's been a long time since they've come out to war; the Goblins and Beastmen however they are unpredictable at best and hostile at worst" Saladin stated.
"We have limited options in terms of allies Saladin; the ones we have that are closest to Magix are the ones I've listed the only other options would be the Princes of Domino's kingdom, but they'll only fight for their rightful leader; anyone else is too far away or too busy with their own threats to help" Erasiel stated. "I'll will of course do everything in my power to help; I can't exactly bring this matter before the Wizard's council by the time they finish debating about helping us it will be too late" Erasiel stated.
"So, we are in agreement?" Saladin stated.
"Yes" Griffin stated.
"Yes" Faragonda stated.
"Good then let us make ready for war." Erasiel stated.