Chapter 18: Mission to Domino Part 1: the Ruins of Sparx
Erasiel had made sure to prepare extensively; his faceless scouts had reported that the Lighthaven army had already marched into the Black Mud Swamp and had been attacked by the Goblins from multiple angles before feigning a retreat; according to the account of said scouts the Lighthaven warriors had divided their forces to pursue their attackers and each these had been led by a Lord Templar. The result of this pursuit was a massacre of the Lighthaven forces by the goblins who had encircled the Lighthaven warriors who had been slowed down by the mud and using their war spiders, squigs, fanatics, and superior maneuverability they had killed most of both groups including the two Lord Templars who had led the attacks on either flank most of Lighthaven casualties came from being weighed down by their army and sinking into and drowning in the swamp, the followed up these victories by continued to harass the Lighthaven army; the losses from the two battles amounted to around 20% of the Lighthaven army: in fact the Goblins of the Swamp had been more deadly than the Beastmen in attacking the Lighthaven army though the Beastmen had done significant damage. Overall a mighty Lighthaven army had been cut down rather significantly also the Goblins latest plans had been to poison the Lighthaven army's food and water supplies and with the stealth that Goblins had in a swamp and rather natural stealth in general they would no doubt succeed especially since the Faceless scouts had been picking of the sentries on watch whenever they stopped to regroup. The two Lord Templars who had died were Lord Artius and Lord Raynauld both of whom were experienced tacticians, the number of Lord Templers in said army had been taken down to five and any siege engines the Lighthaveners had left over from the Siege of Red Fountain had been destroyed by Goblin ambushers. Granted the Goblins had taken losses, but the Goblins were far more numerous and for every hundreds of them that died if one Lighthavener fell it was a serious loss for their army which was dwindling from the glorious host that had marched out of the portal to a mud covered force whose soldiers were ill-suited to fighting the asymmetrical warfare they were experiencing at the moment.
Despite this the Lighthaven army continued its march; the losses seemed to only drive their religious zeal further and their numbers were still great, they were about a third of the way thru the marsh, the Undines had commenced their raids also to devastating effect, they had powers over the water and the plants with their casters and they used it to have underwater vines drag Lighthaven soldiers down into the bogs where the Undines either killed them ruthlessly with their halberds, swords and axes or drowned them. The attacks happened so fast and with such precession that the Lighthaveners couldn't even tell they were being attacked, when it came to the amount of Lighthaveners killed the Undines matched the Goblins kill ratio in their battles only difference being that Undines didn't suffer losses due to their size, speed and the fact that the underwater environment favored them extremely lopsidedly. Also, the effects of these losses while not effecting the Lighthaven army's morale as a whole, they did effect individual groups of soldiers who panicked upon seeing their comrades dragged under water which either was soon red with blood or more disconcertingly not at all, the gargled screams heard either way.
The general movement however of their forces seemed to be focused towards Cloud Tower; according to talk around their camp Lord Templar De Lande seemed to be the favored general of Arsonious due to his awareness, also De Lande was the youngest of the Lord Templars and the most reasonable of the group, and most likely to be Arsonious's successor as he was generally kind hearted and cared for the men under his command: of the Lord Templars Erasiel desired this man to be the one to be at the negotiating table also the one who would succeed Arsonious because he was a follower of Eolia: the Phoenix of Mercy and Compassion but also charity and defense; the younger daughter of Elrath and the only order deity in the Lighthaven pantheon. Therefore, due to these factors Erasiel gave specific instructions to not attack or kill De Lande as he was likely the only person who would go for a peaceful resolution in the end.
The other thing his spies reported was that the merciful but still zealous Lord Templar Dexter was the favored commander of Arsonious for the attack on Cloud Tower, Erasiel was certain however that should the Lighthaveners assault Cloud Tower they wouldn't be able to take it, granted they may breach the outer defenses and first few floors but the higher levels had the ability to get attackers hopelessly loss and had a myriad of traps that would basically halt the Lighthaveners indefinitely, which would force them to attack Alfea.
Speaking of said school he was currently there as he had been since concluding his research and was preparing his expedition to Domino; it consisted of the Winx as well as the Team of witches he brought from Cloud Tower; who had taken the nickname of Nimnx after Nimeria who lead them, also with them were a crack team of seven specialists lead by Riven and Artesia; the other five members were three women and two men: the women being Leona, Angiune, and Sabitha and two men being Bishop and Timmy; Timmy being the teams tech expert; neither Bishop or Timmy were anything but friends with the women on their team as they had their own relationships with other people; Timmy's girlfriend being a blue haired specialist techie by the name Annamarie and Bishop's being a girl by the name Meninas who was a sorceress at Red Fountain, both of them were among Alfea's defenders. Each member of this expedition wore a specialized outfit which consisted of a dark teal jacket with a furry hood along with matching dark teal trousers, knee high, dark black, boots on her feet. a small black belt, yellow googles, and small black gloves. This outfit was made of a specialized fiber that was both capable of repelling the hazardous cold of Domino but also protected against ice magic and other attacks common to the monstrous creatures that had plagued Domino since the Ancestresses attacked it. They embarked on one of the large Red Fountain ships, this one was a corvette sized vessel and it was well armed, the reason for such a vessel was again to deal with the dangers of Domino. Erasiel himself wore his armor, as he had no worries about the cold do to being a Phoenix, and the armor was arguably the best of the group's armor.
"Commencing take off in 10" Tecna warned, everyone strapped themselves in, the engines powered up along with the shields, part of the team had gone to man the mass driver and laser cannons that were the ships weaponry while others of the tech aspect maned the main blister consoles.
Soon the ship rocketed out of Magix's atmosphere into the void of space. "Plotting a course for Domino" Timmy commented. Timmy was a lanky boy with light brown-orange hair, wears glasses, and is tall and slender. He had small, hazel eyes and medium skin tone. His build is less muscular than the other students at Red Fountain due do his main role as a tech and while he was skilled fighter he wasn't on the skill level of Riven or Artesia, let alone Kordatura. Bloom sat next to Erasiel who sat in the Captain's chair; she was nervous.
"So, what's going to happen next" Bloom stated.
"We'll jump to hyperspace as soon as I finish imputing the calculations, we'll arrive at Domino in a few hours" Timmy commented from his position.
"So, it'll be like a scene out of Star Wars, well I hope Tecna's as good a pilot as Han Solo" Bloom remarked.
"Han who?" Tecna commented.
"Han Solo, the best pilot in the galaxy, he made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs" Bloom responded.
"Granted he took a shortcut thru the Maw Blackhole Cluster" Erasiel commented.
"I didn't know you were a Star Wars fan Nathan" Bloom replied.
"I'm a big fan Bloom, I saw the original movies when they first came out and I am excited for Episode 3, I saw the trailer it's going to be awesome to see Sidious with a Lightsaber" Erasiel commented. "By the way I have one" Erasiel remarked casually pulling out a Lightsaber from his bag to Bloom's shock, she was even more shocked when he ignited it and a purple blade of plasma came out of it. "It works too" Erasiel stated, then pulled a rock out of his bag and cut it clean in half.
"Wow Nathan you are full of surprises, can I have one" Bloom responded.
"Later, probably for your Birthday or Christmas whichever comes first" Erasiel replied.
"My Birthday comes first, it is on the tenth of December but no my parents or should I say godparents don't count presents for my Birthday and Christmas at the same time, there's a good distance in between the two dates for them to give me presents for both" Bloom commented.
"Alright ready; Tecna the coordinates are in, the Hyperdrive is ready when you are" Timmy commented.
"Alright here we go!" Tecna shouted then hit the hyperdrive, the black field of stars in real space was replaced by the blue vortex of Hyperspace. Tecna then hit a button on the console. "Alright the ship's on auto pilot, fill free to move about people until we arrive at Domino" Tecna stated, everyone unstrapped themselves.
Shortly… They had gathered in the main hold of the ship everyone doing different things. Erasiel was standing with Bloom and Stella. "Alright Bloom if you are going to wield Valruost you are going to need to have your personal skills brought up to snuff, now the Grand Templar has millennia of combat experience and I can't exactly train you to his caliber in a few hours however there is an advantage of Valruost and that is it remembers the fighting skill of everyone who has wielded it in the past in other word's Bloom when you fight the Grand Templar you will be doing it with the skill of the past kings and queens of Domino who have wielded it in the past, however that doesn't mean you are going to get out of refreshing your existing combat skills, now I know Professor Palladium has been instructing you in sword fighting however his means of teaching hasn't gotten you to the level you need though it is close, thus I've brought Stella here to help you with this" Erasiel explained.
"Yes, Bloom remember I am the best fencer- "Stella said "That you know of "Erasiel interrupted "On Solaria and am a master of the blade dance, therefore I will be teaching you how to best use a sword" Stella stated, then Erasiel brought out two wooden blades of the same length as Valruost and a large wood shield for both combatants, Bloom and Stella picked up their relevant weapons.
"Here Bloom is a practice blade that is of the same size and length as Valruost, Stella will be wielding the same, your goal is to disarm Stella, now don't hold back because she's your friend, right now she is your teacher and she won't be holding back either, you are to do this until you either best her or we arrive on Domino understand" Erasiel explained his face that of a general giving orders to one of his troops.
"Crystal clear Nathan, Alright Stella show me what you've got" Bloom stated then commenced the attack, Stella gracefully parried Blooms blows until she disarmed Bloom with use of her sword.
"Too brash Bloom, you were flailing about with those blows also you weren't using your shield, remember you have one" Stella commented, Bloom commenced the attack again, and again, and again, each time with different tactics and each time Stella disarmed her. "Are you done warming up yet Bloom?" Stella asked rhetorically, Bloom responded with another barrage of attacks. Each time Bloom reached her limit Stella allowed her a brief 10-minute respite, despite Bloom's attacks Stella was not even warmed up when it came to fatigue, mainly do her stamina having been kept up by numerous tournaments and duels.
Eventually Bloom decided to conserve her energy and adopt a more defensive stance using her shield to attack instead of her sword and using her sword whenever there was an opening, despite her constant efforts to disarm Stella, Stella again disarmed her, however it had been harder for her to do so, then eventually as they were only a 30 minutes from arrival on Domino Bloom disarmed Stella to Erasiel's applause.
"Well done Bloom, you've managed to beat me, of course I wasn't going all out, if I was I would've killed you" Stella commented.
"Well to be fair that has got to be the hardest fight I've ever been in, and that count's Darcy's gauntlet in the simulator" Bloom replied.
"You've done well Bloom, you may not be the equal of your Father and Mother yet, but you are certainly skilled enough to wield Valruost" Erasiel congratulated.
"Anything about Valruost I should know" Bloom asked.
"Well for starters it had been the sword of Kings for generations Bloom, 300 kings and queens of Domino have wielded it, the blade itself is forged of Relix the most powerful substance in existence apart from Dragon Star Plate, something only Elder Dragons can forge, anyway only Phoenixes and a select few at that are capable of forging it and fewer are those who have mastered it. Valruost was forged by Hagen Greatsmith my father-in-law, his daughter Zera is my broodmate and she is second only to him as a smith, the Greatsmiths have been servants of house Darkar for a long time, their loyalty going back to my father's childhood, however Phoenix politics are beyond your concern Bloom; suffice to say Valruost is a powerful weapon and far more powerful than a standard Relix blade due to the three Qualis Gems or Tears of Asha in the hilt, but also because it was forged with Blood magic Bloom, no one died in the forging but the blood magic means that only certain people can use it; those being Hagan who forged it and put his own blood into its forging and those of the royal bloodline of Domino; King Orion I put his own blood into the forging, also everyone who has wielded it since has had to drip their own blood onto the pommel and the blade to wield it, the sword thirsts for blood Bloom, it can only be satisfied with the blood of your enemies, the moment you draw the sword you will unable to sheath it until the bloodthirst of the blade has been satisfied and the only way to satisfy that blade will be to kill the Grand Templar, it will be able to shatter the Star of Elrath to be able to hurt him let alone kill him, also with the blade is the Shield of Domino and the Armor of Kings these too require those of royal blood to wield them however they do not thirst for blood they offer protection equal to the strength of the blade, and on top of it the armor conforms to its wearer" Erasiel explained.
"So, wait is this blade like the Sword of Khaine, will I go insane or curse myself if I use it" Bloom asked.
"No nothing of the sort, just you won't be able to put it away until you've won, also Bloom there is something else, should we succeed in getting those artifacts you will be able to rally the Princes and Dukes who are vassals still to Domino, therefore you will be able to bring an army equal to those of both the Dwarves and Elves coming to aid Alfea and Cloud Tower, in other words Bloom, you are the beacon of hope to your people, they will fight for you the moment they know you are truly the heir to the Throne, though when this is over they will crown you Queen" Erasiel explained.
"Make me Queen, but I don't want to rule, I don't know anything about ruling a kingdom also I don't want to have to leave Gardenia" Bloom replied.
"You won't have to do anything of the sort, The Princes and Dukes and their vassals will follow your commands and operate on their own as they have been the past 16 years, and will do so as long as you desire, in other words Bloom you will be Queen but you won't have to put up with the nonsense of ruling a government you'll delegate responsibility to those under your authority" Erasiel explained. "However, you will still have a coronation, and will no doubt have to from time to time visit to check up on things, but don't worry I'll explain that to Vanessa, she'll take care of it, trust me Bloom, the politics of humans are nothing compared to the labyrinth of Phoenix politics" Erasiel continued.
"Coming out of Hyperspace now, everyone ready for approach" Tecna stated, the blue vortex receded and out the window could be seen a world, frozen but had three moons, two of which spiraled with greenery and the lights of cites, the other being purple and some lights could be seen briefly.
"Welcome Bloom to your home system, out the window you can see your homeworld, as well as its three moons; Coltaris, Endoria and Kerethai, the two green and heavily populated moons are Endoria and Coltaris, while the one with purple clouds which isn't so heavily populated is Kerethai, each of them is home to numerous Duchies and Principalities, unspoiled and untouched by the Ancestresses" Erasiel explained.
"Wow wait why did Ancestresses leave the moons be and attack Domino only" Bloom asked.
"That is something that I took a long time to figure out, but after the war I found out the reason was simple they attacked Domino specifically hoping to cause the Kingdom to shatter into infighting if the Royal family and homeworld fell, it didn't work: the Princes and Dukes don't fight each other instead they stay unified on the grounds that the Royal Line is still alive and out of fear of Whisperia attacking them if they began a civil war, and sitting on the border with the Whisperian Empire has kept them united and Kingdom of Domino still exists all it needs is a leader" Erasiel replied.
"It's amazing to look at the contrast, the moons full of life and the planet itself, a frozen wasteland" Bloom observed.
"Tecna put us down there in the southern hemisphere: the Royal City of Sparx is our destination" Erasiel ordered.
"What is Sparx?" Bloom asked with a quizzical look on her face.
"Sparx is or was the capital and Royal City of Domino, it is where the royal palace and where the relics are, in a secret room known only to a few; your father stopped using them after my father in law forged a special set of armor and the new weapon for him; that weapon is capable of killing the Ancestresses permanently as well as being able to kill Arch-Demons and other powerful monsters. Because of this new kit, your father stored the royal battle gear in a special room used to store Domino's most valuable treasures and can only be opened by a bearer of the Dragon Flame: you'll know what we're looking for when we see it" Erasiel explained.
"So, what is the plan" Flora asked.
"I'm glad you asked, an number of our crew will stay with the ship, we will not land but simply hover above ground and we will use Wind Riders to move about, there are a number of dangerous hazards; chief among are the monstrous creatures created by Ancestresses to guard this place, but there is the issue that if we land on Domino's surface the ship itself might freeze over or be open to attack by the denizens of this icy waste" Erasiel stated.
"Well how will we know where to look and what will we be facing" Pusilitia asked.
"First off as to finding Sparx: well Bloom has Daphne's mask it will allow her to see Domino as it was before its fall; as to what we will be facing, first off there are living constructs of ice that resemble people and can use ice as a weapon both in their weaponry and in their magic, in addition to them there are snow beasts; creatures that before the fall were native to mountains only but have since become quite numerous with no people to check their numbers, also there are Yetis and the most nasty of them is the giant Ickiyak a colossal creature about the size of three story building; it is covered in white-fur and his massive teeth and tusks, fortunately they are rare" Erasiel explained.
Shortly… they navigated to the position closest to the Royal city of Sparx, it was here they divided into teams, one group would explore for the city and protect Bloom, while the other group would stay with the ship and man the weaponry to provide support, the weather outside was a mild snowstorm and thus made it difficult to see. The Away Team consisted of the Winx: Bloom, Stella, Musa, Flora, Diaspro, and Erasiel, the Nimnx: Nimeria, Endora, Pusilitia, Gerbera, Euphorbia, Ververine, Hecate, and Tabitha, and the Elite Team of Specialists: lead by Riven; and included Sabitha, Artesia, Bishop, and Leona. The Ship Team consisted of Tecna, Polly, Timmy and Anguine, who were best suited for manning the ship. The Away Team readied themselves, they donned the equipment for riding the Windriders and Tecna opened the hanger: they then descended.
The Away team moved in diamond formation to prevent being flanked, the bikes hovered over ice sheets, which were mostly obscured, Bloom saw thru Daphne's mask lush valleys, fields of flowers, watch towers and roads. "I see so much with Daphne's mask however what about Sparx will it be in ruin?" Bloom asked Erasiel, they were riding on the same bike which was Erasiel's own Space Strider and thus allowed it to move faster, Bloom was holding onto him, the other bikes also had a passenger in addition to the driver for the purposes of being able to defend the bikes.
"The entire city is relatively intact to a degree, the ice sheets though have covered it, but the ice can't actually destroy the city" Erasiel explained.
"Why is that?" Bloom asked.
"The reason is because the Great Dragon is the core of Domino, the entire planet literally covers him entirely, as result Domino cannot truly freeze over, and the capital has a gate to the underground literally in the lowest catacombs of the Palace, in other words Bloom: the Palace will be as warm and pristine as it was the day you were born, albeit a bit ransacked, most of that was from my fight with the Ancestresses" Erasiel replied. "Head's up I see Ice-men in the distance" Erasiel stated taking a look ahead. "Bloom hold onto my staff, you'll need it" Erasiel commented, they charged into the Ice-men Bloom and the other fairies and witches who were passengers transformed, Bloom, Diaspro, Stella and Musa into Charmix, and Pusilitia, Ververine, Euphorbia, Gerbera and Hecate into witch form. They then let out a cascade of magical attacks which turned the icemen in shards; Bloom used Erasiel's staff to focus her magic causing her to unleash stronger fireballs than usual, those that hit simply melted their targets on contact and those shots that missed actually melted deep into the ice sheet in a semi crater of sorts. The smashing of crystals got the attention of more of the Ice-Men who swarmed in, however their speed allowed them to move far about, also from above the ship rained support shots at the largest groups of Ice-Men causing them to shatter. Soon they outran their pursuers and neared a large glacier a massive one at that causing them to stop.
"Icy would be so useful to have here" Bloom commented to Erasiel.
"Indeed, also Bloom we are here" Erasiel stated, Bloom was confused but then she looked down a realized that beneath her feet was a massive city and that the Glacier was covering a towering palace citadel.
"Wow is the entire city you never told me it was so beautiful and big" Bloom commented.
"Now what" Stella stated, then she stopped and so did everyone to see what Bloom had seen. "So that's the Royal City of Sparx, amazing and it's not a complete ruin" Stella observed.
"Indeed, the Great Dragon's warmth preserves this city and each city on Domino, everything here is trapped in time and ice, now comes the matter of entering the city; first things first we will need to make an entry point" Erasiel explained.
"How exactly do we go about that, we didn't exactly bring pickaxes" Diaspro remarked.
"With Fire magic" Erasiel explained and began to start burning the sheet, however a great roar was heard in the distance. "Ickiyak: Everyone get clear and get the bikes clear too, we can't afford to lose them; Bloom you and I will to get inside by ourselves, everyone else run, lure the Ickiyak as far from here as possible without exhausting our fuel or going too far from us" Erasiel ordered, Everyone did as he said, sudden the ice began to crack as the roar and footsteps of the Ickiyak came towards them.
"What about your bike?" Bloom asked Erasiel after noticing no one got on it.
"That's easy, Kerborg!" Erasiel barked and said faceless appeared next to him. "Take my Space Strider and follow the others" Erasiel ordered and the faceless transformed into a human and donned the biker garb required for the Space Strider and flew off after the others.
"What about the Ickiyak?" Bloom asked as the creature came into view it was nearly on top of them, it was massive was as big as Erasiel said it was and had thick white fur and on its back were spikes of ice, its mouth was full of sharp teeth and large tusks.
"That's our way in" Erasiel commented then thru a fireball in the direction of the Ickiyak. "Hey Ugly, your mother was a hamster, your father smelled of elder berries and your itching for the warming touch of your sister you coxfither!" Erasiel taunted, the creature was outraged mostly, by the existence of these creatures which it deemed as food but somewhere on the level it was outraged by the fact that Erasiel suggested it enjoyed lewd acts with its sister, the claws tried to smash where Erasiel and Bloom were as they dodged out of the way at the last second and it tore a massive chasm into the ice sheet above the city. "Come on!" Erasiel shouted, then tugged Bloom and dived into the chasm.