Chapter One: Empty Coral Reefs

May 14, 2013

Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from the Winx Club properties by writing this story. This story is written for pleasure's sake. All rights reserved.

Thanks to The13thGirlWithoutASoul, Chibi Horsewoman, Ella Anders and SharpieMassacre for reviewing the prologue. I'm glad you like the darkness and the originality.

I should probably note that this isn't going to be a character bashing fest on Dafne and Bloom. I think they're both equally good in their own respects and deserve the happiness they got at the end of season five. (However, Politea might have something to say to the contrary.)


Politea walked across the ocean floor, her eyes wide as sand dollars. Her steps stirred up the sand and disturbed the bottom feeding fish. All around her were the colourless coral-covered homes of her people. She had gone to the Pillar of Balance and the Pillar of Control and had not found a soul since she had awakened in the Shark's Eye.

There was little life in the Infinite Ocean, save for the occasionally immortal creature of the gods and some schools of fish. She had encountered the Singing Whales eternally humming the song of creation and she had avoided a devourer that had roamed too far from the warm waters of the Absolute Abyss. She peeked into the empty homes looking for signs of where they had gone and found nothing.

The colours of her scales began to take on a dark hue as she continued to find no signs of life for miles around. Nothing in the homes had been disturbed in what seemed like years. Sand had piled up thickly on long forgotten objects. Earlier, she had found abandoned hunting camps with spears and fyke nets buried under coral. The homes were just as desolate and abandoned. It was as if everyone had dropped what they were doing and left.

Frightened by the emptiness of the coral village, she made her way to the centre looking for the Pillar of Light.

Just as always, the Pillar of Light shone bright and strong. And just like the others, the seal was gone. Instead, she felt someone else's magic supporting the pillar. She touched the crystal tower and let the energy seep into her skin. It was warm, comforting and even dark, but completely…familiar.

She felt the Great Dragon's touch in the stream of magic and then something else's: Dafne's magic.

"So you got to here too," Politea hissed. The tower had been contaminated with impure magical energies that kept the pillar standing. She clenched her hands and turned, simmering with rage.

She kicked off the ground and propelled herself through the water. The pillars had been tampered with by the same magical essences. Dafne and several other people had broken the seals and repaired the pillars with their own magic.

Politea found herself heading for the Emperor's Throne. She was the fastest thing in the Infinite Ocean, and she had found herself fluttering for the Emperor's Throne in little time. She regarded the Throne. It radiated power—something it should not have been doing. She spiralled down to the legs of the seat and saw that the seals had been placed between the broken legs—legs that she had deliberately broken so long ago.

Someone had repaired the Emperor's Throne while she had been asleep in the Shark's Eye and she had a good guess as to whom. Dafne's magic littered the seabed and it was most potent at the base of the throne.

Politea grabbed the seals that floated between the chair's broken legs. Worlds would shake but for a moment as she broke the Emperor's Throne again. A great and invisible power kept them stuck in place, but she used her own magic and pulled the stone-shaped seals from their spots. She regarded the seals, one in each hand. They were lifeless now, their magic drained by the seat of power.

She had poured herself into these seals to protect the World Pillars. They functioned on her power and she had never imagined that she would have ever been away long enough for them to become dead. Evidently, they had been stolen away from their places in her sleep.

Her wings drooped as she tried to not tremble. All of her hard work was gone.

All of her people were gone.

All of life in the Infinite Ocean was gone.

Someone had the answers as to what happened and she knew who.

Raging with violent power, Politea poured her energy back into the stones. The seals greedily absorbed her power as they came back to life, becoming warm and potent. The feral power in them grew exponentially.

"Platon, Aristote, wake up!" she roared.

The seals shook out of her hands and took on a life of their own. Dark energy cocooned the stones and they grew in size until they obscured the light from the sun above the surface. She felt the water rush out of the way as the dark forms took shape. Cracks of light radiated from the dark eggs and finally, there was an explosion of power that blinded her.

Black snake-like forms spiralled around her. They had jaws like the devourers but none of the appetite. Their venomous spines brushed her but the protective mucus coating her skin made her immune. These sea dragons were the physical forms of the seals of the Pillars. They could not protect the Pillars when she had been asleep and she sensed their shame and regret.

She touched their heads comfortingly as they looked for their brother seal from the Pillar of Control. She thought that she would find Socrate but she did not. It was another question that Dafne had to answer.

Politea swam forward deep into the Infinite Ocean with her dragons following her. The lifelessness of the seafloor was starting to fatigue her eyes. She found the ancient Sirenix Gate and opened it with her power. Her power was almost infinite after such disuse.

Life and light poured out of the rings of the gate. The saltiness of the water changed as she passed through the portal. Hot energy rushed past her as she exited the water. With great trepidation, she wove her way through the streams of existence looking for the world she had visited once.

"Politea?"

The brunette fairy came to a stop as she looked for who had called her. Her eyes fell on a being of yellow energy, part fish and part person. She wavered beside a portal that emitted colourful lights and foreign music.

"Politea?" Omnia said, eyeing the sea dragons. "You're…alive?"

"I am." Politea regarded the undine guardian with levelled eyes.

"I thought that the curse of Sirenix…." Omnia fell quiet.

"Where's Dafne?" Politea asked curtly.

Omnia ignored the question, as though purposely. It was impossible for the undine-like being to have not heard the weighted question and feel the seething rage behind it. "Politea, what happened to you? I thought that the Ancestresses had cursed you."

"They did," she said impatiently.

Politea and Omnia eyed each other carefully. Omnia could sense the dangerous power that Politea radiated. Being accompanied by her sea dragons did not help to alleviate the tension. Omnia tensed, wondering how she should proceed. She felt unimaginable joy at seeing Politea alive but she felt nervous about asking what happened so many years ago. "What happened, Politea? Why didn't you join the Company of Light and fight the Ancestral Witches?"

"Because it wasn't my task. My task is to protect World Pillars from any who would use it for personal gain, and that included from Dafne." Politea narrowed her eyes.

"But Dafne never wanted the Pillars's powers, Politea," she reasoned, "She had a pure heart and only wanted to help you protect them from the witches. Even her Guardian of Sirenix can attest to that." Daintily, Omnia clasped her webbed hands in front of her to show that she was far from aggressive, yet her extended golden fin-like wings said otherwise.

The atmosphere was tense. It was as if no time had passed and they were picking up again a conversation that always resulted with the same answer.

"Is that what she told you?" Politea said.

"Politea, I am the Guardian of the Sirenix. I judge all who would dare to enter the Infinite Ocean," Omnia reminded. "It is my task to only let the worthy in and Dafne was worthy."

"She wanted to use the Pillars to turn the tides of war, Omnia. She wanted to use the Pillars for personal gain."

"How do you know this? None of that ever happened. The Army of Decay had decimated the capital of Domino in the last days of the war," Omnia said.

Politea's crimson wings stilled. "The last days of the war? Is the war over?" Politea asked.

"It has been almost twenty years, Politea. I believe that are some things that I need to tell you. Things have happened while you were…away."

"Regardless, Omnia, you incorrectly judged Dafne and let her into the Infinite Ocean."

"She wanted to help you keep the Pillars safe!"

"She wanted to keep the Pillars safe so that the war would fall in her favour," Politea answered sharply. "The affairs of the worlds beyond ours is none of our business. You failed in your task, Omnia. I'm not going to fail in mine. Dafne betrayed us and that's all that matters now."

Omnia scowled, if that was possible for an ethereal being like her. The streams of energy began to waver with power as Omnia radiated frustration. "I did what I thought was best! Dafne was your only friend for the longest time. You have been the same age you are now since the dawn of creation, Politea. I thought I would pity you and let you have a fri—"

Politea ignored her. Instead, she felt the powers that streamed in the in-between realms looking for Dafne's. She recognised Dafne's unique flame.

"Platon, eat her," she said as she swam for the portal near Omnia.

Omnia's eyes widening in shock was the last thing Politea saw before she plunged into the oceans of Andros. Politea had no time for the traitorous gate guardian that had willing let Dafne into the Infinite Ocean. Platon regarded Omnia gleefully as he set his sight on the undine guardian.


Note: Oh, no! What monster has been unleashed unto the Magical Universe? Who is Politea really? And is Dafne as good as her little sister Bloom thinks she is? How tragic that the mistakes of twenty years ago will come back to haunt the present and ruin the peace that Bloom and the others had worked so hard to achieve.


OTHER Notes: (skippable)

(Feb 10, 2016) I'm going to use this part to explain what to expect in Politea's Revenge.

- This story was written just as season five was ending.

- Season one through four are cannon, as well as The Secret of the Lost Kingdom and Magical Adventure.

- Season five, six, seven and any subsequent season are not cannon to this story. Mystery of the Abyss is not cannon. (I did not like that movie at all.)

- I do employ elements or characters from season five and forward into the story, such as having Thoren and Nex in the story. However, their relationships with everyone else may be different.

- Cinelume, Nickelodeon, DuArt or 4kids? I use a mix of the four. I grew watching 4kids and I loved it, but all the dubs have their pros and cons. Mostly, I'm relying on Cinelume, DuArt and Nickelodeon but I'm not afraid to look at 4kids elements.

- Also, I write Daphne's name as "Dafne" because a long time ago, her name used to be written like that on the old toy packaging. It's the Italian spelling of the name, back when Secret of the Lost Kingdom came out. I use that spelling because it provides a level of separation between the Daphne in the show and Dafne in Politea's Revenge.