Chapter Eleven: Hunted
Thursday, December 31, 2015
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.
Notes: This chapter is a continuation of chapter 8 "The Wanderer of the Abyss" where Diaspro was just attacked by the Wanderer.
The voices of a thousand tormented souls screamed in the wanderer's mind, only one standing out from the others. He stared at the fairy at his feet. He stood frozen in his place. The sight of shimmering wings, undulating with the currents, bewildered him.
"A fairy," he said.
"Get her," one voice commanded. "Capture the fairy. Take her wings and turn it to fairy dust."
The wanderer clenched his hands and readied a curse but the fairy was faster.
"Not today!" Diaspro shouted. She rubbed the tears and puffiness out of her eyes and channeled her anger. This was raw power that she could use. She had had enough of the Infinite Ocean.
She launched a shower of crystals, and leapt back, putting distance between her and the wanderer. Her magical gems cut through the dark wizard's body like a bird through the clouds, ineffective.
A monstrous fish circled from the side, opening its fearsome mouth. Diaspro flinched and let out another spell. "Diamond defence!"
A diamond shield surrounded herself. The monster smashed its head on the barrier and recoiled.
"Diamond daggers!" The shield fractured and turned into knives. They shattered against the beast's thick skin, again ineffective.
The apparition reappeared in front of her from a cloud of black mist and unleashed a volley of magic bolts at her. She was sent reeling back across the ocean floor and crashed into a copse of staghorn coral.
She gathered her magic, struggling to feet.
Oily clouds closed in on her, the nightmarish fish monsters trying to nip at her wings. The dark figure reappeared again, raising a hand to cast a spell. He was not quite solid and not quite liquid either. Regardless, Diaspro recognised black magic. His power was black as any dark wizard's. Like Valtor's, like the Trix', like Tritannus'.
"Come to me, fairy," he shouted. A voice of compulsion, pulling at her mind. His voice was nothing human.
Purple chains shot out from his hand and she leapt back, flying away in a dizzying pattern to avoid the spell's reach. She did not think that now would be a good idea to test her harmonix powers. Instead, she unravelled the cerulean nymph scarf around her arm. Her magic, harmonix or not, would not work against something she sensed was just as powerful as Valtor.
It had been a long since she had cast anything resembling white magic.
She circled around and stretched the scarf taut in front of her. She calmed her racing heart and focused her magic to the clothe in her hand. The ancient magic of Ethemera was woven into the fabric. The spells in the threads came to life. The metal around her neck felt hot against her skin.
"I call upon the magic of the nymphs," she prayed, "dance of light!"
Diaspro whirled the scarf, the clothe becoming a narrow ribbon. It came to life in her hands, its power pure and white. She flicked the ribbon like a whip and deflected all the chains, shattering them.
The dark wizard screamed, blinded by the light of her scarf, and she got a better look at him. His once dark robes had become grey and threadbare, embroidery lost beneath the black slick of evil magic. His skin had been inked with spells that now cast an eerie glow. His eyes glowed mauve with yellow sclera, more monster than man.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Diaspro called out. She spiralled the ribbon around her in a protective circle, warding the nightmarish sea monsters away from her. Again, she felt the wizard's black power surround her, almost trying to drown her.
"Spirited little butterfly. Your pathetic fairy magic is nothing against the magic of the Black Circle."
Diaspro's eyes widened and her magic faltered, the protective circle around her flickering. The Black Circle? A fairy hunter? In the Infinite Ocean of all places? She thought that three fairy hunters had been buried under rock and ice on the Omega thanks to Bloom and her friends.
"I was starting to get sick of small fry like selkies and lost souls. I've been wandering this infernal ocean for God knows how long. The hunt is still on," the wizard continued. He looked down on her and readied another spell. "May the doors of the Black Circle open wide for you, fairy."
Diaspro could only stare when she saw a circle of dark magic appeared above her. There was shift in the air as darkness pulled at her wings, trying to uproot them from her shoulders.
She looked into the vortex of the Black Circle and saw…she had no words that could describe it. She only looked into it for a second. She looked into the darkness, and something familiar looked back, a reminder that she was more than a princess, a pawn of politics, a shadow of a dying legacy….
She opened her mouth to scream in terror—
"Your name will be Mercy and you will train here with us," a smoky voice said. "Come with me. I will introduce you to your sisters."
"She can't train with us! She's a FAIRY!" a haughty voice said.
"You don't have a say in this. From this day forward, she is your sister."
"What kind of name is Mercy?! Let me give you a better name: 'FAIRY!' I'm in charge here and you do what I say, FAIRY!"
"Don't pay attention to your sisters. They don't know what you truly are. One day, you will be beat them at their own game."
"Diaspro, be whatever you want to be," Sky's voice said. "You don't need to do what the adults tell you. You're free now."
"Aristote, Platon!" a voice cried out.
There was a flash of crimson and suddenly Politea was there, in full Sirenix form, her silky skirts tattered. She had just come out of her own fight. Her dragons, Aristote and Platon, swam through the chaos of frenzied monsters.
"Tide of Sirenix!" Politea bellowed. The red fairy exploded with waves of energy.
Like a curse breaking, the Black Circle dissipated, dissolved by the powerful underwater waves of Politea's spell. The sea monsters that had tried to bite at Diaspro lost their demonic quality. The ocean became serene and full of light.
With a mental command from the red fairy, the dragons surrounded and attacked the wanderer. One of them, Diaspro was not sure which one, snapped its large fearsome jaw and devoured the wanderer whole, leaving only a cloud of blood and black magic trailing from its mouth.
Diaspro watched as the huge fish with glowing escas circled Politea in a perfect formation. "Voice of Sirenix," Diaspro heard Politea cast.
Politea's voice, imbued with the magic of Sirenix, became a melodious contralto note. The dark escas turned pure white, radiating warm light. Diaspro could not recognize the words that followed by she knew that they were ancient and powerful. The monsters scattered in all directions.
Politea turned to the gem fairy and looked in shock at the flickering white barrier around Diaspro. The ribbon retook its form, losing its glow and power, becoming a cerulean scarf again.
It took Diaspro several moments to regain her senses.
"You know how to use the magic of the nymphs. Who taught you?" Politea growled, making Diaspro straighten. "This is magic that only the nine nymphs of Magix knew."
"Not everything that the nymphs knew was a secret, Politea," Diaspro replied in an undertone. She looked over her shoulders to see that her wings were still there and then back at where the vortex of the Black Circle had been.
"I said who, Diaspro." Hundreds of questions burned in the red nymph's eyes.
"The Queen of Eraklyon, obviously!" Diaspro shouted, focusing her anger.
Politea's face froze, not expecting the blonde's rage.
"Since when were there fairy hunters in the Infinite Ocean, Politea?!" Diaspro pointed to where the dark wizard had been.
Politea narrowed her eyes at Diaspro's hand. A black stone attached to a long masculine chain undulated around her wrist. The stone was barely the size of a nail. It was alive, vibrating with energy, but Diaspro did not notice it. The girl was too shaken up by the dark apparition.
"Impossible. The Infinite Ocean is the last place to find them. This thing that attacked you." Politea turned to her dragons, tending to the one that eaten the dark wizard. "Something's changed while I've been away. I thought it was just me and what Dafne did, but those devourers were acting…unnatural. A being like what we just fought should have been collected by the devourers and brought to the Abyss to be imprisoned. Instead, they attacked me and you. This is even more reason to get you back to Eraklyon."
Politea scratched under the beast's jaw and it opened its great mouth obediently. On the bed of the beast's tongue was a malformed cluster of purple smoky quartz the size of a fist. Diaspro sensed the remnants of the wizard that had attacked her in it.
"Does that mean that there are more them coming after us?" Diaspro asked.
"I plan on finding out."
With her other hand, Politea conjured a golden clamshell-shaped Sirenix box. She opened it and placed the crystal within it for safe keeping. The box disappeared in a flash.
Notes: As usual, I would totally love to hear from readers what they liked, what they did not like about the story and where they think the story will go. I'm curious how people interpret the story. Also, reviews keep me motivated to write this story.
It has always been my intention since I started writing this fanfiction that Politea has the ability to use all of the special Sirenix spells. She will not be limited to just those though.
This chapter was actually cut in half because the pacing did not feel right. You'll see the rest of the chapter next in The Prince's Shadow.
