Category: Winx Club
Rating: T
Couples: none
Warnings: Major AU
Chapter: 11
Copyright: © characters and places by Iginio; © Plot and OC by me
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Despite the danger the spikes posed the flight North was wonderful. Nothing could beat flying herself, but Bloom had to give a close second to being on dragon-back. It didn't hurt that Asuran was magnificent: wide plains with herds of strange creatures, something looking like a cross between a sabertooth-tiger and a rhino. The things looked dangerous, yet they still fled as the dragons passed overhead.
"Those are Ashwars!" Shimi called from the back of her dragon. "They are herbivores, but they are fiercely territorial! You better not get too close to them."
Bloom wanted to answer that the many spikes and horns on the creatures' heads made a good argument for that, but the words got stuck in her throat at the creature she saw next: it was something from a nightmare, a mix between a giant cat and snake, sneaking up on a herd of Ashwars. At times it seemed as if it evaporated into the shadows of the few massive trees in the plains.
"A Derondes! A predator with a high magic-resistance. As they grow bigger they grow even more resistant to magic." Shimi explained. "Should you encounter one, run! Do not use any form of magic, no transforming either. They can sense magic."
"Do you have Canido's too?" Tecna called, recalling the name that Lysdon had mentioned alongside those two.
"Yes, but we shan't see those: they live in the oceans." Shimi answered her. "Perhaps later, when you finished your visit to Vo'id I can show you some."
They left the plains, now starting to fly over the forests towards the mountains. The trees all wore pine-needles.
The mountains in the distance were all black, unlike the grey the fairies were used to. The further they went into the mountain-range, the more dragons they encountered. Some looked almost like Red Fountain-dragons, but most looked like the ones they were flying.
"Vo'id's mountain is straight ahead." It was the dragon Shimi was riding who spoke. "We are not allowed to come closer to it." He and the other dragons descended, allowing the humans to get off. "You'll have to walk the rest of the way."
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They climbed up the mountain to the only cave on its' side. Shimi had been forced to leave them, a series of growls carried by the dragons apparently having ordered her to get her aunt here. In a way Bloom preferred that: Faragonda's presence would protect them. At least, she hoped it would. Meanwhile the others started climbing the black stone.
Bloom entered the cave first and gasped at what she saw. The dragon inside was massive, easily out-sizing the Dragon-King she had seen the day before. His scales were pure gold, and his eye a deep bronze. As he turned to the cave-entrance, she nearly gasped again: the left side of his face was scarred, as if something big had clawed it open. The eye on that side was gone, one of the claws having gone straight through it.
"These are the humans you told me about?" His voice sounded strangely young as he turned to someone she had not noticed earlier. Vandia rested on a rock at the side of his head, her long blue hair cascading over the smooth stone.
"Yes, father. The red-haired one is the Bearer." She rose into the air, flying to the humans in the cave-entrance.
Vo'id stared Bloom down, his remaining eye seemingly piercing her soul. Or at the very least reading her mind. "Do enter then, Flame-bearer." He told her, rearranging himself to face them. "But do not consider yourself welcome."
"Charming as always." A voice came from behind Bloom. Faragonda wore a different dress now, but it was the same color as the previous one. "She does not bear blame for his crimes, Vo'id."
"She is a constant reminder of them, Faragonda." Something changed in Vo'id as he reached out to greet the Headmistress. "He ruined my family." He briefly pressed his claw against the woman's hand.
"He seeks to make amends." Bloom softly said. "I do not know what he did, so I shan't judge, but perhaps it is time to leave the past in the past?"
Both Vo'id and Vandia studied her after that.
"You do not know his crimes, indeed." The dragon softly said. "But they are extensive. How can I look past them? He caused more deaths in the years of his… rise, if you wish to call it that, than his brother did."
"Skyggon has forgiven him." Flora piped up. "Can't you do the same?"
"Are you certain of that?" Vandia sat down on her father's leg. "What of the hidden hurts? What of hidden resentment?"
"There are none." Faragonda stated. "They are as they were supposed to be, Vo'id. I have seen them together. They are one again, like they were born."
"Indeed we are." A new and unexpected voice echoed in the cavity. A man with long, blue hair lazily flapped his wings outside. The golden feathers on them rustled with every move. "Faragonda told us you found our father."
A second man stood below him, his leathery wings twitching in discomfort. He did not avert his eyes as Vo'id rose to his full and impressive height.
"You come here, and dare to expect welcome?" His voice was young, and filled with fury. "You dare to show your face here?"
"Is it his, or mine, father?" Skyggon touched down beside his brother. "We are siblings, to deny one is to deny the other. Flora and Faragonda spoke the truth, it shall not be denied."
Vandia stared at them, marveling at her brothers. She had never seen them before, or their deep connection to one another. And yet, she realized something was missing: she was. What had once been a pair, had turned into a triangle of which she was a part.